WWF The Wrestling Classic

Infobox Wrestling event
name=The Wrestling Classic


promotion=World Wrestling Federation
date=November 7 1985cite web|url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/miscppvs1980s.html#classic|title=The Wrestling Classic results|publisher=Wrestling Supercards and Tournaments|accessdate=2008-05-25] cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/ppv/wwf/wrestlingclassic.htm|title=WWF The Wrestling Classic|publisher=pWwew - Wrestling Everything|accessdate=2008-05-25]
venue=Rosemont Horizon
city=Rosemont, Illinois
attendance= 14,000
lastevent=WrestleMania
nextevent=WrestleMania 2

The Wrestling Classic was a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) pay-per-view (PPV) event that took place on November 7 1985 from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois.

The main event was the finals of a a 16-man tournament where Junkyard Dog defeated Randy Savage. The undercard featured a 16-man single-elimination tournament, Hulk Hogan versus Roddy Piper for the WWF Championship and a contest where Michael Hamley won a Rolls Royce.

It is a commonly held misconception that The Wrestling Classic was the first WWF pay-per-view, as a matter of fact even WWE often refer to it as such, but the first WrestleMania event, in March of the same year, was actually available on pay-per-view in some markets.Fact|date=June 2008

Background

The main feud heading into Wrestling Classic was between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper, with the two battling over the WWF Championship. In 1985, Piper became the top heel of the promotion after he spoke out against the burgeoning Rock 'n' Wrestling connection, which lead to a confrontation with Hogan. [cite web|first=John|last=Milner|date=2005-03-22|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/piper.html|title=Rowdy Roddy Piper|publisher=SLAM! Wrestling|accessdate=2008-05-25] In February, they faced each other at MTV special [http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/misctv.html#war The War to Settle the Score] for Hogan's WWF title, where Hogan retained his title by disqualification. [cite web|url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/misctv.html#war|title=The War to Settle the Score results|publisher=Wrestling Supercards and Tournaments|accessdate=2008-05-23] Their feud lead to the development of WrestleMania. In the main event of the first-ever WrestleMania, Hogan and celebrity Mr. T defeated Piper and Paul Orndorff. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/history/wm1/results/|title=WrestleMania I official results|publisher=WWE|accessdate=2008-05-25] Hogan feuded with Piper and "Cowboy" Bob Orton for the rest of the year and often got disqualification victories over them, [cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/wrestling/cawthon777/85.htm|title=WWF Show Results 1985|work=Angelfire|accessdate=2008-05-25] leading to a WWF title match between Hogan and Piper at Wrestling Classic. A tournament was also being promoted on WWF television "Wrestling Classic" which was to take place on the pay-per-view event.

Event

The pay-per-view event featured a 16-man tournament dubbed "Wrestling Classic". The first round of the tournament began when Adrian Adonis defeated Corporal Kirchner with a DDT. Dynamite Kid faced Nikolai Volkoff, and before the match began, Volkoff began singing Russian national anthem. As he was in the midst of finishing his singing, Dynamite Kid hit a missile dropkick on Volkoff to win the match. Randy Savage defeated Ivan Putski by having both his feet on the middle rope for leverage as he pinned Putski. Ricky Steamboat faced Davey Boy Smith. Smith landed in the ropes to attack Steamboat but Steamboat sidestepped and Smith injured his groin. He was unable to continue, so Steamboat was awarded the match by forfeit. Junkyard Dog faced Iron Sheik. The match began with Sheik choking JYD with his jacket. He applied a camel clutch on JYD before releasing the hold. JYD quickly hit a headbutt on Sheik and pinned him to win the match. Moondog Spot and Terry Funk's match was next. None of them wanted to wrestle, so they both left the ring. As Spot started to leave, Funk attacked him from behind. He tried to re-enter the ring but Spot prevented him from entering the ring and won the match by countout. Tito Santana faced The Magnificent Don Muraco. Santana pinned Muraco with a quick small package. The final match of the first round pitted Paul Orndorff against Cowboy Bob Orton. Orton was disqualified after he hit Orndorff with his cast.

The quarterfinals began. Adrian Adonis faced Dynamite Kid. During the match, Adonis accidentally hit his manager Jimmy Hart and collided with Hart. Kid took advantage and pinned Adonis to win the match. Ricky Steamboat faced Randy Savage. The referee was distracted by Miss Elizabeth as Savage took advantage and pulled out brass knuckles from his tights and hit Steamboat with the knuckles before pinning him to win the match. Junkyard Dog defeated Moondog Spot after a headbutt. Tito Santana and Paul Orndorff fought to double countout, eliminating both wrestlers from the tournament in the process. A non-tournament match occurred where Hulk Hogan defended his WWF Championship against Roddy Piper. Hogan applied a bearhug on Piper. Piper responded with a sleeper hold. The referee was knocked out and Piper hit Hogan with a steel chair. Hogan applied a sleeper hold of his own on Piper. Cowboy Bob Orton came out and hit Hogan with his cast. The referee saw this and disqualified Piper in the process. Piper and Orton continued to assault Hogan until Paul Orndorff came out and cleared the ring.

The semifinal match between Randy Savage and Dynamite Kid was next. Dynamite Kid superplexed Savage off the top rope but Savage countered it into an inside cradle for the victory. Junkyard Dog drew a bye in the semifinals because the double countout ending of Paul Orndorff vs. Tito Santana in the quarterfinals. A contest was held where over 250,000 fans participated. In the contest, a fan from Batavia, Illinois, Michael Hamley won a Rolls-Royce. The main event and the finals of the Wrestling Classic tournament occurred between Junkyard Dog and Randy Savage. JYD hit a back body drop on Savage off the top rope who landed on the arena floor. Savage was unable to get into the ring and was counted-out. As a result, JYD won the match and the tournament.

Aftermath

Many wrestlers received pushes by this tournament. Junkyard Dog, the winner of this tournament got a push as he became the man to win the first-ever major tournament in WWF history. Randy Savage went on to win both the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Tito Santana on February 8 1986 and the WWF Championship in a tournament at WrestleMania IV in 1988. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/intercontinental/322404|title=Randy Savage's first Intercontinental Championship reign|publisher=WWE|accessdate=2008-05-25] [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwechampionship/304454124|title=Randy Savage's first WWE Championship reign|publisher=WWE|accessdate=2008-05-25] Ricky Steamboat also won the Intercontinental Championship, by defeating Savage at WrestleMania III in 1987. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/intercontinental/322408|title=Ricky Steamboat's first Intercontinental Championship reign|publisher=WWE|accessdate=2008-05-25] Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith formed a successful tag team which would win the WWF Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 2 in 1986. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldtagteam/30445413212131|title=British Bulldogs' first World Tag Team Championship reign|publisher=WWE|accessdate=2008-05-25]

Results

Tournament bracket

Pin-Pinfall; Sub-Submission; CO-Countout; DCO-Double countout; DQ-Disqualification; Ref-Referee's decision16TeamBracket | RD2=Quarterfinals
RD1-seed01= | RD1-seed02= | RD1-seed03= | RD1-seed04= | RD1-seed05= | RD1-seed06= | RD1-seed07= | RD1-seed08= | RD1-seed09= | RD1-seed10= | RD1-seed11= | RD1-seed12= | RD1-seed13= | RD1-seed14= | RD1-seed15= | RD1-seed16= | RD2-seed01= | RD2-seed02= | RD2-seed03= | RD2-seed04= | RD2-seed05= | RD2-seed06= | RD2-seed07= | RD2-seed08= | RD3-seed01= | RD3-seed02= | RD3-seed03= | RD3-seed04= | RD4-seed01= | RD4-seed02=
RD1-team01=Adrian Adonis
RD1-team02=Corporal Kirchner
RD1-score01= 2:37
RD1-score02=Pin
RD1-team03=The Dynamite Kid
RD1-team04=Nikolai Volkoff
RD1-score03=0:09
RD1-score04=Pin
RD1-team05=Ivan Putski
RD1-team06=Randy Savage
RD1-score05=2:48
RD1-score06=Pin
RD1-team07=Davey Boy Smith
RD1-team08=Ricky Steamboat
RD1-score07=2:52
RD1-score08=Ref
RD1-team09=The Iron Sheik
RD1-team10=The Junkyard Dog
RD1-score09=3:26
RD1-score10=Pin
RD1-team11=Terry Funk
RD1-team12=Moondog Spot
RD1-score11=0:27
RD1-score12=CO
RD1-team13=Don Muraco
RD1-team14=Tito Santana
RD1-score13=4:16
RD1-score14=Pin
RD1-team15=Paul Orndorff
RD1-team16=Bob Orton, Jr.
RD1-score15=6:29
RD1-score16=DQ
RD2-team01=Adrian Adonis
RD2-team02=The Dynamite Kid
RD2-score01= 5:28
RD2-score02=Pin
RD2-team03=Randy Savage
RD2-team04=Ricky Steamboat
RD2-score03=3:18
RD2-score04=Pin
RD2-team05=The Junkyard Dog
RD2-team06=Moondog Spot
RD2-score05=0:24
RD2-score06=Pin
RD2-team07=Tito Santana
RD2-team08=Paul Orndorff
RD2-score07=8:06
RD2-score08=DCO
RD3-team01=The Dynamite Kid
RD3-team02=Randy Savage
RD3-score01= 4:53
RD3-score02=Pin
RD3-team03=The Junkyard Dog
RD3-team04=BYE
RD3-score03=
RD3-score04=
RD4-team01=Randy Savage
RD4-team02=The Junkyard Dog
RD4-score01= 9:43
RD4-score02=CO

Notes

The segment that announced the winner of the car was cut from the Coliseum Home Video release for time. However, it was restored when the show aired on WWE 24/7 Classics, WWE's archival video on demand service.

There was a storyline in place where Bobby "The Brain" Heenan had placed a $50,000 bounty on "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff but nothing came of it during the pay-per-view.

ee also

*List of WWE pay-per-view events

References

External links

* [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/wrestlingclassic.html Wrestling Classic results at Online World of Wrestling]
* [http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/miscppvs1980s.html#classic The Wrestling Classic results at Pro Wrestling History]
* [http://www.pwwew.net/ppv/wwf/wrestlingclassic.htm The Wrestling Classic review at pWwew - Everything Wrestling]