Best of the WWF Volume 8 – These Are The Newcomers? Where’s My Remote?

Best of the WWF Volume 8
Host: Gene Okerlund
Commentators: Alfred Hayes, Gorilla Monsoon

This is one of the last ones I have left so for any of you getting annoyed with me doing these over and over again, counting these two I have four to go so it’s almost over. This one is from mid 86 so we’re in a far different era than the last one of these that we took a look at. Let’s get to it.

Same opening video, same comments from me about it.

Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees

This is from MSG. I remember one of these four (I think Bret) saying these teams wrestled a few thousand times so they know how to work well together. Bret is brand new (to WWF) here. Anvil and Brunzell get us going. Brunzell tries to get in a power contest with him for some reason and it goes as well as you would expect. Jim tries to ram into him and it hurts him more than Neidhart.

Crowd is white hot here and the fans go nuts for a drop toehold. Brunzell works on the leg which is the best thing he could do. Anvil goes after him with the power game and here’s Bret for the first time. The referee has a small afro here. Bret is a little more muscular here than I’m used to seeing him as. Off to a chinlock and Blair is in control. The crowd is amazing here as they get into the tiniest of things like Blair getting up from a chinlock.

There’s the tag to Brunzell but he goes after the wrong guy. Bret knees him in the back and it’s Brunzell in trouble again. Back to the chinlock by Anvil this time. A quick DEVASTATING bearhug leads to Bret coming in but Blair saves a pin. Again the crowd here amazes me. Bret hooks a front facelock and he keeps the tag from being made again. Brunzell gets free but Anvil gets Blair’s attention on the floor.

Time for some back work as Brunzell is in trouble. I thought it was usually Blair that took the beating for the most part. Hart hits a dropkick for a very delayed two. This is your standard old school tag formula which means that the main criteria is how talented the guys are in at selling the stuff they’re doing. These four are great, so that should mean a good match.

There’s your tag to Blair who clears house. Small package gets two. Heel miscommunication would seem to be the ending but Bret kicks out. There’s an abdominal stretch to Bret and everything breaks down again. The Bret corner chest bump gets two. O’Connor Roll gets a VERY close two. A blind tag brings Brunzell back in and he kicks Bret’s head off with a dropkick but the time runs out at probably 20:00.

Rating: B-. These t

wo having a good match in the mid 80s is like saying the sun came up this morning. These guys were practically memorizing each other at this point and like I said, they wrestled each other a few hundred times at least. This was no shock and would have been great with a clean finish or a finish that gave us a winner. Still though, that’s a reason to come back for more.

Terry Gibbs vs. Dan Spivey

Gibbs is a name you hear popping up every now and then. Spivey was brought in for the simple reason of he looked exactly like Barry Windham who had flipped out and went home. Seriously, that’s why Spivey has a job. This is joined in progress with Spivey being knocked out to the floor. The next few matches are about newcomers and in this case it’s Spivey. Elbow drop gets two for Terry. Time for a bearhug which goes on WAY too long.

Spivey comes back but misses an elbow. Gibbs takes over again but jumps into a bearhug of his own. Gibbs thinks of the smart idea of raking the eyes. Spivey comes back again and this time the elbow hits. A legdrop gets the same. Did I mention he has blonde hair and yellow tights? Bulldog ends this for Bar…I mean Spivey.

Rating: D. What we saw of this was bad. Gibbs is nothing of note and Spivey is there because he was tall and blonde and I guess they were hoping no one would notice the difference. Bad match here, mainly because neither guy is worth anything in the ring, which is what it all breaks down to.

Billy Jack Haynes vs. Moondog Rex

Haynes is the newcomer here and we’re in Boston. A pretty loud boring chant begins while Rex is on offense. Haynes starts his comeback and the fans really aren’t all that interested. Rex is busted a bit as he comes back in and hammers away. Full nelson by Haynes ends this quick. Not enough to rate but it was nothing to see at all.

Junkyard Dog vs. King Kong Bundy

Back to MSG. This isn’t about newcomers in case you were confused. Hayes thinks Bundy will be the man that takes the title off Hogan. I’ll have what he’s having please. This is going to be a lot of kicking and punching I think. Bundy knocks him down but the missed elbow lets JYD use the all fours headbutts. Dog comes back with clubbing shots but Bundy takes him down with a clothesline.

Knee drop gets two for the white dude. Dog punches away as that’s about all he knows how to do. A bunch of those get two. A falling headbutt misses but that shouldn’t hurt him should it? They slug it out and a double clothesline puts both guys down. Things slow down and it’s a chinlock by Bundy. The referee checks Dog’s arm and even though it drops three times, they check it again and the fourth time it stays up so that’s good enough I guess. Dog makes his comeback but Bobby trips him and that’s a DQ.

Rating: D-. And yet I didn’t hate it. The problem with this was that it was all punching and kicking. I mean that was probably 95% of the match. The fans kind of reacted to it but then again people watch Jersey Shore so there you go. Nothing to see here but what were you really expecting here?

Jimmy Jack Funk vs. Tony Garea

Funk is the newcomer here. Joined in progress again with Funk holding a chinlock. Off to a chinlock…again. Jimmy has Jimmy in the corner. Garea counters a suplex and Hart desperately tries to convince Gorilla that his man will win. They slug it out from their knees and here’s Tony’s comeback. Tony tries a cross body but Jack catches it and after about 4 hours, turns it over into a powerslam for the pin.

Rating: D-. Funk is another guy that I never got the appeal of. I think they tried to put him into the Funk family to try to give him credibility but it didn’t work at all. Garea was a good hand to have but his time had passed for the most part. Basically imagine a face version of William Regal.

Harley Race vs. Lanny Poffo

Race is the “newcomer” here, although they openly say he’s wrestled for twenty years. Clipped to Poffo taking something like a brainbuster on the floor. The fans are quiet but this is the old Race, as in the old school style of him. Top rope headbutt (which Race is credited with inventing) puts Poffo down and a regular one puts him on the floor. Poffo starts his comeback and hits a flying headscissors to bring Race over the top and back in. Race gets him in a fireman’s carry and drops him throat first across the top rope to break up the comeback though. Fisherman’s suplex ends this. Not enough to grade but Race was his usual great self, even though the match was dull.

Time for a bodyslam challenge. Studd offered a $15,000 reward to anyone who could slam him. Oh wait it’s a match with that as a stipulation. Got it.

Big John Studd vs. Ricky Hunter/Jim Powers

I just can’t escape this Powers guy. Before the match starts though King Tonga (Meng/Haku) comes out and says he can slam him. Studd says wait your turn. Both guys try to slam him which doesn’t work at all. Bruno is on commentary and he’s about one step shy of saying “dudes, fail.” They finally figure out that you have to beat on him and then slam him when he’s stunned. The idea is fine but it doesn’t work at all. Studd destroys them and pins Hunter with a slam.

King Tonga runs in and slams him with ease. You know what that means.

Big John Studd vs. King Tonga

Studd immediately slams him during the opening bell to take over. Tonga goes for a slam but it gets countered. That’s the whole point of the match: Tonga wants to slam Studd. Off to a chinlock but Tonga comes back with some martial arts. Another slam attempt sends them tumbling to the floor and it’s a double countout. No rating again but this was a one move match.

They brawl on the floor post match with Tonga getting the better of it. The brawl and teasing going back in goes on longer than the match. Now they get back in and brawl as there’s a referee in there for some reason. Tonga headbutts him to the floor and that’s enough for John.

Ted Arcidi vs. Terry Gibbs

Arcidi is a strongman and the newcomer here. Yeah they’re still on that. Arcidi overpowers him and there’s an oil complaint. He no sells everything to start and gets a full nelson but Gibbs makes the ropes. After some quick offense (as in punching/pounding, which Gorilla calls unconventional), Ted gets a quick bearhug to end it. Just a squash.

Cousin Junior vs. Hercules Hernandez

Herc is the newcomer and Junior is a hillbilly. Joined in progress again and Herc (with wild hair) is holding a chinlock. There’s no commentary for this so far for some reason. Oh ok there is but it’s very quiet. Herc works him over and gets two off an elbow. Back to the chinlock. Junior makes his comeback but gets slingshotted (slungshot?) to the floor. Herc punches him back down and Junior isn’t wearing any shoes. Junior comes back with a sunset flip but Hernandez counters that as well.

After more punches, there’s another chinlock. Junior makes his comeback but gets caught by a kind of superkick and a jumping knee. Herc isn’t exactly Lou Thesz out there but he slams Junior to expand the repertoire. He goes up but a jumping punch misses. Herc reverses a sloppy O’Connor Roll for the pin and I think he had some tights. Well, overalls.

Rating: F. These newcomers have a lot to learn. Junior was part of the Hillbilly Family which was around to give Hillbilly Jim something to keep him on screen while he recovered from a broken leg. I think they were around before that too but not in as prominent of a role. This was really bad.

Intercontinental Title: Pedro Morales vs. Adrian Adonis

Since Adrian never held this title, Pedro is defending. Joined in progress (again) as this is an Archives match. They slug it out and the fans are of course way into Pedro. He knocks Adonis to the floor and is slow even here in what I think is about 1980. They ram each other into various things and Pedro misses a shoulder back inside. That ring sounds very metallic. The American hits a German on the Puerto Rican and they do the suplex but one guy gets his shoulder up in time spot to keep the title on Pedro. Too short to rate but bad as always on this tape.

Adrian beats Pedro up and hits him with the belt post match, only to get knocked to the floor himself.

Pat Patterson vs. Lou Albano

This is from 1982. Patterson is loved, Albano is hated. Albano immediately goes for the foreign object but Patterson knocks it out of his hands before the opening bell. He clocks Lou with it to bust him open so Albano Does The Mario for a bit. Albano gets knocked around for maybe two minutes and walks out. Patterson was just crazy over in New York.

Jake Roberts vs. Ricky Steamboat

This is also joined in progress. The idea here is that Jake DDTed him on the concrete on SNME, igniting a huge feud. This is just one of those stops along the way. Steamboat fires off martial arts to send Jake outside and the referee goes all nuts on Steamboat and shoves him away. Back in and Steamboat speeds things up but Jake catches him with a right hand to take over.

Dragon almost gets sent to the floor but he hangs on and hits a sunset flip for no count as Jake pops him in the face. Steamboat comes back with some neckbreakers but a splash attempt gets knees. Out to the floor and Jake wants to DDT him out there again but Ricky rams him into the barricade to escape. Back in and there’s a top rope chop. Jake is busted open. The referee pulls Steamboat off AGAIN and Ricky is getting ticked off. There’s a THIRD time and Jake gets in a shot as a result. Steamboat finally says screw it and shoves the referee for a DQ.

Rating: C-. What a breath of air this was. It wasn’t a great match or anything due to the annoying referee but when you’ve sat through an hour of Ted Arcidi and Jimmy Jack Funk, a Steamboat match sounds like water in the desert. This was ok but they would have far better brawls with far less annoying referees.

Overall Rating: F. Oh this was bad. The whole “newcomers” angle didn’t mean anything because the matches sucked. If I knew these were the next generation, I’d be getting some shoes on and going to the library instead of looking to see when WWF was on TV next. Just awful although the opening tag was good. Imagine: giving talented people a good deal of time and you get a good match.

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