"Hulkamania" was running wild going into 1986 as Hulk Hogan had been WWF Champion for two years and was still the company's top draw. One person who wanted to put a stop to "Hulkamania" was manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Heenan and his stable of wrestlers known as The Heenan Family were hellbent on destroying Hogan.
In early 1986, Heenan enlisted the services of 450 + lb. King Kong Bundy to take out Hogan. On an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, Bundy ambushed Hogan during his match with the Magnificent Muraco as he constantly gave Hogan a barrage of avalanches and big splashes, story line breaking Hogan's ribs and putting his career in jeopardy.
For the second year in a row, WrestleMania was the big show card and for the first time it was broadcast live on pay-per-view, a practice that still remains to this very day. WrestleMania 2 was held on April 7, 1986, but there was a catch.
This year, WrestleMania was held at three different venues: Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY, the Rosemont Horizon from Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena from Los Angeles, CA. Each venue would hold a bunch of matches and each featured a main event. When one city was done, they showed the next and then the final city.
In Long Island, the main event was Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T in a Boxing Match, which Mr. T won by disqualification when Piper could not control himself and performed wrestling moves and bodyslammed Mr. T.
In Rosemont (near Chicago), the main event was a match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between the champions The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) against The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) with rocker Ozzie Osbourne, where the Bulldogs defeated The Dream Team to win the titles.
The final main event was held at Los Angeles and it was Hulk Hogan, taped ribs and all, defending the WWF Championship against King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match. Bundy hit Hogan with an avalanche and a big splash, but Hogan "no sold" the move and began to "Hulk Up,"
Hogan then gave Bundy a Powerslam and then the leg drop and began to climb out of the cage. He was caught by Bundy as he grabbed his leg, but Hogan managed to kick him off and climbed out of the cage to win the match and retain the title. Hogan then grabbed Bobby Heenan and threw him into the cage where he proceeded to attack him.
There were a couple of other big matches on the card as "Macho Man" Randy Savage defended his Intercontinental Championship against George "The Animal" Steele in Long Island, which Savage defended the title by having his feet on the ropes, which is illegal, while pinning Steele.
The other really big match was a 20-man battle royal in Chicago that featured many WWF wrestlers and NFL players, including Chicago Bears' own William "Refrigerator" Perry. Andre the Giant won the battle royal when he threw both members of The Hart Foundation (Bret "Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) over the top rope.
Andre took some time off after the event as he was filming the movie "The Princess Bride" as well as needing some time off for health reasons as he was beginning to feel the affects to the terminal known as acromegaly, which caused his abnormally gigantic size.
Hulk Hogan would have a new rival as his ally Paul Orndorff turned on Hogan during a match as he clotheslined him and gave him a piledriver. To make matters worse, Orndorff joined forces with Bobby Heenan. Hogan defended the title against Orndorff for the rest of 1986, which ended in a Steel Cage match on the January 3, 1987 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, which took place on December 14, 1986.
Both Hogan and Orndorff climbed over the top of the cage and touched the floor at the same time, resulting in a draw. The match was ordered to restart as Hogan gave Orndorff the leg drop and easily escaped the cage to win the match and retain the title and ending their feud.
"Macho Man" Randy Savage made a big splash in 1986 as he defeated Tito Santana to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship on February 8, 1986 from the Boston Garden. Savage came into the WWF in 1985 as he was proclaimed to be the "hottest free agent" in professional wrestling as many of the top managers tried to become Savage's manager.
Savage turned them all down. Instead, he chose to bring in his then-real life wife Elizabeth Hulette to be his valet as she was simply known as "Miss Elizabeth." Elizabeth was the most beautiful woman in the industry as many of the fans, wrestlers, and even announcers would be drooling over Elizabeth. I'm not going to sugar coat this, she was hot back then watching the old clips.
Savage was a jealous and over-bearing heel who was overprotective of Elizabeth and threatened anyone who even dared to look at her. He mistreated her and many were upset at Savage for doing so. Savage's story line jealousy of Elizabeth was not much different than in real life as he was jealous of all the wrestlers who eyed her in the back and this friction eventually led to their divorce in later years.
Savage drew plenty of attention with his wild and colorful outfits and high-flying wrestling style. Savage's in-ring performance and out of the ring charisma eventually made him a main event superstar. He made the Intercontinental Championship, which was secondary to the WWF Championship, a big time title due to his style and caliber of matches he had.
Savage had a feud for most of 1986 with George "The Animal" Steele over Steele's love for Elizabeth. Steele was big, bald-headed, hairy bodied weirdo who could not speak words and had a green-tongue and even ate the turnbuckle padding. Savage defeated Steele in his first WrestleMania match and would feud with him over Elizabeth into 1987.
Another newcomer into 1986 made headlines and would be one of the promotion's top draws and that man was Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Roberts defeated former CFL football player George Wells at WrestleMania 2 in his WrestleMania debut when he gave Wells his patented DDT finisher (front face lock where he drops his opponent on his face and head).
After the match, Roberts took out his giant python snake Damien and wrapped him around Wells' head and made Wells foam from the mouth. Roberts usually did this by defeating an opponent with the DDT and then putting Damien around an opponent's head and neck and making him foam from the mouth.
No question about it, Roberts was one of if not the top heel in the industry. His first high profile feud was with the squeaky clean Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. During a match between the two on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event in May, Roberts gave Steamboat the DDT onto the concrete floor outside the ring, knocking Steamboat out and legitimately giving him a concussion.
Just before he gave him the DDT, Roberts pointed to Steamboat's wife Cheryl, who was sitting at ringside to watch her husband get slammed headfirst into the concrete. He even put Damien in Steamboat's mouth. Steamboat retaliated by unveiling a Komodo Dragon and Steamboat won the majority of the matches.
Roberts even began hosting a talk segment on WWF TV called "The Snake Pit", where he tried to push heel wrestlers and managers and demean the face ones. Although his tacts made him a heel, Roberts began to see a surge in popularity due to his character being so amazing.
Roberts took on Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event late in 1986. Both men were heels, but announcers Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura predicted the crowd would back Savage. However, the fans were firmly behind Roberts as the match ended in a double disqualification.
Roberts was set to have a feud with WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. However, after he gave Hogan the DDT during an episode of the Snake Pit, the fans cheered Roberts and McMahon scrapped the plans for this and eventually turned him into a babyface.
Showing posts with label Roddy Piper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roddy Piper. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
WWF 1985: the Birth of WrestleMania and the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection; Wrestling Becomes a Major Force in Sports Entertainment; Business Mixed with Pleasure; Celebrities Such as Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper Involved; Saturday Night's Main Event
As we left off in 1984, Hulk Hogan was the WWF Champion and the top face ever in the company. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was the top heel and Hogan's archenemy. Also, the WWF grew more mainstream as they had a connection with MTV as it would become known as the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection.
It didn't help matters that Cyndi Lauper was involved in storylines involving Piper and Hogan at the end of 1984 going into 1985 which created The War to Settle the Score that was televised on MTV. The event was broadcast from New York's legendary Madison Square Garden on February 18, 1985.
The main event of the event saw Hogan defending his WWF Championship against Piper. Hogan won by disqualification when Piper's allies Paul Orndorff and "Cowboy" Bob Orton attacked Hogan. Hogan's friend and actor Mr. T was sitting at ringside as he along with Lauper ran into the ring after the match, only to be attacked by Piper and his cronies.
This setup the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania event live from where else? Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985 in front of 19,121 fans. Vince McMahon wanted his own pay-per-view (PPV) super card event to respond to Jim Crockett's Starrcade event that was created in 1983. This started the annual biggest event in the WWF/E that still runs to this very day.
The inaugural WrestleMania was not shown on PPV as it was instead shown on closed-circuit television. In addition to Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper appearing, other celebrities such as former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali, Liberace, and New York Yankees manager Billy Martin all appeared at the inaugural WrestleMania event.
Hogan teamed with Mr. T to take on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in the main event. The end came when Orndorff held Hogan as Bob Orton climbed to the top rope in an attempt to hit Hogan with the cast on his arm. Hogan got out of the way as Orndorff was hit with the cast. Hogan pinned Orndorff as he and Mr. T won the match.
Lauper accompanied WWF Women's Champion Wendy Richter as she defended the title against Leilani Kai who had former Women's Champion the Fabulous Moolah in her corner. Lauper prevented Moolah from interfering as Richter defeated Kai to retain the title.
Another big match that occurred at WrestleMania was the $15,000 Body Slam Challenge between the giants of the industry at that time, Andre the Giant and Big John Studd, managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Andre had to bodyslam Studd and if he did he would win $15,000. If he didn't, then he would have to retire from wrestling.
Andre bodyslammed Studd to win the match and the $15,000. Andre took the duffle bag with the $15,000 and started throwing the money into the audience. Heenan eventually grabbed the bag with whatever money was left and ran backstage.
Hogan and Mr. T continued to feud with Roddy Piper and Bob Orton after WrestleMania and pretty much for the remainder of the year. Hogan gained a surprising ally in his fight as Paul Orndorff joined forces with him after being betrayed by both Piper and Orton.
Vince McMahon was losing money on his deal with Ted Turner following the purchase of Georgia Championship Wrestling and was looking to get out of the Saturday evening time slot he had on TBS. McMahon sold the time slot to Jim Crockett Jr. and Jim Crockett Promotions for approximately $1 million to run his show during this time slot.
Eventually, Turner bought out Crockett and owned World Championship Wrestling and started a big rivalry with McMahon and the WWF until McMahon purchased Turner's WCW in 2001. Fortunately the run on Turner did not hurt McMahon and his programming on the USA Network. McMahon needed the money to launch Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC.
McMahon came up with Saturday Night's Main Event to be run on NBC during the late-night time slot when they would air reruns of the hit show Saturday Night Live. Then-SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol agreed to air the show after seeing the high ratings of the two WWF special events run on MTV in 1984-85.
The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event was held on May 11, 1985 as the event was actually held the night before on May 10, but aired tape-delayed on Saturday night. Hulk Hogan defended the WWF Championship against Bob Orton and won by disqualification.
Saturday Night's Main Event ran until 1992 (which the final year was broadcast on Fox) before it was brought back for a couple of years starting in 2006. The event was usually tape-delayed as the event itself was actually held earlier that week or even sometimes a month before the actual showing. The event was held about 4-5 times a year and was a tremendous ratings success for NBC.
On November 7, 1985, the WWF had its very first event broadcast on pay-per-view called The Wrestling Classic from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois. There would be a 16-man single elimination tournament held that night. Also, Hulk Hogan defended his WWF Championship against arch nemesis Roddy Piper. The WWF even gave away a brand new Rolls Royce to some lucky fan.
The Junkyard Dog defeated newcomer "Macho Man" Randy Savage by count out in the finals to win the match and the tournament. Hogan defeated Piper by disqualification when Bob Orton hit him with his cast and the two double-teamed him until Paul Orndorff ran in to help Hogan.
It's interesting to see the tandem of Hogan and Orndorff work together going into 1986 as well as the rise of the young Macho Man Randy Savage.
It didn't help matters that Cyndi Lauper was involved in storylines involving Piper and Hogan at the end of 1984 going into 1985 which created The War to Settle the Score that was televised on MTV. The event was broadcast from New York's legendary Madison Square Garden on February 18, 1985.
The main event of the event saw Hogan defending his WWF Championship against Piper. Hogan won by disqualification when Piper's allies Paul Orndorff and "Cowboy" Bob Orton attacked Hogan. Hogan's friend and actor Mr. T was sitting at ringside as he along with Lauper ran into the ring after the match, only to be attacked by Piper and his cronies.
This setup the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania event live from where else? Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985 in front of 19,121 fans. Vince McMahon wanted his own pay-per-view (PPV) super card event to respond to Jim Crockett's Starrcade event that was created in 1983. This started the annual biggest event in the WWF/E that still runs to this very day.
The inaugural WrestleMania was not shown on PPV as it was instead shown on closed-circuit television. In addition to Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper appearing, other celebrities such as former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali, Liberace, and New York Yankees manager Billy Martin all appeared at the inaugural WrestleMania event.
Hogan teamed with Mr. T to take on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in the main event. The end came when Orndorff held Hogan as Bob Orton climbed to the top rope in an attempt to hit Hogan with the cast on his arm. Hogan got out of the way as Orndorff was hit with the cast. Hogan pinned Orndorff as he and Mr. T won the match.
Lauper accompanied WWF Women's Champion Wendy Richter as she defended the title against Leilani Kai who had former Women's Champion the Fabulous Moolah in her corner. Lauper prevented Moolah from interfering as Richter defeated Kai to retain the title.
Another big match that occurred at WrestleMania was the $15,000 Body Slam Challenge between the giants of the industry at that time, Andre the Giant and Big John Studd, managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Andre had to bodyslam Studd and if he did he would win $15,000. If he didn't, then he would have to retire from wrestling.
Andre bodyslammed Studd to win the match and the $15,000. Andre took the duffle bag with the $15,000 and started throwing the money into the audience. Heenan eventually grabbed the bag with whatever money was left and ran backstage.
Hogan and Mr. T continued to feud with Roddy Piper and Bob Orton after WrestleMania and pretty much for the remainder of the year. Hogan gained a surprising ally in his fight as Paul Orndorff joined forces with him after being betrayed by both Piper and Orton.
Vince McMahon was losing money on his deal with Ted Turner following the purchase of Georgia Championship Wrestling and was looking to get out of the Saturday evening time slot he had on TBS. McMahon sold the time slot to Jim Crockett Jr. and Jim Crockett Promotions for approximately $1 million to run his show during this time slot.
Eventually, Turner bought out Crockett and owned World Championship Wrestling and started a big rivalry with McMahon and the WWF until McMahon purchased Turner's WCW in 2001. Fortunately the run on Turner did not hurt McMahon and his programming on the USA Network. McMahon needed the money to launch Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC.
McMahon came up with Saturday Night's Main Event to be run on NBC during the late-night time slot when they would air reruns of the hit show Saturday Night Live. Then-SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol agreed to air the show after seeing the high ratings of the two WWF special events run on MTV in 1984-85.
The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event was held on May 11, 1985 as the event was actually held the night before on May 10, but aired tape-delayed on Saturday night. Hulk Hogan defended the WWF Championship against Bob Orton and won by disqualification.
Saturday Night's Main Event ran until 1992 (which the final year was broadcast on Fox) before it was brought back for a couple of years starting in 2006. The event was usually tape-delayed as the event itself was actually held earlier that week or even sometimes a month before the actual showing. The event was held about 4-5 times a year and was a tremendous ratings success for NBC.
On November 7, 1985, the WWF had its very first event broadcast on pay-per-view called The Wrestling Classic from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois. There would be a 16-man single elimination tournament held that night. Also, Hulk Hogan defended his WWF Championship against arch nemesis Roddy Piper. The WWF even gave away a brand new Rolls Royce to some lucky fan.
The Junkyard Dog defeated newcomer "Macho Man" Randy Savage by count out in the finals to win the match and the tournament. Hogan defeated Piper by disqualification when Bob Orton hit him with his cast and the two double-teamed him until Paul Orndorff ran in to help Hogan.
It's interesting to see the tandem of Hogan and Orndorff work together going into 1986 as well as the rise of the young Macho Man Randy Savage.
NWA-Mid Atlantic-JCP 1984: Vince McMahon Invades the NWA Territories; JCP, NWA, and AWA Join Forces in Response to McMahon and the WWF
With Vincent Kennedy McMahon taking over the WWF from his ailing father Vincent James McMahon, the younger McMahon broke several major cardinal rules such as not invading other territories and taking them over and raiding the other promotions of their top talent. He'd even book his shows in other's respective territories.
McMahon acquired many top wrestlers, managers, and announcers in late 1983 and 1984 from various NWA top affiliates as well as Verne Gagne's AWA such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bob Orton Jr., Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Ken Patera, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, and the biggest acquisition Hulk Hogan, who was the number one promoter in the WWF.
Even though the elder McMahon and his WWF was not affiliated with the top and oldest wrestling promotion at the time the NWA and it's various territories throughout the United States, the elder McMahon still respected the code of staying in his territory. This was a lot like Gagne and his Minneapolis-based AWA, who also wasn't affiliated with the NWA but stayed only in his region and did not dare go to the other territories and they left him alone.
In 1984, the younger McMahon took over a major NWA affiliate by purchasing Georgia Championship Wrestling and taking over its Saturday night time slot to show his WWF programming beginning on July 14, 1984. The incident was known on as "Black Saturday." The war was on.
Promoters knew they had to either team up against McMahon or be out of business. The owner and promoter of the NWA's therefore wrestling's top promotion Jim Crockett Jr. of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling decided to fight back.
Crockett formed an alliance with other promoters Gagne of the AWA, Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler of Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), and Ole Anderson of Georgia Championship Wrestling along with other promoters of various NWA territories to create Pro Wrestling USA.
The joint venture was created to promote shows throughout the country and take it to McMahon and the WWF. They taped many shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the heart of WWF country in an attempt to undermine them.
Even though the WWF was on its way up with "Hulkamania", the NWA Mid Atlantic-JCP was still the top promotion in 1984 and the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair was recognized as the top world heavyweight champion in wrestling, even more than the WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan.
Flair won the title, his second reign as NWA world champion, from the legendary Harley Race on Thanksgiving Night November 24, 1983 at the inaugural Starrcade supercars from Greensboro, North Carolina. The inaugural Starrcade event changed the face of professional wrestling as super cards were shown only on closed circuit television and eventually on pay-per-view (PPV).
Both the NWA and soon after the WWF, beginning with WrestleMania, began showing these supercards on PPV once a year and soon added another, and another, and another. Soon there would be a PPV event up to six times a year to now where there is one every month of the year.
Flair was the NWA world champion, the best in the business. After trading the championship with Race during an international tour in March 1984, Flair's next challenger was a kid from Dallas, Texas Kerry Von Erich.
Kerry was from the famous Von Erich family from Texas' NWA affiliate World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) as the NWA recognized Kerry as the number one contender to Flair's NWA World Title. Before Kerry, his brother David Von Erich was actually the number one contender to the NWA World Title.
The NWA Championship Committee supposedly voted David to defeat Flair for the title in either March or April 1984. Sadly, on February 10, 1984 during a tour of Japan, David Von Erich died suddenly from an intestinal rupture caused by a stomach ailment. This was the start of the "Von Erich family curse" where brothers Mike, Chris, and Kerry would eventually kill themselves in later years.
Flair defended the NWA title against Kerry at Texas Stadium on May 6, 1984 in the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions event held in the honor of David Von Erich. Over 45,000 fans witnessed the Texan Kerry Von Erich defeating Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
18 days later in Yokosuka, Japan, Flair won back the NWA World Title from Kerry Von Erich for his fourth reign as world champion. This reign as world champion for Flair would last for over two years, 793 days.
Flair defended the title against Dusty Rhodes in a one million dollar challenge at Starrcade '84 on Thanksgiving Night, November 22, 1984 from Greensboro. Flair defeated Rhodes to retain the title when special guest referee and Boxing legend "Smokin" Joe Frazier stopped the match due to excessive blood from Rhodes.
Flair dominated 1984 on his way to an even more successful 1985. The NWA and JCP was quiet outside of the Pro Wrestling USA merger, but things would get interesting as Jim Crockett and the NWA would start consolidating territories into one super power to take on Vince McMahon and the WWF.
McMahon acquired many top wrestlers, managers, and announcers in late 1983 and 1984 from various NWA top affiliates as well as Verne Gagne's AWA such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bob Orton Jr., Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Ken Patera, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, and the biggest acquisition Hulk Hogan, who was the number one promoter in the WWF.
Even though the elder McMahon and his WWF was not affiliated with the top and oldest wrestling promotion at the time the NWA and it's various territories throughout the United States, the elder McMahon still respected the code of staying in his territory. This was a lot like Gagne and his Minneapolis-based AWA, who also wasn't affiliated with the NWA but stayed only in his region and did not dare go to the other territories and they left him alone.
In 1984, the younger McMahon took over a major NWA affiliate by purchasing Georgia Championship Wrestling and taking over its Saturday night time slot to show his WWF programming beginning on July 14, 1984. The incident was known on as "Black Saturday." The war was on.
Promoters knew they had to either team up against McMahon or be out of business. The owner and promoter of the NWA's therefore wrestling's top promotion Jim Crockett Jr. of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling decided to fight back.
Crockett formed an alliance with other promoters Gagne of the AWA, Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler of Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), and Ole Anderson of Georgia Championship Wrestling along with other promoters of various NWA territories to create Pro Wrestling USA.
The joint venture was created to promote shows throughout the country and take it to McMahon and the WWF. They taped many shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the heart of WWF country in an attempt to undermine them.
Even though the WWF was on its way up with "Hulkamania", the NWA Mid Atlantic-JCP was still the top promotion in 1984 and the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair was recognized as the top world heavyweight champion in wrestling, even more than the WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan.
Flair won the title, his second reign as NWA world champion, from the legendary Harley Race on Thanksgiving Night November 24, 1983 at the inaugural Starrcade supercars from Greensboro, North Carolina. The inaugural Starrcade event changed the face of professional wrestling as super cards were shown only on closed circuit television and eventually on pay-per-view (PPV).
Both the NWA and soon after the WWF, beginning with WrestleMania, began showing these supercards on PPV once a year and soon added another, and another, and another. Soon there would be a PPV event up to six times a year to now where there is one every month of the year.
Flair was the NWA world champion, the best in the business. After trading the championship with Race during an international tour in March 1984, Flair's next challenger was a kid from Dallas, Texas Kerry Von Erich.
Kerry was from the famous Von Erich family from Texas' NWA affiliate World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) as the NWA recognized Kerry as the number one contender to Flair's NWA World Title. Before Kerry, his brother David Von Erich was actually the number one contender to the NWA World Title.
The NWA Championship Committee supposedly voted David to defeat Flair for the title in either March or April 1984. Sadly, on February 10, 1984 during a tour of Japan, David Von Erich died suddenly from an intestinal rupture caused by a stomach ailment. This was the start of the "Von Erich family curse" where brothers Mike, Chris, and Kerry would eventually kill themselves in later years.
Flair defended the NWA title against Kerry at Texas Stadium on May 6, 1984 in the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions event held in the honor of David Von Erich. Over 45,000 fans witnessed the Texan Kerry Von Erich defeating Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
18 days later in Yokosuka, Japan, Flair won back the NWA World Title from Kerry Von Erich for his fourth reign as world champion. This reign as world champion for Flair would last for over two years, 793 days.
Flair defended the title against Dusty Rhodes in a one million dollar challenge at Starrcade '84 on Thanksgiving Night, November 22, 1984 from Greensboro. Flair defeated Rhodes to retain the title when special guest referee and Boxing legend "Smokin" Joe Frazier stopped the match due to excessive blood from Rhodes.
Flair dominated 1984 on his way to an even more successful 1985. The NWA and JCP was quiet outside of the Pro Wrestling USA merger, but things would get interesting as Jim Crockett and the NWA would start consolidating territories into one super power to take on Vince McMahon and the WWF.
WWF 1984: The Year the Territorial Wrestling Died and National and International Wrestling Was Created; The Birth of "Hulkamania"; "Rowdy" Roddy Piper; Black Saturday
For years, wrestling promoters in each territory had an "unwritten rule" not to invade or bury the other promoters in their respective territories. Vincent Kennedy McMahon and his Titan Sports, Inc. acquired the Capital Wrestling, Co. and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from his father and promoter Vincent J. McMahon in 1982.
The younger Vince McMahon had been working for his father's company starting in 1969. He was a promoter and also was an announcer on WWF TV. McMahon wanted to be a wrestler, but his father was against that saying that promoters should stay away from the wrestlers. His father let him be an announcer so he can appear on television. McMahon would still be an announcer long after becoming the owner of the WWF, but kept it a secret on TV until the mid-to-late 1990s.
The elder Vince McMahon had owned Capital Wrestling since taking over from his father Jess McMahon after he passed away in 1954. McMahon founded the modern day what is now known as the WWE (then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and changed simply to the WWF in 1979) in 1963 after Capital broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
The Capital-WWF territory was in the northeast, primarily New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Despite not being affiliated with the NWA, the oldest and top wrestling promotion at the time, Vincent J. McMahon did not do anything to ruin or take over the other promoters in their respective NWA territories, you just did not do that in those days.
The younger Vince McMahon, however, did not abide by these unwritten rules. But for McMahon to make his promotion number one and make wrestling as a whole number one, he knew had to break these rules and create a juggernaut instead of just sitting in territories and never growing.
McMahon has stated numerous times: he's not in the wrestling business, he's in the entertainment business. More specifically, he's in the "sports entertainment" business so he's not there to abide by some old unwritten rule and code. He's there to put the best possible product out there to put the most amount of fans in seats to be number one and if you couldn't compete with that, you were out of luck.
McMahon had quickly began expanding the WWF out of the Northeast and into the other territories and began to run them out of business by taking over that territories' market. McMahon went up north and bought out the Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling and made Jack Tunney the on-air President of the WWF. McMahon then moved out west to purchase Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary.
In addition to committing the Cardinal sin of running a territorial promotion out of business and taking them over, McMahon did another no-no and that was take the promotions' top talents and put them in his WWF. McMahon brought in Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and the Dynamite Kid from Stampede after buying them out.
He raided some of the top wrestlers and managers in both the NWA territories and Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Junkyard Dog, Mike Rotundo, Dave Schultz, Ken Patera, and "Mean" Gene Okerlund.
The biggest acquisition McMahon made was Hulk Hogan, who was the most popular and top drawing wrestler in the AWA. After Gagne did not want to put the AWA World Heavyweight Championship around Hogan's waist and did not to give him a larger percentage of merchandise sales, McMahon went ahead and hired Hogan to be his top draw in his new powerhouse federation.
Hogan had competed in the older McMahon's WWF from 1979 to 1981. Hogan was a heel and while he was a draw, he wasn't the top guy in the company. McMahon decided to fire Hogan after Hogan went against McMahon's wishes and acted in Rocky III as "Thunderlips." The younger McMahon knew how big of a star Hogan was in the AWA and figured he'd be an ever bigger star by making him the number one in his promotion.
McMahon further drew the ire from Gagne by having the wrestlers not follow the normal procedure for leaving the AWA, which is to give six weeks notice in advance. McMahon allegedly paid the wrestlers to leave the AWA earlier than six weeks.
According to Verne's son Greg Gagne, McMahon attempted to purchase the AWA from Verne the year earlier. Due to a falling out between McMahon and Gagne, the deal fell through and McMahon did everything in his power to put the AWA under, especially bringing in Hogan.
This ticked off the promoters of the other territories who were quickly going out of business after many years. They were furious at the elder McMahon for his son ruining them. Love it or hate it, this was the way the professional wrestling business was heading as it was going more national and international instead of simply in territories.
You either had to compete with McMahon and the WWF or it was over. The older McMahon did not get to see his son's vision of the WWF being the top promotion come to fruition. Sadly, Vincent J. McMahon passed away on May 24, 1984 at the age of 69 years old.
The event that really sparked the tipping point of professional wrestling turning from a local or regional sport to a national and international phenomenon took place in the summer of 1984 when Vince McMahon purchased the NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and merged it with his WWF.
McMahon bought out the stocks of Jack and Jerry Brisco (who were the primary and majority shareholders of GCW) for less than a million dollars and guaranteed job security in the WWF. Jerry Brisco still to this day works in the WWE for McMahon.
Besides putting another territorial promotion out of business, McMahon wanted to buy GCW for another reason and that was their Saturday Night time slot for their flagship show World Championship Wrestling on Superstation WTBS to put his WWF programming on national television and showcase it to the rest of the country.
The first episode of the new WWF World Championship Wrestling show was on July 14, 1984 and is commonly referred to as "Black Saturday." Fans who turned on Superstation WTBS to watch their favorite NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling show, the World Championship Wrestling Saturday night show on July 14, 1984 were absolutely stunned at what they saw on TV.
Fans who never thought this man would appear on one of their shows saw Vince K. McMahon on the show to announce that he bought Georgia Championship Wrestling and his WWF programming would now be on the Saturday night time slot on WTBS.
The Georgia fans were accustomed to their good old fashioned Southern "rasslin" were turned off by McMahon and the WWF and their "Yankee" brand of wrestling. The WWF on TBS was a ratings disaster from the beginning as the fans demanded to know why GCW was off the air replaced by the WWF. McMahon soon pulled out of the agreement less than a year later.
What angered WTBS owner and founder Ted Turner was that he hoped McMahon would use his WTBS studios to film his WWF TV shows, but McMahon instead used the WWF World Championship Wrestling show as a recap show.
Also in 1984, McMahon started a relationship with a major cable television network, the USA Network to show his wrestling shows. With WTBS, USA, and his nationally-syndicated TV shows, McMahon's WWF was seen by millions of fans each and every week as it gained so much recognition and national exposure.
The biggest story in 1984 was McMahon making Hulk Hogan the WWF World Heavyweight Champion shortly after he rejoined the WWF. When McMahon hired Hogan in December 1983, he was looking for a new face for his company to go global as nearly six-year WWF Champion Bob Backlund was no longer the face of the company due to fans being sick of him and McMahon wanted it to be Hogan.
At Madison Square Garden on December 26, 1983, Backlund lost the WWF Championship after a 2,135-day reign to The Iron Sheik when Sheik put Backlund in his Camel Clutch and Backlund's manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel for Backlund. The Sheik was a transitional champion as McMahon took the belt off one babyface to put it on a heel so that he could put the belt on another babyface.
Sheik was supposed to defend the title against Backlund in a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984, but Backlund was battling a storyline neck injury and was replaced by Hogan. Hogan was locked into The Sheik's Camel Clutch finishing hold, which Sheik has used to beat everyone including Backlund for the title, but Hogan used "super human" strength to power out of the hold.
Hogan picked up Sheik on his back and ran him into the turnbuckles. Hogan then hit Sheik with a running Atomic Leg Drop that would be his signature finishing move to pin The Sheik to win his first career WWF World Heavyweight Championship and his first World Heavyweight Championship of any kind. "Hulkamania" was born that night and professional wrestling would never be the same again.
Hogan would defeat anyone that came his way as he remained the champion for the rest of the year. Hogan became a superstar overnight and was the most popular wrestler. Hogan's fans were known as "Hulkamaniacs" who were swept in the "Hulkamania" phenomenon.
Hogan used the word "brother" a lot in his interviews and told his fans about his three "demandments": training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. Hogan would wear yellow-and-red ring attire with a muscle shit and a headband (later a bandana).
Hogan would play to the audience by ripping off his muscle shirt and begin posing and flexing his muscles. Hogan would also put his hand up to his ear to signal he really wants to hear the audience scream and shout. Hogan would do much of the same in his post-match celebration.
During his matches, Hogan would usually get a second wind when he looked beaten and began to "Hulk up!" as he would be impervious to pain by no-selling his opponents attacks. Hogan would then point at his opponent and shout "You!"
Hogan then gave his opponent three right hand punches and then throw him into the ropes, where he would deliver a big boot. If the opponent was a giant, he would then bodyslam them after the boot. Hogan would then run to the ropes and deliver his signature Atomic Leg Drop to win the match.
The other really big acquisition McMahon made was a boisterous loud mouth by the name of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. If Hogan was the WWF's #1 babyface, then Piper was the #1 heel. Piper came to the ring wearing a kilt and sometimes even playing the bagpipes, a play off his Scottish heritage.
Piper debuted as a manager for "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and "Dr. D" David Schultz as injuries from his Dog Collar match with Greg Valentine at Starrcade before he came to the WWF prevented him from wrestling right away.
Eventually, he became a full-time wrestler. To further cement his status as the biggest heel in the company, he was given his own interview segment shown on WWF TV called "Piper's Pit", which he had until 1987. Piper would spout off on the WWF's babyfaces and fans. His trash talking back in the old school days actually would have made the Attitude Era of more than a decade later jealous.
Piper's heat as a heel really turned up on an episode of Piper's Pit when he interviewed Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He made fun of Snuka's heritage and then attacked him by hitting him in the head with a coconut and then smashed a banana in his face.
The next big incident involving on December 28 when musician Cyndi Lauper, her boyfriend and manager at the time David Wolff, and Captain Lou Albano were in the ring as Lauper and Wolff were presenting an award to Albano.
Piper came to the ring as he insulted her music and the connection between rock music and the WWF that was starting up at that time. He then took the award and smashed it over Albano's head. Piper then attacked Lauper and Wolff until Hulk Hogan ran into the ring to chase Piper away.
This started the Rock 'n'Wrestling Connection as well as the stepping stone to first-ever WrestleMania Super Card that was ahead in 1985.
The younger Vince McMahon had been working for his father's company starting in 1969. He was a promoter and also was an announcer on WWF TV. McMahon wanted to be a wrestler, but his father was against that saying that promoters should stay away from the wrestlers. His father let him be an announcer so he can appear on television. McMahon would still be an announcer long after becoming the owner of the WWF, but kept it a secret on TV until the mid-to-late 1990s.
The elder Vince McMahon had owned Capital Wrestling since taking over from his father Jess McMahon after he passed away in 1954. McMahon founded the modern day what is now known as the WWE (then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and changed simply to the WWF in 1979) in 1963 after Capital broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
The Capital-WWF territory was in the northeast, primarily New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Despite not being affiliated with the NWA, the oldest and top wrestling promotion at the time, Vincent J. McMahon did not do anything to ruin or take over the other promoters in their respective NWA territories, you just did not do that in those days.
The younger Vince McMahon, however, did not abide by these unwritten rules. But for McMahon to make his promotion number one and make wrestling as a whole number one, he knew had to break these rules and create a juggernaut instead of just sitting in territories and never growing.
McMahon has stated numerous times: he's not in the wrestling business, he's in the entertainment business. More specifically, he's in the "sports entertainment" business so he's not there to abide by some old unwritten rule and code. He's there to put the best possible product out there to put the most amount of fans in seats to be number one and if you couldn't compete with that, you were out of luck.
McMahon had quickly began expanding the WWF out of the Northeast and into the other territories and began to run them out of business by taking over that territories' market. McMahon went up north and bought out the Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling and made Jack Tunney the on-air President of the WWF. McMahon then moved out west to purchase Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary.
In addition to committing the Cardinal sin of running a territorial promotion out of business and taking them over, McMahon did another no-no and that was take the promotions' top talents and put them in his WWF. McMahon brought in Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and the Dynamite Kid from Stampede after buying them out.
He raided some of the top wrestlers and managers in both the NWA territories and Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Junkyard Dog, Mike Rotundo, Dave Schultz, Ken Patera, and "Mean" Gene Okerlund.
The biggest acquisition McMahon made was Hulk Hogan, who was the most popular and top drawing wrestler in the AWA. After Gagne did not want to put the AWA World Heavyweight Championship around Hogan's waist and did not to give him a larger percentage of merchandise sales, McMahon went ahead and hired Hogan to be his top draw in his new powerhouse federation.
Hogan had competed in the older McMahon's WWF from 1979 to 1981. Hogan was a heel and while he was a draw, he wasn't the top guy in the company. McMahon decided to fire Hogan after Hogan went against McMahon's wishes and acted in Rocky III as "Thunderlips." The younger McMahon knew how big of a star Hogan was in the AWA and figured he'd be an ever bigger star by making him the number one in his promotion.
McMahon further drew the ire from Gagne by having the wrestlers not follow the normal procedure for leaving the AWA, which is to give six weeks notice in advance. McMahon allegedly paid the wrestlers to leave the AWA earlier than six weeks.
According to Verne's son Greg Gagne, McMahon attempted to purchase the AWA from Verne the year earlier. Due to a falling out between McMahon and Gagne, the deal fell through and McMahon did everything in his power to put the AWA under, especially bringing in Hogan.
This ticked off the promoters of the other territories who were quickly going out of business after many years. They were furious at the elder McMahon for his son ruining them. Love it or hate it, this was the way the professional wrestling business was heading as it was going more national and international instead of simply in territories.
You either had to compete with McMahon and the WWF or it was over. The older McMahon did not get to see his son's vision of the WWF being the top promotion come to fruition. Sadly, Vincent J. McMahon passed away on May 24, 1984 at the age of 69 years old.
The event that really sparked the tipping point of professional wrestling turning from a local or regional sport to a national and international phenomenon took place in the summer of 1984 when Vince McMahon purchased the NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and merged it with his WWF.
McMahon bought out the stocks of Jack and Jerry Brisco (who were the primary and majority shareholders of GCW) for less than a million dollars and guaranteed job security in the WWF. Jerry Brisco still to this day works in the WWE for McMahon.
Besides putting another territorial promotion out of business, McMahon wanted to buy GCW for another reason and that was their Saturday Night time slot for their flagship show World Championship Wrestling on Superstation WTBS to put his WWF programming on national television and showcase it to the rest of the country.
The first episode of the new WWF World Championship Wrestling show was on July 14, 1984 and is commonly referred to as "Black Saturday." Fans who turned on Superstation WTBS to watch their favorite NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling show, the World Championship Wrestling Saturday night show on July 14, 1984 were absolutely stunned at what they saw on TV.
Fans who never thought this man would appear on one of their shows saw Vince K. McMahon on the show to announce that he bought Georgia Championship Wrestling and his WWF programming would now be on the Saturday night time slot on WTBS.
The Georgia fans were accustomed to their good old fashioned Southern "rasslin" were turned off by McMahon and the WWF and their "Yankee" brand of wrestling. The WWF on TBS was a ratings disaster from the beginning as the fans demanded to know why GCW was off the air replaced by the WWF. McMahon soon pulled out of the agreement less than a year later.
What angered WTBS owner and founder Ted Turner was that he hoped McMahon would use his WTBS studios to film his WWF TV shows, but McMahon instead used the WWF World Championship Wrestling show as a recap show.
Also in 1984, McMahon started a relationship with a major cable television network, the USA Network to show his wrestling shows. With WTBS, USA, and his nationally-syndicated TV shows, McMahon's WWF was seen by millions of fans each and every week as it gained so much recognition and national exposure.
The biggest story in 1984 was McMahon making Hulk Hogan the WWF World Heavyweight Champion shortly after he rejoined the WWF. When McMahon hired Hogan in December 1983, he was looking for a new face for his company to go global as nearly six-year WWF Champion Bob Backlund was no longer the face of the company due to fans being sick of him and McMahon wanted it to be Hogan.
At Madison Square Garden on December 26, 1983, Backlund lost the WWF Championship after a 2,135-day reign to The Iron Sheik when Sheik put Backlund in his Camel Clutch and Backlund's manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel for Backlund. The Sheik was a transitional champion as McMahon took the belt off one babyface to put it on a heel so that he could put the belt on another babyface.
Sheik was supposed to defend the title against Backlund in a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984, but Backlund was battling a storyline neck injury and was replaced by Hogan. Hogan was locked into The Sheik's Camel Clutch finishing hold, which Sheik has used to beat everyone including Backlund for the title, but Hogan used "super human" strength to power out of the hold.
Hogan picked up Sheik on his back and ran him into the turnbuckles. Hogan then hit Sheik with a running Atomic Leg Drop that would be his signature finishing move to pin The Sheik to win his first career WWF World Heavyweight Championship and his first World Heavyweight Championship of any kind. "Hulkamania" was born that night and professional wrestling would never be the same again.
Hogan would defeat anyone that came his way as he remained the champion for the rest of the year. Hogan became a superstar overnight and was the most popular wrestler. Hogan's fans were known as "Hulkamaniacs" who were swept in the "Hulkamania" phenomenon.
Hogan used the word "brother" a lot in his interviews and told his fans about his three "demandments": training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. Hogan would wear yellow-and-red ring attire with a muscle shit and a headband (later a bandana).
Hogan would play to the audience by ripping off his muscle shirt and begin posing and flexing his muscles. Hogan would also put his hand up to his ear to signal he really wants to hear the audience scream and shout. Hogan would do much of the same in his post-match celebration.
During his matches, Hogan would usually get a second wind when he looked beaten and began to "Hulk up!" as he would be impervious to pain by no-selling his opponents attacks. Hogan would then point at his opponent and shout "You!"
Hogan then gave his opponent three right hand punches and then throw him into the ropes, where he would deliver a big boot. If the opponent was a giant, he would then bodyslam them after the boot. Hogan would then run to the ropes and deliver his signature Atomic Leg Drop to win the match.
The other really big acquisition McMahon made was a boisterous loud mouth by the name of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. If Hogan was the WWF's #1 babyface, then Piper was the #1 heel. Piper came to the ring wearing a kilt and sometimes even playing the bagpipes, a play off his Scottish heritage.
Piper debuted as a manager for "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and "Dr. D" David Schultz as injuries from his Dog Collar match with Greg Valentine at Starrcade before he came to the WWF prevented him from wrestling right away.
Eventually, he became a full-time wrestler. To further cement his status as the biggest heel in the company, he was given his own interview segment shown on WWF TV called "Piper's Pit", which he had until 1987. Piper would spout off on the WWF's babyfaces and fans. His trash talking back in the old school days actually would have made the Attitude Era of more than a decade later jealous.
Piper's heat as a heel really turned up on an episode of Piper's Pit when he interviewed Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He made fun of Snuka's heritage and then attacked him by hitting him in the head with a coconut and then smashed a banana in his face.
The next big incident involving on December 28 when musician Cyndi Lauper, her boyfriend and manager at the time David Wolff, and Captain Lou Albano were in the ring as Lauper and Wolff were presenting an award to Albano.
Piper came to the ring as he insulted her music and the connection between rock music and the WWF that was starting up at that time. He then took the award and smashed it over Albano's head. Piper then attacked Lauper and Wolff until Hulk Hogan ran into the ring to chase Piper away.
This started the Rock 'n'Wrestling Connection as well as the stepping stone to first-ever WrestleMania Super Card that was ahead in 1985.
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