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Revision as of 20:59, 19 October 2009

The Wrestling Classic

Promotion

World Wrestling Federation

Date

November 7, 1985

City

Rosemont, Illinois

Venue

Rosemont Horizon

Attendance

14,000

Pay-per-view chronology

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WrestleMania

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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 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.

The Wrestling Classic was the first WWF pay-per-view, the first WrestleMania event, in March of the same year, was actually only available on closed circuit.

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. In February, they faced each other at MTV special The War to Settle the Score for Hogan's WWF title, where Hogan retained his title by disqualification. 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. Hogan feuded with Piper and "Cowboy" Bob Orton for the rest of the year and often got disqualification victories over them, 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. This led to Bobby Hennan's $50,000 storyline bounty on Paul Orndorff not being collected.

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. This segment 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.

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. Ricky Steamboat also won the Intercontinental Championship, by defeating Savage at WrestleMania III in 1987. Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith who together were the successful British Bulldogs would go on to win the WWF Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 2 in 1986.

Results

#	Results	Stipulations	Times
1	Adrian Adonis (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Corporal Kirchner	First Round Tournament match	04:00
2	The Dynamite Kid defeated Nikolai Volkoff		00:06
3	Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Ivan Putski		03:00
4	Ricky Steamboat defeated Davey Boy Smith		03:00
5	The Junkyard Dog defeated The Iron Sheik		03:00
6	Moondog Spot defeated Terry Funk (with Jimmy Hart) by countout		00:17
7	Tito Santana defeated The Magnificent Muraco (with Mr. Fuji)		04:00
8	Paul Orndorff defeated Bob Orton by disqualification		07:00
9	The Dynamite Kid defeated Adrian Adonis (with Jimmy Hart)	Quarter Final Tournament Match	06:00
10	Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Ricky Steamboat		04:00
11	The Junkyard Dog defeated Moondog Spot		00:45
12	Tito Santana fought Paul Orndorff to a double count-out		08:00
13	Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Roddy Piper by disqualification.	Singles match for the WWF Championship	07:00
14	Randy Savage defeated The Dynamite Kid	Semi Final Tournament match	05:00
15	The Junkyard Dog defeated Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) by count out.	Tournament Finals match	09:00

Tournament bracket

Pin-Pinfall; Sub-Submission; CO-Countout; DCO-Double countout; DQ-Disqualification; Ref-Referee's decision

First round

Quarterfinals

Semi-finals

Final

Adrian Adonis