WWWF: All Star Wrestling
July 15, 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: The Yukon Lumberjacks (6/26/1978)

Pop Culture #1s of the Time:
#1 Movie of the Week: Grease starring John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
#1 Song of the Week: Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb
#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.

• Dino Bravo & Johnny Rivera vs. Johnny Rodz & Jose Estrada

Rodz and Estrada really work well as a team here beating the crap out of Bravo and Rivera. Mostly Rivera. He’s stuck on the wrong side of town a few times. Dino gets the hot tag and gives both Rodz and Estrada an AIRPLANE SPIN and pins them both at 4:57. Afterwards, Bravo then hoists up Rivera on his shoulders and carries him to the locker room.

• Ivan Koloff (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. SD Jones

While Koloff works headlocks on SD Jones, Albano gets on Vince’s mic and tells him Koloff is turning Jones white. SD fires back with a headbutt and here we go. Koloff baits Jones into a corner and chokes him with his boot. He continues to throw around Jones and wins with a backbreaker in 4:54. You don’t normally see SD Jones quite get ravaged like that. Afterwards, Jones stalks Koloff around the ring and threatens him with a right hand. Albano gets on the apron and takes the shot from SD, but Koloff then pummels Jones for touching his manager and throws him to the floor. Koloff turns over the steps and smashes SD’s head into the wooden steps. Yeah, NO SELL THAT.

When we return, Captain Lou Albano has his WWWF tag champs the Yukon Lumberjacks with him to talk with Vince. The crowd won’t lay off Albano and Eric thinks it’s because the people here are low class. Pierre mumbles a bunch of stuff about what Albano has done for he and Eric. Albano brags about managing seven different tag team champions and looks to beat up some more tougher challengers. Albano tries speaking French to Pierre. In an interview I’ve seen with Rick Martel, Albano’s French is closer to gibberish than anything actually French. Albano says he’ll put up $10,000 to any two men who can last ten minutes with the Yukon Lumberjacks. Eric says he and Pierre will hold onto the tag belts until they have made enough money to return back to the woods to live the way they want to live. I love that their characters have a reason for being here, but also a reason for leaving. Albano continues his coke-fueled promo and starts striking his champs. He pulls back to hit Vince as well, but thinks twice.

• George “The Animal” Steele vs. Dave Darrow

You can catch some kids before the bell getting those coveted “Dave Darrow” autographs. Pretty typical Steele match. He tears the turnbuckle pad and rubs the stuffing over Darrow’s face. He stabs Darrow with his foreign object. He knocks Darrow off the apron a few times. The FLYING HAMMERLOCK wins in 5:50.

• Crazy Luke Graham (w/The Grand Wizard) vs. Frank Williams

It’s hilarious watching Graham be a gentleman with a clean break there at the start. He wears down Frank with a chinlock. Graham transitions to a headscissors. Frankie breaks loose and gets PISSED, but doesn’t do enough about it. Vince uses this match to talk to us about taking an opportunity to watch Bob Backlund, but then he says we won’t be seeing much of him in the near future because he’s defending the WWWF title all over the world. Frankie makes a brief comeback, but then Graham reaches in his tights and then thumbs him in the throat for the three-count in 6:02.

• The Yukon Lumberjacks (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. Tony Garea & Chief Jay Strongbow

Garea and Strongbow join forces to make the MEGA ROAD AGENTS. Garea and Eric start out by trading headlocks and headscissors. Eric sits Garea up in the corner to escape an armbar and slaps him across the face. OH SNAP. Tag to Pierre, he gets the receipt of a slap to the face by Garea. More headlocks and headscissors. Strongbow gets a tag and criss crosses with Pierre. He catches Pierre with a SLEEPERHOLD, but Eric breaks it up. Strongbow gets cornered on the wrong side of town until Garea can’t help but stick his nose into the match. Garea tags Strongbow, but he’s then taken over to the Yukon corner and beaten down. Meanwhile, Eric and Strongbow are brawling on the floor. Once Strongbow is down, Eric joins Pierre to stomp on Garea. Now all four men head to the floor and start brawling it up until the ref can’t take it anymore and disqualifies both teams. (6:37) Strongbow grabs a stool and starts pummeling the Yukon Lumberjacks and Albano. HE’S OUT OF CONTROL. Strongbow even chokes Pierre with a mic cord on the floor. It’s all WILD STUFF. Gorilla Monsoon comes out to try and restrain Garea and Strongbow as Albano gets his team back to the locker room. The match was ehh, but the wild brawl at the end was one of the cooler things on this show. The only thing that bugs me is you don’t get to see a heel tag team do what Strongbow and Garea did to some babyfaces in quite the same way. *½

Until next time, so long for now.