WWF: The Wrestling Classic (1985 TV Special) User Reviews

Decent One Off WWF PPV

[Moonsault_Press · 6/10 · 1 March 2020]

The Wrestling Classic was the second WWF pay-per-view of 1985, taking place on November 17th in Rosemont, Illinois. The event featured a 16 man single elimination tournament and also a title bout seeing the Hogan and Piper feud continue.

Wins: 1. The tournament itself is a ton of fun with some pretty interesting seedings. Too bad it ended up being a one off event. 2. Genuine surprises highlight great writing for the event. 3. Watching the big push of rising stars Junkyard Dog and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. 4. Commentary from Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon, one of my favorite duos behind the microphone. Losses: 1. Technical difficulties, especially with microphones and interview transitions. Improvements are definitely visible from Wrestlemania, however. 2. Lord Alfred Hayes and his commentary on the tournament bracket between fights leaves a lot to be desired. Pretty sure he forgot wrestlers names from time to time. 3. Title match was sandwiched in the middle of the tournament, which creates a weird ebb in the excitement. The match itself is entertaining though, far better than the Wrestlemania fight.

Thx for Steamboat and Santana

[amanwhorocks · 6/10 · 26 May 2013]

16-man tournament: Adrian Adonis Vs. Corporal Kirchner 6/10 Nice ending DDT.

Dynamite Kid Vs. Nikolai VOlkoff 6/10 One drop-kick match against bad Sovetian NIkolai. Heh.

Randy Savage Vs. Ivan Putski 5/10 Ricky Steamboat Vs. Davy Boy Smith 7/10 Good quick match.

Junkyard Dog vs. Iron Sheik 6/10 Moondog Spot Vs. Terry Funk 4/10 Circus match The Magnificent Muraco Vs. Tito Santana 6/10 Santana was cool.

Paul Orndorff Vs. Bob Orton 5,5/10 The Dynamite Kid Vs. Adrian Adonis 6/10 Ricky Steamboat Vs. Randy Savage 6,5/10 Junkyard DOg Vs. Moondog Spot 4/10 Tito Santana Vs. Paul Orndorff 6/10 Hogan Vs. Piper 3,5/10 Classicly terrible match.

The Dynamite Kid Vs. Macho Man 5,5/10 "Macho man" Randy Savage Vs. Junkyard DOg 6/10 for the ending In all case, better than first Wrestlemania.

Review from a casual fan!

[markovd111 · 7/10 · 5 December 2019]

This was fun! Matches were interesting and there were some risky stunts which got me rewinding to see how they pulled it off. There wasn't too much stalling and it was an overall enjoyable experience, so that's why I give it 7.5/10, and as always, watch it for relaxing your nerves and brain. Enjoy! :D ;)

Wrestling at its best!

[MDWarrior · 14 November 2003]

This event was awesome! The wrestlers drew names earlier in the evening, of who they would face. They compete in a tournament to determine who is the king of the ring. The matches for this event were Adrian Adonis vs. Corporal Kirshner, The Dynamite Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff, Randy Savage vs. Ivan Putski, Davey Boy Smith vs. Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk vs. Moondog Spot, The Junkyard Dog vs. The Iron Sheik, Tito Santana vs. Don Muraco, and Paul Orndorff vs. Cowboy Bob Orton. This event was an early incarnation of the King of the Ring event the WWF would eventually put on. On top of the tournament going on, Hulk Hogan defended his title against Rowdy Roddy Piper in one of their classic unfinished encounters. This event had awesome quality matches for the times. I particularly enjoyed the match up between The Dynamite Kid and Nikolai Volkoff. It was easy to see how the Dynamite Kid inspired such stars today as Chris Benoit, among others. I anyone is able to find this rare video, I encourage them to do so. This event was wrestling at its best!

Randy Savage was the star

[michaelvillavicencio-27866 · 4/10 · 30 May 2023]

For as short most of his tournament matches are, I loved Randy Savage in this tournament. Some matches I liked sadly ended too short, but it's just a run of the mill tournament. Not sure how people rated this higher than a 5, yes it was historical but WWF would go on to have better one night tournaments.

Hogan vs Piper was ok, kind of reminds me of the match they had at The War To Settle The Score. The car giveaway was completely unnecessary, unless you phoned the person who actually won to appear in person there was literally no point

I also did like the fact that they played into Randy Savage being banged up before the final tournament match.

The Wrestling Classic

[adamau04 · 8/10 · 15 November 2005]

November 7th 1985 - Rosemont, Illinois, Rosemont Horizon

Wrestling Classic Round 1 Matches 1. Adrian Adonis Vs Corporal Kirchner 2. Dynamite Kid Vs Nikolai Volkoff 3. "Macho Man" Randy Savage Vs Ivan Putski 4. Ricky Steamboat Vs Davey Boy Smith 5. Junk Yard Dog Vs Iron Sheik 6. Moondog Spot Vs Terry Funk 7. Tito Santana Vs "Magnificent" Don Muraco 8. "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff Vs "Cowboy" Bob Orton

Wrestling Classic Round 2 Matches 1. Dynamite Kid Vs Adrian Adonis 2. "Macho Man" Randy Savage Vs Ricky Steamboat 3. Junk Yard Dog Vs Moondog Spot 4. Tito Santana Vs "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff

WWF Championship Champ: Hulk Hogan Vs "Rowdy" Roddy Piper Winner: Hoga By DQ

Wrestling Classic Round 3 1. "Macho Man" Randy Savage VS Dynamite Kid

Wrestling Classic Final Junk Yard Dog Vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage Winner: JYD By Countout

The Wrestling Classic from WWF in 1985; One of the best

[greg-tingle · 10/10 · 26 November 2022]

The Wrestling Classic presented by the WWF (now WWE) is one of my favourite pro wrestling events of all time, and I've been watching and analyzing the performance art for decades.

The card had overall a stronger line-up that most WWE PPV' including WrestleManias. Production and booking was extremely strong and the crowd and announcers were pumped and rightly so

A great mix of pro wrestling, sports entertainment, heels vs babyfaces, heels vs heels and faces vs faces.

Not withstanding the tremendous tournament and cards other main event was WWF world championship Hulk Hogan vs #1 challenger "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

This event is so strong I've watched it many times over the decades.

Watching the show makes me wish the WWE would do a modern version of it. Perhaps bring back the 'King Of The Ring' tournament.

A must watch for both new and seasoned fans.

A public thank you to the WWE for all of the amazing entertainment over the decades.