WWF Winter Wonderslam was a 1986 professional wrestling event put on by the World Wrestling Federation. It is the 7th event overall within the alternate WWF timeline. The event took place inside the Bradley Byrne Arena at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ, and was the first of several events to be broadcast on free TV on the USA Network. The event was headlined by World Wrestling Federation champion Hulk Hogan defending his title against King Kong Bundy inside a steel cage, following their encounter at November's Wrestling Classic. Undercard matches included Brutus Beefcake defending the Intercontinental Championship against Greg Valentine in a strap match, the Midnight Express defending the WWF Tag Team Titles against the Chicanos and Paul Orndorff facing against Heenan family member Hercules Hernandez.
Prelude[]
At The Wrestling Classic, King Kong Bundy had actually managed to defeat Hulk Hogan by countout after delivering his trademark Avalanche Splash into the ringside post. However, since a title can't change hands on a countout or disqualification, Hogan retained his championship. This led Bundy's manager, Bobby Heenan, to declare Bundy as the "uncrowned" world champion. WWF Commissioner Arnold Skaaland granted Bundy a rematch, with the caveat that it was in a steel cage in order to keep Heenan from interfering.
The feud between former partners Beefcake and Valentine had culminated at The Wrestling Classic, though ending in controversial fashion with a Beefcake win. Valentine had attacked the champion following that loss, severely injuring his knee. Despite Beefcake nearly being unable to defend his title again, he agreed to face Valentine in a return match at this event, with another stipulation of it being a strap match.
After ridding himself of his feud with Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff had continued to be a top babyface in the company, eager to take on all comers. At the same time, Hercules Hernandez had established himself as Bobby Heenan's latest acquisition, as he had used his Full Nelson to hurt several preliminary talents and challenged anyone to try and break his Full Nelson. Orndorff had come the closest, nearly breaking it on an episode of Tuesday Night Titans before Bobby Heenan tossed a glass of champagne in his eyes, blinding him, and allowing Hercules to beat down Mr. Wonderful. Orndorff was out for revenge tonight.
Event[]
The show opened with two dark matches, with Cowboy Bob Orton defeating Barry Windham (who was on his way out of the company by early 86) and Alexei Koloff defeating Jose Luis Rivera. Koloff was portrayed as the nephew of former WWF champion Ivan Koloff, brought in to defeat Hulk Hogan (whom Hogan had defeated) for the WWF Title and the glory of the Soviet Union. The show proper opened with a 20 Man Battle Royal won by the Macho Man Randy Savage, though the big story out of said battle royal was the confrontation between Andre the Giant and Brody "Hoss" Funk, that saw the bigger Funk actually eliminate the Eighth Wonder of the World before being tossed out himself by Hillbilly Jim, Ricky Steamboat and Tony Atlas. Savage last eliminated Jim to win the match.
The TV Title was defended against David Sammartino, who had his father Bruno in his corner. The match was a close one, but a distraction of the referee, who was dealing with a fight between Fred Blassie and Bruno Sammartino on the outside, allowed Nikolai to use brass knuckles to knock down David and score the pinfall. After the match though, David flipped out on his old man and shoved him to the ground before storming out of the ring. After Terry Funk defeated Rocky Johnson in a non-descript match, James E. Cornette's Midnight Express took on the duo of Tito Santana and Hector Guerrero, collectively known as the Chicanos. It appeared as though Tito had the match won for his team after hitting Eaton with a Flying Forearm, but Cornette's distraction allowed Condrey to hit Santana with the tennis racket and allowed Eaton to score the fall, so the Midnight's retained.
Orndorff and Hercules had a drag out brawl as Hercules attempted several times to put Orndorff in his Full Nelson submission. In a reverse of the situation from Tuesday Night Titans, though, it was Orndorff who put Hercules in a Full Nelson that the giant was struggling to break. Heenan grabbed the foot of Orndorff to try and break the hold, only to get kicked away by Mr. Wonderful. This allowed Herc to grab the chain he wore to the ring and clobber Orndorff with it, busting him open and earning Orndorff the DQ victory. Brutus Beefcake then defeated Greg Valentine in a highly competitive strap match, in which the only way to win was to touch all four corners in succession. Despite The Hammer focusing on Bruti's injured knee, Beefcake was able to overcome the odds and beat back the former IC Champion after putting him to sleep with a sleeper hold, using the strap for extra leverage. In the main event, Hogan and Bundy beat each other from pillar to post in the cage (including Hogan doing a rare blade job in the match.) The match ended in pinfall, unusual for a cage match, after Hogan managed to slam Bundy and then deliver his legdrop finisher to him.
Results[]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1D | Alexei Koloff w/Ivan Koloff d. Jose Luis Rivera by Pinfall | Singles Match | 4:35 |
| 2D | "Cowboy" Bob Orton d. Barry Windham by Pinfall | Singles Match | 5:56 |
| 3 | "Macho Man" Randy Savage won a 20 Man Battle Royal | 20-Man Battle Royal | 16:55 |
| 4 | Nikolai Volkoff w/Classy Freddie Blassie (c) d. David Sammartino w/Bruno Sammartino by Pinfall | Singles Match for the WWF Television Championship | 10:02 |
| 5 | Terry Funk w/Jimmy Hart d. "Soulman" Rocky Johnson by Pinfall | Singles Match | 7:00 |
| 6 | The Midnight Express [Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey] w/James E. Cornette (c) d. The Chicanos [Tito Santana & Hector Guerrero] by Pinfall | Tag Team Match for the WWF Tag Team Championships | 12:35 |
| 7 | "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff d. Hercules Hernandez w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan by Disqualification | Singles Match | 9:37 |
| 8 | Brutus Beefcake (c) d. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine w/Luscious Johnny V by Touching All Four Corners Successfully | Strap Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship | 10:08 |
| 9 | Hulk Hogan (c) d. King Kong Bundy w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan by Pinfall | Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship | 15:55 |
Aftermath[]
Hogan would begin feuding with Terry Funk after this show, leading to their showdown at Wrestlemania. Also involved in this was the feud between Brody "Hoss" Funk and Andre the Giant, as both men would be in the corners of their friends in the Wrestlemania 2 main event. David Sammartino would fully turn heel on his father in a famous episode of Jesse Ventura's Body Shop (one of many interview segments which had taken the place of Piper's Pit during Roddy Piper's absence) and align himself with Fred Blassie as his manager, leading to a father-son match at Wrestlemania (a rehash of the angle between Bruno and Larry Zbyszko some five years earlier). The Macho Man would use his Battle Royal victory to launch himself into a feud with Brutus Beefcake for the IC Title.
Unrelated to this event, Wendi Richter was embroiled in a contract dispute with the WWF at this time, leading to her being quietly stripped of the Women's Championship. Velvet McIntyre won a "tournament" to crown a new champion, and would go on to defend it at Wrestlemania.