WWF Boston Garden December 6, 1986

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(Guest written by Matt)

WWF Old School
December 6, 1986
Boston Gardens
Boston, Massachussetts

This was on WWE Network the other day and is another one of those weird Old School cards from WWE On Demand, from before the Network days. There are only three matches so I doubt its a whole card but it was an interesting watch. Gorilla Monsoon and Kenny Wrestling provide commentary and are so fantastic at selling everything that it makes the matches seem much better than they actually are, the opposite of today’s announcers. The card takes place in the old Boston Garden with the weird yellow Bruins’ themed floor. The commentators mention a Bruins game happening earlier in the day, as well as a Celtics game the night before, and often seem to be talking more about sports, the news etc. rather than what’s going on the ring, which I didn’t realize happened in 1986. This card is from December which isn’t really that far off from Wrestlemania 3, yet it feels like a very different era, with more carryovers from the Wrestlemania 2 times than I would have expected. I enjoyed watching it, but WWF sure does seem kind of weak in 1986 compared to the years before and after, other than some main highlights such as the Hogan-Orndorff feud.

1) The King (Harley Race) defeated Pedro Morales with his feet on the ropes at about 10 minutes.

Race must be new to the company as they act like they have no idea who he is, and only refer to him as “The King” (so that’s where I got it from when playing with wrestlers…lol). He takes on a fat, out of shape, former world champ in Pedro Morales, who I’m surprised was still in the company at this point. At least he’s putting guys over instead of main eventing, though I imagine Race was almost as old at this point as Pedro. The King has Lawler’s music. The match is mostly all boring headlocks and slow wearing down of Pedro, not exactly a classic. And this is when the commentators start talking more about Boston sports and arena history and barely hyping what’s going on in the ring. Morales makes a comeback later and blatantly cheats and even shoves the ref, but isn’t DQed for some reason. But then The King rolls him over and puts his feet on the ropes for the win.

2) The Islanders and The Dream Team wrestle to a time limit draw at about 15 minutes.

The Islanders again were likely newcomers as the commentators barely seem to know who they are and they wrestle in white tights and don’t really act like savages, just regular wrestlers. I think they were supposed to be babyfaces initially. The Dream Team are announced as Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake, and the commentators only call them The Dream Team a couple times. The match is rather slow paced, lots of stalling, lots of restholds etc. While the match isn’t great, its now saved by the commentary as Monsoon really sells it as being a showcase for the championship committee and possible rematch with the British Bulldogs (I love this pretending to be sport stuff that wrestling commentators don’t do anymore). Beefcake doesn’t have much wrestling ability yet but is good at heel chicanery. The Islanders come back at the end and go for a cross body on Valentine, but the bell rings and the time limit expires. Afterwards, the Islanders beg for the match to continue and the Dream Team initially return to fight, but then cower out of the ring and go talk to Mene Gene instead about coming after the Bulldogs.

3) World Title: Hulk Hogan defeated Kamala with the patented legdrop at about 10 minutes.

WWF sure dropped the ball with Kamala as he had a great look and gimmick, but never really did much beyond these house show feuds. Kamala and Hogan both enter with their later musics, which suggests WWE edited this later. The title belt Hogan holds up is really weird looking too, looks kind of like the one from Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling and is weirdly small and skinny. The match is classic Hogan from this time, follows a script so predictable I could call everything before it happened. At one point Monsoon refers to “an immovable object up against an irresistible force” (an early version of this catchphrase or did he just mess up?). Hogan eventually comes back from a brief beating, has a face covered in blood, and wins with the legdrop, then celebrates with the fans around the ring with his fake music playing on the video.