On This Day: November 22, 1986 – Superstars of Wrestling: One Of The Best Episodes ever

Superstars of Wrestling
Date: November 22, 1986
Location: Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New York
Attendance: 6,400
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, Bruno Sammartino

Wow I haven’t done one of these in awhile. We’re closing in on 1987 and the beginning of the build towards Wrestlemania. I’m hoping the source I get these from finishes out the year because I have about the first three months worth of Superstars from that year already done. It’s an awesome time period for the company and things are just about to explode. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence does its opening thing.

Vince runs down the card and HOKEY SMOKE there are two famous things on this show.

Steamboat talks about his match later on but I won’t spoil who it’s against. Never mind as it’s the opener.

Intercontinental Title: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat

Hebner and Danny Davis argue over who gets to be the referee here. Steamboat is all fired up but Hebner (who I guess won the argument) tears him off Savage. Ricky speeds things up again and slams the champ down for two before hitting the armdrag into the armbar as only he can. Savage gets up and runs Steamboat over a few times but gets caught in another perfect armdrag.

Savage counters by ramming Ricky into the buckle and drops a knee for two. The double ax off the top gets a somewhat delayed two but Savage thinks he won. Steamboat sends him into the corner but Savage comes out with a spinning crossbody. Ricky rolls through it and gets two for himself though. Now Randy gets whipped into the corner and Steamboat hits a top rope chop but doesn’t cover.

Steamboat pounds away and even Vince isn’t sure why he didn’t cover. When 1986 McMahon questions you, you must have REALLY done something stupid. Sunset flip doesn’t work for Steamboat but he skins the cat and gets an O’Connor Roll for two. The referee gets knocked down by Savage (accident) and Steamboat hits the cross body.

Hebner tries to count but Davis blocks the count for no apparent reason. Well that’s assuming you don’t count being EVIL as a reason. They go to the floor and Savage rams him into the barricade. He goes up top and drops the ax onto Steamboat, ramming the Dragon’s throat into the barricade. That gives Savage the countout win but the more important stuff is coming.

Rating: B-. Even though it ended with a countout, this was one of the best Superstars matches I can ever remember. Then again, look at the people in it. Would you expect anything else? This was much more about building an angle rather than the match though, so we should get back to what’s going on.

Savage gets the bell and drives it into Steamboat’s throat, further injuring Steamboat’s windpipe. This draws MOLTEN heat from the crowd and would set up their rematch and arguably the best match ever at Wrestlemania 3. Savage would go on to feud with Steele for a few months until on SNME when Steele said he had a surprise for Savage. I think you can fill in the blanks yourself, and it was AWESOME. Steamboat is taken out on a stretcher while Vince shouts about how he can’t breathe.

UPDATE!

Paul Orndorff is the #1 contender to Hulk Hogan and thinks anyone claiming otherwise is crazy. Orndorff says comparing him to Hogan is like comparing ice cream to horse manure.

Al Navaro vs. Junkyard Dog

Powerslam in maybe 35 seconds ends this. Next.

Bruno can’t believe what he just saw with Steamboat and Savage. Steamboat is getting looked at and can’t breathe still. An ambulance is coming.

Hogan says he’s ready for Kamala in the Boston Gardens. I’ve seen that match actually and it sucked.

Billy Graham is out in Phoenix and says he’s training in the desert.

Dino Bravo vs. Kurt Kauffman

This is another squash that runs almost twice as long as the previous one. Bravo wins it with a belly to back suplex before Fink can finish reading the house show ads.

The Islanders say they’re ready for the Dream Team in Boston. It’s weird hearing Haku talk.

Outback Jack is training with some natives in Australia. Ok then.

Jimmy Jack Funk vs. Dick Slater

Oh jeez the Rebel Dick Slater. This was one of those gimmicks that went NOWHERE and thankfully didn’t last long. Slater says that he’s from the south while Funk jumps him. He fights back but goes up and gets slammed off. Dick comes back with a neckbreaker and Funk begs off. An elbow to the head sets up the figure four but Funk escapes. Slater sends him into the buckle and hits a top rope elbow to the back followed by a regular one for the pin. Just a squash for the most part.

Time for Piper’s Pit. The guests are King Curtis, Kim Chee and Kamala. Curtis shouts a lot as he is known to do and talks about Piper needing friends in the future. Piper wants to know what the moon on Kamala’s stomach means. Kamala takes his mask off and that’s about it.

Billy Jack Haynes vs. Ray Vance

This is almost joined in progress for some reason. Haynes pounds him down with pure power and hooks the full nelson for the tap out. This lasted maybe a minute or so.

Now we get what is probably a one time only thing in wrestling history: Honky Tonk Man hears the results of a fan poll, asking for a vote of confidence. If the fans vote him down then they don’t approve of him. If they vote for him, they like him. This is basically voting for him to stay face or turn heel. With 674,000 votes in, over 600,000 are against Honky. He’s not happy and storms off.

Hillbilly Jim/Tito Santana/Pedro Morales vs. Dream Team/Johnny V

Jim and Valentine start things off but it’s off to Morales very quickly. Off to Beefcake who gets backdropped quickly and Tito gets the tag. Santana cleans house and it’s back to Jim. Beefcake takes the Hillbilly down and Johnny V comes in. That goes nowhere so Santana comes in for the Figure Four. Everything breaks down and Davis throws it out, but DQ’s Santana’s team for starting the whole thing. Too short to rate but it was about Davis so there you go.

More Boston show stuff with Heenan talking about how great Pedro Morales used to be. He’s facing Harley Race, but let’s talk about Orndorff instead. Heenan doesn’t like that Kamala is getting the title match against Hogan but it’s the JYD that is getting Orndorff in Boston. JYD is just a roadblock and he needs to get ready to get run over. Solid promo here.

Steamboat has been taken to the hospital. Savage wants an update and Sammartino isn’t happy. They get in a fight which led to a brief feud between the two of them.

Overall Rating: B. Considering my biggest complaint about this show is that nothing ever happens, how can I not give this a higher than average rating? Two BIG things happened here as well as we had what was probably the best match in the history of the show up to this point. Good show here and easily the best they’ve had so far.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume I at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

PDFPrint