WWWF Championship Wrestling 10/22/1977

WWWF Championship Wrestling 10/22/1977

The show from 3 weeks ago is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/wwwf-championship-wrestling-1011977.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/wwwf-championship-wrestling-10291977.html 

Vince McMahon says we will go back in time and we see Ken Patera get suspended 3 weeks ago for keeping his full nelson on Juan Lopez after beating him. We see Juan get stretchered out and then we see WWWF President Willie Gilzenburg suspend him indefinitely.

 

Vince McMahon interviews Willie Gilzenburg and Lou Albano. Vince says attorneys are putting pressure on Willie to reinstate Ken Patera. Willie says the board of directors left it in Willie's hands to make the decision. He says he was told that since he suspended him on TV, he has to make his decision on TV. Lou says it's not right that he is stopping Patera from making a living. Lou says Patera used a legal hold and 3 men were in the ring who had no business there. 

Willie says he can't let Ken hurt more people. Lou says if a man can't stand against Ken, he shouldn't be in the ring with him. Willie says Ken didn't obey the ref. Lou says Ken can't release his holds easily with how much power he puts in it. Lou says the hold was legal.

Willie says if Ken can't obey the rules, he can't be here. Willie says he will fine Lou and Ken $5,000 and then permit Ken to wrestle. Lou says he agrees and says he will have a check tomorrow. Lou then tells Vince he will get the money back and says every wrestler will pay in hard earned blood money.

Thoughts: Willie's a wimp. Patera's indefinitely suspension only last 3 weeks.

Mil Mascaras vs Jose Estrada

Mil armdrags him with an arm lock. Mil trips him and Jose ropebreaks. Jose hammerlocks him. Mil facelocks him. Mill ties up Jose's arms and rolls him back with a nice pin attempt. 

Jose whips Mil into the corner and hits punches. Mil throws him in the corner and back body drops him. Mil backrolls into a headscissors on him twice. Mil shoulders him and Jose slides out.

Mil trips him with both legs then splits his legs. Mil tries a double underhook pin and rolls him into the ropes. Mil hip throws him into an armlock. Jose armdrags him off then shoulders him over. Mil leapfrogs and hits his double flying cross chop. Mil dropkicks him then submits him with a double underhook lock to win.

Thoughts: It wasn't bad. Mil out wrestled Jose on the mat and had some okay flying offense here. I've never really seen anyone submit to a double underhook lock. 

Johnny Rodz and Frank Rodriguez have a steel rod and a basketball. We are told Rodz wants to show off a feat of strength. He will bend the rod and try to squeeze the air out of the basketball. Rodz squeezes the ball first and doesn't have much luck. Rodz then tries to bend the rod. Andre the Giant and Johnny Rivera then head in. Andre picks up Rivera and sits him up top as they watch Rodz. Andre then helps Rodz and ties the rod up around Rodz' neck. Andre then tries to pop the ball but can't. The ball then rolls out.

Rodz then complains to Vince. He says Andre rushed him and he helped Andre bend the bar.

Andre the Giant and Jose Rivera vs Johnny Rodz and Frank Rodriguez

 

Frank and Jose go at it. Jose hits armdrags and Frank tags out quick. Rodz hits punches on Jose in the corner then hiptosses him. Rodz asks Andre how he likes that. Rodz hiptosses Jose again then 2nd rope clubs Jose. Jose tags out.

Rodz tries to run from Andre. Andre hiptosses him hard off the 2nd rope and nails Frank. Rodz and Frank are sent each other and both go down. Andre kicks Frank in the butt. Andre hits a big boot on Rodz. Andre atomic drops Rodz. 

Jose dropkicks Rodz when he gets in. Jose slams Rodz then elbow drops him for 1. Jose pounds on Frank then boots Rodz. Andre comes in and gets offense in on the heels. Andre sends Rodz out with a big punch.  Andre slams Frank then splashes him for the win. Jose then jumps off Andre's back to dropkick Rodz.

Thoughts: Andre was the one man wrecking crew as expected here with the heels having nothing to combat him. The heels flopped all around for Andre before going down. It was kind of a fun comedy squash.

Ivan Putski vs Moose Monroe

Ivan yells "Polish Power" on the mic beforehand.

Ivan grabs Moose and Moose eye rakes him. Moose clubs and elbows him. Moose eye rakes him and is shoved. Moose begs off. He hits shots to the gut but Ivan no sells them. Ivan then drops him with a gut shot.

Moose begs off. Ivan side headlocks him and punches him in the head. Ivan side headlock takeovers him then chinlocks him.  Moose eye rakes him and hits bad shots. Ivan hits chest shots. Moose is tied up in the ropes. Ivan turns around and takes a double axe handle. Moose chokes him on the ropes. Ivan fires up with punches. Ivan then drops him with a nice polish hammer and pins him.

Thoughts: Moose bumped around good despite being a big guy but his strikes sucked. Ivan's fire up spot with the punches was fun as usual. It was short and sweet and I was fine with this.

Ivan says he wants Superstar Billy Graham and will whoop him anytime. 

Mr. Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka vs Bob Marcus and Terry York

York is in the red and Bob is in the black. The Japanese just won the tag titles 3 weeks ago. Fred Blassie is with The Japanese. TT throws salt beforehand. 

TT and York lock up and TT chokes him on the ropes. Vince says Arnold Skaalund is in the lead for the Manager of the Year award. Fuji chops and boots York. Bob gets in and Fuji double chops him in the gut. Fuji chops him down. Fuji hits a double shot to the gut and slams Bob.

Fuji legdrops Bob. TT hits Bob in the gut and then the throat. Bob's head is banged off the buckles then he is choked on the ropes. Fred Blassie hits Bob with his cane. TT does a trapezius hold to Bob. Bob sells it well. Fuji then swaps with TT behind the ref's back and keeps the hold on. They then swap again.

Fred hits Bob in the gut with his cane and Fuji swaps in. Fuji hits a hard lariat on Bob and pins him.

Thoughts: It was all squash here. The Japanese mostly just did chokes, trapezius holds and shots to the gut. The heels cheated a bunch here. Bob sold the trapezius hold well.  

Overall thoughts: Ken Patera got his suspension dropped to start. Mil Mascaras beat Jose Estrada in an acceptable squash. We had a fun segment with Rodz trying to bend a steel bar and Andre helping him out. Andre's tag match was a fun comedy squash. Moose/Putski was kept short but they got it right and I liked it. Tanaka and Fuji then won a one sided squash without a ton of action. I'd give this a 6 out of 10 as we had some good non-wrestling segments here and I liked the Andre tag and Putski/Moose. It was a decent hour of wrestling.