May 18, 1985
Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon
In action this week are Ken Patera & Big John Studd, Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik, and Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart. Plus, an edited version of the "Piper's Pit" from the Nassau Coliseum. Again, they do not refer to it as "Saturday Night's Main Event."
Ken Patera & Big John Studd w/Bobby Heenan vs. Paul Roma & Jose Luis Rivera
Heenan has a briefcase with him that contains money. Rivera fails to slam Studd then stuns him with a dropkick. Studd easily slams him then tags Patera, who overpowers him for a bit. Roma tags and Patera takes him right down and hammers away. They take turns slamming Roma then Patera makes him submit with the swinging full nelson (2:18).
Thoughts: A quick squash. The heels looked dominant and it went fine. That is really all I can say about this.
McMahon is interviewing Heenan, Studd, and Patera on the podium. Heenan opens the briefcase that contains $25,000 and puts a bounty on the head of Paul Orndorff as whoever takes him out will get the money.
WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. The subject this week are the tag team champions, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik. Hayes thinks it is unusual for a "Russian and an Arab" to team together and brings up how they have not given the ex-champs a title shot.
Aldo Marino vs. Don Muraco w/Mr. Fuji
Muraco looks flabbier than usual. This show was the first of a new taping cycle. He takes Marino down and works over the leg. He rams Marino's leg against the ring post a few times as Fuji is seen laughing in the background. Muraco continues to work on the leg until he finally puts Marino out of his misery with a tombstone (2:51).
Thoughts: This dragged and at this point, there was a noticeable drop in quality of Muraco's in-ring work. He was getting heavier and it made him lazy in the ring. There were still much worse than him but he wasnt the worker that he was two years prior.
An address pops up for you to write so you can get a free catalog. For those of you who do not know, that catalogue was how you got the WWF merchandise at that time. It wasnt readily available in stores like it is today. If it was, I couldnt even imagine how many shirts Hogan would have sold in the 1980's.
Gene Okerlund is with Roddy Piper & Bob Orton. They are facing Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka at the Boston Garden but Piper welcomes Fuji and Don Muraco, who will be taking their place. The heels area are all wearing "Saturday Night Main Event" shirts.
David Sammartino vs. Charlie Fulton
Sammartino gets taken down by a shoulderblock but catches Fulton with an armdrag immediately afterwards. He works the arm for a while until Fulton escapes and works over Sammartino in the corner. Fulton misses a corner charge and Sammartino catches him with a powerslam on the rebound for the win (3:00).
Thoughts: Dull stuff as Sammartino doesnt have any superstar qualities about him. Realistically, he should be on the same level as someone like Rick McGraw.
Okerlund is with Jimmy Hart and Greg Valentine, who will be facing the Junkyard Dog. Valentine calls JYD a "nasty black man" and says he can't stand his theme song. He also says that they will get down and dirty and that JYD will in fact bite the dust tonight after he rubs his "nasty black face" right into the ring until there is only a big black spot left. One of many racist promos that Valentine cut on JYD during their feud in 1985.
Jim Young & Rick McGraw vs. Brett "The Hitman" Hart & Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart w/Jimmy Hart
Neidhart beats on McGraw to start. Brett tags but McGraw catches him with an atomic drop. He hits a dropkick then Young tags in and works the arm until Neidhart knocks him down from behind. Hart tosses Young to the floor, where he gets slammed by Neidhart. Young gets rolled back inside where he gets double-teamed then booted out of the ring again. McGraw chases Hart around the ring but Neidhart rams Young against the post and rolls him back inside. Brett hits a back suplex then they put him away with the Hart Attack (3:59). After the match, Brett stomps on Young and Neidhart rips up a fan's sign then throws it into the crowd.
Thoughts: I thought this went on too long but the crowd was into it a little. Then again, they always seem to be into the first show of the taping cycle. The team of Hart & Neidhart are slowly climbing up the card and getting a lot of TV time but they still are a ways away from being a top team.
Piper's Pit with Paul Orndorff. This was from "Saturday's Night Main Event." We are joined in progress here and only get the five minute version. If you missed it, Orndorff fought off both Orton and Piper until he got cheapshotted from behind. Mr. T then ran out to make the save on behalf of Orndorff.
Sal Gee & Mario Mancini vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/Freddie Blassie
The heels are drawing nuclear heat from this crowd. They are pelting them with trash. Sheik tosses around Mancini for a bit then taunts the crowd. Volkoff tags and drops Mancini throat-first on the top rope before hitting a double underhook suplex. Gee tags but Volkoff immediately hits him with the backbreaker then the Sheik tags and kills him with a back suplex before getting the win via submission with the Camel Clutch (3:21). After the match, the heels toss the jobbers to the floor.
Thoughts: The heels looked good here as they completely dominated their opponents. Mancini was one shitty wrestler too. The crowd hated the champs and they played up to it well.
Okerlund runs down the card at the Boston Garden before welcoming Tito Santana, who will be facing Brutus Beefcake. Santana continues to call him "Fruitcake" and says that he and Greg Valentine will go down tonight. Okerlund slips up and almost says "Fruitcake" before welcoming Hogan and Snuka. Snuka looks geeked as Hogan cuts one of his typical promos.
Next week, we will see highlights of the six-man tag from SNME. Plus, Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana, Greg Valentine, Pedro Morales, and Jimmy Snuka will be in action.
Final Thoughts: Besides the bounty that was placed on Orndorff by Heenan, not much else of note happened on this show. Some of the tag squashes were fun but most of this was filler, except for the edited version of Piper's Pit from SNME.
Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon
In action this week are Ken Patera & Big John Studd, Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik, and Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart. Plus, an edited version of the "Piper's Pit" from the Nassau Coliseum. Again, they do not refer to it as "Saturday Night's Main Event."
Ken Patera & Big John Studd w/Bobby Heenan vs. Paul Roma & Jose Luis Rivera
Heenan has a briefcase with him that contains money. Rivera fails to slam Studd then stuns him with a dropkick. Studd easily slams him then tags Patera, who overpowers him for a bit. Roma tags and Patera takes him right down and hammers away. They take turns slamming Roma then Patera makes him submit with the swinging full nelson (2:18).
Thoughts: A quick squash. The heels looked dominant and it went fine. That is really all I can say about this.
McMahon is interviewing Heenan, Studd, and Patera on the podium. Heenan opens the briefcase that contains $25,000 and puts a bounty on the head of Paul Orndorff as whoever takes him out will get the money.
WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. The subject this week are the tag team champions, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik. Hayes thinks it is unusual for a "Russian and an Arab" to team together and brings up how they have not given the ex-champs a title shot.
Aldo Marino vs. Don Muraco w/Mr. Fuji
Muraco looks flabbier than usual. This show was the first of a new taping cycle. He takes Marino down and works over the leg. He rams Marino's leg against the ring post a few times as Fuji is seen laughing in the background. Muraco continues to work on the leg until he finally puts Marino out of his misery with a tombstone (2:51).
Thoughts: This dragged and at this point, there was a noticeable drop in quality of Muraco's in-ring work. He was getting heavier and it made him lazy in the ring. There were still much worse than him but he wasnt the worker that he was two years prior.
An address pops up for you to write so you can get a free catalog. For those of you who do not know, that catalogue was how you got the WWF merchandise at that time. It wasnt readily available in stores like it is today. If it was, I couldnt even imagine how many shirts Hogan would have sold in the 1980's.
Gene Okerlund is with Roddy Piper & Bob Orton. They are facing Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka at the Boston Garden but Piper welcomes Fuji and Don Muraco, who will be taking their place. The heels area are all wearing "Saturday Night Main Event" shirts.
David Sammartino vs. Charlie Fulton
Sammartino gets taken down by a shoulderblock but catches Fulton with an armdrag immediately afterwards. He works the arm for a while until Fulton escapes and works over Sammartino in the corner. Fulton misses a corner charge and Sammartino catches him with a powerslam on the rebound for the win (3:00).
Thoughts: Dull stuff as Sammartino doesnt have any superstar qualities about him. Realistically, he should be on the same level as someone like Rick McGraw.
Okerlund is with Jimmy Hart and Greg Valentine, who will be facing the Junkyard Dog. Valentine calls JYD a "nasty black man" and says he can't stand his theme song. He also says that they will get down and dirty and that JYD will in fact bite the dust tonight after he rubs his "nasty black face" right into the ring until there is only a big black spot left. One of many racist promos that Valentine cut on JYD during their feud in 1985.
Jim Young & Rick McGraw vs. Brett "The Hitman" Hart & Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart w/Jimmy Hart
Neidhart beats on McGraw to start. Brett tags but McGraw catches him with an atomic drop. He hits a dropkick then Young tags in and works the arm until Neidhart knocks him down from behind. Hart tosses Young to the floor, where he gets slammed by Neidhart. Young gets rolled back inside where he gets double-teamed then booted out of the ring again. McGraw chases Hart around the ring but Neidhart rams Young against the post and rolls him back inside. Brett hits a back suplex then they put him away with the Hart Attack (3:59). After the match, Brett stomps on Young and Neidhart rips up a fan's sign then throws it into the crowd.
Thoughts: I thought this went on too long but the crowd was into it a little. Then again, they always seem to be into the first show of the taping cycle. The team of Hart & Neidhart are slowly climbing up the card and getting a lot of TV time but they still are a ways away from being a top team.
Piper's Pit with Paul Orndorff. This was from "Saturday's Night Main Event." We are joined in progress here and only get the five minute version. If you missed it, Orndorff fought off both Orton and Piper until he got cheapshotted from behind. Mr. T then ran out to make the save on behalf of Orndorff.
Sal Gee & Mario Mancini vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/Freddie Blassie
The heels are drawing nuclear heat from this crowd. They are pelting them with trash. Sheik tosses around Mancini for a bit then taunts the crowd. Volkoff tags and drops Mancini throat-first on the top rope before hitting a double underhook suplex. Gee tags but Volkoff immediately hits him with the backbreaker then the Sheik tags and kills him with a back suplex before getting the win via submission with the Camel Clutch (3:21). After the match, the heels toss the jobbers to the floor.
Thoughts: The heels looked good here as they completely dominated their opponents. Mancini was one shitty wrestler too. The crowd hated the champs and they played up to it well.
Okerlund runs down the card at the Boston Garden before welcoming Tito Santana, who will be facing Brutus Beefcake. Santana continues to call him "Fruitcake" and says that he and Greg Valentine will go down tonight. Okerlund slips up and almost says "Fruitcake" before welcoming Hogan and Snuka. Snuka looks geeked as Hogan cuts one of his typical promos.
Next week, we will see highlights of the six-man tag from SNME. Plus, Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana, Greg Valentine, Pedro Morales, and Jimmy Snuka will be in action.
Final Thoughts: Besides the bounty that was placed on Orndorff by Heenan, not much else of note happened on this show. Some of the tag squashes were fun but most of this was filler, except for the edited version of Piper's Pit from SNME.
Hayes obviously wasn't thinking of the secret funding of Egypt and other neighbouring counties during the early 60s, particularly the sale of arms that predates their later dealings with Cuba. A fact which Hayes should have known given the famous Suez Crisis which brought down British PM Eden during the Eisenhower administration.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lack of fact checking like that which would have just ruined that match for me.
I'm getting angry just thinking about. Hayes. What a cunt.
It would have taken even less fact checking for Hayes to find out that Iran is not an Arab country..
ReplyDeleteBrain: "They sure had a lot of Italian jobbers on this show."
ReplyDeleteMonsoon: "What about David Sammartino."
Brain: "Like I said, they sure had a lot of Italian jobbers on this show."
Monsoon: "WILL YOU STOP!?!?!"