Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff

[6.0] "Good and historic match, very significant because it was the largest crowd WWF has ever drawn up until that point, the building was absolutely packed with like 65k-70k people, and that's mainly because of Hogan and Orndorff, their feud was amazing and drew a lot of interest from the audience, it was a feud that really helped WWF's growth in popularity and that was the match, and the big event. The match is fun, Orndorff dominates a lot of it, and his control over Hogan was fun to watch, the audience was pissed off, and the environment that they were able to build is really impressive, the fans were instigated, and reacted accordingly to the tension. Even though the match is good, for me the finish is quite disappointing, specially if you consider the place, a huge show like this deserved a better finish, and that whole sequence was kinda lame, it was incredible until Heenan hit Hogan with the chair after the ref bump, if Orndorff wins it after that it would've been incredible, Hulk could perform a comeback as well, but the choice of giving Orndorff the win and reverting the result wasn't the best one - {***}"

[3.0] "Hogan 1 vs Hogan 2. The match is really a slog with some rare nice elements (the suplex outside for example). The finish is bad and non-innovative. I was hoping for a little more athleticism from both parts seeing as they play on even ground but nope."

[2.0] "This match is really good when Orndorff is getting the shit beat out of him by Hogan. When Orndorff was in control of this is was a pretty bad slog, the only saving grace being Hogan's comeback. Anyone else could probably be Orndorff in this position if they had his physique, I didn't really see him do anything of note in this other than cross the heel checkbook. Heenan was good in this to carry him too but its not enough to save the match at all. Very 80s bullshit ending"

[6.0] "Without being incredible in the ring, he was still correct in his proposition. Orndorff did a good job of making his attempts to dethrone the champion credible, and the questionable finish managed to cast doubt on the outcome of the match. The crowd was boiling and it was one of the few decent moments of this show. In-ring quality: 0.75/4. Stakes: 2/2. Justification: 0.75/1. Place on the card: /1. Suspense: ? /1. Bonus/Malus: none. Total: 6.5/10. Match seen on WWE Network."

[4.0] "That finish would make even Vince Russo blush. By the standards of 80s WWF this was a decent match, though it definitely does not hold up to modern standards. I thought Paul Orndorff had some good heel work in this match, but the main reason I don't like this match is that Hogan is just not a very good wrestler, and any wrestler working with him is going to have to fight a huge uphill battle. As we saw in this match, Orndorff tried his best but sometimes you just can't win. Hogan looks like he is so tightly wound up, running off pure adrenaline out there. He's got 23 inch pythons yet he still throws an inexcusably bad looking clothesline to Orndorff. He's got size 17 shoes, but he throws a big boot to Orndorff that wouldn't have hit the broad side of a barn. This match was carried by the hype of the crowd alone, and as someone watching this match in 2025 who already knew the result of the match, it just doesn't hold up. 4/10."

[6.0] "Oh, for God's sake, that finish... Hogan should have just kicked out and done a hulk-up, but instead, we got a DQ finish that barely got a reaction. It's a shame because it was clear this was the match that sold the stadium, and the fans were into it from the very first minute. They didn't have to do much - just relied on the basics that worked perfectly in this setting - but that finish absolutely sucked."

[8.0] "A surprisingly good match, mostly because of the energy Orndorff brought to it during the extended beating he gave Hogan and some wild brawling that was uncharacteristic for a WWF match in the cartoonish mid-1980s."

[7.0] "In a lot of respects this is probably one of the better matches of Hogan's title reign. The atmosphere is great, and the match feels like a genuinely heated brawl. Orndorff is so underrated and comes across as a star here. Everything he does looks so impactful for 80s WWF, and helps to balance out Hogan's more over-the-top characteristics. 'Realistic' is never a word I would use to describe a Hulk Hogan match, but Orndorff does manage to keep things grounded in a way that lends a certain level of believability that you wouldn't often find in Hogan's cartoonish WWF work. Hogan giving Orndorff a taste of his own medicine near the end was very well done. If the shot with the chair was a nearfall and we got a proper finish afterwards instead I definitely would have given this a higher rating, but unfortunately the DQ ends up being a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise really entertaining title match."

[7.0] "This is one of those matches where the crowd make the match. This was one of the better Hogan feuds and in front of a crowd bigger than a few Wrestlemanias, these 2 put on a Golden Era classic. Paul is extremely underrated and I cant lie Im still a pretty big Hogan fan, but Ill admit the in ring work was, in modern view, dull. A perfect match for the time but as a wrestling match its nothing to write home about. The draw and the energy is what matters in this match, and it excelled in both."

[7.0] "An entertaining match with a hot crowd that seems to behind both men. Orndorff had such a great look. ***1/2"

[8.0] "Paul Orndorff is a well oiled wrestling machine. Everything is done so forcefully and is all very fluid. I could watch Paul Orndorff pile on the offense to practically anyone. even this chump Hogan. Finish fiasco is lousy but I am a fan of seeing Orndorff basically owning the match up."

[6.0] "The overness of both guys is what saves this from mediocrity. The work isn't great but the crowd are fired up for everything. I'm not convinced the finish was a good idea (with Orndorff getting a lengthy visual pin/Dusty finish) but it was all part of a bigger plan to have them work house shows and generate currency for McMahon. It's not what you would want from the main event of a big show but it is better than most of the card."

[7.0] "Really fun! The Hogan feud brought the best out of Orndorff, and this is one of his strongest ever performances, absolutely demolishing Hogan in parts. Highlights were obviously the wild crowd reactions every time Hogan gained the advantage. That man can work a crowd! The DQ finish was disappointing, and there's some pretty awful selling from Hogan occasionally, but other than that this was the highlight of the night."

[6.0] "A good WWF PPV can be hard to find sometimes but this was one of them. Hogan and Orndorff were in the middle of a really good rivalry at this time after Heenan turned Orndorff to the dark side again. I've always been a fan of Orndorff and kinda wish he got a small run with the title at this time. Hogan actually had his working boots on here so this was fun. Good main event to a surprisingly good show."

[8.0] "Just a few weeks after Orndorff turned on Hulk Hogan, this match comes to fruition to supposedly settle the score, but it doesn't of course, and they would conitnue to feud until Andre showed back up and turned heel on Hogan himself. The crowd is insane for Hogan here, cheering every punch, every move, and every time Hogan gets the advantage. Such a fun match for such a big card."

[4.0] "I get that the crowd was on fire and this was a really big moment in wrestling but the match itself was not good. It had weak-looking punches and stomps and that was pretty much it."

[5.0] "This match was getting close to a 3 out of 5 stars but that DQ finish to extend the feud sucked! They finally did the blow off at the next SNME with a steel cage match. Orndorff was then quietly shuffled out of the lime light (probably a good thing to give him time to heal that arm injury which unfortunately never did heal correctly) and Mr Wonderful just became another Heenan Family goon."

[6.0] "Feud between Hogan and Orndorff was really iconic and this match demonstrates that these two were able to work well together. Match was good thanks to Paul's carrying, Hogan's charisma and fan's reaction to each his move. Very solid"

[7.0] "For a Hogan match this was quite good, mostly because Orndorff is carrying it and for a second there i thought Orndorff was actually gonna win it but we all knew that wasn't gonna happen but this was probably one of the better matches from the feud"

[6.0] "Like most Hogan matches, this is one that holds itself up based on character and crowd response, and in that respect, it definitely does the trick, but honestly, this is pretty solidly worked, too. Hogan plays the babyface in peril well, and as someone who didn't grow up on 80s wrestling, Orndorff stands out as a legitimate star in my eyes going back. He looks like a beast, and fights hard throughout the match. And it's just wild seeing Hogan do a piledriver, period, that's absolutely a highlight. Still, a little odd that Hogan gets knocked out for a solid minute based on the stool shot, and the ending is a little silly with the delayed fakeout DQ shenanigans, but it's still a very solid match up to that."

[7.0] "A historically important match, the one that drew one of the WWF's biggest crowd ever. The match itself was good, it wasn't a classic from a technical standpoint, but was everything it needed to be and was entertaining throughout. A must-see for any wrestling fan."

[8.0] "The match that drew 75, 000 fans to the stadium, absolutely unreal crowd at this show. These two had awesome chemistry and they displayed it here, these Orndorff matches are among Hogan's best singles matches. Heenan slamming Hogan in the head with the stool was nuts too!"

[6.0] "This is enjoyable and definitely has the big match feel, but it is let down quite a bit by the finish."

[7.0] "A really good contest with a strange finish but it kept both guys strong. Good Hulk Hogan match a sit kept me entertained throughout. The heat was serious too as the fans were molten throughout. Good stuff ***1/4"