What If Wednesday: Survivor Series 1985

Hogan vs. Piper
Photo courtesy: WWE 

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Doing a little fantasy booking from my childhood today and looking back at 1985, the year Wrestlemania made its debut.  Of course we all know two years later, Vince McMahon introduced the world to his second pay per view idea, Survivor Series.  Since it's the season for Survivor Series, I figured I'd share some thoughts on how I would have put together the first event, based on the WWF roster in the fall of 1985.

I looked at house show results in late October and November 1985 on the History of WWE website. Interesting notes: King Tonga (Haku/Meng) and Dino Bravo teamed up briefly as baby faces, that's why they're on the British Bulldogs team.  I noticed the heel tag team division was quite lacking that year, as you'll see too.  Wendi Richter lost the women's title three days before Thanksgiving, the night this event would have been held, and left the company.  That's why she's not a part of the show.

Hulk Hogan, Captain                       vs.              Roddy Piper, Captain 

Paul Orndorff                                                       Bob Orton

Ricky Steamboat                                                  Don Muraco

Bruno Sammartino                                               Adrian Adonis

Tony Atlas                                                            Hercules

Andre the Giant, Captain                  vs.              Big John Studd, Captain

Hillbilly Jim                                                          King Kong Bundy

Tito Santana                                                          Randy Savage

Junkyard Dog                                                        Terry Funk

George Steele                                                        Jesse Ventura

The British Bulldogs, Captains         vs.             Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake, Captains

Uncle Elmer & Cousin Junior                              The Hart Foundation

The Killer Bees                                                    The Moondogs

Mike Rotundo & Danny Spivey                           Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

King Tonga & Dino Bravo                                   Mr. X & The Gladiator

Velvet McIntyre, Captain               vs.               The Fabulous Moolah, Captain

Linda Gonzalez                                                   Donna Christanello

Susan Starr                                                          Leilani Kai

Dawn Marie                                                        Judy Martin

Jean Kirkland                                                      Mad Maxine

Boo: Bark at the Moon

The Moondogs
Rex & Spot
Photo courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

By the time I started really watching wrestling in 1984, the Moondogs had become nothing more than enhancement talent, but these two mangy men had quite a reputation in the early 80's.  Moondog Rex and Moondog King won the tag team titles in 1981.  During their reign, King had to leave the company over visa issues and was replaced by Moondog Spot.

The Moondogs were a tough team, with shaggy hair and shredded jeans.  Lead by then bad guy manager, Captain Lou Albano, they carried giant bones to the ring and didn't hesitate to use them on opponents when the opportunity arose.  In the early days of their gimmick, their bite was worse than their bark.

Like I mentioned at the start of this post, most of my memories of Rex and Spot were putting over other guys.  I remember a young Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda beating the Dogs on their quest for the WWF tag team gold.

Moondog Rex as Smash

The Moondogs eventually split and Rex was actually an original member of Demolition.  Randy Colley played the role of Smash, but legend has it that his face paint wasn't quite good enough and fans chanted "Moondog!" when they saw him.  Add that to the fact that he had contract issues with the company and he was soon out and replaced by Barry Darsow.

Moondog Spot would head south and work in the USWA where he was paired with new dogs, including Spike and Cujo.  They were a force to be reckon with under the management of Richard Lee.   The vicious dogs feuded with crowd favorites like Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Lawler.

The Moondogs with Capt. Lou

Spot, who was played by Larry Latham, died in the ring back in 2003 after suffering a heart attack.  He was 51 years old.

Through the years other members like Splat, Max, and Mange were added to the mix.  There's no denying these guys were some of the most brutal during their time in wrestling.