Dark Pegasus Video Review: The Big Event

The Big Event by J.D. Dunn August 26, 1986 Live from Toronto, Ontario. Your hosts are the bizarre combination of Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valiant and Ernie Ladd. Opening Match: The Killer Bees vs. Hoss Funk & Jimmy Jack Funk (w/Jimmy Hart). Jimmy Jack is Jesse Barr (brother of Art) doing a dead-on Terry Funk impression. Hoss is Terry’s older brother Dory. I don’t recall the specifics of the transaction, but sometime between WrestleMania 2 and here, Terry quit/was injured, so they brought in Barr under a silly Lone Ranger mask to play Terry’s role. The Bees get all the offense early, but Dory nails one of them in the back. We don’t see any heel offense because we’re clipped to the Bees donning their masks and pulling the switcheroo. That allows Blair to roll up Jimmy Jack for the win at 6:44 (shown). Meh. Any heel offense was cut out. * King Tonga vs. The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji). Tonga is Haku back in his salad days, and he’s a babyface! He was actually an excellent wrestler at the time, and one of the toughest men in wrestling. Tonga dominates early, sending Muraco to the floor twice. We’re clipped ahead to Tonga holding a wristlock. The fact that they actually clipped to a wristlock should show you how exciting the match is. Mr. Fuji trips up Tonga from the outside and hits him with his cane. Back in, Muraco applies a nerve hold. Tonga starts to fight back, but Muraco pulls him down and smashes his knee against the post. Muraco appears to go low with a headbutt and slaps on the figure-four. Tonga gets to the ropes. Muraco goes up but gets slammed off. Tonga hits a flying crossbody, but time expires at 11:16 (out of 15:00). *1/4 Ted Arcidi vs. Tony Garea. Arcidi looks like Scott Steiner and Doug Furnas had a kid. Not sure what happened to derail his career, but he had star written all over him. Garea, who is sold as a veteran, stupidly tries to match power moves with Arcidi. He wises up too late and runs right into a bearhug at 2:40. Garea would retire and become one of Vince McMahon’s stooges. 1/4* Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Junkyard Dog. We’re JIP to Adonis and JYD brawling with the chain. JYD dominates with headbutts, and Adrian gets sent over the top to the floor. The brawl resumes, and JYD tosses the ref aside. The ref decides to let it go, but JYD gets sprayed in the face by Jimmy Hart. I don’t remember if Adonis’ perfume had a name like “Arrogance.” The ref goes down again, but he recovers in time to count Adonis out at 4:10. 1/4* Dick Slater vs. Iron Mike Sharpe. This is Sharpe’s one brush with fame outside of the territories. Oddly enough, Gorilla actually acknowledges that there is wresting outside the WWF. Slater works over Sharpe’s perpetually injured arm. Slater hits a swinging neckbreaker and an elbowdrop to the head. He jackknifes Sharpe for the win at 2:34 (shown). Ernie Ladd says all amateur wrestlers should know to hook the legs, but that’s actually the exact opposite of what I was taught. Maybe wrestling technology changed from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. 1/4* Gene Okerlund inadvertently starts a “weasel” chant among the 70,000 fans in the stadium. Super Machine, Big Machine & Lou Albano (w/Giant Machine) vs. King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd & Bobby Heenan. Super Machine is Bill Eadie (Ax of Demolition and the former “Masked Superstar”) under a mask. Big Machine is Blackjack Mulligan. Giant Machine is a masked Andre the Giant who no-showed a match with Studd and Bundy, so Jack Tunney suspended him. The joke is that everyone knows it’s Andre because…well, it’s Andre, but Bobby Heenan still wants to prove it so he’ll be banned for life. If that angle sounds familiar, Dusty Rhodes booked it a few times, and Hulk Hogan just did it in 2003. The match is about what you’d expect from Mulligan, Ax, Studd & Bundy. The heels finally catch Albano in their corner and start choking him out, so Giant Machine cleans house for the DQ at 7:48. 3/4* “Snake Pit Match”: Jake “the Snake” Roberts vs. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat. Jake DDT’d Ricky on the outside to set this up in an angle taken from Mid-South where Jake did the same thing to Terry Taylor. Jake attacks at the bell, but Ricky counters with a backdrop. Ricky goes to work on Jake’s long arms, which nicely neutralizes the DDT too. Jake lures Ricky to the floor and slams him. Ricky wrests a chair away from Jake and hits him over the head with it. A flying chop gets two for Ricky. Back to the arm. Jake reverses a whip, sending Ricky all the way to the floor. A slingshot to the post busts Ricky open. Back in, Jake squats down on Ricky’s shoulders, but Ricky hooks his arms and takes him over for three (10:17). I would have liked to have seen a little more “epic” put into it, but Hogan vs. Orndorff was on the top of the card, so I can see why this was kept short. *** Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules Hernandez. I believe Haynes’ only feuds in the WWF was with Hercules. They had this one, and then they renewed acquaintances around WrestleMania time. Herc grabs a bearhug but gets his bell rung. Haynes reverses a whip, and the collide as he charges in. Haynes goes for a Full Nelson, but Hercules powers out. Herc tries a neckbreaker, but Haynes counters to a backslide for the win at 6:07 (shown). Don’t see that every day. ** The Dream Team vs. The Rougeau Bros. The Dream Team attacks, but Raymond whips Valentine into a sunset flip. Raymond plays face-in-peril for a bit before Jacques tags in and assumes the very same role. The Rougeaux hit the cannonball on Beefcake, but Valentine makes the save and re-establishes dominance by ramming Raymond’s back into the apron. I should point out that this referee has one of the slowest counts I’ve ever seen outside of Jesse Ventura’s Summerslam ’88 job. Valentine punishes the back with a bearhug, but Ray wriggles out and tags in Jacques. Jacques cleans house but gets caught in the figure-four leglock. Raymond makes the save. Valentine sets up for it again, but Raymond sunset flips him in mid-move for the win at 14:53. Johnny Valiant is apoplectic. Good stuff from the Rougeaus, who are a VASTLY underrated team. ***1/4 King Harley Race vs. Pedro Morales. This is a rematch from the King of the Ring 1986 finals, which Race won (hence, the “king” gimmick). Both guys are WAY past their primes here, and it’s kind of sad to see Race like this. Of course, not sad for him because he probably got paid more in the last four years of his career than he did in the previous 20. Race does a lot of cheating by elbowing Pedro’s throat. Pedro sunset flips over a charge and gets two. Race scoops up Pedro’s legs as he’s moving in and puts his feet on the ropes for the win at 3:23 (shown). [1/4*] WWF World Heavyweight Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff (w/Bobby Heenan). Orndorff was Hogan’s regular tag partner for a while before becoming jealous of Hogan’s spotlight hoggery. He turned heel in one of the bigger turns of the 80’s and so we get this big blowoff. Orndorff suckerpunches Hogan during the intros. They head to the floor for a surprisingly intense brawl. Hogan is about to finish quickly, but Heenan distracts him, drawing Hogan into a chase. Orndorff suckerpunches him again as Hogan gets back in. Orndorff starts to dominate, and Hogan reaches out for a tag. To whom? Paul Orndorff. But Orndorff ain’t there, is he, bitch?! Orndorff actually earns a large vocal following from the “smarts” in the audience. Paul thinks he’s gotten the win, but Hogan’s leg fell under the ropes. Hogan hulks up and knocks Orndorff into the referee. He picks Orndorff up and raises his arm in victory then clotheslines Orndorff in a mocking reversal of Orndorff turning on him. Nice touch. Hogan starts to go for the piledriver, but Heenan sneaks in and hits him in the back of the head with a trainer’s stool. The ref recovers and taps Orndorff’s shoulder three times, making Paul think he’d won the title. Instead, it’s just the signal for a DQ at 11:26. Hogan makes his own save from an attempted beatdown. **1/2

The 411: Like WrestleManias 2 & 3, The Big Event is very much a transitional show from the older, mat-based guys and brawlers to athletes and flyers. The transition was not a pretty one, wrestling-wise, and that led to a lot of shows like this one. The Rougeaus, Steamboat, Jake and Hogan all looked good, though, and they earn this a mild recommendation. Very mildly recommended.
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]