Date:Â 7th April, 1986
Venues:Â Nassau Coliseum, Rosemont Horizon & Los Angeles Sports Arena
Cities:Â Uniondale, NY, Rosemont, IL & Los Angeles, CA
Attendance:Â 40,085 (combined)
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Background
Three of the main-event feuds were set up on the March 1, 1986, broadcast of Saturday Night’s Main Event:
The main feud heading into WrestleMania 2 was between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy, with the two battling over the WWF Championship. Although they had wrestled occasionally beforehand, their first nationally televised encounter was on the November 2, 1985 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event where Hogan teamed up with André the Giant against André’s rivals Bundy and Big John Studd. Hogan and André won the match. On March 1, Hogan defended his WWF title against The Magnificent Muraco. Just as Hogan was about to pin Muraco, Bundy ran into the ring and—with Muraco’s help—initiated a 2-on-1 assault on Hogan, repeatedly crushing him with his body weight (with a move called the “Avalanche”) to break his ribs. Hogan had a very serious scripted injury, while Bundy (gloating over his actions) challenged Hogan for the title. With revenge on his mind, Hogan decided not to heed his doctor’s advice and accepted the challenge; a match was then booked between the two in a steel cage for the WWF title.
The second feud heading into the event was between Mr. T and Roddy Piper. Piper established himself as the top heel in the WWF in 1984, and a year later joined Paul Orndorff and Cowboy Bob Orton to feud with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. Hogan and T defeated Piper and Orndorff in the main event of the first-ever WrestleMania. The Piper-Mr. T feud restarted in 1986 after their real-life hatred for each other became known, prompting the WWF to turn their animosity for one another into a feud. Piper and others disliked Mr. T because he was an actor and unskilled wrestling ability. In response, Mr. T became a special WWF boxer and began competing in boxing matches. On the March 1 Saturday Night’s Main Event, Mr. T defeated Orton in a boxing match. After the match, Piper distracted Mr. T, allowing Orton to attack from behind and start a 2-on-1 assault. Mr. T then demanded revenge, leading to his boxing match against Piper.
The third main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) and British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) over the WWF Tag Team Championship. On August 24, 1985, Beefcake and Valentine won the tag titles from U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo). Immediately after their title win, they were challenged by British Bulldogs for the titles. They retained their titles against Bulldogs at a house show on September 11 by getting disqualified. They defended the titles against Bulldogs again on Saturday Night’s Main Event, where they emerged victorious against Bulldogs. After Bulldogs failed in winning the titles twice, Dream Team agreed to defend their titles against Bulldogs for a final time with a title match set at WrestleMania.
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Match Results
Paul Orndorff fought The Magnificent Muraco (with Mr. Fuji) to a double countout (04:10)
Intercontinental Championship
Randy Savage (c) (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated George “The Animal” Steele (05:10)
Jake Roberts defeated George Wells (03:15)
Boxing Match
Mr. T (with Joe Frazier and The Haiti Kid) defeated Roddy Piper (with Bob Orton and Lou Duva) by disqualification (13:15)
Women’s Championship
The Fabulous Moolah (c) defeated Velvet McIntyre (01:25)
Flag Match
Corporal Kirchner defeated Nikolai Volkoff (with Freddie Blassie) (02:05)
20-Man Battle Royal
André the Giant defeated 19 other participants by last eliminating Bret Hart*
Tag Team Championship
The British Bulldogs (with Ozzy Osbourne and Lou Albano) defeated The Dream Team (c) (with Johnny Valiant) (13:03)
Ricky Steamboat defeated Hercules Hernandez
Adrian Adonis (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Uncle Elmer
Terry Funk and Hoss Funk (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana (13:00)
WWF Championship
Steel Cage Match
Hulk Hogan (c) defeated King Kong Bundy (with Bobby Heenan) (11:00)
* – The other participants were: Jimbo Covert (NFL player – Chicago Bears), Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Harvey Martin (Former NFL player – Dallas Cowboys), Danny Spivey,Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, Ernie Holmes (Former NFL player – Pittsburgh Steelers), B. Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic (NFL player – Atlanta Falcons),Jim Neidhart, Russ Francis (NFL player – San Francisco 49ers), Bruno Sammartino, and William “Refrigerator” Perry (NFL player – Chicago Bears).
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
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Aftermath
Randy Savage and George Steele continued their feud with each other, leading to a rematch for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on the January 3, 1987 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event where Steele ended up losing. The new WWF Tag Team Champions British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) prepared to face challenger tag teams. On the October 4, 1986 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, they defeated former champions Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) in a two out of three falls match to retain the titles. Hulk Hogan continued and increased his WWF Championship reign taking down challengers such as Paul Orndorff, André the Giant, Hercules Hernandez and Sika AnoaÊ»i before he was defeated by André for the title on February 5, 1988 edition of The Main Event, ending his four year reign and the third longest in the title’s entire history.