Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'MSG'.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
18:39 Graham cuts one of his classic promos before the match. Bruno looks great here with his 'fro and pornstache. He comes out guns blazing, and the crowd eats it up. He dominates for awhile, with Superstar doing a lot of cowardly heel schtick. Things slow down when they do an extended sequence of trading full nelsons. But even then it's not so bad because the crowd's excited about everything. It's been awhile since I watched any Superstar. I forgot how limited he really was - friggin Goldberg had a bigger move-set. Full nelson, bear-hug, test of strength, a few bumps. Not much even by 1970's WWWF standards. But this match really makes me appreciate the skills of prime Bruno, as he carries Graham to something that is way more entertaining than it has any right to be. Flair himself couldn't have done better with this broomstick.
-
Bruno Sammartino vs. Superstar Billy Graham WWWF Championship - Madison Square Garden February 2, 1976 Superstar tries to jump Bruno before the bell, but the Champ blows him off and beats Graham down. Crowd is hot right out of the gate. Graham begs off and waits for his chance to turn the tables with a big boot to Bruno's face. Superstar goes to work on Sammartino's left leg and gets an inverted half crab. Bruno reaches the ropes but pays for it when Graham drags him to the corner and rams his leg into the ring post. Graham misses a big elbow drop for the top rope and then the Champ goes to work on Superstar's leg. Bruno gets revenge with his own leg post spot and continues the damage. Now both guys have a bum leg, with Graham in worse shape. Graham fights back with a bearhug but Sammartino breaks out so Superstar quickly grabs a full nelson. Eventually Sammartino breaks the hold and puts on his own full nelson. Eventually Graham reaches the ropes and complains of hair-pulling. Then we get an intense collar-and-elbow tie-up where both men try to choke the life out of each other. Graham pushes Bruno against the ropes and begins an assault. Right hands land hard. Body slam. Graham whips him into the ropes and hits a back-elbow smash. Then Superstar goes up and misses another top rope elbow drop. Sammartino punches Superstar out onto the apron and then rams his head against the ring post. Graham comes back up and Bruno posts him again for good measure. Graham is busted wide open. This leads to a really heated punch exchange with both guys beating the hell out of each other until the blood loss starts to slow Graham down to the point where it's not an even fight and the ref calls for the bell and awards the match to Bruno Sammartino. Sort of odd to watch this after their '77 series. I didn't enjoy their '77 MSG match nearly was much as the title change in Baltimore so I'll put this firmly in the middle. Both guys brought strong performances here, with Graham giving a good balance between chickenshit heel and heavyweight brawler. Bruno continues to impress me as well in terms of performance and leading the match. Nice gusher from Superstar as well and the finish brawl was extremely exciting to watch. ***3/4 -
Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen WWWF Championship - Madison Square Garden Steel Cage Match August 7, 1976 A young Stan Hansen is working an earlier variation of his Lariat gimmick here, with bright green trunks and bleached blonde hair, sans cattle rancher gear and a loaded elbow pad for added effect. Chris Hero's gimmick in 2009 was very reminiscent of this look and honestly its a good one to recycle. I couldn't find the matches leading up to this one, and essentially the story boils down to the fact that Stan Hansen broke Bruno Sammartino's neck with the loaded Lariat. Now Bruno gets his chance for vengeance in a Steel Cage Match at MSG. Bruno is hesitant to step in the cage as Hansen is already waiting inside, but Sammartino cannot ignore the cheers of the crowd as they urge him to get in. So of course Hansen does jump Bruno with a knee as he crawls inside the cage, but Bruno moves and Hansen misses an elbow drop. Crowd goes nuts as Bruno gets his shine on with big punches and smashes Hansen into the cage. He chokes Hansen on the ropes but Hansen fights back to get the upper hand. Back-and-forth gritty brawling ensues with Bruno raking the eyes sending Hansen into the cage head-first for a second time. Both guys continue to kick and punch and beat the snot out of each other. Sammartino chokes Hansen with his foot across the throat. Hansen desperately sends Bruno to the ropes to try for the Lariat but Bruno gets a huge big foot to Hansen's gut instead. Bruno chokes Hansen out with his foot again but the Bad Man from Borger comes back only to miss an elbow drop. Hansen landed on his back and Sammartino quickly goes to work and locks in a Boston crab. Bruno rakes his fingers across the eyes and then opens up with a series of right hands. Hansen kicks Sammartino in the chest and gingerly tries to escape through the door but Bruno grabs his tights and pulls him back in. Now both guys choke each other out. Hansen gets the better of the exchange and goes to climb the cage and is pulled down by Sammartino. Bruno gets tired of Hansen's running so he stomps him hard with a low blow. Bruno sends Hansen into the cage a number of times before Hansen elbows Bruno and tries to walk out of the cage again. They fight for advantage as Hansen tries to climb out from the top of the cage, but get crotched in the ropes and sent into the ring post instead. Hansen is cut open, so naturally Bruno rakes the cut and follows up with a series of right hands. Bruno has a clear advantage. Bruno pulls the loaded elbow pad from Hansen's arm and hits him with it several times! Hansen is knocked senseless again and gets his foot tied up in the ropes. Bruno continues the onslaught even as Hansen is trapped and bleeding! Bruno actually releases Hansen from the rope, only to give him one last big right hand to Hansen's bleeding skull. Bruno stands tall and walks out of the cage as the decisive winner. Post match, Hansen swings at a ref but misses and does a face-plant into the cage. Great back-and-forth brawl here. Effective use of the cage both in terms of violence and the escape tactics. Hansen stood toe-to-toe with the Champ but Bruno came ready for the fight of his life, throwing the rule book out the window and doing whatever it takes to get his revenge. It was only when he felt defeated that Hansen tried to escape. Pure desperation. In comparison, Bruno never tried to escape and stood tall. We got the ultimate payback when Bruno beat Hansen senseless with the loaded elbow pad and turned him into a bloody mess. Really enjoying these Bruno Sammartino matches and Hansen shined even at this stage in the game. ****1/4
-
Talk about it here. -
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Just a fantastic Hogan-formula MSG house show match, if you ask me. For anyone who says Hulk Hogan doesn't sell or can't sell, just look at this match. Hogan is incredibly generous in this match with his selling right from the moment Perfect is able to kick Hogan who's setting up for a back body drop. Hogan gets huge sympathy from the crowd and Perfect looked great on offense. Then you had the antics with Genius which was great (how was Perfect not DQ-ed when Genius put the boots on him? Was it cause Hogan brought him into the match first?). Perfect bumps like an absolute nut for Hogan, even bumping on his nuts like thrice. What a trooper. Gotta love the production value of WWF that they got that close up of the knucks in Perfect's tights so that you could have the announcers actually try to deduce what went down. A DQ finish but it's fine to build heat and really the match before it was just entertaining all throughout. ****
-
Pedro Morales defends the Intercontinental Title. Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
