WWF The Big Event

WWF The Big Event

Venue: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date: 28/08/86

Attendance: 64,100

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valiant & Ernie Ladd

The Big Event was a pay-per-view exclusively for Canada and took place in font of a then record crowd of 64,100 at the outdoor CNE Stadium in Toronto. The draw for the giant audience was the showdown between WWF Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff at the height of their famous feud. The event was later released on Coliseum Video in North America.

 

The massive crowd at the CNE Toronto



Review

The Killer Bees defeated Hoss (Dory Jr) & Jimmy Jack Funk in a decent opener. As they often did, The Bees donned masks towards the end of the bout to enable them to switch places undetected by the referee and win the match. I always felt a move like this should be employed by heels as the faces shouldn't be relying on cheating to win... Don Muraco and King Tonga (Haku) fought to a boring time limit draw. The match just never got going... Ted Arcidi easily beat Tony Garea in a squash... The Junk Yard Dog beat Adrian Adonis in an awful contest. Inexplicably JYD was declared the winner by count out even though Adonis re-entered the ring before him! I can only presume the announcement was a mistake and it should have been a disqualification, but even then that wouldn't make much sense as JYD should have been disqualified for shoving down the referee... Dick Slater downed Iron Mike Sharpe in an average bout... The six man tag team match featuring Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy and Bobby Heenan versus Big Machine (Blackjack Mulligan), Super Machine (Bill Eadie) and Lou Albano was barely tolerable. The faces were disqualified when Giant Machine (Andre the Giant) interfered. The story was that Andre had been suspended for failing to show up for an event (in reality he had been allowed time off due to health problems) and during the suspension Giant Machine made his debut. While obvious to everyone it was Andre, Heenan had to prove it actually was the Giant under the mask in order for him to be banned for life. Yes it was a daft storyline... Ricky Steamboat pinned Jake "The Snake" Roberts in their "Snake Pit" grudge match, basically a no disqualification match. It was a good battle in which Steamboat bladed after a slingshot into the ring post... Billy Jack Haynes beat Hercules with a back slide in an okay match-up. Their feud led to another meeting at Wrestlemania 3... The Rougeau Brothers upset The Dream Team in a good old school tag team bout. They would also meet again at Wrestlemania... The Harley Race/Pedro Morales bout didn't amount to much. Race pinned Morales with his feet on the ropes... The huge crowd who had been quiet for most of the night finally woke up for the main event. Paul Orndorff had recently turned on Hulk Hogan who he had befriended after the original Wrestlemania. It was the culmination of a brilliant gradual heel turn which led to a very profitable feud between the two. The match was a good quality brawl only let down by the ending which saw Orndorff disqualified after Bobby Heenan interfered. The Hogan/Orndorff feud would rage on into early 1987.

 

Jake Roberts stalks Ricky Steamboat in the "Snake Pit" match

 

Overall

Three good matches out of eleven is not a good ratio. It was a disappointing card for sure and while the huge crowd made for great visuals, they did not contribute much to the show in terms of sound. A good crowd has the ability to make a average card seem much better than it actually is. The complete version of this show is not easy to come by (Note: Actually it's probably on the WWE Network now) but don't worry you aren't missing much. The Coliseum Video version is cut down to less than two hours and it's probably for the best. If want to see the best of this show you can find the Hogan/Orndorff bout on the Hulk Still Rules DVD and the Steamboat/Roberts match on Jake The Snake Roberts: Pick Your Poison DVD.

 

Paul Orndorff is in control of Hulk Hogan in the main event

Results

1 The Killer Bees def Hoss Funk & Jimmy Jack Funk by pinfall (6:53) **1/4

2 Don Muraco fought King Tonga to a time limit draw (20:00) *

3 Ted Arcidi def Tony Garea by submission (2:41) 1/2

4 The Junk Yard Dog def Adrian Adonis by count out (4:15) DUD

5 Dick Slater pinned Iron Mike Sharpe (6:24) *1/2

6 Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy & Bobby Heenan def Big Machine, Super Machine & Lou Albano by disqualification (7:49) 3/4

7 Ricky Steamboat pinned Jake Roberts in a "Snake Pit Match" (10:17) ***

8 Billy Jack Haynes pinned Hercules (6:08) **

9 The Rougeau Brothers def The Dream Team by pinfall (14:51) ***

10 Harley Race pinned Pedro Morales (3:23) *

11 Hulk Hogan (c) def Paul Orndorff by disqualification to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (11:05) ***

Rating

18/55 = 32.73%

Wrestlemania 2

WWF Wrestlemania 2

Venue: Uniondale, New York; Rosemont, Illinois; Los Angeles, California
Date: 07/04/86
Attendance: 16,585 New York; 9,000 Chicago; 14,500 Los Angeles
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Susan St James; Gorilla Monsoon, Cathy Lee Crosby, Gene Okerlund & Ernie Ladd; Jesse Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes & Elvira

After the success of Wrestlemania Vince McMahon hatched a plan to make the sequel even bigger. Some of those close to him thought he was crazy but then again those same people felt the same way before the original event. Perhaps influenced by Live Aid the previous year which aired from live events in London and Philadelphia, McMahon wanted to produce Wrestlemania 2 from three different locations in three different time zones. How would it work? Well the show would begin with an hour live from New York, followed by an hour of live action from Chicago, and finish off with a third hour live from Los Angeles. The fans in each arena would be able to view the events from elsewhere on giant screens. It was big ask especially considering it was 1986 but they pulled it off, although they have never attempted it again. The question is, was the show any good?

 

Review

New York: It's never a good sign when the opening contest provokes chants of "bulls**t" but that's exactly what happened at Wrestlemania 2 when Paul Orndorff and Don Muraco fought to a pointless double count out after just four minutes. They needn't have bothered... Despite his obvious talent Randy Savage was never going to get a good bout out of George "The Animal" Steele. Instead we got lots of stalling, cat and mouse chases, fighting with flowers, and biting. Their comedy affair ended when Savage pinned Steele with his feet on the ropes to retain the Intercontinental Title... Jake Roberts defeated George Wells in a passable offering in which Wells dominated the action before succumbing to the DDT... Mr T scored a disqualification victory over Rowdy Roddy Piper in an abysmal worked boxing match. Considering their feud dated back over a year this was a pretty lousy pay off. There wasn't much that resembled actual boxing and the bout seemed to drag on forever. Fortunately it only went four rounds but even that was too long...

 

Chicago: The Fabulous Moolah retained the Women's Title over Velvet McIntyre in a complete waste of time. Quite why McIntyre needed to be squashed in less than 90 seconds by 62 year old Moolah is beyond me... Corporal Kirschner's two minute win over Nikolai Volkoff was another pointless exercise... Things picked up in the 20 man battle royal which featured WWF superstars and NFL pro footballers. It was certainly unique and went down well with the Chicago crowd. In particular William "The Refrigerator" Perry, a star player with the Chicago Bears was massively over with the home crowd as you might expect. The match itself was decent for a battle royal in which Andre the Giant was victorious, lastly eliminating both members of the Hart Foundation. It has to be said that Jim Neidhart's elimination looked ridiculous... In the best match of the card The British Bulldogs defeated The Dream Team to become WWF Tag Team Champions. Full of action, the match was fast paced throughout and filled with good, solid wrestling. The bump the Dynamite Kid took for the finish was the sort of abuse that would contribute to severe spinal problems in the years to come...

 

Los Angeles: Over on the west coast Ricky Steamboat pinned Hercules Hernandez in a good bout that was given enough time to develop... Adrian Adonis, who at this point in his career had become obese beat Uncle Elmer, who was even bigger in an embarrassing contest... The team of Terry Funk and Hoss Funk (Dory Funk Jr) defeated The Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana in a hectic, entertaining tag team battle. While not quite as good as the tag team championship bout it was certainly a very good effort...  The World Title steel cage match between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy was an entirely acceptable big man brawl. Hogan was white-hot around this time and the crowd roared for everything he did. Hogan won the bout by escaping the cage to the delight of the LA crowd.

Overall

A slight step up in quality from the original Wrestlemania but still a poor show on the whole. The concept of multiple events was unique (in wrestling anyway) but it was not great for the fans in attendance. They each got to see four matches live and then eight on a giant screen, not what you would call value for money. The New York crowd were the most unfortunate as the first portion of the card was truly dreadful. Chicago got one good and one very good match, although they had to sit through two stinkers first. The Los Angeles fans were the lucky ones, apart from the Adonis/Elmer rubbish they got three good matches including the true main event of the show. Wrestlemania II drew 250,000 buys on pay-per-view plus a further 319,000 at closed circuit television locations.

Results

Uniondale, New York

1 Paul Orndorff fought Don Muraco to a double count out (4:10) *
2 Randy Savage (c) pinned George Steele to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (5:10) *
3 Jake Roberts pinned George Wells (3:15) **
4 Mr T def Rowdy Roddy Piper by disqualification in a boxing match (13:14) DUD
Rosemont, Illinois
5 The Fabulous Moolah (c) pinned Velvet McIntyre to retain the WWF Women's Title (1:25) DUD
6 Corporal Kirchner pinned Nikolai Volkoff (2:05) DUD
7 Andre the Giant won a 20 man WWF/NFL Battle Royal (9:13) **1/4
8 The British Bulldogs def The Dream Team (c) by pinfall to win the WWF Tag Team Title (13:03) ***1/2
Los Angeles, California
9 Ricky Steamboat pinned Hercules Hernandez (7:27) **1/2
10 Adrian Adonis pinned Uncle Elmer (3:01) 1/2
11 Terry Funk & Hoss Funk def Tito Santana & The Junkyard Dog by pinfall (11:42) ***
12 Hulk Hogan (c) def King Kong Bundy in a steel cage match to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (10:15) **1/2

Rating

18.25/60 = 30.42%

 

WWF PPV Ratings
1.            Wrestlemania 2                30.42%
2.            Wrestlemania 1                28.33%
3.            The Wrestling Classic      26.00%

The Wrestling Classic

WWF Wrestlevision - The Wrestling Classic

Venue: Rosemont, Illinois

Date: 07/11/85

Attendance: 14,000

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

 

Following on from the success of Wrestlemania the WWF presented The Wrestling Classic pay-per-view which was a 16 man single elimination tournament coupled with the marquee match of the show, Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Heavyweight Championship against arch rival Rowdy Roddy Piper.

 

 

Review

First round matches: Adrian Adonis beat Corporal Kirschner in a quick match which amounted to very little... The Dynamite Kid pinned Nikolai Volkoff in a comedy squash. The 'bout' went about ten seconds although there was no opening bell... Randy Savage beat Ivan Putski in a nothing match... Ricky Steamboat got by Davey Boy Smith in another quick bout which had a couple of minutes of good action. The finish however was terrible. Smith crotched himself on the ropes and the referee immediately ended the match declaring Davey unable to continue. The finish made Smith look pretty weak... The Junkyard Dog dispatched The Iron Sheik in a very basic affair... Moondog Spot progressed with a silly comedy win over Terry Funk by count out... Tito Santana pinned Don Muraco in an average match with a cheap finish. Muraco scored a three count but the referee immediately realised Santana's foot was on the rope. The official then allowed the match to continue without informing Muraco and Santana cradled him for the victory... Paul Orndorff defeated Bob Orton Jr in the best and longest match of the first round, although the finish was another poor one. Orton nailed Orndorff with his cast in full view of the official for a disqualification...

 

 

Quarter final matches: The Dynamite Kid's win over Adrian Adonis was decent even if the finish was unnecessarily tainted... Randy Savage beat Ricky Steamboat in a good match considering it was another rush job... The match between The Junkyard Dog and Moondog Spot was a farce. For some reason there was no referee so JYD counted his own fall and was allowed to advance in the tournament... Tito Santana and Paul Orndorff fought to a boring double count out in a match which should have been much better considering it went eight minutes... WWF Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper had a respectable heated brawl with yet another lousy finish. Bob Orton Jr ran in to cause a disqualification and Hogan retained the championship... Semi final: Randy Savage and The Dynamite Kid had the best match of the night but it would have been much better had it been allocated more than five minutes. The finish was quite innovative for the time... Final: The Junkyard Dog defeated Randy Savage by count out in a pedestrian final bout with an anticlimactic finish. It was never announced what exactly JYD received for winning the tournament.

 

 

Overall

The Wrestling Classic was plagued by bad finishes and rushed matches. Three hours is just not enough time to squeeze in fifteen matches so they would have been better served presenting an eight man tournament and making the matches actually mean something. The time constraints however don't excuse the poor booking of most of the finishes. Out of the fifteen matches on the card there were only three clean finishes and two of them were by heels! It would also be remiss of me not to mention the ring. It was far too noisy to the point where almost every footstep could be heard and it certainly did not look like a WWF ring. The Wrestling Classic is only really worth checking out for historical purposes. The Wrestling Classic was the WWF’s first event available solely on pay-per-view which only had a limited availability in 1985. The event therefore drew just 52,000 buys.

 

Results

1 Adrian Adonis def Corp Kirchner (3:22) 1/2

2 The Dynamite Kid def Nikolai Volkoff (0:10) SQ

3 Randy Savage def Ivan Putski (2:47) 1/2

4 Ricky Steamboat def Davey Boy Smith (2:53) **

5 The Junk Yard Dog def The Iron Sheik (3:28) *

6 Moondog Spot def Terry Funk by count out (0:26) SQ

7 Tito Santana def Don Muraco (4:17) *1/2

8 Paul Orndorff def Bob Orton Jr by disqualification (6:30) **1/4

9 The Dynamite Kid def Adrian Adonis (5:29) **

10 Randy Savage def Ricky Steamboat (3:18) **1/4

11 The Junk Yard Dog def Moondog Spot (0:30) SQ

12 Tito Santana fought Paul Orndorff to a double count out (8:06) *

13 Hulk Hogan (c) def Rowdy Roddy Piper by disqualification to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (7:14) **3/4

14 Randy Savage def The Dynamite Kid (4:52) **1/2

15 The Junk Yard Dog def Randy Savage by count out to win "The Wrestling Classic" (9:45) *1/4

 

Rating

19.50/75 = 26%

Wrestlemania

WWF Wrestlemania
Venue: New York, New York
Date: 31/03/85
Attendance: 19,121
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

Around the time of Wrestlemania 30 this year Vince McMahon's net worth had reached $1.6 billion which shows you just how big a global brand World Wrestling Entertainment has become. Two important dates stand out when you look back at the roots of the company's success. The first is 24th January 1984 when already established star Hulk Hogan became WWF Heavyweight Champion and led the World Wrestling Federation into a new era. The second is 31st March 1985, the date of the WWF's first supercard called Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania and the events leading up to it thrust the WWF into the mainstream with the help of MTV and celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Cyndi Lauper and Mr.T. The show was a huge commercial success but how does it stand up as an actual wrestling show?

 

Review
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura are the announcers for the event and "Mean" Gene Okerlund (strangely) sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" to kick things off… The first match in Wrestlemania history is Tito Santana versus The Executioner, who is Buddy Rose wrestling under a mask. It's decent enough for a five minute bout and Santana wins with a figure four leg lock to send a message to Greg Valentine with whom he was feuding at that particular time. This would be Santana's only Wrestlemania victory as he would go on to lose his next seven matches at the event, which is a record… Speaking of records, King Kong Bundy crushed Special Delivery Jones in 24 seconds in the next bout. Inexplicably the time of the fall announced was 9 seconds so I can only assume Bundy was slow in getting the job done. Still, the idea was to get Bundy over as a monster and they were successful in doing so… Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Bourne in a match which like the opener was good considering the time allocated to it… Brutus Beefcake battled David Sammartino who was accompanied by his dad, "The Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino in a match which in contrast to the Santana and Steamboat matches went a bit too long. The action was ok but the double disqualification finish was lame, although the crowd did pop for Bruno's involvement at the end... The Intercontinental Title match between Greg Valentine and The Junkyard Dog was a poor effort with a stupid finish. Valentine scored the pinfall victory with his feet on the ropes which the referee didn't see. Valentine was declared the winner until Tito Santana ran out to contest the decision and the official simply took Santana's word for it and ordered the match to continue. Valentine was not keen on this so he got himself counted out and retained the title. Daft… The team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik generated a lot of heat in their Tag Team Title victory over Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo as you would expect. The heels went over in a good effort thanks to Freddie Blassie's cane which The Iron Sheik used to break over Windham's head, out of the referee's vision of course... Andre the Giant's career was on the line versus $15,000 of Big John Studd's money in a match where the first man to body slam his opponent would be the victor. The match was nearly six minutes of non-action until Andre just slammed Studd out of nowhere. Bobby Heenan stealing the cash from Andre as he was throwing it to the crowd was highlight of a terrible match… The Women's Title match wasn't much better as Wendi Richter regained the championship back from Leilani Kai. Richter was accompanied by Cyndi Lauper, while Kai was seconded by The Fabulous Moolah. The match was pretty dire with a poorly executed finish. Kai hit a crossbody block from the top rope but Richter performed an ugly looking roll through for a soft pinfall victory. The crowd at least were happy with the result… The match of the night was the main event which was entertaining without threatening to be great. The crowd were hot throughout as was the case with practically every Hulk Hogan bout back then and the match definitely had a big time feel especially with the involvement of all the celebrities. Hogan had good chemistry with both Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff and Hogan's partner Mr. T gave a respectable performance for a non-wrestler. A chaotic finish saw Bob Orton Jr inadvertently nail Orndorff with his infamous cast allowing Hogan to cover for the win to send the fans home happy.

 

Overall

Wrestlemania was a huge success in many ways but not from an in-ring perspective. The main event was what everyone came to see and it delivered well enough but beyond that there were only three matches that could be considered decent. The original Wrestlemania is historically important but ultimately a disappointing show. Wrestlemania drew 400,000 buys at closed circuit television locations.

Results
1 Tito Santana pinned The Executioner (4:50) **1/4
2 King Kong Bundy pinned Special Delivery Jones (0:24) SQ
3 Ricky Steamboat pinned Matt Borne (4:37) **1/4
4 David Sammartino fought Brutus Beefcake to a double disqualification (12:43) *3/4
5 The Junk Yard Dog def WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine (c) by disqualification (7:05) *
6 Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik def Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (c) by pinfall to win the WWF Tag Team Title (6:55) **1/4
7 Andre The Giant def Big John Studd in a "$15,000 Slam Match" (5:53) DUD
8 Wendi Richter pinned Leilani Kai (c) to win the WWF Women's Title (6:12) 1/2
9 Hulk Hogan & Mr T def Rowdy Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff by pinfall (13:13) **3/4

Rating
12.75/45 = 28.33%