WWF: All Star Wrestling
December 29, 1979
Hamburg, PA
Hamburg Fieldhouse

Your current WWF champions are as follows:
WWF Heavyweight Champion: Bob Backlund (2/20/1978)
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Pat Patterson (9/1/1979)
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Ivan Putski & Tito Santana (10/22/1979)

Pop Culture #1s of the Time:
#1 Movie of the Week: Kramer vs. Kramer starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep
#1 Song of the Week: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes
#1 TV Show of the 79-80 Season: 60 Minutes hosted by Mike Wallace

Follow along if you have the WWE Network!

The following wrestling exhibition requires discretionary viewer participation.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino. Since we’re still at the same taping, JOOOOE MCHUGH is back again this week.

• Larry Zbyszko vs. Pete Doherty

The kids are dying to get at Zbyszko for an autograph which just makes the upcoming heel turn that much more heartbreaking. Doherty tries to slap Zbyszko around to start and gets upset when he’s slapped himself. Zbyszko goes for the leg and mildly twists on the ankle. It’s hilarious listening to Vince and Bruno discuss how this hurts. Back up, Doherty takes a few armdrags and Zbyszko applies an armbar. He moves into a wristlock, but Doherty goes to the eyes. He knees Zbyszko down in the corner and chokes on him. Zbyszko returns the favor and lays in the blows. Back to the ankle. Bruno doesn’t seem to understand why Zbyszko keeps going after one body part – because as Bruno says, you can’t make a guy submit to a leg hold. HUH? Doherty escapes the hold by grabbing a headlock, but Zbyszko counters with a bridging back suplex for the three-count. (5:44) Doherty hardly got to show us his personality in this one. We saw a deliberate Zbyszko concentrating on the leg, but that’s really it. ¾*

• Ken Patera (w/The Grand Wizard) vs. Dan Patrick

Patera and the Wizard go through their gay antics of Wizard taking off Patera’s pants. Dan Patrick looks not only green as a wrestler but green as a person. If you saw him, you would know what I mean. Patera does an extensive warm-up and Patrick doesn’t do anything. Aggressive squash for Patera to start. He works a headlock on the mat and transitions to giving Patrick a suplex. Patera bearhugs Patrick and backs him into the corner before throwing him to the floor. Bruno chastises Patera for being such a bully. Back in, Patera shows off by slamming Patrick from one corner of the ring to the next. Vince thinks Patrick is out on his feet right now and has no idea where he is. SWINGING FULL NELSON ends Patrick. (5:46) Vince goes off on a moral rant about Patera. Great squash for Patera. No contest whatsoever, but man he looked like a world beater.

After the break, Bruno Sammartino meets with the WWF world tag champs Ivan Putski and Tito Santana for an interview at ringside. He wants to know how they plan to deal with a team like the Wild Samoans. Train, train, and train some more. Bruno highlights that Ivan is the strength guy and Tito is the speed guy, but wonders how they can compete against *SAVAGES* like the Wild Samoans when they don’t appear to be from this time period. Putski says every man has a weakness and they will find it. Santana says they try to prepare for every possible combination of wrestlers they are to meet. Putski mentions they work well together and that’s what will lead to success. What a bunch of babyface talk there.

• Bobby Duncum (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. Ben Ortiz

WHO WANTS BEN ORTIZ’S AUTOGRAPH? Come on kids. He’s another green jabroni who Duncum destroys with headlocks and such. Albano talks to us on Vince’s headset about what he thinks about Duncum and his AMAZING skills and such. Once he leaves, Vince and Bruno talk about how volatile Albano is. Duncum continues working the neck to set up the RUNNING BULLDOG for the win. (5:13) I tell ya, Duncum has been kind of a disappointment during this run. He had a few good promos, but that’s about it.

• Ivan Putski & Tito Santana vs. John Buford & Davey O’Hannon

Santana armdrags O’Hannon around the ring to start. Putski takes over cranking and twisting on a wristlock. O’Hannon tries to corner Putski over on his side of town, but Putski runs O’Hannon’s and Buford’s heads together. Tag to Santana, he cranks on a headlock, which is such a 1970s thing to do. Back to Putski, and in comes Buford. He’s stuck in a headlock as well by Putski and Santana. Now Santana gets stuck in O’Hannon’s corner and that’s bad news as he gets choked a bunch. O’Hannon lands a knee drop, slams Santana, but misses a flying knee drop. Hot tag to Putski, he punches O’Hannon out of the ring. Putski flips Buford into the ring and snapmares Buford around for a chinlock. Umm, there wasn’t a tag, but the ref is allowing the switch anyways. The babyfaces do a switch as well. Now there’s a tag to Putski. Santana whips Buford into the ropes and Putski lands the POLISH HAMMER for the win. (6:51) Except for a few moments from O’Hannon, this was the tag champs all the way. ½*

Afterwards, Bruno meets with Ivan Putski and Tito Santana again at ringside. Bruno confirms that the Wild Samoans want a match over the tag titles and wants to know how they will prepare for them. Didn’t we already discuss this? Putski feels the Wild Samoans are untested and Santana says they have been scouting the Wild Samoans since they showed up. If they can control the pace, they can beat the Wild Samoans. Putski warns Albano not to stick his nose in the match and wants the Wild Samoans – RIGHT NOW. Bruno assures them that the fans are behind them and wishes them the best.

• Tony Atlas vs. Kevin Hughes

All I know of Kevin Hughes is that he’s a student under Killer Kowalski. He tries to go after Tony’s arm. Vince and Bruno wonder why Hughes thinks he can hurt Atlas’s arm. Atlas holds him down in a headlock. Here comes some power moves from Atlas. He backdrops Hughes and follows up with a suplex for the win in 2:52. Vince calls Atlas “one heck of a guy”.

That’s going to do it for this week and for 1979! Here are my TOP 3 WWF matches of the year!

1. 9/24, Madison Square Garden – WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson (CAGE MATCH) ****
2. 7/21, Philadelphia Spectrum – Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Greg Valentine ***¾
3. 8/27, Madison Square Garden – WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson ***½