WWF Championship Wrestling August 17th, 1985

August 17, 1985

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

Tonight, the Junkyard Dog & Ricky Steamboat team up. Also, the Dream Team and Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo will be in action. Plus, Terry Funk and Don Muraco in singles action.

Dave Barbie & Tiger Chung Lee vs. Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo w/Capt. Lou Albano

The announcers talk up Albano as being the favorite for the “Manager of the Year” award. Lee and Rotundo work a decent sequence that ends with Rotundo working the arm. The champs work on the arm of Lee until he escapes and tags. Barbie slams Rotundo then drops an elbow. Rotundo fights back and tags Windham, who hits a dropkick then puts him away with the bulldog (3:14).

Thoughts: Decent enough showing for the champs. Lee was back on TV for the first time in 1985 here.

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. For the third consecutive week, the focus is on Corporal Kirchner. We get a new vignette, this time Kirchner swimming in a swamp holding a knife in his mouth. Holy shit was he terrible at promos. They sure did spend a lot of time hyping his debut.

Terry Funk vs. Paul Roma

Funk backs Roma against the rope before tossing him through the ropes. He suplexes him back in but gets kicked over the top rope after applying a spinning toe hold. Roma fires away but Funk takes him down with a shoulder block. Roma hits a really sloppy small package but Funk hits him with a back suplex. Roma holds the rope to avoid a neckbreaker then hits a pair of slams as the crowd goes wild. Roma bounces off of the ropes but Funk catches him with a sleeper for the win, despite the crowd starting a Roma chant (3:00). After the match, Funk brands Roma before smacking and kicking him around.

Thoughts: Good stuff. Funk made Roma look really good, even getting the crowd believing that Roma had a chance to win. Funk was always good about letting the job guys get in some offense. He was awesome during this run.

Gene Okerlund is with Hulk Hogan. He said that he trained with Andre the Giant in order to prepare for King Kong Bundy. One of the wackier Hogan promo’s I have ever seen and by the way he looked, it wouldn’t have surprised me to learn that he took some “gimmicks” before filming the segment.

Mike Donnatelli vs. Tito Santana

Santana works the arm of Donnatelli as Capt. Lou Albano joins the booth and talks about the “Manager of the Year” award. Freddie Blassie comes out and argues with him before hitting him over the head. Albano gets pissed and rants and raves on commentary as Donnatelli stalls outside of the ring. Back inside, Santana takes him down with a side headlock. Shortly after that, he hits him with a flying forearm before getting the win with the figure four leg lock (3:23). After the match, we get a replay of Blassie attacking Albano.

Thoughts: This match was more of a backdrop for the “Manager of the Year” angle than anything else, which is odd seeing as the IC Champ was wrestling in the match. Tito’s second IC Title run didn’t really click for some reason.

Freddie Miller is with Uncle Elmer, who will be taking part of a six-man tag in Boston. Elmer is confused and thinks that Boston is in Mississippi. He cuts a horrendous promo, babbling like an idiot the entire time. Uncle Elmer might have been the worst all-around wrestler in WWF history.

Gary Starr & “Leaping” Lanny Poffo vs. The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart & Johnny Valiant

The camera pans to a lot anti-Beefcake signs in the crowd. They all lack wit and that includes the guy with the “Brutus Beefjerky” sign. Anyway, Beefcake works over Poffo in the corner. Poffo fights back with a pair of dropkicks, including one to Valentine. He tags Starr, who immediately gets destroyed by Beefcake. Valentine tags and drops a few elbows before applying the figure four leg lock for the win (2:09).

Thoughts: Dominate showing by the Dream Team. They are getting a big push now as a team instead of two singles wrestlers who occasionally team up.

Piper’s Pit with Andre the Giant. The segment starts with the chair empty as Piepr accusing Andre of not having the guts to come out. He then rips apart a magazine piece by piece that features Andre. As he rants on and on, Andre comes out, causing Piper to change his tone. The segment ends with Piper throwing an Andre T-shirt against the wall before running away. Piper was pretty funny here.

Don Muraco w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Sal Gee

Muraco works over the back of Gee as the announcers talk about his feud with Ricky Steamboat. Muraco takes his anger out on Gee as the fans yell “beach bum” at him. After some more stomps and kicks, Muraco puts him away with the Tombstone Piledriver (2:12).

Thoughts: Not much to this match at all. They put over the Muraco/Steamboat feud on commentary.

Randy Savage gives us a PSA about staying in shape. He tells us to go to the gym so we do not stay a skinny wimp. This was great stuff by Savage.

Moondog Spot & Steve Lombardi vs. Junkyard Dog & Ricky Steamboat

Steamboat hits Lombardi with a flurry of offense. He then slingshots in with a Thesz Press. JYD tags and the crowd loves him. He headbutts Spot a few times before getting caught in the wrong corner. Lombardi is now the legal man and JYD headbutts him after tagging Steamboat, who gets the win with a flying body press (2:33).

Thoughts: This was fine. JYD was super over in 1985 too. I mean the crowd when nuts during his matches .

Freddie Miller is with the Dream Team, plugging their match at the Boston Garden. They are teaming with Johnny Valiant to go against Uncle Elmer & Ivan Putski & Pedro Morales (Holy shit is that an awful team or what). Valentine  runs down Morales for being washed up and says that Elmer is nothing but a pig farmer. Then, Valiant comes out, looking and sounding obliterated. They finish a song mocking Elmer before leaving. Lively stuff.

In action next week are Randy Savage, Spider Lady, Pedro Morales, Killer Bees, and the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Also, Vince tells us that Randy Savage will introduce his new manager on the show.

Final Thoughts: This show was okay, with the major focus on the “Manager of the Year” angle and some of the secondary feuds. They still hyped the debut of Corporal Kirchner, which ended up as a dud. The Funk/Roma match was really fun for a TV squash and you had some entertaining promos.