Thursday, March 12, 2009

All Star Wrestling- 02/25/1981

Show begins with acid washed graphics with a surf rock tune blasting behind it. Vince with a mop top introduces the show.

1) The Hangman v. SD Jones- 1
2) Yoshiaki Yatsu v. Frank Savage- 3
3) Rick McGraw/ Dominic DeNucci v. The Moondogs- 3
4) Angelo Mosca v. Jose Estrada- 1

Our opener really, truly deserves a 0, for there were no redeemable qualities about it. The first 6 minutes are all throwing punches and no selling them, neither man is, in fact, they are going out of their way to act like they didn't hurt. SD jukes and jives but Hangman takes control with some nicely exectued judo throws & a sloppy body slam, all which SD promptly stands back up and sells not a damn one of them. Then, they go to the arm bar for the remainder of the match which ends in a 10 minute draw. Felt like a damn hour. Tremendously bad performances. Yatsu was a Gold Medalist in Freestyle wrestling at the Pan-American Games back in 1980 and he shows off some moderate skills here, using a really cool transition with a takedown rolling over the big man into a headlock and back to the ankle. Savage is a grotesque dude, looked like he could have played Grendel in a production of Beowulf in some shoddy hole in the wall English production. Some of his stuff is really exposing but other shots are decent. Yatsu gets the win out of nowhere by pulling into Savage's attempt at a bodyslam into a cradle. Patterson was putting him over big time on commentary.

I've not really enjoyed anything of DeNucci's that I've watched in the last year and this continues that trend. Interesting to see the ref lose control of the legal men here and completely break down and force everyone to their corners to work it out. Such a far cry from the messes we get every week now in tag situations. McGraw came in a house of fire and pulled out some really great moves including that crazy dropkick that no one was using but got so wound up, he fell down backing into the ropes. I liked Lou Albano with some cheap shots outside but the 'Dogs weren't anything to write home about. Main was basically giant bruiser Mosca dealing out slow power moves to Estrada, who was a capable hand in his time; even Vince comments we aren't getting to see any of Estrada's great moves, which was disappointing.

Other Angles:
- Fred Blassie cuts a long winded promo about his man, Killer Khan
- Black Demon takes Sgt. Slaughter's Cobra Clutch challenge but runs away scared; Pat Patterson tries to interview Slaughter, but gets slapped like a prostitute so he jumps in and takes Demon's place. Some really great technical wrestling moves Patterson was using to escape and Slaughter was hanging on; the crowd was eating it up like free Pasta Alfredo. This was, far and away, the best thing on the program.

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