WWF Championship Wrestling February 9th, 1985

February 9, 1985

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

This week, Vince lets us know that three tag-team matches will take place , one of which includes Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch. Also, a training video with Hulk Hogan and Hillbilly Jim and we will finally see the action from the December MSG show.

 

AJ Petruzzi & Terry Gibbs vs. Tito Santana & Blackjack Mulligan

Tito gets a quick reverse rollup on Gibbs then hits a pair of armdrags. Petruzzi tags as does Mulligan. Petruzzi stalls for a bit then hits Mulligan with several forearms but Blackjack fights right back. He fights of Gibbs then rams Petruzzi into Tito’s boot in an awful looking spot. Tito cleans house on both men and the match breaks down completely with the faces getting the advantage. The ref settles things down and Petruzzi gets a bit of offense but Blackjack tags and roughs up AJ for a bit before tagging back to Tito, who locks on the figure-four and scores the victory via submission (3:40).

Thoughts: The only reason I have as to why these guys were teaming is that they both had issues with Piper and would go up against them at some of the upcoming house shows. However, Mulligan would leave the company and go back to Florida just a few days after this match aired. They had very little chemistry together anyway.

 

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. They show a picture of Mr. T with Cyndi Lauper and Wendi Richter at a recent concert. Hayes lets us know that Mr. T is angry at Roddy Piper for interrupting the ceremony at MSG. On the screen, it says that Mr. T will be on Piper’s Pit next week. They pushed that Mr. T would be appearing throughout the show tonight. Speaking of Mr. T, David Schultz would get fired a few days after this aired after he attempted to attack Mr. T on two separate occasions at the 2/11 house show in Los Angeles.

 

 

A plug for the new issue of WWF Magazine.

 

 

Jim Powers vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine

The crowd starts chanting for Tito as both men trade arm wringers. They take it to the mat and that ends in a standoff. Powers stuns Valentine with an enziguri momentarily. Valentine comes back with a shinbreaker then works on the leg for a bit. Valentine hits a suplex then shortly after that, makes Powers submit to the figure-four leglock (2:35). The crowd starts another chant for Tito after the finish.

Thoughts: Despite having the belt, Valentine is almost like an afterthought at this point. The fans are chanting for Tito but the feud isn’t being pushed all that much on TV.

 

 

Freddie Miller runs down the card for the March 2^nd show at the Boston Garden. He interviews Cowboy Bob Orton, who will be facing the Junkyard Dog. Orton calls JYD the “reject from the projects” and says that he has no class. He also says that he has forgotten more holds than JYD will ever know.

 

And now, the presentation from the MSG show back in December. For those who need a refresher, Cyndi Lauper, along with Dick Clark, Wendi Richeter, David Wolfe and Hulk Hogan presented an award to Albano on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis foundation. After everyone left, besides Lauper and Wolfe, Piper and Orton come out and Piper smashes the record over Albano’s head. He then kicked Lauper and slammed Wolfe. Hogan came out and the heels escaped. If you hadn’t seen this angle until this recap, then I can imagine that it would have blown your mind. Also, they are making sure to push the fact that the WWF is cool to the kids, by having celebrities appear at the shows.

 

 

Freddie Miller is with Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik. They will be facing the new tag-team champions, Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo. Sheik rants about the USA while Volkoff periodically laughs in the background. Typical Sheik promo.

 

Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch vs. Salvatore Bellomo & “Quick Draw” Rick McGraw

McGraw takes down Adonis with a side headlock. He hits a dropkick but Adonis gets a back suplex then tags Murdoch. He beats on Bellomo, who makes a comeback ad tags McGraw. He runs into a back elbow smash then Adomis goes up top and hits McGraw with a dropkick that barely connected. Adonis went more than halfway across the ring with that. Murdoch tags then finishes off McGraw with a brainbuster (3:16). McMahon notes how Adonis & Murdoch did not look as good as usual.

Thoughts: Vince was pushing the fact that these two were not as focused after losing the belts. Both men would be gone in a few weeks, with Adonis returning before the end of the year.

 

Piper’s Pit with Capt. Lou Albano. Piper berates Albano and calls him garbage. He and Orton surround Albano as Windham & Rotundo come out, with Piper and Orton leaving immediately, saying they do not have time for this. Windham & Rotundo cut a promo, with the girls screaming for Barry. They have now established that Albano will manage the new tag champs.

 

Here is the new training video with Hogan and Hillbilly Jim. This time, Hillbilly makes the protein shakes and Hogan wants to what he put in the blender. Hillbilly says it was “hog gizards” then Hogna drinks it and is disgusted, despite the claims that it will make you powerful. A montage airs then Hogan shows Hillbilly moves with jobber AJ Petruzzi. Hogan then gives Jim the boots he trained with before he won the Heavyweight Title. As harmless as the rest of these training videos. By the way, this stuff is way too corny to even have a chance of getting over today but in 1985, this shit worked.

 

Jim Young & Joe Mirto vs. Ken Patera & Big John Studd w/Bobby Heenan

Mirto fails to slam Studd then gets dropped with a shoulderblock. Slam by Studd, who tags Patera. He works on Mirto in the corner as a “weasel” chant breaks out. Young tags but gets dropped with an elbow. The crowd now chants for Andre as Young gets double-teamed in the corner. Now a Hogan chant breaks out as the heels beat on Young until he submits to Patera’s full nelson.

Thoughts: The star of the heel team is clearly Heenan. About the same as every other Patera & Studd match. It is also a bit to note how many chants the crowd had going here.

 

Freddie Miller is with Roddy Piper about his match in Boston against Jimmy Snuka. Piper cuts a psychotic promo that might or might not have been fueled by copious amounts of drugs. Most importantly, he made you want to see the match.

 

The announcers run down next week’s show, which features Tony Atlas & Junkyard Dog teaming up in action. Also, Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff, Brutus Beefcake, Ivan Putski, Jesse Ventura, and Tito Santana.

 

Final Thoughts: The main point of the show was to promote the appearance of Mr. T on Piper’s Pit. It did great in that regard. The matches were all useless for the most part but you can tell that they are building towards something huge.