WWE All Star Search #22 - March 1986 (pt 3)
Hello Turnbucklers! It's time for our very last stop before we get to Wrestlemania 2. This is a simple one looking at the last 2 Championship Wrestling episodes that aired before Wrestlemania 2. Expect lots of hype for the supercard in this one and let's hope I myself am hyped up by the end of it. Let's rock 'n' roll!
The Card:
Randy Savage (IC Champ) vs Andre Malo
Bob Bradley vs Paul Orndorff
Ivan McDonald/SD Jones vs The Funk Brothers
Tiger Chung Lee/Mr X vs The British Bulldogs
Moondog Spot vs Hulk Hogan (WWE Champ)
Chuck Simpson/Al Navarro vs Hillbilly Jim/Uncle Elmer
Ivan McDonald vs Don Muraco
AJ Petruzzi/Steve Lombardi vs Dan Spivey/Corporal Kirchner
Nelson Villieux vs Adrian Adonis
Don Driggers/Lanny Poffo vs Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff
The Show:
So let's kick things off with the March 29th episode of Championship Wrestling. Our commentators tonight are once again, Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino.
Straight away we get an update with Lord Al. He runs down all the celebrities set to appear at Wrestlemania 2. My personal favourite? 'The Elusive Burger Man' ... Herb. We get some words from G Gordon Liddy...who talks about being a judge at Wrestlemania, which is fine but who are you, good sir?
Randy Savage (IC Champ) vs Andre Malo
Big reactions as per for Macho and Liz but let's see if this lasts more than 10 seconds. It does last more than that and Savage rallies through some good offense. Numerous suplexes spliced in between Savage throwing Malo to the outside. Savage hits an axe handle from the top rope to the floor, then another from the top rope into the ring. Scoop slam, flying elbow drop, cocky pin and thats the 3 count for Savage. The pace of Savage is just lightyears ahead of so many names on that roster, it hurts. Squash Rating: ***
Into the back with Mean Gene who's with Hulk Hogan and Mr T. T talks about how much he needed Hogan to motivate him. He's still waving around the kilt wearing rubber chicken. Hogan says there's a reason for everything and this is a psych out. Clubber Lang is a weakling compared to Mr T apparently.
Bob Bradley vs Paul Orndorff
Again, it seems like so long since we've seen Paul Orndorff. Crowd still loves him but I just want him to be less wasted, especially so close to Wrestlemania. Not much to tell you about this one except Orndorff is still showing the aggression of a heel but at the same time, showing enough face-like tendencies that the crowd just doesn't care. Again we get another video of G Gordon Liddy...and again, no idea who he is. Orndorff botches two hip tosses and eventually gets the win with the piledriver. Squash Rating: ***
Into the back with Mean Gene who's joined by the Hart Foundation. Jim Neidhart yells that no one underestimates the Hart Foundation. They leave and in comes some random football player called Colvert or Colbert or something. He hypes up the battle royal at Wrestlemania. We then cut to a clip of Refridgerator Perry who says pretty much the same thing. It's still a shame not many people outside the USA gives a shit about American Football.
Ivan McDonald/SD Jones vs The Funk Brothers
The Funk's have had a few decent matches this month so this will just be a chance to get them a quick win and keep them looking strong. The jobbers do get some offense in, mainly Jones, but you can guess its all for nothing as the Funk rally through suplexes before Dory locks on a modified texax cloverleaf for the win. They try and brand McDonald after the match but SD Jones chases them off. As predicted, the Funks looked solid in this. Squash Rating: **
Into the back with Mean Gene who's joined by King Kong Bundy and Bobby Heenan. Heenan says Hogan is dumb for putting up the title in a cage after all that's been done to him. Bundy says he's got Hogan right where he wants him. Fighting talk!
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Tiger Chung Lee/Mr X vs The British Bulldogs
Big reaction for the Bulldogs which is good. It's all quick action from the start with Dynamite before the Bulldogs do some double teaming. Davey gets worked over while he get a quick message from...someone...about Wrestlemania 2. Davey hits a really nice powerslam but gets a really slow 2 count. Snap suplex and a backbreaker from Dynamite before Davey comes back in. Dynamite hits a really nice top rope back suplex and Mr X landed on his neck. That gets the 3 count and all is good from the Bulldogs as things lead upto their title shot at Wrestlemania. Squash Rating: ****
We see footage of Roddy Piper preparing for his boxing match at Wrestlemania while his song from The Wrestling Album plays in the background. I can't tell if he was good or bad while training to be honest...but he was definitely training.
Once again, Mean Gene runs down the Wrestlemania card. We get some footage of Battle Royal combatents answering some questions. They are 'Are You Worried Someone Will Fall on You?' 'What Would it Mean to You if You Won the Battle Royal?' and 'Are You Worried About Falling 15 Feet to the Floor?' King Tonga is worried by the way about falling to the floor...so I think he's in the wrong profession. Weirdly enough, the best response was from Jim Neidhart, mainly because he put some gusto behind it.
Moondog Spot vs Hulk Hogan (WWE Champ)
MASSIVE pop for Hogan who is making a very rare in ring TV appearance. It's about time Moondog Spot gets a shot at the champ, I've been waiting far too long! Spot does focus on the ribs because Spot is a psychological mastermind. Unfortunately...within 2 minutes Hogan has hit a leg drop and got the win. Think of every match of Hogans you've seen and compress it into 2 minutes and this is what you get. Squash Rating: **
So now we go into April and this is our very last stop before Wrestlemania 2. It's the 4th April, it's Championship Wrestling and our commentators are once again Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino. We run down the celebrities set to appear at Wrestlemania and who the fuck is Elvira?! She looks like a vampire, why was she a celebrity? We get a message from someone Lasorta? Who are these people?!
Chuck Simpson/Al Navarro vs Hillbilly Jim/Uncle Elmer
Christ, two things to be sad about. Firstly I can no recognize Al Navarro before he's even announced and secondly, the rednecks are wrestling. They're still over with the crowd which makes me think the crowd are rednecks. The highlight of the match is a scoop slam by Hillbilly Jim, who at least has some of the basics of wrestling sorted but it's Elmer who gets the win with a Hogan-esque leg drop. Awful but apparently Elmer meets Adrian Adonis at Wrestlemania despite them not having ANY interaction that I'm aware of. Can Adonis pull him to anything other than a DUD? Squash Rating: *
Into the back with Mean Gene and Fridge Perry. He cuts an awful promo but he seems very happy to be there. Can someone let me know how big of a star this guy is...because I've ACTUALLY heard of this guy!
Ivan McDonald vs Don Muraco
Ivan McDonald reminds me of Jim McDonald...but who can blame me. If any American readers don't know who Jim McDonald is...he's a British celebrity (sorta) so now you know how it feels! Justice! Muraco at one point lets McDonald fall out of suplex that looked a bit like a botch but he handled it well enough that I'm not too sure. He hits a nice powerslam as Vince can't believe 'Herb' is going to be a timekeeper at Mania. Me neither, Vince, me neither. Muraco eventually gets the win with the tombstone piledriver before he mouths off to the female ref. She, by the way, is the one who Vince apparently tried to sexually assault. Might be true...but her 6 foot chin might've held him back. Squash Rating: **
Into the back with Mean Gene who's joined by Jimmy Hart and the Funk Brothers. Jimmy says JYD should expect a branding. Terry says wrestling is the worlds number 1 passtime before ranting about JYD some more. Dory says nothing but he's still terrifying. They leave and in comes Randy Savage who throws some confetti around. He says he's going to teach George Steele to say that Macho is the best. Oooh Yeah!
AJ Petruzzi/Steve Lombardi vs Dan Spivey/Corporal Kirchner
Still popular with the crowd as much as it pains me to say but not as painful to know that Kirchner has a match at Wrestlemania against Nikolai Volkoff. Has anyone ever noticed that Dan Spivey looks the spitting image of He-Man. I guess that would make Kirchner, Fisto which shouldn't be too much of an issue for him. Ref ignores some illegal tagging allowing Kirchner to get the win with his poor looking samoan drop. Squash Rating: **
Into the back with Mean Gene who's joined by Paul Orndorff. Apparently he's fighting Don Muraco at Wrestlemania. Orndorff says he knows what he's up against when it comes to Muraco and he's been here too long to let Muraco injure him. He calls Mr Fuji - 'Mr Too Hung Low' which is fucking hilarious. He leaves and the tag champs, the Dream Team come in. Valiant yells on their behalf before Greg Valentine claims they will leave with the belts at Wrestlemania.
Nelson Villieux vs Adrian Adonis
Adonis comes out to 'You're So Vain' by Carly Simon which is such a nice little touch. It's such a shame WWE are so tight with getting rights to use actual songs anymore. Bruno talks a lot of sense during this, talking about how quick Adonis moves despite being the size that he is. It's completely true, as Adonis' pace is way more evident than most others we've seen tonight so far. He eventually gets the win with the sleeperhold instead of his normal DDT. More good commentary from Bruno who says that it's a lot easier to use the sleeper against Elmer at Wrestlemania than the DDT. Squash Rating: **
We head to Joe Fraziers gym now where Roddy Piper has appeared. He has words with Joe Frazier and they let him try out Mr T's training techniques. Piper starts getting hot under collar because the punching bag is wearing a kilt. Camera pans to an angry looking youth...which was nice. Frazier lets Piper use the medicine ball but it seems Piper could use a bit more practice and thus he walks off telling Mr T to beware!
Just like last weeks episode, we run through clips of various battle royal participants answering questions about the match. He-Man Spivey seems very confident about winning it. By the power of fucking Grey Skull, he just might, right? Personally I'd love it if Ol' Man Sammartino wins it! He seems confident too.
Don Driggers/Lanny Poffo vs Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff
As per, we get another crap poem by Poffo that the heels have to sell as if it's cut them deep. Feels like we havn't seen the evil foreigners for a while. Still getting massive heat, especially when Volkoff sings the Soviet anthem. Is it bad I think he actually sings the song really well...get that man a podium! Poor match with the win coming via the Sheik's camel clutch. Squash Rating: **
Into the back with Mean Gene who's joined by Hulk Hogan. Despite everyone in the world calling him crazy for getting into a cage with Bundy but it's only right everything comes full circle. Hogan says he's going to climb in the ring 'wired out of his mind' and he's going to take Bundy's pride away from him. Fighting talk to finish this episode and send us into Wrestlemania 2... Onwards to the scores...
Wrestler Scores:
- Randy Savage +4 (65)
- Andre Malo +1 (2)
- Hulk Hogan +4 (92)
- Mr T +1 (18)
- Bob Bradley +1 (3)
- Paul Orndorff +4 (58)
- Bret Hart +1 (43)
- Jim Neidhart +1 (38)
- Ivan McDonald +2 (3)
- SD Jones +1 (14)
- Terry Funk +3 (47)
- Dory Funk +3 (16)
- King Kong Bundy +1 (43)
- Brutus Beefcake +1 (39)
- Greg Valentine +1 (63)
- Tiger Chung Lee +1 (6)
- Mr X +1 (4)
- Davey Boy Smith +3 (45)
- Dynamite Kid +4 (49)
- Roddy Piper +3 (74)
- Moondog Spot +1 (17)
- Chuck Simpson +1 (1)
- Al Navarro +1 (3)
- Hillbilly Jim +3 (15)
- Uncle Elmer +2 (13)
- Don Muraco +3 (43)
- AJ Petruzzi +1 (5)
- Steve Lombardi +1 (4)
- Dan Spivey +3 (13)
- Corporal Kirchner +3 (32)
- Nelson Villieux +1 (3)
- Adrian Adonis +3 (47)
- Don Driggers +1 (3)
- Lanny Poffo +1 (17)
- Iron Sheik +3 (41)
- Nikolai Volkoff +3 (38)
So those are the points after this edition. Not many high scorers in this but not much going on really. Paul Orndorff, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan and Dynamite Kid did alright but not spectacularly better than everyone else. The top 10 however has changed slightly so let's have a look at it for the last time before Wrestlemania 2.
- Hulk Hogan - 92 Points
- Ricky Steamboat - 75 Points
- Tito Santana - 75 Points
- Roddy Piper - 74 Points
- Randy Savage - 65 Points
- Greg Valentine - 63 Points
- Junkyard Dog - 62 Points
- Paul Orndorff - 58 Points
- Dynamite Kid - 49 Points
- Adrian Adonis - 47 Points
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