Rocky Johnson Tony Atlas & SD Jones VS The Wild Samoans 12.26.1983 MSG

[lildwayne21]

This was a damn good match. Hell it was better than Sheik/Backlund for the WWF Championship if you ask me. The adrenaline was flowing out there. ***. Good match. 

[lildwayne21]

The crowd was still reeling from the Iron Sheik winning the WWF Championship from Bob Backlund in the main event. This match aired next to get the crowd pumped up again, because Backlund had his following. No question about it. You have to do things like this in wrestling. When your top babyface loses a Championship in the 80s, as a promoter you have to book a match that's going to pump them up again and reenergize them again, and whats they did here.

[lucky44124]

this was the best era of wrestling

[Tubewings]

For those that don't know, Samu is Afa's son.

[RAV52]

Shut your mouth, know your role and if you LISTEN at 3:21, you will hear the People chant his name....... ROCKY, ROCKY, ROCKY!! And what's up with SD Jones being billed from Philly? As far as I knew he was almost always billed as being from Antigua in the West Indies!!

[stevedrums]

@RAV52 The S.D. reference from Antigua was much later in his career. I always remembered him as being billed from Philadelphia.

[japanpro1]

i was standing shoulder to shoulder with atlas as a motel desk in 1984. i've always regretted i was too shy to introduce myself. this is a great gimmick, the chunky guys looking to kick the muscles guys' asses. love seeing atlas worked at length.

[TheMashwatcher585]

the wild samoans were the toughest and most unorthadox team ever

[lambert581]

Interesting fact Johnson & Atlas didn't get along that well in interviews Atlas said Rick Martell asked Johnson to look after his car while Rick was in Japan according to Tony Rocky sold it

[lildwayne21]

@lambert581 No, they didn't. They disliked each other so much that sometimes Andre The Giant had to pull them apart in the locker room area from ripping one another's heads off. Atlas and Johnson were the first African American WWF Tag Champs, but they didn't always get along. They managed......but it was tough. They did the best they could though.

[lambert581]

@lildwayne21 Did you think either one had the guts to tell Andre to sit his fat ass down or get slapped?

[AngelofAnguish]

@lildwayne21 How come Atlas and Johnson never got along? Was a race issue? Money issue?

[forbesmh]

This is the stuff I grew up on...but here's a lingering question. Who was the best worker here? Samu was young, SD was a jobber to the stars, the Samoans were close to done, Rocky had about a year or two left. Can you believe Tony Atlas was probably the best worker? I can't either, :)

[oldschoolbx1970]

Thanks for posting this match on here. I was in the 7th grade at I.S. 52 in The Bronx during this 1983 holiday season. The end of this match didn't sit too well with my grandmother(RIP). She always had criticism on SD Jones.

[John6yt]

I figured either SD or Samu would be the one to get pinned, as they were upper level jobbers at this time 

[shawnpatrick9111]

Very good match, the first time I have ever seen SD Jones not have a harder head then his opponents. But they sold Atlas and Johnson's head to be harder then the Samoans.

[nomar06mvp]

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!