| The Brawl to End It All | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Wendy Richter (left) won theWWF Women's Championship atThe Brawl to End It All, accompanied byCyndi Lauper (right) | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation | ||
| Date | July 23, 1984[1] | ||
| City | New York, New York, United States[1] | ||
| Venue | Madison Square Garden[1] | ||
| Attendance | 23,416[1] | ||
| Television special chronology | |||
| |||
The Brawl to End It All is aprofessional wrestling event produced by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) and broadcast live onMTV. It took place atMadison Square Garden inNew York, New York in the United States on July 23, 1984. The show was a major event in theRock 'n' Wrestling Connection in the mid-1980s WWF, and began a storyline that ultimately culminated in thefirst WrestleMania. Themain event featuredThe Fabulous Moolah defending theWWF Women's Championship againstWendi Richter. Richterpinned Moolah to win the Women's Championship. It was the only match of the event that was shown on national television (on MTV). In the main event fromclosed-circuit televisionHulk Hogan pinnedGreg Valentine to retain theWWF World Heavyweight Championship.
The event was recorded and shown on theMadison Square Garden Network. On September 5, 2019 the entire show was added to theWWE Network in their "Hidden Gems" section. It was removed the next day.[2]
CaptainLou Albano, a wrestlingmanager, appeared inCyndi Lauper's 1983 music video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". This led to a scripted wrestling storyline in which Albano'ssexism angered Lauper. Albano and Lauper appeared on WWF television programs to voice their anger at each other.[3] Eventually, it was decided that thefeud would be settled in a wrestling match. Lauper chose WWF female wrestler Wendi Richter to represent her, while Albano managed The Fabulous Moolah, who had held the WWF Women's Championship for almost 28 years.[4][5][6]
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Gorilla Monsoon |
| Gene Okerlund | |
| Interviewer | Gene Okerlund |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
The opening bout was asingles match between Ron Shaw andSika. Sika won the match by pinfall following adiving headbutt. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The second bout was a singles match betweenThe Iron Sheik andTony Garea. The Iron Sheik defeated Garea by pinfall following abackdrop driver. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The third bout was a singles match in whichWWF Intercontinental ChampionTito Santana defended his title against"Cowboy" Bob Orton. The match ended in a time-limitdraw after 20 minutes. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The fourth bout was a singles match betweenBob Backlund andButcher Vachon. Backlund defeated Vachon viasubmission using thecrossface chickenwing. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The fifth bout was a singles match in whichWWF World Heavyweight ChampionHulk Hogan defended his title againstGreg "the Hammer" Valentine. Hogan defeated Valentine by pinfall following aleg drop. This match aired onclosed-circuit television.[1][7][8]
The sixth bout was a singles match in whichWWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight ChampionAntonio Inoki defended his title againstCharlie Fulton. Inoki defeated Fulton by pinfall following aenzuigiri. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The seventh bout was atag team match in whichWWF Tag Team Champions the North-South Connection (Adrian Adonis andDick Murdoch) defended their titles against the Cobra Corps (Sgt. Slaughter and his protégé,Pvt. Terry Daniels). The North-South Connection won the match by pinning Daniels following abackbreaker hold, diving elbow drop combination. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The eighth bout was a singles match in whichWWF Women's ChampionThe Fabulous Moolah defended her title againstWendi Richter. Going into the match, Moolah was billed as having been champion for 26 years.[9] Moolah was aged 60, while Richter (who Moolah had trained) was 22.[6] Moolah was accompanied to the ring byCaptain Lou Albano, while Richter was accompanied by the singerCyndi Lauper and her manager David Wolff). Richter won the title by pinning Moolah after lifting her shoulder on aGerman suplex. This match aired on MTV.[1][7][8][10][11]
The ninth bout was a singles match betweenChief Jay Strongbow and"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. Orndorff won the match by pinfall following aclothesline. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The tenth bout was a singles match betweenAfa andRene Goulet. Afa won the match by pinfall following aSamoan drop. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The main event was a 20-manbattle royal between Adrian Adonis, Afa, Antonio Inoki, Butcher Vachon, Charlie Fulton, Chief Jay Strongbow, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Dick Murdoch, The Iron Sheik,Jose Luis Rivera, Paul Orndorff, Pvt. Terry Daniels, Rene Goulet, Ron Shaw,Samu, Sgt. Slaughter, Sika,Steve Lombardi, Tito Santana, and Tony Garea. Inoki won the battle royal, lastly eliminating Goulet. This was a dark match that did not air on the television broadcast.[1][7][8]
The Brawl to End It All was "a tremendous success".[6] The event had a 9.0Nielsen rating,[1] which made it the most-watched program in the history of MTV to that point.[3]
On February 18, 1985, the WWF promoted another wrestling event,The War to Settle the Score, on MTV. Lauper was involved again, as she intervened in the main event match that saw Hulk Hogan defend his WWF World Heavyweight Championship againstRoddy Piper.[12] Another featured match on the card saw The Fabulous Moolah avenge her loss to Richter by managingLeilani Kai to a victory over Richter for the WWF Women's Championship.[13] The events in War to Settle the Score led directly to the first WrestleMania.
The event took place nine days afterBlack Saturday and highlights from the event were shown onWWF World Championship Wrestling on WTBS. Bob Backlund was on his way out of WWF after his five-year run as WWF Heavyweight Champion and moved to the NWA-AWA promotion Pro Wrestling USA; Backlund would not return to the WWF until 1992. In January 1985 the North-South Connection of Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch would lose their WWF World Tag Team titles to Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo (the US Express). Tito Santana would lose his Intercontinental title to Greg Valentine on an episode ofMaple Leaf Wrestling in October 1984.
Antonio Inoki would retain the WWF World Martial Arts Championship (in 1985 the title became the property of New Japan Pro Wrestling after the WWF and NJPW ended their working arrangement) until losing it to Shota Chochishvili in April 1989, ending Inoki's 11 year run as champion. Inoki regained the title a month later and then NJPW retired the title in favor of the "Greatest 18 Championship".