[1977-01-17-WWWF-MSG, NY] Bruno Sammartino vs Ken Patera

[paul sosnowski]

Talk about it here

[cactus]

This was a fun WWWF title defense built around Patera's power and seeing if it's enough to conquer Bruno. Expect a lot of tense Greco-Roman knuckle locks and bearhugs during this one! I'm not much of a Bruno guy, but I thought that this was one of his better performances. He lets Patera get a lot of his shit in and he sells exceptionally well for it. He sells his pain by grimacing and groan and the MSG faithful get right behind him. Bruno's strikes on his comeback are basic, but they look snug and Patera flops around like a fish for them. We get a weak count-out finish, which would lead to them doing a Texas Death match at the next MSG show (which we sadly don't have on tape). I don't mind the idea of the count-out finish, but Patera striking Bruno with a chair right in front of the referee right before the ref decides to award the victory to Patera was certainly mind-boggling! ★★★¼

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino vs Ken Patera- WWF MSG 1/17/77

Bruno was in the twilight of his second reign and his prime. He would drop the belt to Superstar in three months or so. His last major challenger is Ken Patera. Kenny P has the physique of Superstar Graham with the athleticism of Nature Boy Ric Flair. He looks and feels like the wrestler of tomorrow compared to Bruno but there is one problem. He is not very charismatic. I have tried hard to get into Patera and his status of a major National main event star of the late 70s and early 80s is undeniable but I can’t get into his matches. I just find him dull. He had good matches but has he ever had a great match.

I thought this was a good but not great match. Interesting there is no babyface shine. In a lot of ways it is a heel shine. Before we get to that Albano is Kenny P’s manager and Bruno sends him packing with a right. Larry Zbyszko is introduced as Bruno’s protege starting that angle. Back to the match. Bruno didn’t need a shine. Patera has these incredible arms but other than that he won’t have instant heat like a Koloff or a Graham. He needs this shine more than Bruno. He does a leapfrog, he throws Bruno around to establish he is the wrestler of tomorrow and how can Bruno keep up with someone who is not just strong but is also agile. Patera cheats of the rest of strength and works the Bearhug. Bruno resorts to a headbutt but his back is so fucked up he can’t capitalize back to the Bearhug. Bruno headbutts again. He is selling his back like a million bucks. He busts out all sort of non-Bruno offense. A mule kick in the corner. Back body drop. All to give his body a chance to heal. Bruno starts to rev up for fists of fury but Patera stymies him in the corner. Patera threatens the dreaded Full Nelson but Bruno immediately falls down Mule Kick and starts kicking ass. I love this desperate Bruno. He knows he was within a hair of losing so he is gotta give all he has got, this is where the match grinds to a halt because it was really good up until this. They just start rolling a round and choking, doing random clubbering to waste time until they knock heads outside. The crowd gets into the brawl. Patera clobbers Bruno with a chair in plain view of the ref but somehow this a count out victory for Patera and not a DQ victory for Bruno.

Loved the beginning! Told the story of a waning Bruno being overwhelmed by the younger, strong more athletic Patera. Bruno’s selling which is not his strong suit was so good here. He overcomes Patera with one thing that he has more than anyone: heart. Once that Full Nelson almost is applies he comes to life. It is so bad they ran out of things to do before the finish and the finish also sucked because this was on the way to being the best Patera singles match I have ever seen. ***1/4