WWF at Madison Square Garden (December 26, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: December 26, 1986

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Opening Match: Paul Roma v Terry Gibbs: Roma with a flying sunset flip for the pin at 9:21. Yes, they’re giving squash matches ten minutes. Welcome to 1986. DUD

Honky Tonk Man v Sivi Afi: Honky attacked before the official bell, and delivers a beatdown, so we have no match. Supposedly, we’ll try again later. 

The Hart Foundation v Dick Slater and Corporal Kirchner: Slater and Kirchner make for an odd pairing. Bret Hart starts with Kirchner, and the Hitman takes control after some posturing. He drives Kirchner into the heel corner for Jim Neidhart to choke with the tag rope, and the heels work Kirchner over from there. Kirchner dodges Bret during a criss cross to allow the hot tag to Dick, and Slater runs wild. A backelbow on Bret sets up a bootrake, and a hiptoss sets up a pointed elbowdrop. Dick grabs a standing headlock, so Bret forces a criss cross, and Jim throws a cheap shot from the apron to put him down. Anvil tags in to hammer on Slater’s back, and the Foundation work him over. Dick manages to knock their heads together to fight off a combo, and he tags Kirchner - Roseanne Barr the door! Kirchner gets Jim in a Boston crab, but Bret saves, and the Foundation hit Kirchner with the Hart Attack at 12:17. ¾*

WWF Women's Title Match: Fabulous Moolah v Leilani Kai: Kai kickstarts things, and gets Moolah to run out of the ring, as Monsoon makes cracks about her weight. Kai with a catapult as Moolah gets back inside, but Moolah nails her, and throws her around by the hair, then to the outside. Moolah keeps her from getting back in, so Kai pulls her out with her, and they brawl. Moolah feeds her the announce table, then whacks her with a telephone, before bodyslamming her on the floor. Inside, Moolah continues to hammer, as Heenan suggests that Gorilla start his own referee training school, instead of constantly complaining about them. The man has a point! And then, when he eventually became president of the entire promotion, he still didn’t do anything about it! In fact, he gave Harvey Wippleman a manager’s license, despite years of evil deeds! Moolah works her over, as Gorilla and Bobby hold a summit on women’s rights. Moolah with a schoolboy at 10:50. ¾*

Pedro Morales v Dino Bravo: They talk about how Dino is newly under contract with Johnny Valiant, and man, that didn’t really last too long, did it? Fanfare, and then a year later he dumps him without even a word, and ends up with Frenchy Martin. They feel each other out, as Bobby talks about how Dino can bench press over five hundred pounds, and I start immediately getting PTSD flashbacks to that horrible segment at Royal Rumble ‘88. Bravo gets control, and dominates on the mat, as the announcers try to figure out why he wears the Canadian flag on his gear. Yeah, I wonder why. Bravo works a chinlock for a while, before sending Pedro into the post, and suplexing him for two. Dino goes back to the chinlock, and a sidewalk slam gets him two. A bodyslam sets up a splash, but Morales dodges, and Pedro goes on the comeback trail. A backdrop gets him two, and a small package is worth two. They slug it out in the corner, where the referee gets bumped, and he disqualifies Bravo over it at 14:25. Boy, fifteen minutes for that finish?! ¼*

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Kamala: They do some measuring, and Kamala actually busts out a leapfrog! He’s clearly making the most of his run on top, I can appreciate it. Hulk goes for a bodyslam, but can’t get him up, and Kamala pounds him with forearms to the back. Kamala keeps coming with tomahawk chops, but a tomahawk drop misses, and Hogan slugs at him. Hulk with a clothesline and a high knee, but Kamala doesn’t go down. More punches, so Kimchee hops onto the apron, but Hogan takes him out. The distraction allows Kamala to nail the champion, however, and the tide turns. Kamala goes to work, and Hogan is having trouble getting air, as the challenger works the throat. Kamala with a bodyslam to set up a splash, but it only gets two. Kamala keeps hammering up, but Hogan starts HULKING UP!! Chops! Punch! Turnbuckle Smashes! Cross Corner Clothesline! Bodyslam! Legdrop… but Wizard pulls Hogan out before he can deliver it. That allows Kamala to splash him while Wizard holds down the legs, and the challenger delivers a second one, drawing a DQ at 6:38. This was well booked, not overstaying its welcome, and thus avoiding exposing Kamala’s lack of offense. Plus, Hogan knew exactly how to work this type of match. ¾*

Jose Luis Rivera v Steve Lombardi:  I enjoy the way Howard Finkel says ‘Rivera.’ Or, really, anything he says. Rivera with a backslide at 2:39. A main event anywhere in the country. DUD

Tuxedo Match: Mr. Fuji v Hillbilly Jim: Are you really expecting play-by-play for this? Fuck you, too. Jim gets the win at 4:16. Happy? DUD

Honky Tonk Man v Sivi Afi: Honky tries to Pearl Harbor again, but Afi is wise to him now, and Afi unloads. Afi with a knife-edge chop, and a backelbow follows. Afi with mounted punches, and he takes Honky to the outside to feed him some guardrail. Inside, Afi misses a bodypress, allowing Honky to take control, and he hammers on Afi. Honky with a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Afi uses a sunset flip for two. Honky cuts him off and dumps him out of the ring, and inside, a swinging neckbreaker puts it away at 7:02. Well, this match was worth the wait. Afterwards, Honky crosses paths with Tito Santana as Tito is on his way out for a match, and beats him down for some perceived insult. ¼*

Tito Santana v Hercules: Tito can’t even get into the ring after Honky took out his knee, so Hercules forces him in to kick start the match. Hercules stays on the knee, and works a leglock. Nothing much of note, just Hercules working the leg and working the leg and working the leg, without really any hope spots from Tito. Hercules with a kneebreaker for two, and an elbowdrop follows. Hercules goes upstairs with a flying splash, but Tito gets his knees up to block. That hurts Hercules, but aggravates Tito’s bad knee as well. “He probably should have rolled out of the way,” notes Heenan. Regardless, Tito makes a comeback, going after Hercules’ knee. Tito gets the figure four on, so Heenan runs over and rings the bell, trying to fool the referee into thinking it’s a time limit draw. It fails, however, and the match continues. He does however succeed in fooling Santana, who lets off the hold before figuring out what actually happened. Tito manages to get back on track by going after the leg, so Hercules tries a bodyslam, but the leg gives out, and Tito topples for two. Tito tries another figure four, but Hercules manages to block, and a distraction from Heenan allows Hercules to nail him for the pin at 17:59. Psychologically sound, but the first act with Hercules just working the leg with dull holds was really boring. It got a lot more exciting by the end, though. *

Nikolai Volkoff v Blackjack Mulligan: Blackjack blitzes him during the anthem, and puts it away quickly with a jumping backelbow at all of 0:26. DUD

BUExperience: Really nothing to bother yourself with here.

DUD