WWE.com Legacy on Demand Showcase
The History of the Intercontinental Title: Part Four

Your host is Jack “Like A Virgin” Korpela.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Junkyard Dog – (WrestleMania, 3/31/85)
  

Since WWE doesn’t have the permission to play, “Another Bites The Dust” by Queen, they dub in JYD’s own song “Grab Them Cakes” which wasn’t recorded until 1986. JYD goes after Valentine’s arm immediately. Valentine whips JYD off the ropes, but gets nailed with a right hand. Valentine backs up to restrategize and then elbows JYD to the mat to set up the Hammer Forearm, but JYD avoids it and hits some headbutts on all fours and Valentine bails. Back in, they fight over a test of strength. Valentine fights dirty and forearms JYD to the mat. Valentine works the leg to set up the FIGURE-FOUR, but JYD kicks him off. JYD limps back into the corner to stay vertical. He fires back on Valentine and then connects with a pair of headbutts. Valentine Flair flops as Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron. JYD grabs Jimmy as Valentine comes off the ropes to nail JYD with the Hammer Forearm, but JYD moves and Jimmy gets nailed. Ouch! Nasty bump there, Jimmy. JYD unloads like crazy on Valentine as the crowd goes insane. Valentine rakes JYD’s eyes and tries for the cheap rollup using the ropes to steal the match. Tito comes down in street clothes to argue that Valentine cheated, so the ref calls for the match to continue. Valentine is NOT going to do that, so he keeps walking back to the dressing room to give JYD the win by countout. (5:56) The finish made no sense. I mean, why should the ref listen to Tito? He has every reason to want to see Valentine lose. This was just your fun little popcorn match and the ending kept the Valentine/Santana feud going. *

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Tito Santana – Cage Match (Baltimore, MD 7/6/85)

And now the match that ends the year-long feud. Looks like we JIP to a back and forth crawl to the door with neither man reaching the floor. Santana hits the FLYING JALAPENO, but Valentine grabs him on his way to the door for a back suplex. Tito stops Valentine, but gets grabbed and sent face-first into the cage wall. Crowd chants “Tito” while Valentine slams Santana’s face into the steel mesh. Can’t really tell, but I believe Tito is busted open. Santana grabs a leg and manages to bring Valentine back inside the cage when he tries to walk out the door. Santana fires off a forearm shot to send the back of Valentine’s head into the cage. Both men collapse. Valentine drops an elbow and goes for the FIGURE-FOUR, but Tito kicks him off into the steel. A dazed Santana starts to climb over the top of the cage to the floor RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR. Valentine tries to stop him and gets kicked down. As Valentine goes for the door, Tito kicks the door back in his face on his climb out and then hops down to the floor below to regain the WWF Intercontinental title. (5:50 shown) Afterwards, Valentine gets the belt and smashes it up against the steel cage. If he can’t have it, neither can Tito. Nevertheless, Santana still celebrates with the broken belt. While everything else was standard WWF ’80s cage match stuff, the finish was pretty awesome as the original design of the IC belt is put to rest. The new design would hang around until 1998 when it would be revamped into the design we know the IC belt as today. **

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) – (Saturday Night’s Main Event #3, 11/2/85)

Savage controls early by popping Santana in the face out of a tie-up. Savage hits a jumping knee drop and takes Santana’s face to the turnbuckle. Santana counters a hiptoss with one of his own but then misses an elbow drop. Savage comes off the top with a double-ax for 1-2-NO! Savage hooks on a chinlock. Tito elbows out of it but then gets nailed in the head with an elbow from Savage. Savage slams Tito and goes up top for another double-ax, but Tito catches him in the gut and goes STOMPS A MUDHOLE in Savage. Tito sets up for the FLYING JALAPENO but Savage wisely rolls out of the ring just in time. Santana goes out and chases after him. Being the first man to get back in the ring, Savage nails Santana in the face as he hops up on the apron to send him falling back out to the floor. Savage tries a PILEDRIVER on the floor (!) but Santana blocks it and takes a knee lift instead. Savage gets up on the apron before the ten-count to win via countout. (4:09) Short, but wild and crazy stuff while it lasted. **¼

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth – (Boston Garden, 2/8/86)

YES! The match I’ve been waiting for. Very mixed reaction for Tito when he holds up the belt, by the way. Strong series of tie-ups to start. Savage stalls a little bit on the floor to work the crowd, but they fight back into the ring. Santana catches Savage in the gut on the way down off a double-ax handle. Savage avoids a FLYING JALAPENO and draws Santana around the ring so he can lower the boom on the way back inside. Santana quickly comes back with an atomic drop for two. Savage goes to the eyes to take over with a clothesline and a flying double-ax handle. Savage turns this match up to eleven and throws Santana to the floor for another flying double-ax handle! Santana blocks a turnbuckle smash on the apron and returns the favor. Flying elbow smash from Tito connects for 1-2-NO! Tito runs into a knee in the corner for two. When Santana presses Savage off him, Savage lands on the referee. Santana gets a quick inside cradle, but ref Danny Davis is slow to count for 1-2-NO! Savage catches Santana with a back elbow, but misses a knee drop! And here we go. FIGURE-FOUR! Savage reverses the hold into the ropes and tries to pull out a foreign object from his tights. Santana stops that with a suplex and then attempts another Figure-Four, but Savage kicks him off and slides out to the apron again. Santana tries to pull him back in, but Danny Davis gets in his way to allow Savage to put on the taped knux. He swings and misses Tito, but nails him on the way back in during a back suplex. Savage covers for 1-2-3. New champ. (10:31) Savage gets rid of the evidence just as the ref raises his hand in victory. When Danny Davis would become the evil referee in 1987, they would use this finish as one of the seeds that led to his turn. Non-stop action just as you would expect. ****

Final Thoughts: Besides the two awesome Santana/Savage matches, cool stuff like the rare Santana title win in the cage match is worth seeing. Thumbs up for episode four!