– This would be the 1986 equivalent to the “go home” RAW before Wrestlemania.
– Live from New York.
– Your hosts are Gorilla & Jesse
Sivi Afi v. Moondog Spot
Spot attacks and pounds away to start, but Afi escapes with the leapfrog and gets revenge with chops. This was during the initial “Jimmy Snuka Jr.” push for Afi, as opposed to today’s push for the real Jimmy Snuka Jr as a greaser. Afi goes after the arm and gets a slam, but Spot uses the hair to prevent another armbar. Afi pounds him down and goes back to the arm again, being REALLY obvious about trying to move and act like Snuka. I hear he even murdered his girlfriend to really get into character…
…allegedly.
Spot escapes with a slam and kicks Afi down, then goes to a headlock and a backbreaker for two. Jesse is quite impressed with the sneaky strategy shown by Spot, but Afi comes back with a sunset flip for two. Spot takes him down for a chinlock but Afi slugs back, so Spot puts him down with an atomic drop for two. Afi gets the world’s worst bulldog and elbowdrop for two, and an even lamer running headbutt gets two. Diving headbutt gets two. He charges in and hits Spot’s knee in the corner, but Spot misses his flying knee and Afi finishes with the Mediocrefly Splash at 7:10, complete with Snuka pose beforehand. Gosh, as a paying fan I didn’t even NOTICE it wasn’t Jimmy Snuka! Even the normally dependable Spotty couldn’t get anything out of Afi here. *
Hercules Hernandez v. George Wells
Early on for Herc here, as he’s still managed by Freddie Blassie and rocking the Gladiator costume. Wells gets a pair of armdrags to start, but Herc lays him out with a knee and then stomps him down on the ropes. They do a chase and Wells gets a hiptoss for two. Herc comes back with an atomic drop, and here I must note that Wells has “Master G” written on the side of his tights. I vaguely recall him wrestling as a heel in Canada under that name, but I could be out to lunch because it was 22 years ago and all. At any rate, it was at least a most imposing name than “George Wells”. Herc pounds away and gets a slam, then heads up with a bodypress that’s caught by Wells and reversed into a backbreaker. Wells goes for the three-point tackle, but Herc moves and pins him at 4:18. Wells has his foot on the ropes, but the ref doesn’t see it, which once again proves Gorilla totally correct about the stupidity of using that in lieu of kicking out. Quick and pretty painless. *1/2
Linda Gonzales & Velvet McIntyre v. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano
Really? I had no idea those two did a US tour way back then. Bull was kinda hot in her younger days, believe it or not. Comparatively speaking, of course. Velvet was challenging for the title at Wrestlemania so you’d expect her to go over strong here. Dump starts with Velvet and gets rolled up for two, so it’s over to Bull. They fight for a wristlock and Velvet gets a crossbody for two, but Bull tosses her into the corner again by the hair and they beat on her. Linda comes in and Dump just kills her with a clothesline, but Bull misses a move off the top. Luckily Dump is there to step on Linda’s head and keep her in the corner, allowing Bull to come back with a clothesline for two. Back to the corner, as Bull rams Gonzales into Dump’s knee and then chokes her down. Over to Dump for a kind of F-U, and she works on the arm as we get the false tag to Velvet. Linda misses a legdrop, as does Bull, but Bull manages to put her down with a forearm anyway. Gonzales finally gets the tag to Velvet, but the ass-kicking continues as Nakano tosses her around by the hair and sets up a slam into a Banzai splash from Dump. They keep tormenting Gonzales on the apron, luring her in for another false tag and trading off for abuse in the heel corner as the crowd is really getting into the tag psychology. The heels double-team Velvet with a clothesline, and they no-sell a bodypress attempt and slam her. Well, there’s two of them, so that makes sense. Bull walks into a dropkick and it’s hot tag Gonzales, who holds Bull off with dropkicks for two. Double dropkick and the heels are reeling on the floor, and the faces get a double-elbow on Bull for two. Sadly, Linda gets caught in the wrong corner right away as Dump recovers with a forearm shot to the head, then a super-stiff clothesline and airplane spin into the death valley driver for the pin at 10:00. Well, scratch Velvet going over strong. Good old-fashioned good v. evil stuff. Doesn’t matter if people know the heels, you just work the formula and let it do what it does best. ***
Cowboy Bob Orton v. Pedro Morales
Orton tries for a headlock a couple of times, but Pedro shoves him off and they accuse each other of using the hair. Pedro slams him and Orton way oversells it, ending up on the floor to regroup. Back in, Pedro works on the arm. Orton tries an atomic drop to break, but Morales no-sells it and gets his own, which Orton definitely does sell. Back in, Orton clotheslines Pedro and comes off the top with a forearm for two. He hits the chinlock and drops a knee, then slugs away until Morales hits the floor. He keeps him on the apron with knees and punches, but Pedro fights his way back in and makes the comeback, keeping the crowd with him the whole time. He’s still crazy over in MSG even nearing the end of his career. Pedro wins a slugfest and Orton goes flying out again, so Pedro follows and rams him into the table. Pedro slugs away on the apron and pulls Orton back in, but he runs away again and runs into the turnbuckle on the outside. Funny spot. Pedro gets fresh with the ref and Orton tries a suplex, but Pedro lands on his crotch and the ref calls for the DQ at 9:49. Weak. Good match, though, with Pedro still knowing exactly how to time the comebacks. **3/4
Magnificent Muraco v. King Tonga
Muraco gives Tonga a slap instead of a clean break, then another one when Tonga is trying to give a clean break. Tonga boots him down in retaliation, then throws the chop and slams him, which sends Muraco to the floor. Back in, they argue about who’s gonna come get who, and that one’s a stalemate. Tonga slugs away and gets a nice standing dropkick, and Muraco bails again. Back in, Tonga works on the arm and pounds on it, then gets a pair of slams before going back to the arm. Finally Muraco chokes him out on the ropes to break, then throws a knee and follows with a legsweep while blowing his nose at the crowd. Now that’s class. He tries to ram Tonga’s head into the turnbuckle, but that’s ill-advised and Tonga fights back with a chop to put him down, and a diving headbutt for two. Sadly, he goes after Fuji, and eats the cane at 8:11 as a result. Didn’t really develop anywhere. **
The Crush Girls (Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo) v. Leilani Kai & Penny Mitchell
There’s some obvious music issues here because the Crush music is overdubbed with some HORRIBLE generic pop, complete with redo of the intros by Finkel. Big brawl to start and Asuka kips up into a dropkick, but misses another one and the heels take over quickly. Nagayo works on the leg a bit, and the tape suddenly cuts to Mitchell tagging in again. Weird. Nagayo gets a takedown in the corner into an STF, but Mitchell makes the ropes. Test of strength goes nowhere, as Mitchell slugs her down instead, and the heel ladies team up with a slam for two. Kai rams Nagayo into the turnbuckle and Nagayo does a neat trick whereby she sells it by rolling backwards, right over to her corner. Penny is onto her and cuts off the tag, taking her down and choking her out behind the ref’s back. Back to the heel corner for some double-teaming, complete with the standard tag-rope choking. Finally it’s hot tag to Asuka, but they miss a double-team elbow in their corner and Nagayo gets caught in the heel corner again. She comes back with a sunset flip on Mitchell for two, and it’s GIANT SWING TIME! Crowd pops big for that. The Crush Gals clean house and a high cross finishes Mitchell at 7:22. Apologies if I mixed up the names, but Gorilla switched back and forth more than once. Interesting that they put both Japanese teams over American ones in separate matches instead of just matching them up against each other for a dead crowd, which not only got both over but kept them both strong. **1/2
King Kong Bundy v. Hillbilly Jim
My crystal ball says that Bundy goes over BIG here, so you might wanna call your bookies. Kind of a nice moment, as Gorilla reminisces about a wrestler whose name he couldn’t remember at first. I dunno why, I just liked that it humanizes the normally scripted banter between the announcers and makes them seem like normal people. That was just part of Gorilla’s charm sometimes, when he wasn’t “on” 100% of the time like the robotic early years of Michael Cole. Bundy grabs a headlock and they slug it out, and Bundy misses a kneelift and gets elbowed for two. Bundy quickly comes back and stomps Jim down after dodging a blind charge, and puts him on the floor and keeps him there. Back in, Bundy chops away in the corner, but Jim blocks the Avalanche with a big boot. Jim fights back and elbows him, then puts him down with a clothesline for two. However, the Avalanche and Big Fat Splash kills Hillbilly deader than Jim Varney at 6:16. It was quick. Bobby handles the ring announcement himself to make sure we know who the next champion is. 1/2*
Ricky Steamboat v. Mr. Fuji
More overdubbing for Steamboat’s music. Geez, just pay the Alan Parsons Project the $20 and let us have these shows uncut already. Fuji gets a cheapshot to start, but Steamboat hiptosses him and adds a slam before going to the arm. Sunset flip gets two and it’s back to the arm. Fuji uses what he knows and headbutts Steamboat low to take over, going to the nerve pinch off that. He chops Steamboat down, and Steamboat misses a splash to keep Fuji in control. And we’re back to the nerve pinch, but Steamboat escapes with an enzuigiri before missing a dropkick. Steamboat chops out of that and they criss-cross into a bodypress for the pin at 6:08. Not often you see that. *1/2
Leaping Lanny Poffo v. Jake Roberts
Lanny lets us know that this is Jake’s debut. So there you go. Jake gets a quick slam, but Poffo dropkicks him down. Jake goes to the arm, but Poffo flips off the ropes to break and gets his own armbar. Jake keeps crawling to the bag and then gets a backbreaker to escape before pounding the back. Jake goes to the chinlock and that goes on for a while. They fight to the floor and Poffo tries a dive off the top, but slips and nearly kills himself in the process. Jake, full of sympathy, hiptosses him onto the unpadded floor, and then in for the DDT at 6:42. Big-time debut for Jake here. Not a great match or anything, but he went over huge and the MSG debut of Damian made him into a huge star instantly. **
Intercontinental title: Randy Savage v. Tito Santana
I’m guessing this is one of the matches from the Savage video I reviewed recently. Reason #1 why using classical music for entrances is a great idea: No music rights to contend with later. Savage taunts Tito until a chase results, at which point Randy dives out and grabs a chair. Then goes back to the badmouth again. Now that’s a real man. Another chase and this time Savage isn’t fast enough and gets caught, and Santana is ON IT. Brawl on the floor and Savage eats railing, then back in for some kicks to the face and a nice forearm. Savage throws some wild shots, but Tito hits him with an atomic drop that sends him flying to the floor as a result. Back in, Tito gives him the ear-wringer and slugs away in the corner as the crowd is just super-hot here. Savage goes to the eyes and takes him down with his own atomic drop, then boots him down and stomps away. Savage goes to a headlock, but Tito takes him down with a kneecrusher and gets all fired up. Savage takes advantage of his temper and tosses him while Tito is arguing with the ref, and then follows with the axehandle to the floor. Back in, he slugs away and the neckbreaker clothesline gets two. The end is near and Savage goes up for the big elbow…but it misses. Tito stomps him down and goes for the leg as the crowd goes crazy, kneelifting Savage down and following with a backdrop. Figure-four, but Savage goes to the eyes to break. Randy takes a break on the floor, but he was just suckering Tito in and attacks him off that. AWESOME. Back in, Tito hits the flying forearm out of nowhere and it’s figure-four time. The crowd is insane, but Savage puts the ref down to draw the DQ at 9:24. ***1/2
– And now in case you need a sandwich, Howard lists the entire crappy Wrestlemania card, match by match.
The Haiti Kid v. Dana Carpenter
This can’t be the main event, can it? Haiti takes Carpenter down and grabs a headlock to start. Snapmare gets two. Usual midget spots with the Kid biting the ref follow. Carpenter comes back and slingshots Haiti into the ref, which puts the ref on the floor. Back in, Haiti accidentally puts a Tazmission on the ref…looking kinda like the real deal with the Mohawk, come to think of it. Then they do a whole routine with Carpenter smacking the ref down and blaming the Kid. Haiti regroups with an airplane spin for the pin at 7:12.
The Dream Team & Johnny V v. The British Bulldogs & Captain Lou Albano
Ah, HERE’S the main event. Davey starts out with Hammer and dodges an elbow, taking him into the face corner with an atomic drop. Albano comes in with the cheapshot and Kid overpowers Valentine and pounds him into the corner with headbutts. Over to Davey Boy as they stay on the arm, but Hammer comes back with a backbreaker and brings Beefcake into it. The heels work Davey over in the corner and Hammer hits the chinlock, but Davey fights out and it’s over to Dynamite. Hammer quickly throws down with him in the corner and they collide, with Dynamite landing on top for two. Kind of a weird spot as Valentine wanted to do the Flair Flop but Kid had already started selling, so Kid had to hastily pop up and recover. Hammer with the backbreaker and he goes up, but Kid slams him off the top and it’s over to Beefcake. He lures Davey into the ring while Valentine & Valiant beat on Dynamite in their corner. Brutus with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Valiant chokes away on the ropes as this has been shockingly slow and dull thus far. Valentine gets the figure-four and that brings Albano in to break, but it also allows the hot tag to Davey Boy. Dropkick for Hammer and Brutus, and he powerslams Johnny for two. It’s BONZO GONZO and Albano beats on Valiant. Davey powerslams Valentine for two, but they collide and both are out. Davey recovers with a suplex for two, and it’s back to the Kid again. He rams Hammer into the turnbuckles and pounds away, and it’s back to Davey with a small package for two. They double-team Valentine with a clothesline for two. DK with another clothesline for two as this drags on. Snap suplex gets two. It breaks loose again, but the Bulldogs clean house and Beefcake gets rolled up and pinned at 14:15. Not a good outing for a normally great pairing. **
Closing thoughts:
Pretty good show, but it falls off dramatically after the Savage-Santana title match and never recovers. I’d still check it out, though.
