Ah Don Muraco, or the MAGNIFICENT Muraco as he is known to his friends, was one of the very first wrestlers I ever remember seeing on WWF television. This match would have been past the days of his reigns as Intercontinental champion, but not to worry as he still has…
…Mr. Fuji at his side! What we’re seeing here would have been before their cinematic escapades such as Fuji Vice, Fuji Bandido, and others. So at this point, Muraco was just squashing geeks on WWF TV. Geeks such as…
PAUL ROMA! For you young ‘un,s he’s the one that Jim Powers is pointing at. Wait, you probably don’t know who Jim Powers is either, so that likely doesn’t help. Ok, so Roma is the one on the left. He would wind up as one half of the Young Stallions (with Powers), one half of Power and Glory (with Hercules), and one quarter of the (worst version of the) Four Horsemen to ever exist.
Today, though, he’s getting schooled in the art of wrestling by Muraco. And when I say “wrestling”, I don’t mean pro wrestling, I mean flat out Greco-Roman wrestling like you’d learn in on a grade school wrestling team. He takes Roma down over and over and…
…over and over again. You might think that would be boring, but honestly it’s…kinda fun to watch. Because, get this, it feels like an actual WRESTLING match. I mean I love watching crazy high spot party matches these days, but this is really fascinating to see something like this because it feels like an athletic contest and not totally choreographed.
And Muraco is just mauling this poor guy like a bear. Roma gets no offense, which is exactly what a match like this should be. Finally Muraco decides enough’s enough, and picks Roma up for his patented pile driver. Crazy to think Muraco was using this for years and then Undertaker came along, tweaked it slightly, and made gazillions of dollars using it.
While that was generally his finisher, he’s feeling a bit frisky here and goes to the ropes and hits Roma with a Vader bomb! Even the crowd who had been harassing him with “beach bum” chants earlier (and how is that insult anyway?) begins applauding loudly. Which they should – Don Muraco was truly magnificent!