George Steele vs. Randy Savage

[2.0] "This was the match I was looking forward to the most, and it's a wildly disappointing match. No action, George spent the entire match eating the corner pads for no reason. The entire match based on him being a massive simp. Weird."

[3.0] "Never liked the storyline for this one. Essentially, these two are fighting because George is a big simp for Elizabeth (understandable). We get a poor quality match that the fans didn't really seem to be too interested in. Randy really has to carry this one. I've seen much worse, but I was really happy when it ended. It did at least offer some sort of story, so it wasn't completely pointless."

[2.0] "Savage trying to do his best in his first Wrestlemania appearance. Steele wasn't great here. The crowd wasn't into this match either"

[1.0] "Love how this was scheduled with a one hour time limit stipulation, but ended up being a five minutes match with terrible action and storytelling. Little to be appreciated here, other than Macho doing his thing the best he could."

[4.0] "This match was actually 7 minutes and 10 seconds, and for using a pie and something else from George Steele, Macho Man carried most of the match, and I could see it through the whole match, 4/10 [**3/4]"

[4.0] "While the storyline with George Steele being enamoured with Elizabeth is a classic storyline that lead to one of the very best WrestleMania matches of all time, we'd have to wait another year for that. I will give it some points because it's really carried by the character work from all three and Savage does what he can with it. Savage is a terrific heel and Steele has some good storytelling moments where his distractions ultimately cost him the match, but the action is pretty bad and it's made worse by having to listen to Susan St. James on commentary clearly not wanting to be there. Also Steele kicking out of the Elbow Drop really didn't feel that important even though kicking out of finishing moves rarely ever happened at the time."

[3.0] "Entertainingly bad is always better than boring bad, the commentary cracks me up. "Come on George", "I can't belive that", she sounds so dissapointed in George the animal steele"

[8.0] "This was exceptionally good. It didn't need to be but it was. George Steele was awesome. Randy Savage was great. The storyline of George Steele being in love with Elizabeth was weird. It worked okay. It could have been better. Rating: ***2/3"

[3.0] "Steele bites into the turnbuckle like a feral dog in this match which is pretty cool and whacks Savage around with flowers, but this sucked lol. Should've just ended with the elbow drop and not the dumb ass fake rollup or whatever. Ass! *3/4"

[7.0] "Maybe im insane maybe this show is making me find anything good in whatever but I really liked this one. I thought it was hilarious when randy got the flowers and started beating george and then george eating the turnbuckle. Also randy is very solid here nothing special but for 1986 WWF I had fun"

[2.0] "Most of the time was spent on useless spots, so only a few Randy's maneuvers protected it from being an absolute trash."

[2.0] "A legend like Randy Savage fortunately went on to have MUCH better matches at Wrestlemania, as his first bout on the show of immortals was an absolute waste of time. Straight up bad match with not a lot of qualities to it."

[0.0] "The match begins with a drawn out chase scene, ending with Steele finally managing to get a bite into Savage's leg. The wrestling, once it starts, is passable, but unfortunately also very cartoony. I'm not entirely sure if flowers would count as a foreign object, but I've got a feeling that modern rulings would say that this spot should've ended with a DQ probably. Steele eating the turnbuckle pad was the final nail in the carny coffin of this match. By the time the match got to that spot, it felt like it had gone on for far too long. It's a shame because, as we would see about a year later, Savage is an absolutely marvelous worker, but his first match on the Grandest Stage of Them All was weighed down by cartoonish nonsense. Maybe I'm just being anti-fun though. [0/10]"

[3.0] "Horrible from start to finish. I imagine it must have made a few people laugh at the time, but it's a real shame to do so badly, especially for an Intercontinental title match. In-ring quality: 0/4. Stakes: 1.5/2. Justification: 0.5/1. Place on the card : 0.5/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/Malus: Ridiculous and very bad -1. Total: 3.5/10. Match seen on WWE Network."

[0.0] "I hate this match so much. It's one of the worst things I've ever seen. Savage and Elizabeth's characters and aura save it from a 0 rating. The antics before and after the match are dreadful, even if the story was over, none of it was remotely good to me. This man George ATE THE TURNBUCKLE! They spent almost all of the match outside of the ring walking around. It was MISERABLE. The lighting is dark, the audio sounds like crap, and it's Wrestlemania 2..... everything looks bad at Wrestlemania 2."

[4.0] "It was a pretty short and boring match but wasn't necessarily bad for what it was. Savage played the heel very well, Stelle ate the turnbuckle pad and lost via elevated pin. It just kinda felt like a match that existed and happened. Nothing much else to say about it."

[6.0] "I'm aware that I'm in the minority here, but I actually liked this for what it was. George "The Animal" Steele was never a technical wizard in the ring, but he and Macho Man put on a hell of a show that the crowd seemed to love, and that is what matters. I enjoyed the story behind Steele crushing on Miss Elizabeth, and Macho Man almost never looks bad in the ring. I believe that the run time was perfect for this match and the outcome was exactly what it needed to be. I think this is one of the better matches from the show."

[4.0] "Let me give this one a four at least. Steele is not a gimmick I can get behind but Macho Man is obviously a great character here. The match starts off with Savage running away, making this kind of a boring affair. However, him getting the unfair upper hand on Steele with the dive to the outside was quite nice. We even got a kickout from Steele out of Savages Elbow Drop which surprised me quite a bit. After this, the match is over pretty quickly with the leverage pin, but it was at least a bit more interesting than what we got in the first match. It had a structure and that is something I appreciate at this point in WWF history."

[2.0] "Savage tries to get something out of this match, but Steele was just bad and this is nothing more than just a five minute squash."

[2.0] "Lets fucking go! Its Macho Man season! Hes led out by an absolutely terrified Miss Elizabeth, just trying to not get touched by any of the humanoids. We get a Savage promo where he says that Steele will talk by the end of the night and call Savage the greatest. Credit to St. James, she does seem to understand the Savage/Elizabeth dynamic and is rooting for the Animal. Macho cant get a handle on Steele and bails out, starting a chase that ends with Steele taking a bite out of Machos leg. Steele gets Macho on the back foot, but gets horny and distracted by Elizabeth, leading to Savage tying Steele in the ropes. Macho hit a crossbody for a nearfall, but Steele sends Savage flying out of the ring. Macho hid under the ring before coming from the other side to hit a knee, but Steele bites Savage again. We get them hitting each other with a bouquet of flowers as St. James proclaims that Steele has respect for women. I dont know what about this hairy beast gives her that idea, but shes sticking to it. Steele eats the turnbuckle and throws the stuffing in Savages face, just making a mess of the ring. Savage starts another chase, leading to George being distracted by Elizabeth and Savage hitting a double axe handle off the top rope. Macho hits the elbow, but to McMahons surprise, Steele kicks out. Steele clubbers Macho until Macho stacks him up and gets his feet on the ropes to get the win. Steele eats another turnbuckle as Macho flees, while I wait for Machos next WrestleMania endeavors. *"

"I rate this one in the middle. I think this match is more about storytelling with a dash of comedy. As to why Steele kicked out of Savage's one-of-a-kind flying elbow? Well, I've noticed upon viewings of old school matches, George The Animal Steele kicked out of finishers on a fairly consistent basis. And it wasn't that big of a deal when it happened. So my theory is this: That was The Animal's gimmick. He's so dumb, his brain (and therefore his body) doesn't register pain as much as the rest of us. So you can't win by beating him up. You have to cheat, outsmart, or pull a fast one on him, and in this match, Savage does all three and becomes the first man in WrestleMania history to decisively win an Intercontinental Championship match."

[3.0] "this match was an interesting mash of storytelling and wrestling, that ultimately is held back by the fact George couldn't put a good match on even if his life was on the line. Randy tries his best to carry the match with some fun moves including his elbow drop, the double axe hand, the knee coming out from under the ring. A lot of the theatrics were entertaining, like Randy running away under the ring, the Ms. Elizabeth storytelling, the boquet of flowers, etc. But ultimately, George can't wrestle, and the ending was pretty awful."

[7.0] "Yeah, yeah... I'm way over community average, but the always incredible Macho Man almost pulled off the miracle of getting George Steele to work a competent match. Just as importantly though, the Steele crushing on Elizabeth storyline was effectively eccentric 80's cheez-whiz fun, and Elizabeth looked amazing. Despite having to listen to Susan St. James say insane things and go "uhhh ohhh" about 40 times, I have to admit, Steele eating turnbuckle fluff is an indelible image. A "Mania moment" for the weirdos. Bottom line, I'm glad they let Savage take the victory here and he didn't have to job to the Tor Johnson wannabe."

"Weird match eh. But in a way, this is entertaining. Macho Man escaping and running from The Animal, The Animal eating things and biting people. And where the fucking DQ now! ? Talking about DQ, the opening match was a 2/10 and unfortunately God knows why it was DQed. On a side note, Miss Elizabeth is the most beautiful and the hottest WWE girl manager OAT!"

[2.0] "Adding the rating for the first match seen as its too short: Orndorff vs Moraco- 2/10. Loved Susan St James commentary of Uh-Oh whenever anything happened. Truly insightful Also shouldn't George Steele be have been disqualified when he was biting Savage?"

[2.0] "not good. Savage and the commentators do there best but George Steele isn't good here. he just looks like a goofy out of shape man that has no business in there"

[1.0] "For this one, they went for maximum theatrics to hide the fact that George Steele just could not wrestle any more. For half of it, this means a decent little story with Steele's thing for Miss Elizabeth getting in the way of his possibility to win... but for the other half, it's just dead air, with time wasting galore, especially waiting outside the ring. Lame cheating finish because you've got to protect the 50-year-old museum piece."

[4.0] "It's not a bad match once it gets going but Steele repeatedly costing himself the match by getting distracted gets overused real quick. Had the potential to be a 6 or 7 if it would have just been a match. 4/10"

[1.0] "Feels like something you would see on a cartoon but if they took any bit of humor out of it and made it an unsuferable match that tries to take itself seriously. I don't think both man were on the ring for more than 40 seconds. Just not worth anyones time, and a big hit to a title reign that had some credibility."

[3.0] "What drives me crazy about this match is how weak Savage, a long reigning Intercontinental champion is made to look against a past-his-prime Steele. There's no reason for this. Savage gets extremely little offense in the match, and not only that, but they had to make Steele kick out of his finish? For what purpose? This match should have gotten Savage over, yet it seemed like all it was designed to do was desperately salvage Steele as a threat, when he stopped being threatening when he turned into a comedy character. I sort of feel like Steele's ego came into play here, and he politicked a bit. I do enjoy the utter chaos that ensues, but that can't save a boring match with terrible booking."

[2.0] "Well... I knew what to expect when I turned this match on. I didn't know Savage worked heel at the time, he was probably the only good thing about this match cause George Steele and commentary sucked very badly. Susan James was horrible... I respect what she was trying to do(shit on a heel and put over the face) but to imply that Miss Elizabeth should run away with an incel cause Randy Savage treats her badly is mindblowing to me."

[3.0] "Here we go with Steele's bollocks. At least if his facials or body language was a bit better you could get some story out of here with him protecting Elizabeth from egoistic Macho Man, but he just comes out as a big creep. There's really nothing that Savage could do here to save this."

[1.0] "Sometimes i hate pro wrestling. This match is evrything wrong with the fed at this time shown to you in short order. Savge bunps like a boss for a man who cant work and has the worst charter maybe in the history of the sport. This match is not even the blow off to what was one of the worst fudes ever. The animal kicking out of savge's elbow drop is maybe the most anyoing kick out ever considring he was never gona go anywhere after this fude and they ware postioning savge as a top heel. What a waste if time"

[6.0] "I'm a sucker for matches that tell a simple but unique story, and that is what the factor of Elizabeth at ringside did, with Animal's protective instinct coming against Savage's desire to win. I thought this was a serviceable story at a time when WWF matches were a lot less interesting normally."

[3.0] "I like both these guys a lot, but there was barely any actual wrestling. Why Savage kept leaving the ring both baffles and annoys me. Got some good character moments from Steele though so not entirely awful."

[3.0] "The IC Title has really had a bad run at Mania so far huh? Thank God that changes at next year's show. I hate George Steele with a passion, as you may see to be a trend in future reviews. Randy does a pretty good job here, and does really try to get something out of Steele. This whole thing is just pretty meh."

[5.0] "As a match, it's pretty bad. However, Macho Man is so entertaining that I can't completely hate this match. It's not his fault he's facing a guy who should have thrown in the towel a decade ago."

[3.0] "There was something to give it a rating. Maybe shouldnt give 3 but, i rated it 1.25/5 so had to give it. It was poor tho. (*1/4)"

[5.0] "Not a great technical match but a entertaining match with two wrestlers who play their characters well. Enjoyed the match and the crowd was into it."

[4.0] "A match based almost entirely on character, and The Animal is not a character that I like watching. But props to Savage he did everything that he could to make this short and bland match watchable. I wish they had given Randy a more interesting opponent to fight, at least this was better than the opener"

[5.0] "This match was actually pretty fun imo hitting each other with the flowers and George Steele feeding Macho Man the turnbuckle also the kick out of the Macho Man elbow actually surprised me as well"

[6.0] "Charming little match that relied heavy on the character work and cartoonish offense. A bit odd for a IC title bout, but honestly this was the highlight of the New York portion of WM II."

[4.0] "I thought this was fun. It certainly isn't a mat classic and doesn't really belong at WrestleMania, but I enjoyed Steele's character work and thought it made for a simple and entertaining match that was carried by the personalities of the two participants."

[3.0] "07/04/86 Wrestlemania II WWF. Savage worked with what he had, a real gimmick match with very little wrestling, but somehow Savage managed to drag it up a notch. 3"

[3.0] "Susan St James is a bit close to the bone on talking about how Savage treats Elizabeth now we know what happened behind closed doors. The crowd was into this but really the only value to modern audiences is watching Randy try and make something half decent out of this."

[2.0] "I didn't like the match. In principle, like all their encounters, I didn't like it. Watching Macho Man try absolutely everything to outsmart and defeat his opponent is interesting. There was some storytelling. But at the same time, the only positive thing about this match, for me personally, was Randy's performance. George played his character well, but towards the end I wasn't interested in watching it. It would have been better if they had given him someone else to compete against."

[5.0] "Only a few wrestlers have managed to make simple stalling entertaining, Randy Savage is definitely one of them. He ran away from Steele in the sleaziest way possible, and his constant dirty tactics kept things engaging. George was a shell of his former self by this period, so he resorted to his usual late '80s shticks, which consisted of him biting his opponent, getting horny for Elizabeth, and ripping off the turnbuckle pads. After Steele shockingly kicked out of the Macho Elbow Drop, Savage quickly used the help of the rope to pin the Animal down. This was a fun Macho carryjob where he proved he can carry any inferior worker to an acceptable bout. [**1/4]"

[4.0] "Never cared much for George Steele. He was the Bushwhackers before they came to the WWF. Unorthodox style and not a believable threat to Savage's title here. Would have rather seen Savage against anybody else instead of spending months being chased around by George."

[6.0] "It's actually a good match, with a good story (even if it was classic) and a very good Savage. Steele kicking out the Diving Elbow was awesome."

[5.0] "Whilst Savage would obviously have better Wrestlemania matches, this was carried by both men's charisma and by Savage's mind games. Steele gives Savage a beating with a bouquet of flowers that Savage tried to use himself before Steele gets himself distracted by the simple sight of Elizabeth at ringside. I was shocked that Steele was allowed to kick out of Savage's elbow drop. Savage rolls up Steele for the win, with some assistance from the ropes. This was basic stuff, but campy fun nonetheless."