WWF War To Settle The Score 1985

(Guest written by Matt)

WWF War To Settle The Score 1985
February 18, 1985
Madison Square Garden
New York City

The WWF in 1984/1985 looks like it was absolutely awesome. Its so unfortunate I wasn’t old enough to watch and understand it back then. And because this was still before the payperview era (and possibly before WWF was on a regular Canadian TV network even), its a challenge to find shows from this era on youtube. There was a full card at Madison Square Garden that night featuring matches like Moondog Spot vs. Rick McGraw and David Sammartino vs. Moondog Rex, but the only match that was shown as part of the one hour MTV special was Hulk Hogan vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper. However, it seems like Wendi Richter vs. Lelani Kai was shown on TV at some point as the match is also easy to find on youtube and looks like a TV broadcast.

1984 was a major turning point in American politics and culture. Ronald Reagan’s reelection campaign was dubbed “Good Morning America” and featured commercials and speeches with rock music, “USA! USA!” chants, videos of men and women going to work together, and a real optimistic, patriotic tone that soared him into victory. At the same time, America was experiencing the introduction of things like the VCR, the walkman, video games, and of course MTV. It was like a total reinvention of American culture.

Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, and the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection debuted at just the right time. Hogan was the embodiment of “Good Morning America” and McMahon did a tremendous job of cross promoting with MTV, bringing all these stars from music and Hollywood together to promote professional wrestling.

And much like they did in every era, the hardcore wrestling fans immediately spewed hate about Hogan and the changing WWF product. These fans who wanted serious, in-the-ring, greco-roman style wrestling came to be mockingly identified with the old guard in America. The same people who wanted to go back to the good old days of Lou Thesz vs. Gorgeous George were supposedly the same people who hated rock ‘n’ roll. So McMahon made fun of all those people and made his chief storylines all about the new “Good Morning America” era versus the American old guard. Rowdy Roddy Piper became the top heel in the company by bashing Hogan, rock ‘n’ roll, women’s rights etc.

The way the WWF built up these storylines was incredible. The actual matches in the ring aren’t even objectively very good, but the fans bought into the product so much that the wild crowds carry these basic punch and kick matches to greatness. The psychology at this time puts anything from the current WWE to shame.

War To Settle The Score kicks off with an insane Hulk Hogan promo where he asks the fans how long they want him to torture Rowdy Roddy Piper. Awesome!

The show then really opens with a vaguely SNME like intro. Then it warps into a studio where Mene Gene Okerlund and Allan Hunter hype up the big match. They talk about how tonight’s match has “social, political, and artistic implications” behind the sport of pro wrestling.

They then show all the clips from late 84 and early 85 building up the Hogan-Piper feud, which actually grew out of the Wendi Richter-Cyndi Lauper storyline originally. Like I said before, these clips look awesome and I wish I had been able to watch this entire buildup on TV. Some of this stuff is insane. Like Piper actually punches out Cyndi Lauper and chokes out her manager until the police come to arrest him. This is borderline Attitude Era insanity. There’s also a ridiculous part where Captain Lou turns face again after being revealed to have deposits on his brain that caused him to go insane. (So apparently not wanting rock stars at wrestling cards makes you “insane”. Eric Bischoff would definitely agree with that one.)

They then have a seemingly endless series of interviews with wrestlers and rock stars, all stating their opinions on the match. Some of these interviews are awesome, like Bobby Heenan and Nikolai Volkoff. Others are just downright embarassing like where Danny Devito admits he’s never watched a wrestling match in his life, but will now start watching.

It then shows some awesome vignettes hyping up both Hogan and Piper. Piper’s segment is especially funny as it says that growing up near a factory in Glasgow, Scotland poisoned his mind and made him go insane.

H.T. Hulk Hogan def. Rowdy Roddy Piper by DQ

This match is just batshit insane. Piper enters with a bagpipes group, wearing a Hulkamania shirt which he tears up. He also smashes an electric guitar and proclaims to hate rock ‘n’ roll. Cowboy Bob Orton is there with his arm in a sling. The fans in New York viciously boo Piper and Mene Gene and Gorilla Monsoon on commentary tear him a new asshole. Eye of the Tiger then starts playing and Hulk Hogan comes out with the crowd blowing off the top of the arena. Before the bell even rings, they show Mr. T in the crowd, but don’t explain why he’s there, for some reason. As soon as the match starts, its just an insane brawl. The actual match is only about five minutes long and is nothing but punches, kicks and bodyslams. But compared to most other Hogan matches, this one feels like its in fast forward. The insane crowd carry this one 100%. At one point Piper gets Hogan in a sleeperhold (which reminds me of WCW) and Hogan accidentally bumps the referee. Orton tries to interfere but Hogan punches him off the apron. Then Paul Orndorff comes out, again with no real explanation and jumps Hogan from behind. He then goes after Cyndi Lauper leading to Mr. T jumping out of his seat and proceeding to get his ass handed to him by Piper and Orndorff. Suddenly, about ten cops storm the ring, breaking everything up, and putting Piper and Orndorff in handcuffs. Howard Finkel starts to announce Hogan as the winner but Hogan grabs the mic and challenges Piper and Orndorff to get back in here. But they’re being led away, and so Hogan is announced the winner by DQ. He celebrates with Mr. T and the crowd is so crazy, its as if they just saw Flair-Steamboat.

After the match is over, the last fifteen minutes or so of the program is more of the same. Its back to Hunter and Gene talking about the same stuff as before. They do interviews with Hogan, T, Lauper, and a few more celebrities, some of whom I don’t even recognize. Then Rowdy Roddy Piper comes out of the shower wearing only a towel and starts going nuts, bashing T and Hogan. The show ends right after this.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about this entire show is the fact that Wrestlemania 1 is never once mentioned on the broadcast. Seeing as how it was only a month away at this point, you would think they would be promoting the hell out of it every chance they had. Maybe they had commercials for the event that were cut from the WWE 24/7 version.

Women’s Title: Lelani Kai def. Wendi Richter

This match was also easy to find and appears to have been on TV at some point as quick cuts in and out of the commercials and brief parts with Jesse Ventura and some other guy talking can be seen. Anyway, this match was Fabulous Moolah’s attempt at getting revenge on Richter from Brawl To End It All when she won the title. Richter was apparently almost the equal of Hulk Hogan in terms of popularity at this point, since she represented the “new woman” of the mid-80s. I wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t been screwed over by McMahon later this year. (Probably not much since Vince rarely pushes women’s wrestling for long.) Obviously Cyndi Lauper was in Richter’s corner and Moolah was in Kai’s corner. Anyway, this is a longer match for the time, about 15 minutes, and is mainly a brawl. Richter actually controls most of the match, almost in that 50s/60s style where the face dictates the pace of the match, something that was becoming less common by this time. Wendi also performs a surfboard at one point, which is pretty impressive. At one point, Richter does sort of a bridge suplex and her shoulders are down (much like in the match at Brawl To End It All) but the referee doesn’t count her shoulders down. Its so blatantly obvious that even Gorilla Monsoon on commentary acknowledges it. (Botched move alert!) Richter then continues to wear down Kai. Meanwhile Moolah just suddenly clotheslines Lauper outside of the ring. This distracts Richter allowing Kai to pin her with a sneaky backslide and win the title. Obviously this set up the rubber match at Wrestlemania 1, but again they never mention this event on commentary. (Weird.)