The Wrestling Classic
Promotion: WWF
Date: 07/11/85
City & Venue: Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois
Commentary Team: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse "The Body" Ventura
Announcer: Howard Finkel
I'll try to add a bit of backstory where possible from now on with any feuds brewing, as Piper and Hogan are carrying their's on from Wrestlemania.
There is a lengthy introduction to this event, and it has possibly the worst name every for a PPV. The show starts with a young Vince McMahon explaining that the event is basically a big 16 man knockout round tournament (like King of the Ring), the winner of a car will be announced and that the WWF Heavyweight title will be on the line later that night between Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Vince goes to Lord Alfred Hayes and a woman called Susan to discuss the tournament that "Mean" Gene Okerlund drew out earlier that day. Hayes says that wrestlers are fitter than triathletes etc and says this will require a lot of endurance from the competitors. Vince then goes through the draw, before we then see the 'best bits' of the draw. It's quite bad apart from when Macho Man says Miss Elizabeth drew him out a bad match and says she can't even get that right. The camera goes back to Vince & Alfred Hayes, and then onto Mean Gene who is interviewing WWF President Jack Tunney, who is clearly reading off signs behind the camera. He doesn't do this well and it takes Mean Gene to cut him off to say that only winners will progress, so even draws will knock you out. After going back to Vince AGAIN we go to Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. They talk a bit and we then go to the first match.
Match 1 - Adrian Adonis w/ "The Mouth of the South"Jimmy Hart vs Corporal Kirchner
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Adonis is booed loudly and Kirchner has his own entrance into the ring. Gorilla says that Adonis is a former tag team champion with Jesse as part of the East West Connection. Kirchner is dressed in army gear while Adonis is wearing massive trunks. They grapple into the corner and Jimmy Hart is at ringside talking through his megaphone, but no one understands what he's saying. Kirchner takes Adonis down with a bad arm drag, the takes him down with a better one. Kirchner works a headlock on Adonis who so far has offered absolutely nothing, but then counters the headlock with a strong back suplex. He hits Kirchner a couple of times before bringing him down with a snapmare and attacks again with a falling forearm. After another snapmare Adonis throws on a chin lock but Kirchner counters. Kirchner goes for a suplex but Adonis counters this with a move that looked quite similar to a DDT to pick up the win.
A quick start to the event and a match where next to nothing happened apart from the impressive looking finisher. The almost DDT bring this up to 2/5, otherwise this was entirely forgettable.
Jesse praises the move from Adonis to end the match and after some boos they quickly leave the ring. Gorilla has already said 1 or 2 "Holy Mackerels!" and also adds in a "Holy Moses!". After a quick replay of the winning move we go to Mean Gene Okerlund who has Adrian Adonis and Jimmy Hart with him. Hart says a lot of high pitched loud noises and Adonis says he knows the difference from a wristlock and a padlock amongst other things. Mean Gene takes us to the next match
Match 2 - Dynamite Kid vs Nikolai Volkoff
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
As usual, Volkoff sings the Soviet national anthem. To a load of boos. After singing he starts muttering into the mic and while his back is turned Dynamite Kid climbs to the top rope, hits him with a missle drop kick and gets the win.
Wow. Kinda hard to rate that, seeing as it was a 1 move match clearly designed to get the fans up and excited with the Russian getting beaten so quickly. Seeing as that's all that happened 1/5.
Mean Gene is now with Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Savage's gnarly voice and delivery is spot on, and he can't keep still like he's hyperactive. After talking about his opponent Savage is saying he's out to prove himself as the number 1 wrestler around.
Match 3 - Ivan Putski vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage w/Elizabeth
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Putski gets a fair reception and Macho Man gets his own entrance to the ring. I think this is face vs face and Savage gets a similar reaction, despite his treatment of Elizabeth. Gorilla starts moaning saying that it isn't right that Elizabeth leads Savage into the ring and it isn't the right etiquette, Jesse stands up for her saying it's perfectly fine and Gorilla never had a female manager so he woudn't know if it's right or not. Savage does his grand entrance with his robe, and Jesse says he's helped train with Savage for this event. He also says he knows a lot about Ivan Puduski in typical Jesse style.
Savage bails from the ring straight away wearing tight purple trunks with yellow boots. Putski is one of the more muscular wrestlers from this era. The bell rings and Savage again leaves the ring. He comes back and tries to lock in a full nelson, but Putski powers through this and spits in Savage's face! The crowd applaud this and Jesse says there's no call for anything like that. Savage gathers himself again outside the ring and after a quick grapple attempts a shoulder block on Putski, who stands his ground and flexes his muscles some more. Savage dances round the ring and tries to ram Putski's head into the top turnbuckle, but Putski again powers out of this and rams Savage instead. Savage gets his distance, but comes back at Putski with a thumb to the eye. He gets a few punches in on Putski but Putski slaps on a headlock and fires in some short punches, knocking Macho Man to the ground. Putski is in tital control with multiple strong strikes to Savage. He gets him in the corner and lays in some more, but Savage scoops up Putski's legs and goes for a quick pin with his feet on the middle ropes. Despite Putski pointing to the ref about this Savage keeps him down for the 3 count to move into the 1/4 finals.
Savage sold this match well, as Putski's power was making him the clear favourite, so much so that Savage had to resort to cheating to get the win. 2/5
Jesse says Macho Man outsmarted Putski and is quite happy with the win. We go to Vince & Alfred Hayes who recap on the tournament so far but they're interrupted by Nikolai Volkoff who starts moaning saying he was robbed and says no one respects his Russian national anthem. We go back to the ring for the next match.
Match 4 - Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs Davey Boy Smith
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Davey Boy here wrestling here as part of the British Bulldogs (along with Dynamite Kid) before I think he took up his own British Bulldog name, against one of my personal favourites Ricky Steamboat. This should be pretty good.
Steamboat and Davey Boy both block and reverse eachother's holds before Smith manages to get in the first meaningful moves with a hip toss and a back bodyslam which leads into a pin. Smith gets a 2 count before Steamboat bridges out of the pin and works Smith into a backslide for another 2 count. Smith manages to catch Steamboat into a press slam and gets another 2 count (this ref likes to do some crazy wrist action between counts) and works on a front headlock. Smith brings Steamboat into another press slam and gets another 2 count. Gorilla and Jesse agree that this is a very close match up and there isn't much between the two men, Jesse believes Steamboat to be the quicker of the two but Davey Boy has the edge on strength. Jesse is great at stuff like this, breaking down the characteristics of each wrestler, throwing his opinion out there while Monsoon is more diplomatic without necessarily disagreeing. They really do work well together.
Smith locks in another front headlock and tries to maneuver this into a suplex, but Steamboat blocks this and reverses it into his own standing, stalling suplex, executed to perfection. Steamboat goes for a running splash but hits Smith's raised knees. Davey Boy seems to have the edge right now and attacks Steamboat with a couple of standing front dropkicks. Steamboat is resting on the ropes, and Smith bounces off the ropes towards him and goes for a high jumping kick. Steamboat moves out the way, meaning Smith injures himself on the ropes, especially on the top one. The ref ends the match with Smith too injured to continue, sending Steamboat through.
Good, solid match that I wanted to carry on for a few more minutes, however I can understand why this ended when it did as there's a lot of matches to get through tonight. Usually I'd give this a 4/5, and it was certainly heading that way, but I'd have preferred a different ending than the one that happened eg a quick reversal from Steamboat or a huge power move from Davey Boy, as despite Smith selling his injury well, a missed high kick onto the ropes shouldn't end a match. 3/5
Steamboat checks on Davey boy to see if he's ok, and Gorilla and Jesse watch a replay of the ending. Mean Gene is now with the Junk Yard Dog. Dog's voice is great, and points out his opponent is a former WWF champion, and says that he loves it when the crowd cheers for him. I guess he was a permanent face with stuff like that. Mean Gene ends the interview and we're back to the ring for the next match. Before I comment on that though, this event is moving on at a much faster pace bteween matches than Wrestlemania 1 and the two Starrcade events I've reviewed so far which is good, but I guess they're the two biggest PPV's of each company so they will spend a bit more time on things. Anyway, onto match 5
Match 5 - The Iron Sheik vs Junk Yard Dog
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Dog gets his own entrance, coming down to the ring to a hip hop song styled to himself, and a big dog collar with a few chains. He's clearly very popular as not many wrestlers have had their own entrances so far.
Sheik attacks JYD as soon as he removes his chains and tries to chock Dog with his outfit. The ref stops this and removes part of Sheik's outfit from the ring, but Sheik is choking JYD some more with a towel. The crowd start chanting "JYD!" so Sheik tells them where to go. Dog starts no selling punches and gets to his feet and then unleashes lots of strikes and headbutts. Sheik bails from the ring and crawls back in. Sheik tries to lock in a full nelson but Dog powers out of it. Sheik is pinned for 2 after a clothesline. Dog uses a really poor snapmare on Sheik and goes for a falling headbutt and misses, bouncing right off the mat. Sheik locks in his finishing move, the Camel Clutch. Dog slowly brings himself to lie on the ground to make Sheik release the hold. Sheik goes to work on Dog in the corner and the ref tries to break them up. Sheik turns around and shoves the referee away, but JYD capitalises on this by landing a headbutt on Sheik and pins him for the win.
This wasn't a good match. Basically lots of brawling, with a bad snapmare and a poor Camel Clutch. Nothing else really to be said, 1/5.
The camera cuts to Mean Gene who has Jimmy Hart and Terry Funk with him. Gene asks him about his opponent, The Moondog Spot, but Funk says he wants a shot at Hogan and he wants Paul Orndorff, who has a $50,000 bounty on his head. He also says Roddy Piper will win the championship off Hogan. Hart says Funk will be the next world champion as Funk spits on the camera.
Match 6 - Moondog Spot vs Terry Funk w/Jimmy Hart
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Before the match begins Funk grabs the mic and says he doesn't want to wrestle Spot, and Spot doesn't want to wrestle him, which Spot nods at. He says both him and Spot should leave the ring and make the match a draw. Funk leaves the ring and Spot follows. The bell rings, and both men walk back towards the locker room with Spot in front. Funk attacks Spot and tries to get back in the ring, but Spot catches him. Funk hits Spot again and throws him into the ring, the ref signals the end of the match and Funk gets into the ring. The referee has counted Funk out and declared Spot the winner!
1/5. Nothing more to add.
Funk and Hart are losing it, attacking Dog and running after the referee. Finkel confirms Moondog Spot as the winner. Mean Gene is with Mr Fuji and Don Muraco. Fuji says Muraco will win against his opponent Tito Santana, the current Intercontinental Champion (Santana had won the gold against Greg Valentine in a cage match back in July). Muraco says Santana has it all. Back to the ring
Match 7 - Tito Santana vs "Magnificent" Don Muraco w/Mr Fuji
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Muraco is a bigger guy than Santana, and looks like a powerhouse. Santana looked ok in Wrestlemania I, but he wasn't up against the best of opponents.
Muraco takes control early on with some powerful strikes and ramming Santana's head into the turnbuckle before thumbing Santana in the eye. He attacks some more and whips Santana across the ring, Santana bounes off the ropes and ducks under a clothesline, bouncing back again and leaps at Muraco with a jumping cross body, which gets him a 2 count. Muraco fights back, whips again and dips his head, Santana takes advantage of this and rolls over him into a sunset flip, again getting a 2 count. Muraco goes for a neckbreaker, but before he can pull it off Santana has reversed this into a backslide, and gets another 2 count. Good work from Santana so far.
Muraco is in the corner begging for mercy and Santana gets in a few puches and stomps. Jesse say Chico isn't averse to bending a few rules, Gorilla says Jesse would know, as he is the best bender he knows. Santana works in an armlock which Muraco eventually counters by picking Santana up and dropping his throat onto the top rope. Muraco uses the second rope to help with a jumping knee drop and now has the advantage. After a clothesline, elbow drop and knee drop sequence Santana is pinned but kicks out at 2. Muraco picks up Santana and hits him with a Running Powerslam (which later became British Bulldog's finishing move, at least on WWF Warzone, what a game!). He pins Santana for 3 but Santana has his foot in the ropes. Muraco celebrates in the ring but someone tells the ref about Santana's foot, the ref restarts the match without telling Muraco, Santana pins Muraco with a small package to get the win!
Muraco was a much better opponent for Tito than in the last match I saw him in. This wasn't a bad match really, and Santana was impressive early on with his quickfire reversals. Muraco wasn't too bad either, certainly emphasised his power, not many actual wrestling moves though. Decent match, not a good finish. Solid 2/5.
Jesse isn't happy with the Santana win and moans that Muraco wasn't told the match was restarting. We go to Mean Gene who has Bobby Heenan with him. Heenan has no one with him tonight from his stable but he says he's always on the look out for new talent. He also has $50,000 with him to anyone who can take out Paul Orndorff. Back to the ring for the final first round match.
Match 8 - "Cowboy" Bob Orton vs "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff
Singles match, 10 minute time limit
Orndorff is the face in this match, and has been a face since being abandoned in the ring at Wrestlemania by Roddy Piper & Orton, so a revenge match of sorts on the cards here.
Orton is wearing a cast on his left arm, and Orndorff targets this at the beginning of the match, and lands an atomic drop. Orton goes into the corner and Orndorff attacks the arm. Orton tries to fight back but Orndorff is too quick for him and applies a wrist lock on Orton. He works on the arm some more, including a falling chicken wing which sends Orton reeling into the corner. Orton is able to counter a charge with a high knee and then slowly works on Orndorff. He drops Mr Wonderful's neck onto the top rope and stomps away at him. Orndorff tries to get the upper hand with a quick sunset flip but Orton won't budge and works away at Orndorff some more. Gorilla and Jesse talk about Orton's Superplex, which I guess was his finisher at the time. Orndorff grabs Orton's trunks to try to pull him down for the pin, and the camera blurs out Randy's dad's arse. Seriously. He gets 2 count from the pin.
Orton reacts after the pin first and after landing a couple of elbows goes for a pin, but Gorilla moans that it's bad and that you won't beat Mr Wonderful with a pin attempt like that. He kicks out at 2. Orton throws on a chin lock, before reverting to a head scissors hold. Orndorff rolls onto Orton and almost pins him, but before the ref can start the count Orton rises into a bridge, turns and goes for a backslide pin himself, which gets another 2 count. Orton lands a hip toss, and then goes for a flying head scissors, but misses and lands on the ropes. Very similar to how Davey Boy Smith had to end his match earlier on. Orndorff seizes the opprtunity and attacls Orton with puches, strikes and an elbow drop. After one big punch Orton bails to outside of the ring. Orndorff goes after him,, throws him back in, and Orton escapes to the apron on the other side. The ref gets between the two and blocks Orndorff's path to Orton. Cowboy Bob uses this distraction to adjust the cast on his arm. He smacks Orndorff across the head with a forearm, but the ref ends the match disqualifying Orton, giving the win to Mr Wonderful.
Both men brawl in the ring after the bell goes, ending with Orndorff puching Orton out to the outside. This was decent match, both men showcasing a bit of talent, keeping the action up and told the story well. 3/5
After a replay of the ref giving the win to Orndorff, we go to Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes. They go over the winners from the last round and announce the next round matches as follows:
Adrian Adonis vs Dynamite Kid
Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat
Junk Yard Dog vs Moondog Spot
Tito Santana vs Paul Orndorff.
Savage vs Steamboat stands out like a sore thumb. And not just because of a match they will have in the future. Anyway, Terry Funk interrupts Vince and Hayes saying he was robbed. After more moaning it's over to Howard Finkel for the next match, and the firsy quater final
Match 9 - Dynamite Kid vs Adrian Adonis w/Jimmy Hart
Singles match, 15 minute time limit
The time limit has been increased, so maybe we will see a bit more quality than before. Adonis is the heel and Dynamite the face in this one. Kid is more about speed and Adonis is power (and fat).
Adonis tries to use his strength to get the better start but Kid uses his speed to get into position to hit a couple of arm drags on Adonis when he's bouncing off the ropes. He leaves the ring to get himself together, comes back in and is able to get Dynamite Kid to the ground. Kid is monkey flipped into the turnbuckle and Adonis bodyslams him to the mat, goes for a pin and gets a 2 count. While this is going on, Jesse says that Randy Savage vs Steamboat is on next, and that he needs to go and tell Macho man something, so just gets up, leave Gorilla to commentate on his own and heads to the locker room.
Adonis suplexes Dynamite Kid and is seemingly in control. Hart loves it and won't stop shouting down the megaphone. A reverse chin lock is applied to Dynamite Kid as Gorilla remains perplexed at Jesse leaving him on his own. Kid works Adonis to his feet again and escapes the chin lock with a back suplex. While Adonis is on the ground he goes for a running splash and misses, with Adonis getting up out of the way. Adonis goes to work on Dynamite's left knee and locks in a Sharpsooter! Gorilla calls it a grapevine, but Dynamite is too close to the ropes. The hold is broken and Dynamite is whipped into the corner. Adonis charges after him and Dynamite detects this, so quickly jumps over him and rolls Adonis over for a pin. Adonis kicks out at 2, but the crowd loved that quick counter. Adonis kicks at Dynamite's knee and goes for a bulldog, but before he can jump Dynamite shoves Adonis into the opposite corner, causing him to go shoulder first into the steel post. Dynamite lands a knee drop, takes Adonis down again with a running clothesline and runs to the corner. He leaps to the second rope and crashes his knee into Adonis! The crowd are getting excited again but this attack only gets a 2 count. After an impressive snap suplex (I say impressive because Adonis is a big guy) and falling headbutt, Jimmy Hart clibs up to the apron. Dynamite Kid grabs hold of Hart, but Adonis attacks from behind and rolls Dynamite up. Kid kicks out, but this sends Adonis flying into Jimmy Hart, and send Hart sprawling to the floor. Dynamite quickly goes for the pin and gets the win!
This was ok. Adonis to me was quite boring but didn't use his size advantage well, while Dynamite Kid was all speed, opportunity and quickness of thought. Not a bad match, but not great either. 2/5
Hart and Adonis throw their toys out the pram in the ring while a replay is shown of Dynamite getting the win. We go now to Mean Gene, who is with Jesse The Body Ventura. Jesse loves Macho Man and says he's been helping Savage & Elizabeth, and says their 3 heads together are better than 1. Mean Gene says Jesse is predjudice during his commentary, Jesse denies this and says he always tells it like it is. Back to the Fink for what I hope will be match of the night
Match 10 - Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage w/Elizabeth
Singles match, 15 minute time limit
Steamboat is already in the ring, and Savage gets his own entrance again. Savage uses Elizabeth as a shield when Steamboat makes his first approach. Steamboat has them cornered, then turns his back. Savage attacks straight away (with Gorilla calling it a "Pearl Harbour job" which made me laugh), but Steamboat quickly gets on top, sliding under Savage and chopping him out the ring. Savage pulls Steamboat out and attacks him for a bit before thowing The Dragon back in the ring. He puches Steamboat into the corner and the referee has to drag Savage away. When Savage goes back over Steamboat fights back, using a headscissors on Savage, sending Macho Man outside the ring. Savage takes an atomic drop and is rolled back in. One of Steamboat's martial arts chops knocks Savage down, this is followed up by a whip into the ropes, Steamboat goes for another chop but Savage avoids this and follows up with a back suplex.
Jesse is back on commentary now, and Savage goes up on the top rope. Steamboat senses this and hits Savage in the midsection when he comes down with a double ax handle. Steamboat takes Savage down and lands some falling punches, and suplexs Macho Man back into the ring after he rolled out to the apron. This time it's Steamboat's turn up on the top rope, and he lands a flying cross body! Savage kicks out and Gorilla blames it on the leg not being hooked. Steamboat uses some chops on Savage and he falls to the apron. The referee gets between them both again, and Savage takes something out of his shorts and keeps it in his hand with his back turned to the ring. Steamboat comes over, and after a missed swing from Savage, goes for a back suplex. Savage hits Steamboat when he's lifted in the air, both men come tumbling down, Savage hides the evidence back in his trunks, goes for the pin and gets the win.
This match was WAY too short. Really good pace and variety of attack from Steamboat while Savage was never out of it, and resorted to classic heel behaviour to steal the win. 4/5, just wish there was more time for two clearly talented guys to put on a show. Probably the best quick match I will see.
Jesse is predictably happy but Gorilla isn't happy with the use of a foreign object, so Jesse says Gorilla is worse than the Richard Nixon tapes. Mean Gene is with Moondog Spot, who is eating a bone and scratching his face with it while making cave man noises. Gene quickly goes back to Gorilla & Jesse, and they to Howard Finkel
Match 11 - Moondog Spot vs Junk Yard Dog
Singles match, 15 minute time limit
Everyone seems to love JYD, but Spot attacks him as soon as he gets in the ring, knocking him to the canvas. Spot goes for a splash off the middle ropes but misses. JYD then goes on all fours and delivers some crappy headbutts that I even doubt 6 year olds would find funny. JYD hits a big headbutt, pins Spot and counts himself a 3 count. There was no ref in the ring, but JYD gets up, declares himself the winner, and is then announced as the winner by Finkel.
1/5. Crap match. All I've seen Junk Yard Dog do so far is punch, kick, snapmare badly and headbutt. Not a fan. Moondog Spot's character seems to be a bit of a simpleton with dog like tendancies. Shit.
Bobby The Brain Heenan is back with Mean Gene. He says don't be surprised if Tito Santana beats Paul Orndorff tonight and that he wants his friend Roddy Piper to beat Hogan in the title match later on. The back to Finkel for the last quarter final.
Match 12 - "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Tito Santana
Singles match, 15 minute time limit
Orndorff gets mainly cheers and Santana gets a few boos which is surprising. Gorilla is excited about this one and Jesse says Chico could be excited about the $50,000 bounty on Orndorff, and calls him a taco salesman from Tijuana. Safe to say Santana isn't one of Jesse's favourites.
The match starts with Santana putting a headlock on Orndorff. Santana now has a bandage strapped round his left leg, highlighting to the commentators that he could be injured. Santana keeps control locking Orndorff in a head scissors ground hold. After a long period Orndorff flips himself over onto Santana for a pin, but the ref is slow to react and even slower at counting, meaning Santana can kick out after 2.
Orndorff is now the one applying holds, and he brings Santana to the ground with a chicken wing. Santana is struggling to cope with this, but eventually manages to get to his feet and duck in behind Orndorff to reverse the hold. Orndorff makes it to the ropes and the hold is broken. After a short stand off and grapple, Santana throws on another headlock. Orndorff escapes this one much quicker than before using an atomic drop. Santana holds his bad leg and rolls away towards the corner. The ref asks him if he wishes to continue, which he nods to, but Orndorff doesn't go in for the kill. They tie up again and Orndorff attacks the injured leg with a drop toe hold. The leg continues to be attacked and Orndorff looks to finish things off with a figure 4 leg lock, but Santana is able to kick him away with his good leg. Both men get up and Santana can barely walk. They tie up once more, and Orndorff knocks Santana out the ring with his forearm. They brawl on the outside and Orndorff rams Santana headfirst into the steel ring post. The bell rings as both men are counted out.
Despite this being the longest match of the night so far, not a lot happened. Lots of holds, barely any strikes or slammimg moves. Santana's inured leg was worked into the match but I didn't really enjoy watching it. Orndorff could have won this easily but basically kicked himself out the tournament by losing his head. Yoda wouldn't be happy 2/5
Gorilla and Jesse both say that Santana and Orndorff lost their cool, and we go back to Vince and Alfred Hayes, who is rubbing himself up against Susan somethingorother. They go over the results and the tournament is now:
Dynamite Kid vs Randy Savage
The winner will face Junk Yard Dog in the final, who has a bye due to Orndorff being an idiot.
We go back now to Gorilla and Jesse who talk a bit more about that last match, and we see Roddy Piper make his way down to the ring with his army of bagpipe players. Mean Gene has Hogan in the back, and Hogan says a bit of nonsense about Hulkamania and that he will use everything he's got to put Piper down. We go to Finkel to announce the next match.
Match 13 - Rowdy Roddy Piper vs Hulk Hogan (C)
Singles match, 1 hour time limit for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
I'm a little surprised they've not got this on last, or as the penultimate match before the tournament final, especially seeing as whoever wins between Savage & Dynamite Kid will be wrestling again straight after. However wrestling isn't supposed to make sense, so there we go. Hogan comes down to the ring with the crowd cheering him as always and Piper plays the heel.
Hogan is in all white tonight and proudly shows off the championship belt around the ring, but Piper tries to snatch it from his hands. The ref takes the belt away and they start brawling, with Hulk sent to the outside. He pulls Piper out with him and the fight continues on the outside. Jesse says we won't see much wrestling here and more of a street fight. They get back into the ring and Piper is on top, slowing Hogan down with strikes and a thumb to the eye. This seems to make Hulk react as he reverses a whip and sends Piper into the corner, and lands a clothesline, sending Piper to the mat.
The crowd love this and Hogan hits a big back suplex on Piper, and then does something I find totally stupid. He brings Piper to his feet, and then does a basic body slam on him. Picked him up to drop him down. That's never made sense to me, and never will. Pick the guy up to do something interesting on him, even a suplex will do. Anyway, less ranting, Hogan follows up the bodyslam with a couple of running elbows. Hogan puches Piper around for a bit and corners him. The ref stops Hogan from punching anymore, and Piper uses this to throw some punches back. He beats on Hulk and climbs to the second rope. He tries to land a double ax handle but Hogan catches him in mid-air and wraps him up in a bear hug. Piper escapes with a thumb to the eye. Piper goes to work on Hogan and goes for the pin, getting a 2 count.
Piper continues his attack and gets another 2 count. Piper has Hogan reeling and the crowd are cheering for the Hulkster. Piper tries to end things here by slapping on a sleeper hold, and Hogan is struggling badly now. The ref drops Hogan's arm twice, but the crowd react when he keeps it up on the third attempts. He starts to Hulk Up and takes both him and Piper over the top rope. Piper tries to ram Hogan into the steel ring post, but Hulk pushes him instead just at the last second. Hogan starts no-selling punches and they get back in the ring. Hogan lands a big boot and an atomic drop (everyone seems to love this move in the 80's) before going to whip Piper across the ring, but Roddy reverses it and sends Hogan crashing into the referee.
Piper goes out the ring to grab a chair, and smacks Hogan square in the back, sending him tumbling to the canvas. Piper lines up another chair shot, this time to Hogan's throat. but Hogan grabs the chair and they both fight over it. Hulk kicks Piper to get hold over the chair, and hits him in the back with it, and then locks in his own sleeper hold on Piper. The ref is now back up and it looks like it's about to end, but Cowboy Bob Orton runs into the ring and attacks Hogan with his cast. Piper and Orton attack Hogan and Paul Orndorff then runs into the ring with a chair to make the save, but Orton and Piper back off and leave the ring.
I should probably say I'm not really a fan of Hogan. I admire his ability to whip up a crowd but I don't really like his in ring work. That being said, him and Piper made this a physical match more than anything, playing it off as two guys who don't like eachother, and it worked. Orton made the save to make it a Hulk win rather than Piper getting beaten. The crowd enjoyed this, and as such I'll be generous and award this 3/5.
Hulk and Orndorff are cheered in the ring and, and Hogan's music plays, although it sounds like this has been dubbed in over the original music and crowd noises used. Mean Gene has Junk Yard Dog. Dog talks fast and they fill time, but Jimmy Hart runs in and interrupts the segment and says he's going to get JYD. Doesn't say why, but there you go. Back to Howard Finkel for the next match.
Match 14 - Dynamite Kid vs Macho Man Randy Savage w/Elizabeth
Singles match, 15 minute time limit
Jesse isn't happy that JYD is already in the final without having to fight another opponent, while Savage has to go through Dynamite Kid to have the chance to get there. Savage is booed again, but he's been the perfect heel so far, bending the rules and cheating to get through both his previous matches. Kid barely gets a mention.
There's a few failed tie-ups, but Savage grapples Dynamite from behind, but Kid is able to quickly move and roll to safety, which Savage doesn't like. Savage leaves the ring and then comes back in. They grapple again and roll along the ropes. The ref gets between them both but Savage is able to land a punch square to the face. He rams Dynamite into the turnbuckle, but Kid fights backand knocks Macho Man down with a shoulder block. He works Savage some more and sends him high into the air with a huge back body drop. Dynamite lands a jumping cross body and follows through with the pin, but they're too close to the ropes, and Save is able to roll out to the apron. Savage reverses a whip and goes for his own back body drop, but Dynamite telepgraphs this and instead rolls over Macho Man into a sunset flip, but Savage stands his ground, and jumps onto Kid. When they're back up both men run against the ropes and hit eachother with clotheslines. Savage gets up first and climbs to the top rope. Dynamite slowly gets to his feet but drop kicks Savage, setting him up for a superplex. The crowd are loving this. Dynamite lands the superplex, and goes for the pin, however Savage is able to roll one shoulder up and lock his legs in with Dynamite in the air, meaning Dynamite Kid is pinned and can't get up. Great move from Savage to pick up the win!
Savage is just brilliant, and plays the heel part so well. It looked to be over after the superplex, but the ending of the match was excellent. This was really good from start to finish, with Savage getting the most attention from the commentary team and his own entrance, which clearly put Dynamite Kid in the underdog position, but he played it really well. Like Savage's last match, I wish this could have gone on a bit longer. 4/5
Jesse praises Savage to high heaven for the way he just won, and Gorilla Monsoon is also gushing with the way the match was won. Both describe it as an unbelievable moment, and to be honest it really was impressive.
It's going to be Macho Man vs Junk Yard Dog in the final. JYD has had one less match, which will be an advantage, but Savage is better than JYD, no doubt about it. Going off the crowd reactions. JYD is massively over at this time, infact he's probably the most over guy in the company after Hogan.
We then have quite a long segment where someone live in the audience will win a Rolls Royce. This probably seemed like a great idea at the time, but it's dragging on and boring as hell to watch. Even the crowd are booing in the back ground. Lord Alfred Hayes is going to announce the winner, and even gets booed when going for a cheap pop mentioning the city they are in, which made me laugh. Someone called Michael Hamley wins the car. Gorilla and Jesse fill air time talking about imagining winning a car. Mean Gene is in the locker room and has Hulk Hogan with him along with Paul Orndorff. Hogan says his feud with Piper isn't over and Orndorff joins in. Hulk says that him and Orndorff has a surprise for Piper, and the camera seems to cut out the rest of the interview. It's now back to Gorilla and Jesse, and then Finkel to introduce the final of the elimination tournament.
Match 15 - Macho Man Randy Savage w/Elizabeth vs Junk Yard Dog
Singles match, no time limit
Savage limps to the ring and his holding his back. Jesse says he's showing guts coming down to compete again. Junk Yard Dog makes his way down to the ring high fiving the crowd. His music seems to have been overdubbed onto this, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it's pretty catchy.
Savage hides behind Elizabeth again before the match starts, and then goes out the ring to grab a chair. He throws a chair to Dog, who beats his head against it and the ref throws it out. Savage enters the ring then goes back out to wind up the crowd. He does this twice. He enters the ring once more and this time JYD shoves him to the ground a couple of times. Savage goes to lift up JYD for a bodyslam, but can't do it. Dog skips behind Savage and headbutts him in the back. JYD actually does a move on Savage, landing a big atomic drop, and slaps on a bear hug.
Savage is reeling and Mean Gene Okerlund comes down to join the commentary team. JYD beats on Savage with physical attacks, seemingly focussing on the injured back. JYD's attacks are mainly strikes and headbutts. Savage fights back after a couple of minutes with a clothesline, which JYD sells really badly. He goes for a pin, and Dog kicks out at 2. Savage throws JYD through the ropes to the outside, and Savage leaps from the top rope and lands a duble ax handle. Dog is down being counted out, Savage gets in the ring and then rolls back out, sneaking up behind JYD and ramming him into the steel post. Mean Gene sides more with Gorilla on commentary, which gets Jesse worked up, saying that Mean Gene hasn't done anything athletic in his life other than tie his shoes, and that he wears velcros now.
Savage works on JYD some more and lands another double ax handle from the top rope. Savage then attacks JYD with a chair, which Gene and Gorilla agree should give JYD the win via DQ. Savage keeps rolling in and out of the ring to restart the clock, and chokes JYD for a while on the steel barricade on the outside between the ring and the crowd. JYD is rolled back into the ring and Macho Man again goes to the top rope, but this time JYD clocks this and hits Savage in the gut. JYD goes on all fours and does those crappy headbutts again, but the crowd are loving this now. Savage his cornered on the ground and grabs hold of the bottom ropes. JYD picks him but by his legs, sending Savage's back crashing to the mat, seemingly turning the tide. A headbutt ties Savage up in the ropes, so Dog attacks some more. When freed, Savage thumbs JYD in the eye, but gets a whip reversed and bumps into Dog in the centre of the ring. This sends JYD backwards towards the ropes, Savage goes for him again, but Macho Man is tossed over the top and out of the ring, to a massive reaction from the fans. Savage can't get up and is counted out, despite Elizabeth's best offerts to get him back up. Junk Yard Dog wins the tournament!
That last match was by far the best Junk Yard Dog match I've seen, although that was more so down to Savage and the beating he gave him on the outside. I'd have preferred to see Savage win, as he was much more deserving, but I suppose that in the early days of PPV's it made more sense for the fan favourite to get the win. 2/5 for the match, I preferred Jesse on commentary.
Looking at the total scores for the matches, I've awarded this 33/75. I think the main problem with this was there was too many matches. The whole first round of the tournament took up way too much time, and it was a struggle to get to 15 matches in less than 2 and a half hours. WWF certainly went for quantity over quality here. I'd say Savage's two matches against Steamboat and Dynamite Kid are worth checking out, but overall as a PPV I wouldn't recommend it. 4/10
Less than 3 weeks later, NWA would put on their next big show, which is also the next review I will do; Starrcade 85 - The Gathering
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