It’s the weekend edition of Wrestling Observer Radio! Tons to discuss including notes on Raw Monday, the Steve Austin podcast with Brock Lesnar, some WrestleMania thoughts, weekend news from WWE in Mexico, EVOLVE and more, plus a bunch of mailbag questions! A fun show as always so check it out~!
At Sunday’s Progress Wrestling show in London, England, promoter Jim Smallman strongly hinted Tommaso Ciampa was WWE-bound.
Smallman said that he had talked with a friend from Blackpool, clearly meaning William Regal, and said that Ciampa’s last match would be on the company’s 11/23 show against Marty Scurll.
The 30-year-old Boston native, who had lost to Mark Haskins and was still in the ring at the time of the announcement, thanked the fans for their support and told them that he’d see them on television very soon.
Ciampa and Johnny Gargano have been working on NXT television, which tapes again this coming Thursday. Ciampa did well in the battle royal on this past week’s NXT, outlasting most of the contracted talent in it, which seemed to be a sign he was strong on the radar.
According to those close to the situation, Ciampa has not signed a WWE deal at this time.
The Big News:
WWE Main Event from Cincinnati featured Team Bella against Team BAD in a tag team match. Also, Adam Rose sang acapella while introducing himself on the way to being mauled. Likewise, the Cosmic Connection continue to drift in the universe as they collide with the remnants of a once popular dance craze.
Stardust (with The Ascension) beat Fandango
Before the wrestling began, a brief dance-off broke out for a few moments. No decisive winner in that contest but they started the match nonetheless. Stardust kept resorting to devious methods. Nevertheless, Fandango kept gaining the momentum throughout the match until Stardust sent Fandango sailing through the ropes and out to the floor. The Ascension at ringside started to close in on Fandango and Stardust went jumping over the ropes to the outside. Fandango somehow managed to escape and roll back in the ring where he started Fandangoing to taunt the villains before a commercial.
After the break, Fandango and Stardust slugged it out for several moments then quickened the pace. Ascension caused a distraction at ringside, allowing Stardust to gain an underhanded advantage. The dastardly Stardust began to pummel and work over a downed Fandango. After snapping Stardust on the top rope, Fandango started a comeback and fired up. Fandango jumped off the top for an attempted legdrop but missed. Stardust executed a disaster kick followed by the Queen’s Crossbow for the pinfall.
Backstage, Renee Young interviewed Team Bella. Brie basically said despite all the new divas trying to take the Bellas’ spot, the Team Bella is stronger than ever. Her and Alicia Fox mocked Team PCB. Fozzy called them “Team PMS” and a “hot mess.” Brie agreed but added all the divas were a hot mess as she brought up Team BAD. Nikki chimed in to say the new divas were spoiled brats. She also warned Charlotte about reclaiming her title at Hell in a Cell. Nikki concluded by saying it wasn’t a divas revolution, it was the Bellas evolution.
Ryback beat Adam Rose
Since the split from the Rosebuds, Rose sported trunks, a vest and eyeglasses as sang his name acapella repeatedly while doing his own introduction. It was as if he was attempting to sing his name in scales. The “Feed Me More” theme song and the Ryback entrance interrupted Rose’s singing act. In the match, Ryback basically mauled him. Rose cut him off briefly only to get mauled some more.
At one point, Rose attempted to sneak up on Ryback then begged off when his plot was foiled. Rose bailed out and starting running around the ring. Ryback gave chase and was cut off trying to get back in the ring. That delayed the mauling briefly yet Ryback hoisted Rose up for a delayed vertical suplex. Jimmy Uso on commentary said Rose should “just run,” which was probably solid advice judging by the story of the match up to that point. However, the tide changed after Ryback crashed into a ring post.
Rose began to kick and stomp at Ryback then delivered a missile dropkick off the middle rope. Rose dove off the top rope with an elbow smash for a two count. When Rose was applying a sleeper hold, Ryback led the crowd in chants of “feed me more” as he jacked Rose’s jaw. Ryback pounded his chest and signaled for his finisher. Following a meathook clothesline, Ryback used the Shell Shock for the pin.
Team Bella (Brie and Nikki Bella with Alicia Fox) beat Team BAD (Naomi & Tamina with Sasha Banks)
With Jimmy Uso on commentary with Byron Saxton and Tom Phillips, Uso openly cheered for his wife. They also put over Sasha Banks and her iron man match from Takeover. The crowd chanted “we want Sasha.” Brie and Tamina started the match but Brie quickly tagged out after being overpowered. Nikki was also overpowered by Tamina. Naomi tagged in and moments later did a tilt-a-whirl headscissors that sent Nikki to the outside. Nikki was crawling back to the ring before a commercial.
Following the break, Naomi was on offense until Nikki cut her off and snapped her arm on the top rope. Nikki distracted the referee as Brie stomped Naomi’s hand on the apron. Brie tagged in and began to work the arm of Naomi. The Bellas got heat on Naomi. She got a hope spot when she knocked Nikki down with a kick. Brie ran across the ring to knock Tamina off the apron and break up the attempted tag. Jimmy Uso referred to the Bellas as veterans. A handheld camera picked up Brie calling a spot with a running knee strike.
Eventually, Naomi made a hot tag to Tamina and she ran wild. Nikki jumped in to break up a pin attempt and she also elbowed Naomi, who rolled to the outside. Nikki walked into a superkick from Tamina. Uso called it a “superkick party.” Nevertheless, Brie gave Tamina the X-factor a moment later for the pinfall.
By Tom Griffiths
Typical house show match, Harper & Kane started, Harper took a powder or two, when Kane gained a clear advantage a few minutes in he gave the tag to Taker, Taker did his punches in the corner spot including scaring the ref, hit old-school at the second attempt, Strowman came in, Taker took his first of two bumps during the match off a running shoulder block from Strowman, sold for a minute or two on the mat and in the corners, hit his leaping clothesline on Harper for the transition, tagged in Kane, Kane took the long straight heat, teased the hot tag twice and got it at the third attempt, Taker house of fire, Harper fed him, punch, bump, punch, bump, snake eyes, running boot, leg drop, choke slam, double choke slam attempt on Strowman, broke the grip, Strowman dumped to the outside by both, Kane follows, discuss clothesline on Taker, Harper goes to follow-up, Hell’s Gate for the finish.
Seen worse, Taker moved well, Strowman didn’t do much nor did he bump IIRC. Assume will be the same on the other show.
Adam Rose went out on a stretcher today and his match with Fandango was stopped abruptly. We are told Rose is now fine now, and it was described as him getting his bell rung.
By Jonathan Lyon
1.Hugo Knox beat Riddick Moss (new Mike Rallis name)
2.Marcus Louis w/Sylvester Lefort loses to bull Dempsey. Louis dropped the monster gimmick. Good move.
El Jefe Levis Venezuela came out for a promo about fiestas, and was interrupted by Tom Caden. Crazy big dude, who proceeded to join in on the fiesta.. Not bad.
Asuka, Carmella, and a girl who’s name I didn’t catch beat Emma, Cameron, and Peyton. Cameron didn’t look like she wanted to be there. Asuka got a big reaction.
Baron Corbin beats Angelo Dawkins- it could have been quicker?
Match of the night was a fatal four way tag with The Vaudevillains beating Jordan and Gable, Blake and Murphy, and the Hype Bros. Blake and Murphy are can’t miss live, highly entertaining and engaging with the audience. When Gable came in, they put on ear guards. Pin comes with a whirling dervish to BAMF.
Apollo Crews beats Dino Sabetelli.. Both guys are super athletes.
Bayley beats Eva Marie in a not bad match. Bayley definitely carried her through, but Eva Marie did her part, she needs get her arm drags down though, very lazy and not in anyway believable.
Main Event was Samoa Joe beating Tye Dellinger. Great Match. Fun to listen to the sounds of a Joe match in the front row. The crowd was full by appearance and kept the excitement up thoughout.
– Air Date: October 15, 2015 (Oct 14 in Canada)
– Location: U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH
The Big News:
In Dean Ambrose’s hometown, The New Day stood tall over Ambrose and the Dudleys.
Show Recap:
They announced two matches for tonight and Roman Reigns came out. They recapped his match with Braun Strowman on Raw, and plugged his match with Bray Wyatt at Hell in a Cell.
Roman Reigns beat Bo Dallas via pinfall
Bo Dallas said there is nothing wrong with Reigns being scared just because he is facing a man he continues to come up short against. Dallas said, unlike Roman, he survived Suplex City and Reigns would leave on a stretcher. (Bo never mentioned Bray Wyatt by name.)
Bo got some offense on Reigns which was completely unconvincing. Fortunately, Reigns turned Bo inside out with a clothesline and followed with clotheslines in the corner. Bo called for a timeout and offered a handshake. Reigns shook his hand and Bo kicked him. Reigns no-sold that and hit a Samoan Drop, superman punch and spear for the win. Besides Bo’s few moments of offense, this was fine.
After match, Reigns said Bray Wyatt calls himself the devil and Reigns believes it. I normally don’t write everything out word-for-word, but this is really what Reigns said next: “When I look into Bray Wyatt’s eyes, I see nothing but pure evil. I can see him in the depths of hell, screaming that he’s the devil!”
Reigns said he would bring the fight to the devil in the cell. He went on, “Because the only way to stop the devil, is to ride straight into hell.” This was so dumb. Bray appeared on the screen humming, “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” Bray said Reigns has his virtues, but his sins will do him in. Bray said he would deliver Reigns a prophecy on Raw. Reigns looked concerned.
King Barrett & Sheamus beat Cesaro & Neville via pinfall
Stardust and Ascension were in the front row and Stardust held up a small “Stardust Section” sign. Neville sent the bad guys to the outside and Cesaro launched him over the ropes to knock them down. Heels had the heat after a break. Booker said Sheamus was Scottish and nobody corrected him.
Neville eventually made the hot tag to Cesaro who hit Sheamus with running uppercuts and a dropkick. Cesaro took out Barrett with an uppercut on the outside and hit Sheamus with the spinning springboard uppercut for two. Cesaro went for the big swing but Sheamus brought the briefcase in the ring. As the referee tossed it out, Barrett hit the Bull Hammer from behind and Sheamus rolled up Cesaro for the win.
Backstage, Summer Rae said Monday wasn’t the first time she had to put a man in his place and it won’t be the last. Summer said, unlike some people, she can keep her personal and professional life separate. (She was talking about being referee, not posting stuff online.)
They showed a video from earlier today of Byron Saxton interviewing Dean Ambrose, who was unpacking his bag in the locker room. Saxton said he asked the fans who the most unconventional superstar or [women’s wrestler] was and Paige beat out Ambrose in the voting.
Ambrose said it would be nice to win a contest, but Paige really is crazy. As this was happening, Ambrose unpacked a Slammy, keys (perhaps dungeon keys), a slinky, balloon animal, a globe and an 8-ball from his bag. He couldn’t find something and left. Saxton saw a [corporate sponsor] candy bar and Ambrose came back, grabbed it, and took a bite with the wrapper still on. The product placement was lame but Ambrose was good here.
Non-Title: IC Champion Kevin Owens beat Zack Ryder via pinfall
Ryder got some offense but Owens won quickly with a pop-up powerbomb. Ryback was at ringside and they essentially explained that he was too pissed off to do commentary. As soon as the match was over, Ryback jumped in the ring and Owens bailed. Ryback couldn’t leave the ring once he got inside for some reason, so they just stared down as Owens held up his title.
They aired a 3-minute video recapping the Seth Rollins/Kane stuff from Raw.
Backstage, Paige tried to apologize to Natalya. Paige was practically in tears, explaining that she won the title right away, which set expectations too high and brought a lot of pressure. Then Charlotte became champion and Nattie started teaming with Charlotte and Becky and Paige was sad.
Natalya sarcastically asked if Paige wanted a hug. Paige said she wanted to make things right, like back at NXT when they were friends. Natalya seemed to believe her and went into her locker room. (Yes, Natalya has her own locker room.) Both women were good here, particularly Paige.
Dolph Ziggler beat Rusev via pinfall (Special Referee: Summer Rae)
Rusev got the heat immediately and had control for a while. Ziggler countered a fallaway slam into a school boy and Summer fast-counted, but Rusev kicked out anyway. Rusev argued with her and Ziggler caught him with a dropkick.
Rusev rebounded with a superkick but Summer took her sweet time to make the count. Ziggler kicked out at 2.5, which made him look pretty weak considering how long it took for the count. Rusev got in Summer’s face again, so she slapped him and Ziggler hit a Zig Zag for the win, with Summer fast-counting again. So the heel got screwed and the face looked like a geek.
After the match, Summer told Ziggler that they both got screwed by Rusev and Lana. She reminded Ziggler that the two of them had chemistry and tried flirting with him. Ziggler said he has chemistry with a lot of girls. He said he doesn’t want to play games and he left.
Backstage, Renee Young asked the Dudleys and Dean Ambrose if they could work as a team to overcome New Day tonight. Bubba reminded her who the Dudleys are, and called Ambrose a combustible element on his own. Bubba told Renee to touch Dean’s arm to prove it. She hesitated, but touched his arm and all three yelled “Boom!”, which the crowd found amusing.
D-Von said they would celebrate their 10th tag team title win at Hell in a Cell. Ambrose said New Day took a wrong turn and ended up in Dudleyville, the kind of place where you’d get your wallet and shoes stolen, just like his hometown of Cincinnati. Ambrose said they would 3D the New Day and Bubba said they’d get sent straight to the Lunatic Fringe (perhaps he should’ve said “Ambrose Asylum”?). They yelled “Boom” again in Renee’s face and left. She was not amused.
Luke Harper & Braun Strowman beat Prime Time Players via submission
Wyatts got the heat on Titus who hot-tagged Darren Young. Young gave Harper a neckbreaker on the ring apron, which I’m sure is as fun as it sounds. Young tried to knock Strowman off the apron, but he didn’t budge, and Harper caught Young with a superkick. Strowman used The Hug on Young for the submission win.
Non-Title: Divas Champion Charlotte (w/Becky Lynch) beat Alicia Fox (w/Nikki & Brie Bella) via submission
The pinky swear thing that Charlotte and Becky do needs to stop. Charlotte doesn’t appear to enjoy doing it either. Fox had the heat until they each did a big boot. Charlotte came back with chops, neckbreaker, spear and Figure Eight for the tap-out win.
After the match, the Bellas jumped Charlotte and Becky. Paige ran out to make the save and cleared the ring with help from her old team. The crowd cheered and a small “Paige” chant started. Charlotte and Becky appeared nonplussed.
After a break, Paige caught up to Becky and Charlotte backstage and said how great it was for Team PCB to be back together. Becky said Paige did some horrible things but Paige just wanted to make up for it. Charlotte said they’d take it one day at a time and Paige was fine with that. Some officials ran by and Paige left. Becky and Charlotte followed the officials into Natalya’s personal locker room and she was laid out, selling her mid-section.
They aired a video package for Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar.
Dean Ambrose & The Dudley Boyz beat The New Day via DQ
New Day said they’ve dropped everyone they’ve faced — John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton, D-Von Dudley, Booty Ray Dudley, and Cincinnati’s own filthy street urchin Dean Ambrose. Kofi Kingston said the power of positivity was science. He said you could even call it geology because New Day “rocks” and they started chanting.
Ambrose was really over and had a new t-shirt specifically for Cincinnati. New Day used a referee distraction to take control on D-Von and did their usual stomping spot in the corner. It went on for even longer than usual. D-Von hit a neckbreaker on Woods and made the hot tag to Ambrose.
Ambrose took out Kingston with a suicide dive and clotheslined Woods and Big E. Ambrose hit a flying elbow on Woods for two and followed with a double underhook suplex off the ropes. Big E knocked him down but Ambrose avoided a splash and tagged in Bubba. Everyone took turns hitting moves, but Woods pushed Ambrose off the top to the outside.
Dudleys hit Kingston with a 3D but Woods broke up the cover using the trombone for a DQ. New Day attacked the Dudleys, and Woods used the trombone as a weapon, destroying it in the process. Woods, who had a bloody nose, gave Bubba a shining wizard and Kingston followed with Trouble in Paradise. They finished off D-Von with Midnight Hour.
Everyone, including myself, was expecting Ambrose — a human cockroach who beat Seth Rollins a few weeks ago — to jump back in at the end but that never happened. New Day posed with the titles and the trombone and the show ended.
Final Thoughts:
Pretty much an average show. I would’ve put Ambrose over in his hometown. That being said, one positive for this show was that featured acts all got wins: Reigns, Owens, Harper & Strowman and Charlotte. The first two in squash matches and the latter two in convincing fashion. The New Day got put over strong as well and were positioned to be taken seriously. I know it’s sad that WWE needs to be given credit for simple booking, but here we are.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of questions from listeners on WWE Raw ratings, the length of the show, why the stock is still rising, the Rusev angle and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Thanks to Andrew8798 on our Board:
Pre-Show —
There were lots of “New Day Sucks” chants and of course plenty of “Whoo!” yells. The hard camera area was tarped off, along with a few other rows and the entire upper bowl.
Dark Match —
– Tyler Breeze beat Damien Sandow. Damien is finally is just Damien. Breeze hit the Beauty Shot for the win in about four and a half minutes.
Smackdown —
Roman Reigns beat Bo Dallas
Before the match, Bo cut a promo about Roman’s match with Bray Wyatt at Hell in a Cell, and mentioned going to Suplex City. He told Roman the only way he would leave Hell in a Cell is on a stretcher. Bad move. After some initial offense by Bo, Roman ended up destroying him in five minutes… Big Pop for Reigns. Roman cut a promo about the Hell in a Cell Match. Several in Cincinnati gave him the “What?” treatment. Bray appeared on the Titantron, and said that next Monday he will make a promise of some sort. “Anyone but you.” That was it.
King Barrett and Sheamus beat Cesaro and Neville
After a couple great false finishes down the stretch, it ended when a ref distraction by Sheamus with the MITB briefcase, allowing Barrett to hit the Bull Hammer on Cesaro, then Sheamus pinned him…
Summer Rae was interviewed regarding being a special referee for Rusev vs Dolph Ziggler. She promised to be impartial.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens beat Zack Ryder
Ryback was out at ringside. This was the expected Owens squash in about three minutes. Afterward, Ryback rushed the ring and then Owens bailed quickly.
Dolph Ziggler beat Rusev with Summer Rae as special referee
Summer called it down the middle at first, but then gave Ziggler the faster count and either wouldn’t count pins or gave slow counts for Rusev. It ended with Summer slapping Rusev, leading to Dolph hitting Zigzag for the fast three count. Post match, Summer cut a promo, saying Lana and Rusev did them dirty. Summer ended up asking Ziggler if she could be with him…which led him to saying no because, as he said it, “When it comes to those kind of games, I’m not playing them.”
The Dudleys and Dean Ambrose did a backstage interview for the main event. The Dudleys put over Dean as combustible. They hyped the Hell in a Cell Tag Team Championship match, then Dean went for the cheap hometown pop and ended by saying New Day was going to get 3D’ed.
After a Susan Komen video, Prime Time Players came out for the next match.
Braun Strowman and Luke Harper beat The Prime Time Players
Hard hitting match, but I knew how it would end. Sure enough, Harper and Strowman won by submission in about five minutes…
WWE Divas Champion Charlotte (w/Becky Lynch) beat Alicia Fox (w/Nikki Bella, Brie Bella) in a non title match
Team BAD was shown backstage watching. Charlotte won with a Figure Eight in about four minutes. After the match, Team Bella started a beat down of Charlotte and Lynch until Paige ran out to make a save
A backstage segment showed Paige repeatedly saying she would make everything up to Becky and Charlotte. We soon saw why as Natalya was found laid out in another room.
The Dudley Boyz and Dean Ambrose beat WWE Tag Team Champions New Day by DQ
Before the match, New Day cut a promo talking about all of the people they’ve put down in the past. As usual, Cincy blew the roof off US Bank Arena for Dean Ambrose and the hometown boy soaked it in. The match was a normal six-man tag until New Day used the trombone to cause the DQ and laid waste to the Dudleys. No save by Ambrose. A replay followed and the New Day stood tall concluding the Smackdown taping.
Dark Main Event —
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper
Reigns took the punishment for much of the match until he could explode out of the corner with a clothesline and make the hot tag. Ambrose cleaned up from that point onward, except a brief comeback by the Wyatt Family. It ended with Reigns spearing Wyatt while Dean hit Dirty Deeds on Harper for a pin in about seven minutes.
By Joshua Molina for WrestlingObserver.com
– Run date: June 20, 1985
– Air time: 44:57
– Stars of the show: Steele, Capt. Lou Albano and Dr. Sigmund Ziff
Talk about a show that absolutely could not happen today. This was an offensive, insensitive and politically incorrect show. But it was also absolutely hilarious, with several laugh-out-loud moments, and some of the best acting ever on cable television. No TNT never won an Emmy, but my goodness, George “The Animal” Steele deserved an Emmy and an Oscar for his ridiculously brilliant performance as a psychotic, traumatized, dysfunctional person with several mental limitations.
This guy nailed this character, to the point where we are almost believe that he was legitimately limited. We’ll get to Steele in a minute, but first we get to hear Vince McMahon interview The Junkyard Dog.
The JYD was one of those legitimately super-popular guys before he ever stepped into a WWF ring. The WWF had not real plan for him, other than he was part of the dozens of wrestlers stolen from the territories. JYD was charismatic and super-popular, but he never destined for anything other than mid-card status with Hulk Hogan on top.
The Dog comes out and McMahon launches into his typical fanboy gushing, mentioning how popular JYD is. The Dog says “I can get along with anybody.”
We go quickly to a match between JYD and Tito Santana against Matt Borne and Steve Lombardi. Santana really carried this match. This guy was an incredible worker. Too bad he was buried also as a mid-carder in the Hulk Hogan area. In terms of technical ability he is one of the to 75 wrestlers of all time. The Dog was not a great worker. He was charismatic, but his offense here looked worse than Jon Stewart’s chair shot on John Cena at Summerslam.
Borne is doing his best to sell for JYD though, bumping like he’s Dolph Ziggler after two energy drinks. For no reason Ventura decides to go full-on racist: “The Junkyard Dog to me is almost illiterate and Chico Santana he don’t speak English all that well.”
No wonder Ventura wants to be Donald Trump’s running mate? Or wait, is that Hulk Hogan who wants to be his running mate. Ventura is the more sensible of the two, so maybe it was Hogan. Nonetheless, the WWF “scriptwriters” weren’t too kind to these wrestlers of color in 1985.
Santana pins Borne and we are back in the studio with JYD and McMahon saying “the fans were all over you.” McMahon humors us: “You have nothing but success in front of you as far as the fans are concerned.” McMahon even suggests that maybe if the Dog keeps winning he’ll get a title show against Hulk Hogan.
Yeah right. Hogan was no John Cena, who in the last decade put over fan favorites such as Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, RVD, The Rock and Edge, for no other reason other than he wanted get those guys over. Hogan put over the JYD in 1985? That was never going to happen.
The Junkyard Dog lingers, sliding down the couch as they introduce the next guest, Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart. Hart had the best laugh in the world. It rolled on forever. So annoying. He was a little fireball. A perfect heel. Hart refuses sit on the same couch as JYD, saying that either he leaves or the JYD leaves. Of course, JYD leaves because he’s a gentleman and doesn’t want to disrupt the show.
Hart has a package that give gives Lord Alfred Hayes. Apparently, in one of the episodes that is not on the WWE network, a few weeks ago Hart dumped water on Hayes in a beach segment featuring King Kong Bundy. To make up for this, Hart gave Hayes a package.
As Hart starts to fiddle with the package, we go to a match featuring Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Mario Mancini. Valentine was a true professional wrestler, but my god was he boring to watch. The match is moving like Ryback vs. The Big Show. Making matters worse, we have Bruno Sammartino on color commentary, who is referring to Hammer as being in “tip-top shape.”
No matter how great or awful they were in the ring, you could always count on Sammartino to comment about each wrestler’s physique and strength and conditioning, even if the were pudgy little jobbers. Oh well, at least we didn’t have to listen to him talk this week about how strong his son David is.
To distract people from the ridiculously slow pace of the match, Hart is jabbering with a crazy fan at ringside. Hart knew how to draw heel heat.
Valentine wins with a figure-four-leglock and back in the TNT studio Hayes is still opening the package. It’s one of those boxes that when you open it there’s another box inside. Hayes finally gets to the right box and a snake and powder explodes into the air, splashing all over Hayes and his jacket.
“There’s no fool, like an old fool,” Hart says with a maniacal laugh. Hayes pops up as though he’s going to assault him, when JYD returns with a jug of water. He goes after Hart and pours it on him. Hart screams, “You ruined my outfit. You are going to pay for this” and runs off the set.
Up next, we get what McMahon calls “a great lady wrestler.” Too bad McMahon doesn’t call his talent “wrestlers” anymore. Petersen comes out apparently as the newest challenger for Wendi Richter. McMahon has no shame: “Talk about an attractive young lady,” he says.
Sitting straight up and proper, she says “thank you” for the compliments. McMahon has morphed into his slimy nice guy character here, his voice low, his body leaning toward Petersen, trying to make her feel comfortable.
We go to the ring and its Peterson against Judy Martin.
I’ll say it again: The female wrestlers in 1985 were better than most of the current WWE female roster. The women were more normal looking, and their wrestling looked much more athletic and realistic. I don’t think they were trying to turn models into wrestlers in 1985. These were wrestlers that they were trying to glam up.
Petersen wins the match after Martin refuses to release a choke hold and pushes the referee, a big no-no, or a convenient went to end a match without having either wrestler do the job for the other.
The lady segments are typically short. They give Peterse enough time to look pretty, proper and grateful for the opportunity and then they ship her off the set. On the couch she said she wants a rematch with Martin and she wants to challenge Wendi Richter for the world title.
Before she leaves, McMahon calls her “a pretty young lady.” After Petersen, we get to meet “the lucky winner” of the WWF trivia contest that Lord Alfed Hayes was pushing several months ago. I am not sure they ever said her name, but I do remember her saying “this is an ultimate fantasy of mine dream come true,” while standing between Hayes and McMahon.
She’s apparently a huge professional wrestling fan, although not enough to get on a plane for. Hayes points out that she took a 19-hour Greyhound bus ride to get to New York. She also reveals that she has 10 cats, six dogs and three horses.
This is a bridge segment before the main event: George “The Animal” Steele.
Now watching TNT as a kid, of course I knew that wrestling was predetermined. The big question for me was always whether the wrestlers were like their characters in real life. When they said things, did they really mean that? Did Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton really hang out together and cause trouble on the road? That was always the big question. And even though I knew wrestling outcomes were pre-determined, I knew that these guys were athletes, who chose professional wrestling because they loved the art of it.
But when George “The Animal” Steele was on TV, it was an entirely different story. I was convinced this guy was legitimately limited in his mental capacity.
He was also scary as hell. Can you imagine that bald, fat, hairy guy coming after you? It’s a boy’s nightmare. So props to Steele for playing that role so masterfully, as evidenced on this episode of TNT. Steele comes out with a noticeably fatter Albano, who is sporting a haircut. Albano lost some weight during the Cyndi Lauper angle, but appears to be morphing back into his gross self.
McMahon calls him on it, asking Albano if he has gained weight. Albano unbuttons his shirt and says that actually he has lost 30 to 35 bounds. No one embraced their fatness quite like Albano.
Albano starts to explain that he has found “Dr. Sigmund Ziff” who is a renowned “psychiatrist and gynecologist.” You just can’t make this stuff up. He said the doctor determined that Steele was depressed, homicidal and suicidal. But he can be helped.
“Under hypnosis, they said the man can be helped and they said there’s only one man in the nation today with a PhD, PhU, an IOU and an IOA that can help George Steele.”
Albano was so good at just making up words in the moment. Before the hypnosis we go to the ring to Saturday Night’s Main Event and a six-man tag match between Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham against The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkov and Steele.
A couple of notables: Steamboat was amazing. Windham was ridiculously amazing. Windham was so good in that ring, everything from his timing, to his athleticism and his ability to call a match. The match ends after Volkoff tags in Steele, who quickly attempts to tag back, but his partners abandoned him. Windham then rolls up Steele for the victory.
Just because they are bullies, Sheik and Volkoff decide to beat on Steele until Steel battles back. Albano runs into the ring and comforts Steele in a real tender moment. Albano rubs his head and Steele puts his head on his chest.
Ahhhhh. McMahon calls Steele, “the most unorthodox wrestler in the world today.” Back on the TNT set, Albano continues to explain why he wants to help Steele.
“I felt that in this man I saw nothing but goodness,” Albano said. “I realized the man was handicapped. He had a speech impediment. he was in trouble.” Meanwhile, Steele is acting like a paranoid freak, as though bugs are crawling all over him and there’s someone lurking over him about to slam him over the head. He was born for this role.
Albano says Steele simply has a calcium deposit building up in his head blocking his medulla, but that Dr. Ziff is going to fix it all. We go to the psychiatrist’s office and Steele is sprawled out. McMahon asks him how he plans to help Steele.
“I am the doctor of the last resort,” Dr. Ziff says. “Whenever things are hopeless they send them to me. And this man is hopeless.”
Ziff said he needs silence to hypnotize Steele. Ziff swings the pendulum in about three seconds claims that “he’s under, just like that.” What follows is a combination of disappointment and sadness. Dr. Ziff tells Steele to go back to his childhood, and suddenly Steele starts talking.
Now I don’t remember watching this segment as a kid, but if I did I would have been terribly disappointed. George was actually talking. I new that the psychiatry gimmick was a total work, so if George is talking, he must actually be a really smart guy to play along with this act.
Over the next minute George barks out these words:
“School!”
“Football!”
“Tongue”
“George Stand.”
“George Talk”
“Teacher Say: Sit Down, Dummy.”
“George, No Talk in School.”
Man. How sad. Now we know that George was not a mentally challenged individual, he was actually a metaphor for all the bullied children all over the world. Then it goes worse. George says he grew up to become a professional wrestler.
“They booed George.”
“Threw things at me.”
“Spit at me.”
Dr. Ziff concludes that George is traumatized from a double rejection in his life. He claims that now that Steel has acknowledge his trauma, he will come out of the hypnosis as a new man. Of course, that doesn’t happen. Why would the WWF kill a great gimmick just for shock value? This isn’t 2015.
Dr. Ziff snaps his fingers and George starts freaking out like he sat on a bed of thumbtacks. Albano starts screaming that Steele will need more therapy. No kidding. It should have been a weekly segment. The show wraps up with Dr. Ziff on the couch. He’s trying to explain to McMahon how he can be a gynecologist and psychiatrist.”
“Everything is inside,” Dr. Ziff says, “sometimes you start at the top and work down and sometimes, well you get the idea.” Dr. Ziff says he is willing to help anybody:
“We will help anyone who comes to us,” Dr. Ziff says. “We only need need one qualification: money.”
What an amazing episode, thanks to Steele, who played this role perfectly. They tried something similar with Eugene a decade ago, but Steele shows on this episode that if they ever start handing out Emmys to WWE wrestlers, Steele definitely deserves one of those Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The combination of NFL football and baseball playoffs, combined with a less-than-interesting product in recent weeks, saw Raw fall to a new non-holiday low of 3.27 million viewers last night. The only episode of the show since 1997 that did worse was a Christmas Eve show in 2012 that did 3.14 million viewers.
The main culprit was the combination of a Pittsburgh Steelers vs. San Diego Chargers game on ESPN that did 12.18 million viewers, a lower number than football has done the last few weeks, and baseball. TBS aired the Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals against the first half of Raw, which did 5.78 million viewers. They aired the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets against the second half of Raw, which did 3.96 million viewers.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 3.52 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.25 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.08 million viewers