WWF: Boston Garden
February 8, 1986
Boston, MA

The current WWF champions were as follows:
WWF World Champion: Hulk Hogan (1/23/1984)
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Tito Santana (7/6/1985)
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Dream Team (8/24/1985)
WWF Women’s Champion: The Fabulous Moolah (11/25/1985)

Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura.

• Lanny Poffo vs. Paul Christy
  

Poffo throws out some rolled up poems out into the crowd and then recites a poem that gives us his opinion of ‘Piper’s Pit’. If Roddy gave this man any thought, it just might bother him. Jesse wonders why Boston would cheer either man here considering they are both billed from Illinois — home of the Chicago Bears — who had just recently defeated Boston’s New England Patriots in Super Bowl 20. SPORTS REFERENCES FTW! I really don’t think Boston has thought this through that much though, Jesse. Lots of armbar stuff in this one. Nothing too interesting. Eventually, Christy kicks Poffo to the floor and tries to keep him out there. That goes sour for Christy as Poffo comes back inside a HOUSE OF FIRE. Christy takes a hiptoss and bails, but Poffo makes him pay with a springboard forearm smash. Well, that was pretty awesome. Back in, Poffo hits a dropkick and the Moonsault gets the win. (9:55) Kind of a pussy moonsault, but oh well. *

• Sivi Afi vs. Barry O
  

Afi is the latest Pacific Islander to fill the void since there’s no Wild Samoans or Snuka around. Never saw him do much in the WWF though. Another armbar fest. Barry O stops all that with a backbreaker. Running powerslam gets two. Afi escapes a chinlock, but gets tossed to the floor in front of Gorilla and Jesse. Afi NO-SELLS a turnbuckle smash on the apron and tries a sunset flip back in, but Barry grabs the ropes and goes to the eyes. Sivi counters a suplex, but runs into a double-KO. Now he mounts a comeback, but hits knees off a splash. Barry O heads up top, but Sivi slams him down and finishes him off with a flying bodypress. (7:42) Another somewhat of a yawner. It’s about to get worse though. *½

• George “The Animal” Steele vs. Tiger Chung Lee
  

Tiger Chung Lee brings a kendo stick with him, which proves to be a BAD idea as George takes it away and cleans house. George snaps the stick in half and throws it back at Chung Lee. Inside the ring, Chung Lee pushes Animal off into the corner and puts the boots to him, which causes George to slide out and overturn one of the wooden ringside barricades up against the ring. As Animal gets back in, Chung Lee bounces his head off the barricade and some suits set the barricade up back where it’s supposed to go. Animals jabs Chung Lee in the throat with an international object, but doesn’t get DQ’ed since the ref is dumber than he is. After Animal beats Chung Lee with his own sandal, he tries tearing up one of the turnbuckles. That’s when Chung Lee attacks from behind. Steele punches him back and tears off the second turnbuckle so he can smash Chung Lee’s face on it for the three-count. (5:25) Waste of time for me, but the crowd certainly loved George. ½*

• Big John Studd vs. Hillbilly Jim
  

There’s $15,000 in it for Hillbilly Jim if he can slam Studd. Bobby Heenan is ‘very conspicuous by his absence’. Jim is very adamant with those headbutts. He stuns Studd long enough to tease a slam, but Studd gets free just in time and heads out to the floor. Back in, Studd grabs an exciting wristlock. When Jim starts to headbutt some more, Studd slams him down. Studd grabs a bearhug and Jim headbutts out. Studd comes off the middle rope, but gets caught in the gut on the way down. Another slam attempt causes Studd to bail. On the floor, Jim tries to slam Studd a couple more times, but can’t pull it off. Jim shoves Studd off into the ringpost and heads back inside to beat the count to pick up the win. (7:25) Bleh. ½*

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth)
  

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. ****

In the back, Gorilla and Jesse get a reaction from the new IC champ. He thinks Hulk Hogan ought to be scared.

• The Hart Foundation vs. The Killer Bees
  

Slow start as the Bees work on Bret’s arm. After a few minutes of that and Bret tags out to Neidhart. He pulls down the straps because it’s time to get SERIOUS. By serious, I mean cheat. He draws Brunzell in so he and Bret can double-team Blair. Neidhart grabs a bearhug for a while. He whiffs on a dropkick and Brunzell gets the hot tag. Brunzell hits his Dropkick, but gets nailed by Bret from the apron to turn the tide back in the Harts favor. Brunzell receives the Demolition Decapitation, but Bret gets cocky instead of covering. Neidhart tosses him out for a slam on the floor from Bret. Back in, we get a false tag spot. Once Blair is drawn in, Bret whips Neidhart shoulder-first into Brunzell in the corner. Brunzell gets a desperation Dropkick on Bret. Neidhart cuts off the tag and puts Bret on top of Brunzell for two. This leads to another false tag spot, but this time Bret misses the double-team whip into the corner. Brunzell crawls through Neidhart’s legs and makes the HOT TAG TO BLAIR! He whips Neidhart into the ropes and knocks Bret down for his guardrail bump. It looks to be curtains for Neidhart as Blair hooks the SLEEPER. Neidhart holds on until Bret makes it back in to break up the hold. Double KO spot allows Bret to draw Brunzell in as he hits a flying elbow drop on Blair. Even though he’s not the legal man, he covers anyway and the ref counts three. (15:41) Lots of good heel work from the Harts. The heat segments seemed pretty uninspired though. **½

• Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) – Martial Arts Match
  

Both guys wearing a gi to make this seem more martial artsy. Steamboat wants a fast start, but Muraco makes sure that doesn’t happen. Lots of stalling and pushing Steamboat around whenever he tries to grab a hold. Steamboat finally chops Muraco around and works a headlock for a while. After Muraco *leapfrogs* over Steamboat, Fuji trips up the Dragon to turn the tide. However, Steamboat makes it back to the headlock and keeps Muraco grounded. Muraco stands up and drops Steamboat with a Samoan drop. To the floor, Muraco catapults Steamboat into a chair held up by Fuji. Awesome! Now Steamboat eats the post and he’s bleeding for realz now. Back inside, Muraco whips Steamboat with his own gi belt and chokes him down to the mat. The arm drops once, twice, but not THREE TIMES! Muraco ducks a chop and decks Steamboat with a clothesline. He calls for a TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER and points to Jesse, but that split second of time allows Steamboat to ram his knees together against Muraco’s ears to break up the move. Now Steamboat fires back with his karate blows. Flying Chop connects and Steamboat SKINS THE CAT while kicking Fuji away at the same time. O’Connor roll on Muraco and Steamboat gets the win. (17:19) Steamboat is a wrestling GOD. That is all I have to say. Oh wait, there’s more. After the bell, Muraco leaves Steamboat laying using Fuji’s cane. ***½

• Bruno Sammartino vs. Roddy Piper – Cage Match
  

To piss off all of Boston, Piper wears a Chicago Bears t-shirt to the ring. Once he’s inside the cage, he tapes posters of William Perry and Jim McMahon onto the cage. Bruno knocks Piper silly throwing him into the cage and busting him open to start. He then makes Piper eat Perry’s poster and stuffs McMahon’s poster down his tights. NEAT! Now Bruno is choking Piper with his own t-shirt. He calls for the door to be opened, but Piper clips him from behind with a low blow and continues to resort to testicular mutilation. Piper then chokes Sammartino with his shirt and pounds a bit before trying to make an exit through the door. Bruno stops him just in time, but gets ran into the cage wall. Again he stops Piper from escaping and punches Piper back onto the cage. Now there’s some HBK selling from Piper. Both guys try for the door, which leads to a slugfest. Of course, Bruno wins and heads for the door. Piper prevents Bruno from leaving again before stomping and punching him some more. Piper tries to climb out, but Sammartino saves the match for himself with a low blow of his own. Bruno crawls for the door and just as Piper tries to stop him, he whacks Piper with a wooden chair before falling out to the floor for the win. (8:40) Pretty violent stuff for the WWF. Of course with these two, a cage match is fitting since it really needed to be a brawl to be interesting. **½

And that’s all for now, folks.

Final Thoughts: The first half totally blows and you can “blow” past it. The good stuff begins with Savage-Santana and doesn’t let up until the final bell. Thumbs up!