WWF Championship Wrestling November 30th, 1985

November 30, 1985


Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

In action tonight are Ricky Steamboat & King Tonga in tag team action. Also, the British Bulldogs, King Kong Bundy, and the TV debut of Hercules Hernandez.

Ricky Steamboat & King Tonga vs. Joe Mirto & Barry O.


Ricky and Barry work a nice little sequence to start. Steamboat works an armbar until Barry breaks that up with a thumb to the eye. Suplex gets one. Neckbreaker gets one. Steamboat floats over and hits an atomic drop. Mirto tags and they work on his arm. Tonga gets a nearfall on a leg drop then puts him away with a diving headbutt (3:49).

Thoughts: Solid action. Tonga showed more here than at any point of his singles run since his debut. The crowd loves Steamboat.

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. This week, Hayes shows us a clip of JYD winning the “Wrestling Classic” PPV Tournament.

Mario Mancini vs. Hercules Hernandez w/ Freddie Blassie


Hercules overpowers Mancini to start. He then beats on him with forearm smashes while stopping to pose and jaw at the crowd. He drops Mancini throat-first across the top rope then catches him with a backbreaker before making him tap out to the backbreaker rack (2:37).

Thoughts: The commentators put over Hercules strength and physique throughout the match. He was very slow and lumbering but didn’t look too bad in tossing around Mancini, who barely weighed 200 lbs. Not the most electrifying debut I have ever seen.

Gene Okerlund is with Capt. Lou Albano, who says he had seven turkeys for Thanksgiving. Albano puts over his stable, specifically his newest team, the British Bulldogs. Okerlund says that they could be the next champs as Albano puts him over. Albano then talks about his work with Multiple Sclerosis alongside Cyndi Lauper as “St. Elmo’s Fire” plays in the background.

Gino Carabello & Steve Lombardi vs. Corporal Kirchner & “Leaping” Lanny Poffo


Lanny looks very happy coming down the aisle. Bruno works a backhanded compliment aimed at Poffo, stating that his talent in poetry is so much that he shouldn’t even be in wrestling. Lombardi backs Poffo into the corner and bites his head. Poffo takes him out with a hiptoss then goes to work. Kirchner tags and works over both guys until he puts away Carabello with a Samoan Drop (2:07).

Thoughts: The pairing of Carabello & Poffo was quite odd. Anyway, the match was nothing and the crowd didn’t care as Poffo was a nobody and Kirchner never got over.

Mean Gene is now plugging the “Wrestling Holiday Spectacular” on December 26th in Providence, RI. He then brings out Jimmy Hart and Terry Funk, who will be facing Junkyard Dog at the event. Funk is pissed that JYD embarrased him by taking over Hart’s pants then calls Gene a “pervert” who would like to have his pants removed. God, Funk was great in 1985.

Tony Garea vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage w/ Elizabeth


Savage attacks Garea after he held the ropes open for Elizabeth when she left the ring. He beats the shit out of him then jumps outside and berates her before going back inside. Garea catches him with a shot to the midsection as he comes off the top ropes then gets a few nearfalls until Savage runs him into the ropes after a reverse rollup attempt then gets the win with a flying elbow smash (1:29). After the match, Savage tears up some fan signs then yells at Elizabeth while they head up the aisle.

Thoughts: Savage was great as a dickhead heel here. He had the crowd seething over the way he treated Elizabeth. Typical Garea squash match in which he gets a majority of the offense and loses only after he made a mistake. He was the worst.

Piper’s Pit with guest Ted Arcidi. Before he comes out, Piper smacks off a Hogan action figure from his chair and replaces it with one of himself. Arcidi is billed as the strongest power lifter ever. Piper runs down his accolades as Arcidi is trying to get over as a heel but is just awful on the mic. He then closes by lifting the table over his head. A waste of time as Arcidi was terrible and had no presence at all on camera.

King Kong Bundy w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Jim Young & Gary Starr


Bundy brushes off both guys, who try and fail to take down Bundy as Bruno is making fun of their techniques on commentary. Bundy tosses both guys into the corner and hits the avalanche before dropping the elbow on Starr and scoring the pin with a five-count (1:55).

Thoughts: They are building Bundy back up as the indestructible monster, this time with handicapped matches. The crowd reacted more to Heenan than Bundy though.

A clip of “Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestlin'” airs, with Nikolai Volkoff upset over the ballet.

Mr. X & Rusty Brooks vs. British Bulldogs w/ Capt. Lou Albano


The Bulldogs toss Mr. X to the floor then Davey hits Brooks with a powerslam and tags Dynamite, who puts him away with the flying headbutt (0:26).

Thoughts: Extremely short and seeing how they segued right into the next segment, it was designed to make sure they could fit that into the show. It was a bit funny how they plugged the video airing next week right before the match started though. I guess they tried to surprise the fans with a quick match.

The “Land of 1,000 Dances” video airs. I included the video below for those who have not seen this before.