The Big Event

This technically isn’t a PPV, but it is included in the PPV section, so I decided to cover it. It’s an interesting event, but this upload on the WWE Network is sadly a clipped version of the show. I will cover the matches as they are presented in this format. There will be another doubleheader this week. I have one last article that I had already written for my old blog, so you will also be getting Starrcade ‘86 this weekend. However, after that, I will be going back to one article a week unless I can find some way to make money off of writing this blog. Having a day job means I can really only focus on these on Saturday. If anyone knows a website that would be interested in a blog like this on a paid basis then let me know. I fully plan on reviewing all of the NWA/WCW and WWF/WWE PPVs on the network, so that’s guaranteed content for years to come. I even have plans on what I’m going to cover after the PPVs. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter @PaulDMatthews78. I would love to hear your feedback.

(All screen captures are the property of World Wrestling Entertainment)

The Big Event

August 28, 1986

Exhibition Stadium

Toronto, ON, Canada

The show opens with aerial footage over the city of Toronto, which is spliced with footage of the event. The voice of Mean Gene Okerlund welcomes us to the show. I wasn’t aware that Gene could fly and why is he making helicopter sounds? Mean Gene the flying machine tells us about the event as we get shots of the stadium. He talks about the fans filing into their seats and tells us about how Phil Collins with Genesis and Elton John had recently played the venue. He then runs down some of the featured matches on the card and calls it a night of history. Gene finishes by giving us the traffic report…okay, maybe I made that part up.

The Killer Bees vs. Hoss & Jimmy Jack Funk w/ Jimmy Hart

The opening bout introduces us to the newest Funk Brother, Jimmy Jack Funk. He’s wearing a Lone Ranger mask and has a noose around his neck like a necklace. There’s something familiar about this Jimmy Jack. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel like this guy might have some powerful tentacles on him. He’s teaming with Hoss to take on B. Brian Blair & Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell, The Killer Bees. Before the bell rings, we are greeted by our commentators for tonight. It’s a quite different group of Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valiant, and Ernie Ladd.

Hoss and Blair start off the match. Brian gets control early and tosses both Funks around for a bit, until they bail to the outside for a breather. They get back inside and take control, but Brian fights his way out of their corner with elbows and a double noggin’ knocker. Brian tags out to Jim, so Hoss tags out as well. Jim shoulder blocks Jimmy Jack and he tries to bump over the top rope, but he can’t make it. He opts to roll out under the bottom rope instead. Johnny Valiant says that Jimmy Jack reminds him of a raccoon with that mask. Jack tags out and Hoss comes in to get hip tossed, double teamed, and wrestled to the mat by Brian. Ernie Ladd gives us an insightful bit of commentary as he tells us that they slammed Hoss to the mat…which is known as a slam. Thanks for your input Ernie. Brunzell gets a sleeper on Jimmy Jack, but the Funks use a ref distraction to knee Brunzell in the back and take over. They throw Brunzell to the outside, where he gets worked over for a bit. The match gets clipped here and we cut to a scene of the Bees on the outside. They’ve retrieved some masks and don them to use a little twin magic. Brian goes in as the fresh man and locks in an abdominal stretch, but Jimmy Jack breaks it up. However, the Bees do the switch and Jimmy Hart tries to warn the ref. Brunzell rolls Hoss up for a 3 count, as Hart continues complaining on the outside.

This was a decent little match, but I’m a bit baffled by the tactics of the Bees. I thought they were supposed to be babyfaces. Why are they cheating to win? For that matter, why was the ref not fazed by one team suddenly being masked? The layout of this match was befuddling, but it was still a fun one.

Winners: The Killer Bees

The Magnificent Muraco w/ Mr. Fuji vs. King Tonga

Both men are in the ring and Muraco is wearing a t-shirt that’s about two sizes too small for him. Fink announces the competitors and the fans seem to be booing both men. I’m guessing that Tonga recently turned face and the fans don’t know how to react. The commentators quickly tell us that King Tonga now wants to be known by his native name of Haku. Valiant spends the match mocking the name. Johnny also gives us a great bit of commentary when he says, “Where does Muraco go? Any place he wants to, Grandma!”

The match is already clipped right off the bat, so I don’t know if we get the actual beginning or not. Haku catches Muraco off a criss-cross and tosses him around for a bit, so Don bails to the outside. He comes back in and offers a handshake to Haku, but he’s having none of it. The two men start trading punches and Haku hits a dropkick. Muraco takes a very delayed bump over the top rope from the kick, which looks ridiculous. The match gets clipped again to a scene of Haku working over Muraco’s arm. Don tries to monkey flip out of an arm wringer, but Haku holds on in what was a pretty cool spot. Muraco fights out and Mr. Fuji trips Haku as he runs to the ropes. Muraco then tosses him outside, where Fuji starts striking Haku with his cane. Muraco distracts the ref to let Fuji do his thing. Ernie Ladd tells us that Fuji his playing pool on Haku. Muraco then pulls Haku off of the apron with a powerslam and locks in the dreaded nerve grip! The match is clipped once more, but we cut to a scene of Muraco still holding the nerve grip. How long did he have him in that hold?? The ref lifts and drops Haku’s arm around 5 times before Haku remembers he’s supposed to fight back. The fans seem confused by this. Haku fights back, but he misses a corner charge and Muraco starts slamming his leg into the ring post. Don then takes a moment to blow a snot rocket at the cameraman. That’s lovely. Muraco locks in a Figure Four and since Haku is barefoot you can see his foot being wrenched at a bad angle. It looks quite painful. He manages to get to the ropes for a break. Muraco then goes to the top, but Haku throws him and then goes for a Flying Cross Body. He goes for the pin, but the bell rings to signal that the time limit has expired.

This seems like it was decent if a bit slow, but it’s so clipped to Hell that it’s hard to tell. I kind of liked what I saw of it, but I wasn’t too keen on the time limit draw ending.

Winner: Time Limit Draw

Ted Arcidi vs. Tony Garea

I only know Tony Garea as one of the many WWF officials that come out to break up brawls throughout the 80s and 90s. I wasn’t even aware that he was still wrestling at this point. Ted Arcidi is one of the many “Worlds Most Strongest Man” gimmicks that the WWF have tried over the years. He looks like he was inflated with a bicycle pump.

Arcidi starts off the match by repeatedly shoving Garea into the ropes to show off his power. He flexes and poses afterward. Garea tries a few shoulder blocks, but he can’t take Ted off of his feet. On commentary, Valiant doesn’t seem to like Arcidi at first. “Who can identify with this squirrel?” Valiant asks about Arcidi. Gorilla is quick to point out that Arcidi isn’t behaving very sportsmanlike and Valiant changes his tune. Now, he likes Arcidi since he realizes that he’s a heel. Arcidi continues throwing Garea around and posing, but Tony finally takes him down with a dropkick. It isn’t enough because Arcidi locks him in a bear hug and bounces around until Garea gives up. He doesn’t let go right away. He chooses to do a little more damage before finally dropping him to the mat.

This wasn’t much of a match. It was there simply to make Arcidi look like a beast. The problem is he’s kind of bland and uninteresting.

Winner: Ted Arcidi

Mean Gene is on the stadium floor with Jimmy Hart. He asks him about the upcoming match, but he hesitates to call Adrian Adonis a man. Hart says that he will get even with The Junkyard Dog for repeatedly pantsing him and branding him. Wow, a match built around JYD pulling the pants off of Jimmy Hart. That will sure put butts in the seats. Jimmy continues talking until Adrian Adonis shows up and tells him it’s time to go to the ring.

The Junkyard Dog vs. Adorable Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart

Jimmy Hart leads Adonis to the ring and for some reason, he’s carrying a rainbow-colored Swiffer duster. He also has an atomizer full of perfume, which would later be Rick Martel’s gimmick. It’s funny to see the parts of Adonis’ gimmick that were later given to other wrestlers. Adonis will have one part of his gimmick blatantly stolen from him on air, but we will get to that when I cover WrestleMania III. One thing that I noticed is that Adonis seems to become more and more doughy with each passing show I review. Next, we start to see JYD’s entrance, but it’s clipped short.

We start with the two men fighting in the corner, while Valiant jokes about JYD grabbing Adrian’s cakes. For some reason the ref is allowing JYD to use his chain to hit Adonis. Valiant points this out, but Gorilla doesn’t have a good answer for why it’s being allowed. JYD headbutts Adonis and Adrian looks to bump over the top, but he realizes he’s not close enough for it. He then takes a Flair bump in the corner and to the floor. Now, the ref wants to enforce the rules as JYD tries to bring Adonis in by the hair. JYD isn’t having any of that, so he pushes the ref away. Hart uses the opening to spray perfume in JYD’s eyes. Adrian hits a weak looking clothesline, which causes JYD to do a little pirouette bump. Adonis then hits an elbow drop on the mat and another off the second turnbuckle, but he only gets a 2 count on a pin. He then throws JYD outside, where Hart attacks again. Adonis climbs to the top to jump, but JYD manages to crotch him on the ropes. The two men fight back into the ring and JYD ends up throwing Adonis into Hart, who is on the apron. The two men tumble to the outside. The bell soon rings and there’s confusion as to what is the outcome. Fink announces that JYD is the winner by count out, despite the ref never seeming to count. Adonis had only been thrown outside a few seconds beforehand.

I wanted to like this match. It was heated and they kept it interesting, but the confusing ending and inconsistent refereeing detracted from the match. It ended up being a mess.

Winner: The Junkyard Dog (by Count Out)

Dick Slater vs. Iron Mike Sharpe

Dick Slater? I wasn’t even aware he had a run in the WWF. He’s billed as “The Rebel” here and he’s wearing a Confederate flag as a cape. However, the cleanliness of his nether regions has not yet been called into question. I’m guessing that’s not until his 90s WCW run. Dick is facing Iron Mike Sharpe, who is as greasy as he is loud.

The match starts off with a test of strength and some dueling kicks to the gut before Slater stomps on Mike’s hands. Sharpe immediately launches into his match-long habit of grunting and saying, “WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA!” They cut to a camera shot deep in the crowd, but a fan uses his foam finger to point them back to the ring. Sharpe takes control by using his forearm guard to rake the eyes and Gorilla speculates on why Sharpe’s arm still hasn’t healed. Sadly, the match gets clipped and we cut to a scene of Sharpe begging off from Slater. Dick clubs him and headbutts him into the corner, before attempting a swinging neckbreaker that confuses Sharpe. He botches his bump, making the move look wrong. Slater then hits a Russian leg sweep, which Gorilla calls a neckbreaker. Ladd corrects him. Slater hits a flying forearm and then rolls Sharpe up in a jackknife pin for the 3 count.

This was a fun little match. I wished it hadn’t been clipped. I always find Mike Sharpe amusing due to his noisy nature and Slater can be pretty good in the ring. What we did get wasn’t too bad.

Winner: Dick Slater

Mean Gene is on the stadium floor again with Bobby Heenan. He asks him what he’s talking about, despite the fact that Heenan hasn’t said anything yet. Heenan says he’s talking about the upcoming 6 man tag. He says that the masks will come off of the machines tonight. He then talks about the main event and says that Orndorff will be the new champion. Gene tells him that he’s part of history tonight and Heenan says that he makes history. He says that all of the fans are there because Heenan is wrestling and wrestling is Heenan. Gene lets the word “weasel” slip, which causes the fans to start chanting. Heenan gets angry and accuses Gene of inciting the crowd, but Gene plays innocent.

King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, & Bobby Heenan vs. The Machines & Lou Albano w/ Giant Machine

The Machines are three large men in masks, who are managed by Lou Albano. Super Machine is Demolition Ax, Big Machine is Blackjack Mulligan, and Giant Machine is…hmm, I’m not sure. He looks awfully familiar though. Wait, with that distinctive body shape there is only one person it could be…Max Mini. All kidding aside, it’s Andre the Giant under a mask. The story goes that Andre didn’t participate in a tag match with one of Heenan’s teams, so Heenan pushed for him to be suspended. The suspension angle was done to give Andre time to heal his back and film The Princess Bride. When he returned, he was still suspended so they did a storyline where Albano formed a team of masked men, one of which was clearly Andre under a mask. Heenan was furious since Andre was suspended and vowed to unmask him. Gorilla tells us before the match that Albano has gotten permission from Tunney to use any combination of the Machines that he wants. I’d like to imagine that the conversation with Tunney involved Albano telling him that…

Super Machine and Studd start the match. Super clubs at John, but he can’t manage to slam him. He tries to shoulder block him, but that doesn’t work either. Meanwhile, the fans are chanting “weasel” at Heenan, who is visibly annoyed. Super tries a few more times and finally knocks Studd to the outside, where Giant Machine rolls him back into the ring. Studd tags Bundy when he gets back inside, so Super Machine tags Big Machine. The two collide in the middle of the ring, but neither budges. Bundy misses an Avalanche splash and gets knocked down, so Bundy tags Studd back in as Heenan gives him a pat on the back. Studd manages to club Big into the corner and knock him down, so Heenan decides its time for him to finally enter the match. He gets a few shots in, but Super runs in and hits Heenan, who quickly tags out again. Gorilla tells us that if Heenan can successfully unmask Andre then Andre will be permanently suspended. Bundy fights Super into a corner, where Heenan attempts to unmask him, but Super fights him off. They get Super down to the mat again and Heenan tags in once more. He takes time to pose and gloat, so he doesn’t notice that Albano has tagged in as well. The two men face off and Lou offers Heenan a free shot. Heenan slaps him, but Lou fires back with punches. He tosses Heenan into the corner and Bobby ends up in the Tree of Woe position. However, he manages to fight out and get the tag to Studd. Giant Machine tries to grab Studd, which distracts the ref. Heenan and Co. use this distraction to choke Lou in the corner. Giant Machine ends up entering the ring to stop this and chaos breaks loose, so the ref disqualifies the Machines. Giant Machine continues going after Heenan, so he and his team retreat to the back. The Machines think that they’ve won the match until Fink makes his announcement.

This was a fun match. I’ve always been amused by the whole Machine storyline, so it was nice to finally see a bit of it. Heenan and Albano played their parts well.

Winners: King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, & Bobby Heenan (by DQ)

Snake Pit Match: Ricky Steamboat vs. Jake the Snake Roberts

This match is a “Snake Pit Match!!!” The match graphic had three exclamation points, so you know it’s serious business. Essentially, it just means it’s a no holds barred match, but Snake Pit sounds a lot cooler. Steamboat comes to the ring to edited music on the network, but this version sounds a lot more similar to the music he actually used, compared to the music they use on other shows.

Jake jumps Ricky as he gets into the ring. He attempts a short-arm clothesline, but Ricky ducks. He hits Jake with chops and a back body drop, so Jake rolls to the outside. Gorilla says that it’s “Day-jee Vu” to when Jake attacked Ricky and gave him a DDT on the floor. Jake comes back inside and Ricky works his arm for a while. A fan in the crowd is absolutely screeching at Jake and it becomes quite annoying. Gorilla talks a little bit about the wrestlers’ respective pets being barred from ringside. Jake obviously has his snake, but at the time Ricky had a Komodo Dragon. Meanwhile, Steamboat continues the arm work. He even hooks his leg into Jake’s arm and falls back to the mat, wrenching hard on it. He then hits some hard chops and a back kick, so Jake leaves the ring. He lures Steamboat to the outside, where he hits a chop block to Ricky’s leg and then slams him on the floor. He takes Steamboat to the edge of the platform that the ring is on and starts attacking his neck and head. Jake then tries to use a chair on him, but Steamboat gets it and whacks Jake in the head. Steamboat throws him inside and hits a flying chop to the head, before going back to the arm for a bit. They fight to the corner, where Steamboat goes for 10 chops, but Jake reverses him to the other corner. Steamboat awkwardly jumps over the top rope, like it was supposed to be a natural bump. Jake slides out of the ring and catapults Steamboat into the ring post, causing Ricky to stumble right off of the platform. Jake slams him head-first into the guardrail and we see that Steamboat is bleeding. Jake brings him back inside and starts punching at the cut, as fans start to actually cheer him. He then hits the short-arm clothesline and signals for the DDT, which gets even more cheers. He tries for the move, but Steamboat backs him into the corner. Jake then slams him and goes for a cocky pin, but Steamboat hooks his arms with his feet and flips him into a pin for the 3 count.

This was a really good match and thankfully it wasn’t clipped, but I still wish it had been longer. You could see that the fans were starting to like Jake, so it was no surprise that he would be turned babyface soon enough.

Winner: Ricky Steamboat

Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules Hernandez

Gorilla is alone on commentary for some reason. He speculates that Johnny and Ernie went out for “libation and groceries”. Unfortunately, Gorilla spends a lot of the match rambling. He’s not as good when he has to carry commentary by himself.

The match starts with a couple of lock-ups that end in a stalemate, so Haynes does a little pec dance for Hercules. They then do a quick criss-cross and leapfrog, but Hercules clotheslines Haynes. The match then gets clipped heavily, as Haynes looks quite worn out when we come back. Hercules has him in a bear hug. Haynes hits a head clap to get out, but he’s too worn to capitalize. Herc hits multiple elbow drops but only gets a 2 count on a pin. Haynes fights back and attempts the Full Nelson, but Herc mule kicks him in the groin. He then throws Haynes to the outside and poses for a moment. Herc catches Billy on the apron and starts clubbing him across the chest. Sheamus wouldn’t be impressed. Herc then suplexes him into the ring and gets another 2 count as some fan screams bloody murder at him. Herc hits a clothesline and goes for another cover, but Haynes gets his foot on the rope. Herc thinks he’s won and starts to celebrate, but Billy rolls him up for a 2 count. Hercules then goes for a neckbreaker, but Haynes reverses it into a backslide for a 3 count.

This was a decent match, but it was so heavily clipped that I feel like we missed the real brunt of it. I would have liked to have seen the whole thing.

Winner: Billy Jack Haynes

The Fabulous Rougeaus vs. The Dream Team

Valiant and Ladd are thankfully back on commentary. Gorilla asks why Johnny isn’t ringside with The Dream Team and Valiant says that he doesn’t have to be. The two teams are already in the ring and the Rougeaus are announced to a great reaction from their home country.

The Dream Team jump the Rougeaus to start, as Valiant laughs on commentary. However, the Rougeaus fight back and toss the Dream Team out of the ring and Valiant starts to lament his decision to stay in the booth. Jacques and Raymond use double teaming and frequent tags to maintain control, until Jacques gets an abdominal stretch and Valentine rakes the eyes to escape. Beefcake comes in and hits a powerslam before covering. The ref makes an extremely slow 2 count. These slow counts continue all through the match. The action goes back and forth and the Rougeaus hit a nice looking double dropkick, but Valentine manages to chop Jacques into the corner. At this point in the match, someone is breathing so heavily that it nearly drowns out the commentary. Valentine ends up hitting an atomic drop, which causes Jacques to hilariously scream, “OWWWW!!” The Dream Team keep Jacques in their corner, but when he finally fights back it brings all four men into the ring. The Dream Team try to hit a double battering ram, but the Rougeaus shove them into each other and then hit their assisted senton splash off the top. However, Valentine breaks up the pin attempt. Beefcake takes control of the match and Jacques starts screaming for Raymond to fight back. They work over Raymond in the corner and target the lower back so that Valentine can lock in a bear hug. Raymond manages to make a tag while in the hug, but the ref didn’t see it and makes Jacques leave. The Dream Team use this distraction to double team. Valentine then starts a comically long wind-up before missing an elbow drop and Raymond is able to make the hot tag. Jacques comes in with a fire of dropkicks and slams, before trading forearms with Valentine. He then goes for a flying fist drop from the second turnbuckle, but Valentine moves. Greg then locks in a Figure Four, which Raymond breaks up. Beefcake knocks Raymond out of the ring and attacks him on the floor, so Valentine goes for another Figure Four. This time, Raymond runs into the ring and hits a sunset flip for a 3 count. Valiant is furious on commentary because he believes that Jacques had given up, but Gorilla points out that Raymond wasn’t even the legal man. This makes Valiant even more angry.

This was a really good match and thankfully wasn’t clipped. However, Gorilla was right. That wasn’t the legal man at the end and the ref’s final 3 count was way faster than what it had been the whole match, which is to say that it was normal speed. Was there a storyline that the ref was crooked or was that just a poorly planned ending? Either way, it was still a great match.

Winners: The Rougeaus

Harley Race vs. Pedro Morales

There are no introductions for this match. They simply clip straight to the beginning of the match.

The two men trade punches and Pedro hits a hard shot to Race’s gut, that echoes loudly. Race bails to the outside to nurse his aching belly and is already grunting quite loudly. Race catches Pedro trying to exit the ring and pulls him to the apron, where he elbows him across the throat. He then slams Pedro onto the timekeeper’s table, but there’s no DQ for it. Race rolls into the ring to break the count before heading back outside to hit a falling headbutt. He then rolls back into the ring again. On commentary, Valiant gives us his imitation of a Puerto Rican lion, which is him saying, “Yahhh, amigo! Mi Puerto Rican! Yahhh!” Meanwhile, Race rolls back out and slams Pedro into the post, before rolling in once more and waiting on Pedro. Pedro gets back in and blocks a suplex attempt by Harley before hitting his own. Pedro then gets a small package for a 2 count and sadly slow ref is doing this match too. Race fights back and goes for a corner charge, but Pedro rolls him up with a tight sunset flip for another 2 count. Pedro punches Race in the corner and the ref tries to separate them, so Harley uses the distraction to hit a double leg takedown and pin Pedro with his feet on the ropes. Oh joy, that ending again! Gorilla calls it a “miscarriage of justice” as the fans chant “bullshit”.

The double-leg into a leverage pin is way overused during this time period. I swear I’ve reviewed at least 5 matches with that ending. This wasn’t much of a match and the ending didn’t do it any favors.

Winner: Harley Race

WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Paul Orndorff w/ Bobby Heenan

A lot has changed in the last couple of reviews. Paul Orndorff has gone heel again. For weeks he was teased by both Bobby Heenan and Adrian Adonis for being in Hogan’s shadow. They called him “Hulk Jr.”. Heenan eventually challenged Orndorff and Hogan to face Studd & Bundy in a match. Orndorff took the initiative to get a warm-up match with The Moondogs, to show that he wasn’t following Hogan’s lead. Hogan seemed annoyed by Orndorff’s assertiveness, but went along with it. Hogan & Orndorff ended up facing Studd & Bundy on Primetime Wrestling. During the match Hogan accidentally knocked Orndorff off the apron. When Hogan was in trouble, Orndorff stayed on the apron and waited for a while. Finally, he came into the ring to help. After the match it looked like things were okay between them. Orndorff helped Hogan to his feet and raised his arm in victory…only to turn and clothesline him. He then gave Hogan a piledriver and left with Heenan and company. Over the next few weeks, Orndorff would mock Hogan by coming out to Hogan’s “Real American” theme and doing Hogan’s poses. Orndorff comes out to “Real American” again on this show. The music doesn’t even stop. It simply keeps playing as Hogan comes to the ring.

Paul jumps Hogan to start off the match. He punches him down to the mat and the two tussle around for a second. Hogan ends up on top and returns fire with punches of his own, but the ref pulls Hogan away by the hair. The commentators rightfully call out the ref for this behavior. The two men then fight to the outside, where Hogan blocks an attempt to slam his head into the apron. They go back inside and Hogan hits a clothesline, elbow drop, and a headbutt, but Hogan ends up getting slapped by Heenan. Hogan then chases Heenan around the ring and gets caught by Orndorff as he re-enters the match. Orndorff then starts working over Hogan’s neck for the piledriver. He clotheslines him out of the ring and poses for a second. Then, he goes to the outside and suplexes Hogan onto the floor. Hogan tries to get back into the ring, but gets hit with a running knee. Orndorff clubs Hogan across the neck some more, but the ref warns him when he becomes too aggressive. Paul attempts a pin, but only gets a 2 count. He complains of a slow count and considering who is ref, he might be correct. Orndorff goes for a piledriver, but Hogan backdrops him out of it. However, Hogan cannot capitalize. Paul starts choking him and then bites him on the head, but the camera angle makes it look like he’s kissing him. He then hits a back suplex and covers, but Hogan’s foot is under the rope. Orndorff thinks he’s won and turns to celebrate, so Hogan hulks up. Hogan hits a running knee that sends Orndorff into the ref and then Hogan recreates the heel turn, by raising Orndorff’s hand and clotheslining him. Hulk then signals that he’s going for the piledriver. He gets Orndorff up, but he has to awkwardly hold him in position because Heenan is a bit late on his cue. Bobby hits Hogan with a stool and Orndorff makes a cover, but the ref is still out cold. The ref finally recovers and crawls over to the two men, but he pats Orndorff on the shoulder. Orndorff thinks he’s won again and starts to celebrate. He even has Heenan place the belt around his waist, but Fink announces that Hogan has won by DQ. Orndorff is angry and starts attacking Hogan. He goes to hit Hogan with the belt, but Hulk blocks it and big boots him out of the ring. He tries to attack Hogan again, but gets chased away.

This was a pretty good match. It’s definitely one of the better Hogan matches I’ve reviewed so far, but it’s sadly another non-finish. I still enjoyed it, despite the finish. I can see why this was such a popular feud as the two men have pretty good chemistry together in the ring.

Winner: Hulk Hogan (by DQ)

The show then ends with credits over still photos from the event.

Final thoughts:

It’s hard to call it a good show because it was so heavily clipped, but I could tell that it was at least a solid event. I would like to have seen a more complete version of the show, but I guess it doesn’t exist. This was a glorified house show that happened to be released on home video, so I guess it’s understandable that it wasn’t complete. It clocks in at just under 2 hours, so if you’re curious to see what it’s about it’s not a bad watch. It is nice to see some of the Hogan/Orndorff feud as it is touted as being pretty good.

Thank you for reading. I will post the Starrcade ‘86 review sometime this weekend.