WWF Championship Wrestling April 20th, 1985

 

Dynamite takes down Barry with a pair of shoulder blocks.
Davey tags in and goes to work on the arm. Crossbody gets two. Barry doesn’t
get his arm up in time for a clothesline but Davey sells it anyway. Davey gets
up and uses a crucifix for a nearfall. Lombardi and Dynamite tag in and
Dynamite his a few suplexes. Davey gets two off a powerslam then grabs a
chinlock. Dynamite chops the piss out of Lombardi then locks on a sleeper that
Barry breaks up from behind. Barry hits a powerslam then tags Lombardi before
heading to the top rope but Davey knocks him off then knocks down Lombardi,
setting up the finish which had Davey press Dynamite over his head and launch
him at Lombardi with a diving headbutt for the win (4:06). After the match we
are shown a replay of the finish, where we see that Dynamite was lucky he
didn’t break his neck, as Vince tries to make a sound effect that mimics a
missile. He failed.

Thoughts: A nice showing for the Bulldogs, who had the crowd
going after the match. They were using moves that were just not seen at all on
WWF television.  Lombardi was a champ
here for taking all the punishment that he did.  

 

WWF Update with
Lord Alfred Hayes. This week’s subject is King Kong Bundy and we are shown a
clip of him squashing Paul Roma. The push is starting to take off for Bundy.

 

Dee backs Beefcake into the
corner then breaks cleanly. Beefcake hits a slam and goes to work on the back
of Dee. On commentary, they put over the duo
of Beefcake and Valiant as being perfect for each other as Beefcake hits a
gutbuster. He nearly blows a clothesline then hits a running knee smash for the
win (2:57).

Thoughts: Just about the same as every other Beefcake squash. His singles push still isn’t working.

 

Gene Okerlund is with Bob Orton. He said his dad was a great
wrestler and he is following in his footsteps. Okerlund asks him about being
Piper’s bodyguard and if he is well-paid and Orton said he isn’t doing it for
free. Okerlund then asks him if he has spoken to Paul Orndorff and Orton said
that he has not and Orndorff is probably crying somewhere. They sure have done
a great job of making people think what will happen when Orndorff returns.

 

Neidhart and S.D push each other around to start. S.D. works
the arm and tags Mancini but he gets destroyed by Neidhart. Bret tags and hits
a dropkick. He uses a headbutt and wrestles at a fast pace. They take turns
beating on Mancini as the camera shows Jimmy Hart getting flipped off by a fan.
After that, the Anvil holds up Mancini and Bret takes him down with a
clothesline for the win (2:37). The heels beat on Mancini after the win then
leave.

Thoughts: Not much of a reaction at all for the debut of the
not-yet named Hart Foundation. They looked okay in the ring but after this, you
would never think that they would go on to be one of the most popular teams in
WWF history. Bret was more aggressive here but still didn’t show any
personality in the ring. At this time, they were still spelling his name as
“Brett.”

 

Okerlund is with Beefcake and Valiant and asks them about
breaking the leg of Hillbilly Jim. Valiant rambles before saying that they got
in his way and was a novice. Beefcake speaks and mocks Jim by hopping around on
one foot. He was pretty bad on the mic.

 

The fans heckle Muraco as he enters the ring. He beats the
shit out of Gee before grabbing a chinlock. The fans start a boring chant as
Gee tries to escape but gets taken down and Muraco hits the tombstone for the
win (2:37). Damn, he dropped him right on his head. Muraco looked pissed off
about when he took Gee down before the finish.

Thoughts: Dull match. The crowd was a bit impatient here,
which is usually what happens during the last show of the taping.

 

Piper’s Pit from
backstage at WrestleMania. The guest this week is Jesse Ventura, who calls the
referee’s incompetent. Roddy rants about Mr. T being gassed after the match
then disses Orndorff, calling him “Mr. Blunderful” as he tells Ventura that if
they had him as a partner they would have won.

 

Hillbilly Jim is on his porch at his home in Mudlick, Kentucky.
He reads off some fan mail and shows us his broken leg. He promises to take
care of Beefcake when he heals. He then plays the guitar for a few minutes then
shows us his dogs. This lasted for way too long. Hillbilly Jim was never able
to sustain his popularity when he came back.

 

The faces work on the arm of Mr. X. Reynolds tags but ends
up in the wrong corner and JYD grabs a chinlock as we hear him speak gibberish
to his opponent, which amuses Vince. The faces neutralize Reynolds with various
submission holds. Mr. X tags and works on Tito for a bit but that doesn’t last
and JYD tags back in and hits a running powerslam for the win (4:14). After the
match, JYD pulls some kids out from the crowd and dances, which has Vince
remind us that last week, JYD danced with someone’s grandma.

Thoughts: The crowd really likes the team of Tito & JYD.
A basic squash match.

 

Okerlund is with Muraco. He asks him about his training
schedule. Muraco tells us about all of the training he does then stresses the
importance of nutrition. He tells us that it is time to eat then starts eating
a donut and continues to talk. Okerlund is losing it as Muraco is talking with
a donut hanging out of his mouth. He spits it back into his Dunkin Donut box as
Okerlund is about to lose it. After that, Bobby Heenan and Ken Patera walk out.
Patera kisses his bicep as Okerlund almost loses it then tells Patera that it
is ridiculous. Heenan runs down the training schedule of Patera and Studd
before saying that Studd was not slammed by Andre and that he will not get the
money but rather the rest of the donuts.

 

Bruno and Vince recap the show. In action next week are
Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo and Jimmy Snuka.

 

Final Thoughts: Fun
show. They continue to focus on the tag team division and have done a great job
in building up suspense for when Orndorff returns. We haven’t seen any Hogan or
Mr. T since WrestleMania. This was the last show of the TV taping that took
place before WrestleMania. The WWF actually took off two weeks after Mania,
then resumed business as usual afterwards.