WWF Wrestling Challenge (9.20.1986) Review

-Originally aired September 20, 1986.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, Ernie Ladd, and Johnny V. Weirdness: There is a match in progress in the ring during the opening, but it’s never acknowledged.

THE ISLANDERS vs. HART FOUNDATION (with Jimmy Hart)
-This drove me crazy when I was reviewing two years’ worth of Championship Wrestling…we are now in September 1986 and the chyron still says “Brett Hart.” The extra T is for Tears in His Eyes as He Told Me What a Great Worker I Am. On the other side of the ring, they’re still workshopping the Islanders, with Lord Alfred Hayes, the commentators, and the chyron all identifying them as “Hako and Toma.”

-Harts attack from behind and Toma gets caught in the wrong corner. Decapitator by the Harts as we get pre-taped words from Jimmy Hart, who says he signed this match because he hates pineapples, so he just wants the Islanders to get beat up for that. Referee misses a tag and tries to make Hako go back to the apron, but Hako won’t stand for the miscarriage of justice, so he just stays in the ring and beats the hell out of Neidhart, and eventually all four men end up on the floor and we get an unexpectedly wild finish for a b-show match, as they knock down one entire side of the ringside barricade and keep brawling so the arena staff can’t put it back up. Double count-out, but getting there was fun.

WRESTLERS’ REBUTTAL
-It took three episodes for them to deviate from the format here, as the Rebuttal is just footage from Superstars. Roddy Piper arranges for Adrian Adonis’ Flower Shop to get pre-empted for one week so he can do the return of Piper’s Pit. Adonis refuses to take a backseat and the argument ends with everyone agreeing to a Flower Shop vs. Piper’s Pit debate in two weeks.

RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (with Elizabeth) vs. TONY GAREA
-Absolutely awesome look from Savage and Elizabeth, who usually color-coordinated their stuff, but this week they took it a step further, with Savage’s cape and Elizabeth’s dress being a matched set, both totally covered in blue sequins and silver stars.

-Before the bell, Savage starts a shoving match with Garea, but referee Danny Davis physically restrains Garea from fighting back and allows Savage to mount a surprise attack. Great bit from Savage, keeping his headband and sunglasses on for the match, like he would do with the lowliest of jobbers, and after the match goes back and forth for a few seconds, he gives up and takes them off once he realizes Tony Garea is actually a competitor.

-Top rope axehandle on the floor by Savage very early on, and we get words from Superstar Billy Graham as Savage whips Garea into the barricade. Back in, the flying elbow finishes. I love all the fantastic little details of assholedom that Savage wove into everything he did.

-Ken Resnick talks to Jack the Snake in his European drug lord ensemble. Jake tries to insists that Ricky Steamboat needs to back off. Also, he didn’t brown-nose anyone to get the Snake Pit segment on the air.

THE MACHINES (with Captain Lou Albano) vs. J.J. JACKSON, AL NAVARRO, & TIGER CHUNG LEE
-Undisputed highlight of the show: Lord Alfred Hayes has to ask JJ Jackson what his name is because he can’t read it clearly on his card. BONUS: JJ has “J.J. JACKSON” embroidered on the back of his ring jacket.

-We get words from Bobby Heenan, who promises to outsmart Captain Lou no matter how many Machines he might have. Everybody takes turns pairing up and knocking around the jobbers. Big Machine whips JJ into the corner, and Giant Machine just bonks him on top of his head Moe-style to knock JJ out and get the win.

-Koko B. Ware teaches Ken Resnick how to do The Bird, and Ken manages to look like even MORE of a white guy than usual doing it.

-We get a slew of commercials for WWF Magazine, WWF action figures, and WWF thumb wrestlers. The thumb wrestlers ad is fantastic, with shirtless Iron Sheik walking out to the playground and telling the kids to get back to class. Thank you Network for leaving these in.

DREAM TEAM vs. LEAPING LANNY POFFO & DICK SLATER
-Johnny V opts to stay at the commentary table, saying he talked things out with his team earlier today and they’re so prepared that he doesn’t need to be there.

-Valentine chops away as we get words from Mr. Fuji calling out Dick Slater and challenging him to a match against Don Muraco. Slater and Valentine trade blows in a confrontation that would have main evented three years earlier, and now it’s just B-show filler. Slater gets the advantage as Johnny V suddenly says he needs to duck out for just a minute, and he hustles through the crowd and over the barricade to get to ringside.

-Poffo fires uppercuts at Beefcake, but Valentine breaks the attempted pin and we have a brawl in the ring. Referee’s lost control of this one as Valentine snaps Poffo’s neck over the top, and Beefcake scores the pin.

SNAKE PIT
-So the Snake Pit includes a small pond with dry ice, and the fans have turned it into a target and are chucking garbage into it as Jake welcomes Paul Orndorff, and holy crap, trash is flying EVERYWHERE.

SIKA vs. RICK HUNTER
-Sika chops Hunter down as we get words from the Honky Tonk Man, who promises he’s ready to roll into the WWF in his ’57 Cadillac. Hunter throws punches, but Sika just chops back and rams him into the turnbuckle. Hunter might be one of my favorite jobbers. He’s about 50 here according to Cagematch, but everything he does looks like he’s taking the beating of a lifetime. On the turnbuckle bump, he flung his legs in the air on impact. Samoan drop gets three.

-We head off to the St. Lawrence seaway to watch the Rougeau Brothers go boating. And we watch it, and watch it, and watch it, and watch it…and watch it.

KILLER BEES vs. TERRY GIBBS & JACK FOLEY OF BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA
-Gorilla Monsoon notes that the Dream Team is not too eager to put their John Henry on the contract against the Killer Bees. What kind of grades did these people get in school? Jobbers get knocked around as Johnny V dumps on Foley for not having the look of a star at all. And he’s not wrong, but Gorilla is the one who makes the prescient statement that you can’t judge the book by the cover.

-Foley gets backdropped and atomic dropped by the Bees, and it looks pretty good as this Foley guy seems rather adept at taking high bumps. They work Foley’s arm and Johnny is STILL harping on Foley, pointing out that he has to keep pulling his tights up. Bee sting on Foley gets the win.

-Ken Resnick talks to Paul Orndorff, who tells the story of spotting Hulk at the gym and having to help him every time he tried to do 500 pounds.

7.6

The final score: review Good

The 411

GREAT episode!