David Sammartino vs Ron Shaw (The Phantom Submission Match)

I had no idea this ever happened.. you sir just gained a new subscriber

I was there for this match, sitting ringside to Monsoon's right. As soon as the match was over and they went to commercial, Monsoon, at the speed of lightening, ran to the back to find out what the hell happened.

Shaw straight up landed a couple of heavy handed hammer fist to the back of the neck at the start of the match … When I first watched this match I thought Shaw was pissed and just started shooting on David Sammartino for whatever reason …

"That’s something I would have never ever expected from David, because he’s known somewhat as a traditionalist in this business. It would have never crossed my mind that David wouldn’t want to show the right amount of respect to the superstars that helped make him and the organization that helped make him what he is today. I know that was David’s decision. David screwed David."

ShootMATCH

I don't feel monsoon should have protected him. he saw the kid was clearly disinterested completely quit and screwed over the fans who paid money to see him

Monsoon:. "This youngster has too much heart to give up!"

Sammartino:. "DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN I GIVE UP!!!!!!"

Is this a reverse screw job?

This was career suicide

Monsoon sounds like a fool here, I get kayfabe but wtf!! Put Shaw over as David did

Philly's own - the great Ron Shaw!!

I wonder if when Mel Phillips paused before he named Ron Shaw the winner he thought we are all gonna be dead for this

Ron Shaw beat him up legit.

👍

Thanks for the post. I had no idea about this match.

The Living Legend of Professional Wrestling Ron Shaw.

He did leave the WWE right after this, and had a couple of AWA title matches with Stan Hansen, but then he was right back a few months later, and stayed for about another year.

D Sammartino was a bum. Nothing like his father. Glad shaw won. I used to see him at a gym in Philly sometimes.

In David's Highspots shoot DVD, he said it was planned for him to win that night, but he was so sick of being treated like a preliminary wrestler, that he took to the extreme to do a job to rub how he felt the WWF was treating him in their faces. He told Ron what he wanted to do and Ron went along for it.

Is this now to be known as the Philadelphia Screwjob? Lol.

Well, this was basically the end for David. I think he only had a handful of high profile matches in his career. He went to a double DQ against Brutus Beefcake at the first Wrestlemania, he and his dad fought Adrian Adonis and Randy Savage in a tag team cage match at MSG, and he had a few AWA World Title matches against Stan Hansen, one of which aired on ESPN.

Match number 7 that’s pretty far up the card for Ron Shaw!

what an idiot. instead of trying to work and prove himself, he throws a match to "stick it to vince". how'd that work out?

The only possible excuse for going off script like this would be ann injury sustained in the ring- perhaps a muscle tear that would prevent lifting- so the match had to be called on the fly and ended promptly. At least filling Bruno’s shoes wasnt going to a concern for David after this showing.

This is the most angry I ever saw someone who won lol

Did this happen in 1986? That would be two off script matches…this and Moolah tricking Wendi Richter out of the WWF title at MSG
Edit: Nevermind, I see it was November 1985

Who is that commentator with Gorilla? Sounds familiar.

Monsoon must have been eating a hot dog. It was as clear as crystal he motioned to submit when the ref asked him.

The problem is he wanted to be something he was not. And that was a superstar wrestler, or even a draw. He wasn’t even a draw , he sucked

In fairness, David sucked, the ring announcer was a child molester, and this is WWE under Vince! Nothing I said is untrue.

Mel Phillips the Pedophile behind the ring boy scandal, may he burn in hell

Anyone that knows wrestling can see Ron Shaw just did not ever have that IT factor but apparently McMahon had a push in the works for him why no one knows. David also no matter who his father was never had that push and understood why that it takes to be a major person in Professional Wrestling. There was always something missing in David. With his father Bruno he came at a different time but if he came around today he would not make it either. Crowds became different than Brunos starting time. Era's change..
In regard to Monsoons jumping up going to the back I knew Ginos son Joey well and I think this might have been an early Brett Hart fu ked thing only against Sammartino without him knowing it and of course the referee was in on it and he probably has passed away by now so you can't get an answer to was he told to do it by Monsoon. At the time I did not think to ask Joey about this and if course he died in a car crash. Ron and David are still alive so hopefully someone doing pod casts will find the true answer to this.

FAKE FAKE FAKE GORILLA MONSOON IS NO LONGER AWAKE.

Only 22 pounds difference?

David Sammartino's most famous match he ever had.

Ron Shaw was a tough competitor

on Shaw was interviewed online in 2021 about this match. He said, earlier in the night, before this match, Hulk Hogan and Bobby Heenan both approached him separately and warned him that David Sammartino was planning something for their match. Shaw said they gave no details but thought he should be warned.

david was a born heel. there was so much pressure on him following in his dad's shoes. he could have made a career out of bashing his dad and drawing tremendous heat. they could even have had buddy rogers come on the scene and be hired as a manager/mentor.

The ring announcer is a child molester. Bad guy

Ron definitely had to be in on this, he just continued to pour offense on David with no retailiation and wasn't surprised by it. The 7 bodyslams were a great setup for a Bear Hug submission.

Wonder if Ron Shaw was in on this and got in trouble? I’m guessing David was supposed to go over ?

That could have started a huge feud with ron shaw vs david and bruno sammartino.that could have elevated everybody.

Mel Phillips is the Joe Biden of pro wrestling

7 body slams?

Well I'll say this for David: he had balls to go into business for himself, to a full crowd, in the 80s. That's a massive health risk coming not only from backstage but also from the the audience.