“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff vs. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis (w/ “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart)
So now we are one month removed from Wrestlemania 2 and for a lot of guys, they had some pretty clear direction of where they were going as the summer was about to start though there were some that you weren’t sure what was going to become of them. One of the guys near the top of the list in terms of those you aren’t sure what to make of them is Paul Orndorff. When we were at the first SNME almost one year ago, he had just turned face off of the first Wrestlemania and seemed primed to be one of the top faces in the company. Now one year later, he is in major limbo as he had no big feud going into WM 2 and his match with Don Muraco was pretty underwhelming. It was really bizarre to see since he seemed primed for a big run even with Hogan still on top, but he had been allied with Hogan since the previous year so it does seem like he had a chance to step up. It will be very interesting to see going forward if they decide to keep him as a face or if they choose to turn him back heel which could be what he needs to refresh his character. On the other side of the coin is Adrian Adonis, who also seemed to be in a holding pattern though he was continuing to grow his character no matter how bizarre it was. He also had no major feud going into WM and did come out with a win over Uncle Elmer in a terrible match, and it would be interesting to see as well where he goes from here.
Heading into this show, there was no major build between the two for the match as Adonis would work the house show circuit against Hillbilly Jim and George Steele while Orndorff would not be seen on the house shows since WM which makes me wonder if he may have been suffering an injury. There was also no major build on TV between the two men after the match was announced to take place on this show aside from Adonis making veil advances to Orndorff which were just completely creepy. It was an interesting matchup to see and you wondered if the two would have some decent chemistry with each other.
Adonis gives a pretty bizarre interview where he fawns over a cutout of Orndorff and puts himself over while he is wearing a hideous dress and legwarmers, and then Orndorff gives an interview in the sauna which was very unique as he vows to take out Adonis and Jimmy Hart. Orndorff gets a good pop from the crowd while Adonis was pretty hot as a heel, and after having Vince and Jesse doing commentary for all the SNMEs we have Bobby Heenan doing commentary with Vince which was an interesting changeup. Adonis preens around the ring to start only for Orndorff to hit a pair of armdrags and a pair of slams on Adonis, and Adonis falls out of the ring to regroup with Jimmy only for Orndorff to stomp on him and he pulls him back into the ring. He whips Adonis inside out in the corner with Adonis again falling through the ropes to the outside, and he again regroups on the floor before returning to the ring and they square off until Adonis gets a kick in and he pounds on Orndorff. Orndorff reverses a whip and hooks an abdominal stretch on Adonis who manages to grab the ropes to force a break, and Adonis begs off in the corner as the ref prevents Orndorff from attacking which allows Adonis to get a shot in. He pounds on Orndorff and hits a hiptoss out of the corner before charging at him only for Orndorff to backdrop him over the top to the floor, and he pulls Jimmy over the top rope into the ring and presses him onto his shoulders before tossing him onto Adonis on the outside. Adonis and Jimmy regroup on the floor as we go to a commercial break, and when we come back from the break Adonis returns to the ring only for Orndorff to nail him and he whips Adonis into the corner. He hoists Adonis onto his shoulders and hits an airplane spin until Adonis grabs the ropes and he falls over the top to the floor, and he pulls Orndorff to the outside and hooks a headlock only for Orndorff to ram him into the post. Jimmy gets a shot in and Orndorff chases him into the ring as Adonis brings the megaphone into the ring behind them, and Orndorff grabs at Jimmy only for Adonis to nail him in the back with the megaphone. He pounds on Orndorff and catches him with a knee to the ribs only to miss the jumping fist, but Adonis gets a shot in first and hits a slam on Orndorff before dropping an elbow on him for a two count. Adonis hits a big suplex on Orndorff for a two count and goes up top only for Orndorff to get his knees up on the splash attempt, and then Orndorff hits a running kneelift that sends Adonis over the top and he gets tied up in the ropes. Orndorff stomps on Adonis and drives the elbow into him before pulling Jimmy onto the apron and knocking him back to the floor, and then he hits a dropkick that sends Adonis shoulder first into the post and he rips Adonis’ dress to shreds. He chokes Adonis in the ropes with the torn dress as the ref tries to back him away and Orndorff drives the knee repeatedly into Adonis, and then Orndorff shoves the ref to the mat which draws the DQ and Adonis wins the match. After the match, Orndorff continues to choke Adonis in the ropes as Adonis slides out of the ripped dress to the floor, and then Orndorff grabs a chair from ringside and chases Adonis to the back.
Overall, the match itself was nothing much as Orndorff pretty much dominated the entire 12 minutes with Adonis getting his shots in and then Orndorff gets too hot at the end which costs him the match. It was pretty clear by this point that the steam on Orndorff’s face turn was pretty tepid and it did seem that a change for him was needed, while Adonis was still pretty good as a bumper even though he was incredibly out of shape, which was a shame. At the same time, I wonder if his over-reliance on the type of bumps he took don’t seem that effective in that we’ve seen him do them in all his matches. They obviously still saw something in Orndorff hence why he doesn’t lose clean, but in a way I think it would’ve been better for Adonis to steal a pin to continue building Orndorff’s frustration and lead to what could happen in the summer. The crowd was into the match and Orndorff, but are not happy when he gets DQ’ed and Adonis is given the win. Adonis steals the win over Orndorff by way of the DQ, but this issue is not over yet as it would take an interesting turn over the next few months.
Final Grade: **
