WWF Championship Wrestling (January 11, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: January 11, 1986 (taped December 17, 1985)

From Poughkeepsie, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino

Junkyard Dog and George Steele v Moondog Spot and AJ Rizzo: I’m still marveling at what a jobber they turned Moondog Spot into. Could they not have found him a different gimmick at least? JYD pits Rizzo away with a headbutt at 3:23. DUD

Lord Alfred Hayes is in the studio for Update, with a look at this cool Ricky Steamboat dude

Terry Funk v Mike Saxon: The crowd loudly chants ‘asshole’ at Funk throughout here, with Vince playing dumbs as to ‘what’ they’re chanting. Funk with a sleeper at 3:03. Not much as a match, but Funk was over pretty huge as a heel. I’m surprised they didn’t push him harder, but considering his reputation for being unreliable, I guess it isn’t too surprising. Fun note: Funk has a special white colored brand since the jobber is black. That’s some attention to detail. DUD

Gene Okerlund catches up with WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana, who has polished up the title belt, but he has no plans to lose it to Randy Savage in Boston

A look at some of the nominees for the Best Personality Slammy Award from the Land of a Thousand Dances music video

Tito Santana and Pedro Morales v Steve Lombardi and Al Navarro: How could we take Tito seriously as the Intercontinental champion when he was dicking around with tag matches all the time? But, at least he gets to put away a jobber with the figure four at 2:54, bless his heart. DUD

Gene catches up with Paul Orndorff and Bruno Sammartino, who are such pals, that Paul vows to watch Bruno’s back tonight in Boston

Handicap Match: King Kong Bundy v Paul Dose and Jeff Crippley: The referee doesn’t bother enforcing tags here, and Bundy just rips into them anyway. Bundy with a splash and a five count at 1:45. DUD

Roddy Piper hosts Piper’s Pit, with guests Adrian Adonis and Jimmy Hart. Jimmy introduces us to the ‘new’ Adrian Adonis, who is now ‘out of the closest,’ and wearing flowers in his hair. Piper loves it, because Adrian gifts him his old leather motorcycle jacket - apparently no longer wanting it because it doesn’t match his new lifestyle. That should have been red flag number one

Don Muraco v Joe Williams: Williams is such a skinny, pale jobber that even the announcers are openly making fun of him. Don with a tombstone at 2:37. DUD

A look at the nominees for Best Vocal Performance at the Slammys

Ricky Steamboat and King Tonga v AJ Petruzzi and Ron Shaw: Two AJ's on one show? Are we sure this is Vince's promotion we're watching? Steamboat coming out to Sirius is a perfect fit, and no other theme he ever had came close. Ricky with a flying bodypress at 3:40. DUD

Okerlund catches up with Roddy Piper and Bob Orton, who laugh off Orndorff and Sammartino 

BUExperience: A pretty tedious episode this week, if I’m being honest.