Video Review: WWF @ Boston Garden - February 8th, 1986
Title Changes, Martial-Arts jackets, Cages, and Lanny Poffo... what else could you ask for?
- With more 24/7 material to get through, I thought I'd go a bit further back than I've done in the past few weeks. It's time to take a trip down memory lane in one of the more famous stops for the WWF before the "New Generation" days (and the closing of the arena) took over. Yes, it's time to go to the Boston Garden, former home of the Boston Celtics and Bruins, before the place was destroyed because it was old and people love replacing things. OK, that's enough with the geography lessons from the guy who couldn't pass it to save his life. Time to get to the show.
- Taped on February 8th, 1986 from Baw-ston, Massawhateverthefucketts (just take a guess on what sport teams I support and hate with a passion), we have Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura doing the broadcast duties. Other than the combination of Gorilla and Bobby Heenan, this would be my next favorite. Always in good chemistry, and they didn't sound like they totally hated each other like with Ventura and McMahon on SuperStars and Saturday Night's Main Event.
- Opening Match: "Leaping" Lanny Poffo vs. Paul Christy:
What an interesting match to open the show with. Poffo was, in short, an over Jobber, but he still lost matches in less than 2 minutes on every episode of Championship Wrestling at the time, and wouldn't see any kind of a "push" until he turned heel and became The Genius in the summer of 1989. Paul Christy I never heard of, so I can assume Poffo is winning this thing. Lanny Poffo's opening poem bashes Roddy Piper, and it's a long winded one too. A Tumbling lockup goes all over the ring, with Poffo giving a clean break. Lockup #2 and some wise guy is already chanting "Boring." Oh well, they're in Boston, so I'm not surprised. Christy takes Poffo over with an arm drag and applies the first armbar of the match. Poffo tries fighting free, but gets pulled back down by the hair. Christy continues working the arm. Crowd is really turning on this match, and right now I agree. We are passing three minutes, and I've commented on 2 moves. Poffo FINALLY escapes, and a crisscross leads to Poffo taking over Christy with an arm drag, and now he bars the arm. Poffo puts on a hammerlock as the camera keeps the camera on an unnecessary shot of Poffo's bulging crotch. Gorilla and Ventura are so bored they go about 15 seconds without saying anything then randomly talk about WrestleMania 2. Christy reverses into a wristlock, but Poffo counters with a hand spring and bars the arm once more. Poffo ends up being dumped to the outside, to kill even more time. Please tell me this isn't going for the time limit. Poffo finally makes it back into the ring after snapping Christy across the top rope. Poffo whips Christy across the ring and follows with a hip toss, sending Christy to the outside. Poffo springboards off the top rope with a sledge to the back of the neck! Back inside, and Poffo covers for a two count. Poffo puts Christy down with a dropkick, and follows with a version of the moonsault for the three count at 9:56. 1/2* Totally worthless match, but Poffo's high flying spot during the days when the most high impact move was a bear-hug gives it a little boost of a rating. You can tell how incredibly bored this match was, considering I basically commented about the match for about a paragraph, despite running almost ten minutes in length.
- Sivi Afi vs. Barry O:
Look at that talent pool the WWF is putting in these matches. Barry O is the not really famous Orton who never did anything of note in the WWF except being one of the stool pigeons during the sex scandal and steroid issues of 1991-92... which reminds me, whatever happened to Mel Phillips? Sivi Afi is a cheap version of Jimmy Snuka that no one wanted... yeah, that's all I can say about him. Barry O starts with a go behind waistlock and applies a hammerlock, but Sivi Afi escapes with a flip over Barry's head. Barry O applies a wristlock, and we get a series of counters, with Afi coming out on top of that exchange. Irish whip escape, and Afi finishes a crisscross with an ugly dropkick before going to the armbar. Afi comes off the ropes with a shoulder block. Barry O comes back with a hip toss, but misses an elbow drop, and Afi takes him over into another armbar. Jesse Ventura name drops Jimmy Snuka, even though Snuka was out of the promotion and wouldn't be seen again until WrestleMania V, when he made a random appearance before a match, then vanished 5 seconds later, not to be mentioned of for the rest of the show. Back to the match... Afi goes to the top rope, but Afi rolls to the wrong side of the ring, so Barry has to comes off and run at Afi, nailing him with an elbow. Barry O connects with a running powerslam, but Afi doesn't feel like selling, kicking out at the one count. Reverse chinlock applied by Barry O. Afi tries a comeback, but gets tossed to the outside. Afi no sells being rammed into a turnbuckle, then comes back into the ring with a sunset flip, but Barry blocks and punches Afi in the face . Snuka... I mean Afi reverses a suplex with one of his own and covers for a two count. Irish whip, and a sloppy spot has both men bash heads. Afi plays pissed off Samoan who dances. Slam by Afi, but Barry O picks up the knees on a splash attempt. Barry goes to the top, only to get slammed off. Sivi Afi goes up this time and comes off with a cross body press for the three count at 7:41. * Pretty much as "good" as the previous match, but at least they didn't spend the entire match lying on the canvas and hoping for something to happen, preferably from the imaginary person both men pray to. Afi would eventually go on Job duty since no one bought into him, and Barry O I haven't heard much of other than his WWF stint. [Note: It's here where I stopped the review after hearing about the death of Eddie Guerrero. 3 days later, I try my best to continue.]
- George "The Animal" Steele vs. Tiger Chung Lee:
We're back finally after a delay from me to continue with this review. If the Gods are in my favor, this one will be both short and painless, but remember, it's George Steele vs. Tiger Chung Lee, so only one of the above will most likely be possible. Before the match begins, Tiger attacks George Steele with his kendo stick/singapore cane, meaning Tiger Chung Lee was hardcore years before Tommy Dreamer. Steele is able to take the weapon from Chung and snaps it in half. Steele does his usually goofy spots while Tiger Chung stalls outside the ring. We finally get contact, and TGL quickly rams Steele into a turnbuckle and stomps an egg roll in him. Now Steele goes outside and rearranges the placement of one of the security barriers. Steele, the genius he is, goes back in the ring and is quickly rammed into the object. Now Steele pulls a weapon out of his tights, bashes Lee with it, then hides it in his mouth when the referee frisks him. Some more stalling, and next Steele uses one of Chung Lee's shoes to beat him out of the ring. Steele decides it's snack time, giving Lee a chance to weakly beat on him. Steele isn't selling though, and quickly drops Lee before going back to the turnbuckle. He ends up removing the second turnbuckle, rams Tiger Chung Lee into it, and that's all she wrote, giving Steele the tainted victory at 5:43. -* This match forced me to go into what I dubbed the "Heroes of Wrestling" scale. This wasn't quite as bad as some stuff from that PPV, but there was a grand total of zero wrestling moves, tons of stalling, and horrible comedy to boot. I guess it was still better than George Steele vs. Greg Valentine from that PPV.
- Hillbilly Jim vs. Big John Studd:
Useless trivia about myself. I remember getting a 2-pack WWF thumb wrestlers figures of BJS and Hillbilly Jim, and did countless matches with them, so I was kind of excited to see this match when getting a copy of this tape... no, I clearly am not that bright. Hillbilly Jim's entrance is cut. For an explanation, read my Copps Coliseum review. Before the match begins, Gorilla and Ventura talk about the Slammy Awards. We start the match with a lockup going into the corner, and Studd with a 0.000005 mph forearm across the chest. Hillbilly comes back with head-butts, and does nothing to follow up. Lockup #2, and this time Hillbilly blocks the blow, but a slam attempt is blocked with Studd grabbing the ropes. For those that don't remember (or don't want to), John Studd had a gimmick going on where he would pay X-amount of money if his opponents could slam him. Of course, whenever he was slammed (by Andre and King Tonga for example), the money wasn't given up for long. Anyway, back to the match, Studd applies a wristlock. This goes on for quite a while, so I prepare to fast forward. HBJ finally escapes with a series of blows across the chest of Studd, but Studd comes back with his own. Studd with a big slam on Hillbilly Jim, but that doesn't earn him any money. Studd with some weak stomps at the right elbow of HBJ. Studd uses his giant frame to squash HBJ in the corner a few times, and now works in... the bear-hug! HBJ fights out, so Studd goes up to the second rope, and jumps into a punch from HBJ. Hillbilly goes wild with rights and head-butts, but Studd blocks another slam attempt and runs outside. They brawl, but HBJ rams Studd into the ring post and runs back in the ring to win the match by Count-Out at 7:24. DUD Not much better than the previous match, but I don't like dipping into the negatives so much, so I'll just call it a crappy match and leave it at that. Right now, the first four matches combined for a half-a-star rating, but it's the rest of the show you need to worry about, not this crappy under card garbage.
- WWF Intercontinental Championship Match:
Tito Santana © vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth):
I'm sure everyone knows the result already, but if you don't know... you should, since I kind of spoiled it in my teaser title. The referee here is Danny Davis, breaking the code of the referee's by wearing tan slacks instead of black. Elizabeth, is of course, looking really good here. She gets a pretty good face pop too. Santana shoves off Savage on the first lockup. They continue to jockey for position, frustrating Savage in the process. Savage with a go-behind waistlock, but Santana counters. Savage breaks it by making it to the ropes, then plays Memphis heel by stalling outside for a little while. Back inside, and Savage applies a side headlock. He takes Santana over, but Santana counters with a head scissors, and both men are back to a neutral position. Savage applies another headlock, and thumbs Santana in the eyes. Santana is rightfully pissed off and chases Savage out of the ring. Santana beats on Savage outside the ring, but the action goes back inside in Savages favor. Savage comes off the top for an axe-handle, but Santana catches him coming off with a fist to the midsection. Santana with a series of rights and a scoop slam. Santana goes for the flying forearm, but Savage bails. Back inside, and Savage cheats to take control. Santana blocks a boot and puts Savage down with an atomic drop for a two count. Savage with a rake of the eyes to take the control back, and follows with an axe-handle to the back for a two count. Irish whip, and Savage connects with a nasty looking clothesline for another two count. Savage heads up top and comes down with a double axe-handle for another close fall. Santana fights back with rights to the midsection. Savage prevents the comeback with a rake to the eyes and dumps Santana outside, which gives Savage the chance to work in the axe-handle to the outside. Savage pulls Santana back up on the apron, but gets rammed into the turnbuckle for his troubles. Santana with a forearm across the chest of Savage, and comes into the ring with some punishment. Santana heads to the second turnbuckle and comes off with a bionic elbow for a two count. Santana with a knee across the forehead of Savage. Irish whip to the corner, and Santana runs 105 mph into the boots of Savage. Santana kicks out with authority, causing Savage to land on Davis. Santana with a cradle, and a long two count is all he gets. Savage quickly drops Santana with a forearm, but misses a knee drop. Santana kicks away at the knee of Savage, probably setting up the Figure-Four... and as I expected, Santana has it locked on in the center of the ring. Savage rolls over to the ropes, drawing a face pop in the process. Savage rolls onto the apron, but Santana brings him back in with a suplex. Figure-Four attempt #2 is blocked by Savage kicking Santana off. Savage continues running to the apron, where he pulls out a foreign object from his tights. Santana tries a back suplex into the ring, but Savage bashes Santana with the weapon, tosses it out of the ring, and covers for the three count at 10:33. The Winner, and NEW Intercontinental Champion.... Randy Savage! ***1/4 Not a classic match or anything, but an intense match with nonstop action for the most part. Both men looked as motivated as possible (more so Savage for the obvious reasons), and with another 5-6 minutes, I can only imagine it being much better. Danny Davis being the referee here was pretty much a coincidence, since during the 1987 angle with the Bulldogs/Foundation & Davis, they played it out like Davis screwed Santana, but technically, he didn't do anything to him, and we just got the usual heel uses weapon behind the referee's back finish used in almost every match back in the day.
- Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura get the celebration interview from Randy Savage, who denies Monsoon's accusations of cheating. Savage is still selling the knee being worked over from the match, something no one employed by WWE that wasn't trained to be a good wrestler would ever do, because everyone is just that bland and stupid. Randy Savage rambles a little bit, but it's kind of hard to understand him, since he's probably tired from the match, and the audio isn't very good.
- The Killer Bees vs. The Hart Foundation:
(B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell vs. Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart)
Jimmy Hart is absent from ringside, so I guess we won't get any screwy manager finish. Also, the ring announcer says the match has a 45 minute time limit, which pretty much guarantees this match won't go that long (and thank God. I hate cheap TLD's). I've yet to see a bad match between the Foundation and Bees, so hopefully this match continues that trend. The Foundation aren't in Pink & Black Attack mode yet, for those that care. Blair and Hart start the match for their teams. Lockup into the ropes, and Blair gives a clean break, but Hart complains about hair pulling. Second lockup, and Blair takes Hart over with an arm drag. Blair applies a hammerlock, which is countered momentarily until Blair uses his momentum to send Hart flying out of the ring. Back inside the ring, and we get a knuclelock. Blair cops out and takes down Hart with a drop toe hold. Brunzell tags in for the first time, and works the left arm with a wristlock. Brunzell takes over Hart with a monkey flip, and works in an armbar. Brunzell switches off to a spinning wrist hold, then goes back to the wristlock. Hart counters into a headlock, but Blair gets the blind tag in and cradles Hart for a two count. Blair takes Hart over with an arm drag, and goes back to work on the left arm. Hart escapes, and in comes Neidhart for thr first time. He pulls down the straps to show he means business. Neidhart takes the lockup into the ropes, gets in a cheap shot, then drops Blair with a knee to the midsection. Hart attacks Blair behind the referee's back, and comes in without a tag and connects with a back breaker. Hart with a leg drop for a two count. Neidhart tags in to work over Blair in the corner, and Hart works in some choking behind the referee's back. Neidhart continues pounding away on Blair, then applies a bear-hug. Hart comes back in with some working over on the midsection, and Neidhart does more of the same. Irish whip, and Blair avoids a dropkick from Neidhart.
Brunzell gets the mild tag and hammers away on Neidhart, including the bee smack of the ears. Brunzell with an atomic drop and dropkick, then goes for the spinning told hold. Hart comes in and is quickly put back out, and Brunzell goes back to Neidhart and applies a wristlock. Irish whip, and Hart catches Brunzell off the ropes with a knee to the back. The Foundation hit what would become the Demolition Decapitation, but Hart doesn't bother to make the cover. Hart goes back to work on Brunzell and plants him with a slam. Neidhart dumps him out of the ring, giving Hart a chance to work him over some more. Back inside the ring, and Neidhart applies a front facelock. Smart money says Brunzell makes the tag, but Hart comes in to distract the referee so he doesn't see it. Well, instead, Hart stomps Blair on the apron, drawing him into the ring. Hart whips Neidhart into the midsection of Brunzell in the corner while the referee sends Blair out of the ring. Hart connects with a standing dropkick for a two count. Side headlock applied by Hart, but an Irish whip gives Brunzell the chance to work in the dropkick. Hart sells it like death too. Neidhart rolls Hart onto Brunzell, since both men were down, but that only gets two. Irish whip and Brunzell takes Hart over with a sunset flip for a two count of his own. Hart applies the front facelock now, and the spot I predicted does happen. Double teaming in the corner, but the Neidhart whips Hart into Brunzell spot doesn't work, and Blair finally gets the real hot tag in. He hammers away on both members of the Foundation. Neidhart gets sent to the corner and Blair follows in with a clothesline. An Irish whip sends Hart off the apron and chest first into the security rail. Blair catches Neidhart in a sleeper hold in the mean time. Hart is able to recover in time to break up the hold, drawing Brunzell into the ring. Irish whip, and a shoulder block puts both Blair and Neidhart down. Again Brunzell comes in to chase out Hart, but the referee chases him out, allowing Hart to come off the second rope with an elbow drop to Blair, and (illegally) makes the cover for the victory at 15:40. ***1/2 Remember the days where you could see two mid card tag teams (you know, the ones without belts) would get nearly twenty minutes to work their stuff in? Well, it's been a long time. A very technically sound wrestling match, with the usual awesome double team spots from the Foundation, and the tired but true formula of beating the crap out of the baby face until the heels mess up. I'm sure most wrestling fans brought up on the current slop wouldn't appreciate this, but I'm sure old school fans like myself could eat this up and ask for seconds. Also, it's classic heel Hart Foundation, and I believe turning them face watered down their matches. (See also: The Midnight Express in 1989 WCW).
- Martial Arts Rules Match:
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. The Magnificent Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji):
Don't be confused by the "stipulations" of the match. Basically, it's a regular wrestling match, but both wrestlers have to wear martial art jackets, and said jackets can be used legally to choke your opponent, or any other means of illegal wrestling that can be done with it. This feud stemmed off of an attack on Championship Wrestling where Muraco hung Ricky Steamboat with a belt following a match between Steamboat and Fuji. Several of their matches are available on Coliseum Videos (an MSG match is featured on Best of the WWF Volume 5, and a Capital Center match on the Ricky Steamboat Video), and if this is like what I've seen of them, it's going to be great. For some reason, WWE clips off Ricky Steamboat's entrance. What happened, they too cheap to pay for that theme too (the one the Chicago Bulls used for quite a while)? Muraco stalls to start because he doesn't want to wear the jacket issued to him. Mr. Fuji makes the referee his bitch because of the issue... Japanese managers beating up stupid referees = awesome. Both men grab some jacket and tumble into the ropes. Dragon ducks under a clothesline and sends Muraco out of the ring following an enziguri. Stalling from Muraco, but it's alright because we know how the match builds when you have Steamboat pissed off. Back inside the ring, and Steamboat scares Muraco was his karate teasing. Muraco whips Steamboat to the ropes, but Steamboat slides between the legs and once again knocks him out of the ring with an enziguri. Steamboat with a series of blows to the midsection, but Muraco throws Steamboat away when going for a headlock. Muraco takes some time to have a little chat with Fuji at ringside. Steamboat applies a side headlock, but gets thrown down again. Steamboat with another headlock, and a crisscross leads to Steamboat dropping Muraco with a big chop. Steamboat throws down Muraco by using the jacket, and follows with a scoop slam. Steamboat jumps up into the air to take Muraco over with a headlock, and keeps that applied for a while. Irish whip escape from Muraco, and Fuji trips up Steamboat behind the referee's back. Muraco misses an elbow drop, and Steamboat quickly slams him down. Steamboat with another headlock takeover into a cover for a two count. Steamboat turns it into a front facelock and does some leverage moves to make it not look as boring. Steamboat releases the hold to slam Muraco's face into the canvas then quickly goes to a sleeper hold. That doesn't last long, and now Steamboat starts choking Muraco with his own jacket. Muraco powers up and slams Steamboat back down with a Samoan drop.
Muraco stomps on Steamboat and dumps him over the top rope in front of the broadcasters table. Muraco gives Fuji a chair to hold up and slingshots Steamboat into it. He's Hardcore! He's Hardcore! He's Hardcore! Steamboat looks to be bleeding now. Muraco continues working on Steamboat, ramming him into the steel post outside of the ring. Muraco drags Steamboat back onto the apron and brings him back in with a suplex. Muraco takes the belt from Steamboat's jacket and whips him like a dog. Muraco takes Steamboat down with the belt around his throat and continues the whipping. Muraco rolls down his knee pad and drops a knee across the forehead of Steamboat. Steamboat is selling like his life depended on it, and Muraco starts choking him with the belt. Steamboat rakes the eyes of Muraco to escape, but he's still out of it. Muraco clotheslines him into the corner and continues choking him with the belt. Steamboat is down and possibly out, but the arm stays up on the third drop attempt, and it's time for a comeback. Steamboat hammers away on Muraco, but gets floored with a clothesline to a pretty good pop. Muraco continues to hammer on Steamboat and goes for the spike piledriver (currently the Tombstone), but Steamboat ear smacks him with his legs to escape. Steamboat with a series of blows to the midsection and forehead, and that pouts Muraco down. Steamboat is fired up and beats the shit out of Muraco in the corner! He rams Muraco face-first into the canvas, then heads up to the top rope. Steamboat comes off with a big chop across the top of Muraco's head. Steamboat charges Muraco, but gets back dropped out. He skins the cat back in though (not before taking a shot on Fuji). Muraco tries for a suplex, but Steamboat escapes and quickly rolls up Muraco for the pinfall at 17:24. After the match, Muraco beats down Steamboat with Fuji's cane, then takes out the referee as well. **3/4 I'm sorry to say I was a little disappointed in this match. While everything done was in complete context of the actual match, it just came across as flat, and the finish was a bit of a downer, since I was expecting much more of a comeback from Steamboat, and he worked that finish a lot. Still, it's a good match, but not the mind-blowing good kind of match I was expecting.
- Main Event; Steel Cage Match:
Bruno Sammartino vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper:
Not exactly the match you want to end the show with in terms of workrate, but the heat should be incredible. Bruno was in and out of retirement at this point, coming out of it in 1985 to help his talent-less son David in his feud with Brutus Beefcake and Johnny Valiant, then did nothing until this program with Piper, which didn't really go anywhere on television. Piper is the top heel of the promotion, but still resorts to cheap heat. Since they're in Boston, and the Patriots just lost Super Bowl XX to the Chicago Bears no more than a week earlier, Piper comes out wearing a Chicago Bears t-shirt and hangs up posters of William "The Refrigerator" Perry and QB Jim McMahon inside the cage. Sammartino attacks before the bell and rams Piper into the cage multiple times, with Piper doing the most obvious blade job this side of Lou Albano. Sammartino continues hammering on Piper and making him eat steel. Sammartino takes the post of Perry and shoves it into Piper's mouth to a big pop. Now Sammartino takes the other poster and stuffs it into Piper's tights before sending him into the cage again and ripping off his shirt. Piper is a bloody mess 90 seconds into the match, so Bruno stomps on the cut for good measure. Bruno continues to obliterate Piper and spits on him because he's a good role model. He calls for the door, but Piper hits him low to prevent the escape. Observations of mine notice one of Sammartino's hand has plenty of blood on it. Piper is back up and works over Sammartino... very... slowly. Crowd chants "Bruno" as he lays around clutching his genitals. Piper takes the remains of his shirt and chokes Bruno down. Bruno doesn't feel like selling, so Piper goes for the door, unsuccessfully. Piper gets some revenge by ramming Sammartino into the cage, but another escape attempt fails. Piper tries climbing up now, but Bruno grabs a leg and drags him back down. Bruno comes back with blows to the midsection and slams Piper backwards into the cage. We get the "both men scramble for the door" spot, which sees Piper lose some of his tights. They exchange rights, with Bruno dominating, and Piper takes another serving of steel. Piper doesn't stay down for long and works over Bruno again with punches, stomps, and biting. Bruno comes back with a blatant shot to the balls and calls for the door. Piper catches him by the leg, but Bruno grabs a chair, smacks Piper with it a few times, and crawls out for the victory at 8:41. For once, someone cheats like mad to beat Piper. *1/4 Match wasn't anything special, since it was basically a more "intense" punchy-kicky match, but the crowd was really into it, and Piper did a bladed like champion, so I'll be generous and give it a few points for not really sucking. Piper throws a temper tantrum in the ring as the show comes to a close.
The Report Card: While not a completely stacked card for the workrate freaks, this show pretty much gives you as much as you could hope for when it comes to good wrestling. The under card was filled with garbage matches that the fans couldn't care less about, and all of the top stars were paired up with people they worked well enough with to draw in the crowds. Of course, today nothing works to draw money, so people are just randomly placed in matches on the house show circuit, looking for something to stick.
Final Grade: B+
Two pretty good/borderline great matches in the form of the Intercontinental Title and tag team match makes this a thumbs up, but a good, if not spectacular Steamboat/Muraco match and a bloody brawl in the form of the Steel Cage makes it even better. However, beware of the first few matches. They really suck, and almost drag the show down a bit, but they were for the most part, kept reasonably short, so I give this a solid thumbs up.