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WWF All-American Wrestling – March 10, 1985

by Scrooge McSuck

- Hosted by "Mean" Gene Okerlund from the WWF production command center.

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Ron Hutchinson:

From the March 2nd episode of All-Star Wrestling. Interesting that Heenan was Orndorff's manager but if you watch WrestleMania in a bubble, you wouldn't have any clue about their relationship. Heenan has a stretcher in hand, so expect the jobber to take a beating. The crowd gets on Orndorff's case with a chant of "Paula." Orndorff quickly picks the leg of Hutchinson and hammers on him with rights. Orndorff with a slam, followed by a jumping knee drop across the chest. Whip and Orndorff with an elbow. Hutchinson gets tossed out of the ring, and I'd like to point out there's no padding at ringside. Heenan feeds Hutchinson back into the ring. Whip and Orndorff with a clothesline. Piledriver finishes at 2:19. Hutchinson over-sells it, almost kicking out. Post-match, Orndorff with a second Piledriver. "That's called icing on the cake." Jesse Ventura warns Mr. T that he needs to watch out for Orndorff. Orndorff grabs the ringside microphone and says that's what'll happen to Hulk Hogan and Mr. T when he's done with them.

- Lord Alfred Hayes is standing by with the WWF Update. Today's subject is Andre the Giant. He's been a recent victim of a humiliating hair-cut. We see highlights of Andre showing up a ringside before a match of Big John Studd and making his presence felt. Studd taunts him with money that he can't be slammed. Andre will get his chance to slam John Studd for $15,000. AT WRESTLEMANIA.

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Jim Powers:

From the March 2nd episode of Championship Wrestling. Just like that, Anvil is transitioned from Mr. Fuji to Jimmy Hart. Honestly, Neidhart is better off, he really seemed miscast with Fuji as his manager. Lockup, Powers grabs the arm but Neidhart tosses him. Rita Marie is the referee for the match, for those wondering. Neidhart works the arm with a wrist-lock. Powers escapes, using a mule kick to break Neidhart's grip. Whip to the ropes, Neidhart catches a body press and hangs him up across the top rope. Neidhart with a series of clubbing forearms, then tosses Powers out of the ring. Neidhart follows, slamming Powers on the concrete. Neidhart brings Powers back in with a suplex. Powers surprises Neidhart with a dropkick. Whip to the corner is reversed and Neidhart finishes with a Power-Slam at 3:25. How weird is it I've seen squash matches featuring Jim Neidhart and Jim Powers that span a full decade (1985, 1987, and 1994) in the WWF, with the two men always in the same role.

- Special Interview with The Fabulous Moolah and NEW Ladies Champion, Leilani Kai. Moolah says she's as proud for Leilani as she was winning the title herself. WrestleMania is coming, and Moolah hopes she gets her hands around the neck of Cyndi Lauper. She rambles long enough that the segment just ends with her mid-sentence. I think they're trying to sell Leilani Kai vs. Wendi Richter in a rematch for WrestleMania, but the segment was poorly produced, regardless of how short it was.

"Quick Draw" Rick McGraw vs. Moondog Spot:

Taped from Madison Square Garden on February 18th and Joined in Progress with McGraw working the arm of Spot. Jesus, McGraw's physique looks a little too much for him to comfortably move around. Whip to the ropes and McGraw with a shoulder tackle. Crisscross and McGraw with a body press for two before going back to the arm-bar. Spot escapes but misses an elbow drop, McGraw with a dropkick and arm drag, then back to working the arm. Spot with a pair of rights. McGraw catches him off the ropes with a slam and returns fire with forearms. Spot takes advantage of Quick Draw going to the arm once too often, countering with an inverted atomic drop. Whip and a sunset flip is blocked by the Moondog. Spot grabs a rear chin-lock to slow things down. McGraw fights back to his feet and unloads with a series of rights and lefts. Spot cuts the comeback short with a heel kick and knees across the chest. Spot with a shoulder breaker for two. Flying forearm smash for another two-count. Knee lift for two. McGraw with elbows to break out of a chin-lock. They botch something and Spot makes up for it with a back breaker that no doubt inspired Roderick Strong. Gene quips on Spot "If I had that much hair, I'd groom it properly." HOT TAKE, GENE. Spot grows tired of the chin-lock and tosses McGraw to the floor. Spot follows, slamming McGraw face-first into the guardrail. McGraw with shoulders to the midsection. Spot cuts him off again, hanging him across the top rope. Spot misses a charge into the corner, allowing McGraw to make his comeback. He traps Spot in the ropes (a.k.a. the "Andre Special") and unloads with rights. McGraw with a suplex for two (with a LONG pause from the referee at two, to the point it's called out by Okerlund and Monsoon). Whip and a back drop for two. Sloppy small package for two. Slam for two. McGraw with a forearm and headbutt for two. Spot rolls out of a back slide and connects with a stomach buster for two. SPOT goes to the top rope, but McGraw slams him down. He covers, but the bell rings for the time limit draw at 12:57 (shown). Surprisingly solid match, even with the obvious pacing for the time limit. **1/2

- From the set of Piper's Pit, it's the Hot Rod himself, along with Mr. Wonderful and Bob Orton. They scoff at the idea of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T thinking that three weeks is enough time to train for a match with them. Piper says they've been training in the swamps and Orton busted his arm for them. Piper says they aren't cartoon characters on Saturday afternoon, they're real men from prime-time. He says they'll take a life and not think twice about it. Harsh?

- Hulk Hogan and Mr. T are on location training for WrestleMania. Mr. T says he needs one more taco in him as he's there to see his amigos. They're going to Venice Beach to do some hangin' and bangin'. Hogan tells him this is his last taco. After they're done doing the Hulk's thing, they're going to where T trains to get mean. Sadly, a montage set to "Easy Lover" is cut as we go to Hogan cutting a promo about Mr. T teaching him how to street fight. Mr. T calls what they're going to prepare for guerilla warfare and the combat zone. Hogan says he needed the "baddest" dude in the world to be his partner, and that's Mr. T. More training, including both men doing squats with the other on their backs, lifting weights, and jogging. Then we get MORE training with "Eye of the Tiger" playing as they work out in a Boxing ring. Am I watching the hype for WrestleMania or the deleted scenes of Rocky III? Hogan tells T he has to open his hand a little, but if the referee isn't looking, gives him a wink and a nod about fighting dirty if it comes to it. Hogan says he's got a special surprise for T, and he slaps a picture of Piper on the punching bag for T to beat on and tear apart with his teeth. Hogan says "they're going to eat their lunch" and tears a piece off for himself.

- Bobby Heenan and Big John Studd are standing by with a fistful of cash and a bag of hair clippings. They say Andre the Giant has no chance of slamming Studd at WrestleMania. Studd promises to slam Andre himself, and that'll be the end of the legend that is Andre.

- Gene Okerlund is standing by with comments from Wendi Richter and Cyndi Lauper. The contract is signed for WrestleMania. Lauper says Moolah knows the only way to beat Wendi is to beat her 2-on-1. She took advantage of Cyndi at ringside, but they promise the same won't happen at WrestleMania. Cyndi says she's going to dance all over Leilani Kai and Lauper promises to have surprises for Moolah in her pocket book. "Shmoolah" might be the worst insult I've ever heard.

Final Thoughts: We're missing about 6-minutes of content this week, but it looks like we hit all the major points for the week. The hype for WrestleMania is real, with a lot of emphasis on the Main Event featuring Hulk, Mr. T, Piper, and Orndorff, as well as hype for other prominent matches like Andre vs. Studd (which, based on the Studd promo, didn't exclusively state was a Slam Challenge) and a rematch for the Women's Championship. Spot vs. McGraw wasn't exclusively taped for All-American, but was a surprisingly decent match to pad the run time of the program.

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