The year was 1986. There were stocks. Soviets. The Challenger. Chernobyl. Cocaine. The Contras. AIDS. Reagan. Horsemen. Hulkamania.
The WWF was evolving in 1986, another bridge from the smoke-filled WWF TV tapings and rotating bland ring colors to the glitzier WWF where everything became plotted out for big showy entertainment with a bright and uniform presentation. This was a result of them becoming a pro wrestling goliath, past the product launch in 1984 and maximizing revenue by touring most territories, pumping out merchandise, and airing a ton of both syndicated and cable television.
For most of 1986, Hulk Hogan is the WWF Champion and Randy Savage is the Intercontinental Champion. The British Bulldogs and The Hart Foundation make the tag division must-see, while Jake Roberts and Harley Race debut to inject talent into every card. Adrian Adonis, Jimmy Hart, and Bobby Heenan cause problems while Ricky Steamboat, Junkyard Dog, and Paul Orndorff backup Hogan…. until Orndorff attacks.
For most of 1986, the rest of the show is pretty crap. For a TV wrestling company, the WWF aired a ton of undercard matches that didn’t seem remotely suitable for TV. Wrestling has evolved, but YEESH. The good stuff is great though, legend after legend created by the WWF machine as the touring schedule went into overdrive. Hogan wasn’t always on TV, maybe once every few months, but when he does come on he bursts in like a wrecking ball.
What follows is a digest of all that was the WWF in 1986 based on a full watch via the WWE Network: the company, timeline, wrestlers, promoting, standout stuff, and what this entire year of production made a man think and feel.
How We Got Here
1985 was a result of the assessment, a full-on product launch: the first WrestleMania, first Saturday Night’s Main Event, new stars, more angles, more color, more intensity. Action figures too. The year ended with pieces in place for a second WrestleMania: Hogan dominating, Piper reeling, Savage ascending, Heenan plotting. A lot of great characters are in both their wrestling primes and interesting situations.
To Begin: A Wrap-Up
The Platform
Since the early 80s, the WWF had moved from one big Madison Square Garden show a month to run promoting monthly live events in all their major markets like New York’s MSG, Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, the Philadelphia Spectrum, and the Boston Garden, alongside a psychotic touring schedule that sometimes had three shows a day. They syndicated TV across the country using footage from live event undercards and marathon TV tapings done every couple months filled with squashes and recurring promo segments like Piper’s Pit, The Body Shop and The Flower Shop.
Besides the weekly TV, they ran a fresh edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event during SNL’s timeslot every quarter on NBC. Whatever subtlety the WWF’s week-to-week TV had disappears as the WWF whacked the world over the head with things HAPPENING. 1986 was the first time the WWF had a national audience watching to build up WrestleMania, and in lieu of the weekly TV they go all in on the March 1 edition: Bundy lays out Hogan, Mr. T knocks out Piper’s buddy, and The Dream Team cheats The Bulldogs out of the titles.
There were specialty events every few months, though not how you’d think. Right before the second edition of WrestleMania of April, the WWF taped the second edition of The Slammy Awards to air on MTV. The second King of the Ring took place in July but like the first it did not air – though winner Harley Race got a TV coronation and new gimmick. The Big Event, headlined by Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff for the WWF Title soon after the Orndorff turn, wasn’t exactly promoted like a big show, but it low key set an outdoor attendance record for Canada. Still didn’t get released in the U.S. on video for months.
Prime Time Wrestling becomes the primary vehicle for following WWE through Network in the fall of 1986 and into the 90s. It is way more wrestling heavy than TNT, though the matches are 90% the undercards of the WWF’s major market live events and that means you’re watching 20 minutes of The Killer Bees sometimes. Love The Bees, but 20 minutes? WWF’s wrestling is not good for 20 minutes. There’s a lot of time to breathe, but it’s too much time.
The hook is that Prime Time usually shows the big angles, a quality feature match not from the undercard, and Mean Gene or Ken Resnick doing interview spots. It’s also hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan who’s legendary chemistry develops in real-time on this show. The two sit behind a desk with a fake TV behind them and a black background that gets gradually bluer as the year goes on and banter in between matches.
Heenan had replaced Jesse Ventura as Gorilla’s co-host in mid-April as Ventura went to film Predator, but the banter was too good to end when Ventura came back and Heenan stayed. They do little bits throughout the year like Heenan trying to prove to Gorilla that they released an action figure of him, or Heenan trying in vain to get the president of USA Network on the line. At the end of the year, Gorilla gives Heenan a phone. That’s long-term storytelling.
More on Prime Time here:
- Year in Review – WWF Prime Time Wrestling (1986) – Part 1
- Year in Review – WWF Prime Time Wrestling (1986) – Part 2
TNT still runs through the fall too, though by 1986 it is not its’ joyous self: less skits, less emphasis, and no more Vince McMahon. His replacement Mean Gene Okerlund is a fine host, but the spark had already left. It’s also on Wednesdays now, so the Tuesday Night Titans name became just TNT. Highlights of 1986 include anything Randy Savage does including his sit-down with a therapist (TNT 7/2/86) and audience Q&A (TNT 9/10/86), Vince’s struggle to get an interview out of B. Brian Blair (TNT 1/24/86), and Fuji Vice (TNT 5/7/86).
More on TNT here:
- Year in Review – WWF Tuesday Night Titans (1986) – Part 1
- Year in Review – WWF Tuesday Night Titans (1986) – Part 2
Later in the year the WWF’s TV landscape sees a huge shift: TNT on USA comes to an end, Saturday’s All-Star Wrestling is replaced by Wrestling Challenge as a B-show, and Saturday’s Championship Wrestling is replaced by Superstars of Wrestling. All-American Wrestling and Prime Time continued to air on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively. A concerted effort is made to make the TV look nicer and more uniform, both for the brand and to impress the TV stations. Prime Time and the house show footage still feels dark and drab, but Superstars and Wrestling Challenge are bright and blue.
There is also WrestleMania II. Mania becomes an annual event in 1986, and instead of simply hosting it at one building the WWF decided to host it at THREE. Hogan conquers an imposing foe, the British Bulldogs and Ozzy Osbourne win Tag Team Titles, a bunch of NFL players work a Battle Royal, and a lot of confused celebrities make cameos. It’s a proper big show and more care is put into the card than the first, but in retrospect they threw so much at it that it doesn’t feel like a big deal in history.
The Wrestling
Sometimes you get lucky in that 90%. Always bet on Savage, Steamboat and The Bulldogs. Otherwise, it’s a crapshoot. There’s a charm to many of them, and once in a while Lanny Poffo or Haku will do something crazy. But the WWF live event style is famous for how conservative it is: basic, repetitive, boring. It’s also safe. And occasionally crazy over. And you have to respect the character work and timing and spectacle. The good stuff is great. There aren’t a lot of 5-star classics, but some of the best examples of professional wrestling in existence. Just use fast-forward wisely.
The Stories
The WWF had settled into a new formula after 1985, with build to WrestleMania keeping the first few months of the year interesting then a little slow-down where they bring new guys in and set the pieces again as they rely on previous pairings or run short angles to feed their live event shows. There were a ton of mini-feuds between the WWF’s primary faces and heels, but the tone was really set by Hogan vs. Bundy and Orndorff, Piper’s return and feud with Adonis, and Savage vs. Steele and Steamboat. Plus whatever the Bulldogs and Jake the Snake were up to.
The Phenomenon
The pairing with Cyndi Lauper and MTV had quieted down in 1986, but the WWF marketing machine was ready to go: action figures, calendars, lunch boxes, school supplies, WWF Magazine, The Wrestling Album, The Wrestling Album, Coliseum Home Videos, the the Rock n’ Wrestling cartoon, and MORE MORE MORE!!!
Vince is hawking the holy hell out of the WWF Magazine on TNT in early January, Junkyard Dog appears on American Bandstand, The Slammys air on MTV, Captain Lou Albano appears on the sitcom 227 and the movie Wise Guys, and Magnificent Muraco and Mr. Fuji’s new gimmick becomes them searching like fools for Hollywood success. The ridiculous “Land of 1,000 Dances” music video debuts, as does the perfectly 1980s Real American music video.
After getting TV coverage in Australia, the WWF ran its first tour outside of North America there in November 1985 and then a few times throughout 1986. The headliners aren’t promising, peaking with Steamboat vs. Muraco and an Andre appearance, but it does provide a small push for a Paul Roma & S.D. Jones tag team.
You cannot escape the WWF action figure/doll line if you are watching WWF TV, and if Conrad Thompson podcast legend is accurate, it worked: Iron Sheik got a check for nearly six-figures off them over just three months. The value of the marketing machine was clear to those in charge, though maybe also the value of re-negotiating royalties in contracts.
Outside the Ring
George Scott, by all accounts the WWF’s primary booker since 1983, leaves the company in the middle of the 1986. While Vince McMahon gets the credit for what this became, George Scott booked the rise and continuation of Hulkamania, the first WrestleMania, and was a major part of the negotiations for Stampede Wrestling and the Black Saturday TV time buyout from 1985.
Captain Lou Albano, a pillar of the WWF since the 70s, leaves at the end of 1986. Former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham was going to come back as some kind of kung-fu guy but he re-injured his hip after they ran videos of him challenging Savage on TV. The WWF still had a loose working relationship with New Japan for the first half of the year, and for some reason decided they needed to purchase the rights to a wrestling mask and outfit to use on The Machines.
Also, in the midst of a brush with mainstream superstardom by co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator, Jesse Ventura tried to start a union. Didn’t work. Should’ve.
Lot of drugs probably too.
January – April 1986: WrestleMania Season
January begins with a quiet Saturday Night’s Main Event on 1/4/86: Rowdy Roddy Piper‘s feud with The Hillbillies wraps up, Hulk Hogan downs Terry Funk in a great match, and the first of many Randy Savage/George Steele matches takes place. Newcomer Cpl. Kirchner begins to go after the anti-American Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, while Cowboy Bob Orton takes on a new name: Boxing Bob Orton. He beats a couple jobbers in boxing matches to build-up to a showdown with Mr. T on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Dory Funk Jr. debuts at the January TV tapings, backing up his brother Terry and being re-named Hoss Funk. The British Bulldogs have a ton of matches with WWF Tag Champs The Dream Team that only seem to end in a Valentine & Beefcake win, countout, or DQ.
On house shows and live events, Hogan and a rotating cast of friends including Ricky Steamboat, Junkyard Dog and Paul Orndorff frequently faced the likes of King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, Bobby Heenan, The Funk Brothers, Magnificent Muraco, Adrian Adonis, and Bob Orton, throughout the year. The Steamboat vs. Muraco and Andre the Giant vs. Heenan Family feuds that were relied on so heavily in 1985 begin to fade out.
Roddy Piper and Bob Orton feud with Paul Orndorff and Bruno Sammartino early in 1986, which was a lot better than the stuff they were doing on TV (though Bob Orton’s run as a boxer was pretty great). Piper and Orton beat Bruno and Ornforff by countout at the January Boston Garden show, then Bruno got revenge in a Steel Cage in February.
Also early in the year, Jesse Ventura gets some play in Toronto before he hangs it up – a match with Tito Santana for the IC Title and a team with Savage.
WrestleMania really gets moving with Saturday Night’s Main Event 3/1/86: After Hogan defends the WWF Title against Muraco, Bundy and Heenan run in to put Hogan down so bad he has to be stretchered out. It’s a rare time the invincible mass of Americana looked to be in true peril. Elsewhere, Mr. T KO’s Bob Orton and Piper attacks him with a belt, while The Dream Team again beat The Bulldogs through nefarious names.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts debuts on the March TV tapings while WrestleMania build goes into overdrive: in addition to the big feuds, Cpl. Kirchner begins waving the American Flag around for Sheik & Volkoff matches, Jimmy Hart and The Funk Brothers challenge Tito Santana & Junkyard Dog, and a WWF vs. NFL Battle Royal is announced. This setup continues to drive the TV, with Hogan ready for revenge against Bundy, who provided the template for the big man who goes after the champ.
On TNT 3/14/86, Vince McMahon ends it with this tag: “Join us next week… Hulk Hogan will join us, along with the Macho Man Randy Savage, The Bulldogs, Captain Louis Albano, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Bill Fralic, and more!” The few weeks before Mania always got so HOT.
I purposely left Macho Man Randy Savage out, because he is doing so much stuff. On TV, George “The Animal” Steele develops a crush on Elizabeth which leads into WrestleMania for the IC Title and also basically follows Savage the entire year. Their angles leading up to Mania are legitimately good, though the match isn’t.
At Boston Garden in January, Savage beats IC Champ Tito Santana by countout. At Boston Garden in February, Savage wins the IC Title with a well-timed brass knuckles shot. At Boston Garden in March, Savage loses to Tito… but only via countout. Meanwhile in New York, Savage beats WWF Champ Hulk Hogan at the January MSG show via countout, then loses a Lumberjack Match at MSG in February.
From January to April but really throughout the entire year, Savage vs. Santana for the IC Title happens a lot. A. LOT.
At WrestleMania II: Hogan got revenge on Bundy and Heenan in a Steel Cage, Savage made short work of Steele, The Bulldogs beat The Dream Team for the WWF Tag Team Titles, Mr. T beat Piper in a Boxing Match by DQ, and Andre the Giant won the Battle Royal.
After WrestleMania, the WWF begins their usual hibernation. Steamboat/Muraco, Santana/Savage, Dream Team/Bulldogs, and Studd & Bundy against Hogan and friends continue to headline spot shows. As Piper takes a leave of absence, Adrian Adonis and Jimmy Hart debut The Flower Shop at the April TV tapings and Adonis starts calling attention to Paul Orndorff being Hogan’s little sidekick.
May – August 1986: Orndorff is Benedict Arnold
The Steamboat/Roberts feud immediately tours all over the country with double DQ after double DQ and keeps each guy busy deep into the fall. Both Steamboat and Roberts were a main source of the WWF’s midcard pulse, and a natural pairing.
The British Bulldogs continued to dominate the tag team division, though primarily Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff and The Hart Foundation. In June, The Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation headlines at Maple Leaf Gardens. In the middle of the year the tag team division gets bigger too: The Rougeau Brothers, The Killer Bees, and The Islanders are all quickly established. Harley Race is also brought in and debuts at the May TV tapings with no less than Bobby Heenan as his manager.
Heenan’s $15,000 Body Slam Challenge for Big John Studd continues as well, and newcomer King Tonga (the eventual Haku) actually slams Studd in a phenomenal angle at the June TV tapings before Studd went on to have a hundred bad matches with The Machines.
Whispers began in June of a new masked tag team from Japan coming to the WWF, and after Mean Gene Okerlund puts on his tuxedo and searches the streets of Tokyo for them he finds what appears to be a pair of fellows wearing masks, one of them obviously Andre the Giant. They are The Machines. The shtick isn’t very good and Andre gets injured almost immediately, so in comes another Machine and you’ve just got Ax and Blackjack Mulligan having a bunch of bad tag matches. Occasionally Hulk Hogan or Roddy Piper or George Steele donned the mask for a big 6-man, but it didn’t draw and it didn’t work.
Adrian Adonis continued to stir shit on The Flower Ship throughout June, mainly with Paul Orndorff. After Adonis and Randy Savage fought Bruno Sammartino and Tito Santana to a no contest at MSG in April, they beat Bruno and Tito by countout at MSG in May, before finally losing in a Cage Match blowoff at MSG in June.
Hulk Hogan‘s rivalry with former friend turned bitter foe Paul Orndorff drives the WWF for the summer: the turn is shown on Prime Time 7/21/86, everyone has a take on it on TNT 7/30/86, and Orndorff finally appears for the first time on The Flower Shop where he introduces Bobby Heenan as his manager again. It’s all over Orndorff being jealous and Hogan ignoring one of his phone calls, but this thing played and drew money all over the country as Hogan found his most interesting opposition since Piper.
In July Harley Race wins the second King of the Ring and a new “King” gimmick when he defeats Pedro Morales in the finals. At TV, both Honky Tonk Man and Slick debut, the latter buying all of the retiring “Classy” Freddie Blassie‘s contracts in cash – so Sheik, Volkoff, and Hercules Hernandez have a new manager.
In August Rowdy Roddy Piper returns, having gone from feuding with Mr. T and shaving Haiti Kid‘s head bald during Mania season to returning as an angry dad who’s sick of Adrian Adonis’ lifestyle being all over his dang television. Steamboat gets a win over Roberts at the Boston Garden, but is laid out afterwards. The first Superstars of Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge tapings take place, which include Piper’s return, Jesse Ventura’s return, and Harley Race’s coronation.
At the end of August, the WWF runs The Big Event which thanks to being a part of the Canadian National Expo set an outdoor attendance record at the time. The card had all the stars but was pretty basic, headlined by Hogan again beating Orndorff by DQ and Steamboat defeating Roberts in a Snake Pit Match.
September – December 1986: The Ring Bell
Saturday Night’s Main Event on 10/4/86 features Hogan vs. Orndorff for the WWF Title which ends when Adonis runs in, as well as Steamboat getting his big win over Roberts. Also, Kamala squashes Lanny Poffo. That’s right, KAMALA is here and ready to go on a big loop against Hulk Hogan.
Hogan vs. Orndorff continued all over with various countout finishes while the October MSG show was headlined by a Piper’s Pit with Bobby Heenan that setup a Piper/Hogan mega team to face Orndorff and Harley Race at the November MSG. Also in November – Savage crushes Ricky Steamboat’s throat with a ring bell, giving those two guys their new thing to do. Steamboat mostly moved on from Roberts, but Savage didn’t completely move on from Steele.
Honky Tonk Man, who had come in just recently as a happy-to-be-there hokey babyface, gets mercifully booed by a Toronto crowd and eventually receives the results of an “approval poll” from the WWF fans. They did not approve. He goes heel and finds his voice.
Saturday Night’s Main Event on 11/29/86 sees Savage vs. Roberts in a rare heel vs. heel match, Hogan defend the WWF Title against Hercules, Piper beat his old buddy (and now Adonis’ buddy) Cowboy Bob Orton, and newcomer Koko B. Ware pin Nikolai Volkoff.
Prime Time Wrestling on 12/2/87 is a low key catalyst for WrestleMania 3, with the Savage/Steamboat ring bell angle and an Andre the Giant interview about his upcoming return. Indeed as the year winds down, the suspended Andre gets reinstated and they bring WWF “President” Jack Tunney on TV to explain that it was not Andre at the reinstatement hearing but Bobby Heenan.
As the year closes, the house show circuit continues: JYD vs. Adonis, Hogan vs. Kamala, Savage vs. Steamboat, JYD vs. Race, Hogan vs. Orndorff, Hogan vs. Kamala, Steamboat vs. Sheik, Tito vs. Race, Hogan vs. Kamala…
Happy Wrestling Land’s WWF 1986 Year in Review
- WWF Matches and Angles Worth Watching in 1986
- This is Where the Power Lies: 30 Things that Made the WWF Move in 1986
- Those That Made it Worth It: The WWF Superstars of 1986
- Happy Thoughts – WWF WrestleMania 2 (4/7/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF The Big Event (8/28/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #4 (1/4/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #5 (3/1/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #6 (5/3/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #7 (10/4/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #8 (11/29/86)
- Year in Review – WWF Tuesday Night Titans (1986) – Part 1
- Year in Review – WWF Tuesday Night Titans (1986) – Part 2
- Year in Review – WWF Prime Time Wrestling (1986) – Part 1
- Year in Review – WWF Prime Time Wrestling (1986) – Part 2
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 1/11/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 2/8/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 3/8/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 4/26/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 5/24/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 6/27/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 8/9/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 9/6/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 10/4/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Sam Houston Coliseum 10/19/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (MSG 10/20/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 11/1/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Old School (Boston Garden 12/6/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Life & Times of Lou Albano (2/1/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Grudge Match ’86 (3/27/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (5/2/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Villains of the Squared Circle (6/6/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Bruno Sammartino: Living Legend (6/6/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Macho Man and Elizabeth (8/20/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: The British Bulldogs (10/15/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Inside the Steel Cage (12/11/86)
- Happy Thoughts – WWF Home Video Classics: Grand Slams (12/11/86)
