Bad 1980s Wrestling Moments

Many wrestling fans are nostalgic for the 1980s, a period that saw WWE at the forefront of a tremendous boom for the industry. Considering highlights like the birth of WrestleMania, the Flair/Steamboat trilogy, and Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask reinventing junior heavyweight wrestling, there’s a lot to look back on fondly. Of course, the decade has its share of bad moments as well, like Roddy Piper in blackface and Zeus from No Holds Barred becoming a kayfabe character.

But there are also some moments that fans don’t talk about nearly as much, including poor booking decisions, goofy angles, and abysmal matches. Let’s take a look at 10 of pro wrestling’s lesser-known lowlights of the decade.

UPDATE: 2024/04/30 11:30 EST BY BENJAMIN VIEIRA

Professional wrestling has created some truly spectacular and excellent moments. There have been phenomenal segments that combine an incredible amount of emotion, action, and comedy depending on the scenario. However, not everything in professional wrestling should be remembered in such high regard. While the 1980s did have great moments, there were some that were simply bad and are best left under the rug. Every era is full of forgettable and bad moments, but let’s take a look at some from the 1980s.

The Wrestling Classic Ends In A Countout

It Was A Very Disappointing Finish

• The Wrestling Classic was WWE’s first PLE.
• The showhosted a 16-man tournament.
• The finals were Randy Savage vs Junkyard Dog.

Technically, WWE’s first-ever PLE in terms of what PLE actually is, The Wrestling Classic went down about seven months after WrestleMania and consisted of an unwieldy 16-man tournament and non-tournament matches. The tournament itself has some highlights, but the nadir of the show is arguably the main event. The final round came down to WWE newcomer “Macho Man” Randy Savage and underrated fan-favorite Junkyard Dog, which ended with JYD winning by countout. Not only was it a disappointing finish to the tournament, but Savage winning would have made more sense given he was en route to becoming Intercontinental Champion.

Jake Roberts Chases Andre The Giant With A Snake

He Gave Andre A Kayfabe Heart Attack

• Roberts was a babyface during this feud.
• They battled at WrestleMania 5.
• Their match ended in a DQ.

The fall of 1987 saw Jake “The Snake” Roberts enter a feud with Andre The Giant after the ostensible babyface Roberts terrorized the villainous Andre with his snake, giving the Giant a kayfabe heart attack. Additional snake-based antagonism continued in the months that followed, setting up a big showdown at WrestleMania 5. Unfortunately, this was in 1989 Andre’s abilities were severely limited in the last few years of his life, and the excruciating affair ended with Andre drawing a DQ for attacking the referee. In the post-match Roberts was able to get some degree of retribution (?) by chasing Andre The Giant off with his snake yet again.

One Of The Worst Dusty Finishes

It Made No Sense

• The Dusty Finish was created by Eddie Graham.
• It could often infuriate audiences.
• The match ended because Dusty was bleeding.

Innovated by Florida territory promoter Eddie Graham and made famous by Dusty Rhodes, the “Dusty Finish” was a match ending that appeared to be a triumphant title win for the hero, only for the decision to be reversed on some technicality. At its best, it was a great way to keep an audience invested in the chase, but at its worst it was an infuriating act of withholding, like at Starrcade ‘84.

The main event of the show had Dusty Rhodes challenging Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship, with victory eluding Dusty yet again. This instance, however, was particularly egregious, as guest referee and boxing legend Joe Frazier stopped the match prematurely because Dusty was bleeding too much.

Ivan Koloff Has One Arm Tied Behind His Back

It Was A Bad Match

• Nikita Koloff was a former WWE Champion.
• He faced Paul Jones at Clash of the Champions 4.
• The match lasted eight minutes.

While The Russians — Nikita Koloff and his kayfabe uncle, former WWE Champion Ivan Koloff — were famously heels in 1980s NWA, by 1986 they were babyfaces battling manager Paul Jones’ tag team, The Russian Assassins. However, Nikita Koloff ended up stepping away from wrestling, leaving Ivan Koloff to do the heavy lifting. This resulted in a forgotten stinker of a match at Clash of the Champions 4 in which Ivan Koloff took Paul Jones in a match where Koloff had one of his arms tied behind his back. While it sounds like an okay throwaway match to advance a storyline, for some reason this lasted more than eight minutes.

The New Breed Introduced Their Robot Manager

It Looked Cheap And Silly

• The New Breed consisted of Chris Champion and Sean Royal.
• They were presented as being time travelers from 2002.
• XTC-1 had a pre-recorded promo.

Not to be confused with the less-than-stellar faction in WWE’s ECW revival, NWA’s New Breed was the heel tag team of Chris Champion and Sean Royal, who purported to be time travelers from the year 2002, a future where Dusty Rhodes was President of the United States. As part of their goofy gimmick, they introduced a manager called XTC-1, a very small robot with sunglasses. XTC-1 was a modified version of those robots that were also tape decks — a Tomy Hearoid in this case — a fact that became even more obvious when they had to push the play button so she could cut a pre-recorded promo.

Greg Gagne Trains With Sgt. Slaughter

It Was A Laughably Bad Segment

• Greg Gagne had success as a tag team wrestler.
• He competed in the AWA.
• He adopted a Rambo gimmick.

Disappointing second-generation stars have been around pretty much since wrestling began, with one notable misfire being Greg Gagne, who shone as a tag team specialist in his father Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association but faltered as a singles star. With a look not befitting the average 1980s wrestler, the younger Gagne was taken under the wing of Sgt. Slaughter, who subjected him to goofy military training segments.The result? Greg Gagne adopted a Rambo-themed gimmick, which only served to make him all the more laughable.

Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T At WrestleMania 2

It Was A Continuation Of Their Feud From WrestleMania 1

• Mr. T and Roddy Piper had been on opposite teams at WrestleMania 1.
• They battled each other in a boxing match.
• Piper lost via DQ.

The 1980s wrestling boom saw wrestling and the wider pop culture collide, with The A-Team star Mr. T venturing into the squared circle to team with Hulk Hogan against Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at the first WrestleMania. Hogan and Mr. T won, but T continued to feud with Piper, taking them all the way to WrestleMania 2 the following year.

Rather than a wrestling match, Mr. T and Piper collided in a boxing match, a snoozefest that ended in a lame disqualification after Piper got too mad and body slammed his opponent.

Dusty Rhodes Has A Gorilla

It Was Just A Guy In A Suit

• It was very unrealistic.
• Rhodes compared Nikita Koloff to a gorilla.
• It was a very silly moment in pro wrestling history.

If any old head wrestling fan tries to talk about how pro wrestling was more “realistic,” they should be reminded of this moment, which went down five months before his legendary “Hard Times” promo. In 1985, The Russians were still heels, and Dusty Rhodes sought a suitable partner to rival Nikita Koloff, who Dusty likened to a gorilla. Rhodes’ solution to this was procuring an actual gorilla, which he unveiled on the 5/4/1985 episode of NWA World Championship Wrestling. This “gorilla” was obviously a guy in a suit, resulting in the kind of segment modern fans would pseudo-ironically obsess over, but “serious” fans would consider profoundly stupid.

Verne Gagne Doesn’t Bet On Hulk Hogan

He Did Not See Him As A World Champion

• Hogan began his career in the AWA.
• He had a role in Rocky 3.
• Hogan lost via DQ in an AWA World Title match against Nick Bockwinkel.

It’s weird to imagine a world where Hulk Hogan not winning a World Title is a bad thing, but leave it to Verne Gagne, who preferred “legitimate” wrestlers to hold the AWA World Championship, to create such a scenario. In April of 1983, Hulk Hogan was already wildly popular and a pop culture commodity thanks to his role in Rocky 3 — not to mention about nine months away from becoming the face of WWE — when he challenged Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Championship. The crowd was clamoring for Hogan to reach the top of the AWA, but the Hulkster’s victory was immediately reversed into a disqualification, which ultimately proved to be a poor booking decision.

The Original Screwjob Was In 1985

Vince McMahon Took The Title Off Wendi Richter

• Wendi Richter was a two-time WWE Women’s Champion.
• She competed in WWE from 1983-1985.
• She was co-signed by Cyndi Lauper.

Her contributions have been all but erased in WWE, but in 1985 Wendi Richter was the female face of the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Era, with a co-sign from pop star Cyndi Lauper. As the Women’s Champion, Richter knew her value, and pushed Vince McMahon to bump up her shockingly low pay. Instead of investing in the young star, McMahon enlisted Wendi’s aging mentor/trainer The Fabulous Moolah to shoot on Richter during a match, legitimately dethroning the champion in an incident many call The Original Screwjob. It was, unfortunately, one of many ways that Moolah — who had a stranglehold on the division — stifled women’s wrestling in the 1980s.