WWF
CHAMPIONSHIP
WRESTLING
February 16, 1980
Hamburg, Pennsylvania
Hamburg Fieldhouse
From WWENetwork.com: Season 6 Episode 4, 47 minutes, TV-PG V L, Larry Zbyszko battles Mike Masters; Ken Patera faces Steve King & Charlie Brown in a Handicap Match.
The opening video for WWF Championship Wrestling airs.
Inside the Hamburg Fieldhouse, Vince McMahon and “The Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino welcome us to this week’s episode of World Wrestling Federation Championship Wrestling. This week we’ll see Afa and Sika of The Wild Samoans, Larry Zbyszko, “The Olympic Strongman” Ken Patera and “The Fabulous” Hulk Hogan. Our first match will begin after this commercial break.
—COMMERCIAL BREAK—
When we return to WWF Championship Wrestling, we go straight to the squared circle for the ring announcer’s announcements. He informs us that this episode is sanctioned and supervised by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. The Deputy Commissioner is John Santoro. The timekeeper is Mike Mittman. The doctor at ringside is Dr. John Woods. The referees for this week’s episode are Dick Woerhle, Gilberto Roman and John Stanley.
MATCH #1: JOHN BUFORD & DOMINIC DENUCCI v/s THE WILD SAMOANS (AFA & SIKA) [with: CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO]
It’s now time for the first match of the night! This tag team match is scheduled for one fall with a 10-minute time limit. Introducing the team already in the ring…first, he hails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and weighing in at 235 pounds – JOHN BUFORD! His partner is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and weighs 267 pounds – DOMINIC DENUCCI! Their opponents are making their way to the ring and are accompanied by their manager – CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO! They hail from The Isle of Samoa and weigh in at a total combined weight of 613 pounds – AFA & SIKA…THE WILD SAMOANS! The bell rings to officially begin this tag team match between John Buford & Dominic DeNucci against The Wild Samoans, Afa & Sika, with their manager Captain Lou Albano in their corner. It will be Dominic DeNucci and Afa starting the match first for their respective tag teams. During the match, Albano walks over to Vince McMahon and “The Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino at the broadcast booth and tells them that it’s just a matter of time before The Wild Samoans take Dominic DeNucci and his partner down. Later on, McMahon informs us that we’ll see “The Fabulous” Hulk Hogan, “The Olympic Strongman” Ken Patera and the WWF World Tag Team Champions: “The Polish Power” Ivan Putski & Tito Santana in action. This match ends when Sika nails Buford with The Samoan Drop before pinning him.
THE WINNERS: THE WILD SAMOANS via pinfall in 7:51
When we return to WWF Championship Wrestling, we’ll see “The Olympic Strongman” Ken Patera in action!
—COMMERCIAL BREAK—
We’re back!
MATCH #2: HANDICAP MATCH – CHARLIE BROWN & STEVE KING v/s “THE OLYMPIC STRONGMAN” KEN PATERA [with: THE GRAND WIZARD]
Our next match is a Handicap Match, which is scheduled for one fall with a 10-minute time limit. Introducing the competitors already in the ring. First, he hails from Panama City, Panama and weighs in at 221 pounds – STEVE KING! His tag team partner hails from Dawson, Georgia and weighs in at 231 pounds – CHARLIE BROWN! Introducing their opponent. He is accompanied to the ring by his manager – THE GRAND WIZARD! He hails from Portland, Oregon and weighs in at 275 pounds – “THE OLYMPIC STRONGMAN” KEN PATERA! The bell rings to officially begin this Handicap Match between Charlie Brown & Steve King against “The Olympic Strongman” Ken Patera, with The Grand Wizard in his corner. The match ends when Patera forces King to submit to The Swinging Full Nelson to win the match.
THE WINNER: “THE OLYMPIC STRONGMAN” KEN PATERA via submission in 4:19
After the match and before the ring announcer could announce Patera as the winner, Patera grabs the microphone and declares his fallen opponents as the current WWF Champion: Bob Backlund and “The Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino.
More World Wrestling Federation action is heading your way after this commercial break!
—COMMERCIAL BREAK—
MATCH #3: BILL BERGER v/s “THE FABULOUS” HULK HOGAN [with: “THE HOLLYWOOD FASHION PLATE” “CLASSY” FRED BLASSIE]
After WWF Championship Wrestling returns from the commercial break, we’re ready for our next match which is scheduled for one fall with a 10-minute time limit. Introducing first, he hails from Hollywood, California and weighs in at 232 pounds – BILL BERGER! His opponent is accompanied to the ring by his manager – “THE HOLLYWOOD FASHION PLATE” “CLASSY” FRED BLASSIE! He hails from Venice Beach, California and weighs in at 230 pounds – “THE FABULOUS” HULK HOGAN! The bell rings to officially begin this match between Bill Berger versus “The Fabulous” Hulk Hogan, with “The Hollywood Fashion Plate” “Classy” Fred Blassie in his corner. The match ends when Hogan forces Berger to submit to the bearhug.
THE WINNER: “THE FABULOUS” HULK HOGAN via submission in 3:07
When we return, we’ll see the WWF World Tag Team Champions: “The Polish Power” Ivan Putski & Tito Santana in action!
—COMMERCIAL BREAK—
MATCH #4: NON-TITLE MATCH – WWF WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: “THE POLISH POWER” IVAN PUTSKI & TITO SANTANA v/s JOJO ANDREWS & DAVEY O’HANNON
Our next match is a Non-Title Match scheduled for one fall with a 10-minute time limit. Introducing first, from Indianapolis, Indiana and weighing 287 pounds – JOJO ANDREWS! His tag team partner hails from Kansas City, Missouri and weighs in at 253 pounds – DAVEY O’HANNON! Introducing their opponents, they are the current WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! Introducing first, he hails from Krakow, Poland and weighs in at 245 pounds – “THE POLISH POWER” IVAN PUTSKI! His tag team partner hails from Mexico City, Mexico and weighs in at 247 pounds – TITO SANTANA! The bell rings to officially begin this Non-Title Match between WWF World Tag Team Champions: “The Polish Power” Ivan Putski & Tito Santana against JoJo Andrews & Davey O’Hannon. It will be Putski and O’Hannon starting the match first for their respective tag teams. The match ends when Putski nails Andrews with The Polish Blow Hammer.
THE WINNERS: WWF WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS – “THE POLISH POWER” IVAN PUTSKI & TITO SANTANA via pinfall in 9:48
Vince McMahon informs us that Larry Zbyszko will be in action after the commercial break.
—COMMERCIAL BREAK—
It’s time for more professional wrestling after WWF Championship Wrestling returns from the commercial break.
MATCH #5: MIKE MASTERS v/s LARRY ZBYSZKO
Our next match is scheduled for one fall with a 10-minute time limit. Introducing first, he hails from Kearny, New Jersey and weighs in at 252 pounds – MIKE MASTERS! Introducing his opponent, making his way to the ring he hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and weighs in at 231 pounds – LARRY ZBYSZKO! Vince McMahon is shocked at the amount and loudness of boos for Zbyszko. Zbyszko blows the crowd a kiss. The bell rings to officially begin this one-on-one match between Mike Masters against Larry Zbyszko. During the match, McMahon mentions to Bruno Sammartino that his absence from the broadcast booth at last week’s episode of WWF Championship Wrestling did not go unnoticed. He asks if Sammartino would like to address the recent events that have taken place between himself and his former protege, Larry Zbyszko. Bruno says he originally felt bad when all of this started but he’s had time to think and now that he knows what Zbyszko’s true intention was, he has no plans to go into this. He hopes Vince will forgive him. He adds that just watching Zbyszko compete in the squared circle makes him sick to his stomach and he then says he hopes Vince will forgive him before leaving the broadcast booth. This match ends when Zbyszko hits a suplex on Masters before successfully pinning him.
THE WINNER: LARRY ZBYSZKO via pinfall in 3:58
After the match, Zbyszko grabs the microphone and thanks the audience for their respect for “THE NEW LIVING LEGEND”! Which incites the crowd even more.
After the match, McMahon says Zbyszko is a changed man and says some people felt that he had justification for the way he felt but McMahon thinks most people feel Larry has gone too far. Vince says he’ll conduct an interview with “The New Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko after this final commercial break.
—COMMERCIAL BREAK—
When we return from the commercial break, Vince McMahon is standing at ringside with “The New Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko. Larry angers the crowd by asking, “Bruno isn’t coming is he?” He says everyone wants Bruno but he isn’t coming out. Vince tells Larry that he has destroyed the faith that the fans placed in him. Zbyszko says the fans don’t know the truth but he can see where they and Sammartino are coming from. He says if everyone would look around when they’re screaming, “WE WANT BRUNO!” they’ll discover that they won’t see Bruno. Bruno realized that he can’t embarrass Zbyszko. He realized that he can’t use Larry to keep his name going. Vince asks what does he mean by “use” him and Zbyszko states that Bruno used him as a protege to keep his name alive. They trained for years and Bruno could never beat him when they were training. Vince asks Zbyszko to talk about the recent match he had with Sammartino. Zbyszko says he challenged Bruno to a scientific wrestling match and Bruno says he is so shocked that he can’t believe it. Larry says he’s so shocked because he doesn’t want to admit on TV that he isn’t “The Living Legend” anymore and he never could beat Zbyszko in practice. “The New Living Legend” says he has a name that he can carry better than Bruno ever did. Larry asks why did Bruno agree to the type of match he was challenged to? Larry tells the fans that the reason Sammartino never placed a wrestling hold on Zbyszko was because he knew Zbyszko could break out of it. The former protege of Sammartino declares that there is not one wrestling hold that he cannot break out of. He says that Sammartino doesn’t want everyone on TV to see Zbyszko escape the wrestling moves he applied on him. Vince asks Larry to explain his actions with the chair at the end of the match. Larry says that nobody tries to make him look like a fool and laugh at him. He adds that when he used the chair, that was his way of telling Sammartino that nobody does that to him. His happiest moment in his life was when he hit Sammartino with the chair. He could care less what the fans think now. Sammartino knows the truth. And Zbyszko knows the truth. Vince asks him how could he say that because Sammartino stated that he loves Larry like a brother. Larry says Bruno states he loves him like a brother and in the next breath is attempting to humiliate him in the ring. Larry states that Bruno asked for it. He tells the fans to shut up because they don’t know what’s going on. After the fans start booing, McMahon calls Zbyszko an “uptight wrestler” and says he doesn’t have the fans’ respect anymore. He says Bruno and the fans let him down and he doesn’t need them or anyone else.
As the theme song and credits for WWF Championship Wrestling plays, Vince asks Larry about his future and he says he proved himself on TV, Sammartino was carried out of the ring on a stretcher, Sammartino couldn’t stop him. Zbyszko says his future is made and if anyone wants to wrestle him, he’s fine with that.
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