The Name on the Marquee: WWF Superstars of Wrestling - December 1986

Posted by Adam Nedeff on 05.28.2009

Ricky Steamboat is calling it a career...or is he? Bobby Heenan is upset about Andre the Giant's reinstatement...or is he?

-Time to wrap up 1986!

Originally aired December 6, 1986.

We’re still at Notre Dame.

-Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, and Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

-Honky Tonk Man reveals his big surprise: his new manager, Jimmy Hart.

RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (Intercontinental Champion, with Elizabeth) vs. SPECIAL DELIVERY JONES
-Jesse Ventura admits that it’s sad to see that Ricky Steamboat has to retire as a result of his injuries, but Savage invites the entire roster to come out and line up one by one so he can do the same thing.

-Jones outmuscles Savage and Savage heads out of the ring to re-think strategy. Bruno explains his behavior when Randy Savage showed up during his report and just gets angrier by the word as he explains what he did. Jones hammers Savage, but Savage catches him with a clothesline. Snapmare and a kneedrop by Savage, and the flying elbow (landing very close to the throat) finishes Jones.

UPDATE
-King Harley Race & Bobby Heenan complain about the lack of respect from the fans. Heenan hypothetically asks Race if he would sign autographs for fans, and Race reacts so angrily that Heenan backs off.

-Blackjack Mulligan is going to turn all of the heels into fertilizer.

KOKO B. WARE vs. BOBBY COLT
-Armdrags by Koko to start. Fists are exchanged, and Danny Davis is angrier about Koko’s punches than he is about Colt’s. Backdrop and a snapmare by Koko, followed by a suplex for a sloowwwww two-count. Slam, followed by the missile dropkick, and the brainbuster finishes. What I get a kick out of when I watch Koko’s matches is how the crowd buys into the brainbuster so much that they don’t even pop for it…they just let out a horrified “Ooooooooh” when they see it.

-Kamala and his dress are ready for Hulk Hogan at the Boston Garden.

-We look back at Adrian Adonis’ surprise return on Piper’s Pit.

ADORABLE ADRIAN ADONIS (with Jimmy Hart) vs. PAUL ROMA
-Adonis is dusting off a gimmick from the 50s for more heat, using a Gorgeous George-style oxygen mask to inhale “air from New York City.” So…urine and weed, then? Deafening “Piper” chant goes up as Roma locks in a full nelson. Adonis breaks that easily but misses an elbow and Roma dropkicks him. Roma follows with a monkeyflip. He must have been told to make Adrian look good. Roma misses a dropkick and Adonis locks in Good Night Irene for the win. Adonis stuffs flowers in Roma’s mouth post-match.

-Johnny V is coming to Beantown!

-Let’s go to Australia, where Outback Jack winks and gives us a thumbs-up.

HERCULES HERNANDEZ (with Bobby Heenan) vs. JOSE LUIS RIVERA
-Hercules, unable to decide on how heavily he wants to invest in his gimmick from week to week, comes to the ring wearing gold armor. Rivera dropkicks him early but gets clotheslined down. Another clothesline followed by a suplex, and the torture rack ends it.

PIPER’S PIT
-Piper figures if he’s going to keep getting attacked from behind, he needs to start making friends. So he brings out George Steele and announces that he locked George in a cage with a woman a few days ago, then presents him with a turnbuckle, and George agrees to be his friend. Junkyard Dog comes out too; he admits he doesn’t like Roddy Piper very much, but he REALLY can’t stand Jimmy Hart, so he’ll be happy to give Hot Rod whatever help he needs.

-Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Bonnie Steamboat, who tries to claim custody of the microphone.

KAMALA (with Wizard & Kimchee) vs. SALVATORE BELLOMO
-Kamala is in a hurry and goes off the top rope and kills Bellomo right away for the win.

-Jesse Ventura talks to Jack Tunney about Andre the Giant’s reinstatement. Tunney talks about the hearing held regarding the suspension and says that Andre wasn’t even there, but Bobby Heenan was. Hmm…

BILLY JACK HAYNES & ROUGEAU BROTHERS vs. DINO BRAVO & DREAM TEAM (with Johnny V)
-“Aww, that’s Danny Davis in there,” Vince complains. Valentine & Jacques start, but Dino Bravo runs in for a cheap shot from behind. Jacques gets double-teamed and Danny’s cool with that. Beefcake works the back a little bit and gets two. Jacques gets triple-teamed in the corner and Danny Davis reprimands Raymond for complaining about it. Jacques comes back with an abdominal stretch, but Davis doesn’t even bother checking for a submission, simply waiting for the heels to come in and break it up. That triggers a six-man brawl for the double-DQ.

-Hulk Hogan and Junkyard Dog have words of wisdom to wrap things up.

-Originally aired December 13, 1986.

-One more time at Notre Dame.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, and Jesse “The Body Ventura, or as the tabloid media calls them, Sammahontura.

HILLBILLY JIM, TITO SANTANA, & PEDRO MORALES vs. MOONDOG SPOT, BARRY O, & THE RAIDER
-Jim & Spot start. Shoulderblock goes nowhere and Jim boots Spot in the face. Barry O tags and manages to stagger Jim, but gets punches down. Tito steps in with a side headlock but gets yanked down by the hair (and Danny Davis is okay with that). Tito comes right back with a dropkick and flying headscissors. Double tag brings in Morales & Raider. Morales & Tito switch off on the Raider until Morales rolls him up and gets a (slowwwwww) three-count.

UPDATE
-Randy Savage is pretty happy with how things have turned out for the departing Ricky Steamboat. It’s too bad that it’s all over for Steamboat, because it would have been nice to see him get some revenge.

ADORABLE ADRIAN ADONIS (with Jimmy Hart) vs. MARIO MANCINI
-Weird in this era to see somebody wrestle two consecutive weeks. We get a heated promo from Roddy Piper before the bell. Adonis kicks and rakes Mancini as another huge “Piper” chant erupts. Good Night Irene ends things in short order, and Mancini gets a mouthful of flowers.

-Randy Savage will be meeting Bruno Sammartino at the Boston Garden! Randy’s going to teach an old dog new tricks.

-Outback Jack has no worries in Australia, but he can’t wait to come to the WWF!

CAN-AM CONNECTION vs. IRON MIKE SHARPE & JIMMY JACK FUNK
-I actually have a trading card with this match on it. How interesting. Martel & Funk trade arm wringers and Martel gets the advantage with an armdrag. Hiptoss and a Frankensteiner by Martel (although Scott Steiner hasn’t debuted yet, so it’s just called “Look at that!”). Sharpe tags in and hammers Martel, but Zenk tags in and they monkeyflip Canada’s Greatest Athlete. Zenk tries a wristlock, but Sharpe rakes his armband across the eyes and tags in Funk. Funk hammers Zenk and snapmares him. Sharpe tags in, but Zenk dodges him and Martel comes in and takes out everything in his path. Donnybrook erupts and the Martel & Funk are Irish whipped into each other. Sharpe takes advantage, but ends up getting double-teamed. Zenk powerslams Sharpe and slingshots Martel on top for the win. Good little match.

-Blackjack Mulligan is ready for the bunkhouse battle royal at the Boston Garden!

-And then we go to…Blackjack Mulligan…again…and he shows us a cow.

KAMALA (with Kimchee & Wizard) vs. JACK KRUGER
-Kruger tries to attack as Kamala enters the ring, but Kamala smashes his tribal mask over his head to KO him. Referee starts the match anyway, and Kamala justs kicks the shit out of him and finishes him with Air Uganda. Vince McMahon begs Jack Tunney to consider banning the splash from the top rope.

PIPER’S PIT
-Piper’s guests are Slick & Butch Reed. Reed uses “natural” about 60 times in less than a minute. Hot Rod brings out Suzette the Federette, who says she hates touching Butch Reed and finds Piper more attractive. She orgasmically screams “Oh YES!” at Piper and he carries her off as Reed complains.

EVERYBODY HAVE FUN TONIGHT!
-A montage of clips from the past few months, set to the dulcet tones of Wang Chung. I wasn’t considering having any fun tonight, but then I decided that Wang Chung was right. I should have fun.

-Dr. Bob Ponovich talks to Gene Okerlund about Ricky Steamboat’s recovery. Dr. Ponovich says that thanks to Steamboat’s conditioning, he seems to recovering much faster than he anticipated. Dr. Ponovich is concerned, however, with what might happen if Ricky Steamboat ever takes another shot to the throat again.

-Jesse Ventura talks to Bobby Heenan about Andre the Giant’s reinstatement and the hearing where Andre no-showed, but Bobby Heenan was there. Bobby says that Andre has a right to wrestle, and when Jesse presses him for details, Bobby snaps at him and walks away. This is an interesting swerve, as it actually seems like a tease for a Heenan face turn, not an Andre heel turn.

DICK “The Rebel” SLATER vs. JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS
-Last year’s Mid-South Wrestling main event is this year’s WWF TV feature bout. When will Jack Tunney learn to stop assigning Danny Davis to these matches? Slater takes down Jake a few times. Jake armdrags him, but Slater takes him down with a fist. Slater tries to apply a stepover toehold, but Davis makes him break it for no real reason. Slater is undeterred and keeps working the leg anyway. Jake manages to kick Slater over the top rope. When he gets back in, Slater takes him down with a neckbreaker. Elbow off the top rope gets a three-count and the win…but then Jake puts his foot on the rope, and Danny figures that his foot must have been there during the count, so he lets the match continue. Jake pulls out Damien and Slater fearlessly throws punches. Danny Davis backs him into the corner, and Slater gets fed up and hiptosses him across the ring. Davis calls for the disqualification.

-Bruno Sammartino talks about how much he admired the champions when he first became a wrestler, and it disgusts him to see that Randy Savage carries himself with no class and no dignity when he has a title belt. GREAT promo.

-Originally aired December 20, 1986.

-We’re in Phoenix, AZ now.

-Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, and Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

-Oooooh, newer, crappier-looking graphics for the “Appearing this week” list. I rather liked the painted screencaps that they had been using until now.

ISLANDERS vs. COWBOY BOB ORTON & MAGNIFICENT MURACO (with Mr. Fuji)
-Brawl erupts during the entrances and Tama gets tossed to the floor. Haku gets double-teamed and pounded down, and Orton & Muraco switch off on him. Haku fights back and makes the tag and Tama TCBs. Muraco gets a cheap shot to the back and gives Tama a backbreaker to follow. Orton tags in and goes for a pump splash, but Tama raises the knees and now Haku takes his turn at cleaning house. Sunset flip is broken by Muraco. Haku goes off the top rope and connects with a flying bodypress, but Muraco comes off the ropes to break that pin, too, and two pinfall breaks is too many for this referee, and he calls for the DQ. All four men brawl in the aisle post-match.

UPDATE
-A recap of Ricky Steamboat’s throat injury. We watch Steamboat consulting a speech therapist to learn how to talk again.

KAMALA (with Wizard & Kimchee) vs. PEDRO GONZALES
-Kamala comes to the ring wearing an odd-looking hooded robe. We get words from Jack Kruger, the jobber that he destroyed last week. He cuts an incredible promo describing what it felt like to take the splash from the ropes, and vows that he will never agree to a match with Kamala again. Kamala destroys Gonzales in much the same fashion and finishes with Air Uganda. After the match, he tries to do it again, and Kimchee & Wizard talk him out of it…although Danny Davis doesn’t exactly try to stop him.

-Randy Savage is doin’ the thing now, and Bruno Sammartino isn’t, so he doesn’t have a chance at the Boston Garden.

-I can save 15% on vinyl siding if I call Sears before December 28. Sweet.

-EMTs tend to Pedro Gonzales.

-Blackjack Mulligan is riding a horse in the desert to prepare for King Kong Bundy.

HONKY TONK MAN (with Jimmy Hart) vs. JOSE LUIS RIVERA
-Honky’s now a full-fledged heel. His schtick for the time being is that throughout the match, he STILL acts like a face, throwing his silk scarves to the fans and dancing, and every time they boo him, he gets madder and madder, as if thinking, “What do I have to do to please you people?!” He attacks Rivera immediately and dances. Slams and elbows by Honky. Shake, Rattle, and Roll finishes Rivera off. Post-match, Honky grabs the microphone, and we get the historic first-ever “Thank you very much!”

-Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart is upset about having to wrestle in a bunkhouse battle royal. He considers coming in his pads & helmet from his pro football days, but changes his mind, promising something better.

-Ricky Steamboat has been receiving cards & letters and he’s been reading all of them. Randy Savage jumps in briefly to remind us, “Well, he ain’t reading them out loud!”

KING KONG BUNDY (with Bobby Heenan) vs. STEVE GATORWOLF
-A return match from their last Phoenix battle, at Saturday Night’s Main Event, and we’ve all been waiting for this one. Gatorwolf throws a number of chops, but Bundy Irish whips him into the ropes, which Gatorwolf sells for some reason. Avalanche finishes in short order, and Davis happily gives a five-count.

PIPER’S PIT
-The Hart Foundation & Jimmy Hart arrive (and Jimmy hides in the doorway for a while before his team tells him it’s okay to come out). Hot Rod presents the Harts with a rawhide bone from the British Bulldogs. He accuses Danny Davis of being a member of the Hart Foundation, and the Anvil tells him that Davis is merely the best referee in the WWF, not a member. More prop comedy from Piper, as he throws a toy bulldog at Jimmy Hart to frighten him, and then gives the Foundation a toy fire hydrant.

“The Natural” BUTCH REED (with Slick) vs. JERRY MONTI
-You spell Mean “R-E-E-D” according to Slick. Mean pounds Monti for a while and goes for the eyes. Faceplant by Mean, followed by a knee. Clothesline from the second rope gives Mean an easy win.

-We look again at Bobby Heenan’s cryptic interview from last week.

-Hulk Hogan jumps in to tell us that there’s a belt in this world that’s more important than the WWF Title…it’s the seatbelt. Be safe, and be a Hulkamaniac.

-Outback Jack takes part in an Aborigine tribe ceremony.

KOKO B. WARE & KILLER BEES vs. BUDDY RYDER, MIKE LUCCA, & DENNIS STAMP
-Yes, Beyond the Mat fans, that’s THE Dennis Stamp, looking exactly as he did in the movie. Koko has a bee mask. Stamp gets double-teamed as Jesse notes that he can tell Koko is on the apron. LOL BLACK!!~! Koko tags in with a backdrop and he cheapshots the guys on the apron for good measure. Another backdrop as a Bee comes in and works the arm. Stamp gets slammed and the other Bee goes for a win, but the pin is broken. Koko does the Bee Sting on Ryder and another brawl erupts. Koko actually tries to do the switch-off with the other Bees and the referee angrily kicks him out. The legal Bee gets the pin shortly after.

-Bruno Sammartino and his Cosby sweater are ready for Randy Savage.

-That’s the end of the show, and tragically, that’s it for the month of December…well, it has to be anyway, because the always dependable archive that I use for these reviews had to forgo the December 27 broadcast due to PAL conversion problems. But here’s what happened the following week…

Taped 12/9/86; Phoenix, AZ; Veterans Memorial Coliseum

12/27/86 - included Hercules & Bobby Heenan as guests of the Piper's Pit:

WWF IC Champion Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned Nick Kiniski at 3:28 with the flying elbow drop
Greg Valentine, Brutus Beefcake, & Dino Bravo (w/ Johnny V) defeated Pedro Morales, Tito Santana, & Hillbilly Jim at 3:49 when Bravo pinned Morales after Johnny V grabbed Morales' leg during a suplex into the ring, with Bravo falling on top for the win

Adrian Adonis (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated David Gold with the sleeper at the 35 second mark

Mike Rotundo & Danny Spivey defeated Moondog Spot & Tim Patterson at 1:39 when Rotundo pinned Patterson with the airplane spin

King Harley Race (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned Sivi Afi at the 37 second mark with the cradle suplex

The 411: You can actually feel momentum building now. And despite being 23 years removed from it and knowing exactly how everything will turn out, this stuff is pretty exciting right now.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]