WWF Wrestlemania 2
April 7, 1986
Uniondale, NY
Rosemont, IL
Los Angeles, CA
Reviewed on March 15, 2014
Background: HULKAMANIA was running wild brother! In an attempt to make the 2nd Wrestlemania bigger than the 1st, Vince McMahon decided this would be the first one on PPV. Also, for attendance, this would be held in three different venues, which I’m curious to see what the thinking would be there. This had tons of celebrities as well. Weird fact as well: this was held on a Monday.
The three main events? Piper vs. Mr. T in a Boxing Match, a 20 Man Battle Royal and Hogan vs. Bundy in a Cage. That’s Piper, Andre and Hogan, so it makes sense.
The Card
Opening has a sax solo. I believe the sax was the instrument of the 80s, but I don’t really know.
Vince’s co-host is Susan St. James. No idea who that is. Ray Charles for America the Beautiful works though.
Piper interview! Pretty racist promo.
We start off in New York.
”Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff vs. “Magnificent” Muraco
Old wrestling makes me miss entrance themes.
Don’t know the whole story, but Orndorff turned face and sided with Hogan, and Muraco was on Bundy’s side. I think.
Orndorff with some good wrestling to start.
Double countout in 4:10. Muraco and Orndorff fight to a double countout. Fans chant bullshit! No idea fans had that in them in 1986! I don’t blame them, that was stupid, especially since Orndorff would have a Hogan feud later.
Mr. T promo. Speaks really quickly.
Intercontinental Championship
Randy Savage© vs. George “The Animal” Steele
Story is simple: The Animal liked Elizabeth, Savage was jealous. Worked out well.
Animal bites Savage! St. James says “Yeah Animal, eat his leg!”
A lot of biting in this match.
Macho Man slams the Animal with a bouquet of flowers. Where’s the DQ?!
The Animal has eaten the turnbuckle! Did people really think this was real?
The Animal kicks out of the flying elbow!
Randy Savage retains by pin in 5:10. Savage takes down the Animal and gets his feet on the ropes for the pin. Match was horrible, but this was the George The Animal Steele character afterall. 2nd turnbuckle gets eaten.
Off in Chicago, NFL star Bill Fralic and Big John Studd argue.
George Wells vs. Jake Roberts
This feels like a jobber match.
Vince says Wells is Jake’s biggest challenge so far. So, easy road for Jake so far.
Jake was one of the great workers in wrestling right up until Honky Tonk Man almost crippled him.
Jake Roberts pins George Wells in 3:15. DDT out of nowhere. DAMIEN! Match was nothing.
Hogan promo! He’s with his “buddy” Jesse Ventura.
Ring announcer is Joan Rivers.
Darryl Dawkins is a judge. Bunch of other celebs I don’t care about.
Boxing Match
Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper
Oh god this can possibly go 10 rounds.
They got Joe Frazier for this.
If Mr. T is from Chicago, why didn’t they run this one for the Chicago main event?
Round 1 ends with a lot of punching. You know this is WRESTLEmania. Jeez.
I feel like the amount punches landing in round 2 doesn’t actually happen in real boxing.
Piper knocks down T and the crowd erupts.
Crowd heavily behind Piper now. He’s the heel, so that should show how well this match is doing.
Cowboy Bob Orton throws water at T.
Round 3 is all T. T even hits a shot where Piper goes flying out of the ring.
Round 4 starts with a wrestling-style slugfest. No blocking whatsoever.
Mr. T wins by DQ in 13:15. Piper slugs the ref then bodyslams T for the DQ. While it’s kinda entertaining, I still would have preferred a wrestling match at Wrestlemania, you know? I know it’s 1986, but that’s still a pretty lame show for the Uniondale crowd.
Off to the Chicago portion of the show. We have Gorilla Monsoon and Cathy Lee Crosby as your announcers!
Women’s Championship
The Fabulous Moolah © vs. Velvet McIntyre
Moolah is the Hogan of women’s wrestling, and that stretches to the backstage politic part of wrestling too.
McIntyre is owning in a fast paced match early on!
The Fabulous Moolah retains the title when she pinned McIntyre in 1:25. McIntyre misses a crossbody…and Moolah with the pin. Well that sucked. Especially since McIntyre looked like she could really go.
Flag Match
Corporal Kirchner vs. Nikolai Volkoff
Russian National Anthem! Gotta love the xenophobic fears of the WWF.
I believe the rules here is that the winner gets to wave his flag.
Kirchner is busted wide open…but that was obvious when they CLEARLY showed Volkoff cut him.
Corporal Kirchner pinned Nikolai Volkoff in 2:05. Freddie Blassie throws his cane in the ring…but Kirchner catches it and nails Volkoff for the win. It was so badly done that Monsoon thought it was a double cross. A lot of wasteful matches here.
20 Man Battle Royal: NFL vs. WWF
Some notable names: Andre, Bruno, Iron Sheik, Morales, very young Bret Hart. On the NFL side the only notable one is The Fridge. Seems like an Andre vs. Fridge finish makes the most sense, but that isn’t what happens here.
King Tonga, aka Meng is one of the first guys out.
Seeing Bruno in this makes me wonder why they didn’t ever run a Hogan vs. Bruno program.
Studd gets the last laugh eliminating Fralic.
Studd dumps Bruno too.
Bret and The Anvil oversell near eliminations from the Fridge, but then Studd takes him out.
Fridge calls for a handshake…and pulls Studd out!
Andre, NFLer Russ Francis, Bret and Neidhart.
Harts take out Francis. Harts vs. Andre.
Andre the Giant wins in 9:09, last eliminating Bret Hart. Andre kicks the Anvil and he oversells and goes flying over. Andre presses Bret over his head and tosses him onto the Anvil. According to Bret, he suggested this finish to Andre after Andre had a different idea, to the shock of the locker room (no one ever suggested changes to Andre). But, Andre went for it. Pretty bad match overall though, but again, this match really isn’t about the wrestling.
Piper interview with Vince. Piper said he was ready for a fight and that T cheated.
World Tag Team Championship
The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) © vs. The British Bulldogs
Ozzy Osbourne is out here as well.
Easily the best match of the night so far and we are only 3 minutes in.
Davey’s hanging vertical suplex is always impressive, but moreso back then.
Great teamwork from the Bulldogs. Unsurprisingly.
That piledriver from Valentine to Dynamite looks like it clearly hit Dynamite’s head.
The British Bulldogs win the title when Dynamite pins Valentine in 13:03. Finish comes out of nowhere. Dynamite whips Valentine into the corner but Davey was on the ropes. Davey takes a plunge to the floor, but Valentine knocked heads with Davey so goes down for the pin. Interesting thing about this match. It’s clear that the purpose was to showcase the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs dominated Valentine the whole time (because you can’t trust Beefcake to make anyone look good). It’s a good match, but nothing special or anything.
Time to head to LA.
Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. What a cast of characters.
Hercules Hernandez vs. Ricky Steamboat
There’s a huge difference of talent here.
A lot of armdrags here.
Ricky Steamboat pins Hercules Hernandez in 7:19. Steamboat wins with a top rope bodypress. Nothing really to say about the match. Hercules controlled most and slipped on a banana peel when Steamboat got his legs up on a top rope move.
Adorable Adrian Adonis vs. Uncle Elmer
Crowd actually chants faggot at Adonis. How far we’ve come. I think.
Elmer somehow falls after throwing a punch.
Adonis is overselling everywhere.
Adrian Adonis pinned Uncle Elmer in 3:00. Elmer misses a legdrop. Adonis comes off the top with a splash for the win. Terrible, but you can tell Adonis tried with his selling.
I feel like the Adorable Adrian Adonis character is a shot at the original Gorgeous George.
Hogan promo brother!
Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana vs. Terry and Hoss Funk
For some reason Dory Funk Jr. is named Hoss Funk.
Terry Funk always does weird things in the ring…but intentionally. Like things that would happen naturally in the ring that would add legitimacy to it (like tripping on Santana’s feet and almost going over the top rope here).
Terry’s great here. Awesome save from Funk.
Really great hot tag sequence to JYD. Santana tries to get by Funk and eventually does so.
Funk takes an over the top rope backdrop. Wow.
Terry gets slammed on a table. What? This is 1986!
Terry and Hoss Funk when Terry pins JYD in 11:33. Jimmy Hart throws in the megaphone! Terry nails JYD and gets the win. Pretty fun brawl! Terry Funk was great. Another bullshit chant. Although I guess its LA’s first.
Here comes the cage.
We get 5 minutes of Hogan working out. Great.
Now we have a Bobby Heenan and King Kong Bundy interview.
WWF Championship: Steel Cage Match
Hulk Hogan© vs. King Kong Bundy
Story is simple. Bundy avalanched Hogan three times, injuring his ribs. This is Hogan’s revenge.
Hogan’s ribs are taped here.
Bundy works the ribs and he rips the tape off (which Elvira calls as “he’s taking off more clothes! Oh it’s his belt”).
Another on camera blade. Not trying are we cameramen? Anyway Bundy is busted open.
Hogan survives an Avalanche!
Hulk Hogan wins in 10:11. Hogan outright no sells a second avalanche. Big slam. Legdrop. Escape for the win. Well, that’s classic Hogan for you I guess. It was pretty much a main event squash of Bundy. Hogan beats the crap out of Heenan afterwards. Seems underwhelming for a Wrestlemania main event…but that’s of course hindsight as this was only the 2nd Wrestlemania. Commentary was pretty bad there too, although hilariously so.
You know Vince didn’t like this show. That’s why he threw everything at Andre vs. Hogan for Mania III. The idea of expanding to three venues was weird. I don’t think Bundy was nearly a big enough name to headline Mania. Some finishes were lame (opening match double countout? Come on). Hogan vs. Bundy was underwhelming. Kudos to Vince for trying new things, but Wrestlemania 2 is largely forgettable. Heck I don’t remember half the show and I just watched it. No surprise that 70K less people bought this show.
The plus side: The Bulldogs match was nice, and the Funks weren’t that bad either…and I guess Hogan doing his thing was still a big deal in 1986.
Final Grade: C