The Big Event

Legacy Review

The Big Event

August 28, 1986 from Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, ON

 

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon, Ernie Ladd & Johnny Valiant

 

This technically isn't a PPV, it's a summertime large stadium show WWF decided to run (something other promotions did semi-regularly but was a rarity for WWF at the time) that was later released on video, but it's always been in the PPV section wherever WWE's library has migrated to in the streaming era so here we are. Because it's been cut down for a 2 hour VHS there's quite a few clips in the matches. Fortunately they make most of the clips obvious with screen wipes instead of trying to do seamless edits. It's also the only major show available between Wrestlemanias 2 and 3 so that also makes it very much worth visiting. This show is being held at old Exhibition Stadium, the home of the Blue Jays and the CFL's Argonauts before the Skydome was built. And to show how huge WWF had gotten in their '80s boom, this show drew a record outdoor attendance for a wrestling event, selling the stadium out to the tune of around 70K. As usual exact numbers vary but I hate getting in the weeds on attendance count fights, that number is a good ballpark. And that wouldn't be the last attendance record WWF set in this period.

 

August or no this is Canada and the jackets are out all over the stadium. Summertime in Canada, it's what, 40, maybe 50 degrees for a high? That's in real temperatures, not that Celsius crap. Why Ladd and Valiant are in the booth with Monsoon, your guess is as good as mine. It's not what I would exactly call a winning commentary combination. This isn't like the JCP Great American Bash shows at Charlotte Stadium, WWF has completely filled the field with floor seats. I'd hate to be the people about 50 rows back trying to see over everyone in front of them. WWF is doing something I don't think anyone had done yet to this point and we'll see again in the large stadium WMs right after this, the ring is on a raised platform instead of sitting at field level.

 

The Killer Bees def Hoss & Jimmy Jack Funk (w/Jimmy Hart) in 6:53- Terry Funk departed WWF soon after WM 2, but brother Dory Funk Jr, known as Hoss in WWF for reasons inexplicable, stuck around. The last of the original Funk trio isn't even a Funk at all, it's Jesse Barr, who was given the name Jimmy Jack and dubbed a Funk upon his WWF arrival because they had previously all worked together in Florida. Jimmy Jack's biggest claim to fame is being the moron that started a real backstage fight with Haku and getting fired by WWF for it once Haku was done with him. Jimmy Jack's wearing a mask. Not a mask mask. A Lone Ranger or robber's mask. Hoss and Blair start with some quick back and forth stuff. Both Funks take slams and roll out to recover. Back in Hoss hits some shots to get Blair back into the heel corner and Blair fights back out. A double noggin knocker sends the heels bailing to the floor again. Both sides swap and Brunzell schools Jimmy Jack in short order. Valiant says he saw Jimmy Jack in that mask knock over a 7-11 before the show. Brunzell gets a crossbody on Hoss for a long 2. The Bees do some quick tag arm work on him. Blair tries for a leverage cradle pin. He fights off some more Hoss offense attempts to hit another slam and armdrag. Hoss gets a back elbow on Brunzell and tags out, but Jimmy Jack walks into an armdrag. Now the Bees work him over. Brunzell gets a sleeper on. The ref gets distracted and Hoss ambushes Brunzell from behind, then tosses him out to the floor. Jimmy Jack slams him on the (padded) floor. We have a clip and cut to the Bees putting their masks on under the ring. Masked confusion time. One Bee in the ring knocks the heels around and into each other. Atomic drop on Hoss and clotheslines on both Funks. Abdominal stretch on Hoss. Jimmy Jack breaks it up. The Bees swap behind the ref's back. It's all good because they're faces. Bee 2 catches Jimmy Jack with a Paul Smackage and gets the pin. This would end up being Hoss' next to last WWF match, he'd join brother Terry in departing the company after the very next show. *1/2

 

King Tonga and The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) 20:00 time limit draw- Tonga is Haku under his original WWF name, and is somehow a face here. He's also still wearing trunks. The first clip is at the very start of the match. Speed run and Tonga hits a couple of hip tosses, then a slam. Muraco quickly backs off and rolls out. Back in he offers a handshake but it doesn't go anywhere. Tonga rattles Muraco with some strikes then hits a standing dropkick that sends Muraco back out to the floor. Haku could move pretty well back in his earlier days. Commentary mentions Tonga wants to be called Haku now. It's not official, but they do call him Haku the rest of the match. Another clip as Tonga works some arm wringers. Muraco tries to flip free but Tonga hangs on. Fuji trips Tonga from the floor to finally give his guy an opening. Kneelift from Muraco and he tosses Tonga out. Fuji gives him a couple of cane shots. Muraco powerslams Tonga back in and puts on a nerve hold. Because he's managed by an Asian you see. Another clip while Tonga is in that. Tonga slowly fights his way out. You'd think he would have a perfect counter for a move like that. Tonga lands another dropkick, but Muraco dodges in the corner and Tonga crashes. Post shot for Tonga's knee. Muraco then does a very Chris Benoit like snot blow while close to the camera. Kneebreaker from Muraco as the target is clearly identified. Figure four! Tonga reaches over and gets a rope break. Muraco goes to the top rope but takes his sweet time about it. Tonga slams him off! He fires back up with strikes. A big chop puts Muraco down and now Tonga goes up top. Crossbody! The bell rings while the ref is still trying to find a place to count. WWF didn't do time calls so the assumption the time limit has expired, which Fink then confirms. We only saw about 10 minutes of this match due to clipping, but if we saw the "good" 10 minutes I think we were better off with the clipped version. Tonga's formal name change to Haku will also come with a much needed heel turn. *3/4

 

Ted Arcidi def Tony Garea in 2:41- Arcidi is one of the line of jacked up bodybuilders that got a shot in wrestling due to their look but showed zero aptitude for the sport and flamed out quickly (see also Kazmaier, Bill). Garea, one of the company's most successful tag team wrestlers in the '70s, is making his final appearance at a major show before retiring and moving over to be a road agent and on screen "run in and break up fights" official. I think this is face. vs face but the Canadian crowd wants nothing to do with Arcidi. He easily powers Garea around out of lockups. Shoulderblock standoffs, which is a plus for Garea. Off a rope break Arcidi shoves Garea across the ring and kind of press slams him. Back elbow from Arcidi. Monsoon is talking about Arcidi having an attitude change so they might have been trying a heel turn to try to spice him up a bit. Garea starts firing back with some shoulderblocks as the crowd continues to look anywhere but the ring. Earlier they were looking to the right (their left), now backwards. What's going on around the stadium? Not that I blame them for this match. A Garea dropkick puts Arcidi down for half a second. Arcidi grabs Garea in a bear hug and Garea submits. Arcidi refuses to let go after the bell, seemingly confirming he's now a heel. Thankfully Arcidi wouldn't be around much longer. DUD

 

The Junkyard Dog def "Adorable" Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) by countout in 4:15- This is the first match tonight with any kind of real built up feud, namely JYD pantsing Hart on TV a couple of times. We have a clip during JYD's entrance to JYD fighting off Adonis' attempt to ambush. JYD hits him with his chain. Mutliple times. In front of the ref. JYD hits the crawling headbutts with Adonis doing his usual crazy overselling of everything. Corner whip and Adonis does an upside down flip to the floor. I assume the bell rang before the clip because we haven't heard it, so why the hell didn't JYD get DQ'd for using the chain? JYD gives Adonis more headbutts on the apron. Then JYD shoves the ref away! Hart gets on the apron and sprays some of Adonis' perfume in JYD's face. JYD's own fault for shoving the ref there. Another thing he should have been DQ'd for. Adonis hits a clothesline and a couple of fistdrops. Another one off the second rope for 2. He tosses JYD out to the floor. Hart gives JYD a cheap shot on the floor. While the camera was on that somehow the ref went down again. Adonis goes up top and Hart jumps on JYD's back. JYD fights Hart off and crotches Adonis on the top rope. More headbutts for Adonis. JYD pulls Adonis by the tights (another should have been DQ) to send him into Hart and both tumble back out to the floor. The ref then calls for the bell and awards the match to JYD by countout even though Adonis had been back on the floor for about a second. That was a bigger mess than Adonis' makeup. 1/4*

 

Dick Slater def Iron Mike Sharpe in 6:24- Dick Slater in WWF? Yup, it didn't last long and he never did anything of note there, but it happened. Sharpe was only a jobber, but his booking on this show is an obvious slam dunk as he billed himself as "Canada's greatest athlete". The start of this match might have been clipped. Slater works into a hammerlock and Sharpe quickly bails to the ropes. Monsoon breaks standard WWF protocol by saying Slater's only new to the WWF, not wrestling as a whole. There's wrestling outside WWF? Slater works a test of strength to stomp Sharpe's hands with Sharpe still selling to the upper sections. Back in Sharpe hits Slater with his trademark forearm covering. Monsoon asks about why he's still allowed to wear it and Valiant LOSES IT in the booth. Like, completely. He sounds like he snorted about two bags worth of coke before this show started. Another clip to Sharpe begging off. Slater ducks a clothesline and hits a swinging neckreaker. Sharpe dodges an elbow drop. He tries a slam but Slater slips out and hits a Russian leg sweep. Slater goes up top and hits a standing elbow. Jackknife cover and it's over. Well, the stretch run had some decent action at least. 3/4*

 

King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd & Bobby "The Brain" Heenan def Super Machine, Big Machine & Capt. Lou Albano (w/Giant Machine) in 7:49- Andre had been feuding with the big guys in the Heenan Family ever since he signed full time with WWF a bit before the first WM. Earlier in the year he needed time off to film The Princess Bride, so the on screen story was he no showed a tag match against Heenan's guys for reasons never explained and was indefinitely suspended by WWF President Jack Tunney. When Andre came back it was that classic "loser leaves town" gimmick, under a mask as Giant Machine. The Machines were a longrunning masked gimmick in New Japan, where Andre also worked for a long time. Super Strong Machine was the most well known and longest running one. Of course part of the joke is you can tell instantly it's Andre under the mask because it's freaking Andre. In this match Super Machine is soon to be Demolition Ax Bill Eadie, and Big Machine is Blackjack Mulligan. Those parts rotated from night to night, which is in line with the tradition of the Machines in Japan. After much discussion on both sides we start with Studd and I think Super Machine. Pretty sure that's Eadie. He fires away on Studd and tries for a slam but then....something happens and he doesn't. SM tries a shoulderblock but bounces off Studd. A series of clotheslines rock Studd and finally put him down. Studd rolls out, but Andre Machine acts like a lumberjack and rolls him right back in. Big Machine tags in and has another failed slam try on Studd. Bundy then tags in. Shoulderblock standoffs. BM dodges an avalanche in the corner and puts Bundy down with a forearm. After Bundy recovers he pounds BM down with clubbing forearms. Studd continues that trend. With the opposition down Heenan tags in. He hits some shots and goes for BM's mask. SM comes in to make the save and Heenan wobbles over to tag out. One hit was more than enough for him. SM tags back in and fires away on Studd. Bundy distracts and Studd puts SM down with a back elbow. SM dodges and Bundy runs into Studd. SM tries to come back but Studd hits him from behind on the apron. Heenan tags in again, but decides to coach everyone instead. Behind his back SM rolls over and tags out to Albano. Heenan turns around and sees him. Albano offers him a free shot. Heenan slaps him. That was a waste. Albano corner whip and Heenan goes upside down, trapping his feet into the tree of woe! Heenan could move way better than people realized. Albano stomps away on him, until Heenan turns it around with an eye poke. Now Studd and Bundy work Albano over as things start to break down. Giant Machine gets in and starts taking everyone out. The ref calls for the bell, giving the heels the win by DQ. I guess that's a moral victory for the faces. Pretty nothing match. 1/2*

 

Snakepit Match: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 10:17- This is easily the second biggest feud on this show. At the most recent Saturday Night's Main Event in May Roberts attacked Steamboat before their scheduled match started and gave him a DDT on the bare concrete floor. "Snakepit Match" is a fancy Roberts-fied way to say it's a no DQ match. Technically it's "Snakepit Match !!!" because that's the graphic on TV but I'm restraining myself. Steamboat has a huge entourage with him on his entrance. I assume it's guys from one of the local sports teams but we have replaced music so commentary is muted out. Roberts jumps Steamboat as soon as he hops on the apron and snap mares him into the ring, both guys still with robes on. Steamboat ducks a clothesline, hits some shots and a backdrop. Roberts slithers out to kill the momentum and both guys fully disrobe. Back in Steamboat hits some more big chops that get a 2 count. He cranks away on Roberts' arm and even leverages him over and down by the arm. Speed run and Steamboat hits another chop for 2. The I assume local ref they have for this match, never seen him before, is literally leaping up off the mat as he counts. Steamboat continues the arm work while Valiant goes on some unhinged rant about people seeing a female dragon in the subway or something and I think there's a lake involved. Snort another line, Valiant. Roberts tries to swing a punch to get free but Steamboat ducks it and hits some more chops, then a back kick that might have hit a bit south of Saskatchewan. No DQ. That sends Roberts tumbling through the ropes to the floor. On the floor Roberts rams his shoulder right into Steamboat's groinal area. Guess they're even there. Roberts slams Steamboat on the floor. He drapes Steamboat over the edge of the platform and hits a couple of knees. Steamboat lands another chop. Roberts grabs a chair. Steamboat makes him let go, gets it and nails Roberts with it! Coming back in Steamboat hits the high chop off the top rope for 2. Back to the arm for Steamboat. He gives Roberts a buckle shot and mounted punches. Or chops. One or the other. Roberts reverses a corner whip and Steamboat flies over the top rope down to the floor! Roberts goes out and slingshots Steamboat into the post! Steamboat wobblelegs right off the platform down onto the field. Roberts stays all over him with guardrail and platform shots. Steamboat is bleeding a little, very unusual for WWF at the time, especially in a non-main event match. Roberts sees the cut back in the ring and pounds away on it. Classic Roberts short clothesline that nearly decapitates Steamboat. He sets up for the DDT. Steamboat backs him into the corner! Roberts uses that position to hit a kneelift. Inverted atomic drop from Roberts. Gutbuster. Arrogant cover sitting on Steamboat. Steamboat reverses into a cradle and gets a pin! Textbook Steamboat come from behind flash pin win. That's more like it. You knew these guys would deliver, and they did. Though they could have played into the no DQ stips a bit more. ***1/2

 

Billy Jack Haynes def Hercules Hernandez in 6:08- This is actually the early days of a feud that will keep running until WM 3. For some reason Monsoon is alone on commentary for this match, and clearly recording it after the show in the studio. Monsoon says he doesn't know where the other two went but "probably out to get some libations". Yeah, I'm not sure mixing alcohol with Valiant's other drugs is the wisest move. Usual power stuff at the start. Speed runs with Hayes hitting a shoulderblock and Herc responding with a clothesline. Clip to Herc putting on a bear hug. Haynes bell rings free. Herc hits a trio of elbow drops for 2. Hayes reverses a corner whip and both guys collide in the corner. Haynes fires back with a bunch of kicks and a back elbow. Backbreaker. Haynes goes to the second rope and hits an elbow drop for 2. He goes for his signature full nelson but Herc manages to fight it off. Herc hits a shot and tosses Haynes out to the floor. Clubbing blows to Haynes' chest on the apron. Herc then suplexes him back in. Slow cover for 2. Another clothesline. Cover but Haynes has a foot on the rope. Herc thinks he's won and Haynes rolls him up for 2. Herc goes for a neckbreaker. Haynes counters it into a backslide and gets the pin! Pretty rough match but they got going a little better for the stretch run. Extra points for getting a pin on the backslide too. *

 

The Fabulous Rougeaus def The Dream Team in 14:51- The Canadian Rougeaus had signed with WWF earlier in the year and are making their first major show appearance in their home country. They're also faces, which is strange when you know how great and natural they will later be as heels. Monsoon says they got a great ovation on their entrance but we'll have to take his word for it since it was cut out. Valiant is still managing the Dream Team but is stuck in commentary way up in the press box so can't be ringside for them tonight. Monsoon asks if he's "jittery". No, that's just the cocaine. The Dream Team jump before the bell and we start off with an all over 2v2 brawl. The Rougeaus slowly get control and toss Beefcake out, getting Valentine isolated in the ring. A sunset flip on Valentine gets a long 2 count. Things start to settle in after that. Jacques kneedrop on Valentine. Raymond hits a back kick and kneelift for 2. The faces keep Valentine isolated in their half. Jacques puts on an abdominal stretch. Valentine manages to snap mare free and tag out. Powerslam from Beefcake for 2. Man, the local ref for this match is counting so.....slow....., even for the era. Raymond catches Beefcake with a chop just under the chin, snap mares him over and hits a weird butt splash for 2. Beefcake pounds Raymond with knees in the corner. Valentine hits an ax handle off the top rope. Another high chop as Raymond goes in peril. Even Monsoon is commenting on how this ref is taking forever to get in position to count, never mind how slow the count is. Raymond gets a crossbody for 2. Rougeaus double dropkick on Valentine. Valentine flop! Jacques does a jackknife cover for what should be 2, but this ref is so damn slow Valentine kicks out by instinctual timing before he even gets to 2. Valentine gets Jacques into the wrong corner with chops and the heels ram him back into their corner. Atomic drop from Valentine. Was that a crack of thunder? Certainly sounded like it. Nowadays if this was an NFL game they'd shut it down for "lightning in the area". Beefcake gets a little strutting going as Jacques stays in peril. He gets trapped in the corner again and Raymond says enough is enough, coming into save him. That sets off another DONNYBROOK brawl. The heels get run into each other. Jacques setup slam (impressively carrying Beefcake all the way across the ring) and the Rougeaus hit their assisted senton future finisher. Valentine gets over to break the pin up, which the ref hadn't even gotten around to starting a count on yet. The Rougeaus get tossed out to the floor and Valentine rams Raymond's back into the apron. I've been told that's the hardest part of the ring. Back in Beefcake hits a big backbreaker as the ref again makes a huge mess of what should be a simple count. Valentine tries for a leverage pin but that's never going to work with this ref. Raymond starts to punch back on Beefcake. Beefcake puts him back down with a suplex for 2. Raymond's adjusted to the shit count, that was actually a proper near fall. Valentine puts on a bear hug. That's a weird one for him. Monsoon was even confused for a second. Raymond punches free but Valentine cuts the tag off. Back to the bear hug. Jacques gets on the bottom rope and reaches out enough to make a tag but the ref, rightly this time, won't allow that. Have to have both feet on the apron. That used to be the rule at least. The heels continue the punishment on Raymond's back. Valentine winds up the big elbow drop. Raymond dodges it and tags out! Jacques standing dropkicks for everyone. Slams for both guys. Jacques and Valentine get in a full on slugfest. Jacques ducks a double clothesline and dropkicks both guys! He goes to the second rope but Valentine dodges the kneedrop. Valentine goes for the figure four but Jacques pushes free. He tries again and gets the figure four on! If Jacques submits this ref might double check about five times he really is submitting before he calls for the bell. Raymond gets into to make the save. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Valentine goes for another figure four. Jacques cuts it off with a sunset flip, and that gets the pin! Valiant is FURIOUS in the booth. Just plain fantastic tag team wrestling. Fuck that ref though. ***1/2

 

"Handsome" Harley Race def Pedro Morales in 3:23- This is another on the list of dream matches that happened much too late. Race was THE star in the NWA territories in the '70s, holding the record for most NWA World title wins with 7 and rivaling WW(W)F's Bruno Sammartino in popularity. He had just signed with WWF in May after hitting the wind down portion of his career following his Starrcade '83 torch passing loss to Ric Flair. Of course WWF at the time would not acknowledge in any way accomplishments from outside the company, and at his age there was no way WWF was going to give him any title runs, so instead Race was given a bit of a consolation prize, winning the second ever King of the Ring tournament earlier in the summer and unofficially being called "King" Harley Race. The King thing will become more prominent later in the year. Morales was the #2 face in WWF in the '70s after Sammartino. He was even more in wrap up mode, as he'd retire about a year after this and this is his final major appearance. This match is clearly joined in progress. Race hits a knee to the gut. Morales responds with a punch to the gut, then the head. Race flops through the ropes to the floor. He drags Morales down and gives him some elbows on the apron. He drops Morales onto the timekeeper's table! Which didn't look as impressive as it sounds. Race then hits one of his classic fall down headbutts on the floor. While that's going on Valiant seems to be having some kind of seizure. Post shot for Morales. Back in Morales blocks a suplex and hits his own. Small package from Morales for 2. Morales catches Race with a cradle out of the corner for 2. The ref gets on Morales for punching in the corner. Race takes advantage with the old double leg takedown, feet on the ropes corner cradle and gets the pin. 3/4*

 

To set up the main event- Paul Orndorff turned face after being abandoned by his teammates when he took the pin in their loss at WM 1 to Hogan's team. After a while of palling around with Hogan, Orndorff realized that Hogan was really only out for himself and turned back heel on him earlier in the summer. Amazing how so many people would come to that conclusion after extended close proximity to Hogan throughout his career. Orndorff then picked up Bobby Heenan as his manager. Heenan was still trying to wrest the WWF Title from Hogan after King Kong Bundy's losing effort at WM 2. And to irritate Hogan even further, Orndorff started coming to the ring to Hogan's own "Real American" entrance music. Historically it's easily lost because it comes in between two other major Hogan feuds that headlined a WM (Piper and Andre) and didn't have a blowoff match at a major show, but the Hogan/Orndorff feud was very successful in its own right, both creatively and commercially.

 

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/Bobby Heenan) by DQ in 11:05- Orndorff does indeed come out to Real American tonight. It just keeps on playing for Hogan's entrance. Heenan's still in his wrestling gear from earlier. Canada is pretty bonkers for Hogan, as we'll later see at both the WMs in the Skydome. Hogan's got a bandage on one of his earlobes. While the ref is checking Hogan Orndorff clotheslines him! That leads to a full roll around brawl on the mat. Hogan gets on top and pounds away. The ref pulls Hogan off by his hair! That's going too far. Stand up slugrfest. Hogan wins that exchange and Orndorff goes to the floor. Orndorff wants none of Heenan's advice, shoving him away and getting right back in the ring. Hogan hits a back elbow and Orndorff goes out again. This time he drags Hogan out with him and rams his head on the apron. Hogan blocks another attempt and gives Orndorff a receipt. Back in Hogan hits a clothesline/elbow drop combo. Headbutt from Hogan. Corner clothesline and Hogan struts around a little. Orndorff comes out of the corner with a gut shot on Hogan. Hogan puts his head through the ropes and Heenan slaps him! That wakes Hogan up. Orndorff tries to ambush but Hogan dodges it and gives him an atomic drop. Hogan then goes out to chase Heenan around. This time Orndorff does ambush as Heenan goes all the way over the top rope in the corner to get away. A clothesline from Orndorff sends Hogan out to the floor. Orndorff suplexes Hogan on the floor! Full on spasm selling from Hogan. As Hogan's getting back in Orndorff gives him a running knee. Apron elbows from Orndorff. Hogan does a nice job dangling off the apron before Orndorff knocks him off again. Orndorff rubs something in Hogan's face, not sure what that was. Think he had a foreign object of some kind. He hits Hogan in the throat and Hogan drops. Definitely think there's something extra there everyone missed. Cover for a long 2. A slow count is a fair complaint, another local ref tonight counting very slow. Slam from Ordnorff, followed up with an elbow drop. Another cover for 2. Orndorff goes up top and hits another shot to Hogan's throat. He calls for the piledriver to finish it. Hogan backdrops free! Orndorff gets him back down with some eye gouging. Orndorff bites Hogan! Back suplex from Orndorff. Orndorff covers and the ref counts 2 before finally telling Orndorff that Hogan's entire leg is clearly under the bottom rope. Orndorff turns around, thinking he's won. Hogan pops back up! Running knee to Orndorff's back! That put the ref down too. Big standing clothesline from Hogan. He seems to call for his own piledriver. Hogan loads up for it. Heenan runs in and hits Hogan with a stool! Where did a stool come from? Orndorff covers and Hogan is down forever while the ref crawls around, still hurt. Finally he drags himself over to count. Or not, he taps Orndorff's back instead. Orndorff thinks he's won and Heenan even brings the belt to him. While Heenan's putting the belt on Orndorff Fink gets the official word from the ref. Hogan wins by DQ. Orndorff is FURIOUS. He tries to attack Hogan with the belt but Hogan blocks it and fights Orndorff off. Shit finish, but this feud was just getting going. Other than that very solid match from two guys who always had high floors in the '80s. **3/4

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's a few worthwhile matches, but nothing that's really worth going out of your way to see. The stadium spectacle and atmosphere is honestly this show's biggest selling point. Valiant was bat shit insane on commentary, for better or worse, while Ladd was simply there. This was another one of those shows where WWF using local refs was clearly a detriment. Thankfully that practice was about to end.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

 

v2.0 posted 6/15/26