#199 – WrestleMania 2
It’s WrestleMania season and that can only mean ONE THING – it’s time to review a WrestleMania! This year it’s…WRESTLEMANIA 2! We have a jolly time discussing this crapper of a WrestleMania and then call Robert from the Atomic Elbow in the second half to discuss the newest issue of his zine among many other great topics. Visit flairchop.com to help support the show by purchasing a box set, t-shirt, or a poster. We’ll see you…at the matches!
ARCHIVED EPISODES AVAILABLE AT GUMROAD.COM/OSWP
Great old school long show. I haven’t watched this event in a while but remember it more fondly. Probably because I was a WWF kid and started watching about a year before this.
It probably could have been better but I think WWF held back a lot of top feuds from that era for the house show business. Would have been great to see Piper vs. Orndorff, Steamboat vs. Muraco, and Hart Foundation vs. Bulldogs here. Cut out a lot of the celeb crap, do the whole thing in one arena with Gorilla and Jesse on the mic and maybe its a great show.
Also, hate to admit but Black Cat is dead on about Piper’s racism but he really built his career on it. He was racist againt Mexican in the L.A. Territory and Against Samoans/Pacific Islanders in the Snuka feud. You can call it a heel being a heel but once he turned face, his biggotry turned against homosexuals in Adonis feud. No doubt Piper was great in the mic anyway and could have avoided this cheap heat.
Thanks guys!
AWESOME EPISODE!
WAY TO GO BLACK CAT!
RACISM IS HAWWWKKK PHOOOOEEEEEEYYYYYYY!
OSWP IS NUMBER 1!
9 IRON SHEIK IS NUMBER 1!
You gents were right that Kirscher vs. Volkoff was what kicked off my wrestling habit. It’s my earliest wrestling memory.
I’ve thus far gone back and watched the New York portion of Wrestlemania 2 via the WWE Network. Here are my takeaways:
I have a specific memory of Orndorff making very racist gestures toward Mr. Fuji which the network blissfully edited out. On paper, Orndorff vs Muraco should have been awesome. When you open a card of 12 matches though, you can’t outshine everything that’s to follow.
George Wells, before coming to the WWF, was Master G in Mid South and was an attempt at replacing the Junk Yard Dog. He got over as well as you think he would.
Joan Rivers announced Bob Orton as “Comedian” Bob Orton. I’m sure Vince was really happy about that.
I have to agree with Dre regarding the Piper and Mr. T boxing match after going back and watching it again. They did a great job making it look like a legit contest. I actually really enjoyed Susan Saint James’ commentary during the bout too as she kept putting over how Piper was keeping up with T and could still win without cheating. How fair weather was that crowd? They cheered and chanted for whomever was doing better at the time.
If memory serves, “Herb” was a Burger King commercial mascot whose gimmick was he was the one guy in America who hadn’t eaten a Whopper. So they had Herb in New York and Claire Peller (the where’s the beef lady) from Wendy’s in Chicago.
I’m actually looking forward to re-watching the Chicago and Los Angeles portions. I remember really liking the Bulldogs vs. Dream Team and Funks vs. JYD and Tito matches.
My memories of Wrestlemania 2 is ordering the VHS from Silver Vision’s (The UK’s WWF video distributor at the time) mail order catalogue, and then having to wait almost a month for it to arrive. I can’t really say that it was memorable, as like you guys, I only watched it once.
The one bonus we had in the UK, was each video had the awesome Silvervision intro (Which I’ve included in the link below). The music always gets me in the mood to watch late 80’s/early 90s WWF:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pctd7e_C4AU
This might back up Black Cat’s claim of Roddy piper’s racism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0do83v2z9E
Anyone going to mention Hulk Hogan’s rampant racism of using the n-word regularly? It got him fired from the WWE a couple years ago.
I know you guys despise him, but without Roddy Piper the WWF, Hogan or not, gets nowhere as huge as it was in 1984.
as for racism, it was all over. you cant just throw it all on piper, look for it from: Heenan, Albano, Blassie, Orndorff, Dr. D, Orton, Greg Valentine….
and aren’t all the character stereo types racist also?
tony atlas, Rocky Johnson ripping on how cute piper looks in his skirt. are they homophobic?
look for the dusty Rhodes/Adrian Street feud,
you cant like wrestling and then pick and choose what offends you. yes there is a lot to be offended about in old wrestling, you cant pin it all on roddy piper.
Mr. T and Hulk had the same agent and that’s how they linked onto the Rocky movie then WM.
Loved the podcast! Quick note on Mr T being the most famous boxer in 86… Sugar Ray Leonard might have something to say about that! Boxing was very much alive in the early to mid eighties! Anywho love you guys! Keep doing what you do!
Who’s more racist? An ’80s heel who does his job to do whatever he can to get heat (Piper)? Or the babyface who regularly uses the n-word in a disparaging way in private conversations?
Think about it.
I really love the show, but if you’re going to call one guy a racist because he’s doing heelish things, but not the other for doing and saying racist things in real life, you got to call him (Hogan) out on it too. You can’t just yell at one guy and not the other.