[1986-07-19-WWF-Championship Wrestling] Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff vs Big John Studd & King Kong Bundy

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff vs Heenan Family (Big John Studd & King Kong Bundy) - WWF 7/19/86

 

The build to this is tremendous and mostly takes place on the Flower Shop. Adrian Adonis & The Flower Shop were great in 1986. Adonis was the straw that stirred the WWF drink. He was best friends with the Macho Man in their feud with Tito. Of course, the Piper return is iconic. In addition, he was the catalyst for turning Orndorff on Hogan taking innocuous occurrences and playing on Mr. Wonderful's insecurities. The infamous missed phone call and I cant still see Orndorff steaming mad in my head. He looked like one of those cartoon characters all he was missing was the steam coming out his ears. This all built to Hogan teaming with Wonderful against his two biggest rivals Studd & Bundy.

 

This match is amazing in setting up the angle. Wonderful does a great job getting both Studd & Bundy off their feet, but he cant slam Studd. He dropkicks him off the feet. He cant slam him. The crowd gives him a good reaction, but he didn't slam him. Hogan comes in like a ball of energy and SLAMS STUDD! THE CROWD ERUPTS! ORNDORFF IS PISSED! Great, great stuff. Hogan gets double teamed. He is trying break free of Studd with a headbutt and the kickback rocks him back into Orndorff on the apron and the collision wipes out Wonderful. Studd & Bundy double team Hogan as the ref calls for the DQ. Orndorff is selling, but clears the ring of the Heenan Family. Orndorff raises Hogan's hand and then BANG CLOTHESLINE HIM! PILEDRIVER!!! AWESOME ANGLE! What I really liked about it is that felt organic. Like Orndorff was miffed at Hogan but did not have the intention of turning on him until he got knocked off the apron. It was a split second decision, which saves the headache of if you are going to turn on him why go through the motions of the match. I am going to stick with this story rather than story of it being pre-conceived as Bruno suggests because Adonis is there to congratulate him and the Heenan Family celebrate. The notion it was pre-conceived does leave a bad taste in my mouth, but otherwise a truly excellent and angle one of the best of the era. Must-see angle.