WWF Championship Wrestling November 23rd, 1985

November 23, 1985

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

In action tonight are Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, and Terry Funk. Also in action are Hillbilly Jim & Cousin Junior and the Dream Team. Plus a women's battle royal and "Piper's Pit" with guest King Tonga


A.J. Petruzzi & Mr. X vs. Cousin Junior & Hillbilly Jim

Vince goes nuts over Cousin Junior's jig. Match starts with Junior fucking up a spot when he fell down after a leapfrog over Mr. X. Jim tags and slaps Petruzzi in a headlock. The hillbillies use quick tags to neutralize Petruzzi then Jim makes him submit to the bearhug (3:23).

Thoughts: The match was awful and the crowd didnt care until the finish, which was rare with the Hillbillies but the act was really starting to get old. Uncle Elmer was not present for the match.


WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes, who shows us a clip of the Rolls Royce winner from the Wrestling Classic PPV. He said that he is going to "tool around" in the car. The winner wasn't much of a talker.


Mike Saxon vs. Don Muraco

This match is joined in progress. Muraco picks up Saxon and rams him off of the turnbuckle before sending him outside. Muraco got really big since the last TV taping, with the announcer's even commenting about his weight. The fans boo him as he destroys Saxon and Muraco puts him out of his misery with the tombstone (2:12) shown.

Thoughts: Muraco could still go at this point but he was really getting big and starting to slow down and shortly after this, deteriorated rapidly.


Gene Okerlund is plugging the December 7th Boston Garden show. Piper comes out and cuts a promo on his opponent, Bruno Sammartino, and proceeds to rag on him and the city of Boston. Piper called himself the "legend killer" at one point too. Good stuff by Roddy.


The Dream Team w/ Johnny Valiant vs. Sal Gee & Rick Hunter

Hunter kicks Valentine off of a lockup but that just pisses off the Hammer and he takes him down. Tag to Brutus and he goes to work on the arm. Hunter makes the tag to Gee after a minute but he gets destroyed. Brutus slams him then they hit a double elbow smash before Valentine submits him to the figure four (2:52). Valentine keeps the hold on after the bell for an extra minute or so.

Thoughts: The Dream Team were looking pretty good at this point but with Windham leaving the company, they were without a feud at the moment. Luckily, the WWF was building up the tag ranks at the time.


Okerlund is with Randy Savage, who talks about his match in Boston against Ricky Steamboat. Savage was fucking hilarious at the beginning, asking Okerlund if he referred to Steamboat as the "Steamer." He then cuts a promo on Steamboat that he is the best and not to be discouraged when he loses and to keep his confidence up and has a better chance crawling through the eye of a sewing needle than beating him as "St. Elmo's Fire" plays in the background. Great interview by Savage. I tried to find it on YouTube for you guys to see but I was unsuccessful.


The Menace vs. "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff

Orndorff comes out wearing a cast to mock Bob Orton. He starts smashing it against the turnbuckle when he enters the ring. He starts by working the arm of the Menace then takes him to the mat. The Menace rakes the eyes but fails on a slam attempt and Orndorff hits a back suplex. Orndorff then whips him against the ropes and decks the Menace on the back of the head with his cast for the win (2:06). After the match, Orndorff hits the cast against the turnbuckle some more. 

Thoughts: Orndorff was pretty funny in mocking Orton with the cast. Even as a face, Orndorff wrestled exactly like he did as a heel. The crowd dug him though.


Piper's Pit with guest King Tonga. This took place immediately after the Orndorff bout, with Piper yelling at Orndorff for cheating and for mocking Orton. They go split-screen, with Orndorff in the ring, as Orndorff tells Piper that his arm as just as broke as Orton's, driving the heels nuts. Piper wants Orndorff to prove that his arm is broke as Orndorff invites him as his "girlfriend to come down to the ring but Piper says people come to them as Orndorff heads in their direction but they abruptly end the interview and flee backstage with Orndorff screaming how he wants both Piper and Orton anytime, any place. Good segment to keep the feud going, which was starting to get a bit stale.


Terry Funk w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Gary Starr

Starr dodges an attack, which makes Funk even angrier. He kills Starr with chops agaisnt the ropes for a minute. Starr hooks the ropes to dodge an attack then makes Funk chase him but he gets destroyed by several headbutts then puts him away with a vertical suplex (2:18). After the match, Funk drags Starr back into the ring and holds him down so Hart can brand him.

Thoughts: Funk squash matches were always awesome because they were different and he would always let his opponent do something in the match.


We now get a clip of "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling" cartoon with JYD creating his own "jiving" robot as Andre the Giant looks on.


Womens Battle Royal
Donna Christiantello, Judy Martin, Jeanne Kirkland, Linda Gonzalez, The Spider Lady, Fabulous Moolah, Wendi Richter

I think it was Leilani Kai as the Spider Lady here. Lots of fugly chicks in this match. Martin and Moolah double-team Richter to start. Not much going on but the action looks competent at least. Christiantello is eliminated first after being dropkicked over the top rope by Kirkland. The Spider Lady eliminates Gonzalez with a monkey flip then she gets tossed by Kirkland. The heels (Moolah & Martin) end up being pushed into each other but regain control shortly after that. Moolah tosses Kirkland but ends up being accidentally dropkicked by Martin. Richter tries to toss Moolah but Martin comes over and dumps them both and the bell rings, but they say that Richter landed on the apron, which was clearly not the case at all. Richter fucked up badly there. Martin stomps here as the kids in the crowd start a chant for Wendi. Moolah holds Wendi as Martin charges but Wendi ends up sending her over the ropes with a backdrop for the win (5:28).

Thoughts: The match fell apart when Richter botched her spot and clearly landed on the floor. The crowd didn't buy that at all, except for a few kids in the crowd. This was Wendi's last TV match that she wrestled in too. Overall though, the match was going along fine until the screw-up near the end.


Okerlund is with Steamboat, who calls Savage a fine athlete and thinks that Savage has Elizabeth out there to distract his opponents. He leaves and Bruno comes out and says that he hates Piper and does not care if he makes fun of him but will destroy him after Piper called him a "stupid wop." Bruno closes by speaking in Italian.


Next week, King Kong Bundy will be here. Also, Ricky Steamboat & King Tonga, British Bulldogs, Corporal Kirchner and Randy Savage plus the debut of Hercules Hernandez.


Final Thoughts: A fun show. The Piper/Orndorff segment was good and we had some decent interviews too. Funk continues to shine as a heel and Muraco and the Dream Team looked good in the ring as well. They are also starting to build up feuds for 1986, which will be nice to see develop. The WWF had an impressive roster at this time, that's for sure.