The SmarK Rant for WWE Network Old School – MSG 06.21.85
Pretty sure I’ve reviewed a few of these via Coliseum Video collections before, but this one looks like a hell of a show all put together.
Taped from Madison Square Garden
Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Mean Gene
Leaping Lanny Poffo v. Terry Gibbs
This marks Poffo’s MSG debut, along with someone else you may know later in the show. Lanny takes him down with an armdrag, and a crossbody gets two. Poffo continues on the arm while Gibbs complains to the referee, but he breaks free in the corner and then misses a charge. Gibbs recovers and drops an elbow for two before tossing Lanny out to the floor and slamming him out there. Back in, Poffo with a sunset flip for two, but Gibbs drops a knee on him for two. Suplex gets two. Gibbs goes to a bearhug, but Poffo hiptosses out and then misses a senton. Poffo slugs away in the corner and comes back with a dropkick, then goes up with a moonsault to finish at 6:36. That was a crazy finish for 85. **1/2
Tony Atlas v. Matt Borne
Matt manages to overpower Atlas to start, and makes sure to pose, so Tony dropkicks him out of the ring. Back in, Atlas gets an atomic drop, but Borne tries a wristlock and Atlas literally flexes out of it. So Borne chinlocks him and chokes him out on the ropes. But then he makes the tactical error of hitting Atlas in the head, which of course is foolish because SCIENCE, and Atlas makes the comeback and slugs away on the ropes. Tony runs him into all four turnbuckles as Borne takes clownish bumps off that and Atlas gets two. Borne goes up and misses an elbow, allowing Atlas to come back with the press slam to finish at 7:00. This was pretty dull. *
The Missing Link v. Jose Luis Rivera
Funny bit as the Link only makes it halfway to the ring and then turns out and goes back to the dressing room, while Bobby Heenan freaks out and tries to retrieve him. Rivera decides to attack once Link makes it into the ring, but Link headbutts him down and goes up with a diving headbutt and adds a spinebuster. Powerslam and diving elbow finish at 1:41. DUD
Jumping Jim Brunzell v. Moondog Spot
Jim is now into his Killer Bee gear so that team was about to become a thing. Spot grabs a headlock and Brunzell takes him down with a flying headscissors and armdrags him out of the ring. Back in, Brunzell goes to the arm and takes him down with another headscissors while Gorilla discusses legal v. illegal high jumping in high school. Apparently he could do a legal 6’6” jump, but illegally he could go as high as 6’10”. OK then. Brunzell continues working the arm, but Spot fights out, so Brunzell backdrops him and goes back to the arm again. Spot fights out and tosses him, so Brunzell trips him up and posts him from the floor. Back in, Spot gets an atomic drop for two and goes to the chinlock. Brunzell fights out of that after an eternity and comes back with a dropkick to make the comeback. Atomic drop gets two. Spot catches him with an elbow, but Brunzell hits another dropkick to finish at 12:28. This was definitely not in the pantheon of Moondog Spot Hidden Gems. *1/2
RANDY SAVAGE v. Rick McGraw
And so it begins! The Macho Man makes his MSG debut, albeit without Elizabeth or music, and immediately yells at Finkel to “give him a proper introduction next time”. He instructs everyone to “clean the cameras” to that we all see what’s going to happen to his opponent in the ring. DOIN’ THE THING, YEAH! Savage looks like the biggest star in the world from the moment he takes off his robe and the audience is WOWED. They fight for a lockup and Savage immediately bails and grabs a chair, prompting someone in the audience to throw a drink at him. So Macho provokes the front row further and then spits at McGraw. Back to the floor for some posing as the crowd gets more irritated by him, and Macho takes him down with an armbar while trash-talking Gorilla and Gene at ringside. McGraw tries a headscissors, but Macho drops him on the top rope and goes to a chinlock. McGraw escapes with an airplane spin for two and makes a comeback with a backslide for two. Macho necksnaps him and drops an elbow for two, and then cuts off another comeback attempt with a back elbow that puts him on the floor. Macho goes up and hits the double axehandle to the floor and they brawl out there, but Savage suplexes him out there and adds a running knee. Back in, Savage misses a charge and McGraw sends him into the corner with a Flair Flip, and Savage is in the Tree of Woe. Rick puts the boots to him, but Savage catches him with the hooking clothesline and goes up with the flying elbow to finish at 12:56. Not the most exciting in ring debut but Savage looked like a STAR and the crowd was calling for his head by the end. **
George Steele, Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo v. Big John Studd, Adrian Adonis & Bobby Heenan
Totally forgot about the period where Adonis was managed by Bobby Heenan, although Gorilla notes that Adonis took some weight off, or at least “pushed it around” if nothing else. Bobby Heenan decides to start the match, so George comes in and chases him around the ring and out to the floor. So it’s over to Windham and Adonis, as Barry gets a series of slams on Adrian, who accidentally runs to the wrong corner and gets bitten by the Animal. Over to Studd, and Barry quickly goes for a slam on him as well before Studd grabs the ropes. So Barry gets a crossbody for two and the heels regroup again. Studd gets a cheapshot and beats on Windham in the corner, at which point Heenan decides to tag in again, and he immediately gets hung in the corner and beaten up by Windham before flying to the floor. Steele heads over and runs him into the railing, and then takes out Adonis as well, before Captain Lou calms him down a bit. Rotundo takes Studd down and works a hammerlock, but Adonis comes in and suplexes Mike on the top rope. Adonis gets a DDT for two (which I believe caused Bill Watts to rage against people copying Jake Roberts) and PANDEMONIUM HAS BROKEN LOOSE as everyone brawls. Finally George grabs a chair and hits the referee for no particular reason, which is a DQ at 10:15. Match never really got going. *1/2
Judy Martin v. Desiree Peterson
Judy quickly attacks Desiree and puts her down with an elbow while Gene lecherously notes that Judy has “the biggest pair of…eyes” that he’s ever seen on a lady wrestler. What a charmer. They trade armbars while Gorilla and Gene do a whole bit about bringing in Gefilte fish from Coney Island courtesy of Gene’s friend “Herb whatshisname”. I feel like there’s some weird inside baseball thing going on there but I can’t translate it. Judy tosses her and Desiree tries to fight back in, but Martin runs her into the turnbuckle and drops a knee. Desiree gets hung in the Tree of Woe and we get a unique spot where Martin pulls her up by the hair and then drops her back down again, which you don’t really see often. Judy finally lets her out and then rams her into the mat for two. Judy tosses her out to the announce table. Back in, Martin with a powerbomb and she tosses Desiree again, and then back in for a lengthy chinlock. Martin tosses her AGAIN and they fight for a bit on the floor, but Desiree makes the comeback in the ring before Martin backdrops her. But finally Desiree gets a rolling reverse cradle for the pin at 16:27 after taking a beating for the entire boring match. *
King Kong Bundy v. Tony Garea
This marks the debut of Jimmy Hart’s megaphone, by the way. Garea tries trading shoulderblocks with Bundy and that doesn’t work well for him, so he takes Bundy down with a single leg instead. Bundy quickly escapes that and puts Garea down before choking him out on the ropes. Bundy goes to the chinlock, but Garea fights back and slugs away in the corner. But then he walks into the Avalanche and that’s all at 6:21. ½*
Intercontinental title: Greg Valentine v. Ricky Steamboat
This was featured on the Ricky Steamboat Coliseum Video I reviewed a few months back, but I think it was clipped, and this is the full version. Obviously these two are well acquainted from Mid-Atlantic. Ricky quickly takes him down and throws chops in the corner, sending Valentine to the floor, which has Jimmy protesting the use of illegal karate. Back in, Steamboat takes him down with a snapmare and goes to the chinlock, which apparently also falls under “illegal karate” according to Jimmy. Valentine tries to work the arm, but Ricky hits him with a back kick, as the announcers are already sick of this new megaphone gimmick. Which is how you know it was working. Gorilla claims that Steamboat does his karate “with the quickness of a mongoose” and Gene is like “WTF?”, so Gorilla clarifies that mongooses are notably quick. I still have questions, but moving on. Steamboat with a crossbody for two and he goes to a facelock, but Valentine takes him to the apron and drops forearms on his throat to take over. Dragon uses more karate from the apron and hits a chop off the ropes for two, however. Dragon tries a splash and hits knee, and Hammer goes to work on him, dropping the Hammer for two. Greg works the leg and drops an elbow for two, but he tries the figure-four and Steamboat cradles for two. Valentine reverses a slam for two. Valentine tosses him, so Ricky chases off Jimmy and then gets all FIRED UP and makes the comeback with chops for two. Steamboat goes up with the flying bodypress for two, but Hammer drops him with a back suplex and then hits an elbow for two. He goes for the figure-four but Steamboat shoves him into the corner to break and then follows with an enzuigiri to send Valentine flying to the floor, at which point Valentine is knocked goofy and gets counted out at 14:19. The announcers are all confused because it was such a fast count, but it seemed pretty clear from here. Steamboat fighting from underneath is always glorious. ***1/2
- Brian Blair v. Barry O
And here’s our other half of the Bees. Barry attacks in the corner and Blair backdrops him and then slugs him down and drops an elbow for two. They trade missed elbowdrops and Blair goes to work on the arm, but Barry gets a backbreaker for two. Barry goes to the chinlock as I ponder the “unacknowledged relatives” dream match we could have now, with the Ortons v. the Poffos. Throw in Jake Roberts & Sam Houston a year later. Barry tosses him and brings him back in with a snapmare for two before going to a chinlock. Blair fights out of that and gets a crossbody for two, but Barry tosses him, at which point Blair goes under the ring and comes in via the other side. Back in the ring, Blair goes up with an elbow and catches Barry with a sleeper to finish him off at 8:00. This marks one of the only times I can remember the referee actually checking the arm three times and having it drop all three times! Usually someone fights out at two, or if it’s a job guy, the ref just checks it once and calls it. Another dull match tonight. *1/2
Meanwhile, Mean Gene interviews Brian Blair about his new team, the Killer Bees, and Blair puts over Brunzell and his time in the American Wrestling Association and all the great things he did there.
WWF title, cage match: Hulk Hogan v. Magnificent Muraco
This is the final part of their trilogy, since the last one ended with Muraco getting DQ’d by using salt. Muraco has a “no smoking” shirt in his pre-match promo backstage, although I’m pretty sure he enjoys smoking and doesn’t make much secret about it. Speaking of which, Hogan does a pre-match promo where he claims that he doesn’t need a doctor or an insurance policy, brother. Yeah well the stuff he was ordering from “doctors” wouldn’t be covered by his insurance policy anyway. Hulk tosses the belt at Muraco and dares him to pick it up, and then attacks him when he does. Well what did he expect?! Muraco tries to ram him into the cage and Hulk blocks him, so Muraco kicks him in the nuts and puts him down with a kneelift. I should note that Muraco is rocking bright purple trunks here, paired with green socks, which is pretty badass. He beats Hogan down and goes for the door, but Hulk stops him and then Hulks up and slugs back on Muraco. Hulk with a clothesline and he drops an elbow and then rams Muraco’s head into the cage joint and busts him open like he’s an AEW main eventer. But then Hulk gets run into the cage and Muraco follows with a catapult into the joint himself, and we’re at a solid 0.8 TK rating. Muraco tries to climb out Hulk follows him up and bites on the cut, and Gene notes that there’s a representative from a major network who is watching at ringside and getting very upset by all the blood. Well clearly it’s not someone from Warner Media. Hulk fights back and Muraco takes a bump that results in him getting tied up in the ropes by his neck, and Hulk walks out the door to retain at 9:40. Hey, if you love blood, or you’re the owner/booker of a major wrestling promotion, this was the match for you! I liked the chaotic brawl from the May show a lot more though. **
There was some notable debuts here, but the action felt a lot weaker than usual on this one aside from a pretty boss Steamboat-Valentine match. As always with these 85 shows, much of the fascination is watching the old guard getting flushed out and the new stars taking their place slowly but surely. Because that’s how it used to work.