WWF Championship Wrestling 1/14/1984

WWF Championship Wrestling 1/14/1984

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/wwf-championship-wrestling-171984.html

Mean Gene Okerlund and Vince McMahon are on commentary. Joe McHugh is the ring announcer.

We start the show off with Mean Gene Okerlund interviewing Hulk Hogan and Bob Backlund. He calls them a tag team dream. Hulk is asked how it feels to team with Bob. Hulk said he had goosebumps when he returned and says Hulkamania is already running wild. He said he's been training with and made friends with Bob. He says Bob's intensity sikes him out and says they are ready for any challenge.

Hulk Hogan and Bob Backlund vs Tiger Chung Lee and Mr. Fuji

 

Bob and Lee go at it. Bob is backed up in the corner and goes between Lee's legs. Bob wristlocks Lee. Hulk elbows Lee's arm then writlocks him. Lee hits some shots. Fuji gets in and hits Hulk in the gut. Hulk reverses the wristlock and takes Fuji down by the arm.

Lee gets back in and Hulk hammerlocks him. Bob comes in and does more wristlocks. Hulk then kimura's Lee. Lee hits shots to Hulk's gut then chops him. Hulk fires up and stares him down, no selling his shots. Lee beg off and Hulk hits punches in the corner. Lee does a nice upside down bump in the corner. Hulk then atomic drops Lee for 2.

Hulk kimura takedown's Lee. Bob wristlocks Lee then Lee chops Bob's arm. Lee kicks the arm. Fuji chops Bob and then armlocks him. Lee sticks his hand in Bob's armpit. Bob rolls out of Fuji's wristlock and upkicks him. Hulk is tagged in. Hulk hits a jumping knee on Fuji. Lee tags in and Hulk hits a nice clothesline on him.

Hulk slams and legdrops Lee. Hulk then picks up the pin.

Thoughts: It was a fast paced match with a ton of wrist and arm locks. Hulk was really moving well here and did more technical stuff here than he would do in the next 10 years. Lee and Fuji didn't come off looking that strong here but this is The Hulk Hogan Show. They didn't get to do a lot but they did alright with it. Hulk had a nice jumping knee and a stiff clothesline. I think is the one and only time Hulk and Bob teamed together and poor Bob had to know he was getting replaced as the top dog.

Sgt. Slaughter vs Mike Dorsett

They lock up. Sarge knees him, clubs him and throws him on a slam. Sarge clubs him more then stomps him. Mike's head is banged off the buckles then he gets punched. Sarge hits a standing dropkick then a kneedrop.

Sarge has a pin opportunity but pulls him up. Sarge clubs Mike more then elbows him in the back of the neck. Mike is catapulted into the buckles. Mike hits some shots and rakes Sarge's eyes when he gets nowhere. Mike bangs Sarge's head off the buckles. Sage clubs back and drops Mike gut first on the top. Sarge hits a hard lariat. Sarge then puts him to sleep with a cobra clutch and wins.

Thoughts: Now this was a good squash. Sarge hit a nice dropkick early. Mike couldn't get anywhere with him so he eye raked him. Sarge then got mad and beat the crap out of him for it. Sarge was trim here and moving well too.

Sarge then lariats Mike after. 

Mean Gene Okerlund does interviews and says Hulk Hogan is the new WWF champ.

Ivan Putski is interviewed. Ivan is told about the $30k battle royal. He says it's a dangerous situation and says there could be broken bones and teeth. He says he's out for the $30k and can pay his income tax with it. Gene then says it's "$50,000". Ivan says he's ready and will do everything to get that $50k. He says he will invite his Polish army after.

Fred Blassie and The Iron Shiek come in. Fred says Ivan can't even count to $50k. Freddie says Shiek will always be the champ and says Gene and the commission pulled a "ranzy danzy" on him. He says he will now make amends. He says they will win the battle royal and get the title back from Hulk. Shiek talks in his language and Gene says, "can't you speak English?". Gene then says we are out of time.

Tito Santana is then interviewed. He says he watched the LA Raiders win the Super Bowl and now he can win the battle royal. He says there's a lot of money involved. He talks in Spanish. He says there's a lot of danger involved in the battle royal but he will give it all he's got.

Andre the Giant is interviewed and we are told he was on David Letterman this week. Andrew says it's nice to go to the Olympic Auditorium. He says he hopes the ring is strong enough to hold 20 guys. Gene says there will be 6,000 lbs in the ring. Andre says he will fight for the money but the people call him the king of the battle royal's and he will try to win again.

Thoughts: That's some big news right there. Hulk is the new champ yet didn't wear the title in his match. I have a feeling some of this was lost to local promos as this show is the LA feed and the date of this show suggests it was 9 days before Hulk won the title. I've tried to make sense of it and I can't.

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka vs "Butcher" Paul Vachon

They lock up and PV hits shots to the head. PV clubs him then rakes his back. Snuka gets some shots in and PV boots him. PV chokes him in the corner and eye rakes him. PV then rakes Snuka's back. PV hits shots on Snuka then chokes him.

PV chinlocks him on the ropes and the ref makes him break. Snuka hits some punches and jumping headbutts him. Snuka top rope diving headbutts him and gets the pin.

Thoughts: Paul was nasty here just raking Snuka's eyes and back the whole time before Snuka came back and got the quick win.

Victory Corner

Robert Debord is the host and David Schultz is this week's guest.

Dave says the competition is here. He says he turns his TV on and sees people like Andre, Backlund and The Samoan's. He says there's competition here and he's looking for it. He says he walks around the streets, the bars and the honky-tonks looking for people to fight. He says when he comes home, he dreams of meeting the wrestlers one at a time and determining who is the best. He says they've got a title everyone wants. Dave asks him why he's so quiet and Rob basically says they have to go. Dave accuses him of being the type of guy to cut him off and Rob says he's right.

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Miguel "Hercules" Vasquez

Roddy Piper is managing Paul. Paul and Piper rip up Snuka poster and Paul takes a while to get in. The crowd chants "Paula".

They lock up. Paul backs him up on the ropes and cleanbreaks. Paul elbows him in the head then punches him in the gut. Paul slams him and elbow drops him. Paul hits an elbow drop off the buckles. Paul hits a piledriver and wins.

Thoughts: It was all squash here with Miguel getting little in before going down. It took Paul as long just to get into the ring as it did to beat Miguel.

The Magnificent Muraco vs. SD Jones

They lock-up and let go. Muraco clean breaks him in the corner then armdrags him. SD headscissors him and they stand off. They lock up again and SD shoves him on the break. SD slaps him on the ropes and they trade punches. SD hits a couple of shots in a row.

SD side headlocks him. Muraco trips him and both fall backwards. Muraco stomps him then punches him in the head. Muraco knocks him over then knee lifts him. SD hits shots to the gut and the head. SD misses a corner charge. Muraco climbs the buckles, puts his knee in SD's chest and drives him into the mat. SD suplexes him but Muraco beats him to the cradle attempt and pins him.

Thoughts: The first half of this was a bit boring but picked up near the end. SD had some nice punches and the finish was something different.

Jose Luis Rivera vs. Tony Colon

This is a pretty low level match that you don't see a lot. Jose backs Tony up on the ropes and lets go. Ton backs him up on the ropes, misses a shot and goes over the top. Tony misses another shot off the break and takes armdrags.

Jose side headlocks him then kimura takeovers him. Tony grabs a leg and is monkey flipped. Tony begs off. Jose snapmares him. Jose is whipped into the ropes but jumps over them. Jose bangs Tony's head off the buckles then Jose dropkicks him. They botch a fireman's carry slam twice then Jose airplane spin drops him. Jose then pins him.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. They botched the finish twice and Jose didn't look that comfortable on offense.

Overall thoughts: Backlund and Hulk got a win in maybe their only tag match together. Hulk was moving well and did more technical wrestling than he would for the rest of his career.  Sarge and Mike Dorsett had a nice squash. Hulk was announced as being the new WWF champ despite him not technically winning the title until 9 days later. The rest of the show was just squashes with the Rivera/Colon squash not being good at all. It's a historically significant episode but it was all short matches and some interviews. I wouldn't recommend this one.