Posted August 11, 201213 yr comment_5512457 VQ - Okay to Good 1. Hercules Hernandez vs. Scott McGhee JIP. There is also clipped a few minutes. We got about eight minutes of a twelve minute match. Most of what was clipped was the early feeling out process which mostly consisted of McGhee getting in a wrist lock from an arm drag on Hercules. Hercules takes control by viciously elbowing McGhee in the side of the head in the corner which looked really brutal. He got whipped to the ropes right after that but caught McGhee with a knee to the sternum and mid-section area. Hercules didn't do much after that and sort of coasted which was disappointing. He put in a long reverse chin lock but at least applied it to where it was interesting to some degree. McGhee fought out of it and they had a head on collision to set up McGhee's comeback. McGhee's comeback wasn't too thrilling here. He did try a knee from the second rope but he barely caught Hercules with it. McGhee then went for a top rope cross body. Hercules was supposed to catch him but instead McGhee was horrifyingly thrown across the ring in what seemed to be a frightening botch. Hercules put McGhee in the torture rack and McGhee called it quits giving Hercules the match by submission. In the end, this was alright at best and both guys didn't seem to be on the same page especially at the finish. 2. Brutus Beefcake vs. Lanny Poffo This started out slow and ended up being pretty good. Lanny was really good in this especially his offensive comeback. The opening minutes were pretty slow and didn't go anywhere. There was a long side headlock, long wrist lock, and long head scissors from Lanny. Beefcake took control after Lanny was whipped full force into the turnbuckle knocking him to the mat. Beefcake worked on Lanny's back for a few minutes and sent Lanny to the floor. They did a King of the Mountain spot with Beefcake keeping Lanny at bay on the floor for a little bit. Lanny's comeback was awesome in this as he hit a tremendous dropkick that was followed by a really great near fall after a fucking SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT SENTON on Beefcake. Beefcake regained control though after that but Lanny would get two more good near falls from a reverse roll up and a roll up after Beefcake was distracting while arguing with the referee. Right after the second roll up for a near fall Lanny ran into a knee from Beefcake that he sold like death. Beefcake covered him and won the match. This was questionable at first but got really fun towards the end. Ultimately, I liked it but the first half of the match hurts it for me. 3. Hulk Hogan vs. Terry Funk (WWF Title) I already watched this online previously. I gave it a SOLID NOMINATION in the match discussion thread. The pre-match interview with Funk should be included if this makes the set. He and Kal Rudman get into it and Funk calls Hogan a cartoon character and a guy who came into wrestling from a rock band. Great shit. Here's my review: This is another blast of a match with great heat. Terry is even more entertaining here fucking with fans, a camera man on the apron, and once again harassing Monsoon. Hulk takes Terry's hat before the match and gives it two elbow drops which was awesome and hilarious. There is a longer comedy segment in this match but it's still great. Terry just stumbles and bumbles around for Hulk and it's highly amusing and great. The layout of this match is the same as the later one with Terry doing great heeling. The finish is the same too but Hulk's boot shot isn't as nasty. These matches are fucking entertaining as hell. 4. Mike Rotundo vs. Greg Valentine This was a good match. Valentine stooged for Rotundo to start. They then had this awesome chop and slap exchange that was followed by a nice dropkick from Rotundo. Valentine sent Rotundo to the floor and they had a King of the Mountain spot. There was this great spot where Greg was fucking around with Rotundo by standing over him and slapping him in the face but then Rotundo raked Valentine's eyes and kicked him in the stomach. Valentine got a near fall off of a suplex. Rotundo had a good comeback and hit a great flying forearm to Greg. Rotundo got Greg up in the airplane spin and both guys went over the top ropes and crashed to the floor. That was cool and crazy. They brawled on the floor and apron. Greg tried to kick Rotundo off the apron then went for the figure four on the apron but Valentine had pushed the referee down twice during his beat down on Rotundo. Valentine was disqualified and Rotundo cleared him from the ring after the match. The finish was lame and this had some slow parts but overall it was a solid match. Obviously, singles matches suit Valentine much better as he was able to do his own stuff in this match and make it effective. 5. Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco Kal Rudman interviews Steamboat and Steamer cuts a good promo on Muraco and Mr. Fuji. This was a good brawl but not great. It was definitely really heated and had some great spots but it still lacked that feel of "importance" or "big time." Both guys threw some hay makers to start. Steamer took control but things slowed down a little too much. It was just a bunch of karate chops and nothing else. Muraco clotheslined Steamer in the back of the head who went over the ropes and to the floor. Steamer juiced after Muraco catapulted him into the ring post. Steamer was great as FIP bleeding everywhere while Muraco worked over the cut. Muraco's work over the cut wasn't as inspiring as these guys last bloodbath I watched. It was still "smart" work but nothing too interesting. Steamer back body dropped Muraco out to the floor and Muraco juiced after getting posted. Muraco bled a fucking ton and there were these great disturbing images of him just staggering around and bleeding profusely. Steamer worked on his cut, chases Mr. Fuji off with Fuji's cane, and came back in to kick Muraco's ass some more. The match ended in a draw when both guys brawled out of the ring and down the aisle. Again, this was really heated, had blood, good psych, and a few great spots. However, it didn't "feel" like a great match. Others may like this more than me so I'm going to nominate this. I'll give it a low end nomination. 6. Tito Santana/Tony Atlas vs. Randy Savage/Jesse Ventura Kal Rudman interviews Jesse before the match and Jesse is cuts an amusing promo on Santana and Atlas. There was nothing much to this. There was some fun stuff like Jesse's facial expression when Tony made Savage's hand tag Jesse's. Jesse and Savage worked on Atlas after they stooged for Tito and Tony briefly. Jesse and Savage made quick tags and did simple stuff and nothing too exciting. Tony eventually made the hot tag to Tito and Tito had a good exchange with Savage. He threw some good punches and got a near fall off of his flying forearm until Jesse broke up the pin. Tito went after Jesse but Savage gave Tito a running knee to the back. Jesse stomped on Tony who was on the floor and Savage stomped on Tito who was on the ropes in the ring. The referee kept trying to get Savage off of Tito but Savage ignored him and kept pushing him away. On the second or third shove, the referee hit the ropes and fell to the mat and immediately called for the disqualification awarding the match to Tito and Atlas. Savage and Jesse stopped what they were doing and argued with the referee and Gorilla post-match about the decision. This was okay and had some amusing stuff and Tito and Savage had some good exchanges but this really had nothing to it at all. It was just an average tag match at the end of the day. BONUS STUFF - TV Tapings 10/22/85 (Aired 11/2/85, 11/9/85, and 11/16/85) 1. Rick McGraw bitch slaps Piper on Piper's Pit and challenges him to a match for that week. EXTRA 2. We have a WWF Magazine January 1986 commercial! EXTRA 3. Roddy Piper vs. Rick McGraw This is McGraw's last televised match before his death. It's of course infamous for him being stretchered out after Piper gave him a couple of spike DDT's, a swinging neck breaker, and a suplex. Definite EXTRA 4. Piper's Pit: JYD This was funny. Piper made fun of JYD's new song, "Grab Them Cakes" and JYD said he was "talking" to the girl that he worked on the song with and the crowd went wild. Piper's facial expression when JYD said, "We're talkin'!" was hilarious. EXTRA 5. Hulk Hogan vs. Rusty Brooks Macho Man and Elizabeth show up before the match and Savage orders Elizabeth in the ring to ask Hulk why he doesn't wrestle anyone with credentials. Tremendous. Hulk got pissed and steamrolled through Brooks. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan but Hulk cleared him from the ring and celebrated with the fans. This was fun tv shit. This could be a possible EXTRA. 6. Lord Alfred went over the Hogan-Piper feud in a "WWF Report" segment. 7. Piper's Pit: Cpl. Kirschner Piper makes fun of the US and US war veterans saying they "shoot innocent people." Tremendous. Kirschner gets offended and yells in his face as the crowd goes crazy. EXTRA Final Analysis This was a solid show. Two matches were nominated and everything else was at least decent or okay. Plus, we got a several EXTRAS from some BONUS footage on this disc. 86 is rapidly approaching and I'm excited to check out stuff from that year. 85 has been a good year but has definitely had some disappointing stuff.
