It’s fitting that this show took place on 4/20.
History
In 1985 the WWF had released a successful record album called Piledriver. The album was especially noteworthy for containing some entrance themes – namely Hillbilly Jim’s “Don’t Go Messin’ With a Country Boy†and the US Express theme “Real American†(which of course was soon transferred to Hulk Hogan).
Music was infiltrating other sports as well. 1985 saw the Chicago Bears release their song called the “Super Bowl Shuffle†in preparation for their trip to the Super Bowl.
Verne Gagne decided that he’d found the perfect way to promote his April show. Called Wrestlerock (tying in to the WWF’s Rock and Wrestling theme), the AWA would release a cassette (well, two songs anyway). And, also keeping with the WWF’s lead, the primary song would contain the AWA wrestlers actually performing.
However, Gagne was quick to seize on the movement of the future – this song would be rapped!
The song opens with AWA announcer Ken Resnick introducing the event by, well, not saying much about the show at all. All that he mentions is that the wrestlers will fill you in.
First up are the Midnight Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. All that we get from this is that they love to party (and the balloons in the video indicate that they enjoy going to kids’ birthday parties) and they’ll be at Wrestlerock (by saying they’ll be doing the Wrestlerock Rumble).
Sheik Adnan Al-Kassey is next. The Sheik was an interesting choice. Sure, he’s one of the top heel stable leaders, but the man has a very thick accent and could barely be understood. He then adds that he’ll be battling Gagne at the show.
Jerry Blackwell is up next, vowing revenge on the Sheik. Blackwell then promises to make a splash (his finisher) at Wrestlerock. Blackwell’s splash was devastating. His large girth made the move look devastating, and, in fact, he did injure two opponents (Maurice Vachon and the Crusher) with the move. While Blackwell was normally a safe wrestler to work with, those two instances saw him land incorrectly and forced each man to leave the ring for over a year.
That meant it was Greg Gagne’s turn to “rage†into the microphone. He yelled about facing (Bruiser) Brody at Wrestlerock in a cage match.
Scott Hall and Curt Hennig made the next appearance. They talked about being the AWA tag team champions and then talked about defeating their opponents – the Long Riders, who were better known as Scott and Bill Irwin. The grunting they did afterward made their appearance even more uncomfortable when the video reveals that they’re climbing out of a pool and wearing Speedos.
Next up was Nick Bockwinkel, who revealed that he would be facing a has-been (Stan Hansen) for the AWA World title at Wrestlerock. Keep in mind that Bockwinkel was over 50 years old at the time he recorded the song.
Larry Zbyszko was next. Larry rapped about facing Scott LeDoux, and promising to smack him around. For a little more information, Larry was doing a karate gimmick at the time (including wearing a gi to the ring) and LeDoux was a referee.
Ken Starr was up next. Another referee, Starr got another Super Bowl Shuffle reference by rhyming the word Quit with a word that began with sh before getting cut off by a whistle. In the Super Bowl Shuffle, profanities were bleeped by a woman blowing a whistle and throwing a penalty flag.
Verne Gagne closed the wrestlers’ portion of the song by rapping about how he was planning to wrestle at the event as well. Keep in mind that Verne was sixty at the time. Further hilarity ensues in the video, where it’s revealed that Verne’s reading his lines for the song.
The song closes with Ken Resnick telling everyone that the show was scheduled for April 20th at the (Minneapolis Metro)Dome. He finishes by telling everyone to get tickets and be there.
The actual Wrestlerock card turned out a bit differently than the song predicted. Here’s how things actually shaped up:
The show opened with Brad Rheingans pinning Boris Zhukov. In a midgets’ match, Little Mr. T and Cowboy Lang defeated Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo. Colonel DeBeers defeated Wahoo McDaniel by DQ when McDaniel threw DeBeers over the top rope. Playboy Buddy Rose and Doug Somers defeated the Midnight Rockers. Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa) defeated Buck Zumhoff. Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo (ironically, the WWF’s US Express) defeated the Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane and Steve Keirn). Harley Race fought Rick Martel to a time limit draw. Sherri Martel won a ten-woman battle royal. Hall and Hennig retained their titles against the Long Riders. LeDoux defeated Zbyszko in a boxing match when Larry was disqualified by special ref Larry Hennig. Bockwinkel defeated Hansen by DQ. Greg Gagne and Jimmy Snuka defeated Bruiser Brody and John Nord (WWF’s Berserker) in a cage. Verne Gagne defeated Sheik Adnan Al-Kassey in the cage. The show closed with the Road Warriors defeating Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy in a cage.
Did the WrestleRock Rumble work? Total attendance was reported at 23,000. The Dome has a reported capacity of 50,000 for a basketball game. Overall attendance wasn’t a sellout, but it was still a decent crowd.
The Wrestlerock Rumble song itself has become a great piece of wrestling history with its unintentional hilarity. By the way, this did not signal the end of wrestlers performing songs on albums. The trend continued in 1987 with the WWF’s Piledriver and even as recently as 2004’s WWE Originals CD. This is in addition to non-company efforts such as Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy and John Cena’s rap CD You Can’t See Me.
Of course, any discussion of the Wrestlerock Rumble can’t be complete without the song itself. Enjoy the song’s video and feel free to post your thoughts.
