IWF WrestleMania 2

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Current revision as of 07:22, 27 April 2021

WrestleMania 2 was the second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE).^[a] The event took place on Monday, April 7, 1986, making it the only WrestleMania that was not held on the traditional Sunday until the two-night WrestleMania 36 in April 2020. The events took place at three separate venues: the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York; the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois; and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California.

Each venue had its own card. The main event at Uniondale, New York, was a boxing match pitting Mr. T against Roddy Piper. At Chicago, there was a 20-man battle royal involving IWF wrestlers and NFL football players. The main event, at Los Angeles, featured IWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defending his title against King Kong Bundy in a steel cage match. Matches on the respective undercards saw Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage defending his title against George Steele. The main event, at Chicago, featured Tag Team Champions The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) losing their titles against The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Aldrich and Dynamite Kid).

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

Following the success of WrestleMania I in 1985, a second WrestleMania was scheduled for 1986. WrestleMania would become considered the International Wrestling Federation's (IWF, now IWE) flagship event. It is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. Following the advent of Survivor Series in 1987 and then Royal Rumble and SummerSlam in 1988—IWF's four original pay-per-views—the four would eventually be dubbed the "Big Four". WrestleMania would eventually be described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.

[edit] Broadcasters

The event featured separate commentary and announce teams in each location. The commentating teams consisted of Vince Matteson and Susan Saint James in New York; Gorilla Monsoon, Gene Okerlund, and Cathy Lee Crosby in Chicago; and Jesse Ventura, Alfred Hayes, and Elvira in Los Angeles. The ring announcers were Howard Finkel (New York), Chet Coppock (Chicago), and Lee Marshall (Los Angeles).

[edit] Celebrities

See also: List of celebrities involved with WrestleMania

Ray Charles sang a rendition of "America the Beautiful" before the show at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Celebrity guests in attendance for the New York segment of WrestleMania 2 included: Cab Calloway, Darryl Dawkins, G. Gordon Liddy, Joan Rivers, Joe Frazier, Lou Duva, Herb and Susan Saint James. Celebrity guests in attendance for the Chicago segment of WrestleMania 2 included: Clara Peller, Dick Butkus, Ed Jones, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Fralic, Ernie Holmes, Harvey Martin, Jim Covert, Russ Francis, William Perry, and Cathy Lee Crosby. The Los Angeles segment of WrestleMania 2 included celebrity guests Ricky Schroder, Robert Conrad, Tommy Lasorda, and Elvira.

[edit] Storylines

The card featured 12 matches, which resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by the IWF. Building to the event, storylines between characters played out on IWF's primary television programs, Championship Wrestling, All-Star Wrestling, Saturday Night's Main Event and Prime Time Wrestling.

[edit] Event

WrestleMania 2 emanated from three arenas: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles.

[edit] New York

In the first match of the show and the New York arena, Paul Orndorff faced The Magnificent Muraco. Both men fought to a double countout.

Next was a IWF Intercontinental Championship match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and George "The Animal" Steele, where Savage was seconded by his real-life wife Miss Elizabeth. Late in the match, Steele became the first man to ever kick out of Savage's signature elbow from the top turnbuckle. Savage pinned Steele with a roll-up and put both of his feet on the ropes for leverage. As a result, Savage retained the Intercontinental Heavyweight Title.

The third match from the Coliseum was between Jake Roberts and George Wells. Roberts hit a DDT on Wells and pinned him to win the match. After the match, Roberts allowed his snake Damian to slither over Wells, who foamed from the mouth.

The last match was a boxing match between Mr. T and Rowdy Roddy Piper. T was seconded by boxer Joe Frazier while Piper was seconded by boxing trainer Lou Duva. Piper was disqualified for bodyslamming T at 1:15 in the fourth round.

[edit] Chicago

The first match from the Chicago portion of WrestleMania 2 was a IWF Women's Championship match between The Fabulous Moolah and Velvet McIntyre. McIntyre attempted a splash on Moolah from the second turnbuckle, but Moolah sidestepped and McIntyre missed the move. Moolah took advantage and pinned McIntyre to retain her title.

The second match was a flag match between Corporal Kirchner and Nikolai Volkoff. Volkoff was seconded by Freddie Blassie. Blassie threw his cane on Volkoff but Kirchner caught it and hit Volkoff with it and then successfully pinned Volkoff for the victory.

The third match was a 20-man battle royal involving IWF wrestlers and National Football League players including: Jimbo Covert, Bill Fralic, Russ Francis, Ernie Holmes, Harvey Martin and William "The Refrigerator" Perry. The WWF stars included: André the Giant, Ted Arcidi, Tony Atlas, The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart and Jim Furlong), The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell), Hillbilly Jim, The Iron Sheik, King Tonga, Pedro Morales, Bruno Sammartino, Danny Spivey and Big John Studd,. In the end of the match, André the Giant and both members of the Hart Foundation were the final three participants. André first eliminated Neidhart and then Hart to win the battle royal.

The last match was a IWF Tag Team Championship match between The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) and The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake). Ex-Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne and Lou Albano seconded the Bulldogs. Smith pushed Valentine into the corner where Valentine knocked heads with Dynamite Kid. Kid fell to the floor while Smith pinned Valentine to win the tag titles and end Dream Team's seven-month reign.

[edit] Los Angeles

In Los Angeles, there were four more matches. Ricky Steamboat faced Hercules in the first match. Hercules tried to hit a flying bodypress but missed it. Steamboat followed by hitting a flying body press of his own for a successful pinfall victory.

Adrian Adonis, seconded by Jimmy Heart, defeated Uncle Elmer after a diving headbutt.

Terry and Hoss Funk faced The Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana in a Tag team match. Jimmy Heart accompanied the Funk brothers. Hoss Funk distracted the referee. Heart took advantage and gave his megaphone to Terry Funk, who hit Junkyard Dog and then pinned him to get the win.

Finally, the main event of WrestleMania 2: a IWF World Heavyweight Championship steel cage match in which Hulk Hogan defended his title against King Kong Bundy. Hogan's ribs were heavily taped due to an assault by Bundy on the March 1, 1986, edition of Saturday Night's Main Event V where Bobby Heenan seconded Bundy.

At the start, Bundy removed the tape from Hogan's ribs. However, Hogan fought back and rammed Bundy's head into the steel cage. He tried to hit a scoop slam on Bundy but missed it. Bundy hit an avalanche and a big splash on Hogan. However, Hogan "Hulked up" and hit a power slam on Bundy followed by a leg drop. He climbed the steel cage, but Bundy caught his legs. Hogan kicked Bundy and climbed over the top of the steel cage and down to the floor to win the match and retain the title. After the match, Hogan caught Heenan inside the cage; as Bundy was reeling from the match, Hogan rammed Heenan's head into the cage before atomic dropping him outside.

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] Production

[edit] Results

1. ^ The other participants included were: Jim Covert (NFL player - Chicago Bears), Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Harvey Martin (Former NFL player - Dallas Cowboys), Danny Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, Ernie Holmes (Former NFL player - Pittsburgh Steelers), B. Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic (NFL player - Atlanta Falcons), Jim Furlong, Russ Francis (NFL player - San Francisco 49ers), Bruno Sammartino, and William "Refrigerator" Perry (NFL player - Chicago Bears).

[edit] References

[edit] External links