[1986-08-28-WWF-The Big Event] Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff

[SmartMark15]

Orndorff goes in hot, ambushing Hogan to kick off the match. From there, they work a very tight, very close brawl leading to Orndorff getting an extended heat segment on Hogan. Hogan puts on a masterclass of sympathetic babyface selling. When he's down, he's down. This show was worked in front of 70,000 people and Hogan, more than Orndorff, understands this. You can see the way he begs for crowd support, how every bump and sell if just a little bigger than usual. My only gripe was the poor timing and execution of the comeback. Hogan just decides to pop right back up. There's usually a little more build to his comebacks than that. But once it gets going, it's hard not to get engrossed by it. A screwy finish to keep the feud going but this was a pretty good Hogan-formula match.

***1/2

[Mrzfn]

One of Hogan's best singles matches, for my money. He and Orndorff gelled well together and Heenan in the corner helped bump it up further, as usual. Watched this recently and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, since I'm not a Hogan fan by and large.