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The Battle of Atlantic City: Andre / DiBiase vs. Scicluna / Jerry Valiant (7/26/79)


JerryvonKramer

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This obscure and difficult-to-find match has attained a near-legendary status on Titans. I loved it, some other people hated it. It is notable for a number of reasons:

 

1. It took place at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, which is a completely unique setting for this time frame. It's really rare to see footage from outside of the TV (Allentown / Hamberg), MSG, Philly or sometimes Boston or the Cap Centre. I have read around about this, and in the Summer of 79, the WWF ran a series of live broadcasts from Atlantic City, which aired on a local cable channel (one guy says a station called "Sportschannel") at 8pm or 9pm in 79. The reasons for the existence of this footage -- as in why they did this, why live as opposed to a taping, and why for only that couple of weeks -- are ... mysterious.

 

2. Gorilla Monsoon is on commentary, which is also really unusual for this time. I believe it is actually his DEBUT as an announcer. Vince fronted the TV typically. Monsoon would not start on MSG and Philly shows until 1982. So it really is random that he is in the booth here in 79. Monsoon calls it "Championship Wrestling", but as far as we know this did not air on that show. It may have been a pilot or trial run for a new live show.

 

3. This is a chance to see Andre in a house show environment go long against lesser opponents. It is about 28 minutes. He plays FIP at times for Scicluna and Valiant(!!), which is nuts.

 

4. Also a chance to see Baron Scicluna outside of a 5-minute MSG opener squash, and he actually gets some time in on offense. I don't think he nor Jerry Valiant (underrated) have many matches that go this long on tape.

 

5. Early team up for the Mega Bucks! :)

 

I have uploaded it on discrete request. This is a bit of a "gem" in my view. I mean even if you don't like the match (which I do), there's so much other unusual stuff about this match that it is worth a look. I love the Steel Pier setting, your "smoky arena" right there.

 

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No, not on HBO. Some MSG cards did, but not those Atlantic City live broadcasts. It would have been a local NY / NJ station.

 

I'm not an expert on 70's wrestling but I'm gonna assume this might have been shown on WNJU which used to be a UHF station that originated from Linden.

 

It might be that station cause remember talking to my dad about 70's wrestling and asking how did he see Championship Wrestling from Florida along with WWF when he lived in Newark as a kid.

 

And then after Piper's death, I saw this:

 

 

Once you hit the 35 second mark, you will see the call letters for WNJU and that was back in 83. And reading on the WNJU wiki page, WWF did have TV on the station in English despite the station having heavy spanish programming.

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That's interesting.

 

I did some quick searching cause I'm at work right now and found a thread that Bix started the Kayfabe Memories board.

 

http://www.infinitecore.ca/superstar/index.php?a=prnt&code=02&f=37&t=60249&page=0

 

So he might know better.

 

EDIT: Found this thread too with Bix in it. Looks like I'm going through a rabbit hole today.

 

http://sportsandwrestling.mywowbb.com/forum1/12632.html

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This is one of my favorite "gems" (using Parv's word) from that set because it's so different from MSG and the other footage from that time. The fans at the Steel Pier are out of their seat practically at the ring screaming and jumping for Andre to get a hot tag. Everything clicks - Baron's hidden object (and I actually think this piece of the match dragging it down is over-embellished back on Titans #2 or #3; he doesn't over do it imo) has them pissed. Worhle misses tags and they are frantic. It's a fun atmosphere to get lost in.

 

The team-up spots with Andre and Ted are fun, and it's a shame we only get that stuff early on from them (Andre feeding guys for DiBiase to dropkick for example). There's a scrappiness to the match where guys will just leave their corner to fight, although the Baron and Jerry are very fickle about when they'll bump or even sell. At times it almost seems like play wrestling - DiBiase will just club away and be completely ignored. That's probably the worst part of the match - the heels being physically limited so they can't even make Andre look particularly good.

 

I enjoy Andre in this type of match. He even legit sells for those goofs (late in the match too - a surprisingly heat sequence on him like 20+ minutes in) and it works.

 

Gorilla is incredible calling this - he keeps the viewer engaged and I was hooked as well.

 

I'm not at ****, more so in the *** +, maybe ***1/2 .

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