[1980-01-21-WWF-MSG, NY] Bob Backlund vs Ken Patera

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Ken Patera - WWF, MSG 1/21/80

 

I have never seen this match before and it is really awesome classic Bob Backlund. Anybody who says Bob does not sell well or cant sell should watch this match because he does a masterful job in a bearhug and maybe the best selling of a bearhug of all time. Throughout the rest of the match, Backlund continues to sell the pain and exhaustion. Before that, it was classic Backlund showing up his opponent early. Patera tried to use strength (takedowns and shoulderblocks), but was thwarted by Backlund's wrestling acumen and speed. There were some really fun one-upping shots. Now Backlund could not get anything going because Patera kept continuing to retreat to the safety of ropes. Patera carries Backlund to a corner off a side headlock, damn, stealing Bob's spot, ballsy. Patera goes after arm and uses hair pulls to keep Backlund in the armbars. Patera uses an armstretcher. Backlund was pissed about all these hair pulls so he used a boot to the face to break the hold. Backlund is classic here because he is going to beat Patera at his own game by applying an armstretcher. The rowing of the armstretcher was super over with the MSG crowd. Patera does the classic roll up counter, but Backlund expertly wraps up a headscissors. Patera escapes, only to end up back in armstretcher. Patera stomps Backlund's head to get out. Patera bodyslam only gets one with Backlund military pressing him off and Patera suplex does not fare much better. Then Patera applies the bearhug. Wow, one of the best bearhugs sequences ever. Backlund struggles so hard to get out and finally pries the arms off and hiptoss. Only to have Patera drives elbows into the back and reapplies the bearhug. Backlund's selling was perfect in how he was limp and Patera gets his shoulders to the mat. Backlund fires up only to collapse again, really well done. I love the payoff being a quick inverted atomic drop. Patera's sell of this is fucking awesome. Backlund wins a suplex struggle, but eats knees on a splash attempt. Patera hits an axehandle off the middle rope. He is looking Full Nelson to put the staggered Backlund out. Backlund slipped out and hit a massive atomic drop for a super hot nearfall. It was the first fall to go to a two count with Patera only getting his foot on rope. Patera pushed Backlund into the ref, which would trigger a No Contest, but there was an awesome heated slugfest post-match. Backlund kicked some serious. Everyone talks about the Texas Death Match, but this is a classic in its own right. The awesome Backlund shine was so much fun, loved the armstretcher tit for tat, one of the best bearhug sequences of all time and a super hot finish run with both men totally staggered and exhausted makes for an awesome match. Patera was great at his bumping and selling to really get Backlund over. I consider this one of the all-time best Backlund performances. ****1/2

[SAMS]

Backlund, unsurprisingly, works on top for large stretches of this match. The early portion had him working either a headlock or the arm, and his row-the-boat motion when on the arm is a great example of Bob’s trademarked goofiness. This was also a spot that he went back to three separate times, which definitely got stale. Vince on commentary is playing this up as Backlund’s wrestling acumen vs Patera’s strength. This then gets flipped as Backlund, while in a headlock, is able to hoist Patera off the ground and just plonk him on the top rope. 
When I was in primary school, we used to play-fight in the playground during break. There would always be that one kid that, no matter what, wouldn’t take any “damage”. Somebody punches them and nothing. A kick? Nothing. They would take move after move and just power through them until they pissed everybody off and we stopped playing. That is Backlund. He’s the goofy kid who always thinks he’s the main character, thinks he’s Superman. In regards to Bob, it’s not strictly a criticism, just an observation, but he absolutely forces his opponent to earn their time on top.
Back to the match, after a somewhat pedestrian first half, things picked up on the back nine. Bob countered a headlock with an Atomic Drop that Patera sold like pure gold and was probably my match highlight. Patera actually looked like he might be able to steal it at a couple points, once from a bear hug that transitioned into a pin and the second when they collided mid-ring and Patera fell onto Backlund. Backlund rarely taking a 2 count has been beaten into the ground at this point, and it doesn’t bother me most of the time, but I feel like he could have milked one of these for a near fall, instead we got two 1 counts.
The match ended as a draw after a referee bump. Patera locking the Full Nelson on Backlund with the referee down provided the impetus for a rematch as Patera can point to having the match won. Finally things descended into chaos with wrestlers coming from the back to break things up. Overall I was a bit disappointed in Patera to be honest, Atomic Drop sell aside, he didn’t offer much. But I know that these two have better stuff coming later in the year.

★★

[tcg91]

Ken Patera was ripped and this was all about his strength against Backlund's technique. Backlund's armwork got a bit stale and it was quickly forgotten in the second part of the match, so it was just a way to fill some time. However, his selling was really great when Patera got him into a long bearhug and the crowd got into it; but even there, while Vince was teasing Backlund passing out to the bearhug, Patera only ever got flat 1 counts. I feel like they should have milked this to add a bit of drama to the match, as it never looked like Patera was going to be a real threat after that. The non-finish and the final brawl both looked good. Vince saying that there were 42,000 fans at the MSG makes the WrestleMania 3 figure look much more plausible
**3/4