NWA: Big Time Wrestling
February 1975
London, ON, Canada
London Gardens

On the intro video, Bob Finnegan describes this show as having the greatest wrestlers in the world and yet all they show is the Sheik throwing fireballs in wrestlers faces! Not showing us a ton of variety there.

Your host is Lord Layton.

O CANADA~!

• Waldo Von Erich vs. Gene DuBois
  

Waldo still sticking to the neo-Nazi gimmick in 1975. He catches fan favorite DuBois before the bell and assaults him in the corner. DuBois lands on his feet out of a backdrop and gives Von Erich his receipt. Von Erich bails out and baits DuBois to the floor so he can choke him on his way back in the ring. DuBois rolls out and runs around the ring to try and confuse Von Erich as he grabs him by the leg and goes to work on the knee. Von Erich gets up and puts his leg through the ropes to get DuBois to back up. Von Erich goes low on DuBois and thumbs him in the throat a few times. DuBois comes back with turnbuckle smashes and whips Von Erich hard into the opposite corner before kicking him to the floor. DuBois beats him back into the ring, but then Von Erich throws DuBois back out to the floor. Von Erich keeps on kicking DuBois off the apron and doesn’t let him back in the ring so the ref DQ’s him at 6:29.

• Jay York vs. The Patriot
  

Only in the mid-70s when American patriotism had to be at a CENTURY-level low would a gimmick like the Patriot be a heel. I realize this is Canada, but still. Layton tells us Jay York is part of a lumberjack brother tag team. Lots of holds traded on the mat for the first six minutes or so. Patriot slugs York back into a corner and delivers a backdrop. York hits a clothesline though out of nowhere and pins Patriot in the middle of the ring at 6:32.

• Cage Match: The Sheik vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
  

Despite not being the last match on the card, this is billed as *your* main event of the evening by Bob Finnegan. It’s the Muslims versus the Sikhs all over again. This is WWF rules as you have to escape the cage to win the match. The height of the cage is only about seven feet high. Both guys make early attempts to get out the door though. A little bit odd since they both love to fight. At one point, Sheik tries climbing out over the cage wall and Lord Layton says that’s illegal. NO RULZ THOUGH, BRUH. Sheik throws Jeet Singh into the cage, but that just fires him up. Sheik bleeds and sells a bunch for Singh. In fact, he sells so much for Singh, that Singh punches him right out the cage door to give Sheik the win. (7:46) Tiger Jeet Singh is quite upset, but them’s the breaks sometimes. *

• NWF North American Title: Stan Stasiak (c) vs. Ron Donner
  

Stasiak is wearing the NWF North American title around his waist, which may or may not still be running shows in the Pittsburgh tri-state area and parts of New York state at this point. Any results of that territory is sorely lacking. Donner works over the left arm of Stasiak to start, but should be working the right arm if he doesn’t want that Heart Punch. Stasiak comes back on Donner and smashes his face into the turnbuckle, but misses a Heart Punch and punches the buckle instead. Stasiak works the arm, but Donner slugs Stasiak and ties him up in the ropes. Stasiak instead goes low and stomps him down. With Donner weakened, Stasiak hits the HEART PUNCH for the win at 4:19.

• NWA World Tag Team Titles: Angelo & Lanny Poffo (c) (w/Saul Weingeroff) vs. Mickey Doyle & Billy Red Lyons
  

This is definitely the earliest match I’ve seen of Lanny. He’s got the bleached blonde hair going on here. Layton bills Mickey Doyle as a “teen idol” (he’s in his late 20s) and calls Billy Red Lyons the finest wrestler in all of Canada. Doyle armdrags the old man Poffo quite a bit to start. Poffo grabs the hair and runs Doyle’s face into the buckle before throwing him to the floor. Tag to Lanny, he shows off his perfect cartwheel and backflips. While trying to keep Doyle on the floor, Lanny eventually charges into a shoulder butt and Lanny goes flying. Lyons gets the hot tag and destroys Lanny. Tag to Angelo, he immediately begs off in a corner. He locks up with Lyons though, but gets slugged down and receives a coconut crusher. Tag to Lanny, and we take a commercial break. AND WE’RE BACK! The challengers control Lanny with headlocks while nailing Angelo whenever it suits them. Lanny and Doyle do a criss-cross and when Doyle is ready to deck Lanny, Lanny avoids the punch and cartwheels away. Doyle makes him eat a dropkick and Lanny tags out. Angelo slaps Doyle across the face and that fires up Doyle. He slaps Doyle back and beats him up in the corner. A pair of slams gets two. Lyons gives Angelo another slam and Lanny breaks up the pin. Lyons ends up getting caught on the wrong side of town as Lanny hammers on Lyons neck for a nearfall. He fires back on Lanny though and backdrops him to the floor. Back in, Angelo holds Doyle for a missile dropkick by Lanny for 1-2-NO! That was impressive for 1975. They keep Doyle on their half of the ring for a bit until Doyle comes back on Angelo with a pair of slams. Hot tag to Lyons, The match breaks down as the Poffos are run together. Once they get back to work in the ring, Doyle and Lanny do a criss-cross and KO each other. Doyle collapses, but Lanny staggers around and gets shoved down on top of Doyle for the pinfall. (12:15 shown) Layton explains to the ref what happened and won’t accept the decision. Saul Weingeroff yells at Layton telling him he’s just an announcer and not an official. Layton thinks he represents everyone in the arena. The ref ends up overturning the decision and gives the match to Billy Red Lyons and Mickey Doyle via DQ. **

This is the LAST of my 1970s Detroit footage. I hope you have enjoyed it. If not, I’ll be getting back to 1998 RAWs as soon as next week. April 1998 is HUGE for the WWF so you will want to be on the lookout for those recaps.

Goodbye, Detroit.

Until next time, so long for now.