WWF at Boston Garden (November 1, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: November 1, 1986

From Boston, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes

Opening Match: Bob Orton v Billy Jack Haynes: Joined in progress, with Orton on the defensive. Looks like this is still very early into the bout though, as they’re still posturing. Haynes with an atomic drop, and he takes Bob to the mat in a hammerlock. Bob fights to his knees, so Haynes shifts to a keylock. Orton tries muscling into a backbreaker, but Billy wrenches the keylock to block. Orton makes the ropes, so Haynes throws a bodypress for two, and goes to an overhead wristlock. Orton escapes, and a snapmare sets up a forearm drop, but Haynes dodges. Back to a wristlock, but Bob finds an inverted atomic drop to escape. He looks for a slam, but Haynes cradles for two to block, and a slugfest breaks out - Orton dumping him to the outside to cut off a potential comeback. Orton follows for a backbreaker on the floor, but Billy manages a slingshot sunset flip for two on the way back in, so Bob goes to the eyes. Bob unloads in the corner, and an inverted DDT neckbreaker gets him two. Orton goes to a chinlock, and a kneedrop rattles Haynes, ahead of a turnbuckle smash. Orton with a corner whip, and he throws a clothesline for two on the rebound. Orton with an atomic drop for two, and he gets a front-facelock on. Haynes fights free, but Bob cuts him off again, this time with a big boot. A kneedrop follows, but Haynes reverses a lift, and drops Bob throat-first across the top rope. Avalanche, but Orton blocks. That allows Bob to cue up a superplex, but Haynes blocks, and throws a 2nd rope clothesline, triggering a comeback. A 2nd rope axehandle drop gets him two, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. To the outside, Bob tries a shot into the post, but Haynes reverses, and Orton hits it shoulder first. Inside, Bob latches on with a sleeper, but Haynes dives into the ropes, and both guys go crashing out. Both beat the count, but Orton is ahead, and tosses Haynes over the top as soon as Billy is back in. Haynes beats the count, so Bob welcomes him with a high knee, and he rattles Haynes with a turnbuckle smash. A hiptoss gets two, but Haynes throws rights, and snapmares him to set up a fistdrop for two. Haynes keeps slugging from there, but time expires at 19:05 shown of 21:47. This was a pretty solid piece of work, but they bungled the finish, just kind of arriving at the time limit, instead of having a hot exchange as the bell sounds. Weird timing all around, as usually with draws, they go under the announced limit, not over. This felt like it ended at the conclusion of the second act, as opposed to the climax. ** ½  

The Moondogs v Raymond Rougeau and Lanny Poffo: Poffo is replacing Jacques Rougeau, who is out on crutches here. Rex starts with Raymond, and a criss cross ends in Rougeau delivering a monkey flip. Tag to Poffo for a dropkick to set up a somersault senton splash, but Spot breaks the cover at two, so Rougeau comes back in, and the babyfaces clean house. The dust settles back on Rex and Rougeau, and Rougeau dominates. Tag to Poffo, but he fails to cut the ring in half, and Spot gets a tag. Poffo dominates him with a headscissor takedown, but Spot manages a standing headlock, and he passes back to Rex. Cross corner whip, but Poffo reverses, and adds a headscissor takedown. Again, but Spot nails him from the outside to block on behalf of his partner, and the Moondogs go to work on Lanny. They take their sweet time, before Rougeau finally catches a hot tag, and runs wild. A backdrop on Rex gets two, so Spot comes in, and Roseanne Barr the door. The Moondogs dump Poffo and gang up on Raymond, but Jacques trips them up with his crutch, and Ray hits Rex with a bodypress at 11:02. The heat segment here was a little long, and brought down what was an otherwise peppy match. ¾*

Koko B. Ware v Jimmy Jack Funk: Koko works a wristlock early on, so Funk tries speeding it up, but ends up getting dumped. Funk calls for a test-of-strength on the way back in, and he powers Koko down in it, getting a few two counts, as Gorilla calls for a tag match pitting the Funk brothers against Koko and Junkyard Dog. Literally only because they’re both black? Have they even had a minute of interaction thus far to justify any other explanation? Ware with a standing dropkick, and he gets a hammerlock applied, but Funk fights out. Koko responds with an armdrag into an armbar, so Funk tries a hiptoss, but Ware counters to a backslide for two. Back to the arm, as Lord Alfred Hayes calls Koko ‘stubby.’ Ware with a shoulderblock, but the criss cross continues, and Funk finds a powerslam for two. Funk holds a wristlock before dropping Koko throat-first across the top, and he dumps Ware to the outside. Koko beats the count, so Funk uses a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope fistdrop, but Ware dodges. Ware makes a comeback from there, as Gorilla piles on, suggesting Koko join the Killer Bees as a ‘short, fat bee.’ I’m surprised he didn’t also talk about his being an ‘Africanized bee,’ or something. Funk cuts off the comeback with a scoop powerslam for two, but Koko keeps coming, and hooks a small package for two. Funk responds by grabbing his bullrope and trying to hang Koko, which thankfully draws a DQ at 12:25, before Gorilla can open his mouth too much. ½*

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Randy Savage v Ricky Steamboat: Posturing to start, with Savage stalling, and Steamboat getting frustrated. Ricky manages a takedown into an armdrag, but Macho makes the ropes to save himself. Randy grabs a handful of hair to try and turn thing around, but Dragon keeps hold of the arm, and takes him back to the mat in another armbar. Ricky with a bodypress for two between armbars, and a nice sequence sees Steamboat hit a bodyslam before going back to the armbar. Savage finally gets desperate enough to pull a foreign object out of his tights to nail Steamboat with, and a clothesline finds the mark, but he aggravates the arm Steamboat had been working on. Nice selling from the champion there. Bodyslam, but Steamboat counters with an inside cradle for two, so Randy elbows him for two. Upstairs for a flying axehandle, but Steamboat blocks, so Randy punches him to knock the challenger to the outside. Macho chases with an axehandle on the floor, and a bodyslam follows out there. Savage tries a vertical suplex back in, but Ricky topples him for two. Randy tries a piledriver, but Steamboat backdrops him to block, so Macho pulls the weapon out again to bash him for some time. That allows Randy a high knee to set up a straddling ropechoke, but Steamboat dodges! That allows Dragon a knife-edge chop for two, and a vertical suplex gets another two. Atomic drop gets two, so Steamboat goes up with a flying tomahawk chop. Shoulderblock follows for two, and another one gets another two. Third one, but Macho sidesteps, and Dragon goes over the top. Randy tries a flying axehandle on the outside, but Steamboat dodges, and Randy injures his knee on the landing. Steamboat rolls in, but Savage’s knee is in a bad way, and it’s a countout at 14:27. This was a little slow in the early going, but really picked up. It wasn’t at the same level as the WrestleMania match, and kind of reminded me of Bret Hart/Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam, with lots of good sequences that ultimately end in them going back to a mat-based hold again. ** ½ 

Hercules v Salvatore Bellomo: Bellomo looks so fresh faced and clean cut compared to his ECW run. Hercules knocks him around early on, but Bellomo reverses a cross corner whip. He tries a snapmare, but Hercules blocks, and goes back to hammering. Bellomo manages a standing dropkick, but Hercules still won’t go down even once, and Hercules delivers a bodyslam, then hooks the torture rack at 3:18. A complete squash here. DUD

Don Muraco v Roddy Piper: Piper comes in all fired up, blitzing Muraco. Piper actually delivers a standing dropkick to send Don over the top, and Roddy follows to the outside, using a chair on him. Some help from Mr. Fuji turns things around for Muraco, and Piper gets sent into the post, as Gorilla and Alfred take bets on whether Piper does a bladejob. As usual with gambling, Gorilla does well. A bloody Piper storms back in to tackle Muraco down, and they slug it out - Muraco a bloody mess now as well! Piper wins the slugfest, and a vertical suplex gets him two. Bodyslam, but Fuji hooks the ankle, and Muraco topples him for two. Roddy goes after Fuji, which allows Muraco to recover. Don with a sneak attack, but it backfires, and Piper schoolboys at 7:23. Great crowd reactions, great intensity, poor workrate. ¼*

WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Leilani Kai and Judy Martin v Penny Mitchell and Candice Pardue: They take forever to get started here, and I really don’t care for this era of women’s wrestling (did/does anyone?), so don’t expect much in the way of play-by-play. The champs retain with a powerbomb at 10:11. Learning that a powerbomb is apparently called the ‘drip dry’ in England was the only interesting thing about this one. ½*

Sika v Scott McGhee: And we get Wizard shouting on commentary for a bit, since of course. Sika with a Samoan drop at 4:39. DUD

Main Event: WWF Tag Team Title Match: The British Bulldogs v The Hart Foundation: Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart start, and Bret pounds him right into the heel corner right away for a double team, but Kid fights them both off! The Foundation bail to regroup, and the dust settles on Davey Boy Smith in there with Bret. Smith with an atomic drop, but a corner charge misses, and Hart uses a rollup for two. Tag to Jim Neidhart, and a criss cross ends in Smith throwing a dropkick. He grabs a standing side-headlock, but a few shoulderblocks backfire when Jim catches him with a bodyslam, and tags Bret for a slingshot splash for two. Hart with an inverted atomic drop to set up a pointed elbowdrop, and a backbreaker follows. Back to Neidhart for a matslam for two, and back to Hart for a backbreaker/2nd rope elbowdrop combo for two. The Foundation work Davey over, until he powers out of a sleeper from the Hitman, and press-drops him right across the top rope. Hot tag to Kid, and Roseanne Barr the door! Snap suplex on Bret sets up a headbutt drop once the referee restores order, and he grabs a sleeper of his own, but Anvil saves. That leaves Kid, Hart, and the referee all down, and Neidhart puts Bret on top. He goes to revive the official, and it results in a very dramatic two count! Neidhart stays on Kid with a bodyslam before putting Bret back on top for another dramatic two, so Jim goes to argue with the official, and Davey rolls Neidhart up at 13:42. Classic style tag wrestling here, and man, Bret really did have ‘excellence of execution.’ Everything that guy did looked great. ** ¾ 

BUExperience: A pretty fun Boston Garden show here, with three ‘good’ level matches, and generally entertaining.

**