(Guest written by Matt)
WWF Old School
Sam Houston Classic
October 19, 1986
Sam Houston Coliseum (The Summit)
Houston, Texas
I think this was the best episode of WWF Old School yet. Its becoming my favorite show on the WWE Network. This card takes place in Houston at the future site of Royal Rumble 89, which they sometimes call The Summit and other times call the Sam Houston Coliseum. The card is also listed as the Sam Houston Classic on WWE Network, though its never called that on the show. And I assure you that Sam Houston is nowhere near this card, LOL. Gorilla Monsoon commentates along with someone I don’t recognize and didn’t catch their name. As usual Gorilla is outstanding on the mic and makes these matches seem great.
1) Brutus Beefcake defeated Special Delivery Jones with a high knee at around five minutes.
Beefcake is still a heel aligned with Valentine and Johnny V but now looks, dresses and acts more like his later Barber persona. You can actually see how his character gradually transitioned and how his cocky heel mannerisms evolved into his wacky babyface character. SDJ is fat and wearing his red tights. The match is stalling and resthold city, which is typical of these cards. SDJ comes back late and Brutus oversells for his offense, only to win with a high knee out of nowhere. The match wasn’t great but I enjoyed seeing these two in action.
2) Greg Valentine defeated Steve Gatorwolfe with a bodyslam at around 5 minutes.
The other half of the Dream Team pretty much beats a jobber here, though the commentators kept talking about how Gatorwolfe was here to avenge Chief Jay Strongbow who was apparently injured by Valentine sometime earlier. No idea if this guy is a real Native American or not. He gets beat up by Valentine for most of the match and Greg wrestles a more aggressive brawling style than I’ve seen from him in most matches. He uses a lot more punches, chops and chokes and kind of reminds me of Ric Flair in there. There also the usual stalling and restholds, including a long boring hammerlock in the middle of the match. Just like in the first match, Gatorwolfe has a brief good guy comeback but then gets pinned out of nowhere out of a bodyslam. Just like before, not a great match but I liked seeing Valentine as he’s a damn good wrestler.
3) Davey Boy Smith defeated Iron Sheik by DQ after Nikolai Volkoff touched him at about five minutes. After the match Nik/Sheik beat on Davey Boy until Dynamite Kid made the save.
I loved this for the hilarious heel chicanery and pre-match promo from Nik/Sheik. I’ve always loved those guys. Davey Boy entered with his 1992 music, likely added into this show later. This was a seesaw battle with Sheik wrestling in a very aggressive manner and Davey Boy using crisp almost-tag-team-like offense. He was eventually going for a powerslam when Nikolai tapped his leg from outside the ring, causing a really cheap DQ. Nik/Sheik then beat on Davey Boy until Dynamite made the save, and its funny cause Dynamite had on a shirt but was also wearing his wrestling tights.
4) H.T. Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff by Countout after using a chair on Orndorff outside the ring and Paul failing to make the ten count at around 10 minutes. The pre-match stipulation said if Hogan was DQed he would lose the title.
This was another great and exciting match between these two. Orndorff was definitely one of Hogan’s best opponents ever. This was when he was entering with Hogan’s music and mocking the Hulkster a bit. This was a seesaw battle where Hogan kept teasing using a chair on Paul, as apparently the pre-match stipulation said he would lose the title if he was DQed. At one point Hogan did the patented legdrop but it was not the finish of the match, just a regular move. The two brawled to the outside where Heenan accidentally distracted the ref allowing Hogan to finally club Orndorff with the chair, then enter the ring and win by countout like a true heelish coward. Great match followed by a long Hogan posedown.
5) Nikolai Volkoff/Iron Sheik won a tag teams battle royal after last eliminating The British Bulldogs at around 10 minutes. The battle royal also included The Moondogs, The Dream Team, The Hart Foundation, King Kong Bundy/Big John Studd (LOL), The Machines, The Rougeau Brothers, The Killer Bees, SDJ/Mike Rotundo (random alert!), The Islanders, Steve Gatorwolfe/Chief Jay Strongbow.
I really enjoyed this weird random battle royal. Studd was dumped in true two seconds which I laughed super hard about. The eliminations were slow after and several teams did great showings. Nikolai and Sheik won in a fluke in the end by dumping Davey Boy together while Dynamite was distracted. And Gorilla added so much to the believability factor by talking about how the championship committee will definitely be studying this battle royal and likely granting Nik/Sheik the shots in the near future. Great stuff here.
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