WWF Championship Wrestling April 5th, 1986

April 5, 1986


Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

This is the final show before WrestleMania 2. In action tonight are Hillbilly Jim & Uncle Elmer, Adrian Adonis, and Don Muraco. Plus, special interviews from Mr. T and Hulk Hogan and a lot more.

Lord Alfred Hayes once again lists of all the celebrities that will be appearing at WrestleMania 2. Tommy Lasorda is the newest celebrity that has been announced and will be the ring announcer for the King Kong Bundy vs. Hulk Hogan match.

Chuck Simpson & Al Navarro vs. Hillbilly Jim & Uncle Elmer


Elmer appears to be struggling just to walk around the ring and slap hands with the fans. Simpson fails to slam Jim then gets slammed himself as the announcers talk about the WrestleMania Battle Royal. We get a Cab Calloway insert promo as Jim clotheslines Navarro then tags Elmer, who gets the win with a leg drop (2:06).

Thoughts: A quick match that put over the hillbillies a bit  for their WrestleMania matches. Elmer looked worse than ever here. He could barely walk.

Gene Okerlund is with William “Refridgerator” Perry, who puts over the Battle Royal. He mentions that he might have a new career if he wins the match.

Ivan MacDonald vs. Don Muraco w/ Mr. Fuji


Muraco looks motivted tonight as he beats the piss out of MacDonald. He tosses him outside as we get an insert promo from Darryl Dawkins, who says that wrestling is his passion. Not a bad promo, actually. Muraco continues his assault as Vince and Bruno discuss all of the celebrities in attendance then he finally puts away MacDonald with the tombstone piledriver (2:59).

Thoughts: Muraco looked pretty good in the ring. He was really entering the downside of his career though.

Gene Okerlund is with Randy Savage and he yells about how Elizabeth will be there, even though she is not here tonight.

A.J. Petruzzi & Steve Lombardi & Danny Spivey & Corporal Kirchner


Spivey starts by catching Lombardi with a hiptoss and a slam. Petruzzi tags and Spivey armdrags him then works an armbar. Kirchner tags and wins a slugfest with Petruzzi then monkey flips him out of the corner. Lombardi tags as Cathy Lee Crosby is shown in an insert promo talking about how she wants Refridgerator Perry to eliminate Big John Studd from the Battle Royal. Spivey tags and they use a double suplex on Petruzzi then for some reason Kirchner stays in the ring and hits a Samoan drop for the win (3:03).

Thoughts: The team of Kirchner & Spivey was amateur-hour stuff. They were both pretty terrible. Spivey was starting to be referred to as the “Golden Boy” at this point too but was really just floundering.

Mean Gene talks with Paul Orndorff, who says that Don Muraco helped hurt his friend, Hulk Hogan, and will beat him at WrestleMania 2. He leaves and the Dream Team appears as Valiant talks about the stipulation of their WrestleMania match against the British Bulldogs and how it doesnt matter if there is a 1,000 referees because they will still win anyway.

Nelson Veilleux vs. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart


Adonis tones up his flamboyance as Hart sprays him with perfume before the match. He also comes out to “You’re so Vain” as his entrance music. He works the arm of Veilleux as we get an insert promo of Elvira. Adonis then puts him in a sleeper (the not yet named Good Night Irene) and gets the win (2:18). After the match, Adonis beats the shit out of Veilluex.

Thoughts: Adonis is becoming more flamboyant and as that happens, he is getting more of a push. The crowd hated him.

Piper’s Pit from Joe Frazier’s Gym. He looks around for Frazier and sees him then asks how he has been training Mr. T for the fight. Frazier shows him a heavy bag with a kilt taped to the bottom. Frazier then whips a medicine into his chest a few times as Piper tries to brush off the pain and tells Frazier that Mr. T better be ready for their fight. Not a bad segment but I would not classify this as memorable or anything.

Mean Gene introduces another video package about the battle royal with the football players on whether or not they are worried they will not be able to extend their football careers after the match. Russ Francis talked about his dad promoting in Hawaii and having wrestled Lou Thesz and Bruno Sammartino. Hillbilly Jim said he will win because he was trained by Hulk Hogan. Jim Brunzell looked like he was coked up during his promo. Bret Hart says that when he and the Anvil win the Battle Royal money, they will buy a house with a pool and invite over a ton of girls, because that is what they want. They were billing this as a prize of $100,000.

Don Driggers & “Leaping” Lanny Poffo vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/ Freddie Blassie


Poffo’s post-match poem was about WrestleMania 2. I was touched. A fan in the crowd held up a sign that suggested Volkoff enter a “hog calling” contest. It’s the wit that Poughkeepsie was famous for. The heels destroy Poffo as an insert promo of Lasorda is shown. Driggers tags then Volkoff hits a backbreaker then tags the Sheik, who finishes him off with the Camel Clutch (1:22). Sheik poses after the match as Vince talks about the football players that have entered the battle royal.

Thoughts: Just a brief squash to make the heels look decent for their WrestleMania matches.




Gene Okerlund runs down the WrestleMania card then shows us his interview with Hulk Hogan’s doctor, who said that he is concerned about Hogan’s condition and still needs 3-4 weeks of recovery. He also worries about his back and a possible herniated disk and despite multiple attempts to talk him out of the match, Hogan insists that he wrestle. We are back to the interview stage as Hogan appears and says that he is glad it has come to the cage match as he will come out to the ring “wired out of his mind” from “praying and taking his vitamins” then will take Bundy’s pride and beat him down. The wired out of his mind line was awesome.

Next week, we will have a report from WrestleMania 2.

Final Thoughts: I actually thought last week’s show did a better job hyping the show but this still a good job. Again, the overabundance of celebrity segments were grating and the Battle Royal interview segment went on for far too long. Even still, they put over the top matches strong and everything else was fine so it was a decent show overall. The WrestleMania 2 review will be posted on Tuesday night.