Sage Cortez
I’ve been a wrestling fan for nearly 20 years and have always wanted to do this project. Basically, I am going to go down the list of shows I find important from 1985 on and review interesting matches or angles from them or in some cases the whole card. The interesting matches provision allows me to not sit through whole non-PPV cards and review them just to get to one match. This will apply to any promotion where I have some background context of the goings-on. If I miss/don’t have/can’t find anything, I have every intention of filling the gaps later when I have a chance to get my hands on whatever it is that I missed!
With regards to the card, I think most people know how ambitious this show was to put together, promote, and what the consequence was if it failed. Personally, I don’t think it could have failed considering all the people that the WWF had involved with the build. If they didn’t have any one of them, then yes, it could have been a disaster. The next year’s card on the other hand, I think it’s surprising that it didn’t fail. My favorite moment and best memory of the WM1 build was an interview Gene Okerlund had with Billy Martin on one of the TV episodes before the show where Martin was wasted and didn’t know a single thing about the card. In its own way, and I don’t know how it did, it put over how big the card actually was.
– March 31st, 1985 from New York, New York
We open with a very hokey video package running down the matchups. You certainly can tell that this is 1985. Our announcers are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.
Mean Gene sings a funny rendition of the national anthem to the crowd, then magically (not really) teleports to the back to interview Tito Santana and The Executioner. Not good promo work here, but we’re underway!
Tito Santana vs. The Executioner
Match Review: You may know The Executioner as Buddy Rose, who is billed as from Parts Unknown! Match starts with a nice criss-cross ropes running segment, a Santana shoulderblock, and big dropkick as Executioner flies out of the ring. Speaking of the ring, these ropes are awfully loose. Santana walks the turnbuckles on a nice headlock takeover, then works Executioner over with some big shots to the head. Tide turns a little bit as Executioner kicks Santana in the gut, and starts working over the leg, but to no avail as Santana takes control again and throws Executioner into the turnbuckle. Executioner reverses a piledrives into a backdrop and decides to head up top, only to be slammed down by Tito. Tito goes for a splash and eats knees. Bet that didn’t feel good! Executioner takes a bump over the top, eats a slam, and gets NAILED WITH THE FLYING FOREARM. That isn’t Santana’s finisher yet, the figure-four leglock is, and Santana slaps that on for the submission at 4:49.
My Thoughts: This was decent enough. Clearly there was no real plan for Tito at this card, so they stuck him in a match where he could get a quick win. Fine by me. *1/2.
These scenes with Alfred Hayes introducing pre-match promos are slightly annoying, but hey, SD JONES GETS PROMO TIME. And it’s hilarious. WE GONNA GET DOWN BABY. Also, damn…King Kong Bundy is big. Think about the five count!
King Kong Bundy (with Jimmy Hart) vs. Special Delivery Jones
Match Review: Bundy is managed by Jimmy Hart at this stage. So, er…SD gets slammed into the turnbuckle by Bundy, eats an avalanche and a big splash for the 3 count. And that’s it!
My Thoughts: This certainly wasn’t 9 seconds (it was 24 seconds long), but it certainly was amusing. I don’t rate squash matches.
Matt Borne says that Ricky Steamboat is too nice. Okay.
Ricky Steamboat vs. Matt Borne
Match Review: This is before Steamboat is given the “Dragon” gimmick. Not that he needed the gimmick, but I believe it enhanced him as a character and talent. Steamboat showed some great agility in leaping over Borne and took him down with a big chop. For the second time on this card the babyface works over the heel’s head, and once again Steamboat shows his athletic ability by backflipping over Borne’s head on Borne’s atomic drop attempt. Steamboat answers with an atomic drop of his own the second time. So naturally, Borne hits him with an inverted atomic drop rather than go for a third atomic drop. Nice belly to belly suplex by Borne is followed with a nice suplex. Cover only gets 1. Steamboat hits Borne with a very nice back suplex, and swinging neckbreaker, then drops two knees on Borne for a 2 count. Steamboat continues to get after Borne with a big shoulderblock after some rope running confusion, and lands a nice cross body off the top rope for a 3 count at 4:38.
My Thoughts: They got a lot accomplished in those 4 and a half minutes. Nicely done. **1/4.
Lord Alfred is absolutely terrible as a host. Glad the WWF scrapped that idea for WrestleManias going forward. David Sammartino is not a good talker that’s for sure. Johnny V is on the other hand, at least on this day.
Brutus Beefcake (w/Johnny V) vs. David Sammartino (w/Bruno Sammartino)
Match Review: Brutus is another one of those Parts Unknown guys, whereas David is in the company for one reason only. He doesn’t have the look, doesn’t have good size, and if I’m remembering correctly didn’t have much talent either. Gorilla and Jesse put over the huge crowd, and I can’t disagree. It’s big. Match starts with Brutus throwing David into the corner and posing. Alright. Goes the other way now and Brutus charges out of the corner to be taken down with a drop toe hold. They’re trying to get David over by having him get the better of Brutus in some grappling exchanges, which he does. Brutus tries to cheat, but David holds onto the arm through a Beefcake bodyslam and gets the better of that sequence too. Beefcake locks in a headlock and trucks David with a shoulderblock, then hip tosses him. He then gets kicked by David and David winds up on top of Brutus once again, after another drop toe hold. He works Beefcake’s left leg with a SPINNING TOE HOLD and this is well over four minutes of this stuff. Brutus turns the tide with a rake of the eyes, then hits David with a big backdrop and bodyslam. Beefcake sends him into the corner, rocks David with an elbow, and shoots him to the other side, where he works him over with some forearms. Brutus eats a backdrop after a reversed Irish whip and the crowd goes mild. Running knee lifts and kicks with Beefcake coming off the ropes aren’t endearing him to the crowd. Nice suplex by David, but the cover only gets 2. Beefcake responds by throwing David to the outside, where Johnny V slams him and now we have a big brawl with the respective managers facing off and Bruno getting in some big shots as the crowd explodes. And why wouldn’t they? Bruno’s their hero. The crowd liked that, but the referee did not, and he disqualified both wrestlers at 11:44.
My Thoughts: This wasn’t very good and I found a lot of the matwork boring. The point of the match was to get Bruno involved, and it achieved that, but the actual match didn’t seem to be heading anywhere other than to that, but the interaction wasn’t even teased beforehand. Not a fan of that. *.
Again with Alfred, who introduces the pre-match promos of Junkyard Dog and Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine. More on this feud below.
Junkyard Dog vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Match Background: Greg Valentine had been feuding with Tito Santana over the Intercontinental Championship for some time and had just beaten Santana in a lumberjack match earlier in the month at Madison Square Garden. This is a little bit of a cool off match so that the feud didn’t lead into overkill. They would pick right back up after WrestleMania, while JYD would go do random matches and sometimes team up with Tito to face Valentine and a partner around the horn. Valentine also cut a promo or two against JYD which could be classified as racist. They are on YouTube.
Match Review: The old IC belt isn’t very good looking. Green strap with silver plating. Not a fan. JYD enters and the crowd erupts, the guy was beyond over and gets the biggest reaction of anyone on the card to this point. Jesse Ventura said something pretty racist with his “a lot of shuckin’ and jivin’ out there with JYD,” I didn’t like that much. JYD runs the ropes, catches Valentine’s leg and hits him with a big right hand to the delight of the crowd. Valentine responds with an elbow, misses his running fistdrop, and gets his head bashed into by the cranium of JYD. After taking a powder, he’s back in and the two men lock up, only for Valentine to clock him in the face with a right forearm. Big elbow to the gut, as Valentine is quickly looking to put the leg in position for a figure-four leglock. Little half crab first though. Huge knee to the crotch by Valentine, and now it’s time for the figure-four, which is quickly blocked by JYD. JYD now gets the better of Valentine during an exchange of blows, and rocks Valentine with a few big headbutts. Great sell by The Hammer. Jimmy Hart is already providing a distraction, but JYD moves out of the way and Valentine hits his manager! The crowd senses a title change, but Valentine quickly rolls JYD up and cheats by putting his legs on the ropes for a 3 count! Tito Santana runs to the ring to dispute the referees error, and the referee orders Valentine back into the ring to restart the match. The Hammer has something else in mind, and decides he isn’t going to be part of it, as JYD wins by countout at 6:55.
My Thoughts: The crowd really bought that title switch, but it was not to be. A hot crowd makes a decent short match worth watching. *1/2 once again, and the Santana/Valentine feud shall continue.
Here’s Alfred once again, as we see Volkoff and Sheik walk to the ring to big heel heat. HELL YES IRON SHEIK PROMO. Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda cut the most redundant promo I’ve ever seen pre-match.
Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik (w/Freddie Blassie) vs. The US Express (w/Captain Lou Albano) for the WWF Tag Team Titles
Match Background: The WWF was a little light on tag teams at this point, so they put Volkoff and Sheik together. The Soviet/Iran connection was obvious, so I’m not trying to say this was a thrown together team, but it kind of was and it turned out very well. The US Express had the distinction of beating the longest reigning WWF Tag Team Champions at the time, Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch. They were a big deal.
Match Review: The Volkoff rendition of the Soviet national anthem usually cracks me up and this is no different. Tons of trash in the ring afterward. It surprises me that Windham didn’t get to do more in the WWF, but I suppose he was a babyface who looked like Hogan in the same promotion as Hogan, so it was a case of it not being the right place for him. Vince gave The US Express “Born in the USA” as an entrance theme so clearly he liked the duo. He’s billed as Rotundo here, but I’m not doing that. To start we have Rotunda and Sheik in the ring, and the Iranian reaches for the headlock and shoots Rotunda in the ropes, to eat a hiptoss and dropkick. He gets worked over by the Americans, and Windham comes in after the tag with a huge flying fist off the top. Windham legdrops Sheik down low, and Sheik then accidentally dropkicks his partner to a nice pop. Rotunda takes Volkoff into the ropes, hits him with a nice spinning back elbow, and follows up with an elbowdrop for a 2 count. Windham tags in the same way as before, then tags straight back out and Rotunda hits Volkoff with a standing elbow. Unfortunately, Rotunda gets driven into the spike on Sheik’s boot, and Sheik follows that with a big backdrop and elbow for a 2 count. Gutwrench suplex follows for another 2 count. It’s nice to see guys going for covers, which did not happen much in the first five matches. Rotunda looks for the tag after suplexing Sheik, but no can do. Instead he is gorilla pressed neck first onto the top rope. When Volkoff telegraphs a backdrop that turns out well for Rotunda as he goes for a sunset flip, but it only gets 2. Volkoff’s jumping stomps are amusing, but ultimately ineffective and dumb looking. Sheik’s footwork is much better, and after the tag he goes to work and applies an abdominal stretch to Rotunda. It’s reversed by Rotunda, and he finally gets the tag to Windham! Windham goes crazy, so does the crowd, and he puts a beatdown on Volkoff, which is finished by a big bulldog. Now they’re brawling, during which Sheik snags Blassie’s cane, CRACKS IT over Windham’s back, and we have NEW tag team champions at 6:56! In the back, Blassie and Sheik have comments, which are once again amusing. Hard to hate Sheik, but this isn’t the 80’s anymore. So I wouldn’t know.
My Thoughts: This could have used a little more time, but it was good for what it was and the heat segment did exactly that. It got a lot of heat and they packed quite a bit in over a short period of time. The finish was good too and portrayed the Express as a team that had to be cheated in order to lose. **.
Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd (w/Bobby Heenan) $15,000 Bodyslam Challenge
Match Background: This is a rehashed angle and feud from 1983. To spice it up a little for the company having gone national, Studd chopped off Andre’s hair during a TV tag team match months previous to this, after he and Ken Patera double bodyslammed Andre. Andre’s career is on the line, which meant something back then, but it being a rehash I don’t think people thought he was going to retire, and they knew he could slam Studd.
Match Review: Lots of money in that duffel bag. It goes without saying the fans are very interested in this bout. I’m saying it anyway. Studd starts the match off by ambushing Andre in the corner, and he really gives it to the big Frenchman. Andre responds with some massive chops and knocks Studd to the outside, where he regroups with Heenan. Back in and he gets choked in the corner to the crowd’s delight. That move Andre does where he crushes guys bodies in the corner looks like it would hurt. So do those big chops. Crowd chants “slam” as Andre has Studd locked in a bearhug, so it’s time for Studd to rake Andre’s eyes and get out of it. Doesn’t work though. This is very slow. Huge headbutt by Andre rocks Studd back into the ropes, after which Andre catches a Studd big boot attempt and strikes him some karate kicks. Now ANDRE SLAMS HIM AND IT’S OVER. 5:53 the time. Heenan grabs the bag as Andre is throwing money into the crowd, so there’s no payoff to the feud. Unfortunately they cut Andre off in the middle of his post-match promo.
My Thoughts: It was slow and not much happened but fortunately it was short. 1/2*. Crowd popped and the match served its purpose, which was for Andre to get revenge after getting his hair cut.
Wendi Richter (w/Cyndi Lauper) vs. Leilani Kai (w/Fabulous Moolah) for the WWF Women’s Championship
Match Background: Rock ‘n’ Wrestling time begins with some Cyndi Lauper stuff. I’ve never liked this angle, but…context! Lou Albano having been in a Cyndi Lauper music video, cornered Fabulous Moolah against Lauper’s charge, Wendy Richter, at The Brawl to End it All in 1984. Despite that match having been the only one to be shown on TV, it was not the main event. Richter beat Moolah for the Women’s belt and this feud would continue on for some time. Lauper and Albano ended their feud and that was that, but Moolah wasn’t done. She backed Leilani Kai against Richter at The War to Settle the Score a month before this, and Kai won the belt. So that I have something to write about for the next match, I’ll leave it at that.
Match Review: I chortled big time at Richter entering to “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. Despite my not really liking the angle, it’s obvious that the build for this was very good, and that the fans reacted to Vince’s desires. Richter lands a bomb on Kai, takes her over by her hair, and they do a really early version of the applause stance deal with no applause. Richter is working over Kai AND SHE’S TAPPING TAPPING TAPPING, but tapping doesn’t mean anything yet. Kai responds with some hair snap mares, and arm work of her own. Kai is continuing to pull hair and choke, but the official isn’t really doing anything about it. They go through the most embarrassing botched gutwrench suplex sequence for a 2 count, then Richter tries to put some shine on that turd by doing a small package for two, but the suplex botch was so bad that I’ve tuned out on this match. Kai gets kicked in the throat while charging into the corner, but Richter can only give a two count. Moolah grabs Richter’s hair in the corner, Lauper clocks Moolah, and it doesn’t go anywhere as Richter gets kicked in the gut by Kai. Richter goes for very good fireman’s carry slam, but it only gets 2. Kai gets a two after a few knees to the chest, then follows with a backbreaker also for a 2 count. Kai now slams Richter and heads up top, but misses the crossbody (also botched) and Richter wins the title at 6:12. Now the post-match stuff starts with Lauper celebrating in the ring and fortunately, we are done. Or not, as Richter and Lauper are now talking in the back. Oh no! Lauper can’t even get Kai’s name right.
My Thoughts: Very poor match with two of the three good spots botched. Everything looked very unrealistic too.The fireman’s carry slam nearly kept it out of negatives as that was a pretty big bump to take for that era, but this was an unstructured mess and the worst match on the card. -1/2*.
The main event buildup begins with some introductions. Billy Martin is the guest ring announcer, Liberace is the guest time keeper, Pat Patterson is the guest referee, and Muhammad Ali serves as the guest outside referee. Great get by the WWF on that one.
Rowdy Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff (w/Cowboy Bob Orton) vs. Hulk Hogan & Mr. T (w/Jimmy Snuka)
Match Background: Okay, so to pick up where I left off with the last match background which is going to make this read like a mess, Piper attacked Lou Albano, so Hulk Hogan sought revenge. So at The War to Settle the Score, he and Piper had a singles match which ended in Piper being disqualified. Lauper and Mr. T got in the ring, and Piper kicked Lauper in the head. So, we got here. There’s also the Piper/Snuka issue which by that point had been going on for a long time.
Match Review: Awesome bagpipe entrance for Piper and of course, Hogan and Mr. T’s entrance is hot as all get out. Pat Patterson’s story about how this match got put together is a must read/watch/listen, by the way. Would this have been even better as a six man tag? I’ve been wondering about that. This match will start off with Orndorff and Hogan. But not really. Piper tags in and the crowd is nuclear. In response, Mr. T tags in to start off with Piper and it gets even louder. They slap each other and the crowd is eating out of their hands. Piper takes T down and rides him, eventually T gets out to the crowd’s delight. They separate, and T lifts Piper into an fireman’s carry slam! Now all four men brawl, their managers tease involvement, and Ali gets involved to restore order to massive cheers. Piper fakes heading to the showers, the crowd buys it, but he and Orndorff come back after Hogan breaks Patterson’s 10 count. They brawl again, Hogan and Mr. T get the better of it, and Hogan works both heels over by himself. Now he hits Piper with an atomic drop and bounces his head off the canvas repeatedly. Mr. T now tags in, and he and Hogan hit Piper with a double clothesline. T then slams Piper, gives Orndorff a great hiptoss, and slams Piper again! He rams Piper into Hogan’s knee, then Hogan tags in and Piper eats a big boot to fly over the top rope. Orndorff dumps Hogan to the floor, and Piper smashes a chair over the champion’s back. Ali then chases Piper back into the ring, where he then goes to work on Hogan. After some big double team work, T charges across the ring and Patterson can’t control him, so Orndorff and Piper then give Hogan a double atomic drop. Ali comes into the ring to get Piper out of the ring, and Orndorff puts the boots to Piper. Good stuff so far. Orndorff suplexes Hogan and tags in Piper, who rocks Hogan with a couple right hands and a knee for a 2 count. Orndorff tags in and comes off the top with an elbow for a 2 count. Now with a backbreaker and he heads to the top for a flying knee drop which misses. Hogan tags in T and the crowd explodes again as T cleans house. Or not. Piper quickly attacks him from behind and they gang up on T, who takes the role of face in peril. Not for long as Hogan tags in and cleans house, only to be stopped by an Orndorff back suplex. Orton and Snuka both charge into the ring, at which point Snuka quickly knocks Orton to the outside. But Orton then comes back in and accidentally clocks Orndorff with his cast, to get the 3 count for Hogan & Mr. T at 13:24. Exciting match. Now Piper clocks Pat Patterson and exits the scene, leaving his partner Orndorff laying in the ring. Once he gets up, he’s confused, sees that he was left in the ring, and eventually leaves. Good sell job. Not a full face turn though, that comes later.
After some Hogan posing, he, Mr. T, and Jimmy Snuka go to the back where they cut their post match promo, then Gorilla and Jesse close the show.
My Thoughts: That was even more overbooked than the previous match, but the difference was that it was very well structured, realistic looking and there were no mistakes. It’s the standard by which all celebrity tag team matches should be judged, and it set a quite high standard at that. **3/4 for it.
What has to be remembered at this card is that in essence, this is the basic monthly Madison Square Garden card with a lot of jazz added to it, making it WrestleMania. Considering that, it’s a good card for the era. The building up most matches or every match into meaning something concept didn’t really happen yet.
Best: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff
Worst: Wendi Richter vs. Leilani Kai
Card Rating: 6/10
Any feedback, comments, and suggestions for future columns are appreciated.
