August 1986

Orndorff goes in hot, ambushing Hogan to kick off the match. From there, they work a very tight, very close brawl leading to Orndorff getting an extended heat segment on Hogan. Hogan puts on a masterclass of sympathetic babyface selling. When he's down, he's down. This show was worked in front of 70,000 people and Hogan, more than Orndorff, understands this. You can see the way he begs for crowd support, how every bump and sell if just a little bigger than usual. My only gripe was the poor timing and execution of the comeback. Hogan just decides to pop right back up. There's usually a little more build to his comebacks than that. But once it gets going, it's hard not to g…

Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts - WWF Big Event 8/28/86 SnakePit Match ("No DQ" Match) Again, they had a different match from the previous outings with this being their big blowoff brawl in front of a massive Toronto crowd. WWF will never be known for their brawls like a Southern territory would be, but this is still time period where they could have them with blood and all the fixins. They play off the SNME angle where Jake The Snake heads him off getting to the ring and looks to hit the DDT on him early, but Steamboat is able to fight through this with chops. What's funny about this is that Jake is wearing this purple sequined robe that makes him look like a white …

AWA World Tag Team Champions Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs Midnight Rockers - AWA TV 8/30/86 I really don't know how much I can say about the famous Bloodbath match that has not already been said, but I will try my best to explain why this may be the greatest American tag team match ever. Shawn Michaels quick pinfall attempts. Superkick. Rose slams his head into the post and Michaels outside and taps a gusher. Awesome, awesome staggered selling and wild punches. Somers is nasty as fuck gnaw at cut spitting blood. Every hope spot is met with a jab to the cut. Jannetty tries to help, but no avail. The drama is ridiculous for Michaels to get to Jannetty. Jannet…

I'm not sure if this is the correct date. Nick Bockwinkel defends the AWA World Heavyweight Title

So whats the deal here? I know everyone needs a gimmick, but where did Vince come up with this one. I always love seeing the Rogue Gallery in the ring in the WWF. Just such a richness in the gimmicks especially on the heel side. Orton wearing the pink hat because he was Adonis' bodyguard was great. Adonis had such a stellar run from 86 up to Mania III. The Funks being in this ring for Harley is weird. Heenan plays it pretty straight. The midget is a great touch especially holding his train at the end. Good segment. Not as good as the Macho King Coronation. It is weird how this almost became like a tertiary title in the WWF.

The highest stakes possible prompted Espanto to come in with a clear strategy, which he executed to near perfection for almost two whole falls. He consistently targeted Santo’s back and neck and smothered him at every turn, leading to a one fall lead and continued domination into the second fall. But his frustration got the better of him as he started to rip away at Santo’s mask after the latter refused to roll over. This allowed Santo back into the match with a huge running knee, and he managed to tie things up. Espanto regaining control in the third fall after Santo’s damaged back came back to haunt him was outstanding psychology. The match then turned into a war of att…