July 1979

The portion of the match we get is pretty much entirely Tyler's shine/comeback, and he looked good, fine punches, a cool corkscrew back elbow and I liked his back body drop, too many wrestlers these days just throw their opponent and let them fall on their own, Tyler brings his own weight onto Bass which makes it look more impactful and dangerous. Fun.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT KNOW THIS: The "robots" are mexican wrestlers dressed as rip-off R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars. Thank you Baba for booking this, and thank you japanese TV editors for showing us. AJPW could have some quite trainwrecky matches then, but this was, thankfully, also a really enjoyable match. The robots do this wonderous freaked out lucha grappling, and Fuchi/Onita are a quite good team of rudos. Come for the wrestling robots, stay for the majestic wrestling and giant swings. Also, it is nice to know Masa Fuchi can add "I punched C3PO in the face" to his list of wrestling achievements. You did god's work there. That was a nice punch combo he thre…

Ever since I read that Harley Race story about Slatton in the Observer I've wanted to see him work. I liked this a good bit. Slatton had the grumpy vet thing going for him. I liked how he worked the wristlock. His short punches had a nasty edge. Conway Jr again had a pretty solid-good babyface performance. 2 1/2*

They tease a dog collar match to start, but we don't get it. Maybe down the line as we get a kind of trepid match. They don't want to go too violent because it's the opener and it will be followed. We got some fun punches, and we tease some violence but no true pay off.

This is more of a showcase for the Spoiler. The athleticism Spoiler shows is really amazing.

First fall had Morton get some shine with Armdrags, Hiptoss and classic face offence before Ken Wayne hit a nice Elbow Drop for the flash pin. Second fall had Dundee and Morton get some more shine on followed by a long Morton FIP segment, Buddy Wayne wrestles exactly like an old fat parent should, only punching and hitting knees/gut kicks, only gets in the ring when his opponents are down and gets out as soon as he can. He spent the second fall helping his son double team on Morton and running away from Dundee, which was paid off by Dundee laying his hands on him at the end of the fall. Dundee's punches are as great as you'd expect but his Dropkick is amazing as well. Aaa…

What a beatdown. I don't remember ever seeing a US match with a TKO-esque ref stoppage, apparently Boulder later became Brutus Beefcake, and knowing his rep I'm sure there are some people who would gladly watch him get beaten to a pulp, Bass and Austin just completely punched him out here. A fine squash.

I was really looking forward to this. Meltzer put over Gomez a lot in the Observer. This was my 1st time seeing him. Overall I was dissapointed in the match. Started out fine, but turned into a lot of nerve holds. Gomez didn't get a lot of offense in to boot.

This had a lot of interesting things going for it. In the 1st fall we see the Spoiler focus on Halcon's neck area. To keep him away from his neck Halcon uses some nice looking arm drags. Spoiler refocuses his effort again on the neck and uses the ropes to spring off of. He pins Halcon with a springboard knee drop to the neck. The 2nd fall we see them work some complicated timing spots. Halcon was using his Lucha skills to keep Spoiler off balance. Halcon took a nasty bump to the outside. Halcon steals the 2nd fall. The 3rd fall was pretty great. It starts off with some real nasty arm work. Then transitions to the leg. Then Halcon goes for a front crab that gets p…

First fall had some shine, and Lawler and Dundee cleaning house with punches is as fun as you'd expect, but was mostly Freebirds double teaming before getting the pin. Loved Lawler's face stomp that almost broke the pin, it looked brutal. Second fall had more Freebirds working over Dundee, constantly working, lots of punches, gut kicks, knee drops and elbow drops, all of them nice and snug. The comeback was great, though it does stick out how bad Lawler's downward punches after a Snapmare look when everything else he does looks so great. Third fall has some nice back and forth action, I loved the spot where Dundee cornered, urgh, one of the Freebirds and he tried to run a…

I sure as hell won't complain about a much with one control segment, that's how it should be. Bass and Austin just decimated Hutchinson, who played his part well, really leaning into everything whether it be a knee strike or a flapjack on the ropes. Fun squash.

Match started out with basic shine, Morton and Montgomery taking the arm and the heels stooging. Ferris failing to break up the pin was hilarious, couldn't tell if he tripped on the bottom rope or was just completely wasted in general. Montgomery's attempted comeback was terrible, his mannerisms and strikes were embarrassing. Morton played a real good FIP, he totally convinced you a back elbow and a gut kick could kill him. Latham/Ferris may not do much but the matches are structured interestingly enough it doesn't really matter, and their offence is good enough to carry the FIP sections. **3/4

This is a nontitle match. Aired on Championship Wrestling 7/14/79

I thought this is a notch above their tag league final match from two years before. Worked in the same vein of the aforementioned match with the utter chaos, bleeding, brawling, drama, heated crowd and amazing Terry Funk selling and gruesome gusher. Everyone play their role perfectly, but this is still the Terry Funk show. Great match.

This is for the AWA World Heavyweight Title. But we only get 4 minutes of action. Yes, you read correctly, it is Greg Gagne not Verne getting a title shot in 1979 We start with Bockwinkel down on the mat, Greg is on the outside, the referee is putting a count on him. Greg barely makes it in at ten, but Bockwinkel immediately kicks him back out to the floor. Greg starts to get up, Bockwinkel runs around the apron and punts him in the ribs. The referee is trying to get Bockwinkel to back off, but now he slams Greg's head into the apron. Bockwinkel runs over and punches him in the head twice, sending him to the floor "like a wet noodle", says the commentat…

Wow this was a lot of fun. Their might have been one bump in the whole match. Fargo's antics were so over the top it generated heat from the crowd. Loved how he attempted to work over Gomez's stomach to no avail. Watching Fargo was such a joy. He had me smiling the whole match.

Koko took had the standard Memphis shine with a couple of armdrags and a Dropkick. He tagged in Hutchinson who was soon cut off by Buddy Wayne while bouncing off the ropes and was then easily disposed off. Hutchinson and Ken Wayne's stuff looked fine but continue being very impressed with Buddy Wayne, just an old fat dude that will beat the shit out of people with punches and knees, kinda like the 1979 Memphis Takayama. Fun little tag.

Greg Valentine vs Chief Jay Strongbow - WWF, Philly 7/21/79 This one did not disappoint as the Titan boys were correct that this is a barnburner of a revenge match. The Hammer broke the Chief's leg and he is out for vengeance. Chief does not sprint down but instead stares daggers into the eyes of Valentine, who looks really sad, but Vince tries to sell as a look of violence. Valentine tries to jump Strongbow and attack the weakened knee, but there is a metal brace on it. Strongbow repeatedly bashes Valetine's head into it. I loved that! It was a cool twist. Strongbow showed great fire and really kicked the shit out of Valentine. He busted him open with a metal mic sta…

This was a great match. Both guys skills were on display here. The early part is they work a standing headlock. This was well worked with both guys working and reacting to it. This was so well done. The Spoiler did so many neat touches like putting his foot on the rope for leverage. Eventually Jack counters it and begins working the Spoiler's back. He's stomping away at the back. Turns him into the Boston Crab. Jack moves up into the headlock. Spoiler escapes and takes it to the ropes and uses them to inflict pain on Jack's neck. The story has been pretty simple with Spoiler focusing all of his offense on Jack's neck. You know the motto chop off the head, the body will fa…

Available on the Network, Collections, Ladder Match Reaching for Glory. "Paving the Way, July 27, 1979" Big Daddy Ritter would later be known as The Junkyard Dog

WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Pat Patterson - WWF MSG 7/30/79 I still of the opinion that Valentine brings out the best in Backlund, but Patterson is a really awesome Backlund opponent. He is really well-suited to make Bob look like a million bucks. His bumping in the first half of the match was out of this world good. Backlund has big offense and can be really fun with the right opponent. Valentine is not a fun opponent. He never is. Besides the TIMBAH bump, Valentine is bringing hate and severity to his matches. Patterson is a fun Backlund opponent. The out of control ramming of his shoulder into the post had every single person at MSG grinning like a Che…

Greg Valentine vs Chief Jay Strongbow - WWF, MSG 7/30/79 Strap Match I thought they were on pace to have an even better match because they were really letting the fists fly in this, but the opted for the schmozz finish with Stronbow kicking the ref in the balls and the faces breaking it up this no contest. The Hammer threw a couple punches at a fan for trying to grab a chair from him, but the fan pretty much no sold the punches. Strongbow is the worst seller ever. Valentine did not want to put the strap on so he jumped Strongbow and then put the strap on. Smart man. He busts Strongbow open, but upon seeing his blood the WARDANCE~! is triggered. Strongbow makes Philly …

I reviewed this match here: http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/all-japan-women-7311979-23-falls-wwwa.html The Black Pair of Mami Kumano and Yumi Ikeshita beat the Queen Angels of Lucy Kayama and Tomi Aoyama 2 falls to 0, with a backdrop suplex hold on Kayama in the first and a suplex hold on Tomi Aoyama in the 2nd. Really good match. The story of the match was that Kayama had a knee injury coming into it and The Black Pair were on it like flies. They were really great here as a Demolition-like team just stomping mudholes through people and throwing big knee drops. Kayama's offense is god awful but her selling is really good and made up for it. Tomi was good all …