Post by hbkshawn88 on May 14, 2013 11:11:23 GMT
WWF Wrestling Challenge 9/14/86
Gorilla, Ernie Ladd and Luscious Johnny run down the card, nothing special except they do push the Steamboat/Snake feud when they mention Steamboat's appearance. Ring Announcer Lord Alfred Hayes was in rare form tonight with his mis-pronunciations, I will get to them when I mention the matches. Valiant tried pretty hard to hit some one-liners throughout the night, but he just doesn't have the timing or talent of Heenan or Lawler with them.
Junkyard Dog and George "The Animal" Steele w/Captain Lou Albano vs. Jimmy Jack and Hoss Funk (Dory Funk Jr.) w/ Jimmy Hart. JYD and Steele came down to 'Grab Them Cakes' which made me happy. Steele went right for the turnbuckle, leaving JYD to fight off the Funks. This was a very short, very sloppy match... it appeared as if no discussion of it was made in the locker room prior to coming out. 3 guys who shouldn't improvise (the 4th, who can, Dory, was barely in it.) Gorilla at one point says this could be a main event in any arena in the world... I would beg to differ. JYD gets the pin on JJ Funk and this festival of bungled spots is over. Oh, Albano has an inset where he pushes how great JYD and Steele are, making me think they were considering keeping them together as a full time team. Glad they didn't, perhaps this match convinced them it would be a bad idea.
Next we have pre-recorded comments from the Hart Foundation, they are upset that people are calling them 'Nasty Boys' (love it), and greaseball and beer belly.
Kamala w/Wizard and Kimchee vs. Mario Mancini. Watching these old shows brings me back to the jobber days, and I recognize so many of these guys. I remember thinking as a kid, why do they keep coming back when they just get beat up every time? Alfred Hayes pronounces Uganda as Ugyanda and Kamala as Kamalee which I found hilarious. Gorilla quickly says Kamala to correct it. At one point Valiant calls the Wizard 'Curtis Iaukea'... I think it was a slip, as I don't remember him using that name in the WWF during his Wizard gimmick run. Quick jobber squash, of course. One more note.. Kamala's tribal music was awesome!
Ken Resnick interviews Captain Lou, who makes a big fuss about Steele getting medical help to become more intelligent. Steele shows up looking confused, and demonstrates his intelligence with this classic: "Captain say be nice, George be nice. Now Captain say be vicious. Savage, George be vicious." This was the only mention of Savage, so I am not sure if they got their wires crossed and George was still feuding with Randy. I guess he did come down with Steamboat at Mania 3, so perhaps it was just on the backburner.
Hillbilly Jim and Cousin Luke vs. Joe Mirto and Jack Kruger. Alfred Hayes strikes again... this match was apparently scheduled for "one flaw" (and if you watched Cousin Luke you would be happy if that was all you got.) Hayes also announced Hillbilly Jim as from Midluck, Kentucky (instead of Mudlick.) Why Vince kept giving him a mic I will never know. The jobbers actually Pearl Harbor the Hillbillies, and in fact, Mirto and Kruger both get a short but solid heat segment on Cousin Luke, before Hillbilly gets the tag, and a bear hug victory. The inset was Jimmy Hart teasing a Hillbilly/Hart Foundation feud.
Ken Resnick interviews the Sensational Rougeau Brothers, they push that they are undefeated since debuting in January.
We get a pre-recorded comment from Honky Tonk Man, still as a face. Gorilla went to it by saying he was a new sensation on his way to the WWF. I thought he had debuted by this time, but I could be wrong. He pushed that he is coming after Orndorf, which would make sense since he was debuting as a friend of Hogan's, and Hogan was currently feuding with Orndorf and needed to transition to Andre in a little while. This may have been Vince's way of sliding the Orndorf feud over to Honky, except as we all know Honky didn't get over as a face for a second.
We join Ricky Steamboat vs. Roger Kirby in progress. Kirby actually got in more offense in this match than Steamboat, even getting a two-count at one point, and knocking Ricky out of the ring at another time. Steamboat pulls out a hard-fought victory with a diving cross body. Never thought I would call a Steamboat win over Roger Kirby hard-fought. They briefly reiterate the Snake rivalry on commentary.
Next we get a Snake Pit with Hillbilly Jim... they trade insults and it's cut off.
King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd w/Bobby Heenan vs. Billy Jack Haynes and Paul Roma. Everyone is announced already in the ring, probably to not sell Haynes as a jobber too hard. They push him on commentary as a legit threat, mentioning his little pop and his full nelson when he is introduced. Haynes actually has a good back and forth with Studd that is only broken up when Bundy interferes. Roma winds up with a hot tag segment that lasts about 10 seconds before he is obliterated by Bundy with an avalanche for the win. On commentary they mention The Machines (who I loved.) Oh yeah, Lord Alfred was at it again... he announced Studd as "The Giant" John Studd. Conflict of interest, anyone? We also get a Harley Race inset, he is awfully proud of becoming the King of the Ring and ruler of the WWF.
The main event is Nikolai Volkoff, Iron Sheik, and Hercules Hernandez w/ Slick and Freddie Blassie vs. Cpl. Kirschner, Salvatore Bellomo, and Jim Powers. The faces interrupt Nikolai's singing of the Russian national anthem. Blassie gets heavily involved, using his cane, tripping up Powers, etc. Speaking of Powers, he does about 85% of the work here for the faces, with Bellomo doing the other 15%, Kirschner never got in. The heels dominated the faces and Hercules (with an enormous beard) gets the submission win on Powers with the backbreaker. His beard alone could have won the match, it was that big. We get an inset from Superstar Billy Graham talking about his return to the WWF. You know why I (and many others, Facts especially) miss managers? Little things like this: after the match, Slick, who was there representing Hercules, climbs in the ring where the heels are celebrating, and vigorously shakes Iron Sheik's hand, then points to his tights where 'Iran' is written and shakes a finger at the crowd. It's those little things that can make a product so entertaining, and actually add to the realism of it. Or at least helping to suspend your disbelief.
We end the show with another Ken Resnick interview with the Hart Foundation and Jimmy Hart. Nothing special here, these guys couldn't talk yet, Neidhart stumbled through his piece with Jimmy trying to prod him along, and Bret sounded uncomfortable. They pushed their hatred of the Killer Bees.
This was an entertaining show, even if the best parts were seeing how Lord Alfred was going to butcher his ring announcing. I just love old school squash fests, and these matches were a little more even than most squashes, with the jobbers getting decent offense in this week.
Final note... can't wait for next week's show... they advertised The Killer Bees, Sika, Dream Team, Rebel Dick Slater, Paul Orndorf on the Snake Pit, The Machines (remember, they were Andre, Blackjack Mulligan, and Bill Eadie aka Ax of Demolition, who had just finished a run as the Masked Superstar), Randy Savage and Roddy Piper will be there. Awesome lineup. And the main event? Hart Foundation (my all time favorite team) vs. The Islanders (who Gorilla is still calling King Tonga and the Tonga Kid, won't be long before they are Haku and Tama.) Should be the best of these early Challenges yet.