World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 7/15/1984
From: East Rutherford, NJ
MATCH #1: THE MOONDOGS (REX & SPOT) VS. JOSE LUIS RIVERA & SD JONES
NOTE: This is promoted as an Australian style tag team match.
FINISH: Moondogs hit a backbreaker/middle rope leg drop combo on Rivera to win the match.
Bob’s Take: Jones and Rivera have the early advantage on the Moondogs with quick tags. Rivera has some good fast paced offense hitting a dropkick at one point for a near fall in the early moments of the match. Jones is dropped throat first over the top rope and is worked over for a bit. Moondogs offense is a bit slower and not much for excitement, and I’m not terribly shocked by that. I think I most associate the Moondogs with a wild brawl style and in a structured tag match they’re not able to work that style. Rivera gets a hot tag after a Moondog missed a splash in the corner on Jones. This is the most I’ve seen the crowd actively show support to Rivera as they were ready to explode for a sunset flip pin attempt. The closing sequence was good and the Moondogs finisher is a strong one. There was better heat here for this match than most enhancement matches elsewhere.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #2: SALVATORE BELLOMO VS. TONY COLON
FINISH: Bellomo picks up the win following a mule kick and a splash off the ropes.
Bob’s Take: Bellomo’s offense is a lot of dropkicks and basic wrestling, but the crowd is at least more receptive towards him than MSG has been. Bellomo does get a scattering of jeers, but the audience is mostly tolerable of Bellomo. A short match, which is fine. Bellomo comes across as a likable underdog act.
Match Rating: *
Backstage, Paul Orndorff cuts a promo saying he knows what the fans will say, but he will piledrive B. Brian Blair and says Blair will look like the midgets running around here. Orndorff can do it all by himself and doesn’t like Blair.
MATCH #3: PAUL ORNDORFF VS. B. BRIAN BLAIR
FINISH: Orndorff counters a slam attempt with an inside cradle to win the match.
Bob’s Take: Orndorff forearms Blair to gain the cheap advantage, but missed a top rope knee drop to allow Blair to gain the advantage and focus his attack on the left knee for a bit. The crowd is heavily behind Blair more so than I’d expect. The New Jersey crowd is quite different than MSG crowd for how they respond to some acts. Orndorff has been a great heel to generate a strong reaction from the audience, too. Blair is able to continually counter Orndorff throughout the match and focuses his attack on Orndorff’s legs. Orndorff gains control with simple strikes to keep Blair on the mat for a bit. Blair almost wins with a rollup and the crowd was about to go nuclear for a potential upset. When Blair is in control he’s able to keep the crowd invested while Orndorff’s offense is a bit more dull. In fact, the majority of this match was Blair and Orndorff just snuck it out with the rollup.
Match Rating: **1/4
MATCH #4: THE WILD SAMOANS (AFA & SIKA) VS. MR. FUJI & TIGER CHUNG LEE
FINISH: Chung Lee accidentally kicks Fuji off the apron allowing Sika to headbutt Chung Lee and comes off the ropes with a headbutt for the win. After the match, Fuji attacks Chung Lee with his own kendo stick. Fuji delivers a headbutt to Chung Lee’s groin before walking off.
Bob’s Take: Okay, so Fuji turned on Chung Lee at MSG and now they’re teaming again. The turn happened eight days ago at the Philadelphia Spectrum, so the audience hadn’t seen that yet. What a different time. Thankfully, this match doesn’t get over twenty-minutes of action. I don’t have much interest in the duo of Fuji and Chung Lee and knowing that they have already split made me care about this even less as I figured we’d see the same developments from Philly anyway. The crowd likes the Samoans, but this was a dull match as I expected.
Match Rating: DUD
MATCH #5: IVAN PUTSKI VS. RENE GOULET
FINISH: Putski prevails with a sit down splash.
Bob’s Take: Goulet tries to do a pose-off with Putski, but easily loses that attempt. Putski has the strength advantage, so Goulet has snuck an illegal object into his trunks to cheap shot Putski. There wasn’t much action to this and it felt like a filler match on the card.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Backstage, Gorilla Monsoon interviews Paul Orndorff. Orndorff talks about making a mental error coming off the top rope and knew Blair would be ready for their match. Orndorff admits he almost overlooked Blair a little bit. Monsoon suggests Orndorff could be a champion very soon in the WWF. Orndorff promises he will hold the gold soon whether it’s Tito or Hulk he could beat either one. After a commercial, Monsoon is still interviewing Orndorff and knows that Orndorff wants Hogan’s championship. Orndorff agrees that his goal is to be the champion and feels he’s right near the top of Hogan, and actually believes he’s better than Hogan. Orndorff thinks he will have the title.
Backstage, Roddy Piper cuts a promo saying that he’s never been worried about anything in his life and says he’s a snake. Piper notes people say that he’s not as fast or as strong as Snuka. Piper knows what he’s doing and describes swatting flies in his house and Snuka is another fly.
MATCH #6: JIMMY SNUKA VS. RODDY PIPER
FINISH: Snuka is counted out after diving to the floor and Piper got back into the ring before the count. After the match, Snuka headbutts the referee and attacks Piper on the mat until several enhancement wrestlers come out to pull Snuka off.
Bob’s Take: They went right at it with strikes and Snuka got the early advantage causing Piper to beg off and be a bit of a coward similar to their Philly match. Piper collided with the referee on a crossbody attempt allowing for some brawling on the floor. A fan chucked a drink at Piper while on the floor and Piper hit Snuka with a chair shot, and Snuka got busted open from that. Piper continued by sending Snuka into the ring post. Snuka is bleeding quite a bit. This is a bit of a different approach than their Philly match, and the crowd came across stunned by the blood loss. Snuka seemed to got into a different mindset upon seeing his own blood. Snuka dove over the top rope onto Piper on the floor in one of the most insane spots I’ve seen on these shows. The referee counted out Snuka as Piper had gotten rolled into the ring first. An enjoyable match with great crowd reaction and the blood added to the match.
Match Rating: **1/2
MATCH #7: HAITI KID VS. DANNY CARPENTER
NOTE: This is a midget match.
FINISH: Haiti wins with a sunset flip. After the match, Haiti is interviewed saying Danny is a big guy. Haiti is standing on a chair for the interview.
Bob’s Take: Midget matches at this point are still considered to be an attraction and the fans tend to be receptive to them. This time around the audience seems to be a bit indifferent about the action. The crowd did pop for Haiti biting Danny’s butt. Haiti does a little bit of comedy with the referee to get some laughs out of the crowd. The match was rather dull.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Backstage, Mil Mascaras cuts a promo saying he’s thrilled to be there and compete for the audience. Mascaras promises the best Mexican action.
MATCH #8: MIL MASCARAS VS. PETE DOHERTY
FINISH: Mascaras wins with a full nelson rollup.
Bob’s Take: At this point, Mascaras has already been wrestling for over twenty years. Mascaras appears to be in the States for a little bit and being used as an attraction for the company. This isn’t a complete squash as Doherty gets a little bit of offense, but it’s nothing all that impactful. I didn’t leave this match all that impressed in Mascaras.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Backstage, WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant cut a promo. Hogan says Andre is the Boss and can’t think of a better partner for the match tonight. Hogan wants to see Andre slam Big John Studd through the mat. Andre says he’s back and he’s going to slam Studd just like he did in their cage match.
MAIN EVENT: WWF WORLD CHAMPION HULK HOGAN & ANDRE THE GIANT VS. WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS ADRIAN ADONIS & DICK MURDOCH, & BIG JOHN STUDD — HANDICAP MATCH
FINISH: Andre big boots Murdoch followed by a sit down splash for the win.
Bob’s Take: Adonis and Hogan started the match with Hogan getting the advantage thanks to Andre chopping Adonis from the apron. Adonis continues to be one of the better sellers on the roster. The crowd buzzes when Studd gets in the ring to confront Hogan, but that may be for the anticipation for Andre to get involved. Andre does get involved and wants to do a test of strength, which the crowd is eating up and they are clearly invested into a Andre vs. Studd feud. The crowd erupts when Hogan almost slams Studd. Hogan gets worked over a bit by the heels as Hogan can’t string together much offense with the odds heavily against him. Andre gets tagged in and sends Adonis upside down into the corner prompting Studd to enter the match. Andre and Hogan splash all three men in the corner and the crowd loved that. The heels tag quite a bit to keep control on Andre. Murdoch came off the top to drive a knee into Andre’s back. Studd gets control on Andre with a front face lock. Andre gets some revenge on Murdoch by choking him with a tag rope. Adonis does his rope trapped spot and collides with Murdoch. Hogan continues to be worked over by the heels for a bit of time. Hogan stops Adonis on the top rope and shakes the ropes much to the delight of the crowd. Andre gets the hot tag leading to all five men in the ring. Studd is left alone and knocked to the floor following an Andre headbutt. Studd bails to the backstage area and Hogan is worked over by the tag champs while Andre was distracted. The finish was a bit clunky as Adonis looked as if he was going to break the pin, but they finished the count anyway. An enjoyable handicap match overall.
Match Rating: ***
Final Thoughts:
An average show this month as Snuka/Piper and the main event delivered some entertainment. If the major matches didn’t deliver this would have been an easier thumbs down, but it’s in the middle and certainly not must-see.
Thanks for reading.