The Brawl to End It All was a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and broadcast live on MTV. It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York on July 23, 1984. The show was a major event in the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection in the mid-1980s WWF. The main event featured The Fabulous Moolah defending the WWF Women's Championship against Wendi Richter. Richter defeated Moolah to win the Women's Championship. It was the only match of the event that was shown on television.
Background[]
Captain Lou Albano, a wrestling manager, appeared in Cyndi Lauper's 1983 music video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". This led to a scripted wrestling storyline in which Albano's sexism angered Lauper. Albano and Lauper appeared on WWF television programs to voice their anger at each other. Eventually, it was decided that the feud would be settled in a wrestling match. Lauper chose WWF female wrestler Wendi Richter to represent her, while Albano managed The Fabulous Moolah, who had held the WWF Women's Championship for almost 28 years.
Event[]
Although the event consisted of eleven matches, only the Richer vs. Moolah match was shown on television. Several championships were defended on the card. Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch retained their WWF Tag Team Championship against Sgt. Slaughter and Terry Daniels. WWF Champion Hulk Hogan successfully defended his title against Greg Valentine. Antonio Inoki, the WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion won two matches at the event, as he retained his championship against Charlie Fulton and later won a 20-man battle royal.
In the main event match, Richter defeated Moolah and was awarded the WWF Women's Championship.
The event had a 9.0 Nielsen rating, which made it the most-watched program in the history of MTV.
Aftermath[]
On February 18, 1985, the WWF promoted another wrestling event, The War to Settle the Score, on MTV. Lauper was involved again, as she intervened in the main event match that saw Hulk Hogan defend his WWF Championship against Roddy Piper. Another featured match on the card saw The Fabulous Moolah avenge her loss to Richter by managing Leilani Kai to a victory over Richter for the WWF Women's Championship.
Results[]
- Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
- (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
- Paul Orndorff defeated Chief Jay Strongbow (6:05)
- Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch (c) defeated Sgt. Slaughter & Terry Daniels to retain the WWF World Tag Team Championship (16:52)
- Bob Backlund defeated Butcher Vachon (2:40)
- Tito Santana (c) vs. Bob Orton, Jr. ended in a Time Limit Draw in a WWF Intercontinental Championship match (20:00)
- Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Greg Valentine (w/ Captain Lou Albano) to retain the WWF Championship (10:33)
- Antonio Inoki (c) defeated Charlie Fulton to retain the WWF Martial Arts Championship (4:10)
- The Iron Sheik (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Tony Garea (5:35)
- Afa defeated Rene Goulet (5:26)
- Antonio Inoki won a battle royal
- Wendi Richter (w/ Cyndi Lauper) defeated The Fabulous Moolah (c) (w/ Captain Lou Albano) to win the WWF Women's Championship