Wrestling event in Hawaii, 1985
A Hot Summer Night: The '85 World Invitational Wrestling Spectacular [ 6] (also known as Polynesian Hot Summer Night [ 2] ) was a professional wrestling supercard produced by NWA Polynesian Pro Wrestling (NWA-PPW), which took place on August 3, 1985, at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii .[ 2] An interpromotional show, it featured wrestlers from the American Wrestling Association , Jim Crockett Promotions and New Japan Pro-Wrestling .[ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 7]
Sixteen professional wrestling matches were set on the event's supercard. The main attraction on the event card was Ric Flair defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Siva Afi , which ended in a double disqualification .[ 8] [ 9] In the other main event, Antonio Inoki wrestled Bruiser Brody in a standard wrestling match. The undercard included Lars Anderson winning the NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Championship from Bad News Allen ,[ 10] defending NWA Polynesian Pacific Tag Team Champions The Soul Patrol (Rocky Johnson and Ricky Johnson) beating The Dirty White Boys (Len Denton and Tony Anthony ),[ 11] and The Family (André the Giant , Angelo Mosca and Steve Collins) defeating Sullivan's Army (King Kong Bundy , Mark Lewin and Kevin Sullivan ) in a six-man tag team match .[ 1] [ 2] [ 4] [ 5] According to a pre-match stipulation, anyone who managed to bodyslam Bundy would win $20,000.[ 6]
The event had an attendance of between 12,553[ 1] [ 2] and 19,955[ 3] [ 4] [ 5] people. While working for Jim Crockett Promotions, Jim Cornette was told that the show drew 15,000.[ 12] It was the first show in Hawaii to gross over $100,000[ 13] and remained the state's highest-attended pro wrestling event during the 1980s wrestling boom . The record lasted for over 5 years until the WWF held a live event at the same venue in 1991.[ 14] A second installment, A Hot Summers Night II, was held the following year but had a much smaller turnout due to a severe rainstorm .[ 15] The failure of this second supercard, and a disastrous 1987 tour of California, is blamed for the promotion's close only three years later.[ 4] [ 5]
Several matches from A Hot Summer Night were broadcast on the promotion's syndicated television program Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling [ 16] and on TV Asahi for NJPW's World Pro Wrestling [ 17] later that month. A number of these episodes were released on VHS and DVD in the early-2000s, however, the full show is not commercially available. In May 2022, the event was depicted on the "Backyard Brawl-B-Q" episode of Young Rock .[ 18]
Results
References
^ a b c d Campbell, Jason. "Hawaii: Hot Summer Night" . ProWrestlingHistory.com . Supercards & Tournaments.
^ a b c d e f Hoops, Brian (August 3, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (August 3): Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich, Harley Race vs. Barry Windham, Shane Douglas wins UWF TV title, ECW" . F4Wonline.com . Wrestling Observer / Figure Four Weekly Online .
^ a b c d e Cawthon, Graham. "Yearly Results: 1985" . TheHistoryOfWWE.com .
^ a b c d e Metcalf, Cody (November 22, 2006). "Hawaii: The Forgotten Wrestling Territory" . OnlineWorldOfWrestling.com .
^ a b c d e Oliver, Greg (October 22, 2008). "Lia Maivia was a pioneering woman promoter" . Canadian Online Explorer . SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
^ a b Reardon, Dave (August 2, 1985). "Hot, Heavy Wrestling at Stadium". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Honolulu, Hawaii. p. 29.
^ Farmer, Matt (August 3, 2015). "Results: August 3, 1985 Honolulu HI "Hot Summer Nigts" " . WrestlingClassics.com .
^ Taylor, Becky (January 15, 2007). "Wrestlers Results Archive: Ric Flair" . Canadian Online Explorer . SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015.
^ Tanabe, Hisaharu, ed. (January 11, 2020). "Records of NWA World Heavyweight Championship Matches: 1985" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved February 16, 2020 .
^ Tanabe, Hisaharu, ed. (2003). "NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Title (Hawaii)" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved February 16, 2020 .
^ Tanabe, Hisaharu, ed. (2003). "NWA Polynesian Pacific Tag Team Title (Hawaii)" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved February 16, 2020 .
^ Jim Cornette (May 18, 2022). "Jim Cornette Experience – Episode 431" . Jim Cornette's Drive Thru (Podcast). YouTube.com. Event occurs at 01:10:32.
^ Farmer, Matt (August 4, 2015). "Results: August 3, 1985 Honolulu HI "Hot Summer Nigts" " . WrestlingClassics.com .
^ Cawthon, Graham. "Yearly Results: 1991" . TheHistoryOfWWE.com .
^ Reardon, Dave (August 11, 1986). "Summer Night Was Wet, Wild". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Honolulu, Hawaii. p. 23.
^ Maivia, Lia (Producer). Hawaii Polynesian Championship Wrestling 1985-1986 (DVD). Hawaii: WrestlingEpicenter.com.
^ New Japan Pro-Wrestling (Producer) (May 15, 2003). NJPW Television - August 3, 1985 (aired 8/9/85) (DVD). Japan: Suckmet.com.
^ Jim Cornette (May 18, 2022). "Jim Cornette Experience – Episode 431" . Jim Cornette's Drive Thru (Podcast). YouTube.com. Event occurs at 01:03:26.
Further reading
Hornbaker, Tim (2018). Death of the Territories: Expansion, Betrayal and the War that Changed Pro Wrestling Forever . Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1773052328 .
External links
Championships Personnel Events Venues