Back to Madison Square Garden, and it’s WrestleMania Sunday.
The show starts at 1 p.m., and our plan is to end at 4 p.m. It’s good timing, too: The baseball season starts in about 10 days, football is far from everyone’s minds, and basketball and hockey are beginning to wrap their campaigns. Finally, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which has expanded to 64 teams this year and has had a good response on television, is off today. Tomorrow’s national championship pits the consensus top team in the sport, Georgetown, against the super underdog Villanova. Talk about a wrestling storyline …
Anyway, we get to the arena early. Like 6 a.m. Talent starts showing around 9. We go over the show. The guys have gone over their matches a few times now, and generally they know what to do. No major arguments about who goes over, either. We’re good to go, as a sellout crowd of 19,000-plus fills up MSG.
WrestleMania
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
>>> Pre-taped video: A wrap of the big feuds, plus an announcement by Vince McMahon Jr. welcoming us to the show of shows.
>>> Gene Okerlund sings “America The Beautiful.” Vince McMahon Jr. officially welcomes us to WrestleMania.
Match 1: Jimmy Snuka d. Adrian Adonis (w/ Bobby Heenan) via pinfall (7:04) [4.25]
A high-octane match with Adonis doing everything he can to cheat, but Snuka always staying a step ahead. He wins with the splash. A hot start, and a Snuka win gets the crowd pumped. After the match, Adonis is pissy and argues with manager Bobby Heenan.
Match 2: Godstorm (Thrak, Iceberg) d. The Briscos (Gerald Brisco, Jack Brisco) via pinfall (cheating, 6:12) [3.75]
A back-and-forth affair. The Briscos get the early advantage, keeping the crowd hot, but Godstorm slows it down with their powerful offense. Jack Brisco makes a triumphant comeback and gets a hot tag to Gerald, but Iceberg uses the ropes for leverage after hitting a devastating full-nelson slam.
Match 3: Bob Orton Jr. d. Rocky Johnson via pinfall (3:02) [3.25]
A basic pseudo-squash. Johnson gets in a little offense to work the crowd, but Orton sees to its end quickly. He wins with a top-rope superplex.
>>> Hillbilly Jim and Don Muraco get in the ring for their push-up contest! Muraco has some opening words, calling himself the strongest and best looking man alive. Jim says he may not be good lookin’, but he can sure raise a pig or two. Muraco starts, and he takes it seriously, completing dozens of push-ups! As he continues, Jim yawns, pulls out a lawn chair and throws money into the crowd! Muraco gets upset and berates Jim, who punks him, much to the delight of the audience. [4.25]
Match 4: Andre The Giant, Sgt. Slaughter d. Big John Studd, The Missing Link (w/ Bobby Heenan) via pinfall (8:34) | Hair vs Hair Match [4.75]
A super-hot, super-fun bout. Heenan rags on Andre, alleging that he doesn’t have a partner, when familiar music kicks in and Sgt. Slaughter returns to a wild pop. He takes the ring first, beating down The Missing Link and taking Studd out. Andre gets in on the action with some slams, before the good guys double-team.
The heels get the advantage soon enough, though, as Heenan distracts Andre and Slaughter gets cornered by both men. After two minutes of slow-going beatdowns, Slaughter finally suplexes both Link and an interfering Studd, allowing for the big tag to Andre.
The place comes unglued when Andre and Studd meet. Punches are thrown, and Studd tries to get advantage, but Andre is too tough and Slams the big man down. Heenan and Link do everything in their power to cause havoc, but Slaughter takes out Heenan and applies the Cobra Clutch on Link! Andre is able to hit Studd with a mammoth piledriver to win the bout!
>>> Post-Match: Andre and Sgt. Slaughter shave John Studd’s and Missing Link’s heads!
Match 5: Greg Valentine w/ Jimmy Hart [c] d. Tito Santana via submission (10:20) | WWF Intercontinental Championship [4]
A good technical match with both men jockeying for submissions. They each work their opponent’s legs, setting up for their finish. For a moment they go outside of the ring, and Valentine wraps Santana’s legs around the post. In the finish, Santana applies a figure four on Valentine to mock him, but he is able to reverse it and get his own figure four in to make Tito tap.
Match 6: Wendi Richter w/ Cyndi Lauper [c] d. Leilani Kai w/ The Fabulous Moolah via pinfall (6:01) | WWF Women’s Championship [4]
A hot bout sees Richter and Kai beating each other up. Richter goes for an early DDT, but Kai gets out of it and clotheslines Richter. The fight goes outside, with both Moolah and Lauper getting involved. Moolah clotheslines the superstar singer! Back in the ring, Kai takes advantage with chops and hip tosses. She sets up the big boot, but Richter ducks from it and gets the flying clothesline. At this point Moolah looks to throw sand in Richter’s face, but Lauper attacks from behind! As she keeps Moolah at bay, Richter gets the DDT on Kai to retain the belt! The crowd goes nuts!
Match 7: Junkyard Dog defeats Bulldog Brower, Tony Atlas, S.D. Jones, Rene Goulet, Matt Borne, Terry Gibbs, Bret Hart, Ivan Putski, Swede Hanson, Chief Jay Strongbow, Jules Strongbow, Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Roma, The Executioner via top-rope elimination (7:03) | $15,000 15-Man Battle Royal [4.25]
A standard battle royal where everyone starts in the ring from the start. The final four are Bret Hart, Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Roma, and Junkyard Dog. Dog wins by dumping Roma, earning the $15,000 prize to the crowd’s excitement.
>>> Gene Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan w/ Mr. T, while Billy Martin interviews Roddy Piper w/ Paul Orndorff and Bob Orton Jr. [3.5]
Match 8: The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff w/ Freddie Blassie d. The U.S. Express (Barry Windham, Mike Rotundo) w/ Lou Albano [c] via submission (7:14) | WWF Tag Team Championship [3.75]
A wild match. Big brawl to open, and once cooled, Rotundo gets control over Volkoff. He tags in Windham, who continues to work on Nikolai and Sheik, leading to some expert U.S. Express double team work. Rotundo back in, and he gets worked on as Blassie starts it up with the referee. Albano tries to stop the chicanery, but that only keeps the heels ahead.
Sheik puts Rotundo in a dire sleeper, but he fights out of it and hits a bulldog, bringing about a hot tag. Windham is a house of fire against Volkoff, but again Blassie gets involved, throwing his cane into the ring. As the referee retrieves it, Sheik hits Windham over the head with one of the tag belts! He’s knocked out, Rotundo is taken out by another belt shot, and Volkoff hits his high body press backbreaker to end it for The U.S. Express. As the crowd boos, Blassie demands the Soviet national anthem be played. The team sings along.
>>> Billy Martin announces special guest referee Muhammad Ali for the title bout as Liberace dances with The Rockettes!
Match 9: Hulk Hogan w/ Mr. T [c] d. Roddy Piper w/ Paul Orndorff via pinfall (13:10) | WWF World Heavyweight Championship [4.5]
Piper is out first, accompanied by Orndorff. He gets on the microphone, attacking Hogan verbally for even wanting to face him.
But then “Eye of the Tiger” hits and the crowd roars. Hogan is out with Mr. T, and as the fervor dies down, Martin sets up the match. When the bell rings, Hogan begs Piper to grapple, but Roddy plays cat, feigning attacks and giggling hysterically. Finally, Orndorff grabs Hogan’s foot, keeping him at bay while Piper goes full bore. Piper swats at Hogan a bunch against the ropes as Orndorff laughs, but the sight of Mr. T has him backing off. That allows Hogan a comeback, and big right hands get the crowd going.
Hogan hits a big punch that knocks Piper backwards and to yesterday, causing Piper to leave the ring in a tissy and the fans to go nuts. Piper regroups with Orndorff as Mr. T yells encouraging words to Hogan. Piper looks to get back in with Hogan holding court, and as he does, Hogan goes right back to work. Whip into a back body drop first, then big right hands, backing Piper into the corner. With Hogan seemingly in control, Piper is able to get the feet up and kick Hogan back. A clothesline takes him down. Then Piper tosses Hogan to the ropes, where Orndorff holds him back for another clothesline, which tumbles Hogan out!
On the outside, Orndorff gets shots in, but here’s Mr. T once more. As he stalks to Orndorff, Piper comes off the top with an ax handle, taking out the celebrity! Ali comes over to check on Mr. T, but as his back is turned, Orndorff nails Hogan with a steel chair! Orndorff puts Hogan back into the ring as Piper recovers.
Back in the ring, Piper goes to work on Hogan, chopping him a bunch before choking him with his boot. Then a carry into an armlock, which Hogan is able to escape after several seconds. He starts to fight back, but Piper pokes him in the eye and clotheslines him back down. Back up, and Piper gets him in an abdominal stretch. At this point Mr. T’s presence gets on Piper’s nerves, so he lets go and has a few words for him. Ali tells Mr. T to back off. Piper goes back to Hogan, but the champ starts fighting back once again! Right hands, and an atomic drop attempt, but Piper slides back out of it and locks in the sleeper hold! It’s a good one and it could spell Hogan’s doom! Mr. T leads a “Hogan!” chant as Orndorff looks to quiet them down, but the seconds tick away. With the sleeper on for a full minute, Hogan looks close to passing out!
But then … he fights back! Shots to Piper, and soon he has to let it go. Off the ropes they go, but Piper reverses and hits his own atomic drop on Hogan! But wait! Hogan gets up! He powers up! The crowd goes wild as he flexes!
Piper shakes his head no, comes off the ropes … but bounces off Hogan! He does it again … Hogan stops him! Big right hands, over and over, and off the ropes he goes … BIG BOOT! Hogan to the ropes for the leg drop- Orndorff holds the leg again!
But now Mr. T is right there … SUCKER PUNCH! Orndorff falls backwards! Hogan goes back off the ropes again … LEG DROP! THE COVER! THE WIN!
As Ali raises Hogan’s arm in victory, confetti shoots down from the rafters. Lou Albano, Cyndi Lauper, and Women’s Champion Wendi Richter come out to celebrate with Hogan and Mr. T. It’s a big party in the ring as Piper and Orndorff regroup on the outside.
>>> Post-Match: Hogan, Mr. T, Lou Albano, Cyndi Lauper, Wendi Richter celebrate the big win!
The celebration continues as Gene Okerlund thanks us for watching.
978K buys, up 63,100 from expected
Wow. An incredible day and a groundbreaking event for all of us. The celebration continues into the night with Hogan and Piper sharing drinks, Mr. T giving everyone hugs, and, yeah, other stuff. We think we hit on something big, while Vince tells us it’s only the beginning.
Good work by Snuka and Adonis to kick off the show, giving us a warm match to get the crowd going. This feud should last for quite a while.
Godstorm can perform in the ring, we know that much. Good job by the Briscos jobbing for them. We’ll probably do a rematch at the April house show, which Godstorm will take once again to kickstart their push.
Orton’s win was the last match booked for the card, and it was the least important match on the card, arguably. Not much to say here. I’ll see if Orton can muster some heat before I might throw him in a program with Hogan.
Hillbilly Jim continues to be hilarious and massively over. Muraco is a great foil, but he’ll get to more serious doings going forward. I like him in April against Hogan, and maybe even longer.
The special Andre tag match went over amazingly. Slaughter was a great surprise, and they all just had fun out there. Super performance all around.
Nice job by Valentine and Santana to salvage an otherwise crummy feud for the IC. We decided to let Valentine stick with the belt, and he’ll probably hold it for a while. We want to see newcomer Steamboat in a miniature feud against him, before probably turning to Snuka. We’re thinking Jimmy gets his first singles belt in ‘85.
Richter and Kai cap off a superb feud with a great entertainment match. Now we’ll have to build up the women’s division.
For winning the battle royal, Junkyard Dog gets $15,000, but he also gets a good hard look as a top tier performer. He’s close to main event status, and we’re thinking he should be more than Hogan’s gatekeeper. Maybe he works with Hogan going forward, possibly in a tag role.
We needed to get the tag belts off the green U.S. Express and let Sheik and Volkoff run with it for a while. They’re the right choice. There are plenty of fresh tag teams coming up in the system, so they should be set with those straps through summer. As for Windham and Rotundo, we’ll have them win a few squashes and seek out a new feud over the next few months.
Great main event. Hogan and Piper brought it, Mr. T and Orndorff played their roles perfectly, and the crowd ate it up. With Hogan getting the definitive win over Piper, we’ll close the book on them for now. Piper will probably deal with internal strife on his team, while Hogan gets challenged by new competitors. This was the best way to end our first supershow.
Meanwhile, AWA’s Super Sunday gave us a big match: Larry Zbyszko defeated Randy Savage to win the world title in a good match. At NJPW Honor Rising, Antonio Inoki won our Martial Arts title in an outstanding ladder match against Bruiser Brody. Over at Crockett, Dusty Rhodes retained against Austin Idol at Clash of the Champions; that show also gave the world an exceptional match with the Fabulous Freebirds winning the NWA Six-Man Tag belts over The Russians. Problem is Crockett only got 234,000 buys.
