[1974-04-29-WWWF-MSG, NY] Bruno Sammartino vs Killer Kowalski

[cactus]

I'm watching this on the WWE Network and we are joined in progress and miss about the first ten minutes of this 24 minute match. Bruno tries to cut down the big guy with some leg stops and Kowalski sells them well, staggering all over the ring. Bruno hits a strong leg kick and sends Kowalski falling flat on his arse, must to the crowd's delight. The crowd eating up everything these guys are dishing out makes this worth watching. When Kowalski climbs up the top rope, you can feel the worry that their beloved Bruno might be seconds away from losing. When a bloodied up Bruno finally unleashes his rage after being beaten down for the past few minutes, the reaction is huge. Just the way Bruno paces around the ring, you can see why he was a huge star.

 

Most of the action here is very primitive. There's nothing overly technical, there's a lot of down time and and a lot of brawling. But when this match shines, it's excellent and a good example of showing how popular Bruno Sammartino was at the time. RIP.

 

★★★½

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino vs Killer Kowalski - WWF MSG 4/29/74

Unfortunately, HBO did not carry Bruno regaining the Heavyweight Championship from Stan Stasiak as that would be an interesting match to see. What are we missing from early '74 is a title defense against Don Leo Jonathan and two Nikolai Volkoff title defenses, one that was 53 minutes, well I feel sorry for MSG on that night. There are only two other HBO shows from this year both title defenses against Bobby Duncum. It seems like the Duncum matches have not been released yet, but I would like to see them.

Kowalski is 48 years old at the time of this match, but he looks 68. Lots of flab and thinning hair. I hate to say but pro wrestling is an upper body business and visuals matter. He moves pretty well and has no issue taking a bump but he looks as old as dirt here. He is a very tall man. I didnt realize he was so tall. I dont think I have ever seen him wrestle. My uncle liked to put the Iron Claw on our stomachs when we were kids and call himself Killer Kowalski so I have some nostalgia for him. 

We are missing 10 minutes of a 24 minute match. This is not on Peacock, but looks like it was a part of some WWE DVD collection at some point. I did not think this was very good at all. Quite heatless until the finish. Plodding at times. Disorganized. It is mostly Kowalski on offense and he does not have much oomph. He does not do many interesting things. It is a lot of weak punches and Claws. The claws can just be him squeezing Bruno's bicep or the back of his neck too which dont look as good. I did mark out for the Abdomen Claw because it proved my Uncle was correct and that was Kowalski's move. Bruno was great on offense for the limited time he was there. He worked the leg for a bit, bodyslammed, caught Kowalski coming off the top. The reason this match sucked is NOT because Kowalski was not mobile. His mobility was fine. He hit a great dropkick to send Bruno careening out of the ring. Kowalski was quite spry. He just did not anything of note. If you compare this with the Morales/Steele match from June 1973 the crowd is eerily silent. It is only during the finish they are whipped into a frenzy. Kowalski after it seems like an eternity busts Bruno open with terrible punches and some biting (oh during the abdomen claw section, Kowalski tried to bite Bruno but it looked like he was making out with him, which gave me a good laugh). When Bruno finally fires up, it is glorious, this is Lawler in Memphis shit here as he unleashes hell with the fists. Just a perfect comeback. On top of this being a bad match, the finish is stupid, in the midst of this brawling in the ring just using fists, the match is called off as draw. There were two more matches after this so it was NOT a curfew draw. Lame. 

The rematch was not shown on HBO so most likely we dont have, but I dont think that is any great loss. Not a good match at all.