Old school shows of the week #8

[JoeDirt 0]

As always, post your thoughts, comments, memories, questions, etc.

 

 

WrestleMania II

 

"What the World is Coming To"

April 5, 1986 live on PPV (7.0)

CCTV drawing 320,000 ($4,000,000)

 

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Long Island, NY at the Nassau Coliseum drawing 16,585 ($414,615)

 

1. Don Muraco DCO Paul Orndorff (4:10).

 

2. WWF I-C Champ Randy Savage pinned George Steele (5:10).

 

3. Jake Roberts pinned George Wells (3:15).

 

4. Mr. T (managed by Joe Frazier) beat Roddy Piper (managed by Lou Duva) (1:15 - 4th) in a "boxing" match. Cab Calloway, Darryl Dawkins, and G. Gordon Liddy were the judges.

 

Guests: Susan St. James (announcer), Joan Rivers (ring announcer), Burger King's Herb (timekeeper), Ray Charles (vocalist)

 

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Rosemont, IL at The Horizon drawing 9,000 ($294,000)

 

5. WWF Women's Champ Fabulous Moolah pinned Velvet McIntyre (1:25).

 

6. Cpl Kirschner pinned Nikolia Volkoff (2:05) in a "flag" match.

 

7. The British Bulldogs (seconded by Ozzy Osbourne) beat Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake (13:03) to win the WWF Tag Title when Smith pinned Valentine.

 

8. Andre the Giant won a "battle royal" which included both wrestlers and NFL players. The other wrestlers were: Ted Arcidi, Tony Atlas, Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Bret Hart, Hillbilly Jim, Iron Sheik, King Tonga, Pedro Morales, Jim Niedhart, Bruno Sammartino, Danny Spivey, & John Studd. The NFL players were: Jimbo Covert, Bill Fralic, Russ Francis, Ernie Holmes, Harvey Martin, & William Perry. Dick Butkus and Ed "Too Tall" Jones were the special referees.

 

Guests: Cathy Lee Crosby (announcer), Clare Peller (timekeeper)

 

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Los Angeles, CA at the Sports Arena drawing 14,500 ($380,000)

 

9. Ricky Steamboat pinned Hercules Hernandez.

 

10. Adrian Adonis pinned Uncle Elmer.

 

11. Terry & Dory Funk beat Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana (13:00) when Terry pinned JYD.

 

12. WWF World Champ Hulk Hogan beat King Kong Bundy (11:00) in a "steel cage" match. Robert Conrad was the special referee.

 

Guests: Elvira (announcer), Tommy LaSorda (ring announcer), Ricky Schroeder (timekeeper)

 

 

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Superstars on the Superstation

 

February 2, 1986 in Atlanta, GA

The Omni drawing 10,000

Shown February 7, 1986 on TBS (3.2)

 

1. Ron Bass drew The Barbarian.

 

2. Baron Von Raschke beat Italian Stallion.

 

3. Jimmy Valiant beat Arn Anderson via DQ.

 

4. The Midnight Express (Eaton & Condrey) beat The Rock-n-Roll Express (17:00) to win the NWA Tag Title when Eaton pinned Morton.

 

5. The Road Warriors beat Ivan & Nikita Koloff (6:00) via DQ.

 

6. National Champ Dusty Rhodes drew Tully Blanchard (20:00).

 

7. NWA World Champ Ric Flair pinned Ronnie Garvin (16:00).

 

=====================================================

 

Starrcade 1986

 

"Night of the Skywalkers"

November 27, 1986

 

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Greensboro, NC at the Greensboro Coliseum drawing 16,000 ($380,000)

 

1. Tim Horner & Nelson Royal beat Don & Rocky Kernodle (7:30) when Horner pinned Kernodle.

 

2. Hector Guerrero & Baron Von Raschke beat Shaska Whatley & The Barbarian (7:25) when Raschke pinned Whatley.

 

3. Wahoo McDaniel beat Rick Rude (9:05) in an "Indian strap" match.

 

4. Jimmy Valiant pinned Paul Jones (4:00) in a "hair vs hair" match.

 

5. Tully Blanchard beat Dusty Rhodes (7:30) in a "first blood" match to win the NWA TV Title.

 

6. NWA Tag Champs The Rock-n-Roll Express beat Ole & Arn Anderson (20:20) in a "steel cage" match when Morton pinned Ole.

 

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Atlanta, GA at The Omni drawing 14,000

 

1. Brad Armstrong drew Jimmy Garvin (15:00).

 

2. NWA US Tag Champs Krusher Khruschev & Ivan Koloff beat Bobby Jaggers & Dutch Mantel (9:10) in a "no DQ" match when Koloff pinned Jaggers.

 

3. Central States Champ Sam Houston beat Bill Dundee (10:24) via DQ.

 

4. Big Bubba Rogers beat Ronnie Garvin (11:50) via knockout in a "Louisville street fight" match.

 

5. The Road Warriors beat The Midnight Express (Eaton & Condrey) (7:00) in a "scaffold" match.

 

6. NWA World Champ Ric Flair beat Nikita Koloff (20:00) via DQ.

 

Note: The matches alternated from site to site. Match orders are correct for each site, but not for the overall card.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

WMII was such a nice concept but it's clearly the worst Mania ever. I mean only one match went over ** and that was the ***1/2 Dreams/Bulldogs match.

 

Bundy was a weak Main event. It's a shame Piper had such an ego and wouldn't put Hogan over in the Main event. Look at how short the matches were. I hope vince never tries to bring back the 3 Locations gimmick again, even though I think they could pull it off via their talent but it'd be too expensive and be a logisitical nightmare to pull off.

 

as for the superstars on the superstation; The MXE and RNR had their usual good match that show and nothing else was worthwhile.

 

Night of the Skywalkers had the fantastic Andersons/RNR express cage match that I rate ****1/4 and the historic scaffold match that injured Jim Cornette.

[BHK 0]

I'd be in favor of the 3 locations, even 2, if it could be pulled off. and yes, I agree, that cage match is excellent.

 

Has anyone seen the WWE 24/7 schedule this month? They're showing old Rumble matches in their entirety.

[River City Rocker 0]

Superstars on the Superstation

 

February 2, 1986 in Atlanta, GA

The Omni drawing 10,000

Shown February 7, 1986 on TBS (3.2)

 

4. The Midnight Express (Eaton & Condrey) beat The Rock-n-Roll Express (17:00) to win the NWA Tag Title when Eaton pinned Morton.

Who could ever forget David Crockett's immortal commentary during that match, specifically when Ricky Morton went down following that tennis racket shot...

 

"NO! NO NO NO NO NO NOOO!!!"

 

Even as a nine-year-old mark, I thought that was just way over the top. Then again, Crockett never hid his bias towards the faces. At least it was different from the color guy favoring the heels.

 

-Ben

[Guest Loss]

It's a reminder that in those days, you had an announcer who at least tried to remain unbiased working with a biased heel commentator. I'd like to see JR stop shilling for the babyfaces and go back to this style, but they've turned him into someone who says what they want the fans to be thinking.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

"SHE LIKES IT TONY, SHE LIKES IT!!!"

[cawthon777 0]

WrestleMania II

"What the World is Coming To"

April 5, 1986 live on PPV (7.0)

It was April 7, 1986.

[Guest LooneyTune]

I'll repeat everyone else: Good concept, horrible delivery. The roster just wasn't good enough (or deep enough really) to make 3 locations work.

 

The Battle Royale was pretty lame, and took away a possible Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees match, which probably would've been 10x better than anything on the NY portion (how funny NY got screwed over).

[BHK 0]

By the way, Joe dirt, I enjoy these threads. Thanks for doing them.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Eh, I'll always have a soft spot for WM2 since it was the only wrestling tape our video store had to rent for years. It was an interesting concept but only gave the fans a 1hr live show before having to watch the rest on a big screen . . . of course most of the fans that go to a Raw show nowadays have to endure the same thing.

 

The Tag Title match was excellent. The Funks/JYD/Tito tag match was quality. I enjoyed the battle royal as it used the NFL players about as well as you can w/o the wrestlers looking incompetent . . . aside from the Fridge/Studd scenario, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest since it wasn't as if it made Studd look weak or anything.

 

The boxing match was entertaining and I would say the same for the I-C Title match if not for the fact that they did the same match for almost 2 years. The cage match was about as good as it could be considering the participants.