St. Louis Wrestling Club
7/29/77
Kiel Auditorium
St. Louis, MO
Belltime: 8:30
 
Akio Sato vs. Chris Markoff:
The rugged Markoff gives the Japanese favorite all he can handle, but Sato hits a sunset flip at the 7:57 mark to get the win.
 
Bearcat Brown vs. Pat O’Connor:
Brown is tough and he gives the former World Champ some anxious moments before the crafty O’Connor puts him away with a sleeper at 8:08.
 
NWA WORLD JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT MATCH
Jerry Brisco© vs. Checkmate:
Checkmate offers his hand, but after the masked man bent the rules and cost Jerry and his brother a mask on today’s TV, the champ slaps it away. The match turns out to be an almost strictly scientific affair. The end comes when Checkmate goes for a backslide, but Jerry rolls through and hits an Oklahoma roll to get the pin at 19:01. After the match, it’s Brisco who offers a handshake that Checkmate accepts.
 
Bob Backlund & Tatsumi “The Dragon” Fujinami vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Ox Baker(w/Bobby Heenan):
Bob and Tatsumi have dedicated this match to manager Arnold Skoaland. At first, Skoaland’s boys dominate, totally outwrestling their opponents. Then, the Heenan managed team isolates Fujinami and works him over for several minutes. Backlund tags in and takes over. Backlund rolls Sakaguchi up with the Backlund bridge for the pin as Fujinami holds off Baker with a dropkick! Time of the match: 16:47
 
Handicap Match
Jos LeDuc vs. “The Hulk” Sterling Golden & Bobby Heenan
Remember that the rules are different in St. Louis handicap matches. LeDuc will have to beat both opponents in single matches within 30 minutes or he loses. Surprisingly, Heenan goes against LeDuc first. However, the strategy makes sense. Heenan gets on his bicycle and stays away from LeDuc. Finally, Jos catches Heenan in the bearhug and gets a quick submission, but Bobby has frittered 15 minutes off of the time limit with his cowardly tactics. Golden uses stall tactics as well, he and LeDuc eventually tear into each other, but only about 10 minutes are left. Finally, LeDuc gets control and gets Golden in the bearhug. Golden is in trouble, but he holds out until the final two minutes tick off the clock! LeDuc has failed to defeat both Golden and Heenan and has lost the handicap match! As Golden and Heenan gloat, LeDuc is enraged!
 
CENTRAL STATES TITLE MATCH
D.I. Bob Slaughter vs. Stan Hansen:
This is a brutal display of wrestling. These two warriors wrestle, brawl, and basically try to destroy each other! Finally, both men are counted out at 10:15, but continue to fight until several wrestlers and referees break them up!
 
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
“The Minnesota Wrecking Crew” Ole & Gene Anderson© vs. Jesse Ventura and Ken Patera:
The Andersons spend the first 10-12 minutes of the match taking Ventura apart in typical Anderson style. Ventura manages to tag in Patera. At first, Patera gets manhandled, but he gets the advantage on Gene. The challengers work Gene over for several minutes before he finally tags Ole. Ole is a house afire at first, but he goes for an elbow smash and hits nothing but mat! The challengers really work Ole over. It looks bad for the champs, but Ole uses his last bit of energy to start firing away on Ventura. With one last burst, Ole goes for broke…He’s going to whip Jesse into Gene….The Ultimate Sacrifice!!!!!!!
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NO!!!! JESSE REVERSES AND WHIPS OLE INTO GENE!!! THEIR SKULLS CRASH!!! GENE GOES DOWN….OLE IS REELING!!!! VENTURA ROLLS UP OLE!!!!
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ONE
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TWO
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THREE!!!!! WE HAVE NEW NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!! THE FANS ARE IN STUNNED SILENCE….THEY NEVER EXPECTED THIS COCKY JERK VENTURA  TO HUMBLE THE MIGHTY ANDERSONS, BUT HE AND PATERA HAVE DONE IT!!!! KEN PATERA…JESSE VENTURA…YOUR WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!!!
 
MISSOURI TITLE MATCH
Jack Brisco© vs. The Great Hussein Arab(w/Bobby Heenan):
The fans are hoping that this match doesn’t end in a tile change as well! This is a tremendous back and forth match with several near falls. Late in the match, Jack goes for the figure four, but Hussein rolls him up! One….Two….
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THREeeeeeeeee…………REVERSAL BY BRISCO!
 
 
ONE…..TWO….THREE!!!!! JACK BRISCO DEFENDS HIS TITLE AND EARNS AN NWA WORLD TITLE MATCH AT NEXT MONTH’S KIEL SHOW!!!!
 
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
2 out of 3 falls
Terry Funk vs. Bruno Sammartino:
 
First fall:  
Sammartino beats Funk from pillar to post. Funk has his moments, but Bruno dominates! Bruno uses the backbreaker to earn the first fall at 7:56!
 
Second Fall:
Bruno continues to maintain control of the match. Funk uses desperation tactics, but few of them work and those that work give him just a brief advantage. Bruno looks to be well on his way to the title, when Funk sidesteps a kick and throws Bruno out of the ring. Bruno hits the concrete knee first and is limping as he re-enters the ring…Funk catches Bruno in the split legged rolling pin! One…Two…THREE! It’s one fall apiece! Time of the fall:13:22.
 
Third Fall:
Bruno is favoring his knee, but he stays on the offense. Bruno has Funk in a lot of trouble and in desperation, the champ starts kicking away at the injured knee! Bruno wrestles valiantly as Funk continues working the leg. Finally, Bruno’s leg collapses as he lifts Funk for a slam. Bruno gives a great effort, but eventually, Funk applies the spinning toehold in center ring. Bruno won’t submit, but he collapses to the mat and the ref counts his shoulders down at 18:19. Funk releases the hold, grabs his belt, and leaves knowing he’s very fortunate to retain the title.  
 
   

WOW! I'm not sure anyone else got the word because Ventura and Patera winning the World titles seems a HUGE thing that nobody seemed to let slip out. Viva Kayfabe I guess...
 
Slaughter and Hansen will be a huge feud that can last fro as long as you feel like booking it with turns and double turns and outsiders brought in it can be on going for another 15 years if you want it to.
 
Brisco-Arab match was great and a perfect match to follow the tag title change. Also sets a great tone for the next match.
 
Time is running out for Terry Funk. If Brisco can't get him next month, there are an awfull lot of guys waiting in the wings in every NWA town and city who can possibly pull the belt away.

Quote from Midwest Dream on Aug 4^th, 2007, 7:59am:

 
 
All NWA Promoters knew about the title change, we just we able to keep it under wraps

Another great show! Tough luck for my Anderson's! Can't say it won't be nice to have 'em back though!

This was a very good show. I liked the Hansen-Slaughter slugfest.
 
Jesse Ventura and Ken Patera will be great as NWA Tag Team Champions. I wonder what will happen with the scheduled Andersons/Lanny Poffo-Dick Murdoch match in Amarillo??  

Quote from Jimmy Kimmel on Aug 4^th, 2007, 8:28am:

 
which is how it shold be. the same should be for the AWA promotors.  
 
now how do you followo the andersons match? wouldn't you have hated bing brisco -shiek after that upset??
fujinami-backlund makes an interesting team.
good brawl with DI and hansen.