Dark Pegasus Video Review: Boston Garden (11.09.85)

WWF Boston Garden (11.09.85) by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 November 9, 1985 From Boston, Mass. Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes. Cpl. Kirchner vs. Rene Goulet. And we’re off and… crawling. Kirchner takes Goulet down with what could generously be described as an armdrag. That leads to a wristlock for a while. Goulet finally catches him with a clothesline to take over. He teases going for the Scorpio (Iron Claw) but decides to rake the eyes instead. Gorilla on the Scorpio: Well, he hasn’t won a match with it in six months. I’d get rid of it too! He decides to soften up Kirchner a little and then goes for the Scorpio. Kirchner powers out of it, though, and hits a Samoan Drop for the win at 10:30. Uneventful opener. *1/2 Bret Hart (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Lanny Poffo. Now *this* is more like it. It’s not exactly Hart vs. Savage ’87, but I’ll take it. Poffo was starting to gain some steam as the resident gymnast on the roster. There really wasn’t anybody like him at all. Bret is nothing at this point. You get the feeling that people know that he’s a good wrestler, but he’s a heel, so a lot of it is hidden behind cheap heat tactics. For example, in this match, he goes to Lanny’s gut and just tosses him to the floor while complaining to the referee. The match doesn’t have quite the same flow that Bret’s singles matches would five years later. Danny Davis is the referee, by the way, a few months before he began to tip his heel hat. Lanny comes back with a springboard somersault senton (wow!). It only gets two. Lanny tries a monkeyflip, but Bret blocks and puts his feet on the ropes for the win at 8:23. Not bad, but it could have used more time. **1/4 Jim Neidhart (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Tony Garea. Garea dominates with actual wrestling. Pfft. Pussy. Hart screams at the ref, distracting him long enough for Neidhart to grab a handful of hair and ram Garea’s face into the buckle. Neidhart takes over and shows why he never became a huge singles star. Lots of choking and stomping. Lots of strutting too. I’m not sure what he did to get winded, but he appears to be blown up. He hits a 3-point charge but misses a second. Garea starts punching away at him, but Anvil scoops him up and finishes with a powerslam at 7:17. So that’s where WCW/nWo Revenge got it from. They definitely put over Neidhart’s power and rough streak. *1/2 Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Tony Atlas. Savage gets overpowered early, so he starts stalling. Atlas is all, “Son, you’re never going to make it to TV if you keep stalling like that.” Savage tries a waistlock, but Atlas powers out of it and sets him on the top rope to mock him. Savage finally knocks him to the floor and gets all Memphis on his ass. Atlas is big and strong, though, so he is able to turn the tables. He shoves the ref out of the way and tries to slam Savage, but Randy reverses to a small package and gets the pin at 6:08. They sell it as if Savage cheated to win, but he didn’t even pull the tights. *1/2 Bob Orton Jr. vs. Pedro Morales. Morales dominates, steamrolling Orton with shoulderblocks until Orton sidesteps him and tosses him to the floor. Orton slams him on the floor and won’t let him back in the ring cleanly. Orton starts methodically working over Pedro, dropping him on the top rope with a Snake Eyes. He tries a pump-splash (think Arn Anderson). Pedro makes the big comeback and atomic drops Orton into Danny Davis. Oops. Pedro hits a backbreaker and covers like a goof. No ref, of course. Pedro hauls Davis up, but that gives Orton a chance to load up his cast and nail Morales with it for the pin at 11:34. The match was a little slow, but everything was well-executed. ** Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. Ricky Steamboat. Muraco hung Steamboat with his own gi to set this up. Steamboat avoids a charge, but Muraco starts hitting him with evil martial arts shots. Why evil? They’re to the throat. Steamboat comes back with his own and tries to choke Muraco out. The ref takes it away from Steamboat, so Muraco takes it away from the ref and starts choking Steamboat with it. Gorilla, rightly, wonders why they even have a ref out there. Steamboat takes off his jacket and strangles Muraco with it. Muraco comes back with a dropkick and tosses Steamboat to the floor. Fuji, of course, nails Steamboat with the cane. Muraco dominates most of the way, which isn’t a bad thing. For some reason, Muraco has the reputation of being a slug. I guess from his final few years, but he was actually a decent big man with a good grasp of psychology. Muraco grabs a nerve hold, and Steamboat fades. Lord Alfred is begging the ref to call the match, but Steamboat fights back up. Muraco tries to yank Steamboat out of the corner, but Ricky yanks him back in, posting Muraco’s shoulder. Muraco goes upside down into the corner off a corner whip, but they knock heads for a double KO. Funny spot as Muraco makes it to his feet first, takes a victory lap around Steamboat and then falls backward because he’s so groggy. Muraco is a bloody mess, for reasons I’m not sure of. Maybe he posted his head. I didn’t really see it. Steamboat hits his crossbody, but Muraco was out of position. He hits it again, but Fuji is on the apron. Steamboat pops up, steals Fuji’s cane, and nails Muraco with it. That draws the DQ at 15:34. Steamboat doesn’t care because he wants revenge. He tosses the ref aside and beats Muraco like a government mule until Fuji can collect his man and hightail it to the back. This is a good old-fashioned heel/face feud. *** Piper’s Pit: Piper’s guest is Bruno Sammartino. This stems from a Piper’s Pit in MSG a few days earlier where Roddy started running down David Sammartino. In that segment, Sammartino demanded Orton get sent to the back, and he was able to make his own save. In this segment, they talk back and forth for a bit before things erupt once again. Orton clocks Sammartino from behind, allowing Roddy to kick Bruno in the nuts and run away. WWF Tag Team Titles: The Dream Team vs. Mike Rotundo & Danny Spivey. Barry Windham flaked out and left Rotundo in the lurch, so they paired him with another big blond as if they were interchangeable. Actually, he really does look like Windham. Rotundo looks great. Much more athletic than he did as IRS or even in his Captain Mike days. Rotundo plays face-in-peril for most of the match. He blocks Hammer’s vertical splash by getting the knees up, but Brutus cuts off his tag attempt. Sleeper, but Rotundo slams Beefcake into the corner. This time, Valentine cuts off the tag. Spivey finally gets the hot tag, but he and Beefcake nail each other with clotheslines. That brings Valentine and Rotundo in. The ref pushes Rotundo out, allowing Valentine to put Beefcake on top. That only gets two. Spivey rolls Beefcake up, but Beefcake rolls through for the win at 12:33. ** The Junkyard Dog vs. Terry Funk (w/Jimmy Hart). These two met on the last Boston Gardens show with Funk cheating to get the pin. JYD chases Jimmy off the apron to start. Funk slaps JYD around, which can’t be a good idea. JYD slaps him right back, so Funk asks referee Danny Davis to step aside so they can box. Funk, the big goof, puts his elbowpads on his fists and starts shadowboxing. Dog dodges all of his swings and pastes him with a casual right. Funk takes things to the floor where he’s more comfortable. They slug it out down there with the announce table getting involved. When the dust clears, Funk is stomping JYD in the head. He kills time with a sleeper, but JYD makes his big comeback. Hart tries to get involved, so JYD goes after him. Funk attacks from behind, but JYD rolls him up for the revenge win at 8:22. They try to beat the Dog down again, but JYD makes his own save. **1/4 The British Bulldogs vs. Moondog Spot & Barry O. Dynamite is like a red blur in there, he rushes across the ring so fast. Moondog doesn’t do much outside of take punishment. Barry O(rton) provides most of the offense as Dynamite plays face-in-peril. He even hits the Bulldog’s running powerslam for two. He tries a headbutt, though, and winds up hurting himself. Spot and DK collide for a double KO. That allows Davey Boy to get the hot tag. Cool finish as Moondog and Barry try a double clothesline on DK, but Davey Boy yanks Barry down from the outside. Kid hits the crossbody on Spot and picks up the win at 9:54. **1/4

The 411: Not a bad show, especially in the context of the last three Boston shows which give you a storyline running through the series of house shows. Steamboat/Muraco is the real highlight, but the tag matches were okay too, and Funk/JYD is a good comedy match. Mildly recommended.
Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]