Superstar Sleeze

Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper vs Paul Orndorff & Harley Race - WWF MSG 11/24/86 For those Superfans of Tag Teams Back Again (Whoomp There It is!) you will know we covered this back in the day. At the time, I dont think I understood the magnitude of what I was witnessing. Logically I understood it was Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper teaming 20 months after WrestleMania thats a big deal, but I didnt feel it emotionally. But now that I have seen the Saturday Night's Main Event, where Piper saves Hogan, seen the Hogan/Wonderful turn, the Flower Shop angle, I FEEL THIS MATCH~! I wish it was Adonis, Muraco or Orton in the role of Harley Race. I understand that by using Harley Race it keeps it in the Heenan Family, but I wish it was one of the three perpetrators of the Flower Shop Assault. I really wish it was Orton the most the tie-in to WrestleMania I would have been perfect, Oh Well! It is interesting even though Hogan and Orndorff was being run hard in Philly, this was the only time they touched in MSG and they never wrestled in Boston interesting booking. As for the match, it is all about the Hogan & Piper interactions. The opening clearing of the ring only for them to go back to back and then each rip their shirt off was AWESOME~! It was all downhill from there but that was killer! Hogan and Piper working like an 80s blowjob babyface tag team working the arm of Harley Race with quick tags but each tag had so much TENSION~! behind it. It was awesome. Hogan and Piper did some really fun arm work and it was fun watching them work like they were the Rockers. Race threw Piper's head into Wonderful's knee and hit a belly to belly suplex. Pretty standard heat segment, Race hitting bombs like Thump Powerslam and suplex; Orndorff clubbering. Piper breaks free. Really liked Hogan hot tag. He was so explosive. Wiping out both of the Heenan Family, clocking the Brain and dropping the Leg on Harley I wish that was the finish, but Mr. Wonderful breaks it up. Orndorff hits the Wonderful Clothesline on Race and Piper quickly covers for 3 but he was not legal and there was a whole kerfuffle. Piper leaves the ring to let Hogan fend for himself against the Heenan Family, but he sends all three packing easily and does his posedown. I thought the beginning was great, heat segment was alright, Hogans hot tag ruled, but the finish was clunky and Piper leaving Hogan was weird. Piper went out of his way to save him on SNME but leaves him high and dry here. Then Hogan looks like a bigger star by vanquishing them and Piper kinda looks like a chump because he missed out on the celebratory glory. A cool moment, but not much of a match. ***

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff - WWF Philly 12/13/86 Steel Cage With this I have seen close to every Hogan title defense from 1986, I think 86 is an underrated year for the Hulkster lots of fun opponents. This is light years better than the SNME cage match but I am not surprised as the house show matches were more raw and visceral at the time. While the SNME finish is iconic, it is nice to get a definitive finish here. Orndorff attacks to start as expected. Theres different type of clubbering and I am just not into Orndorff’s brand of clubbering. I really like all of Orndorff’s cutoffs…Ballshot, jumping knee to the back on the Hogan escape, eye rake and cage shots. They do the whole Hogan pulls him back in over the top of the cage by the hair which I never love but you get a cool visual of Mr. wonderful eating the cage upside down. Bobby The Brain locked the cage door for some reason. They both go into the cage. Hulk-Up! Here comes the Brain. Hogan shoves him off and sends him into the Cage. It is a race and Hogan wins over the top and crowns Wonderful with the Championship Belt for good measure. Fun Cage Match not a ton of meat on the bone but it was enjoyable while it lasted. Feud underperformed in my opinion, Orndorff up there with Muraco as my least favorite Hogan opponent. *** 1/2

WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion Carlos Colon vs Jos LeDuc - WWC 2/22/86 Barbed Wire I am not sure I have ever reviewed a Jos LeDuc match see broadening my horizons for GWE 36. I am not sure why didnt just do a Vachon gimmick he easily pass a Cousin, hell I’d believe he was a brother. I have a little LeDuc in clips from Mid-Atlantic and Memphis. Pretty standard 80s unhinged bloodthirsty character. They do not tease the Barbed Wire at all it is a punch and shove into the Barbed Wire for LeDuc. He bumps, feeds and stooges well for Colon. He is constantly going into the Barbed Wire. Colon pulls LeDucs shirt to blind him and choke him. Great punches and barbed wire shots. LeDuc catches him in the breadbasket. LeDuc has a good punch as you’d expect. He rakes barbed wire over Colon and he then helps him floss with it. I am sure his dentist will be happy, Gnarly. I love that it is a Ballshot that gets Colon back on offense. Toe touch! LeDuc sells so much better than Abby. LeDuc lots of chest first bumps into the barbed wire off the shots. Leg work. Figure-4 for the win! He applies it again for good measure post match. Fun match. *** 1/2

WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion Carlos Colon vs Abdullah The Butcher - WWC 9/21/85 With GWE 26 behind us, all eyes are to GWE 36 and what better spirit to have then expand my horizons to Puerto Rico. Got my first taste with the epic Carlos Colon vs Stan Hansen which help Hansen get another Top 5 finish on my ballot. Colon is someone I’d consider but need to see more of. I have seen a limited amount of Abdullah the Butcher who is never as imposing as you think he will but the fat tub of goo has some charm undoubtedly. Even with my limited knowledge of both men I expected double juice, working the cuts with short punches, Headbutts and gnawing. That’s exactly what I got. I feel like we JIP’d of fast forwarded to the part where both men have been battered, bruised, exhausted and eaten away by attrition rather than earning it. There was nice flurry of action early with Colon getting the upper hand I was surprised by an early bump by Abby and then powering. Then after that they acted like it was minute 10 or 15 of the match. I would have liked to seen more of each of them fighting through the others offense. They made it too easy on each other. Abby especially is a bad at selling. He just sort of stands there and gets hit. Then after enough time has gone by he hits back with punches and Headbutts and Colon starts to sell. Loved Abby standing on Colon dropping the elbow. I love Colon going for the balls not once not twice but three times and doing his touch the toes jump in excitement after the first ball shot fell the monster. Colon gives us our first high spot a vertical suplex and a middle rope leg drop. I appreciate how minimalist and Lo-fi this is. I don’t appreciate Abby just bent over for minutes just taking shots. He’s just a ragdoll. But at the same time some of the shots punches and Headbutts down the stretch with both men bleeding is so captivating. High Knees from Colon. He wants something up top and he crashes down on a standing Abby and Colon ricochets off him and bumps the ref. I forgot to mention JJ Dillon is managing Abby who I believe has brought Abby into Crockett and is managing him there as well. He takes some shots from Colon and bumps off the apron when Abby inadvertently charges him. Dillon blades who knows why he is a Crockett guy in Puerto Rico I guess. Colon and Abby do some crowd brawling come to think of it I was surprised how they wrestled the whole match in the Ring. We lose them in the crowd never to come back. Must have been a Double Countout or a No Contest. Checking Wikipedia they said the WWC Universal Title was held up as a result. Some great Lo-fi brutal elements here. The stuff you expect to be good is good the working the cuts with punches, Headbutts and gnawing. The selling needed to be better especially on Abby’s part. He was NOT No Selling; he was just not selling. Like he was No Selling it would have added to his monster aura. He was just absorbing and doing nothing. It is my first Colon/Abby match keeping any open mind. *** 1/4

Look forward to going through all the lists and it will be the perfect activity when the baby wakes me up at 330am tonight. I gotta say @Microstatistics putting Shawn Michaels at #2 popped me huge. Didnt have the balls to put him that high, had him at #13. Glad to see there is another HBK fan besides me and @Jimmy Redman

Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff - WWF Philly Spectrum 10/18/86 So in the September match from Philly, Mr. Wonderful won by DQ after Hogan lost his temper and shoved the ref. So a stipulation of this match is if Hogan gets disqualified he will lose the Championship to Mr. Wonderful. Orndorff attacks Hogan when he hits the Ring and Brain throws Wonderful’s robe on the Hulkster. He whips Hogan with his Championship belt and chokes him with his shirt. Orndorff needs to be careful that he doesn’t get disqualified though as this is NOT No DQ. Hogan comes roaring back with rights and choking with the bandana. Uh oh Hulk you gotta be careful. There’s a cute spot where Hogan has been put out and Brain throws a chair on top of him as if to get the ref to DQ him. Then Wonderful tries to goad him into hitting him with the chair. He gives his back to Hogan but Hogan winds up and clocks him with a right. Orndorff heat segment again sinks the match. It is not very interesting. I mean he busts Hogan open with a chair, smashes him into a table and hits a piledriver. That sounds EPIC…but it doesn’t come off that way. It is HOW you do it that matters. Hogan Hulks-Up after the Backbreaker. Hogan DROPS THE LEG! But then this gets a bit stupid and throws him out and attacks like he is going to clobber him with a chair But that would get him disqualified. There was a way to get to that spot but that’s not what the match was giving them. Big Boot sends Wonderful to the outside. The Brain distracts the ref so Hogan hits Orndorff with a chair to get the Countout win. All the spots were good in a vacuum. Hogan deliberating whether he should hit with a chair. Great spot. Sneaking in a chair shot. Great spot. Hogan dropping the leg on his arch-rival. Great spot. They just needed an editor as they were out of order there was a way to incorporate all these spots in a more impactful way that leads to a rousing climax. This is still good but needed an editor. ***

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff - WWF Philly 9/20/86 WWF booking is so interesting at this time as this is clearly their #1 feud the big TV angle built for weeks and weeks to a Fever pitch with the turn on Championship Wrestling the literal Big Event in Toronto. But then they never run this match in Boston or MSG. So weird. So following the Philly Series. Always heard about entrance music stealing for decades and what a neat gimmick BUT once you see it in execution. It doesn’t quite work. The Real American music you want to pop for. You know only half of the audience really knows the gimmick so you get more confusion then you get boos. It is funny because they didn’t smarten up Dick Graham. So he thinks the Challenger is coming out But then he hears Real American and switches it to Hogans music. So Gorilla is trying to explain it to him on commentary and you can hear Dick putting the pieces together. You can’t really stop music and Cue it back up so they keep the music running and show the Hulkster hot about it charging to the apron. I think it would work better now with the heavier emphasis on TV and how they do the entrances now. Electric Hogan performance. The Shine is unreal. He is just pelting him with rights and manhandling him. Wonderful tries to bring it to the outside but Hogan will not be denied. Inside outside Hogan is pinballing him. Great use of the Atomic Drop as the climax to a fun shine. They run a pretty similar transition to heat from Toronto. Hogan chases the Brain and Orndorff stomps him getting back in the Ring. Orndorff’s heat segment isn’t as good as the Big Event. I am not a big Orndorff guy and was hoping this match turn me in his favor. Lots of clubbering offense and elbows. The Wonderful Clothesline only gets two. Surprised no Hulk Up we do a simple Vertical Suplex for two aahhh theres the Hulk Up and it is a doozy. Similar transition to the finish as Toronto. High Knee wipes both out. Hogan is on fire with his theatrics. He hits the Wonderful Clothesline on Orndorff how does that taste brutha. He is calling for fucking him in the ass oh wait Gorilla says it is a piledriver lol. Brain gets involved but instead of the DQ finish there we get the twist. Orndorff gets Brass Knux and clocks Hogan busting him wide open. By time the ref makes it over kick out now BLOOD SOAKED HULK-UP OH HELL YEAH! Rips the Knux out of the hand and is about to wreck him when the ref yanks it out of the Hulk’s hands BOOOOOOOOO! Hogan is blind with rage throws the ref down twice and is beating and choking Orndorff. Ref throws the match out with Wonderful winning by DQ. Wrestlers come from the locker room to separate them as Hogan poses down. Good first match in a series. Hogan’s shine and two Hulk Ups were unreal! The epitome of why he was so over in the 80s. A real electricity to it. What takes this down is the Orndorff heat segment and the DQ finish but looking forward to the next two matches. *** 1/4

Tito Santana vs Hercules - WWF MSG 12/26/86 Tito has been stuck in midcard purgatory since the Savage feud ended taking on a motley crew of Bob Orton, Harley Race, Butch Reed and Hercules. Credit has to go to @Loss for pimping this match because I would have skipped it otherwise. Besides the Hogan SNME match I don’t think I have ever seen a Hercules match. I have been watching a lot of WWF TV from summer and fall of 86. He is with Classy Freddie Blassie then Slick after he took over the contracts. He has long hair and is in a Greco-Roman ensemble. My wife was being a good sport and etching episodes of the Flower Shop with me and at the time he was trying to portray that he was the real Hercules from Mount Olympus even though his last name is Hernandez go figure. He definitely has Bruiser Brody’s look and mannerisms. Or to use Gen Z parlance he is giving Bruiser Brody. However, in this match and I believe SNME match he is with the Brain, his hair is shorn and he has his classic Chain and gone are Brody mannerisms. Honky Tonk Man fresh off losing a popularity contest has adopted the Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart excuse me Col. Jimmy Hart as his manager is loitering at ringside and jumps Tito with some of the weakest shots in history. We are going to pretend like he destroyed Tito’s knee. Tito puts on one of the best knee selling performances of all time basically wrestling this match crawling and on the mat while Hercules holds up his end up of the bargain with some great leg work. Like I said I have very limited experience with Herc, he is not Bret Hart working the leg but he he gets the job done and he is laser focused. It is all the good stuff, leg locks, crashing down on the leg, strikes, wrap around the Ring post. Tito does a great job ramping his comeback. First it is a punch from his back. Herc cuts off then a hair grab Herc cuts off. Finally he gets up and it is lunging / collapsing punches and headbutts. Excellent. Herc kneecrusher. Hercules goes up top and splash eats the knee which hurts Tito but levels the playing field. Awesome spot. Then the match goes from very good to great! TITO RAVENOUSLY ATTACKS HERC’s KNEE! It was amazing he was like a Pitbull dog. He never stood for more than like 30 seconds. Just lunging, punching, collapsing on Hercules knee. Excellent leg work by Tito all while selling his own knee. It has to been seen to be believed. FIGURE-4! The Brain rings the bell which fucks up Tito. Tito back in the groove but Herc eye rake slam BUT Hercules’ Knee gives out! I would have popped huge for a 3 count. Herc kicks off Tito on the Figure-4. Tito jaws with the Brain and Herc CRASHES DOWN on Tito with a knee for the 1-2-3! WOW WOW WOW Amazing Tito performance one of the best ever individual performances. Hercules holds up his end of bargain ends up doing some amazing selling as well. Bravo! **** 1/4

Hulk Hogan & George Steele vs Randy Savage & Adrian Adonis - WWF Boston 8/9/86 It is my favorite Rando team of Macho Man & Adorable Adrian vs my new favorite rando team of The Hulkster and The Animal. Savage & Adonis are fresh off their 1986 WWF MOTY against Tito and Bruno at MSG and now they provide comedy gold here. Don’t worry I won’t be writing this review in metered verse that took way too long for Harley and Lanny. Turnbuckle stuffing is everywhere! George says Hulk try it and he does. He likes it, Hulk-y really likes it! Heels try to jump the babyfaces but they eat turnbuckle stuffing and Hogan sends the Adorable One in for the ride using his scarf. We are off to a cracking good time. George The Animal Steele an embarrassment to his children but beloved by all others but isn’t that the fate of all fathers with a sense of humor. That dance he does just screams “Dad stop” but to everyone else it is funny, They got a lot of mileage out of Steele and Savage. Classic Memphis Savage but Hogan stops him from running into the double gozzle. Hogan and Adonis fucking ruled. Adonis was a total bump freak and the cherry on the Sundae was the crotch onto the railing that gave way!!! Awesome! If the heat segment was a bit hotter I think I would have went crazy high because this shine was unreal. Adonis drop toehold and Savage lays the boots to Hogan Bur he breaks free. Steele bites Macho Man in the chest but then Savage sends him flying into the buckle. They heat segment is tepid on George except Steele bites the arm of Savage who just clocks him. The heat segment on Hogan is too easy. Adonis rakes the eyes and gets two easy suplexes on the Champ. They kick back into gear for the finish. Adonis eats knees on a top rope splash. They whip the heels into each other Savage back drops Adonis HOGAN DROPS THE LEG! Good craic tons of fun they put on a show for Boston! *** 3/4

Harley Race vs Lanny Poffo - WWF MSG 6/14/86 O Handsome Harley who looked quite gnarly Had face to Leapin Lanny who looked quite dandy There were Suplexes Galore And Headbutts all the more But before he showed him the door Each had to be done on the floor! Harley knew no other way Then to make Lanny’s day Together they tumbled While Bobby grumbled A leaping Headscissors Oh My A second surely he must die Crashing onto the top rope Harley suplexed and cradled the dope. And now Leapin Lanny was not so dandy. But Handsome Harley Is really not so gnarly. *** 1/2

From 2013 WWF World Tag Champs The British Bulldogs vs Heenan's Family (Studd/Bundy) - 5/17/86 Smart big man vs small man match that only lasts 5 or so minutes. The Bulldogs can only gain the advantage momentarily with quickness or with a double dropkick (I prefer their double dropkick to the RnRs or the Rockers). Bundy is more agile than Studd and is more entertaining to watch. I actually got King Kong Bundy's autograph when I was a kid when he did a local New England Indy (NWA New England, I believe). He is one big dude. Studd looks massive compared to the Bulldogs. Dynamite comes in illegally to put Studd in a sleeper and Studd tosses a ref for a DQ. Bundy tries to Irish Whip Studd into Smith, but he eats turnbuckles causing dissension in the Heenan Family. Was Studd supposed to turn babyface? If so, why, there is nothing, about Studd that makes him seem like a decent babyface.

Junkyard Dog vs Terry Funk - WWF Championship Wrestling 2/15/86 It is the run up to WrestleMania, ahhhh remember when WrestleMania II, remember when WrestleMania Season was not a bore or chore neither do I as I was not alive yet. The main angles get put over on the SNME But this was a big upper midcard house show feud so to put on TV meant one of two things JYD was vanquishing Terrible Terry for good or an angle. Funk jumps JYD and Thats it for him and this is the JYD show. Funk is the perfect opponent for JYD because he will bump and stooge and do his comedy around a limited JYD. JYD punches and slams and the DoggieStyle headbutts. Funk careens and bumps along the railing. He eats the buckle and over and over again. The Mouth of the South tries to save, Funk caught in the ropes. JYD has the branding iron he has branded Terrible Terry But Dory “Not Yet Hoss” Funk (no Junior) attacks in a business suit taking off his cowboy boot and clocks JYD. They put the boots to JYD. Jimmy Hart rips off his clothes to show what a scrawny little pipsqueek he is and gets his licks In. Babyface midcarders save JYD. I like Dory Funk Junior a lot but this was not he is suited for his. He was so subdued and milquetoast when he attacked JYD should have felt hotter. They should have waited until Mania II to brand Terry. A solid TV angle now JYD has two Funks he has to worry about who will get as a partner!

Roddy Piper & Adrian Adonis in 1986 In the Summer of 1986, Adorable Adrian Adonis, coincidentally debuted his new look on a Piper’s Pit in early 86, had the hottest property in all of pro wrestling the Flower Shop! Here he established his alliance with the Macho Man where they would go onto have the 1986 WWF MOTY against Tito & Bruno at MSG in July. It was here where he dropped poison into the ear of Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff leading to the turn against Hulk Hogan. We pick up the story when Junkyard Dog a frequent Adonis opponent on Saturday Nights Main Event and on the house show loop wrecked the Flower Shop. Because of this heinous attack by JYD, on the August 9th episode of Championship Wrestling, Adorable Adrian Adonis has hired protection and it is the best protection money can but it is the #1 bodyguard in all the land, Ace Cowboy Bob Orton who will henceforth be known as Acey and wear a pink cowboy hat. Next week wouldn’t you know it is just so happens that Orton’s former employer Rowdy Roddy Piper returns and he wants his show back. When he gets some lip from Adonis he goes after Orton being called Acey and wearing a pink Cowboy hat. Piper asks him to return to his side. Orton says the money is too good with Adonis and Jimmy Hart. Piper gets mad and I Don’t think this the last they will hear from him. The next week things gets weird. As Piper decides to beat up a jobber with one arm behind his back and make a racist joke about Slick’s lips as Adonis calls him the most rudest superstar. Superstars replaces Championship Wrestling on 9/6 and now things are cookin’. Piper starts talking ratings fuck we have been talking ratings for 40 years and he makes some transphobic jokes. He says WWF executives have pulled the plug on the Flower Shop. Piper’s Pit is back next week to the roar of the crowd. The crowd has been lapping up Piper with a spoon since his return. He is over like rover. Next week Adonis interrupts the Pit says Piper is a weasel for going to the higher ups to get what he wants. He challenges Piper to a debate in two weeks on the 9/27 Superstars. Piper says youre on! FLOWER SHOP VS PIPERS PIT! 9/20 just shows some vignettes of each side getting hyped up. The big Flower Shop vs Pipers Pit Debate rather than make their cases themselves each brings in a star witness to give testimony about their show. Adonis brings on the impartial Acey Bob Orton donning his fetching pink cowboy hat. He trumpets a lot of Adonis has to say before that Piper is old hat as Adonis is wont to say and says it here they are 1995 Aka they are the future they are cutting edge. 40 years later trans rights are not doing so hot. Hot Rod brings out Magnificent Muraco Ok bringing out a heel to be your witness is a bad idea. Piper goes between mocking Adonis and Muraco. Muraco gets hot when Piper won’t pay attention to him. Then they get into surreal debate over trans rights in 1986. Where Muraco of all people makes the case it is a free county and Adonis can dress how he pleases. Then Piper makes the lame case WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? I grew up on Goldust dude and I came out fine. The kids are going to be alright. Come to think of Piper feuded with Goldust. Just saying. Then the heels finally jump him. Muraco and Orton hold him as Adonis smashes a flower pot over his head. TREMENDOUS ANGLE! The Muraco & Orton team is born out of this. The next week Piper destroys the Flower Shop with a crutch and baseball bat and thus ends the run of the best pro wrestling talk show in history. RIP Flower Shop. Piper would go on to attack Adonis with his crutch on the next SNME. Look Piper was hemmed in here he had to make some jokes about Adrian Adonis ridiculous get up. The comment about Slick’s lips and bringing the children into it give me a break. Adonis looked goofy that is fair game. Adonis, Jimmy Hart and Orton knocked this out of the park even Muraco played his part well. Awesome week to week storytelling in a promotion that is not known for week to week storytelling especially in the 80s. This is the type of serialized story telling I wish they would go back to. Everyone remember Piper destroying the Flower Shop but the best segment is the week before with the Debate and the Adonis/Muraco/Orton attack. Definitely watch the whole thing week to week. Two thumbs up.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage - WWF Boston Garden 5/24/86 Boston was the last city to get Hogan and Savage as I have covered their matches from Philly, Toronto, MSG and even Detroit. This is a doozy! Not as good as the January MSG match but my second favorite of the 85-86 series. This is the most Memphis match. Savage really gets on his bike and rides. Lots of stalling, jaw jacking, stare downs, spitting at each other. They just short of grabbing the microphone and cutting promos on each other and I thought they were in the Mid-South Coliseum. Hogan finally starts unloading with the heavy artillery you know the stuff and Atomic Drop sends the Macho Man outside good use of Elizabeth. Savage takes over on one of the chase scenes back into the Ring. Savage starts flying around hitting Double Axe handle bombs from every angle. Turns out the Boston Garden barricade is pretty easy to topple as Hogan explodes through it. Savage is pouring it on. MACHO MAN ELBOW! OH NO! HE ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE REVIVING ELBOW! HULK-UP!!! Savage sent to the outside and picks up Liz out of the way. Back into the Ring, Hogan clobbers the ref and Macho sends Hogan careening out of the Ring. Savage blasts him with the Championship belt off the top rope to the floor. The ref counts out Hogan out to give Macho Man the victory and a rematch that no one seems to like. Savage tries to abscond with the title but a bloody Hogan in White, Fireman Carries him back to the ring, retrieves the title, kicks his ass, sends him packing and poses. I can see if you’re really into Memphis style wrestling this being your favorite. Lots of Gaga early, strong Hogan offense But also strong Macho Man offense which isn’t always the case and bloody ending! Good shit too bad the rematch is panned. *** 3/4

Tito Santana vs Cowboy Bob Orton - WWF 8/9/86 Ace is donning the Pink Cowboy Hat as Gorilla he has recently taken a job with Adorable Adrian Adonis. They reference that it will be a rough job because Adonis has managed to antagonize everyone in the WWF: he was the impetus behind Orndorff’s turn on Hogan, he is Macho Man’s partner in crime inserting himself in Tito’s business, he has a personal feud with Junkyard Dog and Piper is set come back and wreck the Flower Shop. The Adorable One is the straw stirs the 1986 WWF drink. I was hoping to see the technical side of Tito who basically wrestles every match like his opponent owes him money and I figured in a 30 minute draw I would see a different side of him. I was right there was a few flares of fisticuffs But for the most part this is wrestled straight. What I found was the Bob Orton show and I liked it! I just think Tito was totally overshadowed by Orton. in a different time and place, Bob Orton could have been the top heel in a territory hell watching this he wouldn’t have been a bad NWA Champion. He has a little Funk, Murdoch in him. He can wrestle on the ground, he can brawl, he can bump & stooge. I thought this was a very Flair-Esque performance from him. The changing of strategies first with the drop toe hold. Then he tries fists. He does some high flying a flying headscissors! He cheats goes for the hair and the eyes. Just like Flair he is thwarted at every pass either Tito goes for the arm or lights him up with a punch. Besides ramming his forearm into the turnbuckle, HEY WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS CAST?, it was a very subdued and sleepy performance by Tito. Orton was bringing the energy and fun. His second attempt of the flying headscissors where he gets caught up in the ropes woke me and the crowd up. I loved his Funk esque bump into the barricade toppling it over. I think once he realized it was so easy to topple The barricade he made sure to ram Tito into it and a great transition to heat. I liked him hanging Tito out to dry. After that the chinlock got a bit long in the tooth. Tito wakes up at the end does some spirited leg work climaxing with a figure-4. I am a bit confused what Orton does when he is in between Tito’s leg I thought he head butted him in the balls but then they worked the abdomen he was nowhere close to the abdomen. They light each other up as they go to a draw. Good heated brawl as Orton takes a Murdoch esque bump face first between the bottom and middle rope letting his feet catch the bottom rope. Good craic. Flair, Funk and Murdoch are all more charismatic than Orton and also have better offense on top. However, it is a shame Orton didnt get a chance to prove himself on top because I think he had the tools to do it. It was not Tito’s typical match. It was not a bad performance per se but it was uncharacteristically lifeless except at the end with the leg work and the punching. It is a very good match but 30 minutes you have to be great if I will ever watch you again. *** 1/2

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff - WWF Big Event Even though I love the heel turn angle, Mr. Wonderful has never been a draw for me. I often put off his matches but this was very good and I have high hopes for the rest of the feud I plan on watching the Philly series and have seen the SNME cage match already. I would argue this was the Hulkster’s first real feud in the WWF. Yes there was the Bundy angle but this feels different than Hogan vanquishing Giants or wrestling Terry Funk and Randy Savage. They got ~70k in Toronto for this match and this was the inspiration for going big for WrestleMania III. Very marquee and influential feud! I love that Orndorff opens with an underhanded clothesline as the ref is checking Hogan nice play off the Clothesline that turned him heel. Great scuffle on the mat. Hogan gets the best of it. Very energetic fisticuffs follow. Hogan gets the best of it and sends Wonderful packing. I love how they fake out us a couple times before actually going to heat. Though eventually transition leaves a little to be desired. I liked Hogan chasing the Brain but the stomp to the back of the head didn’t look impactful enough to warrant a transition. Good heat segment by Orndorff nice suplex on the outside good heel offense focused on the throat. He signals for the Piledriver back drop out, but no Hulk Up. Nice Fist from Top Rope by Wonderful and a back Suplex. That triggers the Hulk Up! HOGAN HIGH KNEE WIPES OUT WONDERFUL & REF! HE RAISES ORNDORFF’s HAND AND CLOBBERS HIM WITH A CLOTHESLINE! How does that taste, Mr Wonderful? Piledriver with booty shake but Heenan hits Hogan with a stool triggering the DQ. Orndorff has the title Bur Hogan sends him packing and retrieves the title. The feud is off and running! Thought this was a very good Hogan formula match we get a bit more shine and I loved the finish with Hogan hitting the Traitor Clothesline on Wonderful for revenge. Hope the Philly matches are just as good. *** 1/2

Big & Super Machine & Capt Lou Albano vs Heenan Family (Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, Bobby Heenan) - WWF Big Event I watched this for Tag Teams Back Again WHOOMP THERE IT IS! Andre wrestled very little for the WWF after WrestleMania II wrestling a lot for New Japan. So this is a rare appearance for the Giant. Heenan in the pre match promo says the masks are coming off and Okerlund gets the crowd to chant Weasel. At first it looks like Andre is wrestling but it is Albano as Gorilla gets correct. Gorilla dont know their names: Big, Giant and Super Machine. Super Machine Can be differentiated from Big by Eadie’s very distinctive punches. Pretty basic match. Super Machine Cant body slam Studd but he knocks him off his feet with a clothesline. Big Machine knocks Bundy off his feet. Then the Heenan Family takes over. One heat segment per Machine each time Heenan tries unmask the Machine. I liked Bundy coming in and knocking into a Machine as they were revving up to get Studd back on top. Nice sliding knee by Studd on the apron as this was a good Studd performance. When Heenan loses control of Super Machine we get The Brain vs Captain. The match devolves as we get what we want Andre head butting Heenan, double noggin knocker on Studd and Bundy and generally putting a whipping on Heenan Family. Match feels incomplete like it ends abruptly. Studd & Bundy looked good in this.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage vs Koko B Ware - WWF Challenge 11/16/86 Non-Title For the love of God tell me theres a long form match between these two either from Memphis or WWF because this rules! Savage jumps Ware in his ring attire before Koko can get in the Ring. Savage is usual Tasmanian Devil self running around like a madman not letting Koko breathe. Koko starts mounting his comeback with the prettiest punches you’ll see. He goes all the way up to the top. MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE MACHO MAN! Foot on the ropes! Koko charges and goes flying over the top rope crashing to the floor. Macho Man leaps to dive on him and Koko catches him in the breadbasket with a punch. They brawl on floor until they get counted out Excellent! I want more! *** 1/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Boris Zhukov - AWA 9/16/86 A return bout on ESPN as AWA has little in the way of heels. It is too bad they didn’t give us a random title defense against Buddy Rose as we get another Zhukov match in November and a Nord match this month. I thought this was about the same level as the July match. Zhukov is a solid wrestler he is going to do his part. Bock seems ill-suited for this role as much as I like him. He doesn’t have much in the way of offense to get a shine going or fiery comeback. Nick flusters Boris early evading him as Zhukov charges and misses. Classic 80s sequence but seen done better a bunch of times in Backlund matches. It is a shame Backlund wasn’t pushed in the AWA in 85-87. Bock works the headlock. Zhukov’s leg work is very good just as good as the arm work in the previous match. Bock is selling well. I liked the leg yank on the apron into the chops. Indian Deathlock was nice surprise. Good heavy blows by Bock to get out. I liked Zhukovs headbutts to take back over. He needs to tighten up that Full Nelson. Bock pushes off the buckles. Is it a double pin? No! Bock wins! Another good match but AWA is sad at this point. It is funny Bock/Hennig and Rockers/Rose & Somers both have Top 100 matches of all time in 1986 but the depth is not there to support week to week television. ***

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Boris Zhukov - AWA 7/15/86 Ahhhh pro wrestling from Las Vegas on ESPN but feels a lot different 40 years ago. Bockwinkel is wicked over at the Showboat. I believe this is his first televised defense of his AWA World Title which was awarded to him under a cloud of controversy as Stan Hansen was stripped of the title and it was awarded to Bock. Why not just make this match for the title? With the departure of Hansen and others since WrestleRock, AWA is getting real thin. Blackwell’s health is failing him. You have up and comers like Hennig and the Rockers and a green Scott Hall. The Rockers have great adversaries in Rose & Somers but the singles heels are pretty dire Larry Zbyszko, Boris Zhukov, Nord the Barbarian and Col. DeBeers. Zbyszko is legitimately good but more in a No 2/3 Heel he’s not someone who can carry a company on his back. Coming off WrestleMania, this is so simple in its execution. The opening headscissors and Full Nelson are but flaccid but the rest of strength is very well-worked as the headlock by Bock. I thought the Arm work by Zhukov is the highlight of the match as was Bock’s selling. Love a hammerlock slam and arm stretcher. Nice heavy blows by Bock as he starts his comeback. He is crowding Zhukov in the corner. The finish is Zhukov has his feet on the ropes but ref sees. Zhukov thinks he won Bock dropkicks Zhukov into Al-Kaisse and wins the match. Felt like they had another ten minutes in them. Bock after decades of working heel is well-suited for a shine or comeback which you can see him. I enjoyed the Arm work. They have two more television matches I might watch them. ***

So I watched this Same video Charles says it is from 3/30 in Omni this says 3/29 Greensboro. We are clearly talking about the same match so I will let someone else decide the date and venue. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ronnie Garvin - NWA 3/30/86 Omni Steel Cage Fantastic Handheld as someone not usually into fancams, this is worth going out of your way to see! Much better than the 3/1 match less cuts and easier to follow the narrative. WHAT A WAR! This is what you want from Flair vs Garvin. Just a dog fight from beginning to end. Pelting each other with stiff shots. The beginning of the match is each back the other into a corner just lighting each other up. Flair was trying to crowd Garvin in the crowd and Garvin was BELTING him back. The way Flair would lunge to close the gap or got for the throat or how Garvin would go for the hair. So visceral. Garvin grabbing that big banana nose and yanking was awesome doubly awesome because he demonstrated to Tommy Young what he just did. I will get to my one beef with the match. Just like on 3/1 Garvin hits the Hands of Stone early and Flair kicks out. Garvin had punched Flair in the run up and Flair was registering, Flair clearly bumped around 8 minute mark of the footage I watched like he got DECKED and then kicked out. Back to heaping praise on this… Garvin grabs a front face lock, Flair muscles him into the corner and BALLSHOTS him. This is what really separates this from 3/1 EXCELLENT Heat segment we starts with busting Garvin open by ramming and grating him head on the Steel. Then it is the heavy hands of Flair. Watch the punches and the way he takes him down beats the fucking shit out of him. When Garvin starts to No Sell the shots in the corner FUCK YES! They don’t jump to it early. Flair beats him back into another corner. Garvin no sells. Watch Flair RIP him down the ground. That was not a snap mare that was a RIP. He unleashes a fury of punches but it is Flair who tastes the steel for the first time. Then it is UNHOLY Testicular Violence! Garvin straight up punches him in the asshole and the dick it was like fuck. HOW THE FUCK DO FLAIR’s TRUNKS HOLD ON? I thought for sure we were going to see his junk fuck he yank that shit down. They do classic Garvin stands out of the atomic drop CLOCKS HIM WITH THE HANDS OF STONE! ELECTRIC! Flair gets his foot on the ropes. Pretty lame in a steel cage match. Great spot but they were in a tough spot because Garvin was not winning the title. The action kinda Peters out as their only play was to get to the Figure-4 to reheat and they do. Flair crotches him on the ropes. A little leg work and the Figure-4 and the heat is back. Garvin reverses the pressure and revs back up. Flair goes to escape again and again his trunks work overtime to stay in his body. Again the HANDS OF STONE! Again the foot on the ropes. Ugh. Take it home fellas Flair crossbody and Garvin knee buckles and he collapses under the weight of Flair for the win. Garvin makes sure to sell the knee. Normally I love that finish but if you’re going to use it I would have liked some more leg work. Three near falls with Hands of Stone was two too many. Cut out the first one that was fucking stupid. I like the second one. Go into the leg work. Make the leg work more extensive and vicious. Have Garvin make one final comeback but he whiffs on the Hands of Stone because of his leg, Flair crossbody Knee buckles and you have a 5 star classic. As is **** 1/2 because the violence and hatred and nastiness was so fucking awesome, this is exactly what you want Flair vs Garvin to be hard hitting and nasty. **** 1/2

Mid-South North American Champion Butch Reed vs Dick Slater - Mid-South 1/11/86 Mid-South was in a period of transition as Butch Reed a mainstay of the promotion would leave for Central States of all places to tag and then feud with Rufus R Jones. Dick Slater would be gone by April as would the man he would feud with Jake the Snake. Mid-South was gearing up for the big UWF re-brand. Slater has been trying to collect the bounty on Butch Reed set by Ric Flair and recently they had a match in Houston on 12/29 where Slater put up Dark Journey for 30 days which is always a tasteless angle. Here Slater goads Reed to put the title on the line against Dark Journey. About 10 minutes of action I don’t know if it is because Reed is going out the door but not a whole lot to this one. Reed power offense and punches control the beginning. He sets too early Slater takes over but nothing too fancy. Reed drives his face into the mat. Reed piledriver but feels out of place as that doesnt climax the segment But Reed back to punches. Double noggin knocker. Slater Figure-4, handful of tights in O’Connor Roll ref waves it off. Reed misses the charge in the corner and loaded Dark Journey shoe gets the win and title for Slater who was just a traditional champion to UWF re-brand. Fun finish decent match. ***

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ronnie Garvin - NWA 3/1/86 Greensboro Fancam If you like Flair Flops and Flair’s ass this is the match for you. I am normally not a fancam guy but Flair vs Garvin is one of my all time favorite match ups and the 85 studio matvh is one of my personal favorite matches. The Superstars on the Superstation match is good but maybe their weakest match together. So it feels like I never got to see the blowoff to the 85-86 feud so I figured I watch this and the Cage at the end of the month before Flair transition to Ricky Morton for the spring and summer. It is a pretty good fancam all things considered they work a double Countout after ~30minutes of action theres 34mins of footage with pre and post match included. There is small clipping throughout. I got a kick out of him clipping the sleeper to the top wrist lock test of strength even in 86 they were like skip. So it can be a bit hard to follow the action and narrative. It is Flair vs Garvin we are here for the Fire Fights and there are some great ones that break out in the corner throughout the match. Two curious things happen Garvin nails him with the Hands of Stone TWICE and Flair kicks out TWICE. The first one was like 4-5mins into the footage. They invested so much on TV that Garvin had this punchers chance if he connects with the Hands of Stone he can be World Champ and then Flair kicks out twice smacked me as bizarre. Lots of Flair crowding in the corner and Garvin coming back and overwhelming him. Garvin worked the arm and even a Boston Crab later. Flair was throwing his short knee and heavy blows. I liked both transitions to Flair heat segments one being a desperation Headbutt to the gut it was almost like he collapsed into a lunging Headbutt and a great ball shot later. I wish we got more Flair on top. When he was on top he was vicious and his blows were heavy. Lots of your favorite standard Flair spots and we got juice. His third heat segment climaxed with the Figure-4. As the action spills outside more and more I am like this is going to a Double Countout which makes sense because I believe they come back around at the end of the month to do Steel Cage Matches because the Ring COULD NOT contain them! Garvin DECKS Flair back in the Ring after the match has been called off but Tommy Young Cant count the pin. Which makes it even weirder that they ran two Hands of Stone to kick outs. It would have made so much more sense to have Flair evade the Hands of Stone the whole match and the after the Double Countout DECK Him and the fans are like OH IF ONLY HE COULD HAVE CLOCKED BEFORE THE MATCH ENDED! Weird booking aside, the narrative was a bit hard to follow but it is Flair vs Garvin 34 minutes still breezed by. *** 1/2

Alright got 5 hours of Sleep as my wife took the baby. OMG how have I never seen the Ole leg breaking angle from the 1/1/86 Omni show Dusty break Ole’e leg using the protective brace and a figure-4. Road Warriors are accomplices in this escalating turf war. Arn Anderson narrates the clip and does an incredible job. Flair and Arn at the end are so INCENSED! God this is what pro wrestling needs not more talking back and forth, not more wrestling, MORE ANGLES!

Baby woke up fed changed and went back to sleep. Not as easy for me to go back to sleep. From 1/10/86 WCCW Sportatorium show it is John Tatum and Lance Von Erich but I am of course watching for Missy. I have seen a little Tatum. I have never seen Lance. Very very handsome fella. Surprised Vince didn’t pick him up. Missy and Sunshine brawl a bit so David Manning throw them out. I FF because I just want the angle. Lance spanks Missy after beating her man to add insult to injury. She flips out smacking and berating John Tatum around and Tatum sells it like a total emasculated loser. I hate when they smack Baby Doll around but spanking is in that gray zone. Missy should have done more to warrant it in this particular instance. Great job by Tatum being comfortable enough in his own masculinity to really put over the angle because this is great heel stuff. Mid-South 2/8/86 The House of Humperdink has fallen and Hot Stuff International is on the rise as Eddie Gilbert executes his revenge plot for Hump stealing Nightmare when Taurus Bulba attacks Hump. Bulba looks generic never seen him before. CWF 4/12 loved Barry Windham and Jesse Barr dressed as a woman getting one up on Luger and Bob Ropp dressed as the Mauruder, Windham socks the Maurauder and gets a roll of coins from Bart in drag. Great shit!