Posted January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719324 I've been reading Capitol Revolution since the New Year, and it has got me interested more in the pre-WWF era. I'm sure there are might be loads, and I look like an arse, but since there isn't often a lot of mention of legitimate 'must watch' matches from the pre-WWF era, I thought it might be worth asking here for any suggestions.
January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719341 If you're expecting workrate and "5 star classics" you will be sorely dissapointed. The WWWF era was largely a wasteland of lazy workers and formless, dull matches. And this is coming from someone who LOVES this era. What this era has going for it is a red hot main event scene centered around Bruno Sammartino, and later, Superstar Graham title defenses. Most of these come from MSG. I think one needs to have an open mind about these matches. They may not be the most exciting matches from a workrate perspective, but from a pure epic ATMOSPHERE perspective, these matches are as heated as anything ever. Atmosphere means a lot to me, so if that's not your thing, these matches may not mean anything to you. Off the top of my head the best WWWF matches I've seen: Bruno Sammartino vs Spiros Arion, 3 match series at MSG 2/17, 3/17, 4/14 1975 Bruno vs Waldo Von Erich MSG 6/16/75 Dom DeNucci/Victor Rivera vs the Blackjacks 6/21/75 WILD BRAWL Bruno vs Superstar Graham matches from 76-77, with 6/27/77 MSG probably being the best Bruno vs Hansen MSG 4/26/76 (match where Bruno broke his neck. JIP but still good) Bruno vs Ken Patera MSG 8/29/77 Graham vs Dusty Rhodes MSG 9/26 and 10/24 1977 Bob Backlund vs Ivan Koloff MSG 8/28/78
January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719343 It is better to go into Vince Sr-era WWF with a different mindset. It's not about great matches or workrate or even great wrestling. It's about ... something else. Something I cannot quite explain.
January 7, 20169 yr Author comment_5719344 Oh yeah, I wasn't expecting mind-blowing matches, but it got me stoked to check out the atmosphere of the time period as much as anything else. Any youtube/dailymotion stuff would be cool, as I lack the funds to invest at the moment. Thanks for the recommendations - keep them coming.
January 7, 20169 yr Author comment_5719362 I think a lot of those are on youtube. I'll check around later That'd be awesome. I found a couple, but my youtube-fu powers suck.
January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719373 Backlund vs Koloff in 3 parts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRxNID97Mus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z12UmdDREJ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlC3jEARdTo
January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719380 I didn't know the Hansen/Bruno match with the neck break was televised. Any reason why it's JIP? The Patera/Bruno match also sounds pretty interesting if it's anywhere near as good as Backlund's Patera match.
January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719384 Hansen/Bruno I believe was shown on one of those time-filler MSG match things that they did on the Network. I forget what the show was called, if it even had a specific name. They would show matches from the Garden to fill the remaining time before the top of the hour, I'm thinking when a sporting event ended at, say, 1045. So, from 1046 to 1100 they would show a match. As such it would be JIP as the match would have been cut down to fit that spot to get to the top of the hour.
January 7, 20169 yr comment_5719387 I have been watching the 6/27/77 MSG on the Network, inspired by this thread. Superstar/Bruno is far from a technical wonder, but Bruno carries him to lots of fun times. Also, Andre/Strongbow vs Volkoff/Patera is terrific. Did Bruno ever wrestle Backlund? I am guessing not, since they were both faces. But I have seen two Bruno matches lately that I quite enjoyed. I am coming around on the guy finally, and I would curious to see that match-up.
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719403 No. Vince Sr believed in a strict face/heel divide. They tried Bruno vs Pedro Morales at Shea Stadium in 1972 and they only drew as many fans as a packed MSG, which was considered dissapointing. One of the lessons learned was the belief fans didn't want to see face vs face. Vince Sr was also extremely careful in his booking of Bob and purposely kept him apart from Bruno in any manner (they never teamed) because he didn't want the fans to think Bob was an inferior replacement to their hero.
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719480 Whole card from 8/29/77 MSG featuring Bruno vs Patera Texas Death Match https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcTTx5c1XVM 9/26/77 MSG featuring Graham vs Dusty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAsLHVjo-oQ
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719487 It's not on Youtube. But I really enjoyed the Backlund vs. Hussein Arab match from 1979. Really good work and it's a match where you can see the Sheik still move well.
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719489 Oh yeah, that's a great match. If you open the parameters to include the Backlund era (they dropped the extra "W" in March 79) there are tons of great matches from 79-83
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719530 Oh yeah, that's right after the W got dropped. It was April or May I think.
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719537 If we're ranging into to 1979, Pat Patterson has a string of impressive performances that year. I really like one of the ones vs. DiBiase.
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719541 Bruno-Patera Texas Death Match sounds very appealing. Is there consensus on the best Bruno match outside of the stuff with Larry?
January 8, 20169 yr Author comment_5719543 By all means, extend this to pre-1984. Excellent suggestions so far. Thanks.
January 8, 20169 yr comment_5719550 If I get a moment later, I can go through all the shows we watched for Titans and pick out any that stand out. Generally there's a lot more good and even great matches in the Backlund era. Not just because Bob was more of a worker than Bruno, but also because with guys like Valentine, Patterson, DiBiase, Patera, Slaughter, Hussein Arab (Iron Sheik), Adrian Adonis, Rick Martel, Bob Orton Jr, and Mr. Saito coming through, the workrate goes through the roof. The old 70s crew were lazy as hell. They didn't like bumping. There's a lot of lumbering around and matches that drift. And honestly, if I was alone watching some of that stuff rather than doing it for Titans I probably would have turned it off. Some of the 70s cards are really painful to get through. The 79-83 period on the other hand will usually deliver one or two really enjoyable matches in any given sitting. It's because, simply put, there are better workers around. One hidden gem off the top of my head though is Dominic Denucci vs. Great Hussein Arab. Denucci goes "middle aged and crazy". I think it's in Philly too.
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