Speaker 1: Welcome back to Fall Count. I'm your host De Paul,
Speaker 1: and today we are stepping into the wrestling time machine
Speaker 1: to revisit one of the most bizarre, ambitious, and frankly
Speaker 1: chaotic experiments in pay per view history. It is wrestle
Speaker 1: Mania two. And imagine it's not in one location, it's
Speaker 1: not in two locations, It's in three places. The date
Speaker 1: was Monday, April seventh, nineteen eighty six. And yes, you
Speaker 1: heard that right, It took place on a Monday. But
Speaker 1: speaking of experiments, WWE attempted a visual concept for us
Speaker 1: SO Mania two that has never been repeated or attempted
Speaker 1: again in a WWF event. Three separate locations across America.
Speaker 1: We got Nasau Coliseum, Long Island, New York, the Rosemont
Speaker 1: Horizon in Chicago, in the La Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Now,
Speaker 1: if you were a fan sitting in one of those arenas,
Speaker 1: here's what you most likely actually experienced. You got to
Speaker 1: watch one single hour of live wrestling, and then for
Speaker 1: the remaining two hours you sat in the dark, watching
Speaker 1: giant closed circuit screens lowered over the ring. You paid
Speaker 1: for a stadium ticket to watch two thirds of the
Speaker 1: show on a movie screen. This would not happen in
Speaker 1: today's world. But grab your coffee, grab your beer, sit back,
Speaker 1: and let's break down the storylines and the historic debuts
Speaker 1: and the celebrity train wrecks on this landmark show. Now
Speaker 1: we're kicking off the show in Long Island at the
Speaker 1: naw Sau Coliseum. On commentary for this, we had Vince
Speaker 1: McMahon paired with a celebrity guest commentary of Susan Saint James,
Speaker 1: who was most famous at the time for a starry
Speaker 1: in the hit sitcom Kate and Ali. Now look celebrity
Speaker 1: Italians were huge for early WrestleMania's but having Susan Saint
Speaker 1: James call actual play by play every time something happened
Speaker 1: her insight a mounted to a oh oh he looks mad.
Speaker 1: Oh that's gonna hurt. It was a total disaster. The
Speaker 1: first matchup all the evening, It's down Morocco with mister
Speaker 1: Fuji versus mister Wonderful Paul Orndwarf. Now they didn't get
Speaker 1: much time for this match. After a quick burst of action,
Speaker 1: both men brawled to the outside, ignored the referees count,
Speaker 1: and were hit with a double count out. Now they
Speaker 1: kept beating the hell out of each other on the floor. Afterward,
Speaker 1: the crowd actually chanced bullshit, and Vin tried to cover
Speaker 1: on commentary by saying the fans were just upset at
Speaker 1: the outcome, but the fans were upset because the booking
Speaker 1: was terrible. This is where people are probably finding out
Speaker 1: they're only gonna watch one hour wrestling opening your biggest
Speaker 1: show of the year in its WrestleMania, and the first
Speaker 1: match is a non finish, a double count out. Yuck,
Speaker 1: not a fan. Next up, though, was a massive historical landmark.
Speaker 1: It's the WrestleMania debut of the matchomen Randy Savage defending
Speaker 1: the Intercontinental title against Georgie Animal Steel. Now the storyline
Speaker 1: here Savage was the arrogant heel champion treating Miss Elizabeth
Speaker 1: terribly wild, the lovable turn buckle eating monster. George the
Speaker 1: Animal Steel was smitten with Elizabeth well two smitten if
Speaker 1: he asked me, lust than those us. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: Steele spent most of the match chasing Savage, eating turn buckles,
Speaker 1: and even beating Macho Man with a bouquet of flowers,
Speaker 1: and Savage sold Savage hit his legendary top rope elbow drop,
Speaker 1: but Steele actually kicked out. In the end, Savage proved
Speaker 1: his in ring awareness. He tripped Steel up and pinned
Speaker 1: him with his feet firmly planted on the ropes for
Speaker 1: leverage that dirty heel. He retains the Intercontinental title. Now
Speaker 1: not a technical clinic, but a crucial step in having
Speaker 1: Macho Man's legendary WrestleMania legacy continue. Speaking of legendary debuts,
Speaker 1: this match marked the WrestleMania debut of one of my
Speaker 1: favorite wrestlers, Jake the Snake Roberts. It was brought in
Speaker 1: as a cold and calculating heel. George Wells, though, got
Speaker 1: a quick flurry of offense early on, but Jake outsmarted him,
Speaker 1: shut him down with momentum, and dropped him with a
Speaker 1: most devastating move in the business at the time, the DDT.
Speaker 1: But there is a historical moment here. It wasn't the
Speaker 1: match that made history. It was the postmatch. Jake opened
Speaker 1: his bag, pulled out Damien and wrapped it around Wells's throat.
Speaker 1: Wells actually started frothing at the mouth on broadcast. It
Speaker 1: was an incredible piece of character work that instantly established
Speaker 1: Jake the Snake as a terrifying villain and giving me nightmares.
Speaker 1: Poor poor George Wells. But the main event for the
Speaker 1: New York portion was a celebrity boxing match built directly
Speaker 1: off of the fallout of WrestleMania One. Roddy Piper hated
Speaker 1: that Hollywood actor Mister T was invading his sport his business,
Speaker 1: leading to a four round boxing match with heavy heavy
Speaker 1: entourage presence, as Piper has Cowboy Bob Wharton while mister
Speaker 1: T has the Haiti Kid and Joe Fraser the finish, though,
Speaker 1: after three grueling rounds where both men were visibly exhausted
Speaker 1: and throwing wild hooks, Piper completely snapped in round four.
Speaker 1: Instead of continuing to box, Piper shoved the referee down
Speaker 1: in body slam Mister T, resulting and a DQ Mister
Speaker 1: T wins. A wild brawl broke out, with security and
Speaker 1: cornermen trying to separate them as Piper left with nuclear heat.
Speaker 1: Over the years, they will show Piper losing his cool
Speaker 1: during this, but that's the first hour of Rustmania for
Speaker 1: New York. So you got a boxing match Piper, Mister T,
Speaker 1: George Wells, Puke Gang pretty much Intercontinental title, and Mister
Speaker 1: Wonderful versus Don Morocco. Okay, not Ben, Let's see what
Speaker 1: Rosemont Horizon Chicago's got. All right, we head west to
Speaker 1: Chicago for hour two. Thankfully, the commentary team got a
Speaker 1: major upgrade here. It's the legendary Grilla Monsoon Mean gene
Speaker 1: Oakerland and guest hosts Kathy Lee Crosby from the TV show.
Speaker 1: That's incredible WWF A women's championship that was on the line.
Speaker 1: It's Fabulous Mula versus Velvet McIntyre. No relation to Drew McIntyre. Now,
Speaker 1: we started off with the women's championship, but if you blinked,
Speaker 1: you would have missed it. Fifty nine seconds. Fifty nine
Speaker 1: seconds is how long this match got. And guess what
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty six, women's wrestling wasn't where it is
Speaker 1: in today's world. Even go back a year before at
Speaker 1: Wrestlingia won Wendy Richter with Cindy Lapper winning the championship,
Speaker 1: the crowd going wild. Now, fabulous Mula versus Velvet McIntyre.
Speaker 1: Fifty nine seconds, No Cindy Laupper, And guess what where's
Speaker 1: Wendy Richter? She got screwed over by Fabulous Mula. Up
Speaker 1: next It was a heavy cold Wars American hero Corporal
Speaker 1: Kirchner against Soviet villain mister Nikita Koloff. Nita Kohloff. No,
Speaker 1: not Nikita Koloff, Nikolai Volkov. Try saying those names who
Speaker 1: It's a flag match. In the chaos, the referee took
Speaker 1: a bump. Classy Freddy Blasi, who was managing Volokov at
Speaker 1: the time, threw his wooden cane into the ring for
Speaker 1: Volkov to use, but Kirchner intercepted it cracked Volkov over
Speaker 1: the head to win the match one minute in forty seconds.
Speaker 1: One minute in forty seconds. Now the most famous thing
Speaker 1: about I think wrestling in two, besides the boxing match,
Speaker 1: is this a twenty man Battle Royal. It's WWF superstars
Speaker 1: versus NFL superstars. It's one of the coolest spectacles of
Speaker 1: this entire event, twenty man interpromotional Battle Royal combining the
Speaker 1: WWF wrestlers with actual active NFL stars. In today's world,
Speaker 1: they would never do this. We had guest referees Dick
Speaker 1: but Kiss and ed to Tall Jones at ringside, and
Speaker 1: the match featured stars like Bruno San Martino, Pegro Morales,
Speaker 1: Big John, stud in the Iron Cheek. Now, this was
Speaker 1: the Wrestlemantia debut, though also of Brett the Hitman Heart,
Speaker 1: who wrestled in the match along his Heart Foundation partner
Speaker 1: Jim d Avil Nightheart. But the absolute star of this
Speaker 1: event was William the Refrigerator Perry of the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: who had just won the Super Bowl a few months
Speaker 1: prior to this. Now, the local crowd blew the roof
Speaker 1: off when the Fridge eliminated Tony Atlas and went toe
Speaker 1: to toe with Big John Studd. Stud managed to dump
Speaker 1: over the top rope, but while Stud was gloating, Perry
Speaker 1: offered him a handshake from the arena floor and yank
Speaker 1: Stud out to eliminate him. That left Andre Giant in
Speaker 1: the ring against the Hart Foundation and NFL player Russ Francis.
Speaker 1: Andre easily eliminated Francis and then faced a two to
Speaker 1: on one handicap against Brett Hart in the info, Andre
Speaker 1: leveled them both with double knogging knockers, kicked Nightheart out
Speaker 1: of the ring, and then toss s Brett over the
Speaker 1: top rope right onto Knightheart on the floor to win
Speaker 1: the Battle Royal. That is one of the most exciting
Speaker 1: Battle Royals. Honestly, I hate Battle Royals, but that one
Speaker 1: was entertaining. Even the Fridge gets go in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame eventually just from this performance alone. But the
Speaker 1: tag team titles are on the line. If there is
Speaker 1: one match though, you need to go back and watch
Speaker 1: from Russminia two. It is this tag team masterpiece, the
Speaker 1: dream Team Brutus Beefcack and Greg the Hammer Valentine defended
Speaker 1: the titles against Davy boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid.
Speaker 1: Now the Bulldogs brought Ozzy Osbourne and Captain Lou Albano
Speaker 1: to the ring with them, and I love Ozzie. Backstage,
Speaker 1: Benn's bill Dogs belive he doesn't know where he is.
Speaker 1: He has no idea where he is. This match had
Speaker 1: incredible pacing Near the end, though Dynamite Kid was perched
Speaker 1: up on the top turn buckle. Davy boy Smith grabbed
Speaker 1: Greg Valentine in a front face lock and drove Valentine's
Speaker 1: head directly into Dynamite Ted. Dynamite took a terrifying bump
Speaker 1: all the way down to the concrete floor outside, but
Speaker 1: the collision knocked Valentine out cold. Davy boys Smith covered
Speaker 1: Valentine for the three count to win the ww Tag
Speaker 1: team titles. The crowd went absolutely insane. Dynamite Kid, though
Speaker 1: at this time, was the best in ring worker on
Speaker 1: the planet, in this title victory marked the peak of
Speaker 1: the British Bulldogs. Tragically, though, Dynamite suffered a back injury
Speaker 1: later that year, meaning he was never truly the same
Speaker 1: after this run, making this victory very incredibly emotional milestone
Speaker 1: in tag team history. So that was the end of
Speaker 1: our two Chicago. Let's head to La Sports Arena for
Speaker 1: the final hour. We crossed over the West Coast. We
Speaker 1: get Lord Alfred Hayes Jesse, the body of Ventura in
Speaker 1: full blown heel, brilliant in the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira.
Speaker 1: We opened the Los Angeles portion with two men on
Speaker 1: the rise. It's ricky Steamboat taking on about powerful Hercules.
Speaker 1: Hercules used his power to wear Steamboat down and attempted
Speaker 1: a top rope splash, but Steamboat got his knees up
Speaker 1: to turn the tide. Steamboat scaled the turnbuckle, hit his
Speaker 1: iconic flying cross body block off the top rope and
Speaker 1: pinned Hercules. It was a brief taste of Steamboat's brilliance
Speaker 1: a year heading into WrestleMania three, while he'll take it
Speaker 1: on Savage and arguably the best WrestleMania match of all time.
Speaker 1: But we're going to a brief comedy match. I love
Speaker 1: these characters. It's Adrianadonis perfore me his controversial, adorable gimmick
Speaker 1: against a four hundred pound country boar, Uncle Elmer. If
Speaker 1: you know one thing about WWF around this time, Vince
Speaker 1: Man loves his Hillbillies. Uncle Elmer, though, missed a corner
Speaker 1: splash in a big leg drop, allowing Adonis to climb
Speaker 1: to the top rope and lent a top rope splash
Speaker 1: to score the pint andfall. Three minutes, one second. Nothing much.
Speaker 1: This was the next match, though. It's wild his old
Speaker 1: school tag team. It's the Funk Brothers, Terry and Dori
Speaker 1: Funk Junior taking on Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog. You
Speaker 1: don't think this match exists, and then you read it
Speaker 1: out loud and you watch it again, you realize, oh
Speaker 1: my god, when the hell did this happen? Russell Mini too,
Speaker 1: That's why no one remembers. After a back and forth war,
Speaker 1: Junkyard Dog had Terry Funk trapped in a small package pin,
Speaker 1: but Dori Funk Junior distracted the referee. While the referee
Speaker 1: was trying to regain control, Jimmy Hart slides his famous
Speaker 1: megaphone into the ring. Terry Funk smashes Jyd across the
Speaker 1: head with the megaphone, covers him and steals the pinfall
Speaker 1: of victory. There's so many matches on this card when
Speaker 1: you look at it, and when you read it and
Speaker 1: when you watch it, that you forget so much about
Speaker 1: Wrestman Yu too. Everyone always brings up the three locations,
Speaker 1: the NFL Player Battle Royal. It's it's it's a strange event,
Speaker 1: but that brings us to the main event of the
Speaker 1: entire pay per view. It's whole Cogan defending the World
Speaker 1: Heavyweight Championship inside the infamous Blue Steel Cage against King
Speaker 1: Kung Bundy, managed by Bobby Heening. This is the first
Speaker 1: time we have seen the big Blue Steel Cage. They
Speaker 1: create it for both men to be able to climb
Speaker 1: the storyline, though the build for this was top tier.
Speaker 1: Weeks prior on Saturday Night's main event, Bundy had ambushed
Speaker 1: Hogan and hit him with multiple avalanche splashes in the corner,
Speaker 1: heavily damaging Hogan's ribs. Hogan came into this match heavily
Speaker 1: bandaged around his men section, so you knew we're uh.
Speaker 1: We gotta cheer Hogan a lot more now as Hukamenix,
Speaker 1: we gotta lift him up. He's hurt, he needs us. Now,
Speaker 1: this was a escape of the cage rules no pitfalls
Speaker 1: or submissions, which I think all steel cages should be.
Speaker 1: That Bundy, of course attacks Hogan's injured ribs, tears off
Speaker 1: those bandages, choked him with them, and even hit his
Speaker 1: trademark big splash in the center of the ring. But
Speaker 1: Hogan tapped into that legendary hulk up energy no sold
Speaker 1: a second avalanche splash and hits a massive power slam
Speaker 1: on the four hundred and fifty pound Bundy, followed by
Speaker 1: that big leg drop. So now we have seen Bundy
Speaker 1: body slam. Everyone can go home. As Hogan being climbing
Speaker 1: over the top of the skilled cage, Bobby Heenan desperately
Speaker 1: tried to block him from the outside while Bundy tried
Speaker 1: to crawl out the cage door. Hogan kicked Bundy away,
Speaker 1: climbed over the blue steel bars and had his feet
Speaker 1: touched the floor to retain the WWF Championship. Now Hogan
Speaker 1: wasn't done. He chased Bobby Heenen into the cage, trapped
Speaker 1: the brain inside, and laid him out with atomic drop
Speaker 1: to close the show, with the LA crowd going nuts
Speaker 1: as celebrity ring announcer Tommy Lesardo officially declared Hogan the winner. Now,
Speaker 1: in my eyes, which city actually won out on their
Speaker 1: live event? Because everyone imagine you watched that first hour
Speaker 1: there with your dad and your parents, and then the
Speaker 1: lights go off and screens fall to the floor and
Speaker 1: you're sitting there watching the rest of it on a screen,
Speaker 1: and your father mother paid a full ticket price to
Speaker 1: see a three hour event, but you got one hour.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna go with the Nassau Coliseum is
Speaker 1: the third running. If we're going in order, they are last,
Speaker 1: we're ranking them, that's third. I would say first is Chicago.
Speaker 1: I think Chicago got everything they would want and more.
Speaker 1: Hanging got a woman's match. But La La, you had
Speaker 1: a good time too. It's hard. La and Chicago are
Speaker 1: the ones I would say out the best ones. But
Speaker 1: when you look back at wrestling, it two is a
Speaker 1: complete package. It is truly one of the most unique
Speaker 1: artifacts in professional wrestling history. Three locations Now was it
Speaker 1: a great wrestling show from top to bottom out? Celebrity
Speaker 1: commentary from Susan Satan James was painful. The three city
Speaker 1: concept killed arena atmospheres in matches like a double count
Speaker 1: opener or the boxing match didn't deliver in the ring,
Speaker 1: but it gave us some huge historical milestones. The WrestleMania
Speaker 1: debuts of all timers Randy Savage, Jake the Snake, Brett Hart,
Speaker 1: an unforgettable interpromotional Battle Royal featuring NFL legends like William
Speaker 1: the Refrigerator Perry, and one of the greatest tag team
Speaker 1: title victories in history with the British Bulldogs taking down
Speaker 1: the Dream Team. It was a fascinating, flawed step in
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon's grand experiment to turn WrestleMania into a global
Speaker 1: cultural phenomenon, but it proved that the trial and error
Speaker 1: was necessary to eventually create the street lined Sunday Night
Speaker 1: Saturday Night blockbusters. Though we know in today's world, Well,
Speaker 1: that wraps up our thoughts and feelings on Wrestlermania too.
Speaker 1: I want you to all go check out that show.
Speaker 1: It's like watching an old movie. You can watch it
Speaker 1: once and you never have to check it out again.
Speaker 1: But some people love it, some people hate it. But
Speaker 1: all I know is, until next time, keep your shoulders
Speaker 1: off the mat. I'm ce Fall and I'll see you
Speaker 1: next time on the fall count