WWF at Boston Garden (June 27, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: June 27, 1986

From Boston, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Gene Okerlund

Opening Match: The American Express v Tiger Chung Lee and Les Thornton: Mike Rotundo and Thornton start, and Mike gets the better of it, so Lee helps with a double team. Rotundo manages a blind tag to Dan Spivey, and he dominates Lee on the mat with a side-headlock. Tag to Les, and he manages a snapmare to put Spivey in a chinlock. The heels work Dan over, but Tiger gets slammed off the top while trying a dive, and Rotundo gets the hot tag. He runs wild for a bit, but runs into trouble in the wrong part of town, and the heels get control again. They cut the ring in half on Mike, until Tiger telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. That allows the tag to Dan, and he runs wild on Lee. Dropkick knocks Tiger to the outside, but Spivey brings him back in the hard way. Tag to Rotundo for a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop for two, and my gosh, Rotundo is sweating an incredible amount. A scary amount, really. If you thought it was just the office clothes that were the culprit, look no further. Dan with a bulldog on Les for the pin at 12:58. Why in the world were these two jobbers getting this kind of shine against a star team? ¾*

Tony Atlas v Harley Race: Gorilla notes that, while he’s new to the WWF, Harley ‘has some credentials’ in the world of wrestling. Race is dressed like he’s auditioning to manage the American Express this week, which is not a good look for him at all. Atlas works a standing headlock to start, until Race side suplexes him to escape. Elbowdrop, but Tony dodges, and Atlas goes back to the headlock, as the announcers joke about how much Tony likes to talk. One thing I really like about this era of commentary is how they’d casually get stuff like that in/over, just talking like a couple of guys over drinks, instead of robots, or over the top hype men. To the outside, Race manages to send Atlas into the barricade to turn the tide, and a vertical suplex gets him two on the way back in. Another suplex, but Tony reverses this time. He tries adding an elbowdrop, but takes too long, and Race dodges. Race with a pair of kneedrops for two, and a neckbreaker gets another two. Harley with a pair of elbowdrops for two, so Tony makes a halfhearted attempt at a comeback, but Race puts him away with a sunset flip at 8:27. *

King Tonga v Pete Doherty: Pete charges to kick start the match, but Tonga fights him off in short order. Hammerlock, but Pete is in the ropes right away. Pete gets a side-headlock on, but Tonga powers out, so Pete goes to the eyes. Pete does some stalling to annoy Tonga, and manages a corner whip, but the charge doesn’t go well for him. That allows Tonga to unload, and a dropkick finds the mark. Pete tries another corner whip, but then telegraphs a backdrop, and Tonga delivers one of his own. Superkick sets up a headbutt drop at 4:20. ¼*

Pedro Morales v Moondog Spot: The announcers discuss that there are rumors that the Boston Garden will be replaced with another arena in the near future, but that clearly that isn’t going to happen, because people respect history. Yeah, get back to me on that one in a few years, guys. Also, you work for a wrestling company. You really want to talk about ‘respecting history?’ Spot gets control, and uses a suplex for two, then grounds Morales in a chinlock. Spot with a bodyslam for two, so Morales fires back with a small package for two. Spot tries cutting that off with a firemans carry, but Pedo counters with a rollup at 7:22. ½*

Ricky Steamboat v Jake Roberts: Brawl on the outside right away, dominated by Steamboat. He rolls him in, but eats a kneelift from Jake on the way, and Roberts adds a kick to the gut to keep the hurt on the part. DDT, but Ricky blocks, and fights him off with rights and lefts. Belly-to-belly suplex sets up some mounted punches, and Jake wisely gets out of there. Back in, Ricky keeps the attack going, not losing any momentum. Turnbuckle smash and a 2nd rope punch set up a fistdrop, and Steamboat adds a facebuster to set up a kneedrop. Criss cross allows Jake to throw a punch to the throat, and that finally slows Steamboat down. Jake stays on him with an inverted atomic drop, and he works the Dragon over. Chinlock looks to put it away, but Ricky keeps fighting, so Jake unloads on him with mounted punches instead. He opens up the snake bag, and looks to knock Ricky silly with a kneelift, but Ricky dodges, and Jake takes a nice bump. That’s enough to allow Steamboat to make a comeback, but Jake lifts his knees to block a splash. They spill to the outside, where Jake tries using the post, but Steamboat reverses. He rolls Roberts in to finish, but that gives Jake the countout win at 13:28. Shouldn’t Jake rolling in break the count? But then, there are better hills to die on than the on/off enforcement of certain rules in pro-wrestling. This had a lot of intensity, and felt like a real war, even if it wasn’t anything amazing. Strong psychology throughout here. ** ¼ 

WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Randy Savage: Savage's WWF Intercontinental title is not on the line. Randy attacks before the bell, stripping Hulk of the title belt, and diving off the top to nail him in the back with it. Macho with a turnbuckle smash, and he chokes the champion down as the blitz continues. Savage with a flying axehandle on the stunned Hulkster, but Randy gets distracted dealing with Miss Elizabeth, and Hogan recovers. He unloads on Macho for a bit before dumping him over the top, and Hulk follows to ram him into the post out there! Inside, Hulk connects with a clothesline, and a side suplex follows. Hulk keeps knocking him around, so Liz bails up the aisle, heading to the dressing room for whatever reason. Did she need to take a shit, or something? Hulk with a cross corner clothesline and a vertical suplex to set up an elbowdrop, and a slugfest ends with Randy tied in the ropes. Macho manages to dump Hulk to the outside for a flying axehandle, and Randy adds an elbowdrop on the floor. Macho sends him into the barricade before rolling him in for the flying elbowdrop, but it only gets two, triggering the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Cross Corner Whip! Big Boot! Bodyslam! Legdrop! 7:13! I thought the finish was a little too basic (Hulk just made his usual comeback, and put the Intercontinental champion away without much fuss), but the match was all action. ** ¼ 

Moondog Rex v Billy Jack Haynes: Haynes dominates a few criss crosses early on, and he grabs a side-headlock. Elbowdrop gets him two, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. Rex fights free with a clothesline, and a corner whip leads to a backbreaker for two. Snapmare sets up a kneedrop for one, and a hiptoss sets up an elbowdrop, but Haynes rolls out of the way. That allows Haynes to recover enough to reverse a turnbuckle smash, and Billy makes a comeback. Rex takes a bump over the top, and Haynes tries a dropkick on the way back in, but Rex dodges. That allows Rex a few bootrakes, but he loses a criss cross, and Haynes gets the full nelson on at 5:33. This was energetic enough. *

King Kong Bundy v Junkyard Dog: Posturing to start, and it turns into a slugfest, won by Bundy. Splash, but Dog dodges. That allows him a headbutt drop, but Bundy dodges, and King Kong recovers with a clothesline. That triggers another slugfest, and Dog gets the better of this one. A headbutt knocks Bundy into the corner for a choke, and both guys throw hands again. Bundy uses a chain to get control, so Dog tries to turn the tables, but gets overzealous, and hits the referee for the DQ at 7:22. This was legitimately terrible. -¼*

Main Event: Don Muraco v Paul Orndorff: Posturing to start, dominated by Don. Orndorff fights him off in the corner, however, and a bodyslam sends Muraco bailing. Inside, Orndorff works the arm for a while, until Don finally fights him off, and works a nervehold. This has been really slow and dull thus far, and I’m half shocked to hear Okerlund call it a ‘classic bout.’ Muraco wears him down enough to dive off the middle with a thumb strike, and he goes back to the nervehold. This is Yokozuna levels already. Paul fights free, and makes a comeback. A flying elbowsmash sets up a pointed elbowdrop, and a small package gets two, as time expires at 14:52. And then the referee awards the bout to Orndorff, which both Monsoon and Okerlund lose their minds over. And rightly so. Really boring and a bad finish. Wonderful. -¼*

BUExperience: Some decent stuff, but definitely nothing to go out of your way to see, and the last two matches really drag it down. 

DUD