Welcome to the latest edition of our WrestleMania Rewind series, written by yours truly, exclusively for everyone here at SLTD Wrestling. The aim of WrestleMania Rewind is to review every WrestleMania in roughly 2,000 words. Click here to read the series so far.
WrestleMania Rewind continues with WrestleMania 2, which took place in 3 different cities on Monday April 7, 1986. For some bizarre reason, which only Vince McMahon can either understand or justify, he held WrestleMania 2 in 3 separate cities – New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The first hour kicked off from NYC, with Vince McMahon and Susan St James (who?) commentating, leaving the Fink to take care of in-ring announcing.
Match 1: “The Magnificent” Don Muraco (w/Mr Fuji) vs “Mr 1Derful” Paul Orndorff
Each man connects with a slam early. Orndorff works the arm, which Muraco powers out of into a Samoan drop. They exchange blows and fight to the outside, where there’s a double count-out. There’s a quite loud “bullshit” chant from the crowd at the finish.
Opinion: It was actually OK until the bizarre finish. Orndorff is highly under-rated and it’s a shame we never got to see him and Muraco work a proper match here.
Match 2: WWF Intercontinental Championship Match – “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs George “The Animal” Steele
Savage runs from Steele early until Steele catches him and bites Savage’s leg. Steele goes on to assert his power before getting distracted by Elizabeth. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t be distracted by her? Savage gets a 2-count off a cross-body. The finish comes when Savage rolls Steele up and uses the ropes for leverage to get a 3-count.
Opinion: Not one of Savage’s best matches, but an artist can only work with the material he’s got. It was just OK and quite fun for what it was.
Match 3: Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs George Wells
Second match in a row with someone called George in it. Nope. I don’t know who he is either.
There’s a flurry of right hands and a brawl early, with Roberts on the receiving end of most of it. Wells dominates until Jake hits a knee-lift and connects with the DDT to win.
Opinion: Again, a quick match. Essentially a squash to continue Roberts’ build. He was still undefeated at this point remember.
Match 4: Boxing Match – Mr T vs Rowdy Roddy Piper
This was a continuation from what’d happened the previous year and, just like then, there was tremendous heat on Piper, which made T look a million times better.
The first round was fairly even, with the second going to Piper, who dominated and knocked T down. T returned the favour in the third, knocking Piper down twice. T won via DQ in the fourth when Piper slammed him after a ref bump.
Opinion: Obviously WWE weren’t going to job Piper out. He was their best heel at that point. They weren’t going to have T lose either. The finish made sense and it was really fun to watch.
This is where the show switched from New York City to Chicago. In situ were Mean Gene Okerlund, Gorilla Monsoon and some actress called Cathy Lee Crosby. Nope, never heard of her either!
Match 5: WWF Women’s Championship Match: The Fabulous Moolah (c) vs Velvet McIntyre
Moolah’s in control early until Velvet lands a couple of dropkicks. She goes up top and misses a crossbody. Moolah covers her to get the win.
Opinion: It was just a squash match that literally only lasted for about 2 minutes. Again, it was fine but not exactly memorable.
Match 6: Flag Match – Nikolai Volkoff (w/Classy Freddie Blassie) vs Corporal Kirchner
Whoever wins by pinfall/submission gets to raise their flag and display their colours proudly.
There’s huge heat on Volkoff, who’s in control early. Kirchner gets back into it with right hands. We get a ref bump, so Freddie tries to throw his cane to Volkoff. However, the good Corporal intercepts and blasts Volkoff with it to get the win.
Opinion: We used to see a lot of these matches in the 80s. A powerful, foreign heel up against an all-American hero. Stereotypical wrestling, but you know what? It works. Crowd loved it.
Match 7: WWF vs NFL Battle Royal
According to Monsoon, there’s a combined weight of 5,612lbs in the ring. It’s standard Battle Royal stuff really. It comes down to Andre, The Hart Foundation and some NFL guy called Russ Francis. The Harts eliminate Francis, leaving them with Andre. The Giant eliminates Anvil first, then Bret to win.
Opinion: It’s a decent battle royal. The crowd popped for it, so it did its job. Even though Andre winning was predictable, I didn’t mind it whatsoever.
Match 8: WWF Tag-Team Championship Match – Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake (w/Johnny Valiant) (c) vs The British Bulldogs (w/Captain Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne)
The Bulldogs work over Valentine with frequent tags. Davey Boy gets a 2-count off a delayed suplex. Both teams exchange tags. Valentine gets a 2-count of his own from a suplex. Valentine gets worked over for most of the match until he gets a 2-count off a piledriver. The heels then isolate Davey Boy. The finish comes when Davey rams Valentine’s head off Dynamite’s (who’s on the top rope), and gets a 3-count.
Opinion: This was the longest match on the card by far, and the best one. It reminded me of how good tag-team wrestling can be. The finish was a bit weird though.
This part of the show’s where we head to our final location, Los Angeles. On announcing duties are Lord Alfred Hayes, some bint called Elvira and the outstanding Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Ventura’s wearing what can only be described as a magnificent red feather boa, and he’s sporting dreadlocks!
Match 9: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat vs Hercules
Hercules gets control early. Steamboat gets back into it with arm-drags and works the arm. Steamboat cuts Hercules off every time he tries to come back, until Hercules nails a clothesline. Hercules gets a 2-count off a splash, then slows the pace and dominates. The finish comes when Hercules misses a top-rope splash and Steamboat lands a cross-body from the top to win.
Opinion: Steamboat is just outstanding to watch. Everything he does is so smooth and it’s almost effortless. His athleticism is second-to-none. He’s just a total and utter joy to see. This was the perfect contrast between speed and power.
Match 10: “Adorable” Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) vs Uncle Elmer
Before this even started, I knew it would be filler. For starters, Adonis was dressed as either a very bad drag act, or some kind of man-child. As for the match? Elmer completely dominated it, but lost to a top-rope splash.
Opinion: There for comedic effect and nothing else. There’s nothing wrong with that, it just didn’t feel like a WrestleMania match.
Match 11: The Funks (Terry & Hoss) vs Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana
There’s a good pop for Dog and Tito. They clean house early and control things until the heels isolate Santana. Tito takes a lot of punishment before he makes the hot-tag to Dog. Dog fights both Funks to the outside, where he slams Terry through a table, but he doesn’t get DQ’ed. Dog rolls Terry up, but the ref’s distracted. With his back turned, Hart throws his megaphone to Terry, who blasts Dog with it, and the heels win.
Opinion: Another very good tag match. Dog and Tito were crazy over and there was a lot of heat on the Funks after the finish. Great stuff.
Match 12: Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship – Hulk Hogan (c) vs King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan)
Bundy survives a flurry of offense and works Hogan’s ribs, using the cage when he can. Hogan continually stops Bundy from escaping. Hogan makes a comeback and uses the cage as a weapon, which plays a part in busting Bundy open. Bundy fights through and hits his signature moves, and Hogan just stops him from escaping. Hogan “hulks up”, hits his finishers and escapes the cage to win.
Opinion: A very short main-event, which is understandable given who was in the match. As Hogan matches go, this was watchable, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again.
Summary: 12 matches in 3 different locations with 3 different announce teams – 2 of which were manned by 3 people. I don’t mean to sound sexist, but the women offered absolutely no insight, so I don’t know what they were doing there. Having the show based in 3 different locations meant that the show was really disjointed and never really got going. Having said that, the crowd were hot for the 3 main-events – Piper/T, Bulldogs/Valentine & Beefcake, Hogan/Bundy. Everything else just felt like filler.
Other than the excellent tag-matches and the Steamboat-Hercules match, nothing at WrestleMania 2 was memorable, which is probably why it’s widely regarded as one of the worst events in WrestleMania history. It’s a shame, because there were some talented performers on the card who deserved more than they got. It’s easy to see why the WWF/E have never reverted to this format since. I said it before, but disjointed is the best way to describe this Mania. Don’t go out of your way to see it!
Hopefully you enjoyed that quick look back at WrestleMania 2. Leave your comments/feedback via the usual channels, and join me again tomorrow to revisit WrestleMania 3!
SLTD Wrestling's resident Scottish Nightmare. Some of my content may not be suitable for younger readers or those who are easily offended!
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