From the Sam Houston Coliseum, February 10, 1978 for the NWA Title. Perhaps the only surviving footage of a complete match between these two double-tough competitors. Please comment if you like this & want to see more!
@sneksnekitsasnek These Two guys could outdraw any of the glorified, soyboy, snowflake, cosplay, stunt people you cheer for today. On top of the fact that Harley and Wahoo didnt need script writers to tell them what to say. Todays wrestlers, oops, I mean sports entertainers, totally and completely suck !!!!
sneksnekitsasnek Today’s sports entertainers couldn’t draw flies with a mouth full of shit. I would not pay to see anybody today. It’s all tables, ladders, chairs, crazy stunt moves. Everybody does finishers in the first 10 minutes of the match, kicking out at 2 1/2. WWE sucks, AEW sucks, TNA Sucks, along with all the other Mud Show Wrestling Promotion’s our there. There is not one cosplay stunt person I would pay to see.
@sneksnekitsasnek Why is it Wrestling drew bigger houses with 40 plus promotions in the country, where today Comps are being given out just to fill the front rows around the ring. Back when it was WWF vs WCW both companies would get a 5 to 6 rating. why is it todays wrestling cant even get a 2.0? Its because the product sucks!
@sneksnekitsasnek If you call stunt moves and weapons better options then I suggest you get in the ring and take unprotected chair shots, get raked with barbed wire, get hit with assorted objects, get burned with fire, thumbtacks, suicidal stunt moves, or getting in the ring with someone who will not protect you and cripples you. After which you can write all about it from your hospital bed, wheelchair, or coffin. In case you have not noticed, there are a whole lot of wrestlers who have died too young since the growth of "your wrestling" If you do not believe what I say, then do some research on it.
sneksnekitsasnek If today’s wrestling is so great why are all the matches rehearsed to death and the wrestlers are told through the ref what to do in the ring. Along with being told what to say for interviews. Most of the wrestlers can’t do this again because they are either crippled or dead.
Paul Boesch was an accomplished wrestler himself . His role behind the mic was to tell you what each holds did to the defender , explain strategy etc...but also to explain away botches . Now people doing play by play are trying to convince you that you should get a PPV .
Me too, I just found this in 2022, 2 of the greatest ever, Race was the toughest bastard, and Wahoo didn't get the push he deserved, 2 of my all time favorites for sure
2 legends battling it out..Wahoo should have had the NWA title at some point but that doesnt take away from his greatness and Harley is a legend.. I would put either of these men in the ring against any of todays wrestlers and they would destroy them.
Two of the absolute toughest guys in the sport! No frills, all action looking to win the coveted prize, the World's Heavyweight Championship title belt! Mayhem at its finest!
I think it was Marty Jannetty who told a story about being out with Harley at a restaurant one night and some dumb mark getting in Harley's face all night long about wrestling being fake and the blood they used was ketchup, etc etc...after they finished their meal and were walking out the mark came up to Harley one last time and Harley grabbed a glass bottle of ketchup off a counter and smashed the guy square in the face with it, breaking the bottle, splattering ketchup and blood everywhere and knocking the guy cold in the process...Harley leaned over the guy and yelled "I guess you're a pro wrestler now, Daddy!" at him... Harley was a bad motherfucker...
Saw a very similar bout between these two at the Ector County Colosseum in Odessa, Texas c.1969. I was 12 at the time and while it took a bit of patience and determination I was able to get Harley's autograph. He used a felt tip pen, and it completely faded away by 1980.
They should put the belt on him for sure! I use to watch him wrestle in the AWA and NWA. Now a days, wrestling is a joke. I just turn off the tv when I hear the words RAW and Smackdown.
washsox right. Those are two of my top 5 of that era and top 20 all time. Two of the greatest at connecting with the fans that they were the real deal and making it very easy to suspend disbelief. Harley's great bumps and wahoo's chops....man.
MORE 1 FALL MATCHES IN THE 1970'S AND 1980'S, 2 OUT OF 3 FALL MATCHES COMMON IN THE 1950'S AND 1960'S, PROBABLY 1940'S. ONCE IN A WHILE THERE WAS A 2 OUT OF 3 FALL MATCH IN THE 70'S AND 80'S.
By today's standards the first pin and opening 13 minutes may be considered boring. However every move was measured meant something to the match and was registered in the fight. When considering it is a semi-acted fight most guys in the industry today, may need to watch this match and watch with an eye towards improving at the craft they practice. Two tough guys by any standard and they registered EVERY move and strike as if in a fight vs another monster.
Harley Race was the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion for all of 1978. If this was February 1978, Wahoo was making a guest appearance as he was in the Mid-Atlantic region at that time. He would leave there in May, wrestling in Florida & Georgia, but would do pop-in appearances in the Mid-Atlantic until returning there full time in 1981. The announcers, during his absense there, often made references to him, as I'm sure that they didn't want the fans to forget him.
Haha...thought I was the only one that noticed that. There some sorta commotion in the seats just prior to that. Couldn't tell if someone got sucker punched or what?
Since Wahoo was legitimately Native American, I wonder if he knew how to apply the Indian Deathlock. Harley knew how to apply that submission hold. It's that hold that helped him regain the NWA World Championship belt from Terry Funk the year before.
dick kroll was all over he was there for the bruno change with koloff and when koloff dropped it and he's ref'd all the big stars matches and he's here in texas. he had a great career as a ref. was well known in new york that's for sure.
The quality of these Boesch videos is superb and if you look carefully you can see him broadcasting (with bald head!) in the first row on the left facing the camera. He is looking into a tv set (monitor) and not at the ring action! If I am correct, both Boesch's territory and Joe Blanchard's territory were exclusively booked by Von Erich's Dallas folks for a period Gary Hart was the booker. Sometimes the other two territories brought in "special" people but most everything else was booked exclusively through Dallas with a 40% ?(of the gate?) booking fee paid.
Race and Johnny valentine were too of the best for taking a beating like never seen before just when you thought they were done they would kick out every time never seen two guys that could take a beating like those two could two of the best to ever step in the square circle
Poor wahoo never was treated fair I think he should have been world champion for longer than a day one of the best to ever wrestle in the nwa my opinion should have been world champion for a while but he always got shot changed just about every match
Wish there was footage of the follow up match to this. Sounds like it got crazy! Supposedly the NWA thought Wahoo was going to try to screw over Harley to take belt, so they sent Pat O'Connor to be the ref for the Indian strap match. Guess this made Wahoo livid, and he and Pat were getting in each other's faces throughout the match before Wahoo tied up Harley to the ring post, so he wouldn't interfere while Wahoo and Pat beat the fuck out of each other outside the ring.
Vince Sr rejoined the NWA in 1972. Offically Vince Sr and Verne were part of the NWA. It was made to look like they were separate entities to protect against being accused of being a monopoly. Vince Sr and Verne always exchanged talent with the other NWA promoters.
