All Star Wrestling on the Network

[Sean Liska]

We have our 1979 WWF TV MOTY from what I've seen - Putski/Tito vs Valiants on 10/13/79. Super fun sprint tag match with great heat, like a great Memphis TV expiration of time match in a bigger venue with a better atmosphere. I can't believe I've fallen in love with the New York territory, I always just accepted all the bad things I heard about it.

[Ricky Jackson]

Haha, as a long time fan of this era (let's say 75-83) it warms my heart to see a convert. Most fans don't give it much of a chance or even reject it sight unseen. Yes, some of the undercards on the big shows are brutal, but the talent is top notch and a ton of fun to watch. The major matches, angles and feuds usually deliver and are well done, with some all time classics

[Ricky Jackson]

I think I just saw Frankie Williams career highpoint in a match from 8/3/78 where Spiros Arion gives him a bunch of offense and a couple comebacks that rally the crowd

[Sean Liska]

Haha, as a long time fan of this era (let's say 75-83) it warms my heart to see a convert. Most fans don't give it much of a chance or even reject it sight unseen. Yes, some of the undercards on the big shows are brutal, but the talent is top notch and a ton of fun to watch. The major matches, angles and feuds usually deliver and are well done, with some all time classics

And the great thing is, unlike every other territory, there isn't some sad period where everything fell apart and they went out of business. I'm super pumped for Mania and a post-Mania scene of Roman-Joe and DB headlining SD. Of course 75-83 is a much different product, a classic territory.

[Ricky Jackson]

If anyone wants to see Larry Z with a moustache, and a fine one at that, 8/26/78 is the show for you

[Ricky Jackson]

I know I'm the only one who cares about such things, but omg 9/2/78 features a Baron vs Dom match!

[Zoo Enthusiast]

After I get back from New Orleans and need a breather from modern stuff, this is on my agenda.

[Cornette's racket]

Also Tony garea was meant to be a baby face in the 1979 episodes correct ? He couldn't get baby face fire if he was set on fire. He gets a hot tag and nothing. Not a spark.

[Sean Liska]

After I get back from New Orleans and need a breather from modern stuff, this is on my agenda.

It's not Memphis. But if you can learn to love Vince and Bruno and let them get you through some of the tougher stuff, there's some great gems. Also I love weekly territorial TV in general. Also it really helps if you have access to the Spectrum and MSG shows of the time to see their versions of PPVs that were the lifeblood of the whole operation.

[Sean Liska]

10/79 MSG has Vince interviewing Andy Kaufman and Kaufman doing his heel man vs woman gimmick. So great, so perfect for Memphis, I didn't realize he did it for so long before the Lawler feud. Vince playing the role of Lance Russell in responding to Kaufman's antics is a treat.

[sek69]

Yeah Andy actually pitched the idea to the WWF first but Vince Sr famously turned him down.

[Sean Liska]

Kind of turning this into a general WWF territory thread - but at the MSG show Finkel said people could see WWF TV on Saturdays and Tuesday's at 11pm. They had all this success while having an ECW-type local time slot in NYC?

[Ricky Jackson]

At one point in the 70s and early 80s their main TV slot in the New York area was midnight on a Saturday. I think this proves that if you have a hot product with a lot of top talent, the timeslot is irrelevant, the fans will follow

[Sean Liska]

At one point in the 70s and early 80s their main TV slot in the New York area was midnight on a Saturday. I think this proves that if you have a hot product with a lot of top talent, the timeslot is irrelevant, the fans will follow

That's really interesting, I didn't know they were selling out the Garden every month which such a bad time slot. Maybe explains why they announced the next show's entire card every month, in case people didn't see the TV.

[Ricky Jackson]

The idea behind announcing the next month's card was mostly to entice fans to buy tickets before they left the show. AFAIK, the box office would be opened after Finkel's announcement. It's also the main reason the main event was always mid-show, because then they could announce the main event for next month's card without giving away the finish

[flyonthewall2983]

During this time can anyone gauge, as far as percentage, how much of the MSG audience were NYC locals and how much were from out of town? I don't mean tourists necessarily but from other parts of NY state, Jersey and other spots in the northeast?

[Hegs]

I grew up in WWWF territory but I don't remember watching it pre 1982 so I'm enjoying watching it. I'm surprisedcat Blassie bumping as much as he did in the early shows and how much he and Albano interfered in the matches without a DQ. Albano, as crazy as he might have been, was clearly the heat magnet Hart and Heenan were in their territories.

[Sean Liska]

What's the Atlantic City TV show from 79 that Wrestling Collector has on YouTube? What was that for? It has a red ring and Gorilla announcing.

[Ricky Jackson]

They taped a few weeks of TV from the Steel Pier in Atlantic City in the summer of 79. Not sure if it was for a local Atlantic City TV show or if it aired everywhere in the territory. The matches were comnentated by Monsoon years before he became a regular commentator. Cawthon's site also has Bruno commentating solo for one of the tapings. The matches I've seen from the tapings are interesting, with no jobber matches, just matches between pushed guys, plus a midget tag. I remember DiBiase vs Valentine being good. For fans of the late Titans of Wrestling podcast, DiBiase and Andre vs Scicluna and Jerry Valiant was a legendary controversial match, with Parv calling it a classic, Johnny and Pete hating it, and me being in the middle

[Sean Liska]

I just watched that tag match and thought it was very good! Those guys going for 25 minutes was a sketchy proposition but I thought it was really smartly worked, good stuff.

 

Thanks for the info!

[Ricky Jackson]

Good match alert: Larry Z and his wonderful moustache vs Stan Stasiak 9/23/78

[Ricky Jackson]

Awesome squash match alert: Crusher Blackwell vs Frankie Williams with Vince at his best as well, also from 9/23/78

[landy1987]

The Atlantic City show definitely aired on PRISM where they aired the Philly Spectrum shows too.

 

What was up with Crusher Blackwell? They make him look like a killer heel and credible threat to Backlund but looking at the results he only lasted 4 months in this run and got 1 or 2 shots at Backlund

[Cornette's racket]

Larry Z and mr X from march 17th 1979 is a great six minute match. Some nice little sequence of moves and nothing that looks crap.

[Sean Liska]

Bobby Duncun was a better promo than I ever knew.