WWF Championship Wrestling April 12th,1986

April 12^th, 1986

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

Moondog Spot & Mr. X vs. Junkyard Dog & Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

Steamboat slides under Mr. X and uses a thrust kick to knock him down. That missed by a mile. He brings him back in the ring by his arm then tags JYD. Spot tags and headbutts JYD, which had no effect, then JYD headbutts him down. Mr. X tags in shortly after that and he gets beat by both guys until JYD gets the win with a powerslam (2:43).

Thoughts: The fans dug both of the faces but Steamboat had nothing going on at this point. That would change shortly though .

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. We are shown the debut of the Rougeau Brothers against the Moondogs in Australia. This was all done to put over the depth of the tag team division.

Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Mario Mancini & S.D. Jones

The fans greet Brett with a “grease ball” chant. S.D. gets a shoulderblock and a reverse rollup to start. He then works the arm of Brett then tags Mancini. Brett rakes his eyes then rams him into the corner. Neidhart tags and drops Mancini throat-first against the ropes. The Hart Foundation take turns beating on Mancini until they put him away with the Hart Attack (3:01).

Thoughts: The Harts are eliciting more of a response from the fans and are starting to really gain traction as a formidable tag team.

Okerlund is backstage and breaks the news that the British Bulldogs defeated the Dream Team at WrestleMania 2 for the Tag Team Titles. The Dream Team and Johnny Valiant come out and hype their rematch against the Bulldogs on April 26^th. Beefcake was awful at promos here. His cocaine-induced lunatic promos her cut as the Barber were much more enjoyable.

John Rizzo vs. George “The Animal” Steele w/ Capt. Lou Albano

Steele chases Rizzo out of the ring then attacks him from behind. Steele chases him out of the ring again as Rizzo is scared to come back inside. Steele greets Rizzo with clubbing forearms then eats the turnbuckle and shoves the stuffing into his face. Steele intimidates the referee as he attempted to intervene. Steele then uses a backslide or sorts for the win (2:40). After the match, Steele celebrates by throwing the turnbuckle stuffing into the air.

Thoughts: Steele continues to get pushed and the fans like his act. His feud with Savage and love for Elizabeth was pushed heavily on commentary.

Mean Gene is with Ricky Steamboat, who hypes a six-man tag in Boston as he teams with JYD and the Haiti Kid against the Funk’s and Jimmy Hart. JYD and Haiti Kid come out as Haiti Kid uses all sorts of karate poses. JYD then asks everyone their height and laughs when Haiti Kid says that he is 4’2. JYD laughs at midgets

Terry Morgan vs. Don Muraco w/ Mr. Fuji

Muraco trips up Morgan then gets frustrated as the fans start a “beach bum” chant. He grabs Morgan in a front facelock. Muraco continues to be bothered by the crowd then takes out his frustrations on Morgan. He hits a suplex before tossing him outside. Fuji chops Morgan down then laughs in a funny spot. Back inside, Muraco hits one of the worst piledrivers I have ever seen before finishing him off with a tombstone (2:55).

Thoughts: Muraco was pretty aggressive here and the fans still hated him but that piledriver needs to be on a Botchamania video.

Piper’s Pit with guest host Jimmy Hart. He says that Piper is vacationing in Puerto Rico. He is seconded by Hoss Funk. His guest his Jake Roberts and his snake, Damien. He lets us know that anyone who makes a mistake with the snake will pay. Both Hart and Hoss were scared of the snake and they put it over huge with this segment. Jake did a mighty fine job with the interview too.

Steve Lombardi vs. Paul Orndorff

Orndorff takes Lombardi down after he was attacked. Orndorff hits a pair of armdrags then works a hammerlock on the mat. He continues to work the arm in a very aggressive manner. He then softens up Lombardi before putting him away with the piledriver (3:26).

Thoughts: Orndorff wrestled like a complete heel and extremely aggressive throughout the match. Still, the fans loved him.

The Gladiator & Dave Barbie vs. Corporal Kirchner & Dave Barbie

Spivey and the Gladiator start out and they completely botch a leapfrog spot as Spivey fell on top of the Gladiator. Barbie tags and Spivey takes him over with a hiptoss then tags Kirchner who comes off the second rope with an axe handle. Barbie catches Kirchner with a bearhug but Kirchner escapes and hits a dropkick. Suplex gets two. Spivey tags and beats on Barbie as Vince lets us know that next week, we will see the highlights from the Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania 2. This match is so bad that even Bruno notes how they are uncoordinated as a team. Kirchner tags and hits Barbie with a swinging neckbreaker then tags Spivey who puts him away with the bulldog for the win (4:26).

Thoughts: The Spivey & Kirchner team was awful. Spivey was really bad and did not belong on television at this point in his career. It was amazing that he kicked around the WWF until 1988 because he was useless here.

Mean Gene is with Big John Studd, who will be facing Ted Arcidi at the next Boston Garden show. They were making Arcidi a face for this match as he was billed from Boston. Jimmy Hart comes out when he leaves and says that he is too small to wrestle as Terry tells him he cannot be afraid of a “pygmy” and a cartoon like JYD because he is with the Funk Brothers. Terry gives him a motivational speech then Hoss cuts a promo, looking and sounding like he took Thorazine 5 minutes before this was filmed. Terry was excellent here and Hoss was the opposite of that. And really, Hoss was just a failure in the WWF.

In action next week will be Adrian Adonis, Randy Savage, Hoss Funk, Iron Shiek & Nikolai Volkoff, and the Killer Bees.

Final Thoughts: Not much to see here to be honest. The only item of note was learning that the British Bulldogs won the Tag Team Titles. Piper’s Pit with Jake was cool but without Roddy present, it didn’t seem as special. We get to see clips of WrestleMania next, which was a big deal back then, but everything else tonight was essentially meaningless.