WWF Championship Wrestling February 8th, 1986

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon 

Tonight’s featured match is George “The Animal” Steele & Corporal Kirchner vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. As Vince and Bruno run down the card, Steele walks by holding a bouquet of flowers.

Gibbs bounces off of Jim then gets caught with a slam. Jim slams him again then grabs a side headlock. He catches Gibbs in a bearhug then Bradley runs in but Jim catches him too. Bradley is now the legal man and hits a few punches but Jim comes back with an atomic drop then tags Elmer, who knocks him down then kills him with a leg drop for the win (2:30). The Hillbillies dance after the match.

Thoughts: Once the bell rang, the crowd was quiet for the Hillbillies, who are rapidly moving down the card.

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. He mentions that WrestleMania 2 will be here as they show a very brief highlight package of the inaugural WrestleMania.

Another plug reminding us to vote for the “Slammy Awards.”

McDonald was a jobber billed from Scotland who looked like a jacked-up and mustached version of Lloyd Christmas from the film “Dumb and Dumber.” McDonald fails to slam Studd and ends up getting shoved down. McDonald then gets sent to the floor from an Irish whip. Studd slams McDonald in the corner then tags Bundy. Bowlin tags and Bundy beats on him then hits the Avalanche before finishing him off with a splash (2:38).

Thoughts: They really put over Bundy strong in this match, which continued all the way until WrestleMania 2.

Gene Okerlund is with Roddy Piper. He has a copy of the Boston Herald and reads a column from a writer named Charlie Manning that bashes Sammartino. Piper was pretty funny here, actually.

Tito takes down Mr. X and works the arm. Tito takes him down with a shoulderblock then stops short on a leapfrog by X and takes him down with a hiptoss. Tito works a side headlock on the mat until Mr. X rakes the eyes. He hits a few shots but Tito fires back then backs him into the corner. Mr. X rakes the eyes again but Tito comes back with a backdrop then puts him away with the figure four leg lock (3:11).

Thoughts: Nice to see Tito back in singles action, which makes it seem that they have finally ended his team with Morales. After all, he is the Intercontinental Champion.

Another promo hyping WrestleMania 2.

Mean Gene is with Bruno Sammartino, promoting their cage match tonight at the Boston Garden. Not much of a promo here to be honest. Bruno wasn’t nearly as intense as he has been.

Davey works on the arm of Petruzzi to start. Petruzzi takes him down but Davey comes back with a slam then tags Dynamite. The crowd pops when Dynamite runs over Petruzzi. He hits a missile dropkick and a snap suplex that has the crowd going nuts then tags Davey, who uses a delayed vertical suplex for a nearfall. The Gladiator tags but Davey backs him in the corner and the Bulldogs use quick tags until Davey puts him away with a powerslam off of the middle rope for the win (2:55).

Thoughts: The Bulldogs were doing all sorts of stuff that was not seen in the WWF and as a result, the crowds went crazy for them. They looked awesome in this squash.

Piper’s Pit with just Piper and Orton. Piper is angry that the WWF President made Orton take off his cast. He then brings out Bob Orton, who is dressed as a boxer complete with gloves, and says that since no one wants to wrestle them anymore they have issued an open challenge to anyone who has ever wrestled to face Orton in a boxing match.

Before the match, George Steele comes down and gives Elizabeth flowers. Savage turns around and sees her holding them and rips them up and ruins the bouquet, demanding who gave them to here. Savage hits Dose from behind with a knee smash then heads up top and drops the elbow for the win, pinning with his foot (0:25). Savage didn’t even take off his sunglasses for the match.

Thoughts: Savage was such an awesome heel and it looked so cool that he didn’t take off his sunglasses for the match. They are going full speed ahead with the Steele/Liz angle.

Another promo hyping WrestleMania 2.

Yet another chance to vote for the “Slammy Awards.”

Kirchner and Sheik take it to the mat as the crowd starts a “USA” chant. Kirchner comes back with a hiptoss and the Sheik tags out. They have a terrible-looking exchange of punches as the Sheik tags back into the match. Sheik hits a clothesline but Kirchner comes back with a suplex then tags Steele. Volkoff comes in and they toss Steele outside. Steele then runs around and grabs a chair then hits the Sheik for the DQ (2:33). Steele then tosses the chair outside and spazzes around in the ring for a bit.

Thoughts: I thought this was a complete waste of time. The action was terrible and the result of the match did not do anything to promote the feud between Kirchner and the evil foreigners.

Okerlund is with Mr. Fuji and Don Muraco, who hilariously runs down the Boston Garden show that would be happening tonight. He proceeded to call Tito Santana a “honky Mexican” then talks about how hot Elizabeth is with Mr. Fuji. He calls Hillbilly Jim and John Studd a “pair of cripples” and that almost causes Okerlund to lose it. Muraco then talks about how ugly Sammartino is and how Piper can possibly improve his looks by grinding it against the steel cage. Muraco then mocks Ricky Steamboat for his martial arts and mocks him in a hilarious and possibly racist routine (Fuji still laughed anyway) to promote their “Martial Arts” match at the Boston Garden. Muraco was the man.

Next week, the Junkyard Dog will face Terry Funk. Also, Vince lets us know that someone has accepted Orton’s boxing challenge. Plus, Jimmy Snuka’s cousin, Superfly Afi will makes his debut.

Final Thoughts: Not a whole lot happened here but they did a pretty heavy promotion of WrestleMania 2 and the Boston Garden show that was taking place the same day (that review will be up on Sunday). They are starting to push Adonis in his new gimmick and give a bigger push to the British Bulldogs, who were getting over with their innovative offense. The also planted the seeds for WrestleMania 2 with Orton’s boxing gimmick.