WWE's second installment in the WrestleMania series featured King Kong Bundy and Hulk Hogan in a steel cage and a 20 Man Battle Royal featuring Andre "the Giant."
The first WrestleMania made such a statement in terms of celebrities, matches, and entertainment that the second edition had to be nerve racking for the WWE leadership. How could they live up to last year’s spectacular show? In order to do something better than the year before, WWE had to do something unique. For the first time in professional wrestling history the event actually took place in three different arenas in three very different American cities. Fans on the east coast, the west coast, and those fans in the absolute middle of the country were all given the opportunity to enjoy this event.
On April 7, 1986, WWE brought WrestleMania 2 to Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. In total 47,688 people were able to witness WrestleMania live. To improve on the original WrestleMania, WWE brought in even more celebrities and had them involved in all three main events. None of these main events were your typical wrestling matches either. The New York portion put Rowdy Roddy Piper against Mr. T in a boxing match, the Chicago portion featured a battle royal containing superstars from the WWE and the NFL, and the Los Angeles portion featured a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Title between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy.
The action started in New York’s Nassau Coliseum with Vince McMahon and celebrity guest Susan St. James performing the commentary. Special guest Ray Charles actually kicked off the festivities with his rendition of America the Beautiful. The New York portion had a full card featuring an intercontinental title match, two big grudge matches, and the main event boxing match. In a battle between two current Hall of famers, The Magnificent Muraco and Mr. Wonderful fought to a double count out, while Jake “the Snake” Roberts made his WrestleMania debut defeating George Wells with his DDT finishing maneuver.
In the first Championship match of WrestleMania 2, George “the Animal” Steele challenged Macho Man Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship. This match seemed to have more to do with Steele’s infatuation with Miss Elizabeth than it had to do with the Intercontinental Championship. The Macho Man got the victory when he used the ring ropes for added leverage when making the pinfall. Despite the Macho Man getting the victory, the true highlight of this match was watching George Steele chew apart the top turnbuckle.
In the New York Main Event, Rowdy Roddy Piper took every short cut imaginable attempting to defeat Mr. T in their boxing match. Piper threw everything he had at Mr. T including the stool in his corner, but in the end a frustrated Roddy Piper got himself disqualified. Piper shoved the referee to the ground and bodyslammed Mr. T ending the match.
The Chicago Portion included a woman’s title match, a team titles match, a flag match, and a battle royal. Mean Gene Okerland, Kathy Lee Crosby, and Gorilla Monsoon called the action as new tag team champions were crowned. With Ozzy Osbourne in their corner, the British Bulldogs defeated Brutus Beefcake and Greg “the Hammer” Valentine to capture the tag titles Regardless of the championship matches, the real story in Chicago was the battle royal. The match started out with 20 men, but in the end it was down to both members of the Hart Foundation and Andre “the Giant.” Andre eventually tossed both members out and continued his streak of winning more battle royals than anyone in the history of wrestling.
WrestleMania 2 concluded with the Los Angeles portion and of course the World Title bout. Hulk Hogan defended his title against King Kong Bundy inside of a steel cage, but before that match took place the fans in Los Angeles were treated to a number of different matches. Jesse “the Body” Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Elvira called the action for this portion. The special ring announcer was Tommy Lasorda. Hall of Famer Bobby “the Brain” Heenan stood in King Kong Bundy’s corner very confident that at the end of the night’s festivities he would be managing the Heavyweight Champion of the world. Unfortunately for Bobby “the Brain” Heenan, he would be wrong at this WrestleMania and many more to follow. Hulk Hogan defeated King Kong Bundy by escaping the cage.
It is safe to say that after such an exciting card, WWE made good on their attempt to improve over the previous year’s WrestleMania. The celebrities were present at all times, the wrestling included three main events, and cage match provided an extra flavor to the Championship contest. What could the WWE possibly do to continue such a powerful event? What will happen at WrestleMania 3.
- Magnificent Muraco and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorf match ended in a double count out
- Jake “the Snake” Roberts defeats George Wells via pinfall
- Randy Savage defeats George Steele via pinfall
- Mr. T defeated Rowdy Roddy Piper via disqualification
- Fabulous Moolah defeats Velvet McIntire via pinfall
- Corpral Kirchner defeats Nikolai Volkoff via pinfall
- British Bulldogs defeat Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine via pinfall
- Andre “the Giant” wins the battle royal by eliminating the Hart Foundation
- Ricky Steamboat defeats Hercules Hernandez via pinfall
- Adrian Adonis defeats Uncle Elmer via pinfall
- Terry and Hoss Funk defeats Tito Santana and the Junk Yard Dog via pinfall
- Hulk Hogan defeats King Kong Bundy by escaping the cage
Previous: The Original WrestleMania
Next: The Third WWE WrestleMania
Related Article Raw Review March 5
