WWWF: Championship Wrestling
February 4, 1978
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Arena

Your current WWWF champions are as follows:
WWWF Heavyweight Champion: Superstar Billy Graham (4/30/1977)
WWWF World Tag Team Champions: Mr. Fuji & Professor Toru Tanaka (9/27/1977)

Pop Culture #1s:
#1 Movie of the Week: Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta
#1 Song of the Week: Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees
#1 TV Show of 77-78 Season: Laverne & Shirley starring Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams

Your host is Vince McMahon.

• Tony Garea vs. Nikolai Volkoff
  

They do some mat stuff to start. Volkoff gets Garea down on the mat with a hammerlock and a half nelson to try for the pin, but that ain’t happening. Volkoff catches Garea coming off the ropes with a knee and gives him the press into a backbreaker for 1-2-NO! Garea mounts his comeback with armdrags, but Volkoff manages to slow it down again. He headbutts Garea in the gut and puts the boots to him. Garea reverses a corner whip though and tries to turn things around, but they KO each other. Garea just can’t seem to get any lasting advantage over Volkoff. They both do a spot where they cartwheel away from monkey flips – except Garea gets up and dropkicks Volkoff into the corner. BUT THEN THEY START CIRCLING EACH OTHER. Come on, Tony. Get after it. He twists on a wristlock, but Volkoff once again takes control. They get into a fisticuffs battle and the bell sounds to signal a TV time-limit draw. (10:00) This actually went a minute or so over ten minutes. Oh well. These two could have been a little more aggressive if you ask me. *½

• Dino Bravo vs. Joe Turco
  

This is his WWWF debut as Dino just finished up a run in Mid-Atlantic before coming here. We’ve got dark-haired Dino here. He looks to be in phenomenal shape and can actually move around the ring unlike the Dino you may remember best from the late 1980s. Bravo delivers a Russian legsweep and an AIRPLANE SPIN before pinning Turco at 4:57. After the bell, Turco sells the airplane spin and requires assistance from the ref to get to his feet – and even then he’s still having lots of trouble.

• Larry Sharpe vs. Mike Madero
  

Since he’s the “Pretty Boy”, the crowd whistles at Larry Sharpe while he’s taking off his purple sweat suit. He concentrates on the neck of Madero and wins with a suplex at 2:49.

• Mr. Fuji & Professor Toru Tanaka (w/Freddie Blassie) vs. Dennis Johnson & Terry York
  

I really enjoyed the match Fuji and Tanaka had last week with Strongbow and Maivia. Here Fuji and Tanaka get an opportunity to abuse these two ham and eggers with very little trouble at all. Lots of choking and nerve holds. Tanaka delivers the COBRA CHOKE to York and pins him in 6:03 for the win. Vince says Fuji and Tanaka could be tag team champions for years to come. They will hold onto the straps until Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci comes along to face them on March 14 in Philadelphia.

When we return, Freddie Blassie and Spiros Arion are standing by with Vince McMahon. After everyone was keeping Arion down, Blassie has molded him into the most vicious man in the profession today. Blassie says Arion also comes from royalty and his family has more money than they know what to do with. They own 500 oil tankers and if they took all their ships out of the ocean, the ocean would go right down the drain. Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Arion says it’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as he is. Blassie makes Arion’s purpose clear: he’s here for Superstar Billy Graham’s WWWF title. He makes fun of all the top babyfaces. He apologizes for making jokes about Dominic DeNucci and Chief Jay Strongbow, but then makes another joke because Blassie is the man. They aren’t only ugly, they’re also stupid!

• Baron Mikel Scicluna vs. SD Jones
  

Last week these two wrestled to a quick double-countout, now here’s the rematch. Scicluna controls with an armbar and Jones takes over with a wristlock. Scicluna pounds his way out of the hold setting up a headbutt by Jones. SD now wants to work on the leg, but then lets Scicluna up and he goes low on Jones. He puts the boots to SD until the bell sounds for the curfew time limit draw at 5:48. Afterwards, Scicluna attacks Jones until Jones gets all fired up again and scares the German away. WILL THESE TWO EVER SETTLE THEIR DIFFERENCES~?

That’s going to do it for this week. We’ll be heading into December 1978 on the next recap of Championship Wrestling where Ivan Koloff, Chief Jay Strongbow, a heel High Chief Peter Maivia, Ivan Putski, and Andre the Giant will all be appearing.

Until next time, so long for now.