Gorilla Monsoon hosts this tape on an Outstanding Individual, George “The Animal” Steele who is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. I’m not kidding. I bonded with pops while enjoying him as a kid, and I respect him the more and more footage I see of him even if the WWF didn’t ask for much from the face turn. He’s always played a caveman oaf type of character, but seamlessly adapted and had big time runs as both a heel and face, a model for any wrestler. His bumps are classic, perfectly over-the-top for a big man, and his entire presentation – arms up, hairy body, green tongue, turnbuckle stuffing spot – was perfectly designed to embed in my young, impressionable brain. Plus, he was an actual real life high school teacher. All hail George Steele.
1. Steel Cage Match – WWWF World Heavyweight Title: Bruno Sammartino [c] vs. George “The Animal” Steele (Philadelphia Arena 7/25/70)
This is just the last 5-minutes of a very good 20-minute match, a match that was nothing fancy but pitted two very accessible characters opposite each other: Steele’s mean oaf vs. Bruno, the guy your grandpa would respect. Steele’s heel work here is a revelation if you only know him as the turnbuckle stuffing guy… even the entrance is great, absolute bewilderment at this cage setup. Bruno chokes, punches, and gouges eyes to the crowd’s delight while Steele effectively slows things down and cowers away. Bruno just slams his head into the cage a couple times to escape. Not enough here but a serious ***3/4 match.
2. George “The Animal” Steele vs. Gorilla Monsoon (MSG 8/27/73)
It’s 1973 at MSG on HBO and we’ve got heel George Steele hiding a foreign object and working over big Monsoon on the old, dark blue WWWF mat. There’s a lot of punching and selling punctuated by holds, and it’s exactly what the New York crowd asked for even if the man of the future might be more amused by it. Monsoon is eventually able to swipe the foreign object, so George dips and runs off. **
3. George “The Animal” Steele w/ Captain Lou Albano vs. Macho Man Randy Savage w/ Elizabeth (SNME 1/4/86)
Dean Malenko is the referee for this particular contest, which is the kick-off of George’s crush on Elizabeth that took us through not just WrestleMania 2 but WrestleMania 3. The match is all character – George pets Liz and keeps getting distracted, Savage stalls, Steele waves his arms around, Savage puts Liz in front of him, Steele eats the buckle, Savage runs away. Real Catch-as-Catch-Can stuff. Elizabeth’s beauty distracts Steele one final time and Savage drops an axe-handle for a 3-count where Steele’s arm is blatantly under the ropes. The Savage/Steele feud never got Savage a high star rating, but it’s some of both guys’ best work. **1/2
George “The Animal” Steele on TNT (TNT 6/21/85, 2/14/86 and 8/2/85)
On the first Saturday Night’s Main Event, The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff abandoned poor George “The Animal” Steele after a 6-man tag loss, which led to George turning babyface after a nearly 20-year heel run. Tuesday Night Titans ended up being where the WWF established George as a babyface, producing two of the most iconic segments in TNT history.
First, Captain Lou Albano brings Dr. Sigmund Ziff to TNT to provide George “treatment.” They play George up as full-on mentally handicapped, with Lou as both his friend and managerial guide. It is vaguely heartwarming if you know nothing about anybody who runs the WWF. Ziff (a doctor of gynecology and psychology, WWF crushing it with the jokes) has George, Lou, and Vince into his office where he goes WAY over-the-top playing a psychiatrist. He hypothesizes there is a calcium deposit blocking Steele’s medulla and reveals childhood trauma, in which George just wanted to be a good wrestler but was called a dummy and spat on. Steele is both goofy as heck and playing it straight, while Vince just awkwardly stands nearby with his microphone.
Ziff returns a month later for more, this one weirder in the first as this very committed actor man delivers SHOCK TREATMENT. Steele sells it exactly how you’d expect a pro wrestler to sell it before he snaps and rips everything off. Albano rants about suing Ziff before they go to break.
In between those two segments, they air the Randy Savage and Elizabeth TNT interview where Savage (wearing outrageous red lycra pants) gets HOT when a delivery boy hands Elizabeth flowers. They search for a card but only find turnbuckle stuffing, causing Vince to be just tickled pink.
4. WWF Intercontinental Title: Macho Man Randy Savage [c] w/ Elizabeth vs. George “The Animal” Steele (Boston Garden 9/6/86)
Wrestling is a lot of things to a lot of people. I can’t tell you this is a “good” match, but after it’s over George brings a kid into the ring and this little dude is ready – he desperately tries to tear open the turnbuckle and can’t do it, so George does it for him. The kid saves face by flexing, then jumps around the ring soaking up his Boston Garden Moment. As for the match? It’s a fantastic bunch of BS, from Savage reacting to George to Savage using a foreign object to Savage crawling under the ring to a big blatant cleavage shot of Elizabeth. Savage flies and flops all over to meet the action quota, while Steele mostly reacts to stuff. Steele is DQ’d for using a chair and Savage storms off with Liz, then runs back out and attacks Steele, then runs off again. ***
5. George “The Animal” Steele & Junkyard Dog vs. Demolition (MSG 8/22/87)
There is not a lot to this 5-minute match that closed an MSG show, but I can tell you that George Steele helped get Demolition over at MSG by being a guy people care about. Ax and Smash hammer on JYD before George tries to sneak a win by poking Smash with a chair while the referee’s back is turned. JYD covers Smash, but the referee turns around and DQ’s the good guys anyways. More BS by the New York authorities. *3/4
Interview at the Detroit Zoological Park (SNME 10/5/85)
As the WWF experimented with their skits on Saturday Night’s Main Event, Jungle Gene Okerlund searched for George “The Animal” Steele in the… jungle, which is really the Detroit Zoo, where George had since escaped since the incident with Dr. Ziff. “George, what kind of tiger is that?” asks Gene. “Detroit,” answers George. Then he runs into the bushes and Gene says farewell.
6. George “The Animal” Steele vs. Sika w/ Mr. Fuji and Kim Chee (MSG 9/21/87)
Just a quick bad match with Sika not playing along vs. the George shtick. George pops the crowd by putting on Kim Chee’s hat in which must have been the most easily accessible footage for Coliseum or something. 1/2*
7. George “The Animal” Steele vs. Harley Race (Prime Time 9/24/87)
Gorilla Monsoon says this is a Coliseum Home Video Exclusive, but it was aired on Prime Time a few months before the tape was released. The LIAR! This is the FULL match, I guess, a lot of shtick with George playing to the crowd and Race wobbling around before Hercules runs in with an INCREDIBLE knee smash to George’s back. Race and Herc beat on George as the bell rings a hundred times, Lanny Poffo and Jerry Allen try to save with little success, and then The Young Stallions run out to moderate success before King Kong Bundy puts a stop to that. Finally Bam Bam Bigelow runs out for a hilarious spot where everybody bails so fast or is otherwise occupied that he doesn’t really get to do anything at all. **
George “The Animal” Steele attacks Adrian Adonis (TNT 5/7/86)
Adrian Adonis was deep into the Adorable One gimmick, and on this episode of TNT he showcased his extensive beauty treatment routine throughout the show. At the end he reveals his “final form” to a mix of laughs and boos before Steele, who had joined the show earlier, attacks him and they have a wild brawl on the TNT set.
8. George “The Animal” Steele vs. The Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart (Superstars 10/24/87)
Really quick match – Honky avoids combat, Jimmy runs in, Honky tries to use the megaphone, Steele grabs it and hits him, ding ding ding DQ. DUD
The WWF Update from Prime Time Wrestling airs and it is once again announced that George “The Animal” Steele likes ice cream.
9. George “The Animal” Steele vs. Danny Davis w/ Jimmy Hart (Boston Garden 6/6/87)
At this point, you know the drill. As I astutely observed in their much shorter and to-the-point November SNME match, Dangerous Danny didn’t have enough to make up for George’s limitations. This goes around 10 minutes and is 90% stalling, which gets over well enough but really drags. The finish is a classic though, as George delivers NINE bodyslams in a row and Davis just decides to not get back in the ring. *1/2
Happy Thoughts: This was like the Ken Patera Story tape, ignoring a pretty sweet heel run to promote the more cartoony modern face run. Either way, even if the match was a dud George Steele made you care. 3/10
