Post by hbkshawn88 on May 14, 2013 13:06:21 GMT
Wrestling Challenge - 9/21/86
This was the best show yet. Gorilla was still far and away the best of the three commentators, while Ladd and Valiant get an A for effort. Miraculously, Lord Alfred Hayes got all of his ring announcements correctly, only making one mistake (which I do not fault him for, we'll get to that.)
First match was Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Islanders. Weird seeing Haku in trunks and looking so young. Last week in announcing this match they had still been calling The Islanders King Tonga and The Tonga Kid... this week there were Haku and Toma... so I guess we are still a few weeks away from him being called Tama. The Harts dominated most of this match, the highlight being the ending. Anvil and Haku were brawling outside the ring, even knocking over the steel barricade, and Bret put away Toma (or is it Tama) and joined them. Pretty soon the ref called for the bell, DQ'ing both teams, and The Islanders cleared the Harts from the ring. Fun match to watch, with a Jimmy Hart inset.
We saw a brief, maybe 1 minute clip of the classic Piper's Pit moment where Adrian Adonis (w/Cowboy Bob and Jimmy Hart) challenges Piper, saying he thinks the fans would rather see the Flower Shop. The clip ends with a funny moment of Piper inviting Adonis to sit down, then pulling the chair out from under him.
This one was tough to watch. Lord Alfred introduced Tony Garea in the ring (hate seeing former stars fall to pure jobbers) and then Pomp and Circumstance started, and I got a lump in my throat hearing the pop Savage got (even as a hated heel.) I have to say, Elizabeth looked about as hot as she ever has as she led Randy to the ring. Gorilla, perhaps reacting to the pop, was selling Randy hard as a heel on commentary, referencing that he stole the IC title belt from Santana. Classic Savage heel move, before the bell, he shoves Garea, baiting him, then uses Liz as a shield, and as soon as Garea turns his back, Macho pounces. Danny Davis was still getting his slow burn heel turn working, as he subtly held onto Garea maybe just maybe a little longer than necessary. Macho even wrestled the first few minutes with his shades and bandana still on. Even in this basic squash, Macho still pulled out all the stops, quick as a cat, even hitting the double ax-handle from the top turnbuckle onto the arena floor. I noticed as he climbed the turnbuckle for the big elbow, he got another nice pop... it's amazing to me they were able to keep him heel for as long as they did. Probably helped that after the match, he got in Liz's face simply for standing in the wrong spot in the ring, and gave her hell all the way to the back. What an awesome force he was, he could manipulate the crowd so easily, making you love him one second and hate him the next. But you could never look away when he was on screen. Incidentally, the inset for this match was Superstar Billy Graham, who mentioned Savage might be a target for his return. Too bad Graham was too incapacitated at this point to have an effective return... the promo's alone for that rivalry would have been off the chart. It was a bittersweet moment watching this match so close to Randy's passing... it sounds corny but I wanted the match to go on forever.
We cut now to Ken Resnick interviewing Jake Roberts, who cuts a terrific sinister heel promo on Ricky Steamboat.
Finally, the match I have been waiting for! The Machines w/Captain Lou (Super Machine, Big Machine, and Giant Machine) vs. Al Navarro, Tiger Chung Lee, and JJ Jackson. This was Lord Alfred's one botch, he actually had to ask JJ Jackson what his name was, stating the card was hard to read. The Machines come down to their killer entrance theme, and on commentary they were playing it off as if they had no idea who they were. Great lines like Gorilla saying "There's no telling how many there are!!" Gorilla at one point did mention that Albano was playing mind games with Bobby Heenan by introducing a new Machine each week, so I think that was a subtle way of noting he was in on the joke. The Machines obliterated the jobbers, Andre not even getting legally involved. Although he did end the match by pounding the top of Jackson's head when Big Machine threw him into the ropes. Fun stuff, I loved the Machines storyline. It must have sucked for Andre to wear a mask though.
We cut right to the next match, with everyone in the ring already. It's The Dream Team (Hammer and Beefcake) vs. Rebel Dick Slater (not so dirty anymore apparently) and Leaping Lanny Poffo... who happens to be one of my all time favorite JTTS in any incarnation. Poffo reads a poem about how great his teammate Slater is, then throws his frisbee into the crowd. I love it. This was actually a pretty good back and forth match. Slater and Valentine were putting on a decent brawl, and Beefcake was selling Poffo's offense pretty well, although Bruti still looked green. Poffo jumped around like a fairy of course. I had to laugh, at one point Poffo takes Beefcake out of the corner with a monkey flip, and Ernie Ladd calls it a high risk move. Yeah, really taking a chance with that one. Good continuity, as Valiant leaves the broadcast position mid-match to join his charges at ringside. Dream Team get the win with outside interference as Valentine clotheslines Poffo on the top rope. Mr. Fuji gets the inset promo on Slater. Seems like they were really trying to push Dick Slater as a face. He clears the ring of The Dream Team after the match, Poffo read the poem on him, Fuji mentions him. Guess it just didn't take, because I really don't remember much more from him in the months after this.
We see a Snake Pit clip with Jake Roberts interviewing Orndorf and Heenan, who are really pushing the Hogan/Orndorf feud, with Orndorf saying Hogan wants to be him. I hate that on these early shows we get these little McClips of the Snake Pit, Piper's Pit, etc. I want to see the whole segment darn it!
Next match is Sika w/ The Wizard vs. Rick Hunter. All I have to say here is poor Rick Hunter. The inset was The Honky Tonk Man. Watching these shows, it's easy to see why heels like Macho and Jake became faces in pretty quick order, while faces like Honky wound up being heels. The only other thing of note was Sika's Samoan Drop might have been the laziest I have ever seen. Take some pride, man, the name is your heritage!
The final match was Killer Bees vs. Terry Gibbs and (very pleasant surprise) Jack Foley. I am sure you all know it, but that was Mick's jobber name in his brief stint in the WWF in 1986/87. Mick looked funny, about 50 pounds lighter than he was as he started to make his name. The Bees dominated this match with extreme prejudice, Foley taking the brunt of it, with Gibbs prolonging his agony by interfering a couple times. It should be noted that Foley got some juice in this match, his mouth was bleeding a little. Signs of things to come. One other note... I consider the Killer Bees one of the most underrated tag teams of this era, along with the Rougeau's. If the Killer Bees had mic skills, the Midnight Rockers may have never been taken from the AWA, because the Bees could be exciting in the ring. Brunzell and Blair had some mad skills.
We wrap things up with Ken Resnick interviewing Bobby Heenan and Paul Orndorf, and it's almost a word for word copy of what was said on the Snake Pit earlier. Poor editing, fellas.
Next week we will be seeing Koko B. Ware, who they are pushing as a new exciting star, King Harley Race, The debut of Honky Tonk Man... and I am really looking forward to seeing if the fans shit on him right away or if they try to accept him as a face. Remember, he was coming in with Hogan's endorsement at this time. The feature match next week will be a non-title match with the champion British Bulldogs vs. Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. If Sheik is on, it should be a fun match!