WrestleMania II

WrestleMania II
April 7, 1986
Nassau Coliseum
Uniondale, New York

Rosemont Horizon
Chicago, Illinois

LA Sports Arena
Los Angeles, California

Yes you read that right. Vince had a very unique idea that he tried once (this show) and never tried again. He held a show in three different locations, in three different time zones. It was certainly different, and I can’t fault him for trying it. It created some booking problems, as I will go into later, but it was unique to say the least. This of course was the long awaited sequel to the highly successful first WrestleMania. This gravy train was going to keep rolling and once again, this show was littered with celebrities to really make WrestleMania seem bigger than your ordinary wrestling event. Ray Charles sings “America the Beautiful” which is still the best rendition of that song in WrestleMania history for my money. Anyway, let’s go to the event.

Uniondale, NY

Commentators: Vince McMahon and Susan St. James

Note: To this day I still really didn’t know what contribution Susan St. James had on the Hollywood industry, so I had to Google her while watching the show. Apparently she was one of the stars on the TV show “Kate and Allie”. Okay then.

“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff vs. “Magnificent” Don Muraco
Good choice for an opener, but the match itself wasn’t that great in practice. I’m watching this show on the Coliseum Video anthology set from 1997, and they played off of the fact that Orndorff was the one that got pinned in the main event of the first WrestleMania. Nice little touch for continuity, something rarely seen in today’s product. Sadly, the pre-recorded comments are the highlight of the match, as the action spills out to the floor for a very lame double count out. ¼*

WWE IC Championship
“Macho Man” Randy Savage (champion) vs. George “The Animal” Steele
Randy Savage was coming off his IC title win just a month before this over Tito Santana, and was going to be in for a very long reign. On top of that he was clearly a rising star. This would be the first in an endless series of matches between these two over the next year. The story is that George is infatuated with Miss Elizabeth, Savage’s manager. Can’t say I blame him. It is sad to watch a lot of these shows. Savage and Elizabeth are both no longer with us. This match was ok and actually proved to be rather historic. The Animal is one of only 3 wrestlers I’ve ever seen kick out of Macho Man’s big flying elbow. The other two being Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. It doesn’t matter as Savage gets the cheap win with feet on the ropes to retain the title. Steele is a slug though and even Savage can’t carry him here. ¾*

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. George Wells
Really no doubt about the result here. Roberts had just recently made his debut, and clearly was a rising star, and one of my personal favorites. Just a standard Jobber to the Stars (JTTS) match as Jake hits the DDT and wins the match. After the match Wells takes the “Damien treatment” with big python wrapped around his neck. This served its purpose as it put Roberts over a devious heel, which set up nicely for his feud with Ricky Steamboat that would dominate 1986. ¾*

Boxing Match
Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T
This would be the big blow off match to this feud. From everything I’ve read from different biographies and such, Mr. T was an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. The ironic thing here was Piper was a golden gloves boxer in his younger days, and you could tell here as Piper had to really try to make Mr. T look respectable. With all of that being said, Piper carries this 4 rounds and it was pretty entertaining. I can’t really rate this as a boxing match, so I’ll rate it on an entertainment scale and give it. ** The fight by the way ends in the 4th round when Piper bodyslams T and gets disqualified. Entertaining crap.

Chicago, IL

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, Cathy Lee Crosby, and “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd (for the battle royal)

WWE Women’s Championship
Fabulous Moolah (champion) vs. Velvet Mcintyre
This is a total squash match as Moolah beats Velvet in about 20 seconds. I really have nothing to add here. DUD

Corporal Kirchner vs. Nikolai Volkoff
This is supposed to be a flag match, but really it’s just a standard singles match. Another horrific match as the Chicago portion of the show doesn’t start well at all. Kirchner wins and apparently he could have done something with the Soviet Flag, but just took the United States flag, waved it a couple of times, and left. ¼* for the patriotism, -1/4* because I’m not going to give stars for patriotism so. DUD

20 Man Battle Royal
This is one of the more famous battle royals as it featured 10 NFL players and 10 WWE Superstars. The most notable NFL player is future WWE Hall of Famer William “The Refrigerator” Perry. He comes out to a very large ovation, as the Bears were just coming off their Super Bowl championship. This was a good battle royal, as battle royals go, and it has the historical significance to go along with it. The outcome was never in doubt, as Andre the Giant was in the match and battle royals were his thing. He last eliminated Bret Hart in a very nice moment for Andre. **3/4

WWE Tag Team Championship
Dream Team (Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) (champions) vs. British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith)
*Rated #39 on my Top 50 WrestleMania matches of all time*
These two teams had great chemistry together. They actually had an even better match on Saturday Nights Main Event not too long before this. This was just an excellent tag team match with a very unique “wtf finish” to it, as Davey Boy rammed Valentines head into Dynamite’s head and pinned him. Crowd loved as the Bulldogs celebrated their new tag team titles with Ozzy Osborne. Like a lot of these matches from the 80’s it has to be seen to be appreciated. ***3/4

Los Angeles, CA

Commentators: Lord Alfred Hayes, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and Elvira

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat vs. Hercules
More strange booking here, as these two were just sort of thrown together. I watched a Ricky Steamboat shoot interview a few years ago, and he alluded to the strange nature of the booking himself. It’s Ricky Steamboat, and as we saw at WrestleMania, he can make just about anyone look like a million bucks. Another Steamboat match that could have used a little more time. Steamboat tried really hard here, but it wasn’t going to follow up the previous match. Still watchable though as Steamboat wins with the high flying cross body and gets the win. Decent match. **1/2

“Adorable” Adrian Adonis vs. Uncle Elmer
Uncle Elmer is a big fat farmer, and Adonis is in his cross dressing days wearing dresses and spraying perfume. This match is Adonis trying to carry this match with some nice bumps, but there was no way to carry Uncle Elmer to anything good. ¼* for Adonis trying his best.

Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana vs. Terry Funk and Hoss Funk
Hoss Funk is actually Dory Funk, Jr. This is a forgotten little gem of a match, which aged well on a show that doesn’t age too well. Just a really fun formula tag team match that the crowd was totally into. The match ends with the heels winning after nailing JYD with the megaphone. Another match that has to be seen to be appreciated and a match that I’ve personally appreciated the more I’ve viewed it. ***1/4

Main Event
WWE Championship – Steel Cage Match
Hulk Hogan (champion) vs. King Kong Bundy
This is a classic example of the “Hogan formula.” McMahon was basically printing his own money with it. Big monster heel Bundy attacks Hogan and “injures him.” Hogan rehabs and promises revenge. Throw the two in a cage, and make millions. The match wasn’t great, but it was, again, a “Hogan formula” match, and the fans ate it up. Match is back and forth until Hogan rams Bundy into the cage and he blades (on camera). Bundy comes back and hits Hogan with his big splash but Hogan hulks up with the superman comeback that he made famous and escapes the cage to retain the title. Fun match. **1/2

Final Analysis: As mentioned before, this show suffered from some glaring weaknesses. Matches seemed thrown together, and other matches weren’t given a lot of time. The biggest drawback though is other than the Piper and Hogan matches, there really were no major feuds happening on this show. Still, this isn’t the worst WrestleMania ever and it does have some pretty decent matches.