November 22, 1986
From the Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY
Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and Vince McMahon
Tonight, Randy Savage defends the Intercontinental Title against Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Plus, the results of the “Vote of Confidence” for the Honkytonk Man and Hillbilly Jim & Tito Santana & Pedro Morales vs. The Dream Team and Johnny V.
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match
Randy “Macho Man” Savage (Champion) w/ Elizabeth vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
Dave Hebner is the referee for this match as he orders Danny Davis out of the ring. The fans go nuts for Steamboat as he makes his entrance. These two start off the match by going right at each other. Steamboat uses his speed and catches Savage with an armdrag then work the arm for a bit. Steamboat uses a few reversals then slams Savage before taking him over with another armdrag. Savage fights out and hits a pair of shoulderblocks but gets caught with another armdrag after a fast-paced sequence. Savage grabs Steamboat by the hair then beats on him in the corner. Knee drop gets two. He heads up top and hits the double axe handle but that only gets two. Steamboat fights back and ends up rolling through a flying body press for a nearfall. Savage catches Steamboat with a knee after a charge but Steamboat rams Savage off of the turnbuckle then hits a flying chop. Steamboat hammers away but Savage tosses him to the floor. Savage blocks a sunset flip the Steamboat skins the cat and gets two with a reverse rollup. Steamboat leapfrogs Savage, who crashes into the referee. Steamboat heads up top and hits the flying body press as Hebner is down. Davis runs in and asks Hebner if he is okay just as Hebner got up to make the count as Vince goes off on commentary. Savage takes Steamboat outside then drops him throat-first on the guardrail. Savage drapes Steamboat over the guardrail again and goes up top and hits a double axe handle as Steamboat is grabbing his throat in severe pain as the match ends in a double count out (7:02) **3/4. Savage then grabs the timekeeper’s bell and rams it into Steamboat’s throat as he is rolling around on the mat in pain. savage heads up op again but Hebner prevents him from inflicting further punishment. The medics and some road agents come out and put Steamboat on the stretcher then take him to the back as the fans are in shock. They show a few more replays of the incident.
Thoughts: Just an amazing segment. This worked great with the crowd too as they were in disbelief as to what happened to Steamboat. The match was really a SNME quality match too that was rarely seen on these shows. This was the segment which started the feud that would eventually lead to the blowoff match at WrestleMania III for those who were unaware.
WWF Update with Gene Okerlund. This week’s subject is Paul Orndorff and how his peers have ranked him the #1 contender to Hogan’s title. They show Heenan and Orndorff reading the “WWF Magazine” article that contains that information as they run down his doubters and Orndorff declares that he is the cream that has risen to the top.
Al Navarro vs. The Junkyard Dog
JYD takes down Navarro and hits him with crawling headbutts before getting the win with a powerslam (0:37). After the match he dances with kids.
Thoughts: All of JYD’s TV matches should have been this short as he really could not go at all in long matches.
Sammartino is in front of the locker room as he tells us that Steamboat just had a tube put in his throat and that the ambulance is on their way to take them to the hospital.
Ken Resnick is with Hulk Hogan and asks him about his match in Boston against Kamala. Hogan says that he is ready for Hogan and that Boston knows that he feels no pain and promises that Kamala will find out that he is the king of the jungle.
We get a promo from Superstar Billy Graham from the desert saying that he will be back in the WWF.
Dino Bravo w Johnny C vs. Kurt Kaufman
Bravo chops Kaufman against the ropes then hits him with a backbreaker. He then clotheslines down Kaufman before hitting a back suplex for the win (0:55).
Thoughts: No one cared about Bravo at this point. The announcers made fun of the jobber’s slight build throughout the match.
Bruno rejoins commentary and tells us how Steamboat needed that tube in his throat to save his life and that he is being taken away to the hospital.
Resnick is with The Islanders as they run down their opponents in Boston, the Dream Team. Nothing special here.
Another Outback Jack video, this time of him with a group of Aborigines. Jack also sported the tribal face paint.
Jimmy Jack Funk vs. Dick Slater
Jack attacks Slater as he enters the ring. Slater then knocks down Funk and heads up top but gets tossed. Funk drops Slater across the top rope then they slug it out for a bit as Slater wins that. Slater then hits a swinging neckbreaker then an elbow smash. Slater tries a figure four but Funk blocks that and tosses Slater on the apron. Slater fights back and sends Funk into the corner then climbs up top and hits an elbow smash then drops another elbow for the win (2:12).
Thoughts: Barely anyone cared about this match either as Slater was never over with the crowds during his time in the WWF.
Piper’s Pit with guests Kamala, Kimchee, and the Wizard. Piper makes fun of them as the Wizard drones on and on. Piper mocked the Wizard pretty well here but other than that it was unmemorable.
Ray Vance vs. Billy Jack Haynes
Haynes hits a back suplex then follows that with a kneelift. Haynes hammers away as a few in the start a boring chant. Haynes then locks on the full nelson and gets the win via submission (1:06). Haynes got booed after he was introduced as the winner surprisingly enough.
Thoughts: This crowd in Binghamton hated Haynes for some reason. Usually, Haynes received favorable crowd reactions.
Jesse Ventura is shown with the Honkytonk Man as he reveals the results of Honky’s “Vote of Confidence.” 674,383 votes were cast and the results but only 71,111 who voted liked the Honkytonk Man. Honky is in shock and promises to go seek out “Big Fat Tunney.” This vote was in no way legitimate as the show took place at the same taping as the show when the “Vote of Confidence” was announced. However, it still was a brilliant way to have him turn heel.
The Dream Team & Johnny V vs. Hillbilly Jim & Pedro Morales & Tito Santana
Jim boots down Valentine to start. Pedro tags and hammers away but referee Danny Davis stops him as Pedro is pissed. Valentine cheap shots him as the Dream Team briefly double-team him until Pedro backdrops Beefcake then tags Tito, who fires away. Jim tags and tosses Beefcake, who asks for a timeout. Johnny tags and rakes the eyes but Jim no-sells then tags Tito as he kills him with a flying forearm. He goes for the figure four and Valentine breaks that up then the match breaks down as Davis calls for the bell and awards the match to the Dream Team & Johnny V. as he claimed that the other team started the brawl (3:12).
Thoughts: The match was a backdrop for the continuation of the Davis angle as these six guys were stuck having meaningless midcard matches.
Resnick is with Bobby Heenan and asks him about the matches his men have in Boston (Race vs. Morales and JYD vs. Orndorff). He says that Orndorff has a “news blackout” and will not be giving interviews and is upset that Orndorff is not getting a shot at the title. He then talks about Morales being washed up.
Sammartino is backstage and said that Steamboat as left in an ambulance as he was barely able to breath even with the tube in his throat. Savage then interrupts as he sarcastically asks Sammartino how Steamboat is doing and says he is proud of what he has done and this sets Sammartino off as he chokes out Savage until he is pulled off by S.D. Jones, Corporal Kirchner, and Hillbilly Jim. After that, Jesse goes off on Sammartino for being a biased reporter. And this segment would start a feud between Bruno and Savage with matches at various house shows. Savage was so fucking awesome as a heel here.
Final Thoughts: Great show as the Steamboat/Savage angle completely dominated things. They really got these guys over strong and it was compelling to watch at the time as this type of show-long angle rarely happened on these shows. Other than that, the matches were complete filler, which was fine as they were getting overshadowed by Savage/Steamboat anyway. Definitely check out the Steamboat/Savage stuff if you can.