Filed under: WWF PPV | Tags: Adrian Adonis, Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, Bret Hart, Brian Blair, Bruno Sammartino, Brutus Beefcake, Corporal Kirchner, Dan Spivey, Davey Boy Smith, Don Muraco, Dynamite Kid, Fabulous Moolah, George Steele, George Wells, Greg Valentine, Hercules Hernandez, Hillbilly Jim, Hoss Funk, Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, Jake Roberts, Jim Brunzell, Jim Neidhart, Junk Yard Dog, King Kong Bundy, King Tonga, Mr T, Nikolai Volkoff, Paul Orndorff, Pedro Morales, Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Ted Arcidi, Terry Funk, Tito Santana, Uncle Elmer, Velvet McIntyre
Finally made it to Wrestlemania II, the second Wrestlemania and the only one to feature a steel cage match. WWF made the crazy decision to have this year’s Wrestlemania take place in three cities at the same time, which was crazy at the time and still is now. We have the show split between New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, which four matches at each and each show having it’s own main event. Once again this show was not on PPV but closed circuit only, and has the most celebrities of any Wrestlemania as each city had celebrities and guest commentators. The matches were what everyone came for and we get a tag title match between the Bulldogs and Dream Team, Hulk Hogan versus King Kong Bundy in a cage, a WWF versus NFL Battle Royal, and another boxing match as Roddy Piper faces Mr T. Making their Wrestlemania debuts are Ms Elizabeth, Corporal Kirchner, Terry & Hoss Funk, Uncle Elmer, Hercules, Don Muraco, George Steele, Mr Fuji, George Wells, British Bulldogs, Adrian Adonis and most importantly Jake Roberts and Randy Savage. Also Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales make their first Wrestlemania appearances in the ring during the battle royal, among others like Killer Bees, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, King Tonga, Hillbilly Jim, Dan Spivey and the Hart Foundation. All in all twenty five people made their Wrestlemania debut tonight making this the second most Wrestlemania debuts after Wrestlemania 16. Not everyone who made their debut had a second Wrestlemania appearance but that is a lot of names making appearances with twelve big matches, let’s start the show. Continue reading
Filed under: SNME | Tags: Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, Brutus Beefcake, Greg Valentine, Hulk Hogan, Jerry Valiant, King Kong Bundy, Lanny Poffo, Nikolai Volkoff, Paul Orndorff, Roddy Piper, Tony Atlas, Tony Garea, Uncle Elmer
Following the previous episode of SNME, we just forward four and a half months to October for the second edition of SNME. Since the last episode two championships to have changed hands first is the WWF Tag Team Titles, which actually changed twice. First Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo regained the gold from Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff in June, but lost the titles two months later to Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine. Greg Valentine was the Intercontinental Champion but six weeks before winning the tag belts he lost the championship to Tito Santana. Meanwhile Hulk Hogan is still riding high as the World Champion sitting at just over twenty months. Tonight on SNME we get a wedding with Uncle Elmer, also Hulk Hogan defends the World title against former tag champion Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match and Roddy Piper faces Wrestlemania tag partner Paul Orndorff. All this and more, on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Continue reading
Filed under: House Shows | Tags: Bret Hart, Brutus Beefcake, George Wells, Greg Valentine, Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana
Coming off the first ever Wrestlemania, we head to Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens for our next show. About three weeks removed from the biggest night in the WWF’s history, tonight’s show is headlined by Hulk Hogan defending the WWF World Championship against Paul Orndorff. Being that this show is only fifty two minutes, I assume we get maybe two other matches and that’s it. Either way, Hogan and Orndorff were always able to bring the excitement levels up, so let’s head to the ring and get it started. Continue reading
Filed under: WWF TNT | Tags: Big John Studd, Don Muraco, Freddie Blassie, Ivan Putski, Jesse Ventura, Mr Fuji, Paul Orndorff, Roddy Piper, Ron Shaw, Sal Bellomo, SD Jones
Here we go with episode two of TNT from the WWF, this episode aired June 12, 1984. Two weeks after the previous episode, which seems odd going biweekly but here we are. After watching the first one I can tell this series is going to be low on action and high on talking, so these reviews may not be as long as others. I’m assuming we’re not going to get any real good matches on these shows until we get to Prime Time in 1986, but we shall trudge through the mire of TNT anyways as there are some hidden comedy gems in here, just got to find them. So with that, let’s head to the studio and see what Vince and Alfred have in store for us this week. Continue reading
Filed under: WWF TNT | Tags: Adrian Adonis, Afa, Andre the Giant, Billy Travis, Brian Blair, David Schultz, Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, Jimmy Snuka, Lou Albano, Paul Orndorff, Rocky Johnson, Sika, Tito Santana, Tony Atlas
I’m back with more WWE Network programming. I waited to see if they were going to fill in any of the gaps for the territories and it doesn’t seem likely, so I’m just to skip those and focus on WWF, NWA/WCW and ECW. So that brings us to TNT tonight from May 29, 1984. So, we are about ten months away from the first Wrestlemania and four months into Hulkamania which started in January when Hulk Hogan won the World Title from Iron Sheik in the last show we recapped. The Tag Team titles are being held by Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch, who won the gold Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas only a month earlier. Tito Santana is the current reigning Intercontinental Champion, having regained the gold from Don Muraco on February 11th. This leads us to TNT, aka Tuesday Night Titans, which is not your standard WWF program as they tried to make it more of a talk show style with occasional matches. Let’s head to the ring for the very first episode.
Filed under: House Shows | Tags: Afa, Andre the Giant, Chief Jay Strongbow, Hulk Hogan, Invaders, Iron Sheik, Ivan Putski, Jimmy Snuka, Jose Luis Rivera, Masked Superstar, Mr Fuji, Paul Orndorff, Rene Goulet, Rocky Johnson, Sal Bellomo, Samula, Sgt Slaughter, Sika, Tiger Chung Lee, Tony Atlas, Tony Garea
Today on the Network we watch one of the most historic night in WWF history, the night Hulkamania was born. Coming into the show, the reigning World Champion is The Iron Sheik who won the gold from Bob Backlund only one month earlier. Bob lost the title when his manager tossed in the towel as Sheik had Bob in the dreaded Camel Clutch, also injuring Bob. Hulk Hogan would be called to take the place of the injured former champion. The World Tag Team Champions are Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson who won the titles back in November from the Wild Samoans. Don Muraco is the Intercontinental Champion and is one day past his one year anniversary as champion having won the gold from Pedro Morales. At this point the WWF was in a major state of change as Vince McMahon Junior was taking the company over from his father and preparing to go national and challenge the other territories, something no one thought would work. It was a major gamble for McMahon and WWF, as failure would have not only destroyed the company but probably blackballed a lot of the talent who worked with Vince. Huge changes were sweeping through the wrestling world, as two months earlier the NWA aired the first major show, Starrcade, which was a success and began the launch of supercards with Wrestlemania to come next year, but we’re getting a head of ourselves. Let’s see what tonight’s show has to offer. Continue reading
