[1980-05-17-WWF-All Star Wrestling] Bob Backlund vs El Olympico

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[War is Raw]

WWF actually had a few "exhibition matches" in 1980. Only in the wacky world of professional wrestling can the announcers describe this match as being fake, yet the in-ring work looked more real than regular 'rasslin'. (Bruno said it was "non-competitive", and "exhibition" is the code word for a performance. But in trying to give kayfabe explanations, it opened up a can of worms.)

Baffling match with no explanation. Fans upset. Boring moves.

Vince and Bruno had no idea what the rules were, and got them wrong: "unlimited pins" yet the ref refused to count when Backlund made his exhausted pin attempts (against a jobber...in an exhibition match). The commentary also buried Mexican wrestling in general by saying the jobber El Olympico was the best "over there" and had come to the WWF for better competition. Was billed as "10 minutes of non-stop straight wrestling". Was also called a "scientific match".

Have to imagine this was Backlund insisting to show kids what real amateur wrestling was. Yet it was a worked match and the jobber was losing his temper and ready to throw punches, and Backlund was teasing the atomic drop. 

Backlund could be very cringe and scary when it comes to bluring kayfabe and reality.

 

[SAMS]

One of the worst things I've ever seen and easily the worst TV match for 1980, for any promotion.