The Big Event was a wonderful tale in WWF history, a Canada-only pay-per-view that was initially a regularly scheduled Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens show before it was hastily moved to The Exhibition stadium as a part of the yearly Canadian National Exhibition event. The WWF put their biggest feud at the time – Hulk Hogan vs. “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff – on top for the championship, and the people showed up. Anywhere from 60 to 70 thousand of them. It was, indeed… A Big Event.
The show was later released on Coliseum Home Video (and now the WWE Network) for all to see, and beyond Hogan/Orndorff the biggest thing about about this is the atmosphere – in the summer of 1986 the WWF was continuing its ascent as THE wrestling attraction and the huge crowd looks legitimately awe-inspiring on screen all these years later. And you bet your ass they show as many big crowd shots as they can.
It begins with Mean Gene Okerlund narrating a hard sell from a helicopter over the Toronto skyline, with clips interspersed of this raucous crowd taking in these massive matches in this massive outdoor arena. Gene tells the fans that Elton John and Phil Collins have performed here, because even if nobody asked wrestling must always be re-enforcing its place in the culture. He also says that the crowds have filled the stands to see the likes of The Killer Bees, The Rougeau Brothers, The Funk Brothers, and Billy Jack Haynes… and I’m just not sure if any or all of that is true.
The weirdo commentary trio of Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valiant, and Ernie Ladd does commentary from a skybox “up about six miles in the sky here,” taking in the matches from afar.
This version of the show has a few random clips here and there, though they mostly seem to be to skip over lengthy rest holds and honestly that’s appreciated.
1. The Killer Bees vs. The Funk Brothers w/ Jimmy Hart
The most basic of basic 80s tags with Jimmy Hart shouting on the microphone and the big time atmosphere bringing it up a notch – like, Jimmy Jack Funk working in front of this mass of humanity is a trip. This also has an early sighting of the Killer Bees mask gimmick that’s a clever way to avoid the impossible task of… getting a tag? This ended up being one of Dory’s last few matches in the WWF. **
2. King Tonga vs. Magnificent Muraco w/ Jimmy Hart
The hot story here is that King Tonga is starting to be referred to on commentary as Haku, though the on-screen graphics ave not caught up. This match has quite a few bursts of classic wrestling BS but it is also a 20 MINUTE DRAW. 20 minutes!!! You’ve always got to remind the folks that a draw is a possibility, but Muraco and Haku? *3/4
3. Ted Arcidi vs. Tony Garea
In every Ted Arcidi match I’ve seen, commentary is not afraid to shit on his ring work or bring up the crowd’s reaction to said ring work. And yet he’s still just squashing people. DUD
4. Junkyard Dog vs. Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart
This is a quick brawl highlighted by Adonis bumping for JYD headbutts, crotching himself on the top rope, and taking a perfect insane bump over the top with Jimmy Hart. JYD wins by countout. **1/2
5. “The Rebel” Dick Slater vs. Iron Mike Sharpe
You’re in Toronto Canada and you’ve got Iron Mike Sharpe obnoxiously calling himself Canada’s greatest athlete vs. guy who likes Robert E. Lee. The greatest athlete announcement gets zero reaction, though the crowd is way into his oooHHHHooHHHH yelling gimmick. I’ll give it to these two – they pulled off some real cool counters at the end here. Ended up a decent match. **
6. The Machines (Super Machine & Big Machine) & Captain Lou Albano w/ Giant Machine vs. King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd & Bobby Heenan
The Machines gimmick was a weird deal because it was hyped as Andre coming in under the Giant Machine mask to work a limited role in tags alongside Super Machine (Bill Eadie, or Ax of Demolition), but then his back issues were so bad that he could only do manager work or quick squashes, and Big Machine (Blackjack Mulligan) was brought in to team with Super Machine. And Captain Lou Albano was their manager. Are you following?
Blackjack was kind of bad in this role, but this match was dumb fun, with the crowd popping for big guys running into each other and Heenan per usual bumping to the high heavens. The Lou vs. Heenan showdown was very good and when Giant Machine does eventually jump in the crowd goes fucking NUTS. ***1/4
7. Snake Pit Match: Ricky Steamboat vs. Jake Roberts
No disqualification. Anything and everything goes. One fall will win this contest. It is only 10 minutes but it is so GOOD. The first 30 seconds sets the tone: Jake sneak attack, Steamboat rallies back with chops, hits a back body drop and poses as Jake slides out of the ring to recover before he re-enters and gets arm dragged a bunch of times. When Jake eventually reverses a whip and Ricky goes flying over the top turnbuckle to floor and it feels like a HUGE moment. Ricky bleeds from the forehead and sells his ass off, like he’s personally grasping for every one of those 60 to 70 thousand folks in the crowd. Jake sits on him for a cocky pin which is reversed with a sunset flip for 3. Awesome. ***3/4
8. Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules Hernandez
5 minutes of nothing. DUD
9. The Rougeau Brothers vs. The Dream Team
The one-two punch of Billy Jack vs. Hercules and a Dream Team beating is how you cool a crowd the fuck down. If I had to pick a highlight, I guess I’d say there was a pretty stiff somersault plancha onto Brutus Beefcake at one point. Ramon does a sunset flip over the top of Greg as he works over Jacques and that’s a wrap. *1/2
10. Pedro Morales vs. Harley Race
Just some old men fumbling around for a few minutes. Harley wins with a foot-on-the-ropes rollup. 1/2*
11. WWF World Heavyweight Title: Hulk Hogan [c] vs. Paul Orndorff w/ Bobby Heenan
Let me tell you something about an atmosphere, brother – Heenan’s wearing wrestling tights, Mr. Wonderful is in a big blue robe, and Hogan – sporting a bandage on his ear – is ushered to the ring by security among this mob of a crowd. Orndorff throws a stiff clothesline as Hogan gets his boot checked and it is ON.
The match is sweet hot Hogan formula – sneak attack, fight back, Heenan gets chased. Orndorff suplexes Hogan on the floor and drops a forearm on the back of his head and looks at the camera all confident, like he just fuckin’ did it. Hogan crawls around in pain, our red and yellow Jesus searching for an opening.
He finds it when Orndorff does a nonchalant cover with his hand on his face like he’s bored – Hogan gets his foot under the ropes but Orndorff thinks he’s won, only to turn around into a Hulk-Up that results in a ref bump. Hogan takes the opportunity to do the same taunt Orndorff did earlier, teases a piledriver and SHAKES HIS ASS, then waits a little too long for Heenan to crack a wooden chair over his back.
Orndorff covers Hogan, and the referee recovers only to pat Orndorff’s shoulder three times – Orndorff takes this as a win, and celebrates as Heenan brings the title into the ring. Hogan is out cold as Heenan puts the title around his waist and they do the whole deal, until it’s announced that Hogan has won by DQ! Orndorff flips out and attacks his nemesis. Short, effortless, crazy hot, thousands upon thousands of fans, and maybe a little lame. ***3/4
The Snake Pit Match and Hogan/Orndorff are good. Everything else isn’t. That spectacle though. 6/10
