March 1977

Just a great match with a student vs master kind of vibe. Old school NWA style is probably my least favorite style ever but these two and Terry Funk are the three guys who can make it really compelling.

WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino vs Ken Patera - WWF MSG 3/7/77, Special Referee: Gorilla Monsoon Unfortunately, we do not have the February Match but we do have this gem. One poster said this is the best Bruno singles match on tape. I do prefer the Bruno/Hansen Cage Match and some of the Superstar matches but this is a dandy. Probably my favorite Kenny P singles as I liked some of his AWA tags more. Bruno has two more titles defenses in the Garden against surprising challenger Baron Von Raschke, a unique AWA crossover opponent. I thought this really built on the strong foundation of the January match. I liked that they started with a more traditi…

The second in their March '77 trilogy and the longest, drawing at 60:00. Although it's not as cohesive or memorable as their 3/5 match, it's still as good as you'd expect. The build to Billy's double arm suplex is a fun little narrative that threads its way through the match. Robinson stays in control through much of the first fall, working the headlock, transitioning to the back with suplexes and stretches, finally switching to the leg before Jumbo pins Billy following his own double arm suplex! Jumbo stays on Billy's back during the second fall, whipping him into corners (sold brilliantly by Billy) and putting him in a crab hold -- but Billy spikes Jumbo with a killer c…

This is, in my opinion, the weakest match of the 1977 trilogy but still a good match. Standard first fall with jockeying for control, Robinson whipping out a few neckbreakers, and Jumbo getting in little spurts of offense here and there, eventually pinning Robinson after a belly-to-back suplex. The referee is the worst. Jumbo works a headlock through most of the second fall and while it isn't quite as engaging as Robinson doing it, it's still fun to see Robinson headstand his way out of it only to get caught back on the mat. In the end, Robinson drops Jumbo with a couple of backbreakers and submits him with the crab hold. Billy continues looking for the crab hold into the…

FEAR THE MAD DOG!!! This was a bloody, bloody match. Kimura bled. Vachon bled. THE REFEREE BLED!! All you vampires can mark this match as a rare TRIPLE JUICE BRAWL. This starts out with Vachon laying some nice stiff shots on Kimura before Kimura does some boring wrestling and Vachon just chucks him to the outside, piledrives him on the floor and carves him up with a chain. Vachon raking that chain across Kimura's face is some of the grizzlier imagery I've seen in a pro wrestling match. Then he also goes out of his way to piledrive the ref on the floor and do the exact same thing to him. I imagine this kind of stuff would have got fans storming the ring in other territorie…