February 18, 1985
This was broadcasted live on MTV
Hunter is shown interviewing heels in some previously recorded bits, including David Schultz who was fired from the company a week before this aired.
This was broadcasted live on MTV
The show begins with a Hogan promo. He says that he is out
of control and it is up to the Hulkamaniacs to determine how much punishment he
will inflict on Roddy Piper.
Your hosts are Alan Hunter and Gene Okerlund. For those who
are unfamiliar with Alan Hunter, he was one of the five original MTV VJ’s (Martha
Quinn, J.J. Jackson, Mark Goodman, and Nina Blackwood were the others). Anyway,
Hunter seems like he is really out of his element here and it shows throughout
the show.
They show a video package recapping the entire series of
events that led to this match, starting at the beginning of the “Rock ‘n’
Wrestling” creation.
Hunter is shown interviewing heels in some previously recorded bits, including David Schultz who was fired from the company a week before this aired.
Piper cuts a promo, dressed in street clothes, and angers
the women by stating that he is not afraid to hit a woman if she touches him
first.
Now we are shown a series of interviews between wrestlers
and celebrities that are mad at Piper. Celebrities include Gloria Steinem,
Patty Smith, Ted Nugent, Dee Snider, and Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro.
More promos are shown. This time we have the heels against MTV
and Rock music with the faces and celebrities for those things.
Okerlund narrates a series of events featuring Piper acting
out of control.
We then find out that Vegas odds have Hogan as a 7:4
favorite then we get predictions from wrestlers and celebrities.
Roddy Piper w/Bob
Orton vs. Hulk Hogan w/Capt. Lou Albano, Cyndi Lauper, and David Wolfe
The match is airing live from Madison Square Garden. Piper comes out holding a guitar and wearing a “Hulkamania”
shirt. He even does Snuka poses in order to offend all of the fans in atendance. Orton has his arm in a sling as the result of
his match against Snuka earlier in the show. Bob Costas is the guest ring announcer and Mr. T is at
ringside. The heat for this match is off the charts. The match starts with both
guys brawling on the mat. Hogan takes down Piper with a back elbow smash then
hits a few slams. Piper takes the advantage with a clothesline in the corner.
He gets a few nearfalls and taunts the crowd a bit. Piper jumps on Hogan’s back
and locks on a sleeper. He brings him to the mat and Hogan tries to power up
but Piper rams him into the corner. Piper goes back to work and Orton helps him
out too. Hogan fights back and the crowd goes nuts. They engage in an eye-rake
battle until Hogan takes him down with a clothesline. Paul Orndorff appears
ringside and is cheering on Piper. Piper breaks up an atomic drop attempt and
in the process the ref gets knocked out. Piper holds Hogan down as Orndorff
comes off the top with a kneedrop. Lauper tries to help out as Wolfe attempts
to get her off the apron. Piper and Orndorff corner Lauper but Mr T. hops the
railing and the place goes nuts. The heels back off and Piper tells him to come
into the ring. He does but the heels attack him from behind then they turn
their attention to Hogan, who is standing up. Mr. T gets up and evens things up
as the fans are out of their minds. Orton joins the heels then the police swarm
the ring and separate everyone but not after Hogan lands a few more shots on
Piper. The fans stay rabid as the heels are dragged off by the police. Mr. T
and Hogan shake hands. Hogan grabs the mic and orders the heels to get back
into the ring then Finkel lets us know that Hogan won by DQ (7:40) **1/2.
Thoughts: I thought this match was really laid out well. They kept things simple and the crowd reacted to nearly everything they did so it was a huge success. It also saw Orndorff re-align himself with Piper after several months and more importantly, set up the main event for the first WrestleMania.
Hunter and Okerlund are now in the locker room. Hogan comes
in and cuts a promo on Piper, saying he was trying to destroy their way of life
and will do anything to stop him. He will even die for Rock ‘n’ Roll too. A
crazy but passionate promo from Hogan. Wolfe and Lauper come in and talk about
the match too. Lauper notes that she had trouble in her match with Wendi and
she said that as she lost the Women’s Title on this card to Leilani Kai after
Moolah hit her with forearm.
More celebrities come in and congratulate Hogan. Mr. T comes
in and calls the heels chumps and sissies. Okerlund plays the trio of Lauper,
Hogan, and Mr. T as a group of friends. Mr. T promises they will get them next
time.
Even more celebrities enter including Andy Warhol, Billy
Squier, Joe Piscopo (who really thinks he is still a huge deal), and Danny DeVito. Piper interrupts after coming out of the
shower and goes insane in his promo, promising to take out Lauper, Mr. T, and
Hogan.
Okerlund and Hunter wrap things up and Okerlund does not
believe the war between Piper and Hogan is over yet.
Final Thoughts: This
show was a huge success not only for the WWF but also for MTV as this show drew
at the time, the highest rating in the history of the network. It also made
wrestling seem cool with all of the celebrity involvement and kept the feud
going between Hogan and Piper, which was red-hot. The rest of the card was not
televised on this broadcast though and things of note included the Women’s
title change and the MSG debut of Hillbilly Jim. T
I was 6 at the time and we just got cable so this was SUCH a huge deal--everybody was talking about it. And remember, there werent alot of channels either lol.For the younger blog of doomers I wish I could explain how special the 80s WWF boom was.
ReplyDeleteWarhol looks soooooooooooo messed up during his segment.
ReplyDeleteThis was a tremendous review Bryan, but one thing I gotta disagree with is I thought Alan Hunter did great considering he was an MTV VJ, perhaps with no knowledge at all of pro wrestling, and someone approached him and (maybe) said:
ReplyDelete"Ok, so there's this wrestling match coming up, and we need you to host. It's not exactly real....the action is real.....the result isn't real....and this guy Hulk Hogan is defending Cyndi Lauper and Rock 'N' Roll as a genre of music from the evil forces of Scottish rulebreaker "Rowdy" Roddy Piper--a man so evil he recently smashed Samoan star Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka with a coconut! You'll recognize Hogan in his traditional spandex yellow briefs, and Piper will be wearing a kilt to the ring. Ok, you good?"
And I wish to explain to those same younger blog of doomers that this channel called MTV used to show music videos 24/7 (or close to it).
ReplyDeleteI want to like this a million times.
ReplyDeleteFantastic review. Really enjoyed this read. I love historical oddities like this show. Now I'll have one more addition under the "Sentences I never thought I'd say" heading one day. ("Remember when Tina Turner was trash talking "Classy" Freddie Blassie on MTV?")
ReplyDeleteWhen DIDN'T Andy Warhol look messed up?
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'd like to know, because I was only 12 at the time: was it generally understood by knowledgeable fans (obvs, fewer "smart marks" then because there were significantly fewer ways to be smart about the business) that (a) there's be this thing called "WrestleMania" in a month, or (b) that Mr. T was scheduled to be a part of it?
ReplyDeleteI'm just stunned, from Bryan's weekly recaps, that there weren't months of buildup for this thing, especially since wrestling had no PPV/closed circuit culture yet.
Starrcade started the closed-circuit culture in '83, didn't it? Am I correct in my memory that Wrestlemania 1 was only on PPV in very limited markets, closed-circuit everywhere else?
ReplyDeleteI believe that's right on both counts; I saw it on closed circuit at an Atlantic City casino where my father played occasionally.
ReplyDeleteWhat you need to remember, of course, is how regional the promotions were at the time. I understood that the NWA existed, thanks to the Apter magazines, but unless you had cable you didn't see it in the Northeast. So I had no idea that there was a major closed-circuit wrestling event on the way.
The Wrestling Classic from November of this year was a PPV. I though that WM 1 was just closed-circuit.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know what "smarks" or whatever passed for them back then had to say about a whole show dedicating less time to actual wrestling than to celebrities talking about how great Hogan is. Not that I agree with that, I just wonder if that sentiment existed then.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever see copies of the Observer from this period, they are not only notable for Meltzer's complete hatred of the WWF but also for the "smarks" from back then, which were usually his friends or other tape traders who subscribed to his newsletter.
ReplyDeleteOne year, they all voted that Bob Backlund being the WWF as the "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" so they were some "smark" guys who basically communicated through snail mail instead of the internet.
Nice.. First wrestling show i ever watched of my own accord. Prior to this match I had seen a few matches that family members watched but I was never into wrestling at all. It took the WWF being on MTV to catch my attention.. so that 'Rock & Wrestling' idea really paid off (at least in my case).
ReplyDeleteClosed circuit meant you paid good money to sit in an arena to watch a sports card projected on the screen like a movie. I used to go to MSG a few times in the mid-80's, but to tell the truth I had way more fun at the nearby Felt Forum watching the matches on the screen. You had the feel of a live audience, Plus you could see what the fuck was going on in the ring (pre-Titan-Tron days).
ReplyDeleteI almost wish they'd bring it back, but since people have their new-fangled 3D Plasma TV screens, I guess there's not much reason to.
From what I remember they made a big deal of the Wrestling Classic being the first PPV. Closed circuit had been around for years. I believe it started with one of Muhammed Ali-Joe Frazier fights (might have been Don King's idea)
ReplyDeleteRight about the regions.. I used to go back and forth between parents that lived in NYC and Virginia, so once I became a wrestling fan I got to see both WWF and JCP at their peak. Plus the AWA came on ESPN and World Class. Even so.. most of my friends in NYC had no clue what was happening "down south" as far as wrestling was concerned. I think the closest they would get was an occasional Nassau Coliseum trip from the Crockett guys every blue moon.
ReplyDeleteThe Great American Bash went to the football stadiums in Phila and DC in 1986. It drew 10K at the first, 6K at the latter.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure, so I hedged.
ReplyDeleteI have newsletters going back to the 1960's. They didn't like the WWWF back then, either, and for the same reasons--big, lumbering guys in the main events. These were not "smark" newsletters per se, since they never outright said anything was a work, but they did expose masked and past identities and were clear as to who they liked and disliked, and it wasn't just by a strict good guy/bad guy line.
ReplyDeleteWMI was on PPV in select markets. I had a tape of the original broadcast since Columbus, OH was one of those markets.
ReplyDeleteannnddd.. I just read that the Beatles did closed-captioned concerts way back in 1964. I still haven't been able to see what was first, but from what I can tell CC had been around a long time before Starrcade. I'm guessing that Starrcade made it popular to the wrestling audiences.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Like you said.. the more people got cable and TBS, the more fans JCP (and WCW) would gain.. which was pretty much a lesson they learned from Vince's deal with USA network.
ReplyDeleteOh how I miss the days of watching Martha Quinn and Nina Blackman all day long. Watching MTV after 7pm to see the World Premiere of some Hall & Oates or David Lee Roth masterpiece.. Seriously though.. those were the fucking best days to be a teen..
ReplyDeleteYeah, Meltzer's anti-WWF bias basically paints all of his stuff. It's especially noticeable looking back, since stuff that fans generally love these days was shit on by him back then, too. He just comes across as one of those Indie-rock fans who only likes indie stuff and thinks anything mainstream sucks. Basically a contrarian.
ReplyDeleteThis is what's weird about wrestling from back then: I feel like, because I heard so much in retrospect about these guys and know all the storylines and characters involved, that I actually remember it. But this happened before I was even born by a few months. Its weird how wrestling can be so absrbed by other sources (magazines, retro rants, video packages) that you don't even need to have actually seen it to experience it.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Hulk Hogan hung around with Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, and FUCKING ANDY WARHOL!
ReplyDeleteRock has his Hollywood entourage, and Jericho has all his musician buddies.
Who does John Cena hang with?
lil' poopie
ReplyDeleteYeah, even guys like Flair and Terry Funk said that in their shoot, in regards to the WWWF style being slow and lumbering.
ReplyDelete