WWE Vintage Collection TV Report #19 – October 12^th, 2008

Shown on Sky Sports 3 in the U.K.

By Stephen Lyon.

This Week: Back to the early 1980’s, featuring Bob Backlund, Superstar Billy Graham, ‘Playboy’ Buddy Rose, Tony Atlas, Chief Jay Strongbow, plus a midgets match featuring Sky Low Low, and more.

Introduction:

Mean Gene Okerlund opened the show. This week, the match action would be from the early 1980’s, with action split between two shows. The first two matches came from the April 26^th, 1986 tv taping at the Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan. The other three matches came from the November 25^th, 1982 tv taping at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1) Tony Atlas defeated Hercules. This was from the Detroit tv taping in April 1986, and the announcers for this match were Jack Reynolds (in his final appearance for the WWF) and Ken Resnick (in his WWF debut) Strangely, the on-screen graphic listed Gene Taylor as the co-announcer, but it was definitely Resnick. Hercules had a wild frizzy perm hairstyle here, kind of like Ricky Ortiz currently has in ECW. Both looked jacked, but Atlas was far more cut. He hasn’t aged well in the following 22 years. Hercules stalled initially, but after a test of strength that Atlas was winning, Hercules took control with a boot to the chest. The crowd was solidly behind Atlas, chanting his name. Hercules threw lots of punches that Atlas sold. Atlas made a comeback of his own, using rapid blows and a headbutt. He suplexed Hercules, but missed a dropkick. Finish came when Atlas won with a sunset flip out of nowhere. The finish looked screwed up as Hercules kicked out, but Atlas was announced as the winner. There wasn’t much to this match.   

2) Tito Santana defeated Cowboy Bob Orton Jr. This match was from the same tv taping, with the same announcers. Santana worked over Orton’s left arm initially. Orton recovered, but crotched himself on the top rope after missing a charge into the corner. In desperation, Orton pulled Santana over the top rope and to the outside. Ringside had no protective mats and was a bare concrete floor. The two brawled around ringside, with Santana clotheslining Orton over the barricade and into the crowd. Back in the ring, Santana went for a figure four leglock, but Orton kicked him away. Santana gave him a suplex and had him pinned, but Orton put his foot on the bottom rope. Orton gave Tito a reverse atomic drop, but was caught coming off the top rope. Orton tried a flying body press, but Santana used his momentum and rolled over Orton for the winning pin. This was a good match.  

The next three matches were all from the November 1982 tv taping at the Philly Spectrum.

3) Superstar Billy Graham defeated Chief Jay Strongbow via count out. Announcers for this match and the next two matches were Gorilla Monsoon and Dick Graham. Superstar Billy Graham was a heel, doing his martial arts gimmick at this point, and had a bald head, moustache and wore black pants and boots. There wasn’t much to this match and it was quite short. Graham had Strongbow in a lengthy bearhug, and the crowd got fully behind the babyface native-American, chanting ‘Let’s go Chief!’. Strongbow broke free and placed Graham in a sleeperhold. Graham managed to get to the ropes to break the hold. Graham then choked Strongbow with the tape from around his wrists. In a sign of what’s allowed on WWE tv nowadays, we just saw freezeframe shots of this for around ten seconds. Strongbow made a comeback, doing his Indian war dance and unloaded with chops and knee lifts on Graham. The Superstar responded with a karate chop of his own that knocked Strongbow to the outside, where the big Chief was counted out.

4) In a midgets tag team match, Little Beaver & Sonny Boy Blue defeated Sky Low Low & Butch Cassidy. Cassidy was about nine inches taller than the other three midgets, which made for a funny visual. This was a total comedy match, with the story being that the babyface Beaver and Blue made fun of the heels’ posing, and conned Sky Low Low into thinking Cassidy was trying to turn on him. Beaver nailed Sky Low Low with a loaded slipper at one point. Finish came when Beaver pinned Cassidy after monkey flipping him into the turnbuckles. This was okay. Both faces were charismatic and Sky Low Low had amusing mannerisms and facials.

5) In a Lumberjack Match, WWF World Champion, Bob Backlund (w/Arnold Skaaland in his corner) defeated ‘Playboy’ Buddy Rose (w/two women accompanying him to the ring) via submission. Special Delivery Jones was also the special guest referee. Around 16 other wrestlers surrounded the ring as lumberjacks for this match, the most notable being a very young Curt Hennig, Eddie Gilbert and Riki Choshu, plus Superstar Billy Graham, Chief Jay Strongbow, Mr Saito, Mr Fuji, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Tony Garea, Johnny Rodz, Pedro Morales, Rocky Johnson, Strong Kobiashi and Salvatore Bellomo. Rose was great before the match, as the two hot women in his corner unrobed him, then brushed his hair with a hairbrush. Rose was yelling to Backlund, “Where’s your girls?!” Once the match started,  Backlund dominated him. Every time Rose tried to escape, the lumberjacks threw him back in, even the heel ones. Backlund used a lengthy armbar. Rose got a nearfall following a backslide, but Backlund blocked his suplex attempt and gave him a suplex of his own. Rose recovered enough to give Backlund a series of kneedrops to the head, then gave him five elbowdrops in a row. However, the cocky Rose wasted time, and instead of pinning Backlund, went for a backbreaker. Backlund caught him and put him in the crossface chicken wing move, which Rose submitted to. Crowd went nuts for Backlund’s win. This was short, but another good match.

Closing thoughts: Some interesting matches this week. The wrestling wasn’t great, but we got two good wrestling matches out of five, in the Santana-Orton Jr and Backlund-Rose matches. It was fun pointing out all the different personalities at ringside acting as lumberjacks. The karate version of Superstar Billy Graham was deeply inferior to the earlier tye-dye version. The midget match was somewhat entertaining. Good show overall.

Match Results:

1) Tony Atlas defeated Hercules (Detroit, 26/04/86).

2) Tito Santana defeated Cowboy Bob Orton Jr (Detroit, 26/04/86).

3) Superstar Billy Graham defeated Chief Jay Strongbow via count out (Philadelphia, 25/11/82).

4) Little Beaver & Sonny Boy Blue defeated Sky Low Low & Butch Cassidy (Philadelphia, 25/11/82).

5) In a Lumberjack Match, WWF World Champion, Bob Backlund defeated ‘Playboy’ Buddy Rose via submission (Philadelphia, 25/11/82).

Please note: I DO NOT sell DVDs or tapes of any of these shows. Sorry!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s report. For other reports like this one, be sure to check it out my website archive at http://www.classicwrestlingreports.com .

It’s no longer updated, but this website carries all of my previous WWE Classics tv reports that have been featured on the old WrestlingObserver.com website.

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Until next week, have a good week.

Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.