WWF All Star Wrestling
October 31, 1981
by Erick Von Erich
It's more 2019 Halloween HavoK! This time, we're jumping back to Halloween, 1981. Aside from the date of this show, I'm highly skeptical that we'll get any direct references to Halloween, but we shall see. Well, here's one that I wouldn't have thought of, had I not picked this show: my Halloween 1981 costume was supposed to be "Dracula". It was actually my 1980 Darth Vader costume, minus the mask, and with my face painted white. I probably had a pair of those cheesy plastic fangs. But enough of my yakkin'-- about this show. Our hosts are Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson, who list off who we'll see, today. Patterson laments that Rick Martel and Tony Garea have recently lost their Tag Team Cahmpionship to that dastardly duo of Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito. But with so much going on in the World Wrestling Federation, let's get down to ringside for...
Match 1: Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. Barry Hart & Angelo Gomez
Before the official introductions, ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta introduces the members of the "State Athletic Comission". I'm not 100% with identifying the old WWF taping sites, but I'm guessing this is Hershey, PA. Hart (I think it's the future "Barry Horowitz"), looks like he's been on the wrong side of a fight, as he has a brusied nose and his face looks rough. Or else: he wasn't in a fight and simply got blitzed and walked into a door. According to McMahon, Albano has been "turning Japanese" and is sorta' dressed like Fuji and Saito, complete with an open robe and headband. He even wanders over to commentary to supply some vintage motormouthing-- some of it in "Japanese", even. The champs work over Hart, delivering some decent slams and suplexes. Fuji's actually a little more formidable than I remember. The Champs allow a mercy tag to Gomez, and beat the tar out of him, as well. Fuji ends things with a Samoan drop (Japanese Drop?) to get the 3.Match 2: Killer Khan (w/"Classy" Freddy Blassie) vs. Jerry Johnson
Khan's not a guy who you want to see in a squash match. His bruising tactics work okay when facing an opponent-of-note, but they're boring when he's just allowed to beat on someone for almost 5 minutes. Commentators play up an angle I had never heard of: Khan recently put Rick McGraw out of action. Side back-breaker and a reverse elbow from Khan, but he pulls up Johnson at 2, both times. Underhook suplex, then Khan finishes it with a a flying kneedrop and a legdrop.Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/The Grand Wizard) vs. Ringo
No idea who Ringo is/was. He's billed from El Salvador and has a scorpion tattoo on his shoulder, for what that's worth. Right out of the gates, we've got the "Triumvirate of Terror" or "Unholy Trio" of the WWF's heel managers. Valentine takes it to the mat, works the legs, then tosses Ringo to the floor. Back inside for more leg work, then Valentine hooks the Figure Four (to a mild pop) for the submission win. Fans had been audibly yelling for the Figure Four, throughout the match. After the commercial break, Patterson interviews the Wiz and Hammer at ringside. Wiz proclaims Valentine the next WWF World Champ, following in the steps of his former charges, Superstar Graham and Stan Stasiak. Valentine says that the sole reason he was brought back to the WWF was to beat Bob Backlund. Boring match, then a typical old school heel promo. Valentine's old promos were a little bit like Ric Flair, as he talked about his female conquests, riding limos, and wearing expensive robes.Angelo "King Kong" Mosca vs. Joe Cox
Cox becomes the first jobber to actually get in some offense! He takes Mosca off his feet with a dropkick, then delivers some fist-drops as the crowd gets fired up for the first time. One fan apparently has a WHISTLE. Mosca thmups and chokes away, but Cox keeps coming back. Mosca resumes the beatdown, drops his knee on Cox's throat, but pulls him up at a 2 count, just to piss off the fans. Big slam from Mosca officially ends it.Rick Martel & Tony Garea vs. Ron Shaw & Davey O'Hannon
Cappetta announces this as an "Australian style tag team match". Umm...because we have exactly ZERO Australians in this match? Garea starts off quickly with arm-drags on both guys. Martel is a bit more animated, but it just may be because he likes to nod his head around when he hits a move. Martel seems to be the "little brother", who tags out to the "big brother" to save him. Shaw's pretty terrible, as his kneelifts and hip-tosses require some obvious somersault assistance from Garea and Martel. Camera gets a little too close and you can briefly see Martel choking himself on the top rope. All four guys enter the ring and heels gets Irish whipped into each other. Garea grabs Shaw's legs and flips over to score the 3. Cappetta enthusiastically announce the winners as "STILL one of the most exciting teams in the world, today!""Golden Boy" Adrian Adonis (w/"Classy" Freddy Blassie) vs. Jeff Craney
Adonis has "I (heart) Adrian" on the back of his black leather biker jacket, immediately killing any semblance of "bad-assery" you might've gotten from it. In fact, he kinda' looks like an extra from the movie "The Warriors". Regardless, Adonis is all over the ring with a drop-kick, kneedrops, a charging power-slam and a reverse neckbraker. Adonis then hooks a sleeper hold to get the win, all while actually singing "Good Night, Irene". Since Craney's out cold, the ref demands that Adonis "wake him up" with a shot to the neck.
Why'd You watch This?Simply put, because of its October 31 date. Indeed, that's actually debatable, because these shows were sent out to local networks to air whenever they could fit them in. Plus, who knows when the actual taping date was? So it's understandable that there's no mention of Halloween. But hey, YOU got to hear my stupid story about my 1981 Halloween costume! You wouldn't have heard that were it not for this show and Halloween HavoK! Anyways, hope you have fun on your Halloween night and don't do anything I wouldn't wanna' watch.
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