The Rise of the Dragon: An Altered History of the World Wrestling Federation
- Thread starter The Walkman
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This TL is so much fun.. I don't have anything substantively to add other than this brought back memories and was totally plausible, except, of course, that Gov. Clinton would never seek publicity in such a crass way....
Well, you're definitely more of a political expert than I am. I just wanted to convey that the Clintons were somewhat disappointed at their state being excluded from the fun...
That was sarcasm! I can go back and edit in a smiley if necessary, but I thought the italics conveyed it...
Ack! So sorry! Me and my inability to discern sarcasm over the internet...
As a matter of fact, I do have an update in the works. I've just been busy with my job and various personal family matters.
August 1986: Hogan's No Hero
August-October 1986
August 1, 1986
The final card of Jim Crockett’s Great American Bash tour occurs in Georgia. Many of the NWA’s top stars appear in matches, including a brutal Indian Strap Match that sees Wahoo McDaniel defeat “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin. Arn Anderson and Barry Windham successfully defend their NWA National Tag Team Titles, which they had won a few days prior, from the now-babyface team of the Midnight Express, and Tully Blanchard beats Ron Garvin to retain the United States Championship.
The main event sees Ric Flair defending the NWA Championship against perennial rival Dusty Rhodes. Toward the end of the match, the rest of the Horsemen do a run-in and attempt to save a downed Flair, but NWA World Tag Team Champions the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express manage to drive them away. With the distraction, Rhodes manages to hit the Bionic Elbow and pin Flair to win the NWA Title for the third time. [1]
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August-October 1986
“Ladies and gentlemen, due to outside interference, the co-winners of the battle royal: Hulk Hogan…” (Most of the crowd cheers, but a few faint boos are heard) “…and Ricky ‘the Dragon’ Steamboat!” (Crowd cheers considerably louder)
–Howard Finkel at the end of the #1 Contender’s Battle Royal, Saturday Night’s Main Event, August 9, 1986
Excerpt from “The Story of the WWF” (2010)
Chapter 9: The Dragon and the Hulk
When the Dynamite Kid shocked the world by defeating Ricky Steamboat for the WWF Championship in May of 1986, many fans aware of some of the behind-the-scenes business of the WWF took it as a sign that Hulk Hogan was going to regain the championship from Dynamite in the future. Vince McMahon had previously done the same thing with the Iron Sheik in 1983—after the Iranian strongman won the WWF Title from longtime babyface champion Bob Backlund, he lost it less than three weeks later to Hulk Hogan, essentially making the Sheik a “transitional champion” (one that wins the title from one wrestler, only to lose it a short time later to another wrestler). It appeared that McMahon was planning to do a similar thing with Dynamite. And it may have indeed happened, were it not for some backstage differences.
Not long after returning from his lengthy injury in early 1986, Hulk Hogan approached McMahon backstage, asking when he would get another shot at the championship. McMahon agreed that Hogan should get another title reign, and he began setting the stage for Steamboat to lose the title to the Dynamite Kid at the next televised event, with every intention of having Hogan beat Dynamite soon afterward, continuing the previously lucrative fad of “Hulkamania”.
But Steamboat was more than a little upset when he discovered that McMahon and Hogan had gone behind his back with their plan. “I wasn’t angry; just disappointed,” Steamboat recalled. “(Pat) Patterson just told me ‘Hey, you’re dropping the title to Dynamite next week’…I assumed it was part of a storyline they were working on, so I just decided to roll with it. If they (McMahon and Hogan) had approached me with the idea from the start, I wouldn’t have minded. Being champion was great, but if they just wanted me to be a placeholder while Hogan was injured, they should have told me so in the first place.” As such, Steamboat took his problems to McMahon, inquiring why he and Hogan had done what they did. McMahon was now torn—his two biggest drawing cards were figuratively at each other’s throats. After some talks with both Steamboat and Hogan, McMahon came up with a unique idea to leave it up to the fans to decide who would be the next champion.
On the very next edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event held in August, a battle royal was held to determine the new #1 contender for Dynamite Kid’s WWF Championship. The final three men in the match were Steamboat, Hogan and Big John Studd. After working together to dispose of Studd, the Hulkster and the Dragon found themselves opponents for the first time. After a now-famous confrontation that resulted in Steamboat and Hogan clotheslining one another [2], the Hart Foundation hit the ring and began to beat down both men. Dynamite Kid famously boasted to the camera “they’re both losers”.
However, onscreen WWF official Jack Tunney later came to the ring and whispered to ring announcer Howard Finkel to announce that both Hogan and Steamboat had won the match, and would each get championship opportunities at a later date. However, in a ploy concocted by Vince McMahon, Finkel announced Steamboat’s and Hogan’s names separately. This allowed McMahon (and everyone else) to hear the cheers of the audience for each man individually. McMahon had decided that whoever received the loudest and most positive ovation would win back the WWF Championship…and ultimately, Steamboat received the loudest applause. [3]
“When I heard the people cheering that loud for Steamboat, I was humbled,” remembered Hulk Hogan in a 2004 interview. “I knew right then and there who the fans wanted to see as champion. There would be other times that I might be in the spotlight, but at that moment, it was still Steamboat’s time.” However, another idea of Hogan’s would be utilized by McMahon—one that would ultimately drive the WWF through two Wrestlemanias.
Two matches for the WWF Championship were booked for the next SNME, the first and only time the title was defended twice on the show. McMahon planned for Steamboat to come away with the belt again after it was all said and done. But Hulk Hogan wasn’t finished just yet. The former champion came to McMahon again with the idea of turning heel on Steamboat. McMahon was hesitant at first—after all, the Hulkster was his #2 drawing card after the Dragon. Steamboat got word of Hogan’s idea, and overwhelmingly supported it. Still skeptical, McMahon nonetheless agreed.
To set up the turn, an impromptu non-title bout between Hogan & Steamboat and Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart occurred on the same Saturday Night’s Main Event as the #1 contender’s battle royal. During the match, Hogan began to show heelish tendencies for the first time. As Steamboat went to the top rope to deliver a crossbody, Hogan made a blind tag, pinning Jim Neidhart with a leg drop instead that left both Steamboat and the fans in attendance scratching their heads. Over the next few months on WWF television, Hogan cut promos berating not only the Hart Foundation, but Steamboat as well, voicing his disappointment at how the Dragon was letting the villainous Harts “pick on him”.
On October 4th, 1986, the fateful day finally arrived. The first match on the SNME broadcast saw Hogan get his chance at the WWF Title. After about five minutes of pounding, it looked to many like the Hulkster was about to finish off the tired Dynamite Kid, but out of desperation, the entire Hart Foundation broke up a pinfall attempt by Hogan, causing a disqualification that saved Dynamite’s championship. The Harts continued beating up Hogan for several minutes until Steamboat ran down to the ring to make the save to a gale of cheers. As Steamboat helped Hogan to his feet, the Hulkster shoved the Dragon away, and walked out on his own. In the final match of the night, Steamboat got his chance to wrest the belt from Dynamite Kid’s nefarious grasp. But this time, when it appeared the other members of the Hart Foundation would get involved toward the end of the match, Hogan ran down to make the save, preventing them from entering the ring, which allowed Steamboat to keep Dynamite down for a three-count, winning the WWF Championship for a second time.
After the match, Hogan led the audience in applause for Steamboat for several minutes, and held the new champion’s hand high in the air with the belt. But then, Hogan grabbed Steamboat and slammed him to the mat. The Hulkster glared down at the Dragon as the crowd gasped in shock. Hogan then grabbed the nearby championship belt, and as Steamboat got to his feet, hit the Dragon in the face with it. Hogan then draped the belt across Steamboat’s prone body and hit his signature leg drop on the Dragon. As the crowd looked on in shock, booing at the man they had previously cheered, Vince McMahon famously exclaimed from the announce table “How in the name of all that is good could this possibly happen?!”, as his commentary partner Jesse Ventura famously quipped, “It’s about time the Pukester finally saw the light!” Longtime Hogan nemesis Bobby “the Brain” Heenan was later added in as Hogan’s nefarious manager, and the newest member of the Heenan Family stable was born. The Steamboat-Hogan feud was on.
Unfortunately, Dynamite Kid had suffered severe injuries to his back from all the matches he’d had with Steamboat and Hogan over the previous months. The English grappler decided to take a leave of absence from the WWF, having his final match with the company a few weeks later in which he lost to Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper in less than a minute. After the match, he loudly berated his fellow Hart Foundation members (who had been taking more and more abuse from the former Champion over the weeks) for not coming to his aid in the match, and stormed away. Backstage, Gene Okerlund attempted to get an interview with Dynamite as he was leaving the arena. Dynamite famously shoved Okerlund down, grabbed the interviewer’s microphone, berated his Hart Foundation members, and uttered the now-infamous words “*Expletive* on the WWF! I quit!” before walking away. The Hart Foundation, however, would live on, as the story of one of the most colorful stables in WWF history was only just beginning.
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Saturday Night’s Main Event Results, 8/9/1986
#1 Contender’s Battle Royal: Hulk Hogan & Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat def. B. Brian Blair, Big John Studd, Corporal Kirchner, “Magnificent” Don Muraco, Dory Funk, George “the Animal” Steele, Greg Valentine, Hercules Hernandez, Hillbilly Jim, Jake “the Snake” Roberts, Jim Brunzell, Junkyard Dog, King Kong Bundy, King Tonga, Paul Orndorff, Roddy Piper, Terry Funk and Tito Santana (10:21)
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Randy “Macho Man” Savage def. Billy Jack Haynes (5:13)
The Iron Sheik def. Lanny Poffo (2:12)
The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques & Raymond) (w/ Bobby “the Brain” Heenan) def. Paul Roma & Jim Powers (4:01)
Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat & Hulk Hogan def. Bret Hart & Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart (w/ Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith & Jimmy Hart) (6:23)
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Saturday Night’s Main Event Results, 10/4/1986
WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan def. Dynamite Kid (c) (w/ Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart and Jimmy Hart) by disqualification (5:02)
Junkyard Dog def. Terry Funk (6:43)
Andre the Giant def. “Magnificent” Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) (1:46)
Wendi Richter def. Judy Martin (w/ Misty Blue Simms) (0:51)
WWF Championship: Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat (w/ Hulk Hogan) def. Dynamite Kid (c) (w/ Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart & Jimmy Hart) (8:55)
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[1] Rhodes also won the NWA Title for the third time at a Great American Bash show in 1986 IOTL, but it was on July 26th of that year. Also, the decision was reversed two weeks later due to Ole & Arn Anderson’s interference, and the title was returned to Flair (Rhodes’ reign is still recognized by the NWA, though). ITTL, there’s no false finish.
[2] Think of this as TTL’s version of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior facing off in the 1990 Royal Rumble, which is not going to happen ITTL.
[3] McMahon used this same tactic IOTL to decide who should win the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania X: when Bret Hart and Lex Luger ‘co-won’ the 1994 Royal Rumble match, their names were announced separately, and Hart got the most positive ovation. As such, he was booked to win the title at Wrestlemania X.
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And as the Steamboat-Dynamite feud comes to a close, the Steamboat-Hogan feud begins. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update—I’ve had it in the works for a pretty long time now, as it sets the stage for many, many updates to come. I want to thank you guys who have stayed with me for so long, and I appreciate all of you for sticking with me through this timeline's long hiatus.
Coming up, we venture back to the NWA, where Starrcade ’86 is about to begin…
August 1, 1986
The final card of Jim Crockett’s Great American Bash tour occurs in Georgia. Many of the NWA’s top stars appear in matches, including a brutal Indian Strap Match that sees Wahoo McDaniel defeat “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin. Arn Anderson and Barry Windham successfully defend their NWA National Tag Team Titles, which they had won a few days prior, from the now-babyface team of the Midnight Express, and Tully Blanchard beats Ron Garvin to retain the United States Championship.
The main event sees Ric Flair defending the NWA Championship against perennial rival Dusty Rhodes. Toward the end of the match, the rest of the Horsemen do a run-in and attempt to save a downed Flair, but NWA World Tag Team Champions the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express manage to drive them away. With the distraction, Rhodes manages to hit the Bionic Elbow and pin Flair to win the NWA Title for the third time. [1]
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August-October 1986
“Ladies and gentlemen, due to outside interference, the co-winners of the battle royal: Hulk Hogan…” (Most of the crowd cheers, but a few faint boos are heard) “…and Ricky ‘the Dragon’ Steamboat!” (Crowd cheers considerably louder)
–Howard Finkel at the end of the #1 Contender’s Battle Royal, Saturday Night’s Main Event, August 9, 1986
Excerpt from “The Story of the WWF” (2010)
Chapter 9: The Dragon and the Hulk
When the Dynamite Kid shocked the world by defeating Ricky Steamboat for the WWF Championship in May of 1986, many fans aware of some of the behind-the-scenes business of the WWF took it as a sign that Hulk Hogan was going to regain the championship from Dynamite in the future. Vince McMahon had previously done the same thing with the Iron Sheik in 1983—after the Iranian strongman won the WWF Title from longtime babyface champion Bob Backlund, he lost it less than three weeks later to Hulk Hogan, essentially making the Sheik a “transitional champion” (one that wins the title from one wrestler, only to lose it a short time later to another wrestler). It appeared that McMahon was planning to do a similar thing with Dynamite. And it may have indeed happened, were it not for some backstage differences.
Not long after returning from his lengthy injury in early 1986, Hulk Hogan approached McMahon backstage, asking when he would get another shot at the championship. McMahon agreed that Hogan should get another title reign, and he began setting the stage for Steamboat to lose the title to the Dynamite Kid at the next televised event, with every intention of having Hogan beat Dynamite soon afterward, continuing the previously lucrative fad of “Hulkamania”.
But Steamboat was more than a little upset when he discovered that McMahon and Hogan had gone behind his back with their plan. “I wasn’t angry; just disappointed,” Steamboat recalled. “(Pat) Patterson just told me ‘Hey, you’re dropping the title to Dynamite next week’…I assumed it was part of a storyline they were working on, so I just decided to roll with it. If they (McMahon and Hogan) had approached me with the idea from the start, I wouldn’t have minded. Being champion was great, but if they just wanted me to be a placeholder while Hogan was injured, they should have told me so in the first place.” As such, Steamboat took his problems to McMahon, inquiring why he and Hogan had done what they did. McMahon was now torn—his two biggest drawing cards were figuratively at each other’s throats. After some talks with both Steamboat and Hogan, McMahon came up with a unique idea to leave it up to the fans to decide who would be the next champion.
On the very next edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event held in August, a battle royal was held to determine the new #1 contender for Dynamite Kid’s WWF Championship. The final three men in the match were Steamboat, Hogan and Big John Studd. After working together to dispose of Studd, the Hulkster and the Dragon found themselves opponents for the first time. After a now-famous confrontation that resulted in Steamboat and Hogan clotheslining one another [2], the Hart Foundation hit the ring and began to beat down both men. Dynamite Kid famously boasted to the camera “they’re both losers”.
However, onscreen WWF official Jack Tunney later came to the ring and whispered to ring announcer Howard Finkel to announce that both Hogan and Steamboat had won the match, and would each get championship opportunities at a later date. However, in a ploy concocted by Vince McMahon, Finkel announced Steamboat’s and Hogan’s names separately. This allowed McMahon (and everyone else) to hear the cheers of the audience for each man individually. McMahon had decided that whoever received the loudest and most positive ovation would win back the WWF Championship…and ultimately, Steamboat received the loudest applause. [3]
“When I heard the people cheering that loud for Steamboat, I was humbled,” remembered Hulk Hogan in a 2004 interview. “I knew right then and there who the fans wanted to see as champion. There would be other times that I might be in the spotlight, but at that moment, it was still Steamboat’s time.” However, another idea of Hogan’s would be utilized by McMahon—one that would ultimately drive the WWF through two Wrestlemanias.
Two matches for the WWF Championship were booked for the next SNME, the first and only time the title was defended twice on the show. McMahon planned for Steamboat to come away with the belt again after it was all said and done. But Hulk Hogan wasn’t finished just yet. The former champion came to McMahon again with the idea of turning heel on Steamboat. McMahon was hesitant at first—after all, the Hulkster was his #2 drawing card after the Dragon. Steamboat got word of Hogan’s idea, and overwhelmingly supported it. Still skeptical, McMahon nonetheless agreed.
To set up the turn, an impromptu non-title bout between Hogan & Steamboat and Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart occurred on the same Saturday Night’s Main Event as the #1 contender’s battle royal. During the match, Hogan began to show heelish tendencies for the first time. As Steamboat went to the top rope to deliver a crossbody, Hogan made a blind tag, pinning Jim Neidhart with a leg drop instead that left both Steamboat and the fans in attendance scratching their heads. Over the next few months on WWF television, Hogan cut promos berating not only the Hart Foundation, but Steamboat as well, voicing his disappointment at how the Dragon was letting the villainous Harts “pick on him”.
On October 4th, 1986, the fateful day finally arrived. The first match on the SNME broadcast saw Hogan get his chance at the WWF Title. After about five minutes of pounding, it looked to many like the Hulkster was about to finish off the tired Dynamite Kid, but out of desperation, the entire Hart Foundation broke up a pinfall attempt by Hogan, causing a disqualification that saved Dynamite’s championship. The Harts continued beating up Hogan for several minutes until Steamboat ran down to the ring to make the save to a gale of cheers. As Steamboat helped Hogan to his feet, the Hulkster shoved the Dragon away, and walked out on his own. In the final match of the night, Steamboat got his chance to wrest the belt from Dynamite Kid’s nefarious grasp. But this time, when it appeared the other members of the Hart Foundation would get involved toward the end of the match, Hogan ran down to make the save, preventing them from entering the ring, which allowed Steamboat to keep Dynamite down for a three-count, winning the WWF Championship for a second time.
After the match, Hogan led the audience in applause for Steamboat for several minutes, and held the new champion’s hand high in the air with the belt. But then, Hogan grabbed Steamboat and slammed him to the mat. The Hulkster glared down at the Dragon as the crowd gasped in shock. Hogan then grabbed the nearby championship belt, and as Steamboat got to his feet, hit the Dragon in the face with it. Hogan then draped the belt across Steamboat’s prone body and hit his signature leg drop on the Dragon. As the crowd looked on in shock, booing at the man they had previously cheered, Vince McMahon famously exclaimed from the announce table “How in the name of all that is good could this possibly happen?!”, as his commentary partner Jesse Ventura famously quipped, “It’s about time the Pukester finally saw the light!” Longtime Hogan nemesis Bobby “the Brain” Heenan was later added in as Hogan’s nefarious manager, and the newest member of the Heenan Family stable was born. The Steamboat-Hogan feud was on.
Unfortunately, Dynamite Kid had suffered severe injuries to his back from all the matches he’d had with Steamboat and Hogan over the previous months. The English grappler decided to take a leave of absence from the WWF, having his final match with the company a few weeks later in which he lost to Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper in less than a minute. After the match, he loudly berated his fellow Hart Foundation members (who had been taking more and more abuse from the former Champion over the weeks) for not coming to his aid in the match, and stormed away. Backstage, Gene Okerlund attempted to get an interview with Dynamite as he was leaving the arena. Dynamite famously shoved Okerlund down, grabbed the interviewer’s microphone, berated his Hart Foundation members, and uttered the now-infamous words “*Expletive* on the WWF! I quit!” before walking away. The Hart Foundation, however, would live on, as the story of one of the most colorful stables in WWF history was only just beginning.
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Saturday Night’s Main Event Results, 8/9/1986
#1 Contender’s Battle Royal: Hulk Hogan & Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat def. B. Brian Blair, Big John Studd, Corporal Kirchner, “Magnificent” Don Muraco, Dory Funk, George “the Animal” Steele, Greg Valentine, Hercules Hernandez, Hillbilly Jim, Jake “the Snake” Roberts, Jim Brunzell, Junkyard Dog, King Kong Bundy, King Tonga, Paul Orndorff, Roddy Piper, Terry Funk and Tito Santana (10:21)
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Randy “Macho Man” Savage def. Billy Jack Haynes (5:13)
The Iron Sheik def. Lanny Poffo (2:12)
The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques & Raymond) (w/ Bobby “the Brain” Heenan) def. Paul Roma & Jim Powers (4:01)
Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat & Hulk Hogan def. Bret Hart & Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart (w/ Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith & Jimmy Hart) (6:23)
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Saturday Night’s Main Event Results, 10/4/1986
WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan def. Dynamite Kid (c) (w/ Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart and Jimmy Hart) by disqualification (5:02)
Junkyard Dog def. Terry Funk (6:43)
Andre the Giant def. “Magnificent” Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) (1:46)
Wendi Richter def. Judy Martin (w/ Misty Blue Simms) (0:51)
WWF Championship: Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat (w/ Hulk Hogan) def. Dynamite Kid (c) (w/ Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart & Jimmy Hart) (8:55)
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[1] Rhodes also won the NWA Title for the third time at a Great American Bash show in 1986 IOTL, but it was on July 26th of that year. Also, the decision was reversed two weeks later due to Ole & Arn Anderson’s interference, and the title was returned to Flair (Rhodes’ reign is still recognized by the NWA, though). ITTL, there’s no false finish.
[2] Think of this as TTL’s version of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior facing off in the 1990 Royal Rumble, which is not going to happen ITTL.
[3] McMahon used this same tactic IOTL to decide who should win the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania X: when Bret Hart and Lex Luger ‘co-won’ the 1994 Royal Rumble match, their names were announced separately, and Hart got the most positive ovation. As such, he was booked to win the title at Wrestlemania X.
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And as the Steamboat-Dynamite feud comes to a close, the Steamboat-Hogan feud begins. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update—I’ve had it in the works for a pretty long time now, as it sets the stage for many, many updates to come. I want to thank you guys who have stayed with me for so long, and I appreciate all of you for sticking with me through this timeline's long hiatus.
Coming up, we venture back to the NWA, where Starrcade ’86 is about to begin…
Great to see it's back and thats a heel turn I have a feeling that's going to be up there in heel turns along with The Rockers breakup and possibly Andre's heel turn.
August-October 1986: Saturday Mornings and a New NWA Champion
Fall 1986: Saturday Mornings and the return of the Newsletter
1986 Fall Season of U.S. Network television programming (Saturday Morning) [1]
New shows in bold
Reruns in italics
ABC
8AM – Pound Puppies
8:30AM – The Care Bears
9AM – The Flintstone Kids
9:30AM – The Real Ghostbusters
10AM – Star Wars: Ewoks
10:30AM – Star Wars: Droids
11AM – The Bugs Bunny Show
12PM – ABC Weekend Special
12:30PM – The Littles
1PM – Local programming
CBS
8AM – The Berenstein Bears
8:30AM – The Wuzzles
9AM – Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies
10AM – Ricky Steamboat’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling
11AM – Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
11:30AM – Teen Wolf
12PM – Galaxy High School
12:30PM – CBS Storybreak
1PM – Local programming
NBC
8AM – Kissyfur
8:30AM – Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears
9AM – The Smurfs
10AM – It’s Punky Brewster
10:30AM – Alvin and the Chipmunks
11AM - Foofur
11:30AM – Lazer Tag Academy
12PM – Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
12:30PM – Kidd Video
1PM – NBC Sports
August 9, 1986
WWF
The latest SNME was taped on 8/5 … Hulk Hogan and Ricky Steamboat ‘co-won’ a battle royale to become the two top contenders to Dynamite Kid’s WWF Championship. The Hart Foundation did a run-in at the end of the match, prompting Jack Tunney to name Steamboat & Hogan co-winners. For someone who just expected the title to be handed back to Hogan within the next couple of months, this is interesting to me, to say the least.
Speaking of Hogan, sources say his ego has deflated a bit upon hearing how over Steamboat is with the crowd. He reportedly hasn’t been seen speaking to anyone but McMahon, Steamboat and Beefcake backstage, and is keeping to himself. No word yet on if this means anything significant.
NWA
Crockett’s final “Great American Bash” show drew larger-than-average gate receipts … Arn Anderson & Barry Windham won the NWA National Tag Titles from the Midnight Express when Anderson pinned Condrey after a spinebuster … The Rock n’ Roll Express retained the NWA World Tag Titles against Ivan & Nikita (Koloff), extending their long reign … Dusty Rhodes retained the NWA Heavyweight Title against Ric Flair after hitting an elbow drop from the top rope. The Horsemen tried to interfere, but Dusty fought them all off.
Mike Rotundo is in talks with Crockett to debut soon. Considering how Vince had them in a tag team in WWF, a Rotundo vs. Windham feud might be interesting.
September 13, 1986
WWF
Hogan is reportedly in talks with McMahon and Steamboat regarding the upcoming SNME show on 9/26 (to be aired on 10/4). The buzz backstage is that Hogan and Steamboat will each wrestle a match against Dynamite Kid on the show, with the WWF Championship on the line in each one (which probably isn’t good for Dynamite’s body, but hopefully they’re short matches). Early speculation is that Hogan will win the title, but Steamboat could also get a surprise win. Either way, expect the title to change hands.
NWA
Ric Flair won the NWA Championship from Dusty Rhodes for the third time at a house show on 9/6. Mike Rotundo made his NWA debut toward the end by doing a run-in on Rhodes while the referee was unconscious, allowing Flair to pin Rhodes. Expect Rotundo to join the Four Horsemen (or would that be Five Horsemen?) soon.
October 11, 1986
WWF
The Hulk Hogan heel turn came literally out of nowhere last week, and this writer believes it was done to near-perfection. You could hear the collective gasp throughout the crowd, and it was insane how quickly the people turned on Hogan. The camera even showed shots of kids in the audience crying. Methinks there’ll be a lot of disappointed Make-a-Wish kids in the coming weeks…
The WWF’s Saturday morning cartoon continues to draw good ratings with kids, and has been picked up by CBS for a third season.
Steamboat has reportedly made a list of the “most recognizable figures” by American children aged 6-12 (he’s apparently slightly higher than President Reagan, but lower than Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. Sounds about right). [2]
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[1] Continuing our look at what the kids of the mid-‘80s are watching on Saturday mornings, we see that the butterflies are starting to hit the TV schedules:
• On ABC, Pink Panther and Sons, Laff-a-Lympics, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians are all cancelled after one season, just as they were IOTL. The debuting Pound Puppies airs two-and-a-half hours earlier than OTL, back-to-back with fellow debut ‘toon Care Bears. Bugs Bunny moves to 11AM, as OTL, and airs for an extra half-hour. It also keeps its original name—IOTL, it was changed to The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Flintstone Kids and Real Ghostbusters are still exactly as OTL. Lastly, because the network aired the two shows back-to-back in the previous season’s lineup, both Star Wars cartoons score high enough in the ratings to carry on for a second season (IOTL, only Star Wars: Ewoks survived the chopping block).
• On CBS, Ricky Steamboat’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling remains a strong-rated show, and keeps its timeslot—IOTL, Rock ‘n’ Wrestling was inexplicably moved to the noon slot. Also, The Wuzzles was cancelled and reruns of the show moved to ABC; here, even though the show is still cancelled, its reruns remain on the Eye Network. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse premieres back-to-back with the Teen Wolf cartoon, with Pee-Wee airing first ITTL. Dungeons & Dragons is still cancelled, but unlike OTL, the show will air a finale (which was actually written up, and can be viewed in script form here). Lastly, Wildfire is never picked up by the network ITTL, and therefore won’t exist, much to the sadness of horse-loving little girls everywhere.
• On NBC, relatively little changes. Kissyfur, Foofur, and Lazer Tag Academy all debut at the same timeslots as OTL (and all are still just as horrible). The main difference is that the reruns of Spider-Man are retained and move up to the noon slot due to the extra hour of “filler” needed. The cartoon’s unexpectedly successful ratings will have very big implications, however, as NBC will contact Spider-Man producer Dennis Marks to create something new for the network involving superheroes. We’ll see how Marks responds to NBC’s demands in a future Saturday Mornings update…
[2] A survey like this was never done IOTL (to my knowledge), but it seems like something that could happen. Besides, Hogan was probably about at this level with kids IOTL, and I like making up fake statistics.
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And as the Dusty/Horsemen feud simmers some more in the NWA, the Hogan/Steamboat feud is just starting to come to a boil in WWF. Hope you all enjoyed this mini-update.
Still to come: Starrcade '86...
1986 Fall Season of U.S. Network television programming (Saturday Morning) [1]
New shows in bold
Reruns in italics
ABC
8AM – Pound Puppies
8:30AM – The Care Bears
9AM – The Flintstone Kids
9:30AM – The Real Ghostbusters
10AM – Star Wars: Ewoks
10:30AM – Star Wars: Droids
11AM – The Bugs Bunny Show
12PM – ABC Weekend Special
12:30PM – The Littles
1PM – Local programming
CBS
8AM – The Berenstein Bears
8:30AM – The Wuzzles
9AM – Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies
10AM – Ricky Steamboat’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling
11AM – Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
11:30AM – Teen Wolf
12PM – Galaxy High School
12:30PM – CBS Storybreak
1PM – Local programming
NBC
8AM – Kissyfur
8:30AM – Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears
9AM – The Smurfs
10AM – It’s Punky Brewster
10:30AM – Alvin and the Chipmunks
11AM - Foofur
11:30AM – Lazer Tag Academy
12PM – Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
12:30PM – Kidd Video
1PM – NBC Sports
August 9, 1986
WWF
The latest SNME was taped on 8/5 … Hulk Hogan and Ricky Steamboat ‘co-won’ a battle royale to become the two top contenders to Dynamite Kid’s WWF Championship. The Hart Foundation did a run-in at the end of the match, prompting Jack Tunney to name Steamboat & Hogan co-winners. For someone who just expected the title to be handed back to Hogan within the next couple of months, this is interesting to me, to say the least.
Speaking of Hogan, sources say his ego has deflated a bit upon hearing how over Steamboat is with the crowd. He reportedly hasn’t been seen speaking to anyone but McMahon, Steamboat and Beefcake backstage, and is keeping to himself. No word yet on if this means anything significant.
NWA
Crockett’s final “Great American Bash” show drew larger-than-average gate receipts … Arn Anderson & Barry Windham won the NWA National Tag Titles from the Midnight Express when Anderson pinned Condrey after a spinebuster … The Rock n’ Roll Express retained the NWA World Tag Titles against Ivan & Nikita (Koloff), extending their long reign … Dusty Rhodes retained the NWA Heavyweight Title against Ric Flair after hitting an elbow drop from the top rope. The Horsemen tried to interfere, but Dusty fought them all off.
Mike Rotundo is in talks with Crockett to debut soon. Considering how Vince had them in a tag team in WWF, a Rotundo vs. Windham feud might be interesting.
September 13, 1986
WWF
Hogan is reportedly in talks with McMahon and Steamboat regarding the upcoming SNME show on 9/26 (to be aired on 10/4). The buzz backstage is that Hogan and Steamboat will each wrestle a match against Dynamite Kid on the show, with the WWF Championship on the line in each one (which probably isn’t good for Dynamite’s body, but hopefully they’re short matches). Early speculation is that Hogan will win the title, but Steamboat could also get a surprise win. Either way, expect the title to change hands.
NWA
Ric Flair won the NWA Championship from Dusty Rhodes for the third time at a house show on 9/6. Mike Rotundo made his NWA debut toward the end by doing a run-in on Rhodes while the referee was unconscious, allowing Flair to pin Rhodes. Expect Rotundo to join the Four Horsemen (or would that be Five Horsemen?) soon.
October 11, 1986
WWF
The Hulk Hogan heel turn came literally out of nowhere last week, and this writer believes it was done to near-perfection. You could hear the collective gasp throughout the crowd, and it was insane how quickly the people turned on Hogan. The camera even showed shots of kids in the audience crying. Methinks there’ll be a lot of disappointed Make-a-Wish kids in the coming weeks…
The WWF’s Saturday morning cartoon continues to draw good ratings with kids, and has been picked up by CBS for a third season.
Steamboat has reportedly made a list of the “most recognizable figures” by American children aged 6-12 (he’s apparently slightly higher than President Reagan, but lower than Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. Sounds about right). [2]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Continuing our look at what the kids of the mid-‘80s are watching on Saturday mornings, we see that the butterflies are starting to hit the TV schedules:
• On ABC, Pink Panther and Sons, Laff-a-Lympics, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians are all cancelled after one season, just as they were IOTL. The debuting Pound Puppies airs two-and-a-half hours earlier than OTL, back-to-back with fellow debut ‘toon Care Bears. Bugs Bunny moves to 11AM, as OTL, and airs for an extra half-hour. It also keeps its original name—IOTL, it was changed to The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Flintstone Kids and Real Ghostbusters are still exactly as OTL. Lastly, because the network aired the two shows back-to-back in the previous season’s lineup, both Star Wars cartoons score high enough in the ratings to carry on for a second season (IOTL, only Star Wars: Ewoks survived the chopping block).
• On CBS, Ricky Steamboat’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling remains a strong-rated show, and keeps its timeslot—IOTL, Rock ‘n’ Wrestling was inexplicably moved to the noon slot. Also, The Wuzzles was cancelled and reruns of the show moved to ABC; here, even though the show is still cancelled, its reruns remain on the Eye Network. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse premieres back-to-back with the Teen Wolf cartoon, with Pee-Wee airing first ITTL. Dungeons & Dragons is still cancelled, but unlike OTL, the show will air a finale (which was actually written up, and can be viewed in script form here). Lastly, Wildfire is never picked up by the network ITTL, and therefore won’t exist, much to the sadness of horse-loving little girls everywhere.
• On NBC, relatively little changes. Kissyfur, Foofur, and Lazer Tag Academy all debut at the same timeslots as OTL (and all are still just as horrible). The main difference is that the reruns of Spider-Man are retained and move up to the noon slot due to the extra hour of “filler” needed. The cartoon’s unexpectedly successful ratings will have very big implications, however, as NBC will contact Spider-Man producer Dennis Marks to create something new for the network involving superheroes. We’ll see how Marks responds to NBC’s demands in a future Saturday Mornings update…
[2] A survey like this was never done IOTL (to my knowledge), but it seems like something that could happen. Besides, Hogan was probably about at this level with kids IOTL, and I like making up fake statistics.
---
And as the Dusty/Horsemen feud simmers some more in the NWA, the Hogan/Steamboat feud is just starting to come to a boil in WWF. Hope you all enjoyed this mini-update.
Still to come: Starrcade '86...
For some reason I can picture this being said by Jerry Lawler during the Monday Night Wars
November 1986: Starrcade '86
Starrcade 1986: Night of the Skywalkers
November 27, 1986
Starrcade 1986: Night of the Skywalkers airs on closed-circuit television, emanating from The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. Seemingly having “learned his lesson” from last year’s Starrcade, Jim Crockett only books a few ”gimmick” matches on the card, none of which involves a steel cage. [1] Among the card’s gimmick matches include an Indian Strap match between babyface Wahoo McDaniel and young heel Rick Rude. The card’s tagline comes from a “Skywalkers” Match between the Road Warriors and the Koloffs [2], which takes place atop a scaffolding above the ring. Ivan Koloff suffers a hip injury when falling from the scaffold, landing in an awkward way on his side; he has to be carried from the ring. [3] Mike Rotundo also makes his NWA in-ring debut at the show, defeating newly-turned babyface Jimmy Garvin.
The NWA World Tag Team Titles and the NWA United States Tag Team Titles are also unofficially “united” at the show, in a match where U.S. Tag Champions Arn Anderson & Barry Windham defeat World Tag Team Champions the Rock n’ Roll Express, ending their nearly year-long reign. Anderson & Windham will carry both sets of title belts, but will continue to defend them as one set. The main event sees Ric Flair defend the NWA Heavyweight Championship against, once again, his long-time rival Dusty Rhodes. The Horsemen are banned from ringside, but even so, Flair manages to pin Dusty and retain the title after hitting Dusty with the championship belt while the referee’s back is turned.
One of the major news stories before the pay-per-view involves Magnum T.A. The young superstar is originally scheduled to face Tully Blanchard for the United States Championship [4], but approximately a month before the show, Magnum is involved in a car accident which breaks his arm and leaves him temporarily unable to compete. In a storyline that is widely criticized by wrestling critics, the Four Horsemen mock Magnum for not being “man enough” to step into the ring with Blanchard. Ron Garvin, who had been inching toward a babyface turn for several weeks, completed the turn after challenging Blanchard for the U.S. Title at Starrcade. After wrestling for a little over 20 minutes at the show, Garvin manages to take the title from Blanchard.
The show brings in about 155,000 buyrates, a slight decrease from last year’s show. Regardless, the card is generally well-received by wrestling critics. While most dirt sheets frown upon the “repetitive” main event of Flair vs. Rhodes, the undercard is praised for its showcase of young talent and high-quality matches. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter praises both the Garvin-Blanchard match and the Skywalkers Match, but derides the Flair-Rhodes main event, saying it is “nothing we haven’t seen 500 times before” and “Dusty should stay out of the ring for the foreseeable future”.
Full Starrcade 1986: Night of the Skywalkers Card
Tim Horner & Nelson Royal def. Don & Ricky Kernodle (4:52)
Hector Guerrero & Baron Von Raschke def. Shaska Whatley & The Barbarian (7:04)
Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel def. Rick Rude (9:14)
NWA Central States Championship: Sam Houston (C) def. Bill Dundee by DQ (9:00)
Manny Fernandez def. Paul Jones (2:04)
NWA World Tag Team Championships / NWA United States Tag Team Championships: Arn Anderson & Barry Windham def. The Rock n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) (12:21)
Mike Rotundo def. Jimmy Garvin (w/ Precious) (10:24)
NWA United States Championship: Ron Garvin (w/ Precious) def. Tully Blanchard (C) (20:04)
The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton) (w/ Jim Cornette) def. The Kansas Jayhawks (Dutch Mantel & Bobby Jaggers) (7:14)
Big Bubba Rogers def. Brad Armstrong (9:15)
Skywalkers Match: The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) (w/ Paul Ellering) def. Ivan & Nikita Koloff (25:14)
NWA Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair (C) def. Dusty Rhodes (20:23)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] IOTL, Starrcade ’86 was packed with gimmick matches, two of which involved a steel cage: the Rock n’ Roll Express beat the Andersons inside a cage to retain the Tag Titles, and a Paul Jones/Jimmy Valiant Hair vs. Hair match saw Manny Fernandez locked inside a cage to prevent his interference in the match.
[2] The Road Warriors faced the Midnight Express IOTL instead. By this time, Nikita Koloff had also turned babyface in honor of Magnum T.A.; because Magnum’s career isn’t cut short, he remains a hated heel.
[3] Jim Cornette suffered a similar injury after OTL’s version of this match: he fell from the underside of the scaffold, and Big Bubba Rogers (whom you might know by the name he’d later use in the WWF, The Big Boss Man) failed to catch him in time. Cornette injured his knee, and was out of action for a while. Interestingly, Cornette is legitimately afraid of heights: he later said in an interview that performing in front of hundreds of fans was more important than his own fears. True dedication to the sport, methinks.
[4] IOTL, Magnum was scheduled to face Ric Flair for the NWA Title before his car accident occurred; you can chalk up the different booking to butterflies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that wraps up our coverage of the NWA in 1986. This TL's Starrcade is fairly similar to ours, but the butterflies will be flapping on the NWA quite soon...
Still to come, our end-of-year coverage of the wrestling world (and the world in general).
November 27, 1986
Starrcade 1986: Night of the Skywalkers airs on closed-circuit television, emanating from The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. Seemingly having “learned his lesson” from last year’s Starrcade, Jim Crockett only books a few ”gimmick” matches on the card, none of which involves a steel cage. [1] Among the card’s gimmick matches include an Indian Strap match between babyface Wahoo McDaniel and young heel Rick Rude. The card’s tagline comes from a “Skywalkers” Match between the Road Warriors and the Koloffs [2], which takes place atop a scaffolding above the ring. Ivan Koloff suffers a hip injury when falling from the scaffold, landing in an awkward way on his side; he has to be carried from the ring. [3] Mike Rotundo also makes his NWA in-ring debut at the show, defeating newly-turned babyface Jimmy Garvin.
The NWA World Tag Team Titles and the NWA United States Tag Team Titles are also unofficially “united” at the show, in a match where U.S. Tag Champions Arn Anderson & Barry Windham defeat World Tag Team Champions the Rock n’ Roll Express, ending their nearly year-long reign. Anderson & Windham will carry both sets of title belts, but will continue to defend them as one set. The main event sees Ric Flair defend the NWA Heavyweight Championship against, once again, his long-time rival Dusty Rhodes. The Horsemen are banned from ringside, but even so, Flair manages to pin Dusty and retain the title after hitting Dusty with the championship belt while the referee’s back is turned.
One of the major news stories before the pay-per-view involves Magnum T.A. The young superstar is originally scheduled to face Tully Blanchard for the United States Championship [4], but approximately a month before the show, Magnum is involved in a car accident which breaks his arm and leaves him temporarily unable to compete. In a storyline that is widely criticized by wrestling critics, the Four Horsemen mock Magnum for not being “man enough” to step into the ring with Blanchard. Ron Garvin, who had been inching toward a babyface turn for several weeks, completed the turn after challenging Blanchard for the U.S. Title at Starrcade. After wrestling for a little over 20 minutes at the show, Garvin manages to take the title from Blanchard.
The show brings in about 155,000 buyrates, a slight decrease from last year’s show. Regardless, the card is generally well-received by wrestling critics. While most dirt sheets frown upon the “repetitive” main event of Flair vs. Rhodes, the undercard is praised for its showcase of young talent and high-quality matches. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter praises both the Garvin-Blanchard match and the Skywalkers Match, but derides the Flair-Rhodes main event, saying it is “nothing we haven’t seen 500 times before” and “Dusty should stay out of the ring for the foreseeable future”.
Full Starrcade 1986: Night of the Skywalkers Card
Tim Horner & Nelson Royal def. Don & Ricky Kernodle (4:52)
Hector Guerrero & Baron Von Raschke def. Shaska Whatley & The Barbarian (7:04)
Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel def. Rick Rude (9:14)
NWA Central States Championship: Sam Houston (C) def. Bill Dundee by DQ (9:00)
Manny Fernandez def. Paul Jones (2:04)
NWA World Tag Team Championships / NWA United States Tag Team Championships: Arn Anderson & Barry Windham def. The Rock n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) (12:21)
Mike Rotundo def. Jimmy Garvin (w/ Precious) (10:24)
NWA United States Championship: Ron Garvin (w/ Precious) def. Tully Blanchard (C) (20:04)
The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton) (w/ Jim Cornette) def. The Kansas Jayhawks (Dutch Mantel & Bobby Jaggers) (7:14)
Big Bubba Rogers def. Brad Armstrong (9:15)
Skywalkers Match: The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) (w/ Paul Ellering) def. Ivan & Nikita Koloff (25:14)
NWA Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair (C) def. Dusty Rhodes (20:23)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] IOTL, Starrcade ’86 was packed with gimmick matches, two of which involved a steel cage: the Rock n’ Roll Express beat the Andersons inside a cage to retain the Tag Titles, and a Paul Jones/Jimmy Valiant Hair vs. Hair match saw Manny Fernandez locked inside a cage to prevent his interference in the match.
[2] The Road Warriors faced the Midnight Express IOTL instead. By this time, Nikita Koloff had also turned babyface in honor of Magnum T.A.; because Magnum’s career isn’t cut short, he remains a hated heel.
[3] Jim Cornette suffered a similar injury after OTL’s version of this match: he fell from the underside of the scaffold, and Big Bubba Rogers (whom you might know by the name he’d later use in the WWF, The Big Boss Man) failed to catch him in time. Cornette injured his knee, and was out of action for a while. Interestingly, Cornette is legitimately afraid of heights: he later said in an interview that performing in front of hundreds of fans was more important than his own fears. True dedication to the sport, methinks.
[4] IOTL, Magnum was scheduled to face Ric Flair for the NWA Title before his car accident occurred; you can chalk up the different booking to butterflies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that wraps up our coverage of the NWA in 1986. This TL's Starrcade is fairly similar to ours, but the butterflies will be flapping on the NWA quite soon...
Still to come, our end-of-year coverage of the wrestling world (and the world in general).
1986 in Music: Billboard Top 50 Songs of the Year
1986 in music: The Billboard Year-End Chart
December 1, 1986
Top 50 Billboard Songs of 1986 [1]
Rank, Song, Artist, Peak Position
1. “Say You, Say Me”, Lionel Richie, #1 [2]
2. “On My Own”, Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald, #1
3. “I Miss You”, Klymaxx, #5 [3]
4. “Broken Wings”, Mr. Mister, #1
5. “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)”, Billy Ocean, #1
6. “That’s What Friends are For”, Dionne Warwick & Friends, #1 [4]
7. “Take My Breath Away”, Berlin, #1
8. “West End Girls”, The Pet Shop Boys, #2 [5]
9. “Sara”, Starship, #1
10. “Burning Heart”, Survivor, #2
11. “Kiss”, Prince, #1
12. “Kyrie”, Mr. Mister, #1
13. “Venus”, Bananarama, #1
14. “How Will I Know”, Whitney Houston, #1
15. “Addicted to Love”, Robert Palmer, #1
16. “Glory of Love”, Peter Cetera, #1
17. “Your Love”, The Outfield, #5
18. “True Colors”, Cyndi Lauper, #1
19. “Amanda”, Boston, #1
20. “The Sweetest Taboo”, Sade, #5
21. “Rock Me Amadeus”, Falco, #1
22. “Hip to Be Square”, Huey Lewis & the News, #1 [6]
23. “Greatest Love of All”, Whitney Houston, #1
24. “Higher Love”, Steve Winwood, #1
25. “These Dreams”, Heart, #1
26. “You Give Love a Bad Name”, Bon Jovi, #1
27. “Sledgehammer”, Peter Gabriel, #1
28. “Papa Don’t Preach”, Madonna, #1
29. “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Going”, Billy Ocean, #1 [7]
30. “Manic Monday”, The Bangles, #2
31. “Living in America”, James Brown, #3
32. “Live to Tell”, Madonna, #2 [8]
33. “Why Can’t This Be Love”, Van Halen, #1 [9]
34. “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”, John Cougar Mellencamp, #1 [10]
35. “What You Need”, INXS, #3
36. “Take Me Home”, Phil Collins, #4
37. “Dancing on the Ceiling”, Lionel Richie, #2
38. “Holding Back the Years”, Simply Red, #2 [11]
39. “Party All the Time”, Eddie Murphy, #2 [12]
40. “Danger Zone”, Kenny Loggins, #3
41. “What Have You Done for Me Lately”, Janet Jackson, #2 [13]
42. “Human”, The Human League, #2 [14]
43. “Invisible Touch”, Genesis, #1
44. “I Can’t Wait”, Nu Shooz, #6
45. “Crush on You”, The Jets, #3
46. “No One is to Blame”, Howard Jones, #4
47. “Friends and Lovers”, Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson, #3
48. “Throwing It All Away”, Genesis, #2
49. “Mad About You”, Belinda Carlisle, #2
50. “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”, Glass Tiger feat. Bryan Adams, #2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Inspired by my participation in both Andrew T's Dirty Laundry and this thread, I give you a little bonus. Remember when the WWF wrestlers’ version of “Land of 1,000 Dances” hit #40 back in November last year? Well, that little butterfly’s wings got to flapping, and now we can see the results.
[2] This was the #2 song of 1986 IOTL; here, it’s the only song that spends four weeks at the top of the charts, so it’s a given to be the #1 song of the year.
[3] Here’s where truth really is stranger than fiction. This song spent an insane amount of time on the Hot 100, and despite only reaching #5 (IOTL and ITTL), did really finish at #3 on the Year-End chart.
[4] This was the #1 song of ’86 IOTL. But with “When the Going Gets Tough” and “How Will I Know” stealing some of its thunder as well as time at the top, it does a little worse.
[5] This song went to #1 IOTL; here, it charts a bit later and has to contend with Patti LaBelle, Madonna and Whitney Houston, and only reaches #2. Still, it racks up a lot of weeks in the Top 10, finishing strong for the Year-end chart.
[6] IOTL, “Hip to Be Square” only got to #3; here, it’s the lead single from Fore! instead of “Stuck with You”, and reaches #1. “Stuck with You” is the second release, and does slightly worse.
[7] As you may recall from Post #53, this song is given a little extra boost after appearing on a high-rated Saturday Night’s Main Event, causing it to reach #1 for one week.
[8] Reached #1 IOTL. Here, it’s held back by a longer-running #1 from Whitney Houston and a slightly more successful “On My Own”.
[9] The Sammy Hagar-fronted Van Halen only got to #3 with this one (“Van Hagar’s” most successful song). Here, it has a little less competition from other, more mellow rock songs, and It Goes To #1.
[10] Probably the most surprising #1 song of 1986 ITTL, it spends one week at the top (March 29th, 1986), sandwiched between “These Dreams” and “Rock Me Amadeus”.
[11] Another OTL-#1 that is an unfortunate casualty of TTL’s butterflies. Charting later than it did IOTL puts it in contention with “Venus” and “Take My Breath Away”. Guess who wins out.
[12] Because “Land of 1,000 Dances” sucks some of the audience for novelty hits away from Eddie Murphy, this song fares a little worse ITTL despite peaking at the same spot. You’re welcome.
[13] Janet Jackson’s “When I Think of You” was a #1 hit (her first one) in late 1986; here, it’s released a bit later, and thus doesn’t appear on the ’86 Year-End.
[14] Doesn’t make it to #1 due to running into the brick wall that is a more successful “Amanda”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figured I’d get this out there before the wrestling end-of-year stuff. Besides, music charts are an area I’ve been planning to explore ITTL, and due to my insanely unhealthy obsession with all things popular music, this post was almost certain to occur sooner rather than later.
Coming next: the Wrestling Observer Newsletter year-end awards.
December 1, 1986
Top 50 Billboard Songs of 1986 [1]
Rank, Song, Artist, Peak Position
1. “Say You, Say Me”, Lionel Richie, #1 [2]
2. “On My Own”, Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald, #1
3. “I Miss You”, Klymaxx, #5 [3]
4. “Broken Wings”, Mr. Mister, #1
5. “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)”, Billy Ocean, #1
6. “That’s What Friends are For”, Dionne Warwick & Friends, #1 [4]
7. “Take My Breath Away”, Berlin, #1
8. “West End Girls”, The Pet Shop Boys, #2 [5]
9. “Sara”, Starship, #1
10. “Burning Heart”, Survivor, #2
11. “Kiss”, Prince, #1
12. “Kyrie”, Mr. Mister, #1
13. “Venus”, Bananarama, #1
14. “How Will I Know”, Whitney Houston, #1
15. “Addicted to Love”, Robert Palmer, #1
16. “Glory of Love”, Peter Cetera, #1
17. “Your Love”, The Outfield, #5
18. “True Colors”, Cyndi Lauper, #1
19. “Amanda”, Boston, #1
20. “The Sweetest Taboo”, Sade, #5
21. “Rock Me Amadeus”, Falco, #1
22. “Hip to Be Square”, Huey Lewis & the News, #1 [6]
23. “Greatest Love of All”, Whitney Houston, #1
24. “Higher Love”, Steve Winwood, #1
25. “These Dreams”, Heart, #1
26. “You Give Love a Bad Name”, Bon Jovi, #1
27. “Sledgehammer”, Peter Gabriel, #1
28. “Papa Don’t Preach”, Madonna, #1
29. “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Going”, Billy Ocean, #1 [7]
30. “Manic Monday”, The Bangles, #2
31. “Living in America”, James Brown, #3
32. “Live to Tell”, Madonna, #2 [8]
33. “Why Can’t This Be Love”, Van Halen, #1 [9]
34. “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”, John Cougar Mellencamp, #1 [10]
35. “What You Need”, INXS, #3
36. “Take Me Home”, Phil Collins, #4
37. “Dancing on the Ceiling”, Lionel Richie, #2
38. “Holding Back the Years”, Simply Red, #2 [11]
39. “Party All the Time”, Eddie Murphy, #2 [12]
40. “Danger Zone”, Kenny Loggins, #3
41. “What Have You Done for Me Lately”, Janet Jackson, #2 [13]
42. “Human”, The Human League, #2 [14]
43. “Invisible Touch”, Genesis, #1
44. “I Can’t Wait”, Nu Shooz, #6
45. “Crush on You”, The Jets, #3
46. “No One is to Blame”, Howard Jones, #4
47. “Friends and Lovers”, Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson, #3
48. “Throwing It All Away”, Genesis, #2
49. “Mad About You”, Belinda Carlisle, #2
50. “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”, Glass Tiger feat. Bryan Adams, #2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Inspired by my participation in both Andrew T's Dirty Laundry and this thread, I give you a little bonus. Remember when the WWF wrestlers’ version of “Land of 1,000 Dances” hit #40 back in November last year? Well, that little butterfly’s wings got to flapping, and now we can see the results.
[2] This was the #2 song of 1986 IOTL; here, it’s the only song that spends four weeks at the top of the charts, so it’s a given to be the #1 song of the year.
[3] Here’s where truth really is stranger than fiction. This song spent an insane amount of time on the Hot 100, and despite only reaching #5 (IOTL and ITTL), did really finish at #3 on the Year-End chart.
[4] This was the #1 song of ’86 IOTL. But with “When the Going Gets Tough” and “How Will I Know” stealing some of its thunder as well as time at the top, it does a little worse.
[5] This song went to #1 IOTL; here, it charts a bit later and has to contend with Patti LaBelle, Madonna and Whitney Houston, and only reaches #2. Still, it racks up a lot of weeks in the Top 10, finishing strong for the Year-end chart.
[6] IOTL, “Hip to Be Square” only got to #3; here, it’s the lead single from Fore! instead of “Stuck with You”, and reaches #1. “Stuck with You” is the second release, and does slightly worse.
[7] As you may recall from Post #53, this song is given a little extra boost after appearing on a high-rated Saturday Night’s Main Event, causing it to reach #1 for one week.
[8] Reached #1 IOTL. Here, it’s held back by a longer-running #1 from Whitney Houston and a slightly more successful “On My Own”.
[9] The Sammy Hagar-fronted Van Halen only got to #3 with this one (“Van Hagar’s” most successful song). Here, it has a little less competition from other, more mellow rock songs, and It Goes To #1.
[10] Probably the most surprising #1 song of 1986 ITTL, it spends one week at the top (March 29th, 1986), sandwiched between “These Dreams” and “Rock Me Amadeus”.
[11] Another OTL-#1 that is an unfortunate casualty of TTL’s butterflies. Charting later than it did IOTL puts it in contention with “Venus” and “Take My Breath Away”. Guess who wins out.
[12] Because “Land of 1,000 Dances” sucks some of the audience for novelty hits away from Eddie Murphy, this song fares a little worse ITTL despite peaking at the same spot. You’re welcome.
[13] Janet Jackson’s “When I Think of You” was a #1 hit (her first one) in late 1986; here, it’s released a bit later, and thus doesn’t appear on the ’86 Year-End.
[14] Doesn’t make it to #1 due to running into the brick wall that is a more successful “Amanda”.
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Figured I’d get this out there before the wrestling end-of-year stuff. Besides, music charts are an area I’ve been planning to explore ITTL, and due to my insanely unhealthy obsession with all things popular music, this post was almost certain to occur sooner rather than later.
Coming next: the Wrestling Observer Newsletter year-end awards.
Good updates.
Try to update more frequently, if possible.
With Hogan a heel, he is now free to use the illegal moves he did on heel opponents IOTL (Jesse Ventura always pointed this out when Hogan used those moves OTL).
Methinks Hogan will enjoy being a heel.
I wonder how Ted DiBiase will play in TTL.
Try to update more frequently, if possible.
With Hogan a heel, he is now free to use the illegal moves he did on heel opponents IOTL (Jesse Ventura always pointed this out when Hogan used those moves OTL).
Methinks Hogan will enjoy being a heel.
I wonder how Ted DiBiase will play in TTL.
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Okay, so, quick question:
is the fact that this section on TTL's "Hands Across America" wiki page only contains the Doonesbury reference a result of it not having any other references yet or a result of butterflies?
Part of me is thinking you butterflied away The Simpsons...
is the fact that this section on TTL's "Hands Across America" wiki page only contains the Doonesbury reference a result of it not having any other references yet or a result of butterflies?
Part of me is thinking you butterflied away The Simpsons...
I try to update as quickly as I can, and the next few updates will probably come fairly quickly. Sometimes, my real life situations take preference, but I assure you, I'll always come back to this.
The WWF are going to milk heel Hogan for all he's worth, so don't you worry about that.
As for Mr. DiBiase, all I can say is: keep reading!
The former reason is correct. Doonesbury was around in 1986, but The Simpsons was not, therefore I omitted the would-be mentions of the latter because it could have been spoiler-ish. Rest assured that The Simpsons is probably still on track to exist ITTL.
Woo! It's back, and with music.
I thought this was butterflied upwards, but no, "I Can't Wait" peaked at #3 IOTL, so it's actually slightly worse here. Funny, I've always thought of Nu Shooz as a one-hit wonder band for "Point of No Return" -- but that's actually only their second-biggest hit. Go figure.
And here's another reason why I love these sorts of lists; I've always liked "Throwing It All Away," but for some reason I always thought it was a deep track off of the Invisible Touch album. Turns out it was the second-biggest single off of one of the best-selling albums of the year.
Oh, do I love Belinda Carlisle.
Another little butterfly: Bryan Adams was not given a "featuring" credit for his backing vocals IOTL.
I thought this was butterflied upwards, but no, "I Can't Wait" peaked at #3 IOTL, so it's actually slightly worse here. Funny, I've always thought of Nu Shooz as a one-hit wonder band for "Point of No Return" -- but that's actually only their second-biggest hit. Go figure.
And here's another reason why I love these sorts of lists; I've always liked "Throwing It All Away," but for some reason I always thought it was a deep track off of the Invisible Touch album. Turns out it was the second-biggest single off of one of the best-selling albums of the year.
Oh, do I love Belinda Carlisle.
Another little butterfly: Bryan Adams was not given a "featuring" credit for his backing vocals IOTL.
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