WWF Wrestling Challenge (December 28, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: December 28, 1986 (taped December 10)

From Tucson, Arizona; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Koko B Ware v Frenchy Martin: Koko’s gear is surprisingly bland this week. One does want a hint of color. Koko with a brainbuster at 3:08. DUD

Wrestlers’ Rebuttal is Roddy Piper drooling over photos in the WWF Magazine. I think I’m starting to understand some of the repressed emotions that triggered the behavior we’ve seen in the Adrian Adonis feud 

Blackjack Mulligan vignette 

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Mike Rotundo, Dan Spivey and SD Jones v Adrian Adonis, Bret Hart, and Jim Neidhart: Make and Bret start, and Mike uses a pair of armdrags, so the heels run in, but get cut off by the babyfaces. Some nice coordination with that sequence. The dust settles on Mike holding Bret in a wristlock, and he passes to Dan for the same. Over to Jones for a headbutt drop, and back to Mike, but he runs into a knee on a criss cross. That allows Bret to take him into the heel corner, and Rotundo is in trouble. The heels work Mike over, but Bret gets nailed on a criss cross, and Jones gets the tag  - Roseanne Barr the door! Jones gets Adonis in an abdominal stretch, but Bret breaks it up, and Adonis gets a sleeper on at 3:34. Just a quick nothing. Basically just paying lip service to being a match. ½*

Ken Resnick catches up with the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, who are excited about what 1987 may bring

Kamala v Billy Anderson: President Jack Tunney split screens in, announcing that flying splashes, like those used by Kamala, are under review, and may be banned. Who is he, Bill Watts? Kamala with a flying splash at 0:33. Anderson does a stretcher job to put it over, since 1986 was still an awesome time. DUD

Resnick catches up with Jake Roberts, who looks rail thin compared to the 1996 run I was just watching right before this. Anyway, he wants a shot at Randy Savage’s Intercontinental title 

King Kong Bundy v Pete Gonzalez: Johnny Valiant sits in on commentary here, while Heenan accompanies Bundy. Bundy crosses paths with Kamala during his entrance, and they nearly have a confrontation, but nothing comes of it. Bundy with the avalanche at 0:55. DUD

Jake Roberts hosts the Snake Pit, with guest Andre the Giant. Jake tries to sniff out the details of Andre’s reinstatement, but the Giant remains tight lipped 

Dino Bravo v Alex Knight: Gorilla tries to get Bobby to shed some light on what Andre wouldn’t, but Bobby quickly changes the subject to how awesome Dino Bravo is. Not an easy transition, to be sure. Meanwhile, Dave Hebner split screens in to give his opinion on Danny Davis: he’s unfit to be a referee. Yeah, as opposed to the good name of ‘Hebner.’ Bravo with a side suplex at 3:17. This felt really long. DUD

Recently, Heenan caught up with WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage, wondering if he feels remorse for what he did for Ricky Steamboat. Savage feels sorry for him, but not like how sorry he’ll feel if Steamboat is ever dumb enough to come back for more

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and Butch Reed v Haku, Tama, and Jose Luis Rivera: Gorilla wonders why in the world Sheik and Volkoff would team with Reed, despite them having the same manager. Rivera randomly teaming with the Islanders seems a lot more surprising. Sheik gets dominated by the babyfaces early, but Jose eats a boot, and Sheik backdrops him. Over to Volkoff to hit Jose with an atomic drop, and the heels cut the ring in half. The poor goof doesn’t even get to make a hot tag, just eating a press-slam from Reed at 2:57. DUD

Resnick catches up with Jimmy Hart, who is proud to be representing Honky Tonk Man

BUExperience: This era in general isn’t exactly known for crash TV. Slow burn angles were the fashion of the day, but even by that standard, nothing of note happened this week. But, hey, it’s the week between Christmas and New Years. Were you expecting more?