Hey, I'm all for people shattering conventional wisdom with actual footage evidence.

I went into this fully expecting bad wrestling, no angles, no competitive matches and no promos(since the local ones aren't in) and I was watching to hear the Joe McHugh intros and early Vince on commentary so the amount of competitive matches is a welcome surprise.

I've seen clips of WWF TV and I've seen all the MSG shows but I'm really enjoying Vince in his role here. He might have only been behind Lance, right there with Gordon. The disgust with the heels is great. I love when Blassie goes on a long offensive rant and Vince just says, "Thank you very much, Mr. Blassie" and sends to commercial.

1/10/76 - one of the greatest incompetent jobber moments in wrestling history during the Ernie Ladd handicap match, and Ernie's promo where he refuses to call Vince by his name and condescendingly keeps calling him "Mr. TV Announcer"

 

I also watched the episode from August 79 with Piper on it. Really weird booking, I kind of got the vibe Roddy already rubbed the old man or someone else the wrong way backstage before the match even begun, as he got booked in a competitive 10-minute draw with Jose Estrada, five minutes of which was him selling a bear hug. It was still cool to see the Fieldhouse crowd responding positively to fiery young upstart face Roddy Piper, just weird booking for a guy making his All Star Wrestling debut with - what I assume - a little bit of a name from the magazines and from LA's television being syndicated to Spanish stations. And Albano coming out for a few seconds randomly getting in Piper's face blew my mind just for the tease of a face Piper vs heel Albano feud.

I saw a Johnny Rodz match from 79 where he was like a total workrate guy. Now I wish Rodz-Fujinami happened in 79.

 

It did; only the once mind on a Nassau Coliseum show from 2/10. I have zero idea if it would've been taped though.

1/10/76 - one of the greatest incompetent jobber moments in wrestling history during the Ernie Ladd handicap match, and Ernie's promo where he refuses to call Vince by his name and condescendingly keeps calling him "Mr. TV Announcer"

 

That seemed to be his preferred term of address for whoever was interviewing him. I know he did it to Gordon Solie in Georgia and Bob Caudle in Mid-Atlantic as well.

I love how the 1975 show looks like the hard cam is either on a tripod with one short leg or slowly sliding off whatever it was set on.

 

Agreed how surprising the shows have been, I was honestly expecting one borefest after another with the only appeal being historical, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how entertaining they've been. Superstar doing Hogan promos with Vince playing Mean Gene will never not be entertaining.

Glad to see people enjoying the All Star drop. As a long time fan of this era, I never thought I would see the day when PWO would go gaga over 70s WWWF. And this is just the "B" show stuff!

I was wondering, since so many buildings from that era are long dead and gone, and not only is the Hamburg Field House still standing it still hosts wrestling on a regular basis.

1/10/76 - one of the greatest incompetent jobber moments in wrestling history during the Ernie Ladd handicap match, and Ernie's promo where he refuses to call Vince by his name and condescendingly keeps calling him "Mr. TV Announcer"

 

I also watched the episode from August 79 with Piper on it. Really weird booking, I kind of got the vibe Roddy already rubbed the old man or someone else the wrong way backstage before the match even begun, as he got booked in a competitive 10-minute draw with Jose Estrada, five minutes of which was him selling a bear hug. It was still cool to see the Fieldhouse crowd responding positively to fiery young upstart face Roddy Piper, just weird booking for a guy making his All Star Wrestling debut with - what I assume - a little bit of a name from the magazines and from LA's television being syndicated to Spanish stations. And Albano coming out for a few seconds randomly getting in Piper's face blew my mind just for the tease of a face Piper vs heel Albano feud.

Piper in some interview related the story that he was treated very, very badly backstage at Madison Square Garden by Blassie and Albano.

The way I heard it is that those two were actually nice to him backstage but that he suspected them of sabotage, because when he went out to do his bagpipe routine he found he couldn't play it and that when he went over it later someone had stuffed it with toilet paper.

Only watched first episode but Captain Lou and Blassie bumping around was great fun. Also, Baron was the shits still in 75 (sorry Parv)

Wrestling lost so much when Vince decided managers were too southern. Theres really nothing today like Captain Lou, and there is nothing incentivizing anyone to try to be since it would limit your career options.

The Ernie Ladd promo with Vince McMahon on the 1/10/76 episode is can't miss television

Seconded. What a treat that was to watch.

 

Whenever I get to see Ladd footage I hadn't before, I never cease to be entertained. What makes him great in the WWWF was how just about every other heel had a manager (he had the Grand Wizard, but...) that spoke for them. Meanwhile, Ladd talked, and did it far differently and probably better than a manager could for him. Heck, in this promo, the way he put other heels over as legit (in his own mind, of course) did that job too. He really stood out amongst the heels in the Northeast, IMO. I don't know if I'd say he was ahead of his time with that (although he could be, being among the first African American heels), but he went against the grain in many ways...and excelled doing so. One of the greatest all-time greats.

 

 

I saw a Johnny Rodz match from 79 where he was like a total workrate guy. Now I wish Rodz-Fujinami happened in 79.

It did; only the once mind on a Nassau Coliseum show from 2/10. I have zero idea if it would've been taped though.

I love this place.

 

The Ernie Ladd promo with Vince McMahon on the 1/10/76 episode is can't miss television

Seconded. What a treat that was to watch.

 

Whenever I get to see Ladd footage I hadn't before, I never cease to be entertained. What makes him great in the WWWF was how just about every other heel had a manager (he had the Grand Wizard, but...) that spoke for them. Meanwhile, Ladd talked, and did it far differently and probably better than a manager could for him. Heck, in this promo, the way he put other heels over as legit (in his own mind, of course) did that job too. He really stood out amongst the heels in the Northeast, IMO. I don't know if I'd say he was ahead of his time with that (although he could be, being among the first African American heels), but he went against the grain in many ways...and excelled doing so. One of the greatest all-time greats.

 

Ernie Ladd is a goddamned treasure.

 

The Ernie Ladd promo with Vince McMahon on the 1/10/76 episode is can't miss television

Seconded. What a treat that was to watch.

 

Whenever I get to see Ladd footage I hadn't before, I never cease to be entertained. What makes him great in the WWWF was how just about every other heel had a manager (he had the Grand Wizard, but...) that spoke for them. Meanwhile, Ladd talked, and did it far differently and probably better than a manager could for him. Heck, in this promo, the way he put other heels over as legit (in his own mind, of course) did that job too. He really stood out amongst the heels in the Northeast, IMO. I don't know if I'd say he was ahead of his time with that (although he could be, being among the first African American heels), but he went against the grain in many ways...and excelled doing so. One of the greatest all-time greats.

 

 

I haven't looked into this in detail, but it could be the case that since every WWWF heel had to have a manager, the ones who were strong talkers tended to be paired with the Grand Wizard. In addition to Ladd, he also managed Superstar Billy Graham, Blackjack Mulligan, and Sgt. Slaughter.

For anyone Network-less, WWE still has the full promo (and following Ladd handicap match) on their YouTube page:

 

 

 

The Ernie Ladd promo with Vince McMahon on the 1/10/76 episode is can't miss television

Seconded. What a treat that was to watch.

 

Whenever I get to see Ladd footage I hadn't before, I never cease to be entertained. What makes him great in the WWWF was how just about every other heel had a manager (he had the Grand Wizard, but...) that spoke for them. Meanwhile, Ladd talked, and did it far differently and probably better than a manager could for him. Heck, in this promo, the way he put other heels over as legit (in his own mind, of course) did that job too. He really stood out amongst the heels in the Northeast, IMO. I don't know if I'd say he was ahead of his time with that (although he could be, being among the first African American heels), but he went against the grain in many ways...and excelled doing so. One of the greatest all-time greats.

 

 

I haven't looked into this in detail, but it could be the case that since every WWWF heel had to have a manager, the ones who were strong talkers tended to be paired with the Grand Wizard. In addition to Ladd, he also managed Superstar Billy Graham, Blackjack Mulligan, and Sgt. Slaughter.

 

Perhaps, but Wizard still spoke for guys like Graham, as shown with the content drop they gave. "Look at the arms!"

 

Admittedly, this is also a bit of personal taste of mine, as I have higher praise for Ladd than Graham.

Johnny Rodz vs Frank Williams from 3/20/76 is like some kind of jobber dream match

Does anyone know what Rocca always calls Vince? Sounds like he is saying "General"

Junior?

Yeah, that's probably it

 

For those interested in such things, 11/12/77 features a very early appearance of the legendary jobber team Johnny Rodz and Jose Estrada (the future Medicos in Puerto Rico). Wrestlingdata actually doesn't have an earlier date for them teaming together

I don't know whether I just had very low expectations of this drop of content given it was late 1970s WWF stuff but I've been very suprised and actually really like it. The matches aren't necessarily enhancement matches. There is some work rate for some of the matches. And Vince calls the matches like a legit match and bar Bruno's "hair" looking ridiculous it's actually been great.

For anyone Network-less, WWE still has the full promo (and following Ladd handicap match) on their YouTube page:

 

 

So much fun. Great promo.