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WWF TNT- March 21, 1986

by Scrooge McSuck

- Hosted by Vince McMahon, with co-host Lord Alfred Hayes. This week's guests include Brutus Beefcake, Greg Valentine, Johnny Valiant, "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Elizabeth, The British Bulldogs, Capt. Lou Albano, Bill Fralic, and WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan. With WrestleMania 2 around the corner, we're not getting geek guests.

Guest(s) #1: Greg Valentine, Brutus Beefcake, and Johnny Valiant

They're pushing the match at WrestleMania 2 having two referees pretty hard. Valiant says the Bulldogs will make their last American appearance on April 7th when his "Dream Team" annihilates the Bulldogs in under 5-minutes. He says Valentine had the flu and Beefcake was suffering from jetlag the day the Bulldogs beat them in a Non-Title Match.

- Highlight of Valentine and Beefcake vs. Jim Powers and Scott McGhee from the February 22nd episode of Championship Wrestling.

Back in the studio, McMahon runs down the Chicago portion of the card, then questions Valiant's claims that it'll only take 5-minutes to beat the Bulldogs. Valiant corrects himself, 2-3 minutes seems more accurate. He tells Lou Albano to try and hop in the ring and try to interfere. Valentine says Albano is a lousy manager who is teaching the Bulldogs to be sneaky. They're a mean, tough team, but he and Beefcake are the Tag Team Champions for a reason. They're going to get serious and hurt them in Chicago.

Guest #2: Bill Fralic

Fralic is a Rookie All-Madden Offensive Guard from the Atlanta Falcons, one of six men in the Battle Royal with recent ties to the NFL. McMahon notes not a lot of scientific wrestling knowledge is necessary for a Battle Royal. Fralic grabs hold of the LJN Big John Studd figure and casually calls him "John Dud." He doesn't see Studd busting down the doors to the NFL training camps. We see highlights of a geek Battle Royal featured quite a few months ago on All-Star Wrestling, with McMahon narrating the action. Fralic says Studd should take some lessons from Russ Francis on skydiving for the landing on the arena floor. Lord Alfred claims he missed 3 months of action because of a Battle Royal. Fralic offers Alfred to jump in the ring (playfully), as well as Jesse Ventura. He says Ventura wants to hide behind the camera now that he's "Mr. Ratings Points." Fralic has such a natural heel delivery, but he's calling out heels, so… huh.

Guest(s) #3: "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Elizabeth

More hype for WrestleMania 2 and the New York City portion of the card. Savage is defending the Intercontinental Championship against George "The Animal" Steele on that portion of WrestleMania 2. Savage tells everyone to relax around the champion. McMahon asks what kind of champion the Animal would make. Someone has a sound-effects machine that irritates Savage. Savage downplays the question of a relationship with Elizabeth. We see highlights of Savage throwing a fit over Steele presenting Elizabeth with a bouquet of flowers. Savage is becoming an expert on flowers and says they've got to pass the test. You bang a person across the head with flowers to see if they pass the test, because they don't want to be associated with something second-class. He promises to destroy the Animal at WrestleMania 2, and says it'll be the fault of everyone in the crowd. McMahon asks Elizabeth about Steele's affection, but Savage quickly interrupts after she says he's a nice man. Savage chews McMahon out for asking her that and dresses her down.

Guest(s) #4: The British Bulldogs and Capt. Lou Albano

We need a pull-apart brawl with all these feuding stars featured on the same episode. Is Dynamite Kid wearing leather pants with a belt? Albano is carrying around a magazine on his favorite subject, himself. It's available now for $5.95 ($7.50 in Canada). Albano says they beat the Champions once, and they're going to do it again in Chicago with two referees present. This would make 16 sets of Tag Team Champions for Albano if the Bulldogs are successful.

- Highlights of the British Bulldogs vs. Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik from the October 21st, 1985 card held at Madison Square Garden.

Back in the studio, Dynamite says that he and Davey Boy have been working hard in the gym because Beefcake and Valentine are the best Tag Team Champions in the world right now. Davey Boy says it all goes down at WrestleMania 2. Albano says he negotiated having two referees to keep an eye on things inside and outside the ring. He promises his man, Andre the Giant, will win the Battle Royal, and the British Bulldogs will be the new Tag Team Champions. "Wise Guys" comes out on March 28th, buy the book/magazine, SHILL, SHILL, SHILL!

Guest #5: Hulk Hogan

We run down the Los Angeles card and show the recently premiered "Real American" Music Video before Hulk Hogan makes his appearance in the studio. It's 2020, and "Real American" is still a top 5 theme song of all-time. He says the WWF Championship is the Rolls Royce of belts, and anything else is second-best. He issues a challenge to Savage and says he wants the Intercontinental belt as an ornament on his Christmas tree. He tells "Vicious Vince" and "Awful Alfred" that he's had a setback because of the assault perpetrated by Bundy and the Magnificent Muraco. Hogan says there's a lot of big men in the WWF, but Bundy has a mean streak, and he saw tombstones in his eyes in Phoenix. We see footage of King Kong Bundy's comments from a recent press conference. Bundy says it wasn't his intention to put Hogan in a hospital, he wanted his title shot so he could beat Hogan in front of the entire world. He reminds us he has the fastest win in WWF history, doing so at last year's WrestleMania in 9-seconds (cough:liar:cough). Hogan doesn't buy Bundy's story. He says Bundy hasn't paid his dues and you've got to fight for what you want and fight harder to keep it. The WWF Championship represents America and what we all represent and believe in. We show footage of Hogan's comments from the Los Angeles press conference. He gives a vivid description of his trip to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. It was the first time he was seriously hurt inside a wrestling ring. He will be in the Steel Cage, no matter what. He feels the separation of the ribs when he hits the gym, but he won't back down from the challenge. Back in the studio, Hogan promises that Hulkamania will run wild at WrestleMania 2.

- Next Week: Nothing advertised.

Final Thoughts: Another hard-sell for WrestleMania 2. Not as strong of an episode as last week, but the "celebrity" guest this week seemed to have a clue as to what he was talking about. Nothing but the top matches are being promoted right now, so we're not getting filler guests like Lanny Poffo or Pedro Morales to put everyone to sleep. Not the strongest episode, but a good companion to the weekly TV since it helps flesh out storylines and gives everyone more promo time.

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