World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 1/11/1986
From: Philadelphia, PA
MATCH #1: DANNY SPIVEY VS. RON SHAW
FINISH: Spivey wins following a running bulldog out of the corner.
Bob’s Take: Spivey has been on a successful run at this point in the WWF having only been on the losing end of a tag title match last year. Shaw is one of the better enhancement guys as he had some believable offense striking Spivey and didn’t look like he was holding back on the strikes. Spivey’s comeback offense was short and to the the point for the most part. There’s something about Spivey that I find myself enjoying in this era.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #2: JIM NEIDHART VS. BRIAN B. BLAIR
FINISH: The match ends in a time limit draw. After the match, Neidhart and Blair trade strikes until Blair decks Neidhart to the mat. Neidhart knocks Blair off the top before departing the ring.
Bob’s Take: I’ve never had much interest in Neidhart competing in a singles role. The start is rather slow with Blair working over Neidhart on the canvas for a bit. At one point in the match, Blair crashes hard to the floor allowing Neidhart to regain the control. It has been a mostly slower paced bout. Neidhart doesn’t do much to hold interest, but Blair fires back with good energy nailing Neidhart with a clothesline. Blair cuts off Neidhart with slam, but can’t followup. The time runs out as Blair had an abdominal stretch on Neidhart. A draw finish for this is insane. There was no reason for this to go so long and get zero finish. Are they trying to torture me with a Neidhart singles match? I think so.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #3: SD JONES VS. HERCULES HERNANDEZ
FINISH: Hercules prevails following a backbreaker.
Bob’s Take: Early on, SD gets the better of Hercules with a headbutt, but Hercules stalls to prevent further punishment in the early stages of the bout. Hercules gets control by pummeling SD to the mat a few times. Hercules keeps his offense rather slow and not so exciting focusing on a headlock for a good bit of time. SD rams his head into the corner and struts before making a comeback on Hercules. The crowd mildly gets behind Jones on his comeback, but that was stopped by the backbreaker finish. Hercules getting a clean win is good for solidifying his role in the WWF and since SD is on his latter part of his career in the WWF it makes all the sense to me for a clean finish.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #4: ADRIAN ADONIS VS. TONY ATLAS
FINISH: Atlas misses a splash in the corner and Adonis pins Atlas for the win.
Bob’s Take: Adonis avoids making contact with Atlas for a bit of time before they finally get the match started. Atlas knocks Adonis into the ropes with a headbutt, and Adonis gets stuck in the ropes for a moment to pop the crowd. The crowd pops for Adonis getting crotched on the top rope and Atlas shaking the ropes. Right after the victory, Atlas quickly bails from the ring. Also, the the commentator references Adonis as ‘she’, and I’m not sure if Adonis used those pronouns that I’m aware of. There really wasn’t much to this action wise, at all.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #5: TIGER CHUNG LEE VS. KING TONGA
FINISH: Tonga picks up the win following a jumping headbutt to the mat.
Bob’s Take: Tonga is a young Haku who has been with the WWF for a few months at this point. Chung Lee works over Tonga with basic strikes on the mat. The crowd interest doesn’t seem to be all that high. I mean, at one point it felt like I could have heard a pin drop. The crowd doesn’t get behind Tonga on an attempted comeback that got cutoff quickly. The crowd gave a respectful applause, but there was no investment into this match whatsoever.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #6: WWF WORLD CHAMPION HULK HOGAN & ANDRE THE GIANT VS. THE HEENAN FAMILY (BIG JOHN STUDD, KING KONG BUNDY & BOBBY HEENAN) — HANDICAP MATCH
FINISH: Andre pins Heenan following a big boot. After the match, Andre is tied up in the ropes allowing Bundy to splash Hogan as Studd held Hogan down. Andre breaks free to scare the heels out of the ring.
Bob’s Take: I’d imagine the previous match was clearly a cool down match to get the crowd amped up for Hogan and Andre in action. The crowd becomes unglued upon Hogan and Andre clearing the heels from the ring at the start. This is the type of crowd reaction that gives the viewer at home some added excitement to see this battle. Instead of building off of that, they cooled off and went into a regular tag format. Andre slams Studd within the first minute of the match and the crowd loses their mind. Hogan acts like he’s the one who did the move seemingly trying to take the pop away from Andre. Hogan proceeds to slam Studd as well and sent Heenan flying over the ropes to the floor in the corner. The momentum shifts when Hogan tries to slam Bundy, but Heenan shoves Bundy on top, and I liked that spot. It was a bit odd seeing Andre sell for a Bundy kick as I would never expect that. Heenan gets in there and strikes Andre, but they have zero impact and he bails quickly. Hogan is worked over for a bit by Studd and Bundy. Heenan comes in gets thrown into the corner upside down by Hogan, and the crowd liked that quite a bit. I don’t think there’s going to be anything remotely close to this in terms of crowd investment and energy. I enjoyed the match and the aftermath to put steam on Bundy. Seeing Heenan actually battle Hogan is pretty cool since I grew up to mostly Heenan just on commentary berating Hogan.
Match Rating: ***
MATCH #7: BRET HART VS. IVAN PUTSKI:
FINISH: Hart tackles Putski in the corner and puts his feet on the ropes to steal the victory. After the match, Putski decks Hart with the Polish Hammer.
Bob’s Take: This feels a bit like the old guard taking on the new guard. Putski may be older, but he’s certainly stronger and he proved that by tossing Bret to the mat a few times. Hart’s offense is mostly a backbreaker, but Putski sends Hart stiff into the corner chest first to regain the advantage. There’s not much to this one, but I’m glad that Hart prevailed.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #8: DON MURACO VS. RICKY STEAMBOAT — NO DISQUALIFICATION JUDO JACKET MATCH
FINISH: Steamboat counters a suplex attempt and rolls Muraco up for the win. After the match, Muraco attacks Steamboat before departing the ring.
Bob’s Take: So, the stipulation is that they are basically just wrestling wearing judo jackets while under no disqualification rules. It’s fairly simple stipulation to understand. They start off with a strike focused battle, but at least it’s not rest holds. Steamboat knows how to take advantage of the judo jacket and tosses Muraco around the ring while Muraco can’t figure out how to use it to his advantage. Muraco tombstone piledrives Steamboat onto a steel chair. Steamboat proceeds to be busted open from that and Muraco methodically works over Steamboat. Muraco mostly uses a choke with the judo jacket after the tombstone spot. Muraco also sends Steamboat into the post to add some violence to the match. Steamboat eventually fires back with strikes and decks Muraco to the mat. Steamboat gets the crowd behind even more after a top rope axe handle. Late in the match, Steamboat kicks Fuji away before getting into the finish. I thought the blood aspect added to the match for Steamboat to get sympathy. The crowd maintained interest in the match and they responded well to the action overall. I thought it was enjoyable overall.
Match Rating: **1/2
It is announced that the Philadelphia show next month will feature a singles match between WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy.
MAIN EVENT: WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE DREAM TEAM (BRUTUS BEEFCAKE & GREG VALENTINE) VS. THE BRITISH BULLDOGS (DAVEY BOY SMITH & DYNAMITE KID)
FINISH: Late in the match, Dynamite Kid hit a diving headbutt onto Beefcake, but Johnny Valiant entered the ring to cause a disqualification. Dream Team retain the titles.
Bob’s Take: The champs go right after the challengers to kickoff the title defense. Beefcake and Dynamite kicked off the battle with Beefcake controlling the match and tempo. Dynamite has better luck with Valentine and Davey displays his power by slamming Valentine. Davey ends up getting worked over a bit by the tag champs with Valentine working over the lower body for a while. At one point in the match there’s an accidental bell. Dynamite gets the hot tag and gets a couple of near falls on Beefcake. Davey hits the running powerslam, but Valentine saved the titles. The finish doesn’t surprise me, and I’d like to see the British Bulldogs chase after the gold. I think there’s potential for these two teams to have good meaningful matches. The action was actually a bit better than I expected.
Match Rating: **1/4
Final Thoughts:
The second half of the show carried this event to being an average show overall. The crowd was electric for the major names and their energy for the handicap match was incredibly high. I’d suggest skipping the first half and just watch from the handicap match onward for worthwhile entertainment.
Thanks for reading.