WWF Championship Wrestling February 2nd, 1985

February 2, 1985

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

This week Paul Orndorff and the Junkyard Dog are in action. Also, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart will make his debut and Don Muraco will return to action. Andre the Giant will be the guest on Piper’s Pit as well. .

Johnny Rodz vs. Junkyard Dog

Rodz ducks out but JYD slingshots him back inside. Rodz bails as JYD approaches then manages an eye rake as he re-enters the ring. JYD quickly takes the advantage then gets on all-fours and uses his headbutts. Rodz takes down JYD and bites his forehead but JYD bites back then shortly after that, hits him with the powerslam for the win (3:05).

Thoughts: The fans still go nuts when “Another One Bites the Dust” plays. Not much different that any other JYD TV squash from this time.

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. After several weeks of promising to show us the footage from the December MSG show, we are shown backstage footage of Mean Gene with Cyndi Lauper and her manager David Wolfe, who is on a stretcher. Hayes will update us some more next week.

Peter Pompeii vs. Paul Orndorff w/Bobby Heenan

The crowd is screaming chants of “Paula” and “weasel” at the heels. Despite being called Pompeii, the graphic reads “Pompell” and the announcers call him that instead. Heenan grabs a stretcher from underneath the ring before the match. Orndorff beats the fuck out of Pompeii before tossing him outside. The fans are jacked right now. Pompeii gets dragged inside and clotheslined before Orndorff hits the piledriver for the win (1:45). After the match, Orndorff taunts the crowd as Heenan leaves the stretcher in the ring.

Thoughts: Orndorff squash matches are always fun. Also, Orndorff had nuclear heat, as this crowd hated him with a passion. Orndorff, despite being stuck wrestling midcarders, is starting to get more of a push with Heenan as his manager.

Gene Okerlund plugs tonight’s show at the Boston Garden. JYD and Andre come out and cut a promo on their opponents, Ken Patera and Big John Studd. Andre plays with JYD’s chain and puts it around Okerlund’s neck and starts playing with him.

Bruno and Vince show us clips from the match between Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis from the 1/21 show in Hartford in which Rotundo & Windham captured the tag team titles. The finish occurred when Windham, the legal man, was brawling with Adonis outside and sent him into the post then went back in the ring and pinned Murdoch with the sunset flip. Vince tells us that Capt. Lou aligned himself with Windham & Rotundo. The few minutes of action shown looked pretty good.

Okerlund is with Mr. Fuji and Don Muraco. Okerlund says that Muraco might be jinexed in Boston (where Muraco lost the IC Title to Santana last year) as Muraco says he is used to being a main eventer and not wrestling in the second match. He is facing George Wells. Muraco then mockingly congratulates Okerlund for figuring out that he is jinexed in Boston then starts to crack jokes about being in the second match on the card and as the interview ends, he says not to worry because he will leave the curtain open then proceeds to make a curtain-opening gesture as he is smiling. Funny stuff by Muraco.

Aldo Marino vs. Don Muraco w/Mr. Fuji

Muraco slams Marino then stomps away. He beats the crap out of Marino for a bit. Muraco hits a dropkick then finishes him off with the tombstone piledriver for the win (2:43).

Thoughts: Muraco looked really good in this match and it is good to have him back. He made no mentions of Hogan, the man who he was attacking in his vignettes.

Piper’s Pit with Andre the Giant. Piper starts by stating he has been a longtime fan and says that what Patera and Studd did to him was terrible. Andre doesnt believe a word he is saying and leaves shortly after that. Piper then says he is an idiot and insults Andre with Orton, calling Studd the real giant of pro wrestling.  

Jose Luis Rivera vs. Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart

The Anvil attacks Rivera from behind. He then impresses Vince by being able to do a dropkick at 280lbs. Rivera gets tossed on the floor then gets destroyed when he gets back inside the ring. Neidhart tosses Rivera halfway across the ring and after a brief comeback, Neidhart finishes him off with a running powerslam (3:04).

Thoughts: Solid in-ring debut for Neidhart. However, the crowd was silent and the announcers didn’t really do a whole lot to put him over on commentary.

Jeff Craney vs. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka

Vince calls Snuka a “kind and quiet” man outside of the ring. Snuka backs Craney in the corner to start. Craney briefly works the arm but Snuka takes control as Vince promises to show us what happened to Lou Albano at MSG last December. They take it to the mat and continue at a slow pace until Snuka hits a backbreaker then finishes off Craney with the Superfly Splash (3:24).

Thoughts: Snuka was still hurting badly as this was very slow-paced

Okerlund is with Bobby Heenan and Paul Orndorff. Heenan tells Okerlund that Orndorff was just being modest last week as he didn’t buy out the entire first class section of the plane, the airline gave it to him. He also says that the Boston Garden will know be called the “Wonderful Garden.” Studd and Patera come in and talk about Andre, with Studd playing with Andre’s hair.

Next week, Vince says we will be shown the footage of Albano’s award presentation. Also, we will see a training session with Hillbilly Jim and Hulk Hogan. Plus, Greg Valentine, Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch, Ken Patera & John Studd and Tito Santana & Blackjack Mulligan will be in action.

Final Thoughts: Not the greatest show but Muraco looked good in his comeback and cut a funny promo at least. They are slowly revealing what happened at MSG, which will lead to the main event of WrestleMania. The debut of Neidhart was forgettable and Piper’s Pit wasn’t that great to be honest, but it at least had a purpose, as it continued the Andre/Studd feud and set up for a possible later feud between Piper and Andre.