WrestleMania Rewind: WrestleMania II - Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy

The wait for the granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is almost over. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series.Now let us travel back to the year 1986. The second annual WrestleMania PPV was held on April 7, 1986 at New York, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. This was the only WrestleMania till date that was held on a Monday contrary to the customary Sunday every year. The match that stole the show in this year’s Mania was between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy at Los Angeles sports arena for the WWF Championship inside a Steel Cage.

#1 The Build-Up

On November 2^nd, 1985 episode of ‘Saturday Night’s Main event’, Hogan and Andre the Giant fought against Bundy and Big John Studd with the former winning the match. On March 1^st 1986, Hogan was defending his WWF title against The Magnificent Muraco and just when Hogan was about to pin Muraco, Bundy attacked Hogan. Bundy and Muraco teamed up and launched a 2-on-1 assault on Hogan and Bundy delivered his signature move, ‘Avalanche’ which broke Hogan’s ribs.

Bundy challenged Hogan for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania-2 and Hogan accepted the challenge, not heeding the doctor’s advice. So, a Steel cage match for the WWF Championship was set up at WrestleMania II.

#2 The Match

Bundy was accompanied by Bobby Heenan, his manager. Bundy launched a vicious attack on Hogan and repeatedly targeted his injured ribs. But, Hogan used the Steel cage to his advantage and blasted Bundy’s head into the cage a few times. He, then, made a failed attempt of a ‘Scoop Slam’ which Bundy capitalized on and delivered an ‘Avalanche’ which was followed up with a big splash.

The injured Hogan, however, hulked up and delivered a power slam and a leg drop in quick succession. Hogan started climbing the cage to escape, but Bundy caught his legs. But, the Hulk was not going to be deterred and he kicked Bundy to climb out of the cage. With this, Hulk Hogan retained the WWF title, but the action was not over there as Hogan didn’t spare Heenan, who was standing outside the ring, and beat him up good.

#3 The Fallout

Hogan continued his domination and increased his WWF title reign. In addition to Savage, his top competition during 1986 included "Adorable" Adrian Adonis, Hercules Hernandez and Paul Orndorff. An interesting feud between Hogan and Orndorff was developed in that period. Hogan and Orndorff were best friends at that time. Adonis entered the scene and made Orndorff turn heel against Hogan.

King Kong Bundy along with his partner Studd was involved in a few bouts in the Tag team division and his remarkable opponent was Andre the Giant.