| WrestleMania 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuringHulk Hogan andKing Kong Bundy | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation | ||
| Date | April 7, 1986[1] | ||
| City | |||
| Venue | |||
| Attendance | 40,085 (combined)[4] | ||
| Tagline(s) | The Premier Sporting Event of the Year! What the World Has Come To! | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| WrestleMania chronology | |||
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WrestleMania 2 was a 1986professional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the second annualWrestleMania and took place on Monday, April 7, 1986, making it the only WrestleMania that was not held on a traditional Sunday until the two-nightWrestleMania 36 in April 2020. The event took place at three venues on the same day: first at theNassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum inUniondale, New York, then at theRosemont Horizon in theChicago suburb ofRosemont, Illinois, and finally at theLos Angeles Memorial Sports Arena inLos Angeles, California.
Each venue had its owncard of four matches each, totaling 12 matches for the PPV broadcast that were shown back-to-back-to-back. Themain event of WrestleMania 2, which was in Los Angeles, featuredWWF World Heavyweight ChampionHulk Hogan defending the title againstKing Kong Bundy in aSteel Cage match. In the last match in Chicago,The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith andThe Dynamite Kid) facedThe Dream Team (Greg Valentine andBrutus Beefcake) for theWWF Tag Team Championship, while the final match in Uniondale was aboxing match pittingMr. T againstRoddy Piper. The undercard in Uniondale also sawWWF Intercontinental Heavyweight ChampionRandy Savage defend his title againstGeorge Steele, while the card in Chicago featured a 20-manbattle royal involving WWF wrestlers andNational Football League players.
WrestleMania 2 received generally poor reviews, with much of the criticism being centred around the decision to hold it as three separate events across the country. Many publications rank it as amongst the worst WrestleMania events of all time.
Following the success ofWrestleMania I in 1985, the Americanprofessional wrestling promotionWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) scheduled a second WrestleMania for the following year, thus establishingWrestleMania as an annualpay-per-view (PPV) event for the company. Unlike the previous year, WrestleMania 2 was scheduled to be held at three venues on Monday, April 7, 1986: theNassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum inUniondale, New York, theRosemont Horizon in theChicago suburb ofRosemont, Illinois, and theLos Angeles Memorial Sports Arena inLos Angeles, California. Each location was scheduled to have its owncard of four matches each, which were broadcast back-to-back-to-back, starting in Uniondale, then Chicago, and finally Los Angeles.[6]
The event featured separate commentary and announce teams in each location. The commentating teams consisted ofVince McMahon andSusan Saint James in New York;Gorilla Monsoon,Gene Okerlund, and Cathy Lee Crosby in Chicago; andJesse Ventura,Alfred Hayes, andElvira in Los Angeles. The ring announcers wereHoward Finkel (New York),Chet Coppock (Chicago), andLee Marshall (Los Angeles).[1]
Ray Charles sang a rendition of "America the Beautiful" before the show at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New York. Celebrity guests in attendance for the New York segment included:Cab Calloway,Darryl Dawkins,G. Gordon Liddy,Joan Rivers,Joe Frazier,Lou Duva,Herb, andSusan Saint James.[7] Celebrity guests in attendance for the Chicago segment included:Clara Peller,Dick Butkus,Ed Jones,Ozzy Osbourne,Bill Fralic,Ernie Holmes,Harvey Martin,Jim Covert,Russ Francis,William Perry, andCathy Lee Crosby. The Los Angeles segment included celebrity guestsRicky Schroder,Robert Conrad,Tommy Lasorda, andElvira.[7]
The card featured 12 matches, which resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by the WWF. Building to the event,storylines between characters played out on WWF's primary television programs,Championship Wrestling,All-Star Wrestling,Saturday Night's Main Event andPrime Time Wrestling.[8][9]
Three of the main-event feuds were set up on the March 1, 1986,Saturday Night's Main Event V. The mainfeud heading into WrestleMania 2 was betweenHulk Hogan andKing Kong Bundy,[10] with the two battling over theWWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although they had wrestled occasionally before, their first nationally televised encounter was on the November 2, 1985,Saturday Night's Main Event III where Hogan teamed up withAndré the Giant against André's rivals Bundy andBig John Studd. Hogan and André won the match by disqualification.[11] On March 1, Hogan defended his WWF title againstThe Magnificent Muraco. Just as Hogan was about to pin Muraco, Bundy ran into the ring and—with Muraco's help—initiated a 2-on-1 assault on Hogan, repeatedly crushing him with his body weight (with a move called the "avalanche") to break his ribs.[10][12] Hogan had a very serious (scripted) injury, while Bundy (gloating over his actions) challenged Hogan for the title. With revenge on his mind, Hogan decided not to heed his doctor's advice and accepted the challenge; a match was thenbooked between the two in a steel cage for the WWF title.[10]
The second feud heading into the event was between Mr. T andRoddy Piper. Piper established himself as the topheel in the WWF in 1984. A year later, he joinedPaul Orndorff andBob Orton to feud with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T[13] who defeated them in the main event of thefirst-ever WrestleMania.[14] The Piper/Mr. T feud restarted in 1986 after theirreal-life hatred for each other became known, prompting the WWF to turn their animosity for one another into a feud. Piper, and others in the locker room, genuinely disliked Mr. T because he was an actor and had no prior wrestling training. In response, Mr. T became a special WWFboxer and began competing inboxing matches. On the March 1Saturday Night's Main Event V, Mr. T defeated Orton in a boxing match.[12] After the match, Piper distracted Mr. T, allowing Orton to attack from behind and start a 2-on-1 assault. Mr. T then demanded revenge, leading to his boxing match against Piper.[7]
The third main feud heading into WrestleMania was betweenThe Dream Team (Greg Valentine andBrutus Beefcake) andThe British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith andDynamite Kid) over theWWF Tag Team Championship. On August 24, 1985, Beefcake and Valentine won the tag titles fromThe U.S. Express (Barry Windham andMike Rotundo).[15] The British Bulldogs challenged Beefcake and Valentine for their titles immediately after their win. They retained their titles against the Bulldogs at ahouse show on September 11 by gettingdisqualified.[16] They again defended the titles against the BulldogsSaturday Night's Main Event V, where they emerged victorious against them.[12] After the Bulldogs twice failed to win the titles, Dream Team agreed to defend their titles against them for a final time with a title match set at WrestleMania.[12]
The other major feud heading into WrestleMania 2 was betweenRandy Savage andGeorge Steele. Its genesis came after Steele, who used a neanderthal, "missing link"-typegimmick, became smitten with Savage's manager, the beautifulMiss Elizabeth (Savage's real-life wife, although unacknowledged on television). Their first meeting took place onSaturday Night's Main Event IV, before Savage won the Intercontinental Championship. Steele would frequently be distracted by Elizabeth, which Savage used to his advantage. Along with former championTito Santana (who was on the Los Angeles segment of the event), Steele became one of Savage's top challengers for the title.[17]
WrestleMania 2 emanated from three arenas:Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum inUniondale, New York, theRosemont Horizon inRosemont, Illinois and theLos Angeles Memorial Sports Arena inLos Angeles.[2]
In the first match of the show in the New York arena, Paul Orndorff faced The Magnificent Muraco. In the early part of the match, Orndorff body slammed Muraco. As the crowd reacted and Orndorff celebrated, he turned towards Mr. Fuji and made a racist, slanty-eyed gesture followed by anItalian salute.[18][19] This controversial moment is edited out of most home video versions of the match and is edited out of the versions shown onPeacock andNetflix. Both men fought to a double count-out.
Next was aWWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Savage and George Steele, where Savage was seconded by hisreal-life wife Miss Elizabeth. Late in the match, Steele became the first man to ever kick out of Savage's signature elbow drop from the top turnbuckle.[20][self-published source?] Savagepinned Steele with aroll-up and put both of his feet on the ropes for leverage. As a result, Savage retained the Intercontinental Heavyweight Title.
The third match was betweenJake Roberts andGeorge Wells. Roberts hit aDDT on Wells and pinned him to win the match. After the match, Roberts allowed his snake Damian to slither over Wells, who foamed from the mouth.[21]
The last match was a boxing match between Mr. T and Roddy Piper. T was seconded by boxerJoe Frazier, while Piper was seconded by boxing trainerLou Duva. Piper was disqualified forbodyslamming T at 1:15 in the fourth round.[22]
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Vince McMahon(New York) |
| Gorilla Monsoon(Chicago) | |
| Gene Okerlund(Chicago) | |
| Jesse Ventura(Los Angeles) | |
| Lord Alfred Hayes(Los Angeles) | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel(New York) |
| Chet Coppock(Chicago) | |
| Lee Marshall(Los Angeles) | |
| Joan Rivers(New York; Piper vs Mr. T) | |
| Tommy Lasorda(Los Angeles; Main Event) | |
| Referees | Dick Kroll |
| Jack Lotz | |
| Dave Hebner | |
| Special GuestReferees | Dick Butkus(battle royal) |
| Ed "Too Tall" Jones(battle royal) | |
| Robert Conrad(Los Angeles; main event) | |
| Special GuestCommentator | Susan Saint James(New York) |
| Special GuestAnnouncer | Cathy Lee Crosby(Chicago) |
| Ernie Ladd(Chicago) | |
| Elvira(Los Angeles) | |
| Special GuestTimekeepers | Herb(New York) |
| Clara Peller(Chicago) | |
| Ricky Schroder(Los Angeles) | |
| Special GuestVocalist | Ray Charles(New York) |
The first match from the Chicago portion of WrestleMania 2 was aWWF Women's Championship match betweenThe Fabulous Moolah andVelvet McIntyre. McIntyre attempted asplash on Moolah from the second turnbuckle, but Moolah sidestepped and McIntyre missed the move. Moolah took advantage andpinned McIntyre to retain her title.
The second match was aflag match betweenCorporal Kirchner andNikolai Volkoff.Freddie Blassie seconded Volkoff. Blassie threw his cane to Volkoff, but Kirchner caught it and hit Volkoff with it, pinning him for the victory.[23][self-published source?]
The third match was a 20-manbattle royal involvingWWF wrestlers andNational Football League players including:Jimbo Covert,Bill Fralic,Russ Francis,Ernie Holmes,Harvey Martin andWilliam "The Refrigerator" Perry. The WWF stars included: André the Giant,Ted Arcidi,Tony Atlas,The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart andJim Neidhart),The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair andJim Brunzell),Hillbilly Jim,The Iron Sheik,King Tonga,Pedro Morales,Bruno Sammartino,Danny Spivey andBig John Studd. In the end of the match, André the Giant and both members of the Hart Foundation were the final three participants. André first eliminated Neidhart and then Hart to win the battle royal.[20]
The last match was aWWF Tag Team Championship match between The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) and The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake).Ozzy Osbourne andLou Albano seconded the Bulldogs. After 13 minutes of back-and-forth action, Smith pushed Valentine into the corner where Valentine knocked heads with Dynamite Kid. Kid fell to the floor while Smithpinned Valentine to win the tag titles and end Dream Team's seven-month reign.[23]
In Los Angeles, there were four more matches.Ricky Steamboat facedHercules in the first match. Hercules tried to hit aflying bodypress, but missed it. Steamboat followed by hitting a flying body press of his own for a pinfall victory.[20]
Adrian Adonis, seconded byJimmy Hart, defeatedUncle Elmer after adiving headbutt.[23]
The Funk Brothers facedJunkyard Dog and Tito Santana in atag team match. Jimmy Hart accompanied the Funk brothers. Hoss Funk distracted thereferee. Hart took advantage and gave his megaphone to Terry Funk, who hit Junkyard Dog and then pinned him to get the win.[20]
Finally, themain event of WrestleMania 2: aWWF World Heavyweight Championshipsteel cage match in which Hulk Hogan defended his title againstKing Kong Bundy.[10] Hogan's ribs were heavily taped due to an assault by Bundy on the March 1, 1986 edition ofSaturday Night's Main Event V.Bobby Heenan seconded Bundy in the match.[23] At the start, Bundy removed the tape from Hogan's ribs. However, Hogan fought back and rammed Bundy's head into the steel cage. He then tried to hit ascoop slam on Bundy, but missed it. Bundy hit an avalanche and abig splash on Hogan. However, Hogan"Hulked up" and hit a power slam on Bundy, followed by aleg drop. He climbed the steel cage, but Bundy caught his legs. Hogan kicked Bundy and climbed over the top of the steel cage and down to the floor to win the match and retain the title.[10][22][24] After the match, Hogan caught Bobby Heenan inside the cage; as Bundy was reeling from the match, Hogan rammed Heenan's head into the cage beforeatomic dropping him outside.[25]
Critical response to the show was poor, with the decision to host the show in three locations being highly criticized. John Canton, of TJRwrestling.net said: "I'm sure that the idea of doing this show from three different venues sounded like a good idea on paper to Vince McMahon, but it was not effective in terms of producing a quality program."[26]Voices of Wrestling's Bryan Rose commented that he could "see why WWE went with just one arena from this point forward".[27] Jason Powell ofProwrestling.net was also happy to learn that subsequent WrestleManias would not be held in three arenas, saying "Overall, WrestleMania 2 was excessive. The idea of running the show in three separate markets was an ill-conceived cash grab and I'm happy they never went down that road again."[28]
Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy "felt more like aSaturday Night Main Event match than a WrestleMania main event.
John Canton, ofTJR Retro was also very critical of the show's promotedmain events. He commented that "every one of the big matches on the show was a disappointment from the Hogan/Bundy cage match, the battle royal and the Piper/Mr. T boxing match. If the big matches are that poor it hurts the whole show."[30]
411Mania.com's Rob McNew also had a negative opinion of the three "main" matches. McNew gave the boxing match 1 star out of 5 stars, saying: "Big pull-apart brawl afterward. Absolute crap that took way too long and ended in a non-finish." He gave the steel cage match between Hogan and Bundy 2 stars, saying it "felt more like aSaturday Night Main Event match than a WrestleMania main event". McNew awarded the entire event a score of 2 out of 10 and said: "It lacks the historical significance of WrestleMania I to even watch it for that purpose. This was three hours of pain I'd love to have back. Thankfully the WWF would redeem themselves in a huge way the next year, but for this show, huge disappointment."[29]
However, of the WWF Tag Team Championship match, McNew said: "Tremendous match that breaks the streak of suck that had been this show thus far. One of the things that I really liked about this match was it seemed to break from the traditional tag team formula. There was no extended face in peril sequence nor was there a hot tag at any point. Easily the match of the night." He awarded it three and a half stars out of five.[29] Despite general poor reviews for WrestleMania 2, Brandon Stroud fromUproxx, called the event superior toWrestleMania I, commenting: "WrestleMania 2 is (believe it or not) a gigantic improvement over WrestleMania I... It's not the best show ever—it's nowhere near as important as III, and we wouldn't get a great-in-totalWrestleMania until X—but it's the kind of thing that kicks your ass when you're a kid, and that's important."[31]
WrestleMania 2 is frequently listed by publications as amongst the worst WrestleMania events of all time, with some ranking it as the worst.Sports Illustrated summed up the event as "Probably wouldn't have been great even if it was all in one city, but splitting it definitely didn't help."[32]
Randy Savage and George Steele continued their feud with each other throughout 1986. This led to two rematches for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship onSaturday Night's Main Event IX in early 1987, both times with the Intercontinental title on the line and the second time with the management services of Elizabeth on the line; Steele lost both times.[33][34] Savage also feuded intensely with Hogan, but was unsuccessful in winning the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from him.[33]
The new WWF Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) prepared to face challengingtag teams. On October 4, 1986,Saturday Night's Main Event VII, they defeated former champions Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) in atwo out of three falls match to retain the titles.[35]
Hulk Hogan continued his WWF World Heavyweight Championship reign. In addition to Savage, his top competition during 1986 included "Adorable Adrian" Adonis, Hercules Hernandez,Kamala and, in his biggest feud of the year, Paul Orndorff. A storyline was developed focusing on the friendship between Hogan and Orndorff with Adrian Adonis eventually starting trouble between the two, causing Orndorff to turn against Hogan. Bundy, meanwhile, would team withBig John Studd on occasion (and begin his feud with The Machines). He would also challenge Hogan on-and-off for the World Heavyweight Championship during the next year and a half, until leaving the WWF in early 1988.[33]
Following his battle royal win, André the Giant's career was at a crossroads. Not yet evident to fans, André was beginning to suffer the health effects of his terminal illness known asacromegaly, a syndrome resulting from an excessive production of growth hormone that led to his gigantic size. Because of his health, as well as accepting a starring role in the movieThe Princess Bride, André took a brief hiatus from the ring. To explain his absence, a storyline was devised to have André no-show for a tag team match pitting him and a partner of his choosing against long-time rivals Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy. André would then be suspended at the insistence of manager Bobby Heenan. André would return but compete under a mask as part of a new team calledThe Machines. Studd and Bundy insisted—but were never able to prove—that André and "The Giant Machine" were the same person.[33]
WrestleMania 2 marked the last major pay-per-view appearance for Roddy Piper during his initial heel run. Shortly before the event, he taped four weeks worth ofPiper's Pit segments that would air on the WWF's syndicated programs in April, and then took a four-month hiatus from the ring.[36]When Piper returned to the WWF in August, he became a face and began a violent feud with Adrian Adonis, who had in the meantime started his ownPiper's Pit-type talk show calledThe Flower Shop.Jesse "the Body" Ventura also took a leave of absence after WrestleMania 2; like Piper, he filmed several weeks worth of his talk show segment,The Body Shop, to air in the coming weeks.[36] Afterward,The Magnificent Muraco would be the fill-in host of the segment until the final installment, aired August 30, 1986. In late August, Ventura returned for television tapings of the firstWWF Superstars of Wrestling, continuing his role as a heel-favoring color commentator.[33]
WrestleMania 2 was seen as a financial success from a pay-per-view purchase standpoint, earning an estimated $5 million, leading Cable Television Business Magazine to compliment the event stating "If anything, we learned from (WrestleMania), it's that the right promotion makes an event successful". The magazine also described howCablevision saw an increase in 5,300 subscribers the week of the pay-per-view alone compared to new subscriber numbers on average of 300 to 400 while stating it was the third-most purchased pay-per-view event ever to that point.[37] WrestleMania 2 would air in reruns onShowtime in July 1986[38] even after some of the storylines that were started at the event had concluded.
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Orndorff vs.The Magnificent Muraco (withMr. Fuji) ended in a doublecountout | Singles match | 4:10 | ||
| 2 | Randy Savage (c) (withMiss Elizabeth) defeatedGeorge Steele | Singles match for theWWF Intercontinental Championship | 5:10 | ||
| 3 | Jake Roberts defeatedGeorge Wells | Singles match | 3:15 | ||
| 4 | Mr. T (withJoe Frazier and TheHaiti Kid) defeatedRoddy Piper (withLou Duva andBob Orton) bydisqualification | Boxing match (scheduled for 10, 3 minute long rounds, Referee:Jack Lotz Judges:Cab Calloway,Darryl Dawkins, andG. Gordon Liddy) | 13:14 (match ended in 4th round) | ||
| |||||
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fabulous Moolah (c) defeatedVelvet McIntyre | Singles match for theWWF Women's Championship | 1:25 | ||
| 2 | Corporal Kirchner defeatedNikolai Volkoff (withFreddie Blassie) | Flag match | 2:05 | ||
| 3 | André the Giant won by last eliminatingBret Hart | WWF vs.NFLBattle Royal[note 1] | 9:13 | ||
| 4 | The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith andThe Dynamite Kid) (withLou Albano andOzzy Osbourne) defeatedThe Dream Team (Greg Valentine andBrutus Beefcake) (c) (withJohnny Valiant) | Tag team match for theWWF Tag Team Championship | 13:03 | ||
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| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ricky Steamboat defeatedHercules Hernandez | Singles match | 7:27 | ||
| 2 | Adrian Adonis (withJimmy Hart) defeatedUncle Elmer | Singles match | 3:01 | ||
| 3 | Terry andHoss Funk (with Jimmy Hart) defeatedTito Santana andThe Junkyard Dog | Tag team match | 11:42 | ||
| 4 | Hulk Hogan (c) defeatedKing Kong Bundy (withBobby Heenan)[10] | Steel Cage match for theWWF World Heavyweight Championship | 11:00 | ||
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... WWE's flagship event lights up MetLife Stadium ... WrestleMania
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Post match, Jake goes for his bag with the snake in it. Jake wraps the snake around the body of Wells, as well as his throat. George starts frothing at the mouth
I'm sure that the idea of doing this show from three different venues sounded like a good idea on paper to Vince McMahon, but it was not effective in terms of producing a quality program.
I can see why WWE went with just one arena from this point forward.
Overall, WrestleMania 2 was excessive. The idea of running the show in three separate markets was an ill-conceived cash grab and I'm happy they never went down that road again.
Every one of the big matches on the show was a disappointment from the Hogan/Bundy cage match, the battle royal and the Piper/Mr. T boxing match. If the big matches are that poor it hurts the whole show.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)