November 27th, 1991 – Joe Louis Arena – Detroit, Michigan – We celebrate the fifth year of the WWF Survivor Series, brought to us by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and his World Wrestling Federation.
There are 17,500 in attendance for the “Gravest Challenge” Survivor Series, where we see a lot of first at Survivor Series. We see Hulk Hogan defending his World Wrestling Federation Championship against a new-comer who debuted at last year’s Survivor Series the Undertaker. We also see a National Wrestling Alliance mega-star Ric Flair make his WWF pay-per-view debut this very night.
Gorilla Monsoon opened the show. They mention what happen from this past weekend on WWF Superstars on what happened to the Macho Man Randy Savage. The famous (or infamous) King Cobra snake biting incident happened. The snake went into business for itself and gnawed on the Macho’s arm. Roberts was shaking the snake but in real life was trying to get the snake off of Macho. Savage’s forearm was busted wide open. Kids were crying in the crowd and we got shots of such. Great way to get this angle over and get Savage out of retirement.
President Jack Tuney came on screen and took responsibility for what happened. Jake Roberts said that the snake was de-vemonized. Reptiles are barred from ringside. Savages retirement has been lifted. Those two will face each other at their next PPV, This Tuesday In Texas.
Monsoon and Bobby Heenen welcome us back and explains the storyline that we just seen.
Ric Flair, “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, the Mountie, and the Warlord versus “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Virgil, and the British Bulldog
Bobby said that everyone should be standing when Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect come out for their ring entrance. Monsoon also said that Jack Tuney has blocked out the NWA/WCW World Heavyweight title because it isn’t WWF property. Yep, Flair’s wearing “it” under his robe. We can easy see that it’s the WWF World Tag Team titles. At least they tried, right?
Bret Hart is the WWF Intercontinental Champion at this time. Good for him. He=’s also wearing a lot of pink for this pay-per-view.
“Hot Rod” Roddy Piper was huge back then. I miss guys like DiBiase Sr, Flair, Hart, and Piper, guys who can actually work.
Piper and DiBiase start the match out. Blue tights versus black tights. I’ll be giving highlights of the match (and others to come), to make it easier to watch and what I find worthy of note.
Piper kissed Sherri. Good for him, not so much for her.
You know, matches like this should be Bret Hart’s specialty. At this time he ended his tag team run and started his singles run, but still, he’s a tag team expert. That might “explain” why his team has been doing a lot of quick tags on DiBiase and keeping him in the babyface corner.
Everyone popped when both Flair and Piper got in the ring with each other. They both were in a feud at the time of this Survivor Series. When Flair came in months before this match, he started to go after wrestlers who seem like “blue class” superstars. Flair always played the “rich man” wrestler, so it worked.
First elimination saw Flair pinning the Bulldog and Piper ran in to try to not let the heels get much of a footing over them. Flair had the chance to get him to their corner and tag out. Smart man Flair is.
After a few tags, Flair and Piper are back in the ring together and Flair had Piper in the figure four leg lock. It makes me sad that this didn’t lead to an elimination. Flair’s known for winning matches with his figure four leg lock, why shouldn’t it lead to eliminating someone?
The Warlord was eliminated when Piper pinned him. It was a clusterfart what happened, all men ran in and the ref was distracted when Bret Hart hit a axe handle off the top rope and Piper covered the Warlord. Plus, what is a Warlord? Someone who loves to be in war? Someone who always dominates when in war?
I notice a fan sitting across from the hard camera side who is decked out in a Hulk Hogan entrance attire. That means we’ll be reminded of the Hulkster all night.
Mayham broke loose when the ref couldn’t get order when all six men were battling in the ring. The ref rang the bell and disqualified everyone but Ric Flair, making him the winner and sole survivor.
Sole Survivor: Ric Flair
We are sent to “Mean” Gene Okerland, where he was on the high-rise interview spot by the fans and he brought out the “Macho Man” Randy Savage to talk about being reinstated and able to wrestle once again (he retired at WrestleMania VII when he lost a retirement match against the Ultimate Warrior). “Mean” Gene put over the snake going into business for itself and it bit into Savage’s arm.
Savage claimed he couldn’t hear and see yet saw and hear Miss Elisabeth crying and that hurt him more than the snake biting him.
Miss Elisabeth came out after Gene asked Randy how she was doing with the snake biting. I miss awesome mamangers like her. She was overjoyed that Randy was reinstated to in-ring action.
I find it sad that the WWE is using this PPV to put over another PPV less than a week later. It doesn’t make sense.
Col. Mustafa, the Berzerker, Hercules, and Skinner versus Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Dugggan, Texas Tornado, and “El Matador” Tito Santana
For this match, all the heels came out together but the faces got their own single entrances. This is unfair! We need the heels for the faces to get cheered!
Tito Santana and Skinner start the match. It’s hard to look at the television screen with Tito’s tights being bright green and his boots being bright pink.
I find this match hard to get into. It might be due to the wrestlers involved (guys who I’m not too interested in) or it might be the announcers talking about the WWF Title match that’s on this card. I wish Monsoon and Hennen would stay talking the current match.
Mustafa was the first person eliminated by Slaughter. So Mustafa was slaughtered by Sgt. Slaughter.
Hercules was eliminated by Tito, giving the faces a four-on-two advantage. Yup, it’s hard for me to pay attention to this match.
I missed another eliminated, but Duggan won for his team when he pinned the Berzerker.
Sole Survivors: Sgt. Slaughter, Duggan, Texas Tornado, and Santana.
“Mean” Gene is in his vintage spot and calls out Jake “the Snake” Roberts for an interview and Roberts is in a awesome sweater. Just how Jake was answering the first few questions, Jake Roberts was great as a heel. I’d prefer him as a heel and I wish the WWE would of given this man a chance as a top heel with the WWF title. If not, gave him a main event match against Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania for the WWF Championship.
I guess Roberts says that the snake was a toy to amuse himself with the past six years in the WWF. At This Tuesday in Texas, he’ll finish off Randy Savage what his snake didn’t do. He ended the interview with saying it’d be the end of the beginning for Savage. What does this mean? Check out the PPV here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxu52DmMsdI).
We get a video package building up how the Undertaker is challenging Hulk Hogan for the World Wrestling Federation Championship. We see Flair on the Taker/Bearer talk segment challenging Hogan with the WCW World Title. That title was great. I’m happy the WWE is using it as the World Heavyweight title but in turn, I’m sad that the two World titles don’t mean anything anymore. That’s a rant for another blog.
World Wrestling Federation Championship match: the Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) versus Hulk Hogan (WWF Champion)
The wide neck tie! The wide neck tie is on the Dead Man! The grey gloves! The black hat and the black trench coat! The red beard! The big gold urn! What a character! To top it off, the expressionless face must have been hard to always keep on, especially for this match. I wonder if the Undertaker was excited to face the Hulkster for his 2nd WWE Survivor Series and his 1st WWF title match. Oh, the Undertaker was undefeated while walking into this match.
Fans are excited when the opening beats of “Real American” hits at the Joe Louis Arena. Then again, who wasn’t in love with Hulkamania around this time period? It was the Hulkster who got me hooked and helped me fall in love with this business.
To be honest, this has to be one of my favorite matches, ever. I remember renting this pay-per-view on VHS back in the day in the mid-90’s, just for this match. I know this match has been on many DVDs because this match put the Undertaker over and help put him on the map. This is proof that Hogan was willing to lose for people and help put people over.
The Undertaker had a claw on Hogan’s face and a couple of shots it looks like Hogan’s face were turning purple. Great camera work. The Undertaker even rolled his eyes to the back of his head and we got another camera shot of that.
“Looks like this man isn’t sweating,” Monsoon said.
“This man is too cold to sweat,” Hennen replied.
The Undertaker hit the Tombstone Piledriver onto Hogan and Hogan popped up. Great way to kill a man’s finish Hulkster. Hogan got up and started to do what he does to knock Taker onto a knee. Hogan bodyslams Undertaker. Bearer distracts the ref and Hogan and Hogan saw that Flair made his way to the ring and pushes him over. Hogan went back in and hit the Big Boot to Taker and Taker “Takered” up and Tombstoned Hogan onto a chair that Flair put in the ring and we got a new World Wrestling Federation Champion.
Winner and new World Wrestling Federation Champion: The Undertaker
We have a couple of shots of fans crying because Hogan lost the WWF title to Undertaker. Don’t worry Hulkster brother, you’ll win the title back in a few short nights at WWF This Tuesday in Texas! You’ll always get the strap back, dude!
“Mean” Gene interviews Piper backstage. Piper said that it’s a bad day in the WWF because the Undertaker won the title. “He has hair on his teeth.” Piper is golden! Piper claims that Taker has hair on his teeth! Also, Piper, please take a breath!
Sean Mooney was meeting up with Flair and Mr. Perfect in their locker room. Perfect said that Hulkamania is finally dead. Flair said that this was gonna happen, Hogan was gonna lose the WWF title and he proclaimed it since day one. Flair said that Hulkamania is over. There’s also one World’s Heavyweight Champion and it’s him! Flair said that the WWF Championship is now out of Hogan’s hands and went wild! Woo!
Gene Okerlund interviewed the Natural Disasters and IRS backstage, with Jimmy Hart. Earthquake yelled saying that IRS will take out the Big Bossman and the Disasters will eliminate the Road Warriors. IRS will audit Jack Tunney in a calm voice. Typhoon talked in a angry tone. Great interview segment.
Sean Mooney is in the locker room (looks like the same locker room Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect was in) with the WWF Tag Team Champions the Road Warriors (or should I say the Legion of Doom) and the Big Boss Man. Animal has a full beard and is talking like vintage LOD fashion, all loud and crazy. Boss Man yells too and calls his opponents trash and said that his opponents will serve hard times. Hauk’s face looks purple. He talked nonsense.
“Mean” Gene interviews President Jack Tunney and Tunney said that the ref’s decision stands in the WWF title match and orders a rematch for the WWF title. The Undertaker has to defend his WWF title against Hulk Hogan at WWF This Tuesday in Texas and Tunney will be at ringside to make sure another “screw job” doesn’t happen again. How many times are they gonna plug their next PPV?
The Beverly Brothers (with the Genius) and the Nasty Boys (with Jimmy Hart) versus the Rockerss and the Bushwakers
I wonder if the Bushwakers were around today, if they’ll still be licking heads of the fans in the crowd. I’m sure someone would try to sue them for licking their child, girlfriend, wife, or mother.
A young Shawn Michaels! I surely hope we’ll get many more Survivor Series moments and memories out of that young professional wrestler.
The girls screamed when the Rockers took off their shirts. A young Hardy Boys? Maybe that’s how they got their inspiration to take off their shirts? I gave this too much thought. Yuck.
The Nastys and the Beverlies went to the outside to try to plan out how to take on their opponents. Good thinking gentlemen.
One of the Bushwakers got eliminated by one of the Nasty Boys. Good. The main event came and gone. Let’s get to the three-on-three Survivor Series match!
I often find myself wondering where the tag team division fell off to the waste side to Vince McMahon. In one of the first Survivor Series, there was a five-team versus five-team Survivor Series match. This team was two-team versus two-team match. Everyone has been on the same side of the fence that McMahon should rebuild this division. I honestly don’t think it would until Triple H finally takes over the company. I’ll end this short tag team rant here and get back to the match!
A spike facebuster given from the Beverly Brothers to the other Bushwaker. I’m surprised at how awesome this spot was! If you haven’t seen the Beverly Brothers do this spot before, YouTube it!
Shawn Michaels hit one of the Nasty’s with the Sweet Chin Music outside of the ring before it became his finisher. It’s always weird to see him hit that move before it was his finish.
Holy fart, the announcers are keep on plugging the This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view a few days away! I checked Amazon and as of writing this review, you can only watch this show on YouTube. At least it’s free, but what a pay-per-view if it never was released on VHS (or unable to buy it 20 years later).
Shawn Michaels was eliminated and Michaels was pissed and was arguing with Jannetty. Is this a tease of a break-up?
Sole Survivors: One of the Nastys and the Beverly Brothers.
Another plus for This Tuesday in Texas.
The Natural Disasters (with Jimmy Hart) and IRS versus the Legion of Doom (WWF Tag Team Champions) and the Big Boss Man
Boss Man and IRS start the match. A police officer and a tax man start out the main event. What a better way to start up the last match?
Earthquake and Animal got in the ring together and what stronger two opponents can you get? I know I surely wouldn’t want to make these two men made if I ever come across them (I know Earthquake isn’t with us anymore but still).
This match is better than what I expected it to be. Granted this match isn’t a technical classic but for six big men who love to brawl, this is a great Survivor Series match.
Boss Man got eliminated by IRS. I believe by a briefcase shot but I missed it by checking my phone to see a new notification I have up on Facebook. I love the Big Boss Man’s theme song.
Hauk eliminated Typhoon. I missed this eliminated too by checking my notification on Facebook. I guess I need to stay off of Facebook if I want a legit breakdown.
Earthquake walks out and got himself counted out. Great way to get yourself eliminated and poor IRS.
IRS tried to get himself counted out too but the Big Boss Man came back and chased him back to the ring. Hauk hit a flying clothesline from the top rope and LOD win.
Sole Survivors: Legion of Doom
We went backstage to Sean Mooney and he said Hogan won’t go on screen but said that he’ll do his talking on Tuesday when he faces the Undertaker for the title.
Then we went to “Mean” Gene and he interviews the Undertaker, the new World Wrestling Federation Champion. Paul Bearer said that they won’t hold a funeral for Hulkamania because they’re gonna destroy Hulkamania once again at This Tuesday in Texas. We see a casket. I guess the casket is for Hulk Hogan and for Hulkamania.
Eric Darsie is known as a ‘common-man’ among his peers, at least he thinks so. He works hard with his hands in the heart of Minnesota and on his free time, he thugs and a bugs with his family and friends. Whenever he doesn’t do that, he’s found to be writing. Now more of a rare thing, he’s gems could be found here. If you would like to see more of Eric’s work outside of the professional world, check him out at http://vintagedarsie.wordpress.com/, http://www.writerscafe.org/Darsie/writing/, and on Twitter @IAmDarsie.
WRESTLEMANIA VIII
From The Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, IN
April 5, 1992
BACKGROUND
Through scandals involving steroids, sexual misconduct, and child abuse, the WWF was a walking zombie by 1992. With new drug testing measures nailing a number of bulky talents, as well as shifting a focus on wrestlers with leaner frames, the company barely resembled what it was even one year prior.
The Ultimate Warrior had run out on the company at Summerslam 1991 (literally, in mid-match). Macho Man Randy Savage was back from retirement, wearing a glorified pajama shirt to hide his streamlined physique. Mr. Perfect had retired with a back injury, and was now serving as consultant to WWF’s new top heel, Ric Flair. Flair had also won the WWF Championship at the 1992 Royal Rumble, by entering the match at #3 and going the distance, dumping out fellow fresh face/Horseman ally Sid Justice.
Things were changing for sure in the WWF, and the biggest change of all would be happening at the top of the card.
Hulk Hogan, after an unparalleled eight year run as professional wrestling’s biggest superhero, was leaving the sport to pursue television, movies, anything. Hogan’s sudden exodus came at a rather coincidental time. The previous summer, Hogan appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show, and was questioned about use of steroids during his career. Hogan, as it later turned out, flat out lied and said he had never used them except under doctor’s care.
Making the coincidence even more interesting was Hogan’s body, which shrank like a weed sprayed with chemicals, as his 303 pounds of muscular granite had dwindled to a leaner 275. His structure was slightly bonier, and he looked nowhere near as mighty as he’d once had.
Hogan’s star was fading away, as the generation of The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and a host of colorful midcarders were ready to take over.
THE EVENT Hogan was expected to face Ric Flair for the WWF Championship, in what would have been wrestling’s greatest dream match realized. Sadly, the WWF and WCW kingpins were not to meet on the grand stage, as Hogan’s impending exit threw conventional wisdom into disarray.
Potentially, with Hogan and Flair penciled in as the main attraction, Macho Man Randy Savage would have likely faced Jake “The Snake” Roberts in a blow-off to their months-long personal war. Instead, Savage was granted Flair for the title. Meanwhile, with Roberts needing a match, a hypothetical showdown between Undertaker and Sid Justice was scrapped, with Taker turning face out of nowhere, to face Roberts, with whom he’d aligned.
That left Sid twisting in the wind, but not for long.
The ending of the 1992 Rumble was designed for Sid to toss out Hogan, leaving a scorned Hulkster to accost Sid, allowing Flair to dump out the Arkansas giant to claim the WWF Championship. Sid and Hulk had a pull-apart after the match, establishing a feud between the two men.
Justice would soon take his anger out on a horde of preliminary talents, decimating them during matches, and then preventing them from receiving medical care after the match. Sid finally took his anger out on Hogan’s best friend, Brutus Beefcake, who was hosting his own “Barber Shop” interview segment during his injury period. Sid destroyed the set and chased Beefcake off, all the while calling out Hogan.
In the WWF Title match, however, things took an even more personal turn.
Ric Flair taunted his new challenger, Macho Man Randy Savage, by insinuating that he had been with Savage’s wife, Miss Elizabeth, before Savage ever knew her. To further stoke Savage’s envious fire, Flair produced (doctored) photos of he and Miss Elizabeth spending time together doing various leisure activities, such as lounging at a pool and watching a movie together.
The icing on the cake, however, was Flair claiming to have “centerfold” style photos of Miss Elizabeth that would be revealed on the stadium jumbo-trons if he were to win. All of these mind games stirred Savage up to no end, and provided a scandalous undertone to a highly anticipated title match.
Meanwhile, The Undertaker had solidified his face turn by saving Miss Elizabeth from an assault at the hands of Jake Roberts. The angle climaxed with Roberts locking Undertaker’s hand inside a casket, and then beating on Paul Bearer while Undertaker remained trapped. Then, to Roberts’ horror, Undertaker began to stalk Roberts while dragging the casket behind him, looking like a hell-bent Frankenstein’s monster as Roberts cowered away from his newest enemy.
Outside of the reshuffled upper card was the Intercontinental Title match, as Rowdy Roddy Piper defended the gold against the man who’d lost two months prior with a serious fever, Bret Hart. Hart and Piper expressed their admiration for each other, but it was a match that was sure to be a pull-no-punches brawl between two hungry friends.
Gorilla Monsoon (calling his final WrestleMania) and Bobby Heenan called the action, with Heenan having a vested interest in the World Title match. Country singer Reba McIntyre sang the Star Spangled Banner to kick off the show, and game show host Ray Combs served as emcee for the eight man tag by insulting the heel side.
THE RESULTS Shawn Michaels def. El Matador in 10:39
(Michaels was tinkering with his villainous “pretty boy” persona, and succeeding at it. The match is a pretty good one, even though this marked Tito Santana’s seventh straight loss at WrestleMania. Santana is the WWF’s Jim Kelly: belongs at the big dance, but not allowed to win it)
The Undertaker def. Jake Roberts in 6:36
(Alcohol could never stop Roberts, but a Tombstone on a gym mat with his head not coming within six feet of the floor can)
WWF Intercontinental: Bret Hart def. Rowdy Roddy Piper in 13:50 to win the title
(A somewhat forgotten classic, as the two men outwit each other with street brawling (Piper) and technical wresting (Hart). Some of Bobby Heenan’s best one liners were during this match. By the way, notice how the first three winners were all important to the WWF’s growth in forthcoming years?)
Big Bossman/Hacksaw Jim Duggan/Sgt. Slaughter/Virgil def. Nasty Boys/The Mountie/Repo Man in 5:22
(It’s like auditions for a gimmick battle royal. But anything with Repo Man is fine by me)
WWF World Championship: Macho Man Randy Savage def. Ric Flair in 18:05 to win the title
(Just a bloody classic full of animosity, hatred, bitter gamesmanship, and provocative actions. The post match activity, which included a young, suit-wearing Shane McMahon, was also to behold, as Savage appeared to be, at several points, prepared to take Flair’s life. Just great stuff)
Tatanka def. Rick Martel in 4:33
(The match is preceded by a dance from the Lumbee Indian Tribe, who are as big of WrestleMania celebrities as freakin’ Rick Schroder)
WWF World Tag Team: The Natural Disasters def. Money Inc by count out in 8:39
(One of the cheapest endings in WrestleMania history. Ted Dibiase and IRS just leave, and the Disasters make no attempt to stop them. At least Dibiase got a belt, though)
Owen Hart def. Skinner in 1:11
(To think, if Jim Neidhart hadn’t been an idiot and gotten fired again the previous month, he and Owen could have faced Money Inc. Instead, Owen got to work for a minute and had tobacco juice spewed on him. Eh, still beats having to work for Bruce)
Hulk Hogan def. Sid Justice by disqualification in 12:44
(Papa Shango runs in for the inexplicable DQ, but the real story is the Ultimate Warrior returning after a seven month hiatus to clean house and celebrate with Hogan, in what was his going away moment, as the show came to a close. Out with the old, in with the sort-of new)
ITS PLACE IN HISTORY
Hogan did indeed disappear from the WWF after WrestleMania VIII, but “The Immortal” would return in February 1993 as Vince McMahon attempted to make Monday nights hip with the advent of Monday Night Raw.
As for Ultimate Warrior’s return, it was pretty clear why he was brought back after such a disgraceful termination the previous summer. With Hogan gone, McMahon wasn’t quite prepared to go forth with one time-tested main event babyface in Savage (with Hart and Undertaker waiting in the wings), and clearly felt he needed Warrior to recoup any Hogan fans that might have tuned out.
WrestleMania VIII is like a basketball team that puts up 65 points in the first half and whips the crowd into a frenzy, but then scores only 28 points in the second half with an uninspired, lifeless effort. Everything after Flair/Savage can be passed over, except for the shock of Warrior’s return.
Like last year, Savage has a tremendous match in the middle of the show filled with passion and intensity, and it’s still Hogan with a lackluster, hackneyed main event that fails to deliver. Hogan was clearly leaving, and WWF bringing Warrior back gives insight into Vince McMahon‘s level of faith.
WRESTLEMANIA V
From Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, NJ
April 2, 1989
BACKGROUND
The picture of the WWF hadn’t changed much in the year between WrestleMania IV and V. Other than the unfamiliar sight of somebody other than Hulk Hogan being WWF Champion, in this case Macho Man Randy Savage, things in the WWF were seemingly running as smooth as ever.
In late 1988, WWF released their first video game, entitled WWF Wrestlemania, for the classic Nintendo Entertainment System. With Hulk Hogan‘s shirt-tearing image plastered on the cover of the game’s packaging, fans who yearned for a WWF-based video game had to get used to this being the only one of its kind until October 1990, when WWF Challenge was released.
Hogan wasn’t just serving as the avatar for wrestling video games. “The Hulkster” would soon be starring in No Holds Barred, a low-rent fighting movie to be released theatrically in June 1989. Although the movie was a critical flop, it did two things. One, it introduced the wrestling world to Zeus, who would be making his way into the promotion toward the end of spring.
The other was reinforcing the idea that, although Savage may be champion right now, Hogan was still the most popular wrestler they had.
In fact, Hogan was used to elevate Savage’s profile as well. The two teamed as The Mega Powers, thwarting the likes of Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant, as well as the up-and-coming Twin Towers. Never before had the WWF featured two good guys that were, seemingly, on par with each other at such a high clip.
It seemed inevitable, however, that Hogan would be getting the gold back sooner, rather than later. With Savage in the way as champion, however, the WWF needed a way to explain how Hogan would have to challenge his best friend in the whole wide world over it.
THE EVENT
Against the backdrop of New Jersey’s gambling hub for the second straight year, WrestleMania was thrust into the colored, flashing lights yet again. However, unlike the previous year’s glitzy pageantry with the World Championship tournament, WrestleMania V would have a decidedly darker tone.
Perhaps it’s fitting that the house lights inside the Trump Plaza seemed a few shades blacker for the building’s WrestleMania sequel, because the main event of the night featured a storyline that wasn’t exactly comfortable.
In a chapter that would be more at home in the playbook of the Attitude Era, WWF Champion Macho Man Randy Savage and one-time best friend Hulk Hogan watched their Mega Powers-partnership disintegrate over a woman. That woman, of course, would be Savage’s better half, Miss Elizabeth.
After forming an alliance in the fall of 1987 that culminated with Hogan aiding Savage in becoming champion at WrestleMania IV, the duo staved off Ted Dibiase, Andre the Giant, The Twin Towers, and anyone else that dared stand up to the two biggest heroes that the WWF had on display.
Things went sour in February 1989, however, when a mishap during a tag team match saw Savage land on Miss Elizabeth on the concrete. Hogan took her away to be checked out medically, and Savage saw Hogan’s rescue attempt to be him sidling up to her as a homewrecker.
That night, with Miss Elizabeth in agony on a gurney, Savage accused Hogan of having “jealous eyes”, while Hogan defended his actions as being nothing more than platonic. The nail in the Mega Powers’ coffin was hammered in by Savage striking “The Immortal” with his World Championship belt, with Savage further butchering their ties with added punches and threats.
Savage hated Hogan, and perhaps hated Miss Elizabeth more for refusing to take sides. Hogan, for his part, swore revenge for Savage’s treachery, and planned on taking his championship as a means to that end.
Elsewhere, The Ultimate Warrior had became the big star that WrestleMania IV indicated would be coming, and he achieved ascension to that level by winning the Intercontinental Championship from The Honky Tonk Man.
In his sights, however, was Ravishing Rick Rude, who brutally assaulted him with a flexi-bar at the Royal Rumble after the two engaged in a posing contest. The match was also of importance to Rude’s manager, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan who, after five years in the WWF with many different charges in his camp, had yet to manage a single titleholder.
Speaking of managers, Mr. Fuji was four months removed from double-crossing Demolition, the team he managed to WWF World Tag Team gold, and was attempting to lead the Powers of Pain, whom he left the Demos for, to the gold. Fuji would join the Powers in a three on two handicap match against Demolition, who looked forward to not only defending their belts, but destroying Fuji for his betrayal.
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura would, as usual, call the action. Rap icons Run DMC would perform a special “Wrestlemania Rap” in the middle of the show. Also, Superfly Jimmy Snuka would return after a four year exile.
But biggest of all was Rowdy Roddy Piper returning, fresh from a turn in Hollywood. Piper would come back to antagonize Brother Love and talk show host Morton Downey Jr.
THE RESULTS
Hercules def. King Haku in 6:57
(Decent opener, but the storyline was better: Hercules was attempting to get revenge on Bobby Heenan and his associates for Heenan selling Hercules into slavery. This actually happened)
The Twin Towers def. The Rockers in 8:02
(Sign you knew Shawn Michaels was going to be great, part 4,515: despite being severely hung over, Shawn still stole the show. By the way, this is the first WrestleMania match to feature four men born in the 1960′s or later)
Brutus Beefcake fought Ted Dibiase to a double count out in 10:01
(Man, what a letdown for Dibiase: headlining one year, and then drawing with Hogan’s landscaper the next. No wonder Dibiase fell into drugs and alcohol so hard)
The Bushwhackers def. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers in 3:59
(Two years later, and Jacques would be reinventing himself as a crazed Canadian law enforcer. How many other forms of entertainment can boast THAT sentence?)
Mr. Perfect def. The Blue Blazer in 5:38
(Sigh…..great match for being so short, but still, it’s depressing to think about)
WWF World Tag Team/Handicap Match: Demolition def. Powers of Pain/Mr. Fuji in 8:54
(Mr. Fuji in 1989 was in better shape than Ric Flair in 2011. Truth)
Dino Bravo def. Ronnie Garvin in 4:59
(This is the match where those walking cotton candy and popcorn vendors earn their biggest money)
The Brain Busters def. Strike Force in 9:17
(Really good, albeit abbreviated, tag team match that cut a good pace. This also led to Rick Martel turning heel and becoming a fashion model at age 33. And nobody batted an eye)
Jake Roberts def. Andre the Giant by disqualification in 9:44
(The special referee was Big John Studd, who apparently won the right to be referee by winning the 1989 Royal Rumble. Ted Dibiase interfered in the match, which marked the last known time that the Mega Bucks ever worked together)
The Hart Foundation def. Honky Tonk Man/Greg Valentine in 7:40
(Honky became the first man in wrestling history to be knocked unconscious after being hit in the elbow with a megaphone. Maybe the first in human history too)
WWF Intercontinental: Rick Rude def. The Ultimate Warrior in 9:36 to win the title
(Talk about an underrated match; neither man was considered a good worker to this point, and Rude led the way in a tremendous, albeit criminally short, match. Warrior’s post match beatdown of Bobby Heenan apparently exacerbated Heenan’s lingering neck injuries)
Hacksaw Jim Duggan fought Bad News Brown to a double disqualification in 3:49
(If you ever wanted to see Duggan with a primo snot rocket in his beard, you’re watching the right show)
Red Rooster def. Bobby Heenan in 32 seconds
(Bobby Heenan: who DIDN’T he job for?)
WWF World Championship: Hulk Hogan def. Macho Man Randy Savage in 17:54 to win the title
(This match had everything: intense storyline, shades of character from both men and Miss Elizabeth, blood, a crazy bump (Savage being bodyslammed over the top rope), and a satisfying finish. All the bad came from Jesse Ventura going too far in slagging Hogan during the match. Otherwise, great stuff)
ITS PLACE IN HISTORY
Despite having too many matches (14 in four hours), WrestleMania V provided just as much good as they did bad. The majority of the matches had little to no storyline value, and that would become an unacceptable standard for an event that is to be the annual snapshot of WWE for some imaginary time capsule.
However, Vince McMahon must have liked the idea of fourteen matches expanding his card to its limits, because the next two WrestleManias would feature the same amount of contests.
Although the stretched concept didn’t last forever, the idea of adding deep-running intensity and hatred into storylines would. The WWF was getting over the idea of “Hogan vs. monster heel”, and firmly embracing a newer trick of letting characters, not so much caricatures, shine.
Hogan and Savage’s blood feud over a woman helped set the new standard for main event feuds. Over the next several years, Wrestlemania story arcs would feature more attempts at adultery, family betrayal, and calls for blood that would all but make the campy 1980′s “Rock n Wrestling” style extinct.
WrestleMania V will forever be remembered for its headliners, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, as the two men would define this era.
WRESTLEMANIA III
From The Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, MI
March 29, 1987
BACKGROUND
How do you know when something is great? True, “great” is a subjective concept; what is considered great by one might be a putrid pile of refuse to another. There is no definitive answer to what “great” actually is.
If I had to define the word, however, I would define “great” as “something that stands the test of time.” When people of all walks of life, different economic backgrounds, and are possessing varied tastes, when all of them come to some sort of agreement on something having an intrinsic importance, then I would consider that “great”.
WrestleMania III is often considered one of the greatest, if not the absolute greatest, WrestleManias of all time, and there’s a reason for it.
Actually, there are two good reasons.
When you have an event in which the two marquee matches are of different quality (one a technical classic, the other a slow-paced brawl that is the biggest money-making match ever), but are often spoken of in the same reverent tones, then you have a winner on your hands.
No American wrestling event had ever been presented before a crowd of its size: 93,173 was the number given officially, though dissenters will say it was closer to 78,000. Regardless, it’s an impressive figure that adds to the event’s mythic reputation.
In addition to the main courses that were sure to entice, you also had the impending retirement of a wrestling icon, one that had served as antagonist for many. This time, he would be walking out the door a hero, and the very fans who booed and jeered him with little restraint were now saddened to see him walking into the glow of the silver screen.
12 matches in all filled the slate of Wrestlemania III, and a few were certainly bigger than others.
THE EVENT Vince McMahon would be the first voice of the night to be heard. The WWE’s fearless leader addressed the sea of humanity at the onset in order to introduce Aretha Franklin, the show’s opening songstress. In subsequent interviews, McMahon has always made a point of sharing the surreal experience of feeling his father’s presence in the ring with him. Three years after Vincent J’s demise, McMahon was still coming to grips with not only losing his father, but with the slight separation between the two at the end. While both men disagreed on the direction the company should go, as Vince’s father didn’t like the “national” expansion concept, Vince sensing his dad’s presence was seemingly a watershed moment for his psyche, as he officially felt vindicated in taking WWE global.
Even if Vince is telling the truth about his father’s spiritual apparition confronting him, it may not have even been necessary. WrestleMania III had the perfect build up, with story arcs and character twists that would become a standard going forward for the sports entertainment powerhouse.
The big money draw, of course, was Hulk Hogan defending his WWF Championship of three years against Andre the Giant, his former friend who, after prodding from Bobby Heenan and Jesse Ventura, coldly challenged his comrade for the title, making it clear that he felt Hogan had been ducking him. No further story turns were needed, as the prospect of Hogan and Andre colliding would be enough to sell even the biggest naysayer on viewing the show.
In an era where the densest rube believed that Hogan’s gold was in jeopardy against the likes of Killer Khan, Kamala, and other career midcarders, the very notion that Hogan would have to face the “undefeated” Andre, who many fans had never seen taken off of his feet once, threw the outcome in doubt more than any other big match to date.
It’s possible that the WWF could have proceeded with even a bare bones undercard, but instead, the production would bloat with a bevy of delectable asides. The most notable of these matches was Randy Savage defending his WWF Intercontinental Championship against Ricky Steamboat, whom he had injured months prior with a dastardly assault. Many expected their grudge match for the gold to be a highlight of a great show, but nobody expected it to establish WWE’s main event style for years to come.
As for Rowdy Roddy Piper, Wrestlemania III was to be his swan song. Going out after a hair vs. hair match with Adrian Adonis, win or lose, Piper was to chase the Hollywood dream. A part in sci-fi thriller “They Live” would soon be “Hot Rod’s” and fans who had long hated Piper for his vile words and acts against Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Snuka, and others (which may have drawn cheers from another portion of the audience) would be seeing him possibly for the final time, and ruing Madison Avenue for plucking their caustic Scotsman away from them.
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura would provide their usual top-notch commentary work for the event, and both would be joined by baseball legend Bob Uecker and entertainment journalist Mary Hart. As mentioned earlier, legendary diva (not the wrestling kind) Aretha Franklin would kick off the monumental occasion with her rendition of “America the Beautiful”.
THE RESULTS
The Cam-Am Connection def. Don Muraco/Bob Orton in 5:37
(Good opener that set the tone for the day; fast paced and, while formulaic, what’s wrong with a formula when it works?)
Billy Jack Haynes fought Hercules to a double count out in 7:44
(The storyline on display here was that both men argued over who had the superior full nelson. Kinda lame by modern standards, but it was a good match that actually had a backstory, which is rare for 1987. Here’s a hearty “BOMBSHELL TONIGHT” for Billy Jack)
Hillbilly Jim, Little Beaver, and Haiti Kid def. King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook, and Little Tokyo in 4:22
(Of note: Bundy squashing Little Beaver, and the fact that all four midgets each have one more Wrestlemania match to their credit than Shane Helms)
Loser Must Bow to the Winner: Harley Race def. Junkyard Dog in 3:23
(Good thing this was short. Dog was about as motivated at this point as Charlie Sheen after three days in a hotel suite with a BAC of .75. Even his post match chair shot was sad)
The Dream Team def. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers in 4:03
(Weirdest face turn ever: Brutus Beefcake becomes a face when the other heels leave him behind as they get on the motorized cart. And you thought Randy Orton’s 2004 face turn made no sense)
Hair vs. Hair: Rowdy Roddy Piper def. Adrian Adonis in 6:54
(Average match, funny comedy, insane crowd, and satisfactory post-match with Adonis getting shorn. Then a fan celebrates with Piper and promptly gets stomped by security. Didn’t detract from the moment though; in fact, I feel like it added to it)
The Hart Foundation/Danny Davis def. The British Bulldogs/Tito Santana in 8:52
(An underrated gem; Davis’ heel tactics pissed the crowd off to no end, and he took an absolute beating when enough heat was built up. Note to independent spot monkeys: you can main event on heat alone without taking insane dives. It’s all a matter of subtlety and conviction.)
Butch Reed def. Koko B Ware in 3:39
(The fact that there is one Hall of Famer involved in this match and it WASN’T Slick angers me. Let’s just move on)
WWF Intercontinental: Ricky Steamboat def. Macho Man Randy Savage in 14:35 to win the title
(Match of the year, match of the decade, whatever you wanna call it; Savage and Steamboat cut an incredible pace, and never once looked awkward or contrived. WWF matches were generally slower and more dull until these two showed everyone the way. If you’ve never seen this match, we cannot be friends until you do)
The Honky Tonk Man def. Jake Roberts in 7:04
(Decent match that was given little chance after Savage and Steamboat stole the show. However, a smart psychologist like Roberts, and a natural heat magnet like Honky did good for themselves. Plus, Alice Cooper was there. Good times!)
The Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff def. The Killer Bees by disqualification in 5:44
(Sadly, Brian Blair didn’t get humbled here. It almost happened, though)
WWF World Heavyweight: Hulk Hogan def. Andre the Giant in 12:01
(The most famous match in wrestling history, and the reason WWF packed so many fans in the stands, as well as on their couches. It may not be a technical classic by any means, but it’s certainly the “worst five star match” in wrestling history. Yes, I’m calling it a five star match. Those who want to argue, I give you Vince McMahon’s money vault as exhibit A)
ITS PLACE IN HISTORY
WrestleMania III has found many of its highlights plastered into highlight reels and video montages as time has gone by. Hogan bodyslamming Andre the Giant is forever embedded into the subconscious of any fan who saw it live. It’s no surprise that, twenty years later, at WrestleMania XXIII, the ending video package spliced together highlights of both shows that were of similar circumstance.
Simply put, WWE decided in 2007 that to make its biggest show of the year a success, it would juxtapose it with one of their all time greatest spectacles.
Drawing $10 million in pay-per-view revenue alone, Vince McMahon’s greatest creation to date only encouraged him to increase his empire. As the territories died around him, McMahon decided to punch the NWA in the throat with Survivor Series in November and a free Royal Rumble in January 1988 that would both be matched up with Jim Crockett’s pay-per-view failures.
If anything, WrestleMania III was so successful, that it increased McMahon’s bravado and swagger. After stepping on the little guys en route to national success, McMahon was now bull-rushing the other big dogs in NWA and AWA.
WrestleMania III made Vince McMahon richer, stronger, and more determined than ever.
WrestleMania II
From The Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale NY, Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, IL, and The Sports Arena in Los Angeles, CA
April 7, 1986
BACKGROUND
The laughter of one year prior had largely subsided. Those who felt Vince McMahon had zero chance of succeeding with a closed-circuit venture called WrestleMania were no longer guffawing at the prospect of his failure, and the silence was filled with McMahon’s chuckles instead. The event was an overwhelming success that opened channels that allowed McMahon and the WWF to swim into the mainstream, and gain a new audience.
Success is a funny thing, because it can lead to two diametrically opposed reactions. One can either rest on their laurels, comfortable with the knowledge that reaching the mountain’s peak is enough to satisfy a man’s adventurous side for the rest of his days. On the other hand, a man can be dissatisfied with success, and begin looking for another mountain to climb.
After wetting his feet in the pay per view market with Wrestling Classic the previous November, McMahon decided that WrestleMania’s next incarnation would have to, as he’d done with the first WrestleMania, do the unthinkable.
With the knowledge that he had wrestling’s biggest stars under his thumb (Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and Rowdy Roddy Piper among others), McMahon split the promotion into three groups and put them in three different time zones, in three different arenas, with four matches in each, for wrestling’s first true “triple-cast”.
Nothing like it had ever been attempted in professional wrestling. After all, a pay per view emanating from three locations across America (Long Island, Chicago, and Los Angeles) sounded like a dream best described to a shrink. McMahon and company forged ahead, however. And so, on the only Monday WrestleMania that has ever taken place, twelve matches were scheduled over the course of a frenetically paced evening. Four titles would be decided, and celebrities galore would be on hand as well.
THE EVENT
For the event to work, there would have to be a balance between the cities. Therefore, it was in McMahon’s best interest to come up with as even of a divide as possible.
For the New York WrestleMania 2 portion, McMahon was banking on Rowdy Roddy Piper and his big mouth to fill the Nassau Coliseum. His opponent would be a nemesis from one year prior, television and movie actor Mr. T. To stir the pot a few times more, the match would take place not with wrestling, but with boxing. Piper and Mr. T, for their parts, were filmed in heavy training for the bout. Each man would be flanked with luminaries from the boxing world: T was trained by famed heavyweight boxer “Smokin’” Joe Frazier, and Piper was given hall of fame boxing trainer Lou Duva.
Also on the New York card, “Macho Man” Randy Savage would defend the Intercontinental Title that he’d won two months prior against George “The Animal” Steele, who seemed more interested in Savage’s squeeze, the lovely Miss Elizabeth, than being champion.
In Chicago, McMahon booked a match that was as timely as it was intriguing. Two months removed from the Chicago Bears shuffling and crushing their way to winning Super Bowl XX, a battle royal was put together featuring two Bears (rookie defensive standout William “Refrigerator” Perry and offensive lineman Jimbo Covert) as well as other well-known players of the day (Harvey Martin, Bill Fralic, et al), and also featuring many famed wrestlers, including The Hart Foundation, Bruno Sammartino, the Iron Sheik, Big John Studd and, of course, wrestling’s battle royal king, Andre the Giant.
If that sea of oversized humanity wasn’t enough, Chicago would also be treated to the World Tag Team Titles being decided, as the Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) would defend against The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid), who were seconded by the eclectic duo of Captain Lou Albano and heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne.
Out to Los Angeles, where the final third of the show would take place. Hulk Hogan’s name hasn’t come up yet, so it’s a safe bet that The Hulkster would be headlining this portion of the night. Hogan was paired up with monstrous Atlantic City villain King Kong Bundy, with the WWF Championship on the line. The stage was set several weeks prior, when Bundy injured Hogan’s ribs on Saturday Night’s Main Event with a serious of splashes. For the first time since becoming champion, Hogan had never looked so mortal.
Adding to these curiosities were the additional celebrities selected to be on hand. For one thing, every commentary team featured a female star to accompany the well known WWF male announcers. In New York, Vince McMahon worked alongside actress Susan St. James (wife of McMahon collaborator/NBC executive Dick Ebersol). Over in Chicago, Gorilla Monsoon and Mean Gene Okerlund worked with actress Cathy Lee Crosby. And perhaps the most unusual trio of voices belonged to the team in the City of Angels, as Jesse Ventura was tasked with carrying not only Lord Alfred Hayes, but also the “Mistress of the Night”, Elvira.
With three arenas, three cities, twelve matches, four championships to be decided, a boxing match, a battle royal, and a horde of celebrities, would the WWF thrive yet again?
THE RESULTS LONG ISLAND PORTION
-Paul Orndorff went to a double count out with Don Muraco in 4:10
(One of the most bizarre matches in WrestleMania history: too short, bad ending, verbal promos inserted over the commentary, and Orndorff slanting his eyes to mock Mr. Fuji, Muraco’s manager. Let’s just move on)
-WWF Intercontinental: Macho Man Randy Savage def. George Steele in 5:10
(Have you ever seen a good George Steele match in your life? Jeez, even Savage couldn’t work a miracle here)
-Jake Roberts def. George Wells in 3:15
(Decent match, tempered only by Wells spitting up phlegm afterward, courtesy of Jake’s python choking him. Don’t watch this while eating oatmeal)
-Boxing Match: Mr. T def. Rowdy Roddy Piper by disqualification in round four (13:14 total)
(Fun while it lasted. Piper was the greatest heel of all time until Vince McMahon took his title in the late nineties. Wasn’t a great match or anything, but it’s worth a look just for laughs)
CHICAGO PORTION
WWF Women’s: Fabulous Moolah def. Velvet McIntyre in 1:25
(For this, WWF let Wendi Richter get screwed and walk out. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but Moolah might be the fakest “legend” in wrestling history)
Flag Match: Corporal Kirchner def. Nikolai Volkoff in 2:05
(I wonder if Vince regrets this outcome, knowing that Kirchner was going to wipe the locker room floor with him not long after)
Andre the Giant won a twenty man battle royal, last eliminating Bret Hart, in 9:13
(Refrigerator Perry wrestling, Bruno and Sheik going at it, Russ Francis wrestling in a wifebeater, Dan Spivey looking like a creepy Hogan clone, Jim Neidhart eliminating himself….this match had it all!)
WWF World Tag Team: The British Bulldogs def. The Dream Team in 13:03 to win the belts
(Outstanding match, which is to be expected from Dynamite, Smith, and Valentine, but even Beefcake brought the goods. Surprised nobody’s used that hammerlock throw that he did since)
LOS ANGELES PORTION Ricky Steamboat def. Hercules in 7:27
(Give Steamboat seven minutes, and he’ll give you seven minutes that don’t suck)
Adorable Adrian Adonis def. Uncle Elmer in 3:01
(Give Uncle Elmer three minutes, and he’ll take ten years off your life)
The Funk Brothers def. Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog in 11:42
(An underrated WrestleMania classic; a wonderful mix of chaotic brawling and good tag team wrestling. Plus, there’s a table spot in the match, and it’s 1986. Check it out)
WWF World Heavyweight/Steel Cage Match: Hulk Hogan def. King Kong Bundy in 10:15
(Satisfying main event: Bundy bled, the cage exit spots were dramatic, and Bobby Heenan got beat up. Plus, Rick Schroeder was there for some reason)
ITS PLACE IN HISTORY
Either by technical complexities or for aesthetic reasons, we’ve yet to have an event since that took place from even two separate locations (save for the final Nitro simulcast in 2001). While it was an interesting experiment to attempt the wrestling equivalent of a New Year’s eve special that gradually goes westward, it’s probably not something to try again, especially in this day and age.
Looking past that issue, over 40,000 combined fans attended the event, and, while the buyrate numbers don’t appear to be available for this event, the fact that WrestleMania III took place a year later should mean that the numbers were good enough, right?
WrestleMania II is not often regarded as a great show, by any means. But, then again, we do judge the event on modern standards. No, there was no true show-stealing ****1/2 classic, nor was there meant to be. Instead, the event did what it was supposed to do: showcase the larger than life stars on a big stage, highlighting the biggest feuds of the day, and settling a number of scores. The Rock n Wrestling machine kept rolling well after this show ended, so one could say that WrestleMania II was successful.
WrestleMania
From Madison Square Garden in New York, NY
March 31, 1985
BACKGROUND
To all things, a beginning. Fans weaned on the modern, well-produced WrestleManias with the Clark Griswold lighting jobs would find the setting of WrestleMania I to be rather primitive. Confined in the dimly lit, archaic atmosphere of Madison Square Garden, nine matches were on the card for the Sunday afternoon spectacular, and there was much on the line.
However, moreso than titles and pride and rite of manhood, what was really on the line was Vince McMahon‘s empire. Not that Vinnie Mac had bet the WWF in a game of Texas Hold’em or anything, but McMahon was taking a huge financial risk by producing this flagship event. Over 200 closed-circuit locations across America would be airing the first WrestleMania (this pre-dated McMahon’s longstanding relationship with pay per view), and McMahon was nearing his bottom dollar. If the event failed, so might he.
Vince McMahon, as we know him, however, would hold the collective media at gunpoint if it meant even a thirty second blurb on one of their shows. A promotional maven, McMahon turned to the growing monster known as cable, and used this burgeoning medium as his platform to sell America on WrestleMania.
The key battleground site, other than WWF’s own home base of the USA Network, was the one-time source-of-life for any teenager that didn’t belong to the Bible Club, and that was MTV. Long before Snooki and J-Woww, back when kids would watch videos of Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson, the network gave ample airtime to the World Wrestling Federation. Two specials would air on MTV to increase the brand awareness: The Brawl to End it All in July 1984, and The War to Settle the Score in February 1985. Unlike the territorial ‘rasslin” promotions that were out of touch, the WWF had struck the pop culture pipeline.
THE EVENT
In order to reach enough of a monetary failsafe to make WrestleMania a success financially, McMahon and company were going to have to think outside the box. Promoting a simple wrestling show just wouldn’t do; they had to go bigger.
Incorporating WWF Champion Hulk Hogan was a no brainer, especially since he was (even then) the greatest star that the wrestling world had ever seen. Rowdy Roddy Piper was the perfect foil for Hogan, and had enough credibility to stand toe to toe with “The Hulkster” in the main event. However, given that the two just had a World Title match at the February MTV special (which ended in a disqualification win for Hogan), why not jazz things up a bit?
Thus, it was decided to pair up Hogan with television superstar Mr. T to take on Piper and muscular villain “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in a tag team contest. Each team would also have a corner man to add to the chaos: for the heroes, noneother than “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka. For the baddies, they had Piper’s ambiguously friendly sidekick, “Cowboy” Bob Orton.
But wait, there’s more. McMahon shoehorned in even more figures to make the event as memorable as possible. What’s having one celebrity (Mr. T) when you can have three more? And with that, say hello to guest ring announcer Billy Martin (the famously embattled Yankees manager), guest time keeper Liberace (flamboyant entertainer who’s sold out Las Vegas more than you’ve changed clothes), and as a guest outside enforcer, Muhammad Ali (the greatest boxer of all time).
Nowadays, WrestleMania wouldn’t be the same if a few famous faces didn’t cameo. In 1985, however, the very notion of all of these men being in the same room was too much to bear (and it probably was for Liberace).
The undercard was given its share of attractions as well. Andre the Giant, two months removed from having his head shaved by Bobby Heenan’s minions, would be putting his career on the line against Big John Studd (who was wagering $15,000) in a Body Slam contest. The prospect of seeing Andre, still a lifelong good guy and an incredibly attraction, possibly have his final match surely pushed a few extra viewers into searching for a closed circuit location.
Another celebrity, at-the-time chart-topping songstress Cyndi Lauper, would continue her grudge with the Fabulous Moolah. The women would be seconding popular women’s wrestling sensation Wendi Richter and WWF Women’s Champion Leilani Kai, respectively, in their title bout.
Speaking of title matches, WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine would be putting his gold up for grabs against crowd favorite Junkyard Dog. In addition, WWF World Tag Team Champions Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo would defend against the hated duo of The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff.
Just to round things out a bit, Gorilla Monsoon provided the commentary with somewhat-nervous first timer Jesse Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes provided awkward segues to interview sessions, and Mean Gene Okerlund provided the National Anthem for the first (and last) time.
With over one million views on closed circuit, as well as over 19,000 fans in attendance at MSG to see the event take place, WrestleMania was a success, and set the stage for the WWF to change the course of how we viewed professional wrestling, for good and bad.
THE RESULTS
-Tito Santana def. The Executioner in 4:50
(Good way to warm up the crowd, as Santana has seemingly never had a bad match in his life. The highlight was Executioner (the late Buddy Rose under a mask) getting kicked over the top rope and landing safely in a chair at ringside)
-King Kong Bundy def. SD Jones in 23 seconds
(History has shorn down the official time to nine seconds, but it was still a historic moment for Bundy, and this dominant win would come in handy a year later)
-Ricky Steamboat def. Matt Borne in 4:37
(An extended workout for Steamboat to get noticed by a wider audience. Short as it was, much like the opener, it was never boring)
-David Sammartino went to a double disqualification with Brutus Beefcake in 12:43
(One of the low points of the original event was Sammartino, son of the legendary Bruno Sammartino, arthritically going through the motions with a very green not-yet-Barber. The crowd was rewarded for sitting through this by getting to watch Bruno himself beat up Beefcake and Johnny Valiant)
-WWF Intercontinental: Junkyard Dog def. Greg Valentine by count out in 7:05
(Not a great match, but it served its purpose of getting the crowd to hate “The Hammer” and cheer for Dog. Besides, Tito Santana showed up afterward, dressed exactly as one would if they were going to the club in 1985. Get JYD a fedora and a snazzy jacket, and it’s off to score some E!)
-WWF World Tag Team: Nikolai Volkoff/Iron Sheik def. Barry Windham/Mike Rotundo in 6:55 to win the belts
(This is back when it was marginally acceptable to play on national stereotypes for negative effect. I always said that for comic effect, if they build an actual Hall of Fame, Freddie Blassie’s plaque should say “SIDED WITH COMMUNISTS AND THE SHAH”)
-$15,000 Bodyslam Match: Andre the Giant def. Big John Studd in 5:53
(About as exciting as two big guys kicking each other could be, but at least the right guy won to keep the crowd happy. TNA should recycle this match for a running feud involving Ric Flair trying to retire, but he keeps getting slammed)
-WWF Women’s: Wendi Richter def. Leilani Kai in 6:12 to win the title
(Historical for the involvement of Cyndi Lauper and Fabulous Moolah; Lauper would cross promote by using several WWF stars (Piper, Blassie) in her “Goonies R Good Enough” video. Sign #1 that Vince was going to win the territorial war: no wrestling promoter could cross-promote like him)
-Hulk Hogan/Mr. T def. Roddy Piper/Paul Orndorff in 13:13
(Featured all the celebrities and corner interference mentioned earlier, and The Garden seemed like an absolute madhouse when this maelstrom came together. Hogan scored the pin on Orndorff after Orton’s interference went awry)
ITS PLACE IN HISTORY Bret Hart revealed in his 2007 memoir, “Hitman”, that McMahon kept the performers’ paychecks for the event in a high interest account for several months, just to collect a huge premium on top of what he already made. Nobody was complaining, however, for two reasons: one, those checks that the performers received were likely higher than anything they had ever received and, two, as long as Vince McMahon was easily making bank, there would be more carrots dangled in the future for all.
WrestleMania, although ancient looking by 2011 standards, is what got the ball rolling. McMahon’s gamble gave him the confidence to try similar ventures in the future. Seven months later, McMahon would roll out the first official pay per view, Wrestling Classic, in Chicago. Five months after that, WrestleMania would be on pay per view for the first time (but we’ll get to that later).
A month after this first WrestleMania, WWF broke onto network TV for the first time in years with Saturday Night’s Main Event, and it was yet another success.
WrestleMania I set the template: big stars, big matches, big hype, broadcasted worldwide. It’s a formula that, with few modifications, McMahon will swear by forever.
You know, I’d be the first to admit that my 1988 Royal Rumble rant was a bit lacking.
Looking over it, I see where I was the most bored and disinterested, and it showed in my writing. I don’t apologize often, but I’ll do so by writing a better rant for this show, the 1989 Royal Rumble.
There’s an underlying message in here. The 1988 show had a lot of kinks to be worked out, as did my accompanying rant. The 1989 show was a vast improvement and my rant, well….let’s cross our fingers. I hope it’s less boring than Dino Bravo’s weight lifting challenge from ’88 at least.
-January 15, 1989, from the Summit in Houston, TX. It’s the home of non-playoff football, as well as pitchers who have played or WILL play for the Phillies. Thanks, Ed Wade!
-And yes, this would be the first Rumble on PPV. It’s also got a better logo than the 1988 version, which featured fancy handwriting fit for some historical document, and is replaced through 1995 with the famed block lettering. It’s the block lettering I grew up with.
-The A-Team of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura is on duty here, and I’m pleased. As much as I love the duo of Monsoon and Bobby Heenan for sheer laughs, Monsoon and Ventura could make any match seem like an important event. They were like John Madden and Pat Summerall in that regard. How many NFL games did Madden and Summerall make seem like life-and-death battles with their natural cadence? Same with Monsoon and Ventura. Would Hogan-Andre at Wrestlemania 3 been as good if Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler were on commentary? What about Hogan-Warrior? My thoughts exactly.
-As with the 1988 rant, I’ll be using the “what would I pay?” system to determine what I feel the value of the event at hand is. The system is kind of moot if you already own the show, but you can see if it feels like something you SHOULD have paid for. But if you watched it and hated it, you’d already know that…well…let’s move on.
OPENER: THE HART FOUNDATION AND HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN VS. THE FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS AND DINO BRAVO (TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS)
-Oh, thank God they’re getting Bravo out of the way now. Say, what’s up with these 2 out of 3 falls matches? This is the third one in the first five matches in Rumble history, and then they never had another one at the Rumble ever. What gives?
-All three heels take a battering ram in the corner, and the crowd is happy. Which three are the heels, you ask? Lemme counter by asking: has there ever been three French Canadians on the roster at the same time that were all faces? Ever? Maybe a slew of man-rats, er, jobbers that Pat Patterson would have tag along, but nobody major.
-Le Bad Guyex win the first fall via Le Bombe de Rougeau on Bret. It’s amazing when you look back and realize how many tag team matches from 1987-1990 ended with either Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels taking the fall. Hate to say it, but maybe that’s why not many fans stuck around during the “New Generation” (“HE’S the champ? The guy that once got pinned by the Warlord? No thanks…”)
-This is a great warm-up match, as all of the participants at least have well defined characters. The Harts are the well oiled tag team machine, Duggan’s the patriotic Buford Pusser type, and all three heels are openly foreign. It’s like paint by numbers on how to get fans 20 years ago to cheer and boo.
-Anywho, the good guys take the second fall after a horde of moves on Raymond, ending with an elbow drop by Duggan. Getting pinned by an elbow drop is only acceptable if it’s Survivor Series, or you’re laying down for The Rock. There’s no other exceptions.
-Finally, the faces win the third fall when Duggan hits Bravo with the 2X4 (Bravo was so boring last year that it tainted the thrill of Duggan’s Rumble win….well that’s MY theory) and Bret pins Bravo.
RATING: $4.50. Good, solid stuff, and I wasn’t bored by Bravo. We’ve already topped 1988! Now as long as Paul Roma’s not headlining, we’re in decent shape.
-Meanwhile, there’s chicanery afoot, as Ted Dibiase (the dad, not the boring sponge of a son) isn’t happy with the number he drew, so he has an offer for Slick, who’s shady on the basis that he’s a pimp. You know, how come they didn’t stereotype against Flash Funk in 1997? He dressed like a pimp, but was a good guy due to being “funky”. If you’re going to stereotype, at least be consistent.
-Also, the Bushwhackers swap their numbers for some reason. For those who complain about goofy characters now like Hornswoggle, Santino Marella, and the guest hosts, I give you: Luke and Butch. Now stop complaining.
MATCH 2: ROCKIN’ ROBIN VS. JUDY MARTIN (WWF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP)
-Judy Martin would not be allowed on the current WWE TV product looking the way she does here, unless she somehow convinced McMahon that she was Greg Valentine.
-Sensational Sherri shows up and challenges the winner, looking like Shia LeBouf going to a rave. I know Sherri’s dead and all, but geez, 80′s fashion was crap.
-The crowd could really care less about the match, even though Robin is portrayed as a local hero. The most notable thing is Sherri on commentary, as her and Jesse taunt Monsoon. Otherwise, it’s your typical modern divas match without the fitness model physiques. I wonder if this is why so many guys my age came out of the closet (no, not me).
-Robin wins after faking a cross body, and then hitting a real one. See, Robin was so good at faking things, she even had another woman fooled! Err, let’s move on.
RATING: $1.25. I was gonna go two bucks, but I decided to dock it 75 cents for having to listen to Robin sing “America the Beautiful” at Wrestlemania V. Look, it’s my convoluted ratings sytem; I’ll do what I want with it.
-Sean Mooney confronts Slick over the possible tampering with Dibiase, but Slick insists he hasn’t seen Dibiase in over a month. Well, given the travel schedule back then, it’s possible. Wouldn’t surprise me if half of these guys said to each other “You still work here?!?” Actually, I’ll bet they said that to Terry Taylor a lot.
SUPER POSEDOWN: ULTIMATE WARRIOR VS. RICK RUDE
-So instead of having a match, the Intercontinental Champion and one of the top heels will be engaged in a posing contest. Can you imagine if they did this now? Wait, they actually DID do this in 2003 with Triple H and Scott Steiner! And it was horrible! They even had an arm wrestling match, just to empty the tray of embarrassing 1980′s non-match clichés. I’m surprised there wasn’t a dual interview between the two on a revamped Brother Love Show.
-The story is that Rude is seriously trying to win on technical merit, whereas Ultimate Warrior just aggressively recreates Rude’s poses, and the crowd cheers louder for him. It’s also notable for Rude using one of those flexi-bars that Chuck Palumbo helped (not) make famous during his WCW run.
-After Warrior wins hands down, Bobby Heenan blinds Warrior with lotion (….not like that) and Rude beats the hell out of him with the flexi-bar. Then Warrior goes nuts and beats up the officials who aid him, including Nick Bockwinkel. Take THAT, AWA.
RATING: $2.00. Lame as it was, it created a fresh upper card angle, and the crowd was into it. Let’s just keep Tyler Reks and Chris Masters from trying their own version. In fact, let’s just keep both of them off TV.
-Mean Gene asks Elizabeth who she would pick between Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan in the Rumble. Ah, yes, the “jealous eyes” storyline. I dare say it was the first angle in WWF history that felt like it could have played out on Raw in the last decade and not felt ancient.
MATCH 3: KING HAKU VS. HARLEY RACE (FOR THE CROWN)
-If your mother attended this event, there’s a chance that she became pregnant if she was in the first two or three rows. Race and Haku have enough testosterone to fill the Roman Coliseum, and there’s plenty of manliness wafting through when these two go at it!*
(*Written by Pat Patterson)
-Haku comes to the ring on the throne-sedan, carried by a group of jobbers, so Race just knocks it over for fun. Wow, 1980′s WWF was hardcore! When do they break out the razor wire?
-Match is quite brutal, with Race taking huge bumps in his late forties, and he even managed to piledrive Haku on the concrete. If this match happened on Raw now, the internet would briefly faint out of ecstasy.
-Haku plants Race with a thrust kick to retain the crown and, effectively, send Race packing from WWF. Of note was Bobby Heenan playing cornerman to both, as they were both in his employ. Wait, I’m writing this on the day that Heenan’s new DVD came out and I haven’t bought it yet! What is wrong with me?!
RATING: $5.50. Surprisingly good stuff, given that it was a throwaway match. We could use more matches like this on modern undercards. Just brutal brawls without trademark moves.
-Intermission, plus promos. Remember the intermissions? They got rid of them in favor of matches involving Alicia Fox. Nothing says “take five minutes, stretch your legs, and get some beer” like Alicia Fox matches.
MAIN EVENT: THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
-Ah good: no Paul Roma this year to screw things up. The real main eventers get to main event! Except for Warrior. And Rude. And the Harts. And Duggan. Crap.
-So we’re finally up to 30 participants, and the winner gets….nothing. Except the opportunity to referee a midcard match at Wrestlemania V. My money’s on Joey Marella, going in.
-Just to show how COMPLETELY RANDOM AND UNSCRIPTED this show is, Ax and Smash of Demolition are 1 and 2. Monsoon and Ventura are more surprised than the fans are. Oddly enough, Ax and Smash go right at it instead of conserving energy and beating up the next entrant. I know they’re trying to keep it exciting, but for logic’s sake, couldn’t Ax and Smash just stand there and tell dirty jokes to each other? Seems sensible.
-Perhaps they should save their strength, because here comes Andre the Giant at #3! Ugh, this was the year they had the awkward camera angle every time someone came in. It looks like Zapruder footage, except slightly less grainy. And I do emphasize “slightly”.
-Mr. Perfect (sans singlet) is #4, but Andre can’t be contained, and he sends Smash flying. Poor Smash. At least he got to dress like a cat burglar in his next life. Ronnie Garvin is #5, and we actually have three former World Champions in the ring. Yes, I’m counting Garvin, though I don’t WANT to.
-Greg Valentine is 6 and Andre chucks Garvin. Good riddance. Jake Roberts is #7 and he has beef with Andre. Andre just simply chokes him while Ron Bass is #8, in what may have been his last appearance with the company. Andre tosses Roberts. Finally, Shawn Michaels is #9, just so Perfect isn’t the only athlete in the ring. Perfect backdrops Ax out to keep the pace going. To complete the first third, Bushwhacker Butch is #10. Shouldn’t have switched, matey. Then to top off the frantic pace thus far, Roberts returns with Damain, his python, and scares Andre into taking the final bump of his career, over the top for a self elimination. Jesse says it’s unfair; I say at least the pace is a good one.
-Honky Tonk Man is in at 11 while Perfect and Shawn just take bumps like superballs in there. Tito Santana is 12, and he and Valentine soon rekindle their old feud. Bad News Brown is 13, and Santana and Butch toss Honky. Man, after he lost the IC Title, Honky became everyone’s submissive, didn’t he?
-Marty Jannetty is 14, and we get some Rockers double teams going. WWF Champion Randy Savage is 15 to a NUCLEAR reaction, and he goes right for Bad News. The Rockers get rid of Bass, just to make me happy. Shawn would later steal Bass’ finisher and give it to Triple H (Well, not really, but since I’m writing this….)
-Arn Anderson (yes, he worked there) is 16 as Savage dumps Valentine, his future Survivor Series partner. Savage and Arn then team up and dump Shawn, as Tully Blanchard comes in at 17. Jannetty goes next via both Brain Busters. And then….
-#18: Hulk Hogan. Get ready to count the bodies! So long, Perfect. Bye bye, Santana. Bushwhacker Luke is #19 just as Bad News tosses out Butch. See, shouldn’t have switched! Koko B Ware is not only #20, but he’s also eliminated by Hogan in short order. Hogan clotheslines both Busters out. Warlord is #21 and is gone even faster (2 seconds!) at the hands of Hogan. Then Hogan eliminates Bad News and Savage at the same time and….uh oh, Savage isn’t happy. He jumps back in and gets into it with Hogan, with Miss Elizabeth coming in to try and talk sense into both men. They make up and Savage leaves as Big Bossman is in at 22.
-Hogan and Bossman continue their feud, brawling until Akeem comes in at 23. And there’s the payoff for the Slick and Dibiase business deal. Hogan gets eliminated shortly thereafter. Hogan won’t go away like a good sport, so he attacks Bossman for fun. And they wonder why so many kids my age grew up to be sore losers. Brutus Beefcake is 24, and Hogan illegally eliminates Bossman, much to Ventura’s chagrin. Hogan even busts Bossman even with some kind of suitcase.
(sound of record scratch)
-And now, the fun stuff is over. The match slows down to the point of tedium, as all the fast paced fun has died out. From here, it’s Red Rooster at 25, Barbarian at 26, Big John Studd at 27, Hercules at 28, Rick Martel at 29, and Ted Dibiase at 30 (the other half of the payoff). Is it as auspicious a finish as last year? I think they’re tied for dead last, myself.
-Dibiase dumps Rooster. Dibiase and Barbarian then team up and dump Beefcake and Hercules together. Martel then surprises the world by dropkicking Barbarian out.
-FINAL FOUR: Dibiase, Studd, Akeem, and Martel. No, really. Martel gets caught by Akeem and thrown out. Then, because I don’t feel like wasting my fingers any more, a double team on Studd fails which sees the future Hall of Famer throw out Akeem. Then Studd toys with Dibiase for about 40 years before throwing him out, and then he beats up Virgil for fun. So, yeah, Studd wins. He would leave WWF within five months.
RATING: $9.25. The first 2/3 was great stuff, but it dragged once Hogan and Bossman finished their little angle. Nonetheless, an upgrade over last year
TOTAL: $22.50. That’s almost how much a PPV was in 1989, so I guess that’s somewhat reasonable. Just wish the Rumble had a better outcome, and that Warrior/Rude was, you know, an actual match.
CYNIC SAYS: An upgrade over last year’s TV version, but there was still work to be done. It would take many years for WWE to figure out to add more innovative eliminations and creative double teams, but at least they’d mastered the art of mixing existing feuds with new ones beginning (especially Hogan and Savage).
The night is August 25 1984 and the place is the “Mecca” of professional wrestling Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tonight the WWF will be presenting a loaded show featuring one of my favorite feuds of all-time in the main event, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka.
Before I get into the show keep in mind as we are going along that this isn’t just any other WWF house show. This is Madison Square Garden. To put it in perspective, this is probably would have been broadcast on pay per view if the WWE were producing pay per view events at this point in history.
Looking back at WWF results from this day, Hulk Hogan was busy wrestling in the Atlanta Omni defending his WWF championship against David Schultz. So yes, the WWF was running two of arguably the most historic pro wrestling arena in the United States on the same day in 1984. The video incidentally comes via WWE Classics on Demand.
So with no Hogan on the card, the WWF beefed up the show with several matches between headliners. Quite frankly, the New York crowd got a much better “B” show in return for Hogan not appearing on the card. MSG got two WWF title matches, a rematch of a classic series, and arguably the hottest pro wrestling feud in the country during that time period. Not too shabby for a “B” show.
Finally, nothing on the past Madison Square Garden pro wrestling show bled into this card. These were all fresh matches for New York City. The previous event had Hulk Hogan drop the leg on Greg Valentine in the main-event while Tito Santana and Cowboy Bob Orton drew in the semi. And in comparisons to the last show, this event was a huge improvement on paper for MSG.
Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes will handle the announcing duties this evening. Gorilla points out that the building is sold out in addition to a closed circuit telecast in the Felt Forum. Yep, that is how red hot Roddy Piper vs. Jimmy Snuka was in 1984.
On a side note (I am sure there will be plenty more) with all due respect to the dead, I don’t think there was an announcer I couldn’t stand more as a kid than Lord Alfred Hayes. Nothing’s changed over 25 years later.
Kamala vs. former WWF tag team champion Chief Jay Strongbow will open the show. Not a bad opener on paper when you look at the usual curtain jerkers back in 1984. I was always a big Kamala fan. As a kid reading the Apter magazines and seeing all of those pictures of this crazy warrior, I got excited to see him finally come to the WWF. Many years later, I still don’t mind watching him, so believe it or not, I am actually a little excited about this opener.
“Classy” Freddie Blassie makes what has to be one of his last appearances as a WWF manager. Blassie and Friday lead Kamala to the ring. The crowd is still piling in so the reaction is very minimal to the site of the Ugandan Warrior. Gorilla on Kamala’s weight, “if he weighs 400 pounds, I weigh 190.”
The crowd does react to Kamala slapping the belly before the match. Yes, a heel could get a reaction from simply slapping his belly in 1984. I miss those days. Lord Al is a little too obsessed with Kamala’s feet at this point. Maybe he should continue the conversation in the back with Mel Phillips.
The match starts off much faster than you’d expect for two guys with big guts in the ring. Strongbow hits all four sides of the ring for momentum and goes for a shoulder tackle. Kamala wobbles. The two trade chops with the crowd going pretty nuts for the action. Strongbow then sends Kamala to the turnbuckle and snatches on his signature sleeper hold which turns into nothing more than a glorified piggy back ride.
Kamala works over the Chief, who lands on the ringside floor. Back in the ring Kamala continues to pound on Strongbow but wait a minute. I smell a war dance! Strongbow starts to come alive as the big man chops the back and the crowd loves it!
The Chief’s war dance this night is pretty pathetic. He doesn’t have a lot effort behind the usual rabid chops and kicks. Kamala comes close to taking his first bump of the night after Chief nails a knee lift. Instead old Sugar Bear falls into the corner and counters a running Strongbow with a big kick to the face.
Strongbow falls forward and he is out cold…from a kick to the face. Now we know where Steven Segal learned that kick he taught Anderson Silva. Kamala hits the ropes and splashes Strongbow, who is laying down belly to mat. It’s over in less than three minutes. As Gorilla says, “you could have counted to fifty.”
Now this is how you get a future main-event WWE superstar over. Kamala would of course go on to challenge Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant in main-events around the country. Call me crazy but my hunch is that they probably wouldn’t have drawn so well if Kamala lost to Tito Santana and Ivan Putski in the next two weeks. It really is that easy Vince.
That may be the hottest house show opener I can remember seeing for that time period. Most of the time you’d get a 20 minute snoozer between Rene Goulet and S.D. Jones or Butcher Vachon and Terry Gibbs. Great start so far!
Iron Mike Sharpe vs. B. Brian Blair is our next match of the night. During ring introductions Iron Mike interrupts my former wedding party announcer Howard Finkel and yells into the microphone, “20 inches of power and steel.” He was pointing to his biceps for the record. B. Brian gets a really big reaction which could only be explained because the crowd is so hot coming off that opener.
A lot of comedy spots early on courtesy of Iron Mike. The guy was really a master of psychology in terms of getting heat. Sharpe is dropkicked out of the ring but winds up getting “caught” in the ropes. Iron Mike now returns to the ring with a chair in hand. This is anything but an expected snoozer so far thanks to the genius of Sharpe.
I didn’t expect to write this but this match is AWESOME! Iron Mike gets some heat on Blair with forearms and kicks. Blair fights back and catches Sharpe with a monkey flip. Blair then gets a flying head scissors on Sharpe and the crowd is going crazy. Sharpe then slides under the ropes and starts to leave THROUGH THE CROWD. The heat for this is tremendous and I think every aspiring pro wrestler should watch this match and study the greatness of Sharpe.
I feel like I am watching a Terry Funk match. Either Terry Funk took a lot from Iron Mike or Sharpe studied Terry but there are way too many similarities here for this to be coincidence.
Gorilla says that a win over Iron Mike would be a “feather in Blair’s cap.” Considering the fact that everyone was beating Sharpe at this time, I think Gorilla may be stretching the truth just…..a tad.
Iron Mike tries to shake hands with Blair who counters with a right hand. Who’s the heel? Well the crowd loves it. Sharpe takes a huge bump off of a punch to the mid section. With Sharpe on his back, Blair starts going to work on Sharpe’s hamstrings. Sharpe counters with a vicious eye rake!
Sharpe holds Blair in a back breaker. Blair eye rakes his way out of it. Gorilla called Sharpe a cheater for using the eye rake earlier, now praises Blair for the same thing. What a homer!
Blair hits his comeback and picks Sharpe up for the slam. But guess what? He falls backwards because you see (John Cena), Sharpe held Blair in a back breaker just a few minutes ago. So Blair’s back is “hurt” and Blair is now “selling” that punishment. A certain WWE superstar who I won’t mention in this sentence could learn a lot about psychology here.
Sharpe and Blair exchange punches, Sharpe gets the better of it by throwing Blair through the ropes to the mat-less floor. Ouch! I should mention that these guys are going at a heck of a pace. The action has been back and forth for the most part throughout the entire match. Talk about two guys earning their money tonight.
Sharpe pounds on Blair every time B. Brian tries to get into the ring. Sharpe now plays to the crowd but wait a second. Blair disappears under the ring. Did the Ultimate Warrior kidnap him? Nope! Blair slides through the other side of the ring and unloads on Sharpe with rights. Again, Sharpe takes the big bump off of the midsection punch. Blair then goes up to the second rope to drop a big elbow to the head. The impact sends Iron Mike to the floor.
Blair follows Iron Mike to the floor and drops another elbow, this time from the apron to the ground on Sharpe. Blair now rams Sharpe’s head repeatedly into the apron. Blair tries to roll in but Sharpe pulls him back out. The bell rings, it is a double count out! Wow, I didn’t see this one coming.
This was a heck of a match. These two guys had the crowd eating out of their hands by the end of the match. Both men wrestled at a real high pace and just laid out a text book match in terms of ring psychology. Sign me up for the rematch!
Magnificent Muraco, wait no it’s Salvatore Bellomo. Sal Bellomo vs. Rick McGraw is up next. Bellomo is a sub for Muraco according to old records. No way!
I apologize but there is no way I am sitting through this one. According to historic results these two guys fought to a time limit draw. I like Rick McGraw but I just have no interest in watching him in a babyface vs. babyface match for 20 minutes with Sal. Sorry readers.
Now to the good stuff. Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch defend the WWF tag team championship against former champions the Wild Samoans WITH special referee Captain Lou Albano (the former manager of the Samoans). The Samoans walk through the corridor and I have to be honest, they don’t look as intimidating as babyfaces. Gorilla proclaims them, “the favorites in this matchup.”
It is a weird deal to watch this now and see the Samoans as babyfaces. They play to the crowd by waiving their fists and acknowledging the cheers, etc. Yet it is just kind of odd with their gimmick to see them playing up the crowd that way. The crowd does love them, although Sika trips and almost falls on his face entering the ring.
Next, we are treated first to a Murdoch and Adonis promo. You’ll get no complaints out of me. Adonis says the cards are stacked against them and he knows that Lou Albano will be in their corner. Good promo, pretty standard stuff, but the idea is there that Adonis and Murdoch feel that they are at a disadvantage with Albano as referee.
Wait a second! Albano is shown talking to Adonis and Murdoch in the corridor. I smell a conspiracy! Albano enters to a chorus of boos. Monsoon alleges that Albano didn’t know the camera was on and ran out in a hurry once he saw the red light. “Like a rat caught in a trap!”
By the way we are in classic Lou mode here, rubber bands, sleeveless vest, and all!
Albano gets a bigger reaction than the challengers or the champions. This has the potential to be a really fun match with Captain Lou refereeing. Albano is already arguing with fans at ringside.
I should also point out that while nothing from the previous MSG show bled over into this one, Adonis and Murdoch did wrestle the Wild Samoans back on June 16 in the Garden in a 2 out of 3 falls match that ended in a draw. During the match Albano reportedly came to ringside and offered his help to the champions after they won the first fall and then the challengers after they won the second, which explains Albano’s storyline here. By the way, that is a great manager gimmick for a 2 of 3 falls match!
Albano is giving out the instructions to all four men. Great stuff as Albano is doing his usual comedy here. Albano tells them that he will call the match down the middle. Hayes and Monsoon debate as to which team that Albano will favor. Monsoon is aghast that the commission would even sanction Albano as a referee.
The action starts out fast with the Samoans cleaning house on Adonis and Murdoch. Murdoch hits the floor as the Samoans go to town on Adonis. Albano just stands there waiving his hands. Adonis now hits the floor and Captain Lou begins a count or as Gorilla says, “Albano just paraded around”.
Adonis tags Murdoch in, who enters slowly. The crowd is just going ape poop for this match! They are stomping their feet and clapping their hands like it is a Game 7 of the World Series.
Great psychology here as Murdoch gets an advantage with kicks and punches but winds up selling an elbow to Sika’s head. The story being here is that the Samoans are known for their hard heads and their head butts. Murdoch loads up and blasts another elbow to Sika’s head and is selling it like a child would a needle. Adonis comes in and now they attempt a double elbow with the same result. Sika grabs both of their heads, smashes them together, and Adonis goes flying.
A brawl breaks out once again the center of the ring between both teams. Adonis flies over the top rope courtesy of an Afa head butt. Adonis flies back in the ring after the Samoans slingshot him in via the top rope. You know, it is a real shame that Adrian put on all of that weight a few years later because he was a bumping machine here. The crowd is just eating out of their hands.
Adonis and Murdoch finally gain a brief advantage. Adonis sinks in “Goodnight Irene”, his signature sleeper hold. Albano checks Afa’s hand but Afa waives his one finger in the air to tell the fans he is okay. Afa-mania is running wild! Afa finally gets out of the hold by sending Adonis into the turnbuckle. Adonis tags out, well actually walks out and Murdoch walks in.
Albano continues walking around the ring throughout the match waiving his fingers at both teams. Murdoch drops an elbow, goes for a cover, and Monsoon points out, “Albano goes down for the count and completely blocks both wrestlers off of our video screens.”
Adonis has Afa down and goes to the top rope. Afa pops up and punches Adonis who crotches himself on the top rope. It is easy to see watching this match how Adonis was able to make so much money selling for babyfaces in his prime. The guy is just great! Adonis hits the floor, leaving Murdoch in the ring with both Samoans.
The Samoans double-team Murdoch, Afa (who is not the legal man) drops a flying head butt on Murdoch, and Albano is out of position to count the cover. Albano takes his sweet time to count the cover, finally drops to one knee, counts super slow, and after two yells stops to yell at Sika for not holding on to the tag rope.
The crowd is going crazy and the Samoans now corner Albano. Afa pushes Albano who calls for the disqualification. Monsoon points out that Murdoch is still out cold in the center of the ring. Albano raises the champ’s hands. The Samoans get ready to attack Albano and are jumped from behind by the champions. Albano punches Sika who is being held by the champions. The Samoans clean house and hold the belts to a standing ovation from the crowd. The Samoans lay the belts down and call back the champions.
Guess what? They actually come back! I don’t recall many heels getting back in the ring with the babyface after a match. The champions come back and another brawl breaks out. Each team has a belt and is using it on the other. People are jumping up and down in the crowd. The champions get their belts and leave for good.
This match was a lot of fun. The Samoans dominated the match, but the underlying storyline of Albano as referee was just great. The crowd was super into this one, which made it seem like a classic. I loved it. For a WWF fan in 1984 it doesn’t get much better than this.
I should point out that these teams would come back to MSG in a six-man tag team match with Albano, Murdoch, and Adonis wrestling the Samoans and Sgt. Slaughter (Adonis and Murdoch beat Slaughter and Terry Daniels the previous month) in September.
Here is an odd match for you. Ken Patera vs. Pat Patterson which wouldn’t be so odd if Patterson wasn’t a commentator at the time, and Patera just came back after a four year absence. I presume that the booking here played off of their previous MSG series four or five years ago. Otherwise it really didn’t make a lot of sense.
Ken Patera is slowly takes off his warm up suit to the sarcastic whistles of the sold out Madison Square Garden crowd. This is actually pretty funny.
Patterson gets an arm bar early on Patera. Patera breaks on the ropes and hits Patterson with a forearm. Patera shoots him to the ropes, Patterson comes back with a flying bodypress, and Patera kicks out of a close call.
They exchange punches in the ring and Patterson gets the advantage. The crowd appears to be having a rough time coming back from the tag team title match. Patera falls into the ropes and is tied up. Monsoon says, “he’s at your mercy now Pat.” Insert joke here.
The action goes back and forth but finally slows down with Patera grabbing a chin lock. The announcers point out Patera’s Pan America Games’ accomplishments. Patera nails Patterson with some kicks and forearms but again goes back to a chin lock. These guys are working this match like it’s an intercontinental title match, but the crowd isn’t buying it.
Patterson makes a fiery comeback. Patterson climbs to the top rope but Patera moves out of the way. Patterson hits the ropes, Patera scoops him up (almost tripping), and drops him throat first along the top rope. Patera is signaling for the full nelson. He’s got it! Patterson fights valiantly to get out of it but winds up succumbing to the submission after about a minute.
This was a great way to re-introduce Patera back to the Madison Square Garden crowd. It seems kind of silly to book someone like him against a guy like Rick McGraw or Sal Bellomo in an opener. Instead they give the old school fans a wink and a nod with this one, yet give Patera a glorified squash win. I like it.
Monsoon sends it to the back for a Jesse “The Body” Ventura promo. Ventura calls Ivan “Puduski” a little wart and tells him that after tonight, Hulk Hogan will be next. They were setting up Hogan vs. Ventura for the September show. Unfortunately the match never happened due to Ventura’s career ending illness he incurred at the time. Hogan got lucky!
Jesse Ventura vs. Ivan Putski in a “clash of the titans” as Gorilla Monsoon calls it. The crowd pops huge for Putski’s appearance. Ventura attacks Putski as he enters the ring. Putski fights back with a shoulder block which sends Ventura to the middle of the ring. Ventura then walks into a bodyslam and an onslaught of punches. Putski sends Ventura to the ropes and nails him with a right hand. Ventura takes one of the most awkward looking bumps I have ever seen and heads to the floor to regroup. We got a barn burner here!
Putski follows him out and rams Ventura’s head into the apron. Putski chases Ventura in and out of the ring. Keep in mind that the WWF shot an angle a few weeks prior to the match where Ventura attacked Putski in the midst of an arm wrestling contest. The crowd is back and stomping away!
They finally lock up. Putski grabs a side headlock. Putski punches Ventura a few times in the headlock and sends Ventura to the mat. Putski is now kicking away at the “The Body.” Ventura slides out of the ring once again. Putski plays to the crowd and they reciprocate. It’s a conspiracy Jesse!
Awesome spot here as Putski grabs a headlock, Ventura goes to shoot him off, but instead Putski hangs on to Ventura’s long beard. Putski releases a number of rapid punches to Ventura’s head. Putski follows up with a series of sledgehammer forearms before Jesse hits the floor once again.
Ventura finally gets his first offense of the match with a standing wristlock. It doesn’t last long. Putski begins to reverse, but Jesse pulls Putski’s hair, and they call to the mat. They both work for the wristlock on the mat. Putski is close to cinching it in before Ventura pulls his hair once again. They go back and forth with this for a few minutes thanks to the ignorance of Dick Kroll. Putski finally reverses and pummels Ventura with punches. Putski is like Stone Cold Steve Austin during this match.
Ventura now unravels his wrist tape to use as a weapon. Ventura now chokes Puduski with it. Ventura puts it in his mouth when Dick Kroll checks to see what he has. Ventura continues to choke Putski with the rope. Referee Kroll knows he has something but can’t find it. Al Hayes says this is Jesse at his worst. Too bad he never got to see that Opie and Anthony appearance.
Putski now has the tape, sends Ventura to the ropes, and clotheslines Ventura with it. The referee sees the tape and is practically begging Putski to give it up. Putski now has Ventura in the corner and is punching him, which Ventura is selling by spinning around 360 degrees with each punch.
Both guys are fighting on the apron. Ventura looks like he is trying to tie his tights but instead grabs a foreign object out of there. It looks like a taped up Popsicle stick. Putski falls to the floor, Ventura falls back into the ring, the referee signals for the bell, and Putski is officially counted out.
This was a hot match but at this point you have screw finishes in both of the top matches. The tag team title match ended on a disqualification and this one ends on a count out. This is kind of weak if you ask me, especially if the idea was to bring Ventura back as a WWF championship challenger next month. However, in all fairness the crowd loves every minute of it and doesn’t appear to be turned off by the non-finishes.
The Fabulous Freebirds make a very rare WWF appearance. The Freebirds are managed by Cyndi Lauper’s manager David Wolff to play off of the Rock and Roll Wrestling Connection. Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts take on the ultimate WWF 1980s jobber team of Butcher Vachon, Ron Shaw, and Pete Doherty in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Are three falls really necessary here?
Michael Hayes starts off the match with a combination chicken and moon walk. That’s a future WWE V.P. right there! Butcher Vachon takes exception to Hayes’ gyrations and refuses to lock up. I can’t say that I blame him. Vachon tags out and in comes Ron Shaw who doesn’t fair much better.
Hayes is really trying to get the crowd going but they aren’t quite ready to welcome him into the WWF family just yet. Something tells me that a guy with long blonde haired gyrating his hips in a pro wrestling match is not going to be too well received as a babyface in New York City.
Buddy Roberts tags in briefly before tagging in the future Executioner. Gordy launches Shaw over his head to the mat. The Duke of Dorchester is in. Yes! Gordy just unloads with his trademark punches on the Duke. Buddy tags back in and the Freebirds are just double and triple teaming everyone at this point.
The butcher tags in and finally gets a brief advantage on Buddy Jack before being sent to the mat with a shoulder tackle. Michael P.S. tags back in but winds up as Gorilla would say, “on the wrong side of town” being triple teamed in the corner. Hayes finally tags in “Bam Bam” who Gorilla calls, “Terry Brody.” Gordy unloads once again on the butcher. Gordy catches Vachon with a flying bodypress and gets a three count. Gorilla reminds the audience that it is a best two of three.
Howard Finkel actually gets back inside the ring to announce the first fall in between falls. Remember, this was before the wireless ringside microphone.
Gordy and Vachon are back at it. Gordy picks up Vachon for a huge bodyslam as Michael Hayes dances on the ring apron outside of the ring. And who is this “Terry Brody” that Gorilla keeps referring to? Is that the hybrid wrestler of Bruiser Brody and Terry Gordy? I wish.
Buddy Roberts tags in and I must say, that Buddy looks like he’d fit in better with a Swing & Wrestling tag team as opposed to a Rock & Wrestling team. Buddy Jack is caught in the heel corner. Pete Doherty is in the ring now, but loses Buddy as he makes a hot tag to Hayes.
Hayes comes in like a house of fire. He nails a big clothesline on Doherty, dances around a bit, and starts punching away at the Duke. Hayes is trying really hard to get a reaction but the crowd still isn’t buying into the birds. Now that I think about it, it probably has a lot to do with the Apter magazines and all of the stories about the Freebirds’ dastardly deeds in World Class. Or they just don’t like Michael Hayes.
A pier six brawl breaks out as everyone is in the ring. Shaw slams Gordy’s head into the turnbuckle, yet Gordy continues to ram his own heard into the turnbuckle. The crowd likes that. Shaw looks at him and says “he’s crazy!” I heard plenty of Gordy stories to corroborate that.
The Freebirds send Doherty into the ropes with the idea of Hayes and Roberts double backdropping Doherty into Gordy who would then powerslam. Well, that was the idea. Instead, Doherty just rolls off their backs and hits the canvas before Gordy has a chance to grab him. Oh man this is ugly and the crowd lets them know it with awkward silence. Roberts immediately drops an elbow to end this massacre.
I don’t think anyone watching this would ever guess that the ring leader of all of this would later go on to become a WWE Vice President. It should also be of no surprise to anyone that The Freebirds were gone right after this match.
Time for the main-event! I will be completely honest and tell you that I am really excited for this match. I have seen in before, but not in years. However, I just loved this feud as a kid. Anytime Snuka and Piper wrestled it was just magic. Let the tricks begin!
Once the crowd notices Jimmy Snuka coming to the ring they give him a standing ovation. Fans are literally screaming for the Superfly. Not so much for Roddy Piper.
Piper walks slowly to the ring and is showered with a chorus of boos by the New York crowd. Snuka stares down Piper with a look of death from the ring. Piper is seething outside of the ring. Snuka goes after him but is held back by referee Dick Kroll.
Piper takes his time getting in the ring and appears to be psyching himself up. Snuka continues to stare at him with eyes of death. If you weren’t aware of their angle at the time and watched this match today, you’d know immediately that this was a huge grudge match. Both guys are treating this as if they are ready to fight as opposed to wrestle. The intensity is tremendous!
Piper finally gets in the ring and the two just stare at each other without saying a word from across the ring. What I love about this is that Piper is acting as if he wants Snuka as bad as Snuka wants him as opposed to the usual heel tactics which see the villain run scared from the babyface. In other words, Piper is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin long before the Rattlesnake did the same thing decades later.
Gorilla says the crowd is on the edge of their seats in anticipation of the explosion they are about to see. Wow, that was actually pretty good and accurate. Piper and Snuka now circle each other like animals. They finally charge each other with Snuka going to town on Piper with punches and karate shots. Snuka sends Piper to the mat quickly as the Rowdy one tries to call a timeout.
They go at it once again in the center of the ring. Piper tries a head butt to no avail. However, Piper does gain a momentary advantage with a poke to the eye. Piper now follows up with punches. Piper takes Snuka down and goes nuts with punches.
Snuka fights back and chops Piper, who falls over the top rope to the floor. Snuka follows up and rams Piper’s head into the apron. Piper is clotheslined on the rope and falls into the ring. Snuka sends Piper to the ropes and catches him with a sleeper, which would ironically go on to be Piper’s finisher. Piper slides out of the ring with Jimmy holding on to him. Piper finally breaks it by ramming Snuka’s back into the ring apron.
Snuka sends Piper’s head into the steel ring post. Piper is now on all fours crawling away from Snuka. Piper grabs a chair but instead it is Jimmy who rams Piper’s head into the chair. Piper is now busted wide open from either the post or the chair. Gorilla thinks it was the post.
Snuka sees Piper all bloody and goes crazy as Piper begs off. Snuka drops down and punches Roddy’s cut, trying to open up the Scotsman even more. Snuka then drops a flying headbutt onto Piper. Snuka goes up top, Piper is on his feet, catches Snuka, and drops him awkwardly on the top rope. Snuka crashes hard to the floor. The referee counts, raises Piper’s hand, and the bell rings. Really?
Piper now grabs a chair and rams the back of the chair into Snuka’s neck on the floor. Monsoon says, “That’s ridiculous.” So is seven minutes and a bogus finish for a main-event! A bloody Piper continues to ram the chair into Snuka. Piper raises the “I love you” sign and walks back to the locker room. Paramedics are now entering the area with a stretcher.
Paramedics wheel Snuka through the back past Professor Tito Santana. Well he looks like a professor standing there in his glasses. Snuka continues selling it for the cameras and isn’t moving an inch.
Terry Daniels vs. Fred Marzino is up next. What a fall for poor Daniels. Last month he was challenging for the WWF tag team championship, now he is wrestling Fred Marzino who looks more like a 70′s porn star than a WWF wrestler.
The cameras go back to the doctor’s office and show the docs working on Snuka as Pat Patterson looks on. Snuka is barely moving. Poor Terry, they won’t even show his match on the MSG network. This is all about the Superfly.
The cameras go back to the ring just long enough to catch the finish. Daniels gets the win with a pretty cool looking sunset flip cover. Okay, back to the Superfly.
Snuka now has an oxygen mask on. Gorilla speculates that the doctor’s are about to give him an I.V. No wonder everyone hated Piper, he practically killed his arch rival.
Lord Al Hayes is now reporting from the locker room before the WWF intercontinental championship match starts. The doctor gives a statement which you can’t hear at all. The audio finally become clear and it appears that Snuka has a concussion. Kind of weird since most of the punishment came from damage to Snuka’s neck, but hey who am I to argue.
Back to the ring, Tito Santana vs. Greg Valentine for the I-C strap closes the show. These guys had some tremendous matches during this time period, hope this is one of them. They start quickly with some chain wrestling. The champion grabs Valentine in a side headlock. Santana then delivers an atomic drop and the Hammer begs off.
I kind of feel sorry for these guys. The crowd has their minds on Jimmy Snuka and really don’t seem to into the match. The guys are trading punches and nobody appears to care. Remember, this is the same crowd that went wild for an Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Brian Blair match earlier in the night.
Valentine catches Santana with an elbow and the tide is turned. Valentine hammers away with punches and elbows. Valentine drops Santana into a shoulder breaker. He now winds up and drops a forearm. Ironically the crowd really appears to be into Valentine. That would make him the first heel cheered all night which is kind of odd.
Santana and Valentine now trading punches and trying to get the fans back into the match…but wait! The cameras shoot to the back again and show Snuka being taken out with a stretcher. Wow, not even the intercontinental championship match can steal time away from this one.
Valentine now has a Sugar Hold on Santana. Oops wait, back to Snuka. Valentine punches away at Santana and drops an elbow onto Tito’s neck from the apron to the floor. Maybe the crowd isn’t so much into Valentine as just hoping to see a decisive finish in one of the main-events they paid $20 to see?
Both guys trade punches back and forth once again, Santana hits the ropes, leap frogs Valentine, and crashes right into the referee. Nope, no clean finishes tonight in the main-events. Valentine knees Santana from behind. Valentine sends Santana into the ropes, Santana ducks, flying forearm! A slow moving Kroll counts the fall but Valentine drapes his leg on the bottom rope.
Valentine pops right back up, smashes Santana from behind, and applies the figure four leg lock in the center of the ring. Sorry Hammer but the match is over. Dick Kroll tells Valentine that the match is over, Santana is screaming in pain, and Valentine finally breaks the hold. So now both of the night’s big babyfaces are leaving injured.
Santana is officially announced as the winner. Kroll never saw the foot on the ropes. Okay, so you get one kind of, sort of decisive finish in the co-headliner. Santana lips badly to the back selling the leg lock, as Valentine celebrates in the center of the ring with the title. The fans react by showering Valentine with garbage but to Greg’s credit, he continues to instigate them and stand in the center of the ring.
The main-events were good, but just way too short. Seven minutes for Snuka vs. Piper with such a ridiculous finish is a real killer. The WWF tag team title match was probably my second favorite of the night thanks to Captain Lou’s antics and Adonis’ bumping. Santana vs. Valentine had a ton of potential but again, it was just way too short.
Overall I really liked this show. The crowd was super hot for most of the night which really added to the excitement of most matches. I have to be honest and I never thought I’d say this, but Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Brian Blair was probably my favorite match of the night. I never would have expected it, but it was a lot of fun.
Full WWF New York, NY 08/25/85 results…
Kamala (w/ Freddie Blassie & Friday) pinned Chief Jay Strongbow
B. Brian Blair fought Iron Mike Sharpe to a double count-out
Rick McGraw (sub. for Don Muraco) fought Salvatore Bellomo to a time-limit draw
WWF Tag Team Champions Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis defeated the Wild Samoans via disqualification with guest referee Capt. Lou Albano
Ken Patera defeated Pat Patterson
Jesse Ventura defeated Ivan Putski via count-out
Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts (w/ David Wolff) defeated Butcher Vachon, Ron Shaw, & Pete Doherty in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match
Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out
Terry Daniels pinned Fred Marzino
WWF IC Champion Tito Santana pinned Greg Valentine
November 27th, 1991 – Joe Louis Arena – Detroit, Michigan – We celebrate the fifth year of the WWF Survivor Series, brought to us by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and his World Wrestling Federation.
You know, I’d be the first to admit that my 
The night is August 25 1984 and the place is the “Mecca” of professional wrestling Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tonight the WWF will be presenting a loaded show featuring one of my favorite feuds of all-time in the main event, 
