The Wrestling Classic

Legacy Review

The Wrestling Classic

November 7, 1985 from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, IL

 

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

 

WWF's first attempt to follow up the first Wrestlemania on PPV wasn't Survivor Series or Summerslam, it was this right here, the generically named Wrestling Classic. And yes I said PPV. This was the first wrestling show ever to be broadcast via PPV instead of closed circuit TV, which had been used for the first two Starrcades by Jim Crockett Promotions and the first WM. This was supposed to be just the first of a series of five PPVs under the umbrella name "WrestleVision", but a lack of buzz for and following this show and a general lack of available PPV carriers at that point led to the rest of the series being cancelled. WWF wouldn't try another PPV outside WM until the first Survivor Series in '87.

 

The hook for this show is a one night 16 man tournament dubbed "the most prestigious wrestling tournament of all time". The winner gets.....I dunno, bragging rights I guess. And I suppose the biggest paycheck for the night. Not a lot is being offered as far as winnings here, which was part of the problem. Interestingly, it was earlier this very year in June that the first King of the Ring tournament was held, also a one night 16 man affair, though that one was on a house show with no TV broadcast. Apart from the tournament, tonight will also feature Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Championship one last time against his longtime archnemesis Roddy Piper.

 

Howard Finkel unusually does the opening video voiceover. After that Vince McMahon acts as MC for the evening, along with a still eternally befuddled Lord Alfred Hayes. Vince, Hayes and the Vanna White substitute hired for the night along with her pointy stick go over the wall sized bracket for the tournament. After that Mean Gene is with WWF President Jack Tunney, whose very presence shows just how *important* this tournament is. An interesting (at least to me) note on the setup for this show- WWF is using a local ring instead of their own. It's smaller with clearly not WWF supplied cable ropes and generic turnbuckles. They also use local refs for the most of the show instead of usual WWF refs.

 

First Round: Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) def Corporal Kirchner in 3:21- Adonis is still in his "leather jacket" tough guy phase before he went all, er, effeminate. Monsoon points out that Adonis and Ventura were once the tag champs as The East West Connection. I miss the "connection" names for tag teams, there used to be so many of them. Kirchner was legitimately a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne before leaving the military and turning to wrestling. Adonis practically hugs Kirchner back into the corner. I did mention this is pre-effeminate. Kirchner gets a couple of armdrags that rattle Adonis. Kirchner cranks a headlock that ground Adonis down. Eventually Adonis Saito suplexes out. He hits a couple of elbows to the head, then a snap mare. Now Adonis kills what little time they have with a chinlock. When Kirchner fights back up they seem to have a hard time figuring out what they're doing. Very fumbly. Kirchner hooks up for a suplex. Adonis blocks it and uses it to hit a DDT! Great counter. And that gets the pin. 1/2*

 

First Round: Dynamite Kid def Nikolai Volkoff in :08- Volkoff does his usual Soviet national anthem singing. Dynamite patiently waits in the corner......then as soon as Volkoff is done goes up top and hits a missile dropkick! That gets the pin and it's over already! Screw King Kong Bundy at WM1, that was a real record time. NR

 

First Round: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Ivan Putski in 2:48- Savage signed with WWF in June after working in Memphis most of his career to that point. He was dubbed "the hottest free agent in wrestling" when WWF brought him in, and even him bringing his real life wife Elizabeth in as his manager was an event as literally every other WWF manager was angling to sign him. He immediately began working to transform WWF's in-ring product, as much as one man could, to something more athletic and high flying. Even better, he could back it all up with great mic skills too. His "improv minute" bits with Mean Gene on TV and at MSG were already becoming the stuff of legend, promos still instantly recognizable and widely referenced by wrestling and non-wrestling fans today. There was literally no one like Randy Savage on the roster when he started in WWF. This would be the final major match for "Polish Power" Putski, one of WWF's biggest babyface stars in the '70s. Savage is already getting the full modern style entrance. WWF knew what they got, a megastar waiting to happen. Ventura says he helped Savage train for this tournament. I'm sure he'll stay completely unbiased though. As soon as he's disrobed Savage hops right out to stall, riling hothead Putski up even more than he already was. We have a WWF ref for this match. In fact its Dave Hebner, twin brother of Earl, who was still working in Jim Crockett at the time. Savage gets up top at the bell. Putski dares him to try, so Savage hops down, spits, and hops out again to play some more mind games. Lockup and Putski spits in Savage's face! Savage hops out again and repositions Elizabeth. Back in they go quick speed and Savage does a great bounce off Putski on a shoulderblock attempt. Dude's built like a Polish privy, that's for sure. Putski gives Savage a buckle shot and Savage hides in the ropes. He does an eye rake that lets him hit a few shots, but Putski grabs him and gives him a bunch of rapid fire jabs in response. More punches from Putski and he stomps Savage down in the corner. Leg takedown from Savage in the corner, he gets his feet on the ropes and steals a pin! Savage grabs Elizabeth and they get the hell out of town. Not exactly a showcase for Savage and chemistry was lacking to say the least as Putski didn't seem much interested in what Savage was trying to do, but it did show that Savage can win a match with his brains too, even if it was cheating. 3/4*

 

While Vince and Hayes are updating the bracket Volkoff storms in and rants about being robbed. Probably said the same thing when we beat them to the moon. Yes I know that seems random, but I just got done finally getting caught up on watching For All Mankind before diving into this. Absolutely superb show.

 

First Round: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def Davey Boy Smith in 2:55- The other half of the British Bulldogs tag team making his PPV debut. He hadn't taken Bulldog as his name just yet. This is your face vs face match to put over the "random draw" nature of the first round. If it really was random we'd see a lot more face vs face and heel vs heel matches. Ventura says he expects one or both guys to snap and do some rule breaking to win. Nice basic start with lots of quick counters. Bulldog gets a hiptoss, then hits a weird suplexey slam thing to get them in position for the bridge up spot, which of course they pull off smoothly into a Steamboat backslide for 2. The old local ref working this match is having a near impossible time keeping up, this is way out of his usual experience. Press slam from Bulldog for 2, then he hooks on a front facelock. Another press slam, then back to the facelock. Steamboat blocks a suplex and does a very impressive delayed suplex, considering how much bigger Bulldog is than him. Steamboat goes for a splash but Bulldog gets his knees up, then hits a standing shotgun dropkick. Steamboat dodges against the ropes and Bulldog crashes into them! Bulldog is in serious pain after crotching himself on the ropes and the ref stops the match, giving Steamboat the win. A day when smashing your nads against the ropes was actually taken seriously. I'm curious if that was really the planned finish or if Bulldog legit bolloxed his bollocks up enough to force it to be stopped. The way he grabs himself in the slow mo replay after hitting the ropes it might be the latter. All that aside, that's about as good as you can get in a sub 3 minute match. **3/4

 

In his prematch promo JYD says he wants to give congratulations to "the Chicago". I assume he means the Bears, who were in the midst of an all time great season that year. Jordan was still rounding into form in his second year with the Bulls and neither the Cubs or White Sox were winning jack shit at that time.

 

First Round: The Junkyard Dog def The Iron Sheik in 3:26- In terms of workrate and effort, I expect this match to be the exact opposite of the last match. Dubbed over music for JYD again. Sheik jumps JYD as soon as he gets in the ring. He chokes JYD with his robe, turban still on. Then he chokes JYD with the turban. JYD no sells punches and fires back. Headbutt. Sheik tries to beg off but takes another headbutt, then gingerly steps out of the ring. Back in Sheik gets a full nelson on. JYD powers out and hits a horrible clothesline for 2. Sheik dodges a diving headbutt. Camel clutch to break his back and make him humble! JYD seems to go out and Sheik lets go, but the ref doesn't do any checks at all. I think not having regular WWF refs is hurting some of these matches. JYD catches Sheik with another headbutt and that gets the pin. Amazingly, that was way better than I was expecting. Not great, but it could have been much worse. *1/2

 

Mean Gene gives up on his interview with Funk because Funk is spitting chewing tobacco all over him. I don't blame Okerlund one bit. That stuff is disgusting. I've had family that have used that and it always made me gag to just look at it. Funk makes it clear he doesn't care about the tournament, he wants to collect the bounty that's out on Orndorff, then win the WWF Title.

 

First Round: Moondog Spot def Terry Funk (w/Jimmy Hart) by countout in :27- Funk swung over for his first ever real WWF run in June, and under a special deal where he could still work in All Japan at the same time. Funk takes Fink's mic and says he doesn't want to wrestle Spot, Spot doesn't want to wrestle him, why not take a draw and call it a night? Spot seems to agree and they both leave the ring. D Hebner rings the bell to start the match. Funk hits Spot from behind! Spot drags Funk down off the apron. Funk lifts Spot up into the ring to stop Spot from hitting him, but that gets Spot back in the ring in time and Funk gets counted out! Got a tick to clever for his own good on that one. NR

 

First Round: WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana def The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) in 4:19- This is a revival of an old IC title feud from a couple of years ago, when Santana won it for the first time. He's in his second reign now after dethroning Greg Valentine in July. The IC title belt has been upgraded to the classic version, making its PPV debut here. After a couple of lockup stalemates Muraco gets the first shots in and goes to town on Santana. Santana ducks a clothesline and gets a crossbody for 2. Muraco gets back up with an uppercut. Sunset flip from Santana for 2. Muraco hooks up for a neckbreaker, but Santana blocks it into a backslide. Muraco's too close to the ropes for a count, and he begs off in the corner. Santana says nah. Muraco upside down flip in the corner! Santana cranks an ARMBAR. Muraco lifts him up and drops him on the top rope. Standing clothesline and elbow drop from Muraco. Kneedrop for 2. Powerslam near the ropes. Local ref counts 3, but then sees Santana's foot was on the ropes and waves it off. But the bell rang and Muraco thinks he won. Santana grabs a small package and gets a pin to win for real. Again the local ref turning things into a bit of a mess. Commentary was even confused. The match was decent enough before that. **

 

Bobby Heenan is with Mean Gene. Even though none of his wrestlers are in the tournament, he's always watching and is scouting tonight. He also reminds everyone he has a $50,000 bounty out for anyone that can take Orndorff out. 

 

First Round: "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff def "Cowboy" Bob Orton by DQ in 6:30- The signature match of the first round. Orndorff turned face after taking the pin and being abandoned by his teammates Piper and Orton in the WM 1 main event. Just spotted a guy in the crowd wearing a classic Seahawks Steve Largent jersey. Nice. Of course it wasn't classic then, it was current. Orton is, naturally, still wearing a cast on his "hurt" arm that's been "hurt" for a good 6-7 months now. Lockup and Orndorff cranks an armbar on Orton's "hurt" arm. Atomic drop from Orndorff and Orton goes all the way into the post. Orndorff smashes Orton's cast arm onto the post. Orton catches Orndorff with a headlock takedown. Orndorff responds with an armdrag and goes to work on the arm again. Orton gets a knee up in the corner to catch Orndorff. Commentary says a lot of complimentary things about Orton that are very similar to what will one day be said about his son Randy. "Mechanically sound", "A wrestler's wrestler". He hot shots Orndorff on the top rope. Orndorff tries a sunset flip. Orton tries to punch out, but Orndorff pulls his tights down to get him over for 2! Once a heel, always a heel. Orton drops some more forearms and knees to put Orndorff down again. He works a headscissors on Orndorff. Orndorff does a nice escape and they do the bridge up/backslide spot with Orton getting a 2 count. He hiptosses Orndorff out of the corner. Orndorff dodges in the corner and Orton flies onto the ropes! Comeback flurry from Orndorff. Back elbow/elbow drop combo from Orndorff. A running punch sends Orton 360 over the top to the floor, though he lands on his feet. While D Hebner is getting Orndorff back Orton adjusts his cast. He waffles Orndorff with the cast! But Hebner saw it and DQs Orton. The fight continues. Orndorff punches Orton out of the ring and Orton walks off. Rock solid stuff. **1/2

 

Back to the bracket board, where Vince has to peel Hayes off the hired blonde. No word on where the pointy stick is while that's going on. Once order is restored and the stick is found they go over everyone that advanced and the second round matchups. Hayes sounds like he spent the whole show so far eyeing up the blonde instead of watching the matches. Funk then crashes in to complain about getting screwed by the ref. He actually would manage to finagle a title shot against Hogan on the next Saturday Night's Main Event.

 

Quarterfinals: Dynamite Kid def Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) in 5:27- Speed run with Dynamite hitting a couple of quick armdrags. Adonis bails to the floor to rethink things, then slugs Kid down back in. He slingshots Kid into the corner. Ventura sees what's up next and leaves to have a strategery confab with Savage while Adonis hits a slam for 2. Monsoon has to fly solo for a bit, but he's not too worried about it. Suplex from Adonis for 2. Kid muscles Adonis up for a Saito suplex out of a headlock. Adonis dodges a diving headbutt and he starts working on Dynamite's leg. Adonis hooks on a Scorpion deathlock. Someone watched his Riki Choshu tapes, that wasn't a widely used move in the US yet as far as I can remember. Kid does a fancy floatover into a cradle in the corner for 2. Adonis takes Dynamite's leg out of his leg again to put him back down. He goes for a bulldog but Dynamite pushes him into the corner! Clothesline with a weird sell from Adonis. Kneedrop from the second rope for 2. Snap suplex from Dynamite. Diving headbutt. Hart gets on the apron. Adonis sneaks a cradle for 2. Dynamite's kickout sends Adonis into Hart, and Dynamite covers for the pin. Adonis throws a full on toddler temper tantrum after the bell. **

 

Quarterfinals: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in 3:19- These two will have a slightly more famous match later on down the line that you may have heard of. Savage does the finger point to rile Steamboat up, then hides behind Elizabeth, then attacks from behind. All with his robe still on. Steamboat slides under and hits some chops that send Savage bailing to the floor. After Elizabeth gets his robe off Savage drags Steamboat out to the floor for a few shots. Back in Steamboat uses his position in the corner to headscissor Savage out to the floor! Steamboat hits some chops and gives Savage an atomic drop on the floor. Back in Savage tries to dodge a double hand chop but Steamboat hits it on the second try. Savage ducks under another chop attempt and hits a back suplex. Good news, everyone can relax, Ventura is back in the booth. Savage goes up top. Steamboat catches him with a shot in the gut coming down and hits a kneelift. A series of fistdrops force Savage to the apron. Steamboat suplexes him back in. He goes up top and the crossbody hits! Savage kicks out! More chops from Steamboat. On the apron again Savage pulls something out of his tights. Steamboat lifts Savage up to get him back in the ring. Savage nails him with the object and Steamboat goes out! Cover and Savage gets the win. Savage would use that exact finish early in the next year to win the IC title from Santana. They did as much as they possibly could in just over 3 minutes. ***1/4

 

Mean Gene tries to get some words from Moondog Spot. Might as well be talking to Captain Caveman. Or Gabby Johnson.

 

Quarterfinals: The Junkyard Dog def Moondog Spot in :45- It's a dog eat dog world.....sorry, I'll see myself out. Once again JYD gets jumped as soon as he steps in the ring. JYD dodges Spot's attempt at a splash off the second rope and hits his crawling headbutts. Monsoon points out something I missed- there's no ref in the ring! Where the smeg is the local ref? I know one of them is up, D Hebner worked the last match. JYD hits a headbutt, covers, and counts 3 himself! The bell rings and I guess it counts. That's another one I'll pin on the local refs, who've been horrible tonight. DUD

 

Quarterfinals: Tito Santana and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff double countout in 8:06- Another face vs face matchup here. I'm relieved to say there's actually a ref in the ring for this one. Santana's added a bit of tape on his upper leg after his last match. Code of Honor handshake before the bell. Lockup and Santana works a headlock, getting Orndorff down. Orndorff powers back up into a top wristlock fight. Santana manages to get him back down into a headscissors. Ventura wonders if the REAL Orndorff will show up in this match. Maybe not tonight, but definitely soon. Orndorff manages to maneuver to catch Santana with a jackknife cover for 2. Both guys pop up with clinched fists, much to Ventura's delight, but neither takes a swing. We stay scientific and respectful. Orndorff works around into a hammerlock that grounds Santana. Santana manages to fight up and reverse. Orndorff takes a rope break and we have another slug it out tease. Ventura's chomping at the bit to see the two "goody two shoes" get in an all out brawl. Another headlock from Santana that Orndorff atomic drops out of. Santana grabs at his taped up leg and can't get back up. Orndorff debates with himself whether or not to jump on it. Santana manages to limp around on one leg. Drop toe hold from Orndorff and he cranks back on the leg. Santana tries a crossface to get free but it goes nowhere. Elbow drop on the leg from Orndorff. He tries for a possible figure four but Santana pushes free, sending Orndorff into the corner. Again Santana hops around on one leg and Orndorff gives him space. Lockup and rope break....Orndorff nails Santana with a forearm against the ropes! You knew he'd be the first one to snap. That sent Santana to the floor. Orndorff follows and they get into a forearm slugfest on the floor. That turns into full on fisticuffs! Orndorff takes a post shot. The ref gets to 10 to count both out. Neither guy cares and they're still throwing fists. Finally they realize, cool off and back down while Ventura laughs away. I liked that match. They had a solid plan, executed it well and told a cohesive story. It also gets IC champ Santana out without having to take a real loss. ***

 

Once again Hayes has to be peeled off tonight's hired bird before we run down the bracket board again. Clearly this was before WWF had an HR department. The double elimination gives JYD a bye right to the finals

 

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper by DQ in 7:14- The pre-Winged Eagle WWF Title belt is making its PPV debut tonight. A pretty underrated belt. It's not the Winged Eagle (nothing is) but it's still a pretty good design. During this first title reign Hogan would sometimes wear something other than the classic red and yellow gear, that wasn't a set in stone look yet. Tonight it's all white gear for him. They get into a tug of war over the belt and Piper uses that to jump before the bell. He tosses Hogan out. Hogan immediately drags Piper out with him despite Piper's attempt to get tied up in the ropes. Hogan tosses Piper over what guardrail there is and hits a kneelift. Back in both guys eye rake with Piper getting the edge with thrusts to the throat. Hogan reverses a corner whip and hits a corner clothesline. Piper flop! Almost Flair or HHH level. Back suplex from Hogan. Slam/elbow drop combo. Local ref hooks Hogan's arm while they're in the corner, allowing Piper to get another shot in. Piper tries coming off the second rope but Hogan catches him in a bear hug! Piper eye pokes to get free. He pounds away on Hogan on the mat and covers for 2. Piper gets the sleeper on and rides Hogan's back. Hogan grabs for the ropes and tears at the ref's shirt, but slowly goes down. He goes all the way to the ground and we get arm drops. Only two of course. Hogan fights back up and dumps himself and Piper over the top to the floor! Post shot for Piper. Someone tosses a full drink toward the ring but it's a mile away from the wrestlers. What a waste. Hogan no sells punches on the floor. Back in Hogan hits the big boot, then an atomic drop. Piper reverses a whip and pushes Hogan into the ref. Piper goes out and gets a chair. Chairshot for Hogan. Hogan blocks another one. He gets the chair and gives Piper a shot with it. Sleeper from Hogan! Bob Orndorff runs in and attacks Hogan, drawing the cheap DQ. They double team for some cast shots before Orndorff chases them off. Perfectly fine if very house showish. **1/2

 

Semifinals: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Dynamite Kid in 4:52- Oh. Hell. Yes. Outfit #3 on the night for Savage and Elizabeth tonight. Both guys are cautious at the start. Quick lockup stalemates. Savage tries a waistlock takedown that leads to a rapid fire mat exchange stalemate. Savage hops out and jaws with the crowd to try to keep things at his pace. Back in they go into a rough, roll around the ropes lockup. Savage hits a cheap shot over D Hebner against the ropes. Buckle shot for Dynamite as Monsoon admits they don't have WWF standard buckle pads tonight. Dynamite hits some shots in retaliation. Big shoulderblock from Dynamite. He backdrops Savage. Crossbody from Dynamite but they get tangled up in the ropes. Sunset flip from Dynamite. Savage blocks it and butt splashes him. Another crossbody attempt that Savage ducks. Big speed run and double clothesline. Savage drags himself to the top rope. Dynamite dropkicks him and Savage gets crotched on the top rope! Dynamite goes up and hooks up. SUPERPLEX! But Savage rolls, cradles Dynamite after the landing, and gets a pin! INCREDIBLE finish! After the win Savage has to be helped to the back. As good a sub 5 minute match as you could ever hope to see. It's a damn shame Dynamite never had a chance for a proper singles run at this level. ***3/4

 

Next up is a car giveaway, a very classic style Rolls Royce. They do the whole thing in the ring and it's little more than a giant time killer. The WWF promotions guy is named Basil and *isn't* English? That's impossible. I almost feel bad for the marketing/official judgment guy getting booed by the crowd. He's clearly out of his depth. Plus, Chicago crowd. Even in the mid '80s.

 

Final: The Junkyard Dog def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) by countout in 9:44- So Savage survived three hard fought matches to get here. JYD had one moderately hard match, one cakewalk that he got away with counting the pin himself, and got a bye into the final. And JYD is the babyface we're supposed to be rooting for? The car giveaway was long enough for Savage and Elizabeth to have one last quick change. Savage looks like he raided Superstar Billy Graham's wardrobe. He's clearly favoring his back as he walks in. Savage RIPS his tye dye shirt off....then hides behind Elizabeth again. He's on the floor with a chair as D Hebner rings the bell to start. Savage tosses the chair at JYD. JYD catches it and pounds his own head into it. Savage slowly gets in, then hops right back out again. Then does it again as the boos get louder. Savage hops in, locks up and gets tossed back by JYD. Savage tries a slam that doesn't work. JYD headbutt to Savage's hurt back. He saw. Atomic drop from JYD. Bear hug. Savage eye rakes free. Okerlund comes over and joins commentary. JYD stays targeted on Savage's back with typical fantastic peak era Savage selling. Savage pops out of the corner with a diving clothesline that JYD didn't seem to know was coming. Cover for 2 with a big JYD kickout. Savage tosses JYD to the floor, goes up top and hits the double ax handle to the floor. He sneaks around the ring to ambush JYD from behind and run his back into the post. Another double ax handle off the top rope. Savage gets a chair out from under one of the arena security guys and hits JYD with it. Another sneak around the ring and he chokes JYD on the guardrail. Elbow drop on the floor. Finally he rolls JYD back in and goes up top again. JYD catches him with a shot in the gut. Crawling headbutts with INSANE Savage sells. Regular headbutt and Savage gets tied up in the ropes. JYD gets him free, allowing Savage to eye rake him. JYD backdrops Savage over the top rope to the floor! The completely unpadded floor. Savage can't get back up in time and get counted out, giving JYD the match and tournament win. Savage did his best to make this work, bumping around like an absolute madman. *3/4

 

Ventura interrupts the victory interview to complain that JYD got a bye while Savage had to wrestle Dynamite Kid. JYD looks too blown up to respond. In fact he doesn't say a single word. I think you could very strongly argue the wrong guy won this thing, but it wouldn't hurt Savage any. As mentioned earlier, he'll defeat Santana in Boston in February to win the IC title and kick off his year plus run with that belt, which only catapulted him to even bigger things.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It doesn't look like much going in, but for a one night tournament this holds together surprisingly well. It definitely flows better than future and much bigger tournament shows like Wrestlemania 4 or Survivor Series '98 despite the lack of stakes. On top of that there's several really good short matches to be had, and a great chance to see Savage early in his WWF run already working hard to change the game. He was by far the star of the night. I think this night also showed WWF they needed their own group of referees on the road that they could rely on. The two temp local refs used for this show were clearly out of their depth all night.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

 

v2.0 published 5/5/26