August 10, 1985
Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon
In action tonight are Ricky Steamboat, Paul Orndorff, and Uncle Elmer. Also, the Killer Bees and the Hart Foundation plus a six-man tag featuring Big John Studd & Missing Link & Adrian Adonis.
Bobby Wade vs. Uncle Elmer w/Hillbilly Jim
Before the match, Jim introduces Hulk Hogan to the crowd. The fans go crazy for the Hulkster. The match starts with Elmer shoving Wade around. He hits a few forearms then puts him away with a leg drop (1:11).
Thoughts: Very short match, which is for the best. Anyway, this was really just a way to introduce Hogan to the crowd and by that, give the Hillbillies some credibility in the process.
WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. Once again, the subject for this week is Corporal Kirchner. We get another vignette, this time it is Kirchner in a swamp participating in his “training.” Even knowing that the gimmick was a flop, these vignettes did not come across too impressive at all. Kirchner’s wooden delivery didn’t help either.
The first television ad for the “Wrestling Superstars” action figures airs.
Killer Bees vs. Mr. X & Bolo
This match is joined-in-progress. Also, I have no idea of Bolo’s identity. If someone does know, that would be great. The Bees are using quick tags to isolate Bolo in their corner. Johnny Valiant joins the booth and gives his reasons as to why he should win the “Manager of the Year” award. Mr. X tags in but the Bees work him over. The Bees are looking really good in the ring here. Brunzell gets worked over briefly but makes the tag. Blair runs wild and uses a double noggin knocker before tossing X to the floor and shortly after that, Brunzell puts Bolo away with a dropkick. A little over four minutes of this was shown.
Thoughts: The fans were not into the match at all but did pop for the finish. Again, the Bees looked great inside of the ring. Lots of fast-paced offense here.
Gene Okerlund is with Hulk Hogan, who will be facing King Kong Bundy at the September house show in
Boston
. The Hulkster said that not only can the Bostonians work hard all day and party all night, but they also say their prayers and take their vitamins.
Dan Rymonti vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
Never seen Rymonti before but he is jacked, although a bit on the short side. Steamboat gets a hiptoss after an Irish whip sequence. He works the arm for a bit then chops away. He hits a swinging neckbreaker then goes back to the arm. Rymonti lands a cheap shot then throws some truly awful punches. Steamboat fights back with a kick then chops him down before finishing him off with a flying body press (3:36).
Thoughts: Rymonti was horrendous, even by jobber standards, but Steamboat was over with this crowd. Not much to this match.
Gene Okerlund is with Jimmy Hart. He says that he had King Kong Bundy wrestle in
Japan
until Hogan signed a contract to face him. Hart says that Bundy was beating 2-3 men at a time and promises a victory for Bundy. Good interview by Hart, who IMO, was the most underrated manager of all-time.
Hart Foundation w/Jimmy Hart vs. Jimmy Jackson & S.D. Jones
Brett stalls for a minute after slapping S.D. on the back of the head. S.D is able to hit an inverted atomic drop. Both men tag out as Neidhart punches
Jackson
in the face after he attempted a sunset flip. The Harts double team Jackson until they put him away with a terrible looking Hart Attack (2:11).
Thoughts: Brief match and it was pretty bad, to be honest. The Harts continue to slowly get over as a heel team. They are not their yet at all though.
Piper’s Pit with guests Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji. Muraco says he turned down the likes of Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin to be interviewed by a real star like Piper. The heels gush all over each other as Piper puts over Muraco for backing up his talk, unlike the fans. After that, both men swap T-shirts. The segment was another heel lovefest on the Pit.
A.J. Petruzzi vs. Paul Orndorff
Before the match, Petruzzi states he will collect the bounty on Orndorff, using the least confident tone you could possibly have. Petruzzi botches a spot in which he was supposed to be clotheslined. Orndorff slams him as Piper and Orton approach the ring. Petruzzi gets tossed to the floor so Piper rolls him eight back inside. The fans then go nuts as Andre the Giant comes down to the ring, which has Piper and Orton retreat. After that, Orndorff nearly murders Petruzzi before putting him away with a piledriver (2:32).
Thoughts: The angle here was that Orndorff was going to have someone in his corner at all times to protect him from the bounty, so he got the biggest guy in the federation in Andre. Good segment that hints at possible matches between Orndorff/Andre and Piper/Orton .
Bobby Heenan gives us a PSA about drinking and driving, saying not to be stupid and walk. Good advice.
Joe Mirto & Tony Garea & Matt Samson vs. Big John Studd & Missing Link & Adrian Adonis w/ Bobby Heenan
The match starts with the jobbers trying and failing to slam Studd. Garea enters and hits a dropkick but also fails to slam him. Link tags and headbutts Garea in the corner. The heels then take turns working over Samson. The fans start a chant for “Andre” as Adonis hits a top rope elbow. Studd tags then puts away Samson with a bodybreaker (3:49).
Thoughts: The match was fine. Samson took an unbelievable shitkicking here though. He was getting destroyed for most of the match. Link isn’t getting over and Adonis hasn’t been since his return.
Okerlund brings out Johnny Valiant, along with Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine, who proclaims himself and Beefcake the “Dream Team.” This was how they got their name. Not much else happened in this interview besides Valiant screwing up the name of Valentine.
Next week, Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo, Terry Funk, Don Muraco, Tito Santana, The Dream Team, and the Junkyard Dog & Ricky Steamboat will be in action.
Final Thoughts: An okay show. The biggest things that happened was Andre aligning with Orndorff and Valentine and Beefcake officially becoming a team. You can also call Hogan appearing on the show a big deal because it was a rare occurrence for that to happen. The matches were hit-or-miss and not much happened in terms of angle advancement.