[1980-07-26-WWF-Philadelphia, PA] Bob Backlund vs Ken Patera

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-07-26
WWF
Bob Backlund (c) vs Ken Patera
WWF Heavyweight Title Title Match (Special Referee: Gorilla Monsoon)
Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Card
★★

Much like their Texas Death match at MSG, there was no pretence of scientific wrestling here. Bob was eager to get going and Patera wasn’t even able to get his trousers off before he was being thrown to the ground and punched in the face.
The match itself was a by-the-numbers Backlund vs Patera match. They hit the right beats and did the usual moves, which is good, but nothing here was particularly special or memorable. What was interesting however was Monsoon’s involvement. The track record of special guest referees is not good but here Monsoon equipped himself very well. He definitely wasn’t shy of getting involved, but he didn’t overstep any boundaries and his general size allowed him to wade in and break up things that other referees usually can’t. He also pushed the pace of the match along as well, doing things like dragging Patera back into the centre of the ring instead of allowing him to languish on the apron. 
Overall I just didn’t think that the amount of offense Backlund dished out warranted the extent that Patera was selling. If he was going overboard selling a body part I might be more forgiving but he was doing the generic exhausted sell-job, and I don’t think Backlund had done enough to warrant that response. Then the finish was a bit confusing. I guess Patera just didn’t see a path to victory so chose an alternative route than being pinned, but he grabbed a mic stand from ringside and clobbered Monsoon in the head with it for the no-doubt DQ. It sets up some issues between Patera and Monsoon, so perhaps there’s a match there upcoming, but choosing to lose so obviously feels a bit dubious to me and definitely not satisfying.
Generally a good-ish match, with a solid referee performance, but both men have done better this year by a long way.

[tcg91]

This wasn't bad, but obviously they didn't reach the peak that they hit during their Texas Death Match in May. Having the IC Title on the line kept the act fresh and so did the addition of Gorilla as a referee, but I am not really a big fan of officials getting heavily involved in matches (and you can bet Gorilla did). Nonetheless, the bout was solid and easy to watch, even though they were clearly building to a Gorilla/Patera angle and the pace wasn't that great at times. With both titles being on the line, a non-finish was obvious. Not a bad piece of business, but this was quite skippable.
**3/4