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The Name on the Marquee: WWF Championship Wrestling (6.15.1985)

June 10, 2014 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
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The Name on the Marquee: WWF Championship Wrestling (6.15.1985)  

-Originally aired June 15, 1985.

-Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bruno Sammartino.

TITO SANTANA vs. DAVE BARBIE
-Lock-ups go nowhere, so Tito just dropkicks Barbie out of the ring to get things rolling. Tito targets the arm. Vince talks about Tito’s famous fiery Latin temper as the armbar enters minute seven.

-Barbie backs Tito into a corner and connects with headbutts, but Tito fights back with an arm wringer. Tito is…not feelin’ it this week. He even skips the flying forearm and just goes straight to the figure four…which Barbie blocks by bending his leg. So THEN Tito does the flying forearm and gets the three-count. What the hell was that?

UPDATE
-Lord Alfred Hayes takes a look at Jesse Ventura’s recent habit of taunting Bruno Sammartino.

-We get a promo for the upcoming Boston Garden house show. Okay, so Vince has unloaded Georgia by this point, which means he’s no longer using the Georgia graphics and music for the house show promos, but the production crew has whipped up a starfield of their own, so apparently Vince liked the Georgia package.

B. BRIAN BLAIR vs. STEVE LOMBARDI
-Interesting commentary as Howard Finkel jumps in to tout the upcoming house show at the George Wallace Center, and he mentions that the card will feature Jumping Jim Brunzell and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, neither of whom have debuted yet.

-Blair works the arm. Lombardi gets a rope break and applies a side headlock as we continue one of the more lethargic outings I’ve seen from this show. Blair works the arm again. Lombardi finally brings it to life by going after Blair’s eyes and hitting a backbreaker for two. Blair gets fired up and connects with uppercuts and elbows. Top rope axehandle gets three for Blair.

-Jack Reynolds hypes the upcoming Boston Garden spectacular next Saturday night. Junkyard Dog, wearing a Mr. T level of gold, says he got his pocket picked by Greg Valentine last month, but next weekend, he’s going to capture that Intercontinental Title in Boston, The Winning City.

RICKY STEAMBOAT vs. RENE GOULET
-Still dressed like a karate master but still not The Dragon yet.

-One-legged dropkick sends Goulet to the floor. Back in, Goulet runs right into an armdrag and flying headscissors. Goulet applies a clawhold with his ominous gloved hand, and the crowd is genuinely worried that Steamboat won’t come back from that and reacts with a HUGE “Steamboat” chant. Steamboat finally makes it back to his feet and chops free. He announces “Going up!” to the crowd, totally calling the next spot in blatant fashion, and the bodypress gets three.

-Freddy Blassie picks the winners for next week in Boston. Big John Studd will be the new champion, Volkoff & Sheik will retain their gold, and Greg Valentine’s figure four will have JYD in so much pain that he’ll yell more than “Na-na-na-na-na.” JYD is Ty Webb?

MOONDOG SPOT & BARRY O vs. JIM YOUNG & BOBBY LEON
-The hell?

-Moondog throws a punch that misses Young by a solid two feet right in front of the hard camera in a cringe-inducing moment. Backbreaker by Spot, and in comes Barry O. Slam by O, but he gets careless and Young is able to sneak away to make the tag.

-Spot targets Leon’s leg and then hits a shoulderbreaker. Kneedrop from the second rope by Barry O gets three for the tag team that won’t get pushed and that we’ll never see again. And then Young raises his partner’s arm to get a round of applause for losing. Why was…these things?

HEENAN’S PIT
-Cowboy Bob Orton shows off the new Rolex that Piper gave him as a token of gratitude for staying behind while he enjoyed his vacation.

-Heenan’s guest is The Missing Link and we get a funny bit where Heenan tries to demonstrate how much control he has over his new charge, but Link is so crazy that he can’t even get Link to do anything basic like sit in a chair. And Heenan tries to gloss over it by saying “Well, he doesn’t have to sit down.”

“Mr. Wonderful” PAUL ORNDORFF vs. A.J. PETRUZZI
-Orndorff has entrance music, “I’m a Fighter.”

-Orndorff rams Petruzzi facefirst into the mat, which Vince calls “vintage Orndorff.” Shot to the gut his followed by a huge kneelift, and then Orndorff tosses Petruzzi to the floor. Orndorff slams him onto the concrete and goes back in and gives the crowd a big arrogant sneer, apparently forgetting that whole thing where he turned face a month ago. Piledriver wins.

BRUTUS BEEFCAKE & GREG “The Hammer” VALENTINE (with Jimmy Hart & Luscious Johnny Valiant) vs. MARIO MANCINI & PAUL ROMA
-Brutus is now billed from San Francisco, CA, because the landlord at the Parts Unknown Arms noticed that Beefcake was violating his lease by wearing neither a mask nor facepaint.

-Roma manages to get the early offense and backs Brutus into the corner. He tags Mancini and Beefcake gets all fired up and slams Mancini down. Valentine comes in and gets to work on both opponents with suplexes and forearms. Beefcake blocks a tag to Paul Roma and then drives a high knee into Mancini. Figure four finishes. Vince notes in the post-mortem that Paul Roma “wasn’t helpful enough to his partner.”

-Jack Reynolds talks to Jimmy Hart, who is tired of JYD assaulting him in Boston, and this time Greg Valentine will put a stop to it. Big John Studd walks in and says that Hogan beat a man half his size for the WWF Title and can’t beat anyone who’s actually bigger than him.

Pretty skippable week, in case Barry O and Moondog Spot didn't hammer that home.

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Adam Nedeff