WWF: Championship Wrestling
January 12, 1980
Allentown, PA
Agricultural Hall

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! We have another big nostalgia dump coming!

The following wrestling exhibition requires discretionary viewer participation.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino.

• Larry Zbyszko vs. JoJo Andrews

It seems that Zbyszko has been avoiding Bruno for the last couple weeks on Championship Wrestling, so they hope to get to the bottom of it on today’s show. Andrews isn’t really any challenge to Zbyszko – nor should be with what’s about to go down. Andrews misses a dropkick (!) and Zbyszko applies a Boston Crab for the win in 3:44.

After the bell, Vince speaks with Larry Zbyszko hoping to get an explanation. Zbyszko says that wrestling is his life. He hopes to do this for the rest of his life and wants to be the best at it. He explains that Bruno Sammartino was his trainer and he could not bring himself to talk to the man. He admits he doesn’t hate Bruno, but he has to become Larry Zbyszko and not “the guy Bruno trained.” It has been hard for him and he’s been depressed about the fact that the man who has helped him so much is now standing in his way. Larry then challenges Bruno Sammartino to prove that he is better. Zbyszko feels he can’t get anywhere without stepping out of Bruno’s shadow. The crowd doesn’t seem to like this idea. Zbyszko even goes as far as to say he DEMANDS to face Bruno. Whether the people understand it or not, Zbyszko needs to meet Bruno in the ring on a scientific level. He even wants to do this on TV so everyone can see to get himself out of his rut. OH BOY. The crowd actually applauds.

• The Wild Samoans (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. Dominic DeNucci & Charlie Brown

Sounds like some people in the crowd are annoying the bejeezus out of the Samoans with whistles. Bruno wants to give Larry Z’s thoughts some time to ruminate before he gives his opinion. Afa and DeNucci start us off. When DeNucci does a kip-up to get away from a wristlock, Sika is there to choke him with a tag rope while the ref’s back is turned. Afa tries to slug DeNucci, but DeNucci ducks and Sika gets nailed. Whoops. For some reason, DeNucci decides to headbutt, and gets headbutted several times in return. Bruno wants to measure the thickness of the skulls of the Samoans. Yikes. DeNucci gets double-teamed on the wrong side of town. Brown doesn’t seem concerned in the slightest. Afa telegraphs a backdrop and Brown gets a tag. It doesn’t really matter because Sika puts him right down. A double chop from the Samoans does more damage on Brown. Afa stretches out Brown’s face on the mat and does his crazy facials towards the camera. Awesome. Dominic has enough of the Samoans tactics and brings the timekeeper’s hammer in the ring. Uhhhh. While the ref handles DeNucci, the Samoans give Brown a Double Headbutt. Afa hits the SAMOAN DROP on Brown for the three-count. (7:31) Dominic threatens Albano while the crowd wants Patterson. *½

• Hussein Arab (w/Freddie Blassie) vs. Ben Ortiz

Ortiz is just a tackling dummy for the Iron Sheik. No problem at all. He wins with an awkward vertical suplex in 2:27. He calls out Bruno and says some other stuff that I can’t understand to rile up the crowd. They REALLY do not like him.

• Bobby Duncum (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. Joe Mascara

Mascara goes down to some headlocks, but immediately counters into a headscissors only for Duncum to escape and right back up to their feet. Mascara can’t escape the front headlock. Duncum crimps the neck and works a chinlock. He punches out, but Duncum is right back on top of him. Right now, Duncum is working MSG and Philly Spectrum with Backlund, so Mascara isn’t really going to do much. Duncum beats Mascara on the apron when he tries to get cute with some shoulder butts. Back inside, Duncum catches Mascara with a back elbow. He runs his head into the buckle and delivers the RUNNING BULLDOG for the win in 6:44. The crowd still wants to see Patterson.

• Rene Goulet vs. Ron Lee

Rene Goulet has been away from the New York territory since 1972 and makes his return here. He’s been away wrestling mostly in the AWA and the Carolinas, but he’s also won tag team championships in both the WWA and Georgia territories. A more evenly matched scientific match than we’ve seen on the rest of this show. He beats Lee with a fancy forward rollup in 3:01. The crowd STILL wants to see Patterson.

• Hulk Hogan (w/Freddie Blassie) vs. Angelo Gomez & Johnny Rivera

Both these ham-and-eggers are a foot shorter than Hogan. They both try going for Hogan, but he fights them off at every attempt to double team him. Hulk gives Gomez one NASTY slam. Their double-teams are just fruitless. Hogan throws out Rivera and BEARHUGS Gomez for the submission victory in 2:13.

Vince asks Bruno one more time about his reaction on Larry Zbyszko’s comments. Bruno never realized how Larry felt and doesn’t want to even believe that Zbyszko challenged him to a match. OH THE HUMANITY!

Until next time, so long for now.