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WWF Wrestling Challenge (11.15.1986) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Well, here I thought I was all done with this show after the hostile takeover by Peacock, but then Peacock went ahead and not only added this series, they uploaded more episodes. So back to this well I go, along with Mid-South and Memphis…
-Originally aired November 15, 1986.
-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, who promises that all of this week’s matches are classics.
NON-TITLE: RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (Intercontinental Champion, with Elizabeth) vs. KOKO B. WARE
-Really peculiar start to this one, as Savage doesn’t get his usual entrance. And I don’t mean it was edited out. I mean he gets the “currently in the ring” intro with no music, like a common jobber.
-Savage attacks as Koko enters the ring and drops a double axehandle before taking off his robe. Koko gets dumped on the floor as we get pre-taped words from the Macho Man, who promises that he’s not worn down by all of his title matches and vows that he’s going to keep defending the title for years to come.
-Koko comes to life and plants a nice dropkick on the champ. Missile dropkick gets two as Gorilla bafflingly expresses disgust that Savage PUT A FOOT ON THE ROPE instead of kicking out. Happily, Heenan is there to call bullshit on that because yeah, if you can, why wouldn’t you do it? It’s easier. Match goes to the floor and Savage goes for his axehandle to the floor, but Koko meets him with a shot to the gut, and they brawl until the referee counts both men out, ending the match right as it started going somewhere. Macho/Koko could have been something good but they just did not get the time that they needed. The end of the match plants a tiny seed, though, as Gorilla and Bobby both express shock that Savage didn’t hit that axehandle, because he ALWAYS connects with it, and they take it as a sign of weakness that Savage is ripe for the picking for his next challenger.
WRESTLERS’ REBUTTAL
-We hear from Ricky Steamboat (thunder clap) who says that he resents watching Randy Savage bully Elizabeth and she ought to dump his ass.
-Over on Piper’s Pit with its fancy new set, Roddy Piper wraps a toilet seat around Race’s neck. I love prop comedy.
KING HARLEY RACE (with Bobby Heenan) vs. CORPORAL KIRCHNER
-Ring announcer Mel Phillips sneaks in a little dig to Jerry Lawler, emphasizing that Harley Race is the king of ALL wrestling. Ha, that’s a real (note to self: come back to this and add some kind of foot joke), Mel!
-Danny Davis is the referee, so it sucks to be Kirchner. Moreso, this week, I mean. Knees and suplexes by the king of ALL wrestling. Kirchner starts mounting some offense and Danny Davis noticeably moves closer to both guys, making it trickier for Kirchner to actually do very much. Kirchner goes for a flying elbow, but he crashes, and Race comes off the top rope with a clothesline that connects. Cradle suplex by Race gets three.
-Ken Resnick talks to Hulk Hogan, and what’s interesting is how it foreshadows a few things that Hulk would revisit in later years. Hulk is wearing a cool-looking red, white, and black bandana, even though they’ve pretty much settled on the red & yellow by this point. Hulk dubs the red, white, and black look “my war bonnet” and says he wears it when he’s channeling his dark side. He’s angrier lately, he’s not signing many autographs, and he’s going to stay with his dark side until he’s settled this issue with Mister Wonderful. So here we are in 1986, and we get our first inklings of the dumbest merchandise the WWF would ever attempt to market AND Hulk’s last attempt to convince WCW fans he’s cool until giving up and turning heel.
-Gorilla tells us that some Australian fellow named OUTBACK JACK is on his way to the WWF, and it’s just Jack wordlessly clapping his hands to a didgeridoo. Consider me tantalized.
TITO SANTANA & PEDRO MORALES vs. JOHN JACKSON & “Mr. Electricity” STEVE REGAL
-Regal gets some early offense, but gets caught in the wrong corner and knocked around while we hear from the Hart Foundation, who tease a feud with Tito & Pedro. The Harts laugh about how Pedro could only take them “in a burrito-eating contest,” but if I’m being honest, my money is on Anvil for that.
-Jackson tags in as Gorilla says this is his first appearance in the WWF. He’s actually the jobber that Alfred Hayes had to ask “What’s your name?” before introducing him on one of the first episodes of this show. Backbreaker by Morales gets the win, and Morales hurt himself on that because he’s in obvious pain and legit limping as he gets his hand raised.
-Ken Resnick asks Randy Savage about potential challenges. JYD is just hitchhiking through Savage’s world, and Jake the Snake is nobody because he hasn’t beaten a somebody yet.
KAMALA (with The Wizard and Kimchee) vs. KURT HOFFMAN
-Kurt Koffman looks like he’s bladed himself 30 times in the past week and is actually giving the Wizard a run for his money for scars.
-Kamala leapfrogs and Koffman trips and falls on the mat, and as soon as Kamala sees that, you see him just instantly decide he’s not having a match with this guy, so he just shoves Koffman down and splashes him for an immediate three-count.
THE SNAKE PIT
-Jake rambles about how time is a concept of man before bringing out Slick, who explains that he’s sold Hercules Hernandez to Bobby Heenan because he needed the extra money for his newest investment, Butch Reed. The more interesting part of this is that Damien runs…well, slithers away from the set, and Jake hands the microphone to Slick and runs off to prevent a problem.
IRON SHEIK & NIKOLAI VOLKOFF (with Slick) vs. JOHNNY MANN & NICK KINISKI
-Kiniski gets some early offense and a one-count on Sheik. Nick had talent and a good look, but he just had a low ceiling for whatever reason. Johnny Mann tags in and is instantly humbled, with Gorilla complaining that Danny Davis was taking too long to ring the bell after Johnny had obviously already submitted.
THE BRITISH BULLDOGS & CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO vs. THE DREAM TEAM & JOHNNY V
-It’s Albano’s farewell weekend, and they gave him kind of a mixed goodbye, with him managing the Machines in a losing effort to end that gimmick and make Bobby Heenan the winner of that feud.
-Davey Boy gets the delayed suplex on the Hammer right away. Bulldogs double-team Brutus. Valentine finally gets an upper hand on Davey Boy, so Johnny V eagerly tags in and promptly misses an elbow drop. Sleeper by Davey Boy, but the Dream Team runs in to save their manager. Bulldogs clear the ring and Dynamite finishes off Johnny V with the diving headbutt…and then Lou Albano finally tags in and just waddles over and pins Johnny V to get the official three-count. Dream Team just got SQUASHED here.
-Post-match, the faces hold a small party for Captain Lou in the locker room. Johnny V exacts his revenge by smashing a cake in Lou’s face, and for the only time I’ve ever seen, a cake to the face is no-sold, as Captain Lou just continues the rant he was going on totally uninterrupted, like he didn’t even notice Johnny V was there.
-Ken Resnick talks to Muraco and Orton, wearing kilts. They wear kilts not to praise Piper, but to bury him.
