Bunkhouse Stampede '88

Legacy Review

Bunkhouse Stampede '88

January 24, 1988 from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

 

Jim Crockett Promotions started annual Bunkhouse Stampede matches in 1985. They were battle royales where you came "dressed as you are", which usually meant a t-shirt and jeans (a Dusty Rhodes booking tic to be sure), and where weapons were not only legal but encouraged. There would be a series of them across the house show loop, usually for large purses, and then a final would be held where only the winners of the previous matches were allowed to enter to determine one true Bunkhouse Stampede champion for the year. It probably won't come a great shock that Dusty Rhodes had won all three yearly finals so far. Up until now they were a house show only attraction, none had been broadcast on TV before. That's all changing now as JCP holds their first ever non-Starrcade PPV for the finals of the '88 edition. I don't know for sure, but my thinking is they were trying to recoup their losses from WWF putting Survivor Series up directly against Starrcade by putting this already taking place anyway show on PPV. Their expansion ambition continues as well. After holding Starrcade outside their normal territorial bounds in Chicago, for this show they're stepping firmly into pure WWF territory on New York's Long Island in an arena regularly visited by WWF that held, among other things, the first portion of Wrestlemania 2 and the very first Saturday Night's Main Event. WWF responded with another counterprogramming salvo, holding a special on basic cable USA Network at the same time where they debuted their own new spin on the battle royale format, a little something called the Royal Rumble.

 

Right after the opening graphic we see Nikita Koloff making his way to the ring, then we go to commentary for a short inrtro. Tony Schiavone is handling ring announcing again tonight. We've got another one of those odd hard camera placements tonight, at a 45ish degree angle to the ring.

 

NWA World Television Championship: Nikita Koloff (c) and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette) 20:00 time limit draw- Despite this show being put on PPV most of the card has a very house show feel, with not one but two random tag team wrestlers challenging for singles titles. First up is Eaton, half of the US tag champ Midnight Express. Cornette and Eaton are actually getting some decent heat from the NY crowd that's more WWF familiar. Because of that they double up on the prematch hug to rile the crowd up more. They don't seem to want anything to do with Nikita though, even though his "reformed commie" gimmick had made him very popular in regular JCP territory. Several quick lockups to start and both guys break clean. Eaton finally tries for a cheap shot in the corner. Nikita easily wins that exchange. Top wristlock fight that the stronger Nikita again wins pretty easily. After some Nikita arm work Eaton hits a back elbow and kicks that send Nikita out to the floor. They slug it out on the floor, surprisingly won by Eaton. Eaton tries to give Nikita a buckle shot but Nikita blocks it, then tries to give Eaton one on the other side but Eaton just kind of weakly backs into the turnbuckles on the apron instead. Nikita tries to power out of a headlock, which gets some of the crowd behind him at least. Speed run and Nikita hits a slam. Long reset and back to Eaton holding a headlock. Some light "boring" chants start to float around. A punch sends Nikita back out to the floor. Nikita pushes Eaton into the post! He runs Eaton's shoulder into the post again, then hiptosses him on the floor. Eaton begs off as we get the 10 minute call. Eaton gets back on offense as they get back in and he hits an elbow drop for 2. Now Eaton works a hammerlock as the time limit draw stall really sets in. The crowd tries to get themselves back into it with a "Cornette sucks" chant. Nikita comes back with a shoulderblock, but then Eaton catches him with a likely low blow. TV was focused on some random couple in the crowd so we missed it. Eaton goes up top and hits a missile dropkick! Cover for 2. Time for more hammerlock. Another "Cornette sucks" while that's happening. Or, more accurately, not happening. Textbook draw stalling. Cornette verbally lays into Nikita a bit while they lay there. 5 minutes left. Nikita takes nearly an entire minute to slowly stand back up. At the 4 minute call he finally fights out. Sickle! He barely caught Eaton with it and Eaton fell into the ropes. Armbar slam from Eaton and, you guessed it, MOAR HAMMERLOCK. They kill 3 minutes all the way to 2 minutes left with that. Eaton cuts off a comeback attempt and hits another armbar slam, and we're right back into you know what. 1 minute left. No one moves at that call. Nikita finally slugs out. Mounted punches after the 30 second call. Nikita hits a back elbow as we hit 10 seconds left. After some more obvious waiting the Sickle hits just in time for the bell to ring for the time limit. After the bell Nikita steals Cornette's racket and gets Cornette to shit himself in fear, but then Stan Lane runs in for a 2 on 1 Midnight Express beatdown. The match had a very few moments, but there was just way too much dead time killing time for the time limit. This was so far below Eaton's usual standard I wonder if he was working hurt or something. This is also not at all the type of match I'd put on first to try to get a crowd not as familiar with the product into the show. 1/2*

 

One of the local refs hired for the show walks right between commentary and the camera as they're trying to do a stand up. Hilarious.

 

NWA Western States Heritage Championship: Larry Zbyszko (w/Baby Doll) def Barry Windham (c) in 19:16- The NWA and JCP created this title in the summer of '87 as a tribute to the old Western States title based in Amarillo, Texas. Hence the "heritage". Windham won the tournament to become inaugural champion, I guess as a thanks for all the great work he did with Flair during the first part of the year in his unsuccessful World title challenges. Given how this title went Windham might have preferred a gift card instead. Well, gift certificate back then. After the bell rings to start and the ref does all his checks Baby Doll gets in Windham's face and pokes her finger in his chest. Which ultimately goes nowhere. Once she finally gets out of the ring they lock up and Windham hits an armdrag. Speed run and Windham hits a couple of shoulderblocks, then a hiptoss. Zbyszko rolls out to rethink things. Back in Zbyszko gets a leg takedown. Windham easily gets free and Zbyszko bitches about a phantom hair pull. Another speed run and Windham dodges a dropkick. Windham uses a Zbyszko hammerlock to give him a fireman's carry takedown. Off a rope break Zbyszko tries for his quick back kick, but Windham was ready for it. He hits an atomic drop and Zbyszko powders again. Again he gets a leg takedown back in. Clearly the leg is his target. Windham fights free again and both guys shove. Nice drop toe hold from Windham into a headlock. Zbyszko responds with his own less smooth drop toe hold and again starts working on Windham's leg. This time he makes some headway as Windham has a hard time getting free. Windham gets back up and hits an enzuguri! Powerslam on Zbyszko for 2. Setup slam and Windham goes up top. Zbyszko dodges an elbow drop! Again Zbyszko is back on the leg. JR reminds me that the Horsemen had done some damage to Windham's leg, so that makes sense Zbyszko would take that opening. Windham again fights back up. Zbyszko hits the back kick this time. Ugly backbreaker for 2. Then Zbyszko abandons the leg and puts on a chinlock instead. Windham back suplexes free. Zbyszko drop toe hold and back on the leg. Full on slugfest that Windham wins. Dropkick from Windham. They badly mess up a basic suplex and Windham covers for 2. That was not pretty. Much better gutwrench suplex from Windham for 2. Windham hooks on a sleeper. Zbyszko reaches out and grabs a rope before it's on too long. He goes out to the floor again, but this time Windham follows. He gives Zbyszko a shot on a table that I assume is for the ever present NY Athletic Commission. Zbyszko pushes Windham into the post. Windham pulls Zbyszko down from the floor and crotches him on the post right in front of the ref. They have another mistimed spot where Zbyszko ducks Windham's flying lariat well before Windham launches for it. That sends Windham back out to the floor. Windham goes for a sunset flip back in. Zbyszko punches free and covers for 2. He tries a swinging neckbreaker but Windham blocks it into a backslide for 2. Zbyszko tries for a piledriver. Windham backdrops free. Speed run and big midring collision. Windham dodges in the corner and Zbyszko runs his knee into the corner. Mounted punches from Windham. Corner whip do-si-do and down goes the ref. Zbyszko gets Baby Doll's High Heeled Shoe of Pointy Death, nails Windham with it, and gets the pin to win the title. Like the last match a lot of this had a very pedestrian pace, there were a couple of very rough patches, and after so much focus on Windham's knee it went nowhere the second half of the match. But the last 5 or so minutes they finally got going pretty good. **

 

This would be the only change of hands in this title's short history. Zbyszko would occasionally defend it the first half of the year, pretty much all on house shows and not TV, until the summer's Great American Bash tour. By then they'd realize the title wasn't working and quietly pull the plug on it., though officially Zbyszko remained champion until his return to the AWA at the start of '89, after which the title was retired in the record books. 

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Road Warrior Hawk (w/Paul Ellering) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/JJ Dillon) by DQ in 21:39- Yes, this really is a PPV World title defense. There's a bit of an issue with the tape here, as we cut straight from the end of the previous match to the early minutes of this one and get the "presented in the most complete form possible" disclaimer. Hawk easily powers out of a headlock. Side note, this is the first time on a major show Dillon is cornering Flair despite the Horsemen being a thing for nearly two years now. Might be as a counter to Ellering. Hawk no sells a chop in the corner. Flair goes all the way out to the apron to think that over. Another chop, then Flair bounces off Hawk trying a shoulderblock. Press slam from Hawk. Flair sells it to the cheap seats and slowly rolls to the floor. Dillon wants a TO. Hawk says nah and drags Flair back in. Another press slam. Headbutt from Hawk. Flair Flop! Flair tries to beg off but Hawk stomps him down into the corner. Standing dropkick from Hawk. Fistdrop. He hiptosses Flair out of the corner and Flair goes to the floor again. Hawk suplexes him off the apron back in. Bear hug from Hawk that gets a couple of near falls. Flair tries to chop back but again it has no effect. Flying tackle from Hawk. On the floor Flair goes to the eye rake and gives Hawk a guardrail shot, which is again no sold. Hawk picks the wooden stairs up and tosses them at Flair! Back in Hawk chokes Flair and Flair uses that to sneak a low blow in. That'll turn things around. Thumb right in Hawk's eye for good measure. Now Flair's getting in a groove and gives us a "WOOOOO". Snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. He tosses Hawk back out to the floor. Guardrail shots for Hawk. Spot longtime security guru Doug Dellinger keeping the belt and holding the guardrail up at the same time. Like Happy Hogan, a security guy of many talents. Coming back in, Flair actually hits a double ax handle off the top rope and hits another kneedrop for 2. Coming off the ropes Hawk grabs Flair and hits a neckbreaker. Flair dodges a fistdrop, and Hawk hurts his knee on the landing. Ruh roh. Flair sees that we're off to school, kids. He gets Ellering to distract the ref to sneak another low blow in too. Hawk tries to chop back but Flair hits a back suplex, then posts Hawk's knee. Figure four! With extra top rope leverage. Local ref is completely useless. Hawk uses his strength to pull Flair back to the middle of the ring and reverse it. Flair actually stays in it for a bit before grabbing a rope break. Flair goes up top again and this time gets slammed off like normal. Hawk hits Flair style chops in the corner. Flair reverses a corner whip but Hawk pops out with a clothesline, which also takes the ref down. Hawk clotheslines Flair 360 over the top to the floor. Post shot for Flair. Another one. Flair's bleeding. Powerslam from Hawk back in, but the ref is still out on the floor. Another clothesline. Flair eye pokes Hawk and goes up top again. Hawk punches and joins him. Superplex! That was a finisher back then. Hawk covers but there's still no ref. Dillon comes in and gives Hawk a chairshot! That only pissed Hawk off. He grabs Dillon. Flair gets the chair and whacks Hawk in the head with it. Cover. The ref is back but Hawk kicks out. Delayed suplex from Flair. Hawk pops back up! Mounted punches. Flair Flop 2! Another fistdrop from Hawk. Flair gives Hawk a quick knee, grabs the chair and hits Hawk with it right in front of the ref for the cheap DQ. House show booking, house show finish. Classic "Flair wrestles a broomstick" match, which considering we're well into the Peak Flair era is still pretty damn good. ***1/2

 

Pause for the cage setup. That's right, this final isn't just a Bunkhouse Stampede match. It's a STEEL CAGE Bunkhouse Stampede match. The rules are regular battle royale rules, to be eliminated you have to be "thrown" through the door to the floor, or over the top of the cage to the floor. So the opposite of WWF's escape is the only way to win cage matches. Not sure if it's a deliberate dig or not but it's likely. I'll give you a minute to figure out how a wrestler could realistically get an unwilling opponent all the way over the top of the cage and down to the floor and still keep believability. Definitely an issue from a conceptual standpoint.

 

To kill time during the cage setup Caudle reads off the credits for the show. All of them. Sadly with no accompanying name jokes. They don't seem to have planned for this intermission very well, but then again you could say that about the whole show.

 

As I mentioned earlier, in order to qualify for this Bunkhouse Stampede final you had to win one of the "preliminary" Stampede matches during the tour of them the past month or so. Those who qualified for tonight: Road Warrior Animal (who won the most prelims this year), the Barbarian, both World tag champs Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, the Warlord, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger (who's turned face and left the Horsemen after blaming Dillon for his loss to Dusty at Starrcade), and three time defending yearly Stampede champion and current US champ Dusty Rhodes, who just barely made it in thanks to a last chance qualifier. Trying to create a shred of doubt things might be different this year. 

 

Bunkhouse Stampede Final- I'll give them credit, the light show on the ring during intros is pretty well ahead of what WWF was doing at the time presentation wise. Warlord is wearing a lifeguard tank top, which is hilarious to me. If anyone starts drowning in the ring, we're set. Luger gets an OK ovation for soon after his face turn, though the crowd doesn't seem to be enamored with anyone in this match one way or another. Side note, Earl Hebner is one of the refs on the outside for this match, making his final appearance for JCP before jumping over to join his twin brother in WWF. All eight guys are in the cage, the bell rings, and we're off....with a bunch of weak brawling. Where the hell are the weapons? I WAS PROMISED WEAPONS! I guess if you count weightlifting belts as weapons, half the guys are wearing those. Just a whole lot of meandering around and no flow or story at all in the early portion of this. Arn saves his teammate Blanchard when Dusty tries to get him out the door. After being the first to dangle out the door, Blanchard is the first to get in the vicinity of the top of the cage. The tag champs work together to beat down their former stablemate Luger. Ivan is the first guy to start bleeding after some elbows from Dusty. Barbarian actually almost lifts Dusty over the top of the cage. Feat of strength if I ever saw one. JR says this match is "hard to call". I bet, though not for the reasons he's giving. Absolutely nothing worth mentioning is happening. Ivan chokes Dusty with I think some of his wrist tape. Closest thing to a weapon we've seen so far. Both Arn and Blanchard are bleeding from cage shots now. So is Animal, as Barbarian bites at the cut for a ringside camera. Dusty and Blanchard fight over a weightlifting belt, then Dusty starts whipping it in the general direction of everyone. Barbarian gets the belt and works Dusty over with it. Luger's been tied to the ropes with something and Arn works him over. Ivan scrapes at Dusty's arm with the buckle of the weightlifting belt, cutting him open on the upper arm. If you ever wondered how Dusty got all those scars on his arm, it's from spots like this. He's gushing pretty good, his arm is almost covered in blood. We get our first elimination tease in forever as Animal gets Arm straddled across the top of the cage. Arn yells for Blanchard to help, but Blanchard is half out the door trying to drag Ivan by the throat with the weightlifting belt out the door. Nothing comes from either tease. Animal gets Ivan up and over the top of the cage. Ivan tries to hold onto the cage, but Animal hits him and he drops down. FINALLY, mercifully we get the first elimination nearly 15 damn minutes in as Ivan is out. Animal presses Blanchard into Arn. Animal gets Warlord half out the door. A kick from Barbarian on Animal sends both Animal and Barbarian's Paul Jones Army teammate Warlord out to the floor! They're both gone. Luger works Blanchard over and hits a powerslam in the slightly less crowded ring. Blanchard is in the Torture Rack! Won't win anything for Luger in this but it'll hurt Blanchard. Blanchard grabs the cage to get free. The Horsemen start double teaming Luger again. They get him down and try to push him out the door. Luger grabs the ropes and powers them both off. They continue fighting by the door. Blanchard manages to save himself from nearly going out. Arn goes out onto the steps trying to drag Luger out, which is fine. Feet have to touch the floor to be eliminated. A push from Blanchard and all three of them tumble out to the floor! While that whole sequence was happening Dusty and Barbarian were over brawling in another part of the ring, and now they're the final two. Jones hands something to Barbarian through the cage. A weapon, finally? I guess it's knucks and he takes Dusty out with them. Barbarian hits the headbutt off the top rope. A second one hits. He drags Dusty over and tries to get him out of the door. Dusty grabs the cage side and fights him off. Back inside the ring Dusty hits a back elbow. He and Barbarian both climb the ropes. Headbutt from Barbarian. He tries to lift Dusty up over the cage. Dusty hits an elbow and lifts Barbarian up. Barbarian straddles the cage. Bionic elbow! Barbarian falls and dangles off the cage outside. Another elbow and Barbarian drops! To the absolute non-amazement of everyone Dusty Rhodes wins the Bunkhouse Stampede yet again. All you have to hear is the total lack of reaction from the crowd at the end of the match to know how that went. The trophy is a giant cowboy boot. That's fantastic. For the majority of this match it was leaning into the dreaded MINUS FIVE STARS territory, but the end run, particularly the Luger/Horsemen stuff, just barely saved it from that ignominy. DUD

 

As commentary does their close part of the crowd starts loudly chanting something. I'm almost positive it's "REFUNDS!". I think I see Hebner handing in his time card and flagging down a cab to take him straight to Titan Towers.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Needing a big win after a very middle of the road Starrcade and falling more and more into debt after all their territory acquisitions, this was nothing less than an abject disaster for JCP. I can't imagine they made any new fans in the traditional WWF crowd with this either. After the Turner buyout later in the year old Bunkhouse Stampede was shipped out to the glue factory and never heard of again, except as an occasional more normal no DQ gimmick match type in much later years, once people had time to forget about this.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-

 

version 2.0 published 8/6/26 

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 

Off Topic- Favorite Indie Games

Johnny Legacy's Off Topic Deep Thoughts

My Favorite Indie Games

Yes, yes, I know. Not wrestling. That's why it's called OFF TOPIC (thanks to Cody Kahne for the title idea). Gaming is another passion of mine, and I've been on the indie game train pretty much since it first left the station. This is an article I've been wanting to write for a long time, and now I have the platform, here it is. If people enjoy it I might sprinkle some more gaming thoughts in between the classic wrestling reviews. So here it is, my favorite games from the little guys, indexed into four distinct game styles.

1. Classic-Style Point and Click Adventure Games

• The Entire Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (2006-present)- If, like me, you grew up playing the point and click classics in the '90s (my teenage years), especially Lucasarts, it doesn't get any better than this. Wadjet Eye, led by Dave Gilbert, both develops games in-house and publishes outside titles, and for my money they might be the best collection of adventure games under one company's banner ever made. At least the best since the aforementioned Lucasarts classics.
• Dreamfall Chapters (episodic 2014-2017)- The sequel to 2006's Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, which was itself the sequel to what, even more than Monkey Island, is probably my single favorite point and click game of all time, 1999's The Longest Journey, Chapters is a satisfying conclusion to the saga. It's also quite graphically ambitious for a game developed by a small studio, almost rivaling some AAA games in visual quality. Though it does bring a good amount of closure, I would still really like the proposed The Longest Journey Home to be made and more closure given to April Ryan's story. Hell, I just want more from that game universe period.
• To the Moon series (To the Moon/Sigmund Corp Holiday Specials 1 & 2/A Bird Story/Finding Paradise, 2011-present)- Kind of borderline in the point and click category as there's not much in the way of gameplay in these games, but that doesn't matter when you have this much wit, character richness and warmth shining through. Eva and Neil are one of the best double acts in gaming history, and subsequent games in the series have also fleshed out other entertaining employees of Sigmund as well as included some very interesting big picture worldbuilding. The next game in the series, Imposter Factory, is currently in development.
• Thimbleweed Park (2017)- The triumphant return of Ron Gilbert to the genre that made his name. There's even on screen verbs! This is a game dripping with creativity and charm, as well as some very devious old school puzzles. The final act is a total mindfuck in the vein of cerebral sci-fi films of the '60s and '70s and I will under no circumstances spoil any of it here. You have to play it.
• Telltale's Golden Years (all 3 seasons of Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future, 2006-2011)- I might be stretching the definition of indie a bit, but in their early years Telltale was indie before there was really a such thing as indie games. Not to mention they were at the forefront of bringing back the point and click genre. The first season of Sam & Max is a little up and down from a gameplay perspective, but they get better as they go on and the character interaction is on point from the start. They're the wittiest games of all time, in my opinion. Tales is a worthy successor to one of the most legendary series in gaming and features the entire original voice cast. Back to the Future is a bit rougher gameplay wise, but the story (assisted by original movie writer Bob Gale) is worthy of a Back to the Future IV and several actors from the films return.

2. First Person Adventures/"Walking Simulators"

• Draugen (2019)- A new IP from Longest Journey saga creators Ragnar Tornquist and Red Thread Games, a peaceful exploration of a beautiful Norwegian village quickly turns into a surprisingly dark psychological horror. My biggest complaint is it's too short.
  
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (2015)- This one also pegs the creepy atmosphere meter, wandering around abandoned English villages with radios still playing emergency broadcasts, all leading to a very ambiguous ending.
  
• Firewatch (2016)- An interesting little personal narrative told well and in a unique way, framed by some absolutely gorgeous wandering scenery.
  
• Obduction (2016)- It's not really fair to put this in with the "walking simulators" (a term I generally dislike anyway). It's a Myst-style first person adventure from Cyan, the people who made....Myst. And most of the games in the Myst series, another series I played a ton of in the '90s and aughts. This is their first game since Myst ended with Myst V in 2005 and is a completely new universe not connected to Myst's story, but gameplay wise it's a worthy spiritual successor. With just as evil puzzles. Confession: I've never gotten through a Myst game without a walkthrough. But it's all about the story anyway, right?
  

3. Retro-Style 2D Action Platformers

• Shovel Knight (2015)- A loving tribute to the 8-bit action platformers of old, just as good and just as hard. Hard, but also generous, in that checkpoints are frequent and there are no lives so you never get a game over, just unlimited attempts to progress from the last checkpoint. During the late part of the game I could spend 30-45 minutes and many deaths in between checkpoints trying to crawl along. Hard, but very, very fair, and one my most satisfying game completions.
  
• Rogue Legacy (2013)- Another classic style platformer with tight and fun but difficult gameplay (expect to die a lot), enhanced greatly by the RPG and randomization elements, and surprisingly tricky big picture strategic decisions. Do I lock this version of the castle down and accept reduced gold in order to see if there's a good item in one of those chests or to take another stab at a boss? According to Steam I pumped nearly 40 hours into this game the first year or so I had it, about the equivalent of a full Final Fantasy game, while getting all the way up to about New Game +5, where the whole castle is filled with minibosses. And there's a sequel coming!
  
• Dust: An Elysian Tail (2013)- This one's a bit more modern than others in this section, with a wonderful cartoony art style and satisfying "kill a bunch of enemies at once" gameplay. One little niggle is that it's a bit of an easy game, certainly compared to the others in this section.
  
• Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (2013)- I've been an AVGN fan since he was only up to about episode 30 or 35. I've even referenced him in a couple of reviews. This is another 8-bit style game, and you wanna talk about hard? This mother frakker is HARD. I haven't poured a ton of time into it, but off and on over the years I've only cleared one level so far. ONE. There's also a sequel I need to get.

4. Unique Experiences

• The Stanley Parable (2013)- I love love love this game. Almost creepily. It's full of dry British wit, surrealism, and perfect poking at fun video game tropes. You can play through the whole thing and get all the endings in a couple of hours, but there's more crammed into those two hours than a lot of games get in ten. My suggestion for new players: follow the narrator and do the "proper" story first before wandering off the beaten path. I think it's more satisfying that way. Also, make sure to stand in the broom cupboard. And there's a new version with more endings coming!
  
• Tacoma (2017)- Another "favorite among my favorites". Tacoma features an atmospheric setting, deep characters, and a wonderful gameplay mechanic that lets you discover the story, as well as deeper character moments, through found footage and archived chats/emails at your own pace. The only little criticism I have is that, unlike most modern games, the story is locked in and doesn't have options for player's choice. A very minor complaint when everything is this good. Fullbright's other game, Gone Home, isn't on my list but it's still worth checking out. I really like how their games respect the player's intelligence and let you put the pieces of the story together yourself rather than banging you over the head with exposition.
  
• Papers, Please (2013)- Who says tedious work has to be, well, tedious? This was one of the first big breakout indie hits and showed what kind of quirky little game experiences were possible from small developers. And as a child of the '80s I'm always a sucker for takes on Soviet/Eastern European style communism.
  
• Orwell (2016)- Now this game will make you feel just plain dirty. As the name implies, this is a biting critique on overpowered government in the form of the surveillance state. The gameplay is simple and (almost too) addictive, and succeeds in making you feel like you're messing with the lives of real people. The sequel, Ignorance is Strength, is also worth playing though it's not as good (the characters are, frankly, more despicable and you don't mind messing with them as much, and it feels less real and more like a game).
  
• The Beginner's Guide (2015)- Another game from Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden, this is another one that I tend to play through in one sitting and get done in less than two hours, but it's a packed two hours. This is one you should really go into cold, anything I might say would, in my opinion, spoil the experience.
  
• Telltale's Poker Night at the Inventory 2 (2013)- Yeah, it's just poker. But it's poker with Ash Williams (sadly not played by Bruce Campbell), Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Claptrap from Borderlands, and Sam & Max (Sam plays and Max provides his usual acerbic color commentary) with Reginald van Winslow from Tales of Monkey Island hosting and f'n GLaDOS from f'n Portal dealing. Poker has never been this much fun. My favorite is after getting all the unlockable collectables to turn on the whole Aperture Science set and let GLaDOS feel right at home.
  
• Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)- Another game from Papers, Please developer Lucas Pope. This is a very interesting mystery, trying to piece together the fates of everyone aboard an early 19th century East India Company ship using a supernatural equivalent of found footage. It also features the most retro art style I've seen in a game yet, going back to classic two tone PCs from the early '80s, with a choice of colors.

Starrcade '89

Legacy Review

Starrcade '89

December 13, 1989 from the company's new home arena under the Turner regime, The Omni in Atlanta

Commentary: Jim Ross with either Terry Funk (singles matches) or Jim Cornette (tag matches)

This year's tagline is "Future Shock", and the shock is this isn't a normal Starrcade or PPV. Instead of a regular card, this show features an "Ironman Tournament" for both the singles and tag divisions. Think of it as a one night G1 with small blocks of four that wrestle each other round robin style, and a unique points system: 20 points for a pin or submission win, 15 points for a countout win, 10 points for a DQ win, 5 points each for a draw (15 minute time limit). Every match on the show is a tournament match. Your participants are:

Singles: NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger, NWA World Television Champion The Great Muta, and Sting

Tag Team: NWA World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers, The Road Warriors, The New Wild Samoans, and Doom

The stage looks like it walked off the Top of the Pops set. There's a very forced and cheesy intro with the tag teams scattered dramatically all over the stage. The Samoans are a last second replacement for the Skyscrapers due to a Sid Vicious injury (supposedly a punctured lung suffered in their Clash IX match with the Steiners).

The Steiner Brothers def Doom (w/Woman and Nitron) by countout in 12:24- Nitron is Tyler Mane, who never did much in wrestling and ended up becoming an actor. We've got another "late arriving crowd" here. It is Atlanta. Even during their '90s dominance no one showed up to a Braves home game until the 4th inning. Scott and Simmons start. Scott gets a powerslam for 2. Very slow pace. Simmons gets a jawbreaker on Rick to get out of a hammerlock. Rick counters with a belly to belly. Jim Cornette goes full King of the Gimmick Table Rocky Romero and says the crowd are all at the Midnight Express merch stand. Reed dodges a Scott clothesline and he goes over and out. Nitron beats Scott down. Scott goes face in peril. Hope small package for 2 in between some Doom near falls. As usual Rick can't stop himself from running in. Scott counters a suplex by twisting it into a cover but the ref is distracted. A Scott belly to belly at the 3 minutes left call leads to the hot tag. Steinerlines for everyone! And....stalling. Doom double teams. As Rick runs the ropes Nitron trips him. All 4 guys brawl on the floor. Rick just gets back in before the 10 count and Doom is counted out. Messy finish. Underwhelming match, as neither teams was interested in getting out of 2nd gear with lots more work to be done tonight. The Steiners take an early 15 points. *1/2

Lex Luger def Sting in 11:31- Luger jaws with the crowd and threatens to take a walk. Sting chases him down and brings him back. It's all Sting to start. Luger dodges a Sting dive and he goes over the top, but grabs the rope, lands on the apron, and clotheslines Luger! Nice. Slingshot splash for 2. Luger tumbles through the ropes and out. Great sequence from Sting. Luger eats guardrail and gets wobblelegged. Sting with a crossbody off the top for 2. Sting locks in an armbar in the match's only pause so far. Luger tries an inverted atomic drop. Sting blocks it, and while Luger's celebrating hits him with a clothesline. Sting springboard crossbody off the second rope for 2. He tries to go off the top again, but Luger catches him and gets the inverted atomic drop. And another one. Gutbuster. Luger works the midsection and plays to the crowd. He's settled very nicely into his heel role after the recent turn, and the crowd hates him. Luger double ax handle off the 2nd rope for 2. Powerslam. Luger goes for the Torture Rack but Sting slips out and starts no selling. Full Sting comeback at the 2 minute call. At one minute left Luger rolls out to play for the draw. Both guys get back up on the apron. Both fall over the top rope, but Luger lands on top, grabs the rope for leverage and gets the 3 as Sting fights to get out (and honestly had both shoulders up at some point). Another messy finish. But, even though I've seen other reviewers give this low ratings, I didn't hate this. Both guys went for it and didn't worry about having something left for later. 20 points and the early lead for Luger. **1/2

The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def Doom (w/Woman and Nitron) in 8:31- Doom's already out again. No time to rest. Cornette to JR: "Is that scorecard girl your daughter? You called her baby." Frakking hell, that was Worst Lines of Jerry Lawler bad. If he starts screaming about puppies I'm turning the show off. Animal and Reed start. Lots of power shoulderblock standoffs. Hawk posts his shoulder and goes FIP. Doom rolls through power moves for near falls with a bit of heel 101 to keep Hawk in. After the 5 minutes left call (the clock they're using tonight is....variable) Hawk gets the hot tag. Donnybrook. Reed tries to piledrive Animal. Hawk gets the clothesline off the top rope and Animal gets the win. Doom falls to 0-2 while the Roadies take the lead over the Steiners 20-15 in the second quarter. *1/4

Oh hell, Norman is out here dressed as Santa Claus. Just...don't ask. I've not had to mention him yet since he'd only been on Clashes up to this point, but he's about to start getting PPV paydays so it's coming. Well, so are the Clashes.

Ric Flair (w/Arn and Ole Anderson) def The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) in 1:55- Flair is in the rarely seen pink gear tonight. It's a very short match so we get a very fast start. Muta blocks a hiptoss and lays in some punches. Handspring elbow. Reverse Flair Flop! Here come the chops. Flair gets the kneebreaker and hooks in the figure four. Hart calls down a couple of goons from the J-Tex Corporation to help but the Andersons stop them before they get to the ring. Muta with a backbreaker. He goes for the Mutasault but Flair gets his knees up, rolls him into a Paul Smackage, and it's done. Well, that's one way to end Muta's undefeated streak. It's like they suddenly realized he was about to go back to Japan. Flair ties Luger up top at 20. *1/2

The Steiner Brothers def The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) in 7:27- In other circumstances this would be a potential show stealer. Sadly, it's also the only major show that these teams would cross paths. Code of Honor handshakes and high fives at the start. Hawk gets an enzuguri on Scott. Scott mat wrestles out. Rick does a 360 sell of a Hawk clothesline! Rick counters with a huge Steinerline on Animal. Rick reverses and hits Animal with a belly to belly. Hawk makes the save. Hawk press slam on Scott. Now Rick makes the save and Hawk looks annoyed. Scott hits Hawk with a belly to belly off the second rope and Hawk almost lands on his head. He immediately tags out but shakes it off and keeps going. The doctor even sneaks in barely in frame to ask if he's OK. Rick saves a couple more pin attempts and Hawk finally has enough, running in illegally and attacking, triggering your mandatory end match donnybrook. Animal gets an assisted German suplex on Scott. All four shoulders are down, Scott gets one up just before 3 to win. Decent with the potential for so much more. I like they tried to get a little story in there instead of just having a Generic Tournament Match. The Steiners take back the tag block lead 35-20. **1/2

Sting def The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) in 8:41- Muta blows off some green mist steam before we get going. Full nelson tradeoff (and just when you think that's an antiquated moved that's dead forever, it gets brought back again, thanks Bobby Lashley). Mule kick from Muta on a corner break. They turn it up with a nice speed sequence. Sting goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Muta gets to the ropes and powders. Back in Muta takes over with green mist covered fingers eye rakes. Muta locks in CATTLE MUTILATION! CATTLE F'N MUTILATION! (I'm a massive old school Bryan Danielson fan, this excites me) Sting powers and flips out of it. Press slam for 2. Muta hits the backbreaker and goes for the Mutasault. Sting rolls and Muta lands on his feet and nails him with a roundhouse kick. Muta goes up top again, but Sting dropkicks him while on the top rope, goes up, hits a superplex, and that gets the 3. Good, but not their GAB '89 match good. Sting ties Flair and Luger at 20. ***

The New Wild Samoans (w/The Big Kahuna) def Doom (w/Woman and Nitron) in 8:22- We've had face vs face, now it's heel vs heel. Long Fatu/Simmons lockup. Fatu hits a running powerslam. Reed barely sells it. A headbutt staggers both guys and both tag out. Savage no sells a Simmons powerslam and headbutt. Hard Samoan skulls. Doom takes over with a blind tag. Savage goes in peril for a long stretch. The Samoans are nominal faces here and it doesn't really work. Savage gets a sunset flip for 2 but then Doom uses ref distraction to double team. Savage dodges a dive off the second rope and tags. Donnybrook. Savage and Reed collide and collapse. But Savage collapses in the ropes. Humperdink pushes him over onto Reed and he gets the pin. All the no sells the first part of the match were mildly amusing but that's about it. Doom ends the night 0-3 and Woman looks extremely displeased (I'd say murderous, but, well, we know what ends up happening to her and I'm not going there). Soon after this she would leave Doom for the reformed Four Horsemen. Doom would pick up Teddy Long, lose the masks, and quickly become much more interesting. And just plain better. The Samoans are on the board with 20. 1/2*

Ric Flair and Lex Luger go to a 15:00(ish) time limit draw- The clocks are very subjective tonight. You could probably wrap a Doctor Who or Red Dwarf time flux plot around it. Flair gives Luger a little Slick Ric at the start. Luger's jawing with the crowd again. Luger pushes Flair back on a lockup. No one is impressed. A "Luger sucks" chant leads to more Luger stalling. Flair with a headlock. Luger pulls the hair to power out and reverse it. Flair rolls it into pin attempts. JR makes a really good point: the 15 minute time limit might be detrimental to Flair because that's usually how long he takes to warm up and really gets his claws into a match. Much like Kazuchika Okada today. Luger tries to no sell chops in the corner but Flair eventually chops him down and turns Luger's chest beat red. Flair works the arm. Double underhook suplex for 2. Luger tries to power out, but every time Flair outwrestles him back in. Luger finally goes to the heel 101 playbook, complaining about a hair pull then poking the eyes when the ref's not looking. Flair slips out of a slam and goes through a few Ricky Steamboat-like quick pin attempts. Luger takes over and rolls through the power moves. At the 4 minute call Luger is in control but getting a little desperate. Flair counters a suplex into one of his own. Flair backslide for 2. Flair Flip! He gets off the top rope but Luger hits him on the way down and gets a long 2 count off it. Flair goes up again and Luger gives him the Flair throw with under a minute left. Flair dodges a big elbow drop and locks in the figure four with 30 seconds left. Luger fights until the bell for the time limit. 5 points each for the draw. With one match left for all four guys it's Flair and Luger 25, Sting 20 and Muta 0. **3/4

The New Wild Samoans (w/The Big Kahuna) def The Steiner Brothers by DQ in 14:05- Everyone gets on all fours and the Steiners strike their pose. Rick makes fun of the Samoans' ceremony. The Samoans mock the Steiners' pose. Back and forth between Rick and Fatu with Rick still mocking. During a Steinerline one of Fatu's locks gets caught in Rick's headgear and pulled out! Rick keeps it on as a trophy. Major stalling from the Samoans. After a stiff clothesline exchange Fatu rolls out again. Savage complains about a phantom Scott hair pull to kill another minute. Rick ducks a double team and the Samoans hit each other. They tease a fight and Rick eggs them on but they end up hugging it out. Scott's thrown out and crotched on the barricade. More double teaming on Scott and more failed run ins by Rick. Rick runs in and bites Fatu's ass. A Samoan powerslam at the 2 minutes left call gets a 2 count. Scott gets a backslide but the ref is getting Rick out again. Frankensteiner! But Scott can't get the tag. Rick has enough and runs in for good. In the confusion Scott throws a Samoan over the top. The ref sees it and calls for the DQ. Another sloppy finish. This was another potentially good power match wrecked by the tournament format. The Steiners looked like they just wanted to go through the motions until they could hit the showers. With one match left the tag standings are Steiners 35, Samoans 30 and LOD 20. *3/4

Lex Luger def The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) by DQ in 14:15- Luger limps down to the ring. The knee gives out early on a leapfrog attempt. Muta targets it. Luger begs off. He rolls out but Muta chases. Back in Luger gets a kick with his good leg and tries a suplex but the leg gives out again. Muta works the knee for a long stretch with good selling from Luger. Almost New Japan-ish. Handspring elbow. Luger uses raw strength to separate Muta's hands on a hold and gets an eye poke in. Muta responds by kicking Luger's leg out of his leg again. Muta locks in a half crab, then turns it into the Mutalock. Luger gets to the ropes. At the 4 minutes left call Luger starts hulking up with punches. Muta counters with a reverse kick, but Luger kills him with a clothesline. Luger hits some power moves. Guess the knee suddenly got all better then. With under a minute left Muta sprays the green mist in Luger's face right in front of the ref and gets DQ'd. Woof. Another bad finish. For 10 minutes this was pretty good with solid Japanese style submission wrestling from Muta and Luger selling it well, but it was all downhill after that. Luger takes the lead with 35 points to Flair's 25 and Sting's 20. Muta takes the goose egg, going out on his back at the end of his WCW run. His last piece of business before wrapping up his excursion and going home to NJPW would be to drop the TV title to Arn Anderson on weekly TV in early January. **1/4

The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The New Wild Samoans (w/The Big Kahuna) in 5:18- Any Samoan win will give them the tournament. The Roadies have to get the full 20 points to win. A draw will lead to a Samoans/Steiners tiebreaker. Animal no sells a piledriver. Hawk and Fatu trade chops with Hawk whiffing on a couple of them. Hawk no sells a Samoan headbutt. The LOD is giving nothing. Animal takes a Samoan coconut to the gut and goes down. Animal dodges a Vader Bomb. Tag. A botch filled finishing sequence mercifully ends with Hawk getting the clothesline off the top to win the match and the tournament. The Steiners come out to congratulate. Both teams just phoned it in. 3/4*

Sting def Ric Flair in 14:30- Despite the screwy nature of the show Flair's streak of main eventing every Starrcade to date remains intact. Remember these guys have been on the same page and partners against Funk and Muta lately. There's lots of scoring possibilities here so lets just say a full 20 point win will give the winner the tournament and worry about the rest if needed. Much like Hirooki Goto in the 2016 G1, Luger can still backdoor a win if there's a draw. Sting comes out hot and Flair slows it down with a walk outside. They have a WOOOOO/Sting yell yell off. Sting works the arm. Flair shows his underrated strength by scooping him up into a fireman's carry. He places Sting on the top turnbuckle and...walks away. Mind games. They pick the pace up, ending with a Sting press slam. Flair starts getting frustrated and shoves. Sting shoves back harder. Flair slides out again much to Sting's consternation. Sting blocks a hiptoss into a backslide. Chop time! Flair turns Sting's chest red. Sting responds with a hiptoss and a couple of dropkicks. Flair begs off, suckers Sting in and throws him out. Flair is slowly starting to heel it back up as the match goes on. Flair delayed suplex for 2. He puts Sting in an abdominal stretch then uses it as a roll up for 2. Flair gets on Nick Patrick like he's Tommy Young. Sting charges out of the corner with a clothesline for 2. At the 5 minutes left call Sting starts no selling chops. Flair punches out of a sunset flip. Flair tries to suplex Sting out of the ring but Sting reverses it. More chop no sells. Stinger Splash at the 3 minute call. He hooks the Scorpion Death Lock in but Flair gets right to the ropes. Kneebreaker into the figure four. Sting gets to the ropes. Flair works the knee some more. Bridge up spot and another backslide for 2. At 1 minute left Flair hits a long delayed kneebreaker, then gets cocky and takes his sweet time putting the figure four on. With less than 30 seconds left Sting rolls him up into a Paul Smackage 3 to win the tournament! Afterward the Andersons come in and they tease a confrontation, but everyone, including Flair, congratulates Sting and Arn throws up the 4. Slow burn, kids, slow burn. Right after this the Horsemen would reform with Sting as a member. For a while. This isn't in the pantheon of great Flair/Sting matches, but it's still a good one with nice character work and foreshadowing as Flair slowly crept back heel. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WCW's great year of 1989 ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, kicking off what would be nearly two years of struggle with poor creative and worker apathy. In absolute classic WCW style, they take what could have been a decent idea and smother it with poor planning and execution. The night is filled with the most screwy finishes in a single show until Bischoff era WCW. This is really for completionists only, or people who want to watch every single step in the Flair/Sting feud.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

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