WWF: All Star Wrestling
April 26, 1980
Hamburg, PA
Hamburg Fieldhouse

Your current WWF champions are as follows:
WWF Heavyweight Champion: Bob Backlund (2/20/1978)
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Ken Patera (4/21/1980)
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Wild Samoans (4/12/1980)

Pop Culture #1s of the Time:
#1 Movie of the Week: Coal Miner’s Daughter starring Sissy Spacek
#1 Song of the Week: Call Me by Blondie
#1 TV Show of the 79-80 Season: 60 Minutes hosted by Mike Wallace

Follow along if you have the WWE Network!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino.

• WWF World Tag Team Championship: Ivan Putski & Tito Santana (c) vs. The Wild Samoans – (Philadelphia Spectrum, 4/12/80)

The match starts with a shoving match and slugfest between the two teams. The Samoans get whipped into one another. Tito dropkicks Afa out while Sika eats a POLISH HAMMER from Putski for 1-2-NO! Santana and Putski go after Sika’s leg while they have him down on the mat. Tag to Afa, they do the spot where Putski (being a foot shorter than Afa) applies a full nelson for Santana to punch him only for Putski to turn Afa around for an incoming Sika to nail Afa, but of course Sika puts the brakes on because this spot is done in the WWF almost every show. Even Sika can see it coming. Afa reverses the hold and Sika comes in to chop Putski, but Putski escapes the hold and Afa gets wiped out. Santana tags in as they keep Afa in their corner. Back over to Putski, Afa sidesteps a corner charge and starts pounding Putski. There’s a headbutt by Afa. He sends Putski headfirst into Sika’s own head. Putski sees a backdrop coming and kicks away Sika to tag Santana. He goes DROPKICK CRAZY. Santana slams Sika and heads up top for a flying body press, but he seemed to have hit more canvas than Sika and hurts his knee. Sika grabs Santana and plants him with the SAMOAN DROP. Cover, 1-2-3! (7:36) Ladies and gentlemen, we have *NEW* WWF world tag team champions. Well, it’s about time because the Wild Samoans certainly deserve the straps. They have been running through EVERYONE since they came here while Santana and Putski never really seemed to click or wrestle together very often. They were fun to watch when they were chasing the belts against the Valiants, but not once they won the belts. **½

NOW BACK TO HAMBURG!

• Pedro Morales vs. Johnny Rodz

That’s right. PEDRO IS BACK IN THE BUILDING. Rodz and Morales to trade holds and punches to start. Pedro puts Rodz on the mat for a hammerlock and tries to turn him over for a pin. Rodz punches and kicks back, but that just pisses off Morales as they go to the floor for some ringside violence. Back in, Rodz takes off the turnbuckle pad, goes to the eyes, and bounces Morales off the exposed buckle a few times to take control. Well, Pedro doesn’t like that and returns the favor real quick. Rodz gets whipped into the steel buckle a few times. They go back to the floor for some brawling. Back in, Morales delivers the Billy Robinson Backbreaker and applies the BOSTON CRAB for the win. (6:39) Above average JTTS match with lots of brawling.

Bruno Sammartino interviews Pat Patterson. It sounds like Pat wants to get back into tag wrestling and he’s looking for a long-term partner. He puts over Ray Stevens as not only his favorite partner, but the best wrestler today. Yikes. Sorry, Bob. It’s safe to say that while both Pat and Bruno think the best talent is right here in the WWF, Patterson never really finds that long term partner.

• Pat Patterson vs. Frank Williams

Pat puts Williams on the mat and works a headlock. When they come back to their feet, Patterson grabs Williams by the jowls just for fun. Frankie corners Patterson with a series of blows, but Patterson avoids a corner charge and Frankie crashes in the corner. Patterson applies a chinlock and Frankie fights out, but Patterson puts him back on the mat and hammers him. Williams goes to the eyes and punches Patterson in the corner until Pat has enough and throws Frankie to the floor. Back in, Williams turns his back to Patterson and Vince is confused. Patterson goes to work on the knee. Williams fights back one more time, but then Patterson gets mad and unloads on Frankie for the STUMP PULLER submission. (8:51) Too long. Did anyone really think Frankie had a chance?

• Rene Goulet vs. Jose Estrada

They do some nice waistlock switches and exchanges, but then Goulet switches one time too many and Estrada moves to let Goulet fall to the floor. Estrada holds open the ropes for Goulet to come back inside the ring. Goulet gets stuck in a hammerlock and starts running in circles until Estrada falls out to the floor. Goulet holds the ropes open for Estrada, but Estrada turns on Goulet just like in the Greg Gagne match at MSG. Estrada holds onto an armbar for a while and stays adamant with it. Goulet takes a slam, but then stands up and small packages Estrada for the three-count. (5:03) Estrada will not shake hands. Nope.

• El Olympico vs. Marc Pole

This is our first look at the masked man El Olympico. He wrestled primarily in the Gulas territory and in the WWWF in the mid 1970s mostly teaming up with the bigger stars to take the fall. Being that he’s the only man wearing a mask in the WWF and this isn’t Georgia, Vince and Bruno wonder what El Olympico is hiding. Pole hammers Olympico down, but Olympico catches him coming off the ropes with a jumping dropkick for the win in 3:02.

WHERE’S THE ARM WRESTLING CHALLENGE? I FEEL ROBBED. Until next time, so long for now.