WWF Wrestling Challenge November 2nd, 1986

November 2, 1986

From the War Memorial in Rochester, NY

Your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon

Tonight's featured match will have Randy Savage defend his Intercontinental Title against Billy Jack Haynes. Also, the Islanders, Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana & Pedro Morales, and Ricky Steamboat will all be in action.




WWF Intercontinental Title Match
Randy "Macho Man" Savage (Champion) w/ Elizabeth vs. Billy Jack Haynes

Savage is shown in an insert promo promising that there will be no more controversy in his matches. Gorilla complains about referee Danny Davis who is working the match. Savage works an arm wringer to start the match. Haynes reverses then grabs a side headlock as Savage pulls back his hair then breaks with a knee smash. Savage beats on Haynes as Heenan keeps on working in "Billy Jerk" on commentary. Haynes is on the floor as Savage flies out and hits him with a double axe handle and rolls him back inside for two. Haynes fight back and catches Savage with a backbreaker then a press slam as the crowd goes nuts. Savage whiffs on a clothesline and Haynes puts him in a full nelson. Davis barely checks on Savage as Gorilla is flipping out on commentary. Haynes swings Savage around and his arm inadvertently hits Davis, who rings for the bell as he awards Savage the match via DQ (5:00). The fans boo the decision as Davis himself announced the finish.

Thoughts: Decent action here but the main focus was on Danny Davis, the evil referee. Man, the Davis storyline was one of the most heavily pushed on television at this time and he was the focal point here, not the Intercontinental Champion.


Terry Gibbs & Iron Mike Sharpe vs. The Islanders

Tama hits both Gibbs and Sharpe with several armdrags each to start the match. Haku tags and chops Gibbs against the ropes as we get an insert promo from the Dream Team as they make fun of the Islanders' names. Sharpe rakes the eyes of Tama as he and Gibbs isolate him for a little bit but Haku tags and beats on both guys until he tags Tama, who puts Gibbs away with a top rope splash (2:55).

Thoughts: The fans were dead for this match. They cheered a little bit when Tama hit the splash but that was all.


Ken Resnick is with the British Bulldogs and Matilda. They list off all of the heel team and how Matilda will take care of their managers if they try to interfere.


Hercules Hernandez & Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/Slick vs. Corporal Kirchner & "Leaping" Lanny Poffo & S.D. Jones

Poffo's poem was a pro-USA one that got the crowd going briefly. Jones headbutts down Volkoff then tags Poffo, who gets trapped in the opposing corner. Kirchner tags and beats on Sheik as we get an insert promo from Slick in which he claims that he special plans for Hercules. Sheik hits Kirchner with a gutwrench suplex then tags Hercules, who makes Kirchner submit to the backbreaker (1:18).

Thoughts: And this was the end of Kirchner's career as any sort of a threat. Getting pinned like this was death to your career at this time and he even did the job instead of Poffo or S.D. This show was filmed a few weeks prior to the 11/1/86 Boston Garden show that I reviewed on the site a few days ago and Hercules still had not undergone his transformation.


Resnick is with the Killer Bees. They talk about how they will gladly put their "record" up against anybody, including the British Bulldogs. Resnick then asks Blair about the 2nd annual "B. Brian Blair Wrestling Tournament" for kid 14 years old and under. The Bees did not show a lot of personality here.


Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Tito Santana & Pedro Morales

Heenan makes some politically correct jokes on the behalf of Tito & Pedro before the match. Match starts with the Anvil and Tito trading shoulderblocks. Tito catches the Anvil with a dropkick but Hart pulls his leg. Tito tags Pedro and he hits Brett with a backdrop but gets kneed on a charge. Jimmy Hart is shown in an insert promo talking about his megaphone as the Hart's beat on Pedro. Tito finally tags and is a house of fire. He hits Brett with a crossbody but the Anvil breaks that up as the match breaks down then both teams brawl outside as the match ends in a double count out (2:51).

Thoughts: Too short to amount to anything as the Hart's deserved a better feud than this.


The Snake Pit with guest Roddy Piper, who says in the entrance way. He tells Jake that he does not like snakes. Jake then goes to get the snake as Piper tells him to talk to him instead of the snake as Jake reassures Piper that he will not attack him and this ends with Piper shoving Jake down from behind before leaving. If you were expecting any sort of epic encounter between these two on the mic, prepared to be letdown.


Barry O. & Tiger Chung Lee vs. The Rougeau Brothers

Raymond and Barry start off the match trading a few moves until Raymond hits a dropkick. Lee tags as we get another insert promo from Dino Bravo sating how the Rougeau's make him sick to his stomach and that he is the pride of Canada. The heels get some heat on Jacques until Lee misses a top rope move then Jacques tags Raymond as they put him away with the Rougeau Bomb (1:54).

Thoughts: Not much to this as they appear to be working on a lower card feud between the Rougeau's and Dino Bravo. 



Moondog Rex vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Steamboat hits an armdrag and a flying headscissors to start. He works a side headlock on the mat but Rex breaks and beats on Steamboat in the corner as Heenan laughs while recalling how Steamboat got hit with a DDT on the floor by Jake Roberts at "Saturday Night's Main Event" then Steamboat gets the win with a victory roll (1:26).

Thoughts: Gorilla put over Steamboat on commentary as someone who he believed would soon have gold around his waist and with the promos he and Savage have been cutting on each other, it seems like the feud is developing soon.


Resnick is with the Dream Team as Valentine talks about how they were screwed out of the belts at WrestleMania 2 then about how they have their own dolls but that the Bulldogs are lucky and afraid to face them again. He says that they are ready to get the belts back. Solid promo from Valentine


Final Thoughts: This was an okay show. Seeing an Intercontinental Title Match on TV was a huge deal but some of this dragged as the main feuds were not addressed here other than the Danny Davis storyline. They were setting up a little bit towards WrestleMania but at the time you would have not picked up on that.