WWWF Championship Wrestling 12/31/1977

WWWF Championship Wrestling 12/31/1977

Vince McMahon welcomes us to the show and runs down the card. 

We get a PSA on juvenile diabetes.

Mr. Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka vs Dominic Denucci and Jose Estrada

Toru backs up on Dom on the ropes and misses a chop. He chokes him. Dom ducks a chop and forearms him down. Toru chokes him more on the ropes. Fuji hits Dom in the sides and hiptosses him. Fuji rolls him over. Toru comes back in and chokes Dom. Dom double chops Toru.

Dom drops Toru with a chest forearm and chops him. Dom side headlocks him then hits Fuji on the apron. Dom sunset flips Toru into the ropes. Dom pulls Toru's arms back. Dom is pushed into the corner and is hit in the gut. Fuji double chops Dom. 

Jose is tagged in but the ref doesn't see it. Toru front facelocks Dom. Toru takes double shots from the faces. Fuji slams Jose and boots him over. Toru trapezius holds Jose. Dom gets in and hits shots on Toru. He then knee lifts him for 1. 

Dom chest clubs Toru down then stomps on him. Fuji knees Dom in the gut and slams him. Fuji misses a top rope elbow drop on Dom. Toru gets in and takes shots from both faces. Jose dropkicks Toru twice. Fuji gutwrench suplexes Jose then hits his flying lariat to win.

Thoughts: It wasn't too interesting here. The Japanese did chokes and shots to the gut. The highlight was Jose getting some dropkicks in which should tell you how exciting this one was. I was surprised to see Dom busting out double chops and was surprised to see Fuji miss a top rope elbow drop. 

Larry Zbyszko vs Joe Turco

Joe backs off from the start and tries some punches. Joe hits him from the side headlock but LZ rolls him back and tries a pin. LZ top wristlocks him and is hit in the gut. LZ hammerlocks Joe and is hit in the side. They box and Joe hides on the ropes.

LZ side headlocks Joe and Joe hits him in the gut again. Vince calls Joe, "a nasty looking creature". LZ punches Joe in the side headlock position and Joe backs off. Joe side headlocks him and pulls the hair. Joe clubs on him and bangs LZ's head off the buckles.

LZ snapmares him twice then crucifixes him for the pin.

Thoughts: It was a short one here. Joe heel'd it up the whole way with closed fists, hair pulls and lots of stalling. I popped for Vince calling him "a nasty looking creature".

"Pretty Boy" Larry Sharpe and "Dynamite" Jack Evans vs John Daniels and Joe Marcus

John and Jack lock up. Jack backs him up on the ropes then hammerlocks him. Jack pulls him down by the hair and stomps him. John does a nice armdrag out of a head and arm hold. John handstands out of a headscissors.

Jack pulls him down by the hair again. LS twists John's arm then takes him down. John kips up but is pulled down again. LS stomps him. Joe gets in and has his head banged off of LS' knee. LS bangs John's head off of Jack's boot.

John is choked by Jack and then LS. John's head is banged off the buckles then Jack knees him in the gut. Larry hits John in the gut and elbows him in the neck. 

LS sweeps John and misses an elbow drop. LS begs off in the corner and bangs John's head off the buckles. John is snapmared and stomped. Jack top rope double axe handles John. Jack legdrops John's arm then legdrops his throat for 2. 

Jack backbreakers John for 2. John is punched in the ribs. LS takes John down by the tights. LS armlocks him. Jack kicks John in the ribs. John fights back with shots to the gut. John monkey flips Jack and Jack begs off. Jack offers a handshake.

Jack flying knees him then slams him. Jack 2nd rope knee drops him. Larry suplexes John and pins him.

Thoughts: It was long at 9:25 and not that interesting. I don't know why but Larry and Jack's matches are always longer squashes. John Daniels had a good showing though. He's a little taller and is a bit athletic. I wouldn't mind seeing more of him.

Spiros Arion vs Pete Austin

SA has Freddie Blassie with him. SA clubs and side headlocks Pete. He hits some punches and chokes him. SA stomps Pete's head and bangs his head off the buckles. SA takes the top turnbuckle pad off and bangs Pete's head off of it. SA pounds on him.

SA hits Pete in the gut and clubs him. SA bangs Pete's head off the buckles. SA euros him and knees him in the face. Pete bangs SA's head off the exposed buckle. Pete hits some nice shots.

SA punches Pete in the face several times. SA boots him in the gut then backbreakers him on his shoulder. Pete then submits.

Thoughts: It was another longer squash and the longer it went on, the less interesting it was. I was surprised they allowed Arion to bang Pete's head off the exposed buckle. Pete hit some nice punches in the small comeback he got. 

Handicap Match - Ken Patera vs Steve King and Ted Adams

Lou Albano is with Ken. Ken is backed up into the corner and takes shots from both opponents. Ken is thrown back into the corner by the arms. Ken boots Ted then slams King. Ted is then slammed as well. Ken boots Ted off the buckles. The jobbers hit Ken in the gut and send him to the apron. Ken then backs off and stalls at ringside.

Ken grabs the jobbers from the apron and front facelocks them over the top rope. He then pulls their throats down over the top. Ken bangs the jobbers heads together. Lou hypes up Ken while at ringside to Vince. The jobbers hit punches together on Ken in the corner and drop him. Ken then goes out and stalls again.

Ken takes shots from both in the corner then is dropped. The jobbers stomp him and Ken goes out again. Ken gets back in, takes some shots but regains control. King is thrown out. Ken slams Ted. He then slams Steve on Ted and pins them both in a dogpile. Ken then yells "wooooooo".

Thoughts: It's rare that you see a handicap match where the jobbers actually put up a fight and dominate a bit but that's what happened here. It did make Ken look foolish some but it also gave the jobbers some credibility. Then when Ken won, you actually kind of respected him for being able to pull off this feat. I'm 50/50 on whether this worked or not.

Albano then gets on the mic and asked if we saw that in a cocky tone.

Overall thoughts: I was hoping they'd end the year with a bang here but they didn't. This was all squashes and two of them went way too long. All but one of them were heel squashes too, so we didn't get highspots and so forth that make matches interesting. When a handicap match is the best match on a show, that should you how good it was. I wouldn't recommend this one.