WWWF: All Star Wrestling
May 6, 1978
Hamburg, PA
Hamburg Fieldhouse

Your current WWWF champions are as follows:
WWWF Heavyweight Champion: Bob Backlund (2/20/1978)
WWWF World Tag Team Champions: Dominic DeNucci & Dino Bravo (4/1/1978)

Pop Culture #1s of the Time:
#1 Movie of the Week: The Last Waltz feat. The Band directed by Martin Scorsese
#1 Song of the Week: Night Fever by Bee Gees
#1 TV Show of the 77-78 Season: Laverne & Shirley starring Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams

Follow along if you have the WWE Network!

The following wrestling exhibition requires discretionary viewer participation.

Your host is Vince McMahon.

Before we get to any wrestling, Vince McMahon meets Dusty Rhodes in an empty arena for a special interview. Has Dusty made an entire career out of humble bragging over being the “son of a plumber” and “260 pounds of blue-eyed soul”? I know times have changed and Dusty’s character is obviously more suited and meant for people living forty years ago, but do people still see plumbers as poor blue collar people in 2019? Most plumbers nowadays I’d bet make more money than you and work when they want to work. I’d say that’s a pretty good living. Anyways, this promo is less about being the son of a plumber and more about how he doesn’t care what color the fans are. He says a black man and a white man eating out of the same popcorn box is the American dream, but he needs *our* help to keep the American dream alive. Classic Dusty.

• Haystacks Calhoun & Larry Zbyszko vs. Bill Dixon & Moose Monroe

With a name like Bill Dixon, you wouldn’t expect him to have quite the afro. And yet, he does. We get a showdown between Calhoun and Monroe. Weird seeing two fat guys try to chain wrestle a little bit. We get Dixon and Zbyszko next. The match breaks down as Monroe and Dixon are whipped into each other. You might be wondering why Zbyszko isn’t tagging with Garea, but Garea is away on a Spring tour of New Japan. Chief Jay Strongbow is over there as well. To wrap up, Zbyszko whips Dixon into brick wall Calhoun for the three-count in 6:29.

Before the next match, Spiros Arion and Freddie Blassie talk with Vince McMahon. Blassie says Haystacks Calhoun is going to open a fat farm and Larry Zbyszko wants to open a ballet school. He then starts bragging about spending more money than he makes and kicking broads out of cars when he’s tired of them. He runs through his list of wrestlers he manages and namedrops his pals Captain Lou Albano and the Grand Wizard. Vince wants to know if the lone wolf Spiros Arion and Blassie are friends. They both agree they are pals, but Arion feels much more deeply about Blassie because Blassie has taught him how to perfect himself. Arion continues to talk about what he’s going to do around here as we go to break.

• Spiros Arion (w/Freddie Blassie) vs. Gene Crespo

Arion chokes his man and twists him around for a neckbreaker. Lots more choking from Arion. He twists on the neck and runs his head into the buckle. He even pulls the turnbuckle pad off and slams Crespo’s head into the steel a few times. This guy is just getting destroyed. The GREEK BACKBREAKER submits Crespo in 4:12.

• SD Jones vs. Tank Patton

You’ll hear Vince make mention of Patton being undefeated on All Star Wrestling. It appears he was going to become another Johnny Rodz level worker within the WWWF. He sticks around through the Spring and returned to his home territory of Kansas City. When head damage doesn’t work, Patton beats down Jones and works a bearhug. Jones fights out and delivers a nice dropkick. He catches Patton with a couple headbutts that rocks Patton out to the floor. As Jones goes after him, they brawl on the floor for a double-countout in 6:34.

• “High Chief” Peter Maivia vs. Joe Turco

Turco has a hard time trying to figure out Maivia, which is always a problem for heels. Turco’s selling looks like it belongs in a Three Stooges short. Eventually once Maivia is done playing around, he twists on the ankle and grapevines the legs. Turco sits up to try and escape, but gets poked in the eyes. Once Maivia grows weary of playing around with Turco, he delivers the BILLY ROBINSON BACKBREAKER for the pin in 7:59.

That’s going to do it for this week. Until next time, so long for now.