The SmarK Rant for WWF Wrestling at the Chase – 01.08.84

The SmarK Rant for WWF Wrestling at the Chase – 01.08.84

I’m sick of waiting for the WWE Network to ever add the Hulkamania era of TV in my lifetime, so I’m just gonna take matters into my own hands and start from the beginning of the timeline via other means. In this case, YouTube.

Of course, the whole deal with Vince and the St. Louis territory is another whole story but we can get into that more later.

Taped from St. Louis, MO

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Mean Gene, who was fresh off the boat from the AWA.

Mr. Fuji v. James Burke

Hopefully Burke has some good connections with the crowd. That’s a deep cut nerd reference for you 80s science kids out there. Fuj quickly hits Burke with his KUNG FU and Gene notes that Fuji incorporates other things like karate, judo and others into his martial arts. He was truly the first MMA star. Fuji with the nerve hold and he rakes the face on the ropes before using vicious leg kicks and then an even more vicious shlong kick. That was pretty blatant. And then Fuji gets a running headbutt to finish at 4:31. That was kind of like a senton where he lands with the back of his head rather than his back.

Mil Mascaras v. Gilbert Guerrero

Apparently this Guerrero is no relation to the famous family and comes from Indiana. Mascaras wraps him up with various holds on the mat, although Vince does note that Mil will “mix it up in a brawling type fashion” when needed. Mascaras with a ropewalk into an armdrag and works a headlock, then takes him down and SHOOTS THE HALF but can’t get anything. So he goes to the surfboard and Guerrero escapes that. Mascaras drops him with a backdrop suplex and Guerrero makes the ropes to prevent a pin, but Mil takes him over with a butterfly suplex and Guerrero makes the ropes again. Mascaras with a full nelson and he goes to the mat with a bodyscissors and gives the poor guy the old double noogie to rub it in, and then hits the flying forearms like Starman for the pin at 5:44. Oh shit, was Starman in NES Pro Wrestling supposed to be Mil Mascaras this whole time? My whole world is falling apart. Pretty fun lucha-style match here, actually.

Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson v. Jerry Valiant & Bill Dixon

For years there was a rumor that Bobby Heenan and Jerry Valiant were secretly brothers, and I can kinda see it here. Atlas and Johnson double-team Dixon, who was the guy who had the honor of taking the first legdrop from Hogan in the glory years, and it’s over to Valiant. Rocky frustrates Valiant with speed and Dixon comes in again, and the jobbers double-team Atlas in their corner, but Altas makes his own comeback and fights them both off, allowing Rocky to slingshot in with a sunset flip for the pin at 5:00.

Hulk Hogan joins Mean Gene to discuss his upcoming match with Masked Superstar, and we get our first “YOU KNOW SOMETHING MEAN GENE” as he just slides right into the role. Also he really wants that World title match. And then Dr. D stops by and calls Hulk a filthy bum with a filthy mouth who is overlooking a lot of people such as himself. So he’s gonna go to every bar in Missouri looking for a fight, and then he’s gonna find himself a WOMAN. Sounds like Marty Jannetty’s weekend. And then Ivan Putski is gonna show us all what Polish Power is all about. Big John Studd has a manager who I am not familiar with, but he looks like Austin Idol. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch are after the BOYS who currently hold the tag team titles. Thankfully we move on after that dump of information. This show is certainly not boring.

Big John Studd v. Buster Adams

So the tuxedo-clad manager is Mad Dog Managoff apparently. Studd beats on Adams with clubbing forearms and wins with a shoulderblock in 2:30. Crap squash. So apparently this Managoff guy was one of Vince’s early experiments that didn’t go anywhere, and he only managed Studd for this one taping and then disappeared from the business again. He might have been related to one of the Grahams I guess? There’s not much out there on him.

Andre the Giant v. The Black Demon

We’re over to Championship Wrestling for this one, as Andre quickly hits the Demon with a suplex and puts the boots to him, and a suplex into the butt splash finishes at 3:31.

Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis v. Terry Daniels & Bob Chaney

Second appearance for Managoff here. Murdoch and Adonis do a very aggressive squash of Daniels, beating on him in the corner before Adonis suplexes him like a ragdoll onto the top rope. Out to the floor and Murdoch viciously slams him on the wooden floor and puts the boots to him, and then Murdoch hits him with a chair for good measure. Back in the ring, Murdoch tosses Daniels with a biel across the ring and then Daniels takes a backdrop and comes down with icicles on, as they say. Murdoch with a running powerslam as Daniels is doing an all time great enhancement guy job here, hurling his own body all over, and Adonis comes in with a flying elbow with a great camera angle that makes him look like he’s way in the air. Adonis with a slingshot under the ropes, but Daniels finally makes the tag to Bob Chaney, but the heels pulverize him with a double elbow and finish with a spike piledriver and the brainbuster from Murdoch at 5:23. This was legalized jobber murder and I LOVED IT. Huge heat from the St. Louis crowd, who were not used to this kind of violence in the Chase. Man these guys were an underrated team.

Oh man, this shit was like an atomic bomb on the wrestling landscape after years of the stodgy Vince Sr. version of the WWF. This was Vince McMahon Jr. putting everyone on notice, and the craziest stuff was yet to come in 1984.