WWWF: All Star Wrestling
March 10, 1979
Hamburg, PA
Hamburg Fieldhouse

Your current WWF champions are as follows:
WWF Heavyweight Champion: Bob Backlund (2/20/1978)
WWF North American Heavyweight Champion: Ted DiBiase (2/17/1979)
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Tony Garea & Larry Zbyszko (12/2/1978)

Pop Culture #1s of the Time:
#1 Movie of the Week: The Deer Hunter starring Robert De Niro & Christopher Walken
#1 Song of the Week: Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? by Rod Stewart
#1 TV Show of the 78-79 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 hosts are Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino. We get Gary Michael Capetta back on ring announcer duty this week.

• Ted DiBiase vs. John Schmidt

This is not only our first look at DiBiase within the WWWF, but our first look at the WWWF North American title as well which is considered the predecessor to the Intercontinental championship that debuts in the fall of 1979. Schmidt is feeling froggy and jumps DiBiase at the bell. DiBiase turns the tables on him rather quickly and powerslams Schmidt for the win at the 38 second mark.

• Fred Curry vs. Gypsy Rodriguez

Dang gypsies in the ring. He rips into Curry and grabs a headlock, but Curry shoves him off and makes him run the ropes until he dropkicks Rodriguez to the floor. He headscissors him back in from the apron and maintains the hold on the mat. Rodriguez escapes, but runs right into a monkey flip. Time for the armbar. When the gypsy breaks free, Curry gets mad and delivers a pair of dropkicks before landing a crossbody block for the three count in 2:35.

Vince McMahon meets with the WWWF North American Heavyweight champion Ted DiBiase at ringside for a word. Ted discusses his background talking about his dad Iron Mike DiBiase. He says he first won the North American heavyweight title a year earlier by defeating Fritz Von Erich and has defended the championship all over the continent. KAYFABE. They are almost treating the title as if it were something he has brought with him into the area instead of a title he’s won in the WWWF. He mentions Greg Valentine, Tony Garea, and Bruno Sammartino as great wrestlers he wants to be able to compete against around here. Vince wonders what DiBiase thinks about Captain Lou’s club of wrestlers that are all gunning for him and the title. DiBiase already knows what Albano’s guys are all about and he’ll do what he has to do to hold onto the title. Of course he’d rather just stick to the rules. To wrap things up, DiBiase is glad to be here and he’s ready to WRESTLE.

• Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Greg Valentine (w/The Grand Wizard) – (Championship Wrestling, 3/3/79)

Vince and Bruno had talked earlier about how Valentine injured Strongbow and now we are going to see what went down. They feel each other out to start with the Wizard bugging Strongbow from the floor. They exchange blows and Strongbow wins a chopfest. He kicks at Valentine and delivers a knee lift to knock him silly. Valentine hiptosses Strongbow to take over and he goes for the leg, but Strongbow won’t let that happen. He does the same thing over again with the kick and the knee lift before grabbing a front headlock. Valentine puts Strongbow’s leg in the ropes and goes to work. He twists on the ankle and starts to hook on the Figure-Four, but Strongbow kicks him off into the corner.  Strongbow kicks at Valentine some more and whips him hard into the corner. Valentine whips Strongbow into the ropes, but Strongbow slides underneath and chops him several times. Valentine starts pounding on Strongbow, but it’s time go on the WARPATH. The dude is just chops and knee lifts. The Double Tomahawk Chop gets two as Valentine sneaks his foot on the bottom rope. Here comes the SLEEPERHOLD. Valentine kicks off the ropes to break the hold and the ref Dick Whorle gets KO’ed as well. While the ref is down, the Grand Wizard grabs a water pitcher and pours water all over Valentine to wake him up. As Valentine wakes up, he puts Strongbow in the FIGURE-FOUR LEG LOCK. Ref Dick Whorle rolls back into the ring and signals for the bell as Strongbow submits. (7:07) Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko run down to help get Valentine to break the hold on Strongbow. When they aren’t any help, GORILLA MONSOON gets in the ring and hits Valentine in the face with the water pitcher to get him to finally release the hold. While Garea and Zbyszko make sure Valentine and the Wizard leave, Monsoon stays with Strongbow as it appears his leg is broken. The doctor comes in and checks on Strongbow and he’s eventually put on a stretcher. It gets really dramatic. *½

• Hussein Arab (w/Freddie Blassie) vs. Tony Russo – (Championship Wrestling, 3/3/79)

While the next match begins and ends quickly, the doctor is shown wrapping a splint on Chief Jay’s broken leg. Hussein Arab wins with a jumping elbow drop in 1:18.

• Dominic DeNucci, Tony Garea & Larry Zbyszko vs. Bulldog Brower, Johnny & Jerry Valiant (w/Captain Lou Albano) – (Championship Wrestling, 3/3/79)

They keep Strongbow lying at ringside waiting for an ambulance to arrive while the Valiant brothers laugh at his expense. I’m not sure why we still need to be watching this prior episode unless something significant is about to happen. Just take him back to the locker room and let the angle end. Anyways, we get our first look at Jerry Valiant. Besides being the third Valiant brother who only came in because Jimmy and Johnny V couldn’t get along, he’s known as Guy Mitchell over in the Detroit territory. He starts the match and gets his arm wound up by Zbyszko and DeNucci. Vince gives Valentine more crap for breaking Strongbow’s leg. More armbar stuff happening. Garea is all backdrops and armdrags for Jerry and Johnny. In comes DeNucci, he’s a house on fire until he’s stopped by the Valiants. Johnny nails Jerry by mistake and Jerry winds up being tied up in the ropes. DeNucci punches back to knock down Jerry Valiant and tags in Zbyszko. An abdominal stretch is broken up by Brower as Johnny gets a tag. Tag to Brower, he’s all punches and headbutts for Zbyszko. He slams Zbyszko near the ropes, but misses a flying knee drop. Vince thinks the ambulance has arrived. DeNucci tags and he’s already stuck in the Albano corner. This match sucks. WHY ARE WE STILL WATCHING THIS? WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN AMBULANCE PICKS UP A PERSON. The ambulance takes Strongbow away and the match is still going on. Lots of cheap double-teaming from the Valiants. Bulldog Brower NO-SELLS what DeNucci is throwing, but it works because he’s INSANE. BROWER POWER. Eventually, the bell rings and we have a curfew draw alert. (18:02) They continue to brawl with all six guys in the ring until Albano’s men just decide to leave. ½*

Was this angle supposed to be compared to the great “I Broke Wahoo’s Leg” angle from Mid-Atlantic? Because if so, this was WEAK SAUCE booking. There was so much backstory before Greg Valentine ever got to the point he would break Wahoo’s leg. The booking here is just very linear. A heel does something bad and the babyface will come back for revenge. Nothing more, nothing less. No twists or turns or anything remotely different or interesting – much like most of the booking in this territory has been for YEARS.

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