1986 Wrestling Wars. WrestleMania 2, part 3 LA

 A long long time ago in a blog mostly forgotten, even by me! .... Well it is two and a half years later, Ole Donny Trump has gone back to his great big mansion in the sky and your favorite handicapped old school wrestling nerd is bored. I loved doing this blog and though very few saw it and even fewer liked it. It is a least for one day back!....so, where was I....Oh yeah right in the middle of Mania2(I can understand why I stopped anyway!!..... 

Quick note here, I could not find a video link to the Steamboat/Hercules match so if you want to seek it out please by my guest!

  Your Commentators for these bouts are Jesse Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, As we play another round of your favorite Wrestling Game Show, What The Actual Hell Vince.......

Match#1 Ricky Steamboat vs Hercules Hernandez... A very solid well worked seven minute match. Hernandez attacked Steamboat before the bell, but the Dragon quickly took back control with his signature deep arm drags. He out quicked Herc managed to ram Steamboat's head into the turnbuckle and hit a jarring clothesline as Ricky turned around. Hercules worked on the head and upper body with a "hotshot" Clothesline and elbow drops. Steamboat fought back with two loud solid knife edge chops. Hercules ducked a 3rd one and hit his second stiff looking clothesline of the match. He hit two big presslams and then climbed to the top rope and went for an awkward looking splash but Dragon brought his knees up. This lead to the finish as Steambout then went upstairs himself and hit his flying bodypress for the win!

Match #2 Adrian Adonis vs Uncle Elmer(Thank god this shit show was short if it had gone more than 5 minutes I would have taken my toaster into the bathtub!)https://dai.ly/x7vbwtu Elmer was as always bloody horrible, and 5 years before this Adonis was one of the best workers on earth bar none. Here however he is much bigger and slower and the gimmick is just bad! Adrian starts the match off doing the Ray Stevens/Ric Flair upside down corner bump. Elmer tries a punch to follow up and he falls down, this whole thing is just sad! Adonis takes a second bump to the floor. Adrian gets tied up in the ropes but after he escapes he knocks Elmer down to his knees and shimmies out of his dress(I feel dirty writing that out)! This prompts Elvira's only funny line of the night, "Oh God put the dress back on"! Elmer hits a corner splash and goes for a leg drop but Adrian moves and hits a flying forearm/fist off the top rope for the pin!....I'll be right back I have to go use bleach....on my eyes!

     Match #3 The Funks vs JYD and Tito Santana https://dai.ly/x3aqend This was far and away the best match of the whole show! The great workers and the super over super charismatic JYD! This thing was wild and wooly from the jump. Terry acting pet racoon goofy taking bumps galore. He took a huge clothesline bump over the top from tito at one point.. and later a bodyslam on a ringside table from Dog! Dory Jr throwing those bone rattling Euro forearm uppercuts. They had the crowd with the match from beginning to end! Simple but wonderful finish as during chaos with a distracted ref with Tito. Jimmy Hart throws his megaphone into Terry who bashes JYD in the head with it. Dog takes a huge face dive "Timber" bump and Terry crawls on top for the pin after rolling him over! This was great tag work!

Match 4 Steel cage WWF Title bout as Hulk Hogan takes on King Kong Bundy! Guest ring announcer the late and I mean Great Tommy Lasorda! https://dai.ly/x3aq9lq Storyling going into the bout Bundy had hurt Hogan's ribs on a Saturday Nights Main event several months previous. Hogan came into the cage with those ribs taped! Your standard WWF cage match of the era but elevated a bit by crowd heat! Hogan was never my guy even as a kid but by god these people loved him! Bundy took the tape of the ribs early and tried to tie Hogan to the ropes with them! Remember WWF had those silly escape the cage rules. Hogan fights back but hurts himself again trying to slam the big man. Hogan fires back up and throws Bundy into the cage and it takes Bundy forever to get the tiniest trickle of "Juice"! Bundy hits his corner splash But Hulk channels Popeye and feels no pain. Hogan powerslams the bald wonder and hits the big leg. As he goes to climb over the cage Bundy grabs his leg Hogan pushes him off and the big man goes splat in the center of the ring! Heenan tries to stop the champ but cannot! Hogan Wins, huge shocker I know! Heenan runs into the cage and tries to lock the door to escape Hogan. Hogan climbs in and throws Bobby into the cage and atomic drops him out the door as icing on the crowds happy cake!

Wrestlemania2 Chicago

Commentary team, Monsoon Okerlund and Cathy Lee Crosby. Crosby was a co-host of the very popular "That's Incredible" TV Show! Her big contribution during the show was saying "Wow" and "I have never seen anything like this"! A real asset! 

Match #1 WWF Women's Champion Fabulous Moolah defends her title against Velvet Mclntyre. Do not blink you will miss this whole 90 second bout! Moolah attacks right at the bell, Velvet Takes over after a leap frog with a couple awful looking one footed dropkicks. The Irish lass hits a back elbow then a bodyslam. She goes to the top for a splash, but Moolah moves and Velvet crashes into the canvas(almost popping out of her top when she does! Easily the most exiting moment of the match!) Moolah jumps on her and gets the pin! Nothing to the match really!

Match #2 A flag match, Corporal Kirchner vs Nikolai Volkoff  Another really rushed nothing match. As the entrances/pre match stuff by both men takes just as long as the bout! For whatever reason a minute into this 3 minute match the Corp blades and bleeds after getting sent head first into the ringpost twice. Volkoff attacks at the bell throws Kirchner outside does the ringpost thing. Corp climbs back in the ring and he and Volkoff trade punches. During this fracas The ref "bumps  when Corp knocks him down on his back swing. When he goes down "Classy"Fred Blassie  Volkoff's manager attempts to throw his cane to his man. Kirchner intercepts the throw and smacks the Russian with the cane. The ref is there now and counts the fall! your Winner corp Kirchner! Two matches and tops four minutes of ring time.

Match 3 The 20 man invite Battle Royal The big draw of this match for Chicago two superbowl champ Bears are in the match along with several former/current NFL Players of the era. I will not try to cover every moment of this or any Battle Royal , for that matter a impossible task. So here are the high points! The Bears had just crushed the Patriots 3 months prior in the Super Bowl 46-10 and it wasn't that close. So the two Bears in the Battle Royal were mega stars to these folks. Jimbo Colvert he did a passible post bout interview later. The big star though was no doubt folk hero of that year, William "The Refrigerator" Perry! He and Big John Studd had been having verbal warfare leading into the match! Studd and Fridge did square off with Studd selling several football tackles until he ducked one as Perry  charged and "kinda" hip tossed him over the top rope. Perry then did the old "were friends now handshake spot with Studd who was still in the ring and pulled him over the top rope to the floor! A spot most will remember repeated in the 92 Royal Rumble with Sid Justice and Hulk Hogan. The final four men in the ring were Former NFL Star and former pro wrestler Russ Francis, The Hart Foundation and Andre The Giant. Guess who won....Nope Andre! The Harts got rid of Francis and then Andre did the same to the "pink and black attack"! I don't really like traditional Battle Royals much because it is mostly a hard to follow mess! This match in spite of star power had the same problems!

The Chicago main event, For thee WWF Tag titles The champions The Dream Team, Valentine and Beefcake vs The British Bulldogs. Coming the ring with the Bulldogs Capt Lou Albano and A seemingly high as hell Ozzy Osbourne....why?....I  have no idea. At least Albano was their manager although he did nothing. Valentine starts the match with Davey Boy and the bulldogs control the early stages. Hitting Valentine with slams and suplexes galore until he goes to the floor! Greg regains control for a few moments by countering a back drop out of the corner attempt with a forearm to the back of the neck. Stunning the Bulldog long enough to tag in Beefcake. Brutus quickly gets out wrestled(huge shock there huh!) and takes a thrashing until Valentine tags back in and comes from the top rope with a forearm onto the back of the neck of a bent over Davey Boy. Neither team gains more than that moments advantage until Valentine moves from a corner charge and Davey strikes the ringpost hard shoulder first! The Dream team goes to work on the shoulder. With Valentine doing damage coming off the middle turnbuckle with a "Hammer" on Smith's outstretched arm. While Beefcake moments later hammerlocks the arm and picks up his foe by said arm and throws him down on it! The crowd popped for that one. It looked brutal! Valentine hits a running shoulder breaker and has the Bulldog down for a two count then laughing breaks the pin and pulls him up at two. The match then turns in the blink of an eye as Valentine grabs a headlock Smith shoves him off into the Bulldogs corner where he and Dynamite Kid, who had been standing with his feet on the middle rope giving his partner encouragement. He and Valentine smash head to head and Kid goes flying off screen off the apron! Valentine is knocked silly and a very groggy Davey falls down on him and gets the pin! New WWF tag champions in a iconic finish! It happens so fast the crowd is stunned. Once it hits them they come unglued! Dynamite landed way back on the concrete even by 2019 crazy standards that bump is crazy! Post Match Ozzy gives a nutty coked out interview where he screams "BRITISH BULLDOGS FOREVER! If you have never seen this bout please take the time to watch it on my facebook (John Morris II) or my Twitter @Mashfan0678) where it will be posted! It is worth it!

Next blog Part 3 Los Angeles

WrestleMania2,Part one New York

Before I began on the matches themselves here is a general overview of the event! it was a technical mess and nightmare. To run 3 cities in one night hundreds of miles apart now could be difficult in 1986 it was damn near impossible! It was a brave attempt to make the event seem grand in scope but it really fell flat. If you need proof of how big a challenge this was to pull off, simply consider, it has been 33 years and it has never been tried again!

     Second point by in large the commentary is dreadful! They tried the gimmick of female color commentators in each city. This was beyond horrible! Personally I hold the company much more responsible for the awful commentary than all the tech issues that plagued the show. At least with the 3 city thing they were trying to innovate. There is no excuse for the decision to put those 3 famous ladies mic side! More on each of them as we go.

   Commentators Vince McMahon and Susan Saint James

Match #1 Paul Orndorff vs Don Muraco with manager Mr Fuji Orndorff is super over on Long Island on this night. Our 1st technical issue of the night comes right away as right as the bell rings McMahon tries to throw to pre-recorded video comments by both men,but because the match has already started, I guess we get just the audio of the promos piped in over the opening moments! This was clunky and distracting. After a fast exchange of bodyslams "Mr Wonderful takes over with an arm drag into a bar. Muraco attempts several escapes but each time Orndorff steadfastly holds on to the arm. Muraco gets the advantage after hoisting Orndorff up on his shoulders and hitting a good looking Samoan drop. Don keeps the uperhand for an astonishing 30 seconds at most. He hits one punch and gives Paul one head in the turnbuckle then both began fighting along the ropes! The both guys do a awkward double tumble to the floor. The ref has a super quick ten count! So Mania2 the biggest show of the year  ends in a six minute rushed double coutout with 2 of the best workers in the company, yea!!! I have seen this bout many times and every time it bothers me all over again! Why??? Saint James said almost nothing the whole match, witch after her performance in the next match will seem like a blessing!

Match #2 IC title Match Champ Randy Savage vs George "The Animal" Steele In the late 1960's thru  the 70's George Steele was tremendous Monster heel. Late in his career  he became a beloved comedy figure and he was great at both! This feud i gotta say made no sense to me even at 7 years old! Macho Man was a far superior wrestler! Did anybody take Steele as a threat?  Here is the match in a nutshell, Steele chased Savage Around the outside of the ring several times finally catching him and biting his leg through the boot. Leading Susan Saint James a very well thought of actress to scream with sadistic glee "BITE HIS LEG OFF GEORGE!" This whole thing was strange! Steele bit Savage in the arm picked him up by the throat and destroyed a arrangement of flowers over his head! Savage had taken the flowers from a ringside fan to use on Steele but the Animal turned the tables. The most brutal offense of the match was the dreaded '" FLOWERS TO THE SKULL! .....George did kick out of a top rope elbow a very rare thing vs Savage in that era! Steele attempted to kill Savage by biting open a turnbuckle taking the stuffing out of said buckle and shoving it down the throat of Savage! The finish was simple Steele is pummeling Randy in the corner, the ref steps in and backs him off. When Steele goes back over Savage scoops his legs George hits the deck and Randy puts both feet on the ropes for leverage and the pin! Savage grabs Liz and goes to the back like he has a cab waiting! Steele eats another buckle and leaves. There is your IC Title bout! At best not a good use of Savage at worst a utter waste of talent and time!

Match # 3 Jake Roberts vs George Wells Be still my heart a wrestling match at a wrestling show! Good News this was by a wide margin the best bout the LI fans saw live! The bad news that's a very low bar! This was a all action 5 minutes as Wells did very well hitting Roberts with a fling tackle a good knee lift and a jarring powerslam! The tide turned when Jake beat George back in the ring and caught George coming thru the ropes with his own kneelift(A move that was his finish prior to the DDT). He then hit the afore mentioned DDT and got the victory! Roberts then got Damian out of his bag and wrapped him around the body of Wells! Vince and Saint James acted as if they were gonna faint from a combo of fright and disgust!

Match #4  the New York Main event A 10 rd boxing match as Mr T faces "Rowdy" Roddy Piper! The match with legit the most heat on the whole card as these 2 didn't loke each other at all! I am not gonna really go over the "boxing"in this match. This was Carny spectacle at its best! A barley contained real fight is what it feels like. It was in my eyes sorta boring but man the crowd who cheered Piper throughout loved it! The match ended in rd4 when Piper shoved the ref down and bodyslamed T! If you have never seen it watch it just for the atmosphere if nothing else!

Of the three cites involved in Mania2 this was the weakest card! you had a double countout, a joke on an IC title match that was smoke and mirrors. A glorified squash match where the star of the match was a actual snake. The main event was a snapshot of WWF of that era spectacle over skill!... Tomorrow Chicago!

AWA All Star Wrestling 4/6/86 (NY/NJ Feed)

Tag Titles The Sheepherders vs The Fantastics UWF April 5th, 1986

WWA Bruiser Bedlam Wrestling (Apr 5, 1986)

UWF Tag Title Bout 4/5/86, WWA TV 4/5/86 and AWA TV 4/6/86

UWF 4/5/86 Tag Title bout Champions The Sheepherders vs The Fantastics This is a classic old school tag bout between two tremendous teams. First off The Fantastics could sue have the women in Tulsa, OK,where this match took place for sexual harassment! Wow! As per usual The Fantastics use their quickness early to confound the Sheepherders and take charge! They send the boys from New Zealand out of the ring more than once! They reverse a attempt at running them together mid ring to cause the old "Malfunction at the Junction" spot for the Sheepherders! The heel team keep an advantage for more than 30 seconds, until Luke Williams throws Tommy Rogers to the outside where he hits the ring barricade kidney first. They continue the punishment As Luke drops knees in Rogers back forcing him right back to the arena floor. Butch then goes out and drives Tommy chest 1st into the barricade. Tommy fights back into the ring where he makes the tag to Bobby Fulton. All four men are in the ring, Tommy hits the concrete again. This time however, he climbs to the top rope on the outside and hits a dropkick to the back of Butch which cause him to collide with Luke. Butch falls outside, meanwhile the Fantastics use a double team move wghere Tommy presses Bobby over his head and trows him on a prone Luke. The ref counts the pin and we have new UWF Tag Champions!

WWA TV (God help me!!!( 4/5/86 Well this episode of the WWA was not as god awful as the 1st I reviewed, It was still bargain basement bad! The good first, "Flying" Fred Curry has a not terrible match with the rip off Russian Igor Zakoff. Curry won the ok bout with the "Brisco" corner sunset flip! The other bright spot is the manager in the area Dr. Jerry Graham he had very good mic skills and made the crowd hate him onsite! The Great Wojo had a boring main event win over "Man Mountain" Tyler. There was plenty of things that were bad/made no sense. Like say a supposed  7ft 2 550 pound ex coal miner called the "Kentucky Butcher"(who was green and horrible) have his entrance music be Olivia Newton John's "Let's Get Physical" What the actual hell?.... Or how bout the fact that El Brasero was in a tag match and got the win on a pin where the man he beat clearly had a shoulder up!,,,,and they showed a replay of it in case you missed it! 

AWA TV 4/6/86 This show was shown in the Metro NJ/NY area! In ring it was all squash bouts. The best part of the show was various promos done for an upcoming Meadowlands show on 5/28/86. This event was a joint event between the AWA and NWA! I wish there was video of this card!......Also on this show was the debut of the infamous WRESTLEROCK Rumble! Worth a look just for the promo work!