The Name on the Marquee: WWF Championship Wrestling (4.6.1985)

-Originally aired April 6, 1985. This is your crazy post-Wrestlemania show, and throughout the show, the crowd keeps starting chants for Mean Gene Okerlund and singing along with the jobbers’ entrances.

-Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bruno Sammartino.

BRITISH BULLDOGS vs. A.J. PETRUZZI & MATT BORNE
-Bulldogs are making their first appearance as a team; no theme, no mascot, no manager, just two British guys.

-Dynamite starts with Borne and Borne gets the early advantage with punching and stomping. It’s a slugfest early on and Borne is winning handily until he misses a charge. Bulldogs work the arm and knock Borne down with a charge, and in comes Petruzzi to try his luck.

-Petruzzi applies a wristlock on Davey Boy; Davey Boy tumbles and flips to turn it into a reversal, then slams Petruzzi down and connects with a missile dropkick. Snap suplex by Dynamite, followed by a backbreaker. Running powerslam by Davey looks to finish. Borne tries to break the pin so Davey Boy puts him in a fireman’s carry, tags in Dynamite while holding onto Borne, and Dynamite does a diving headbutt off of Borne and onto Petruzzi to get the win.

UPDATE
-We go to Gene Okerlund, who gives us a quick explanation of the finish to the main event at Wrestlemania . He says that Paul Orndorff is rather perturbed and miffed about what happened at the end of the bout, and one source says that on his way to the locker room, Orndorff was heard to mumble, “I guess I don’t have any friends.”

-The WWF Magazine, on sale near you! Hulk Hogan on Madison Avenue! Roddy Piper’s night of infamy at MSG! Hillbilly Jim is a folk hero! Butcher Vachon gets married on TNT! The Junkyard Dog is mean! Windham and Rotundo are a phenomenon, and Magnificent Muraco is also currently employed.

MAGNIFICENT MURACO vs. BILLY MACK
-Muraco is again Fujiless for this encounter. Mack reverses an Irish whip but gets booted down, and Muraco goes after the throat and neck with most of his offense. And dammit, that means we get a nerve hold. Tombstone finishes.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Tito Santana. Wrestlemania is over and Greg Valentine is still wearing the Intercontinental Title, and that really bugs Tito, because he held onto it without beating the #1 contender. Valentine keeps escaping, and Tito says he needs to find a way to get his hands on Greg without Greg having a chance to escape.

GREG “The Hammer” VALENTINE & BRUTUS BEEFCAKE (with Jimmy Hart & Luscious Johnny Valiant) vs. JOSE LUIS RIVERA & ALDO MARINO
-Rivera immediately slams Valentine, surprising him, and goes to work on the arm. Valentine turns things around with a clothesline. In comes Beefcake, who’s looking visibly thinner and chiseled this week. He puts in about 30 seconds of work and then tags Valentine back in to keep laying a beating on Rivera. Marino finally tags in and almost immediately eats a high knee from Brutus, and that’s it.

-Gene Okerlund announces that Andre the Giant is still an active competitor in the WWF. Don Muraco steps in and says that Mr. Fuji is missing an action because he’s dealing with a woman in the middle east. Muraco takes credit for ruining Mean Gene’s marriage by announcing to the world that he’s been running around behind his wife’s back, and then immediately says “Can we talk about diseases for a few minutes?” And Gene breaks up.

RICKY STEAMBOAT vs. JIM HALEY
-Haley was billed as Jim Harley last time and probably should have kept that, it’s a good wrestling name. Haley goes on the offensive immediately and gets dropkicked and armdragged all over for it. Haley tries to work the arm. Steamboat reverses and kicks Haley’s ankle to take him down while holding onto him. Back suplex by Steamboat, and a bodypress from the top finishes.

PIPER’S PIT
-This week’s edition is live on location from the MSG locker room. Piper’s guest is Big John Studd, who is outraged that the referee stopped the match when Big John Studd tripped and fell, and the referee ruled that Andre slammed him. He’s outraged that his $15,000 was stolen and vows that he’s willing to put another 15 grand up for grabs.

-This kind of shocks me, we actually go to footage from Wrestlemania of the Tag Team Title match, joined in progress. We have new champs, in case you haven’t heard.

JUNKYARD DOG & TITO SANTANA vs. BOB WADE & RUSTY BROOKS
-Tito and Rusty trade arm wringers. Rusty goes to the eyes, so Tito does likewise. JYD punches Brooks right between the eyes, and Brooks does a weeble-wooble sell from it. In comes Bob Wade, who amazingly didn’t retire the moment he left that match with David Sammartino. Heels get an upper hand on Tito with some double-teaming, but JYD saves the day with a big clothesline on Wade, and Tito gets the win with the figure four.

-Postmatch, JYD does the juke with an elderly woman in the front row, giving us a chance to hear Vince McMahon orgasmically yelling “Get down with the Dog, Grandma!”

-Gene Okerlund walks in on Johnny Valiant, Bobby Heenan, and Jimmy Hart having some sort of argument, coincidentally while standing directly in front of the wall where Gene usually interviewed people for those promos. Cute bit with the managers passive-aggressively sneaking in insults while singing each other’s praises.

The 411: New blood is flowing into the company week by week and this was no exception; another debut that led to big things. Other than that, the consequences of pre-taping reared their ugly head. Nothing really happened, by necessity.
Final Score:  5.3   [ Not So Good ]