1. Bob ‘Sparkplug’ Holly def. Leif Cassidy and Billy Gunn
Buying Bob Holly as a car enthusiast wasn’t hard to do. Buying him as a happy babyface was too big a stretch of the imagination. Bob Holly is the what JBL would be like without the backstage clout. The sparkplug gimmick was a holdover from the days when every wrestler had to have a day job but it never really suited Hardcore Holly the way being a brutal, uncompromising jerk did.
In this first matchup, we see the NASCAR reject taking on Leif Cassidy of the New Rockers and Billy Gunn of the Smoking Gunns in a Hardcore Championship match. However, due to the sterile nature of these personas the most hardcore move we’ll see all night is a scoop slam on the outside of the ring. Al Snow’s took the name for his Lief Cassidy gimmick from Leif Garrett and David Cassidy; two 1970’s teen idols. Taking your fighting persona from a member of the Partridge Family isn’t exactly intimidating.
Then there’s Billy Gunn in the Smoking Gunns. I always liked the Smoking Gunns, but as a child, I had no idea which was Bart and which was Billy. Billy was a great hand but always better as a team and always kinda just… there. So let’s break it down. We got a NASCAR driver vs a 1970s teen heartthrob vs a forgettable cowboy. If we were marketing Wrestlemania exclusively to baby-boomers, this may be the match of the night. Just add Ric Flair… They all remember Ric Flair.
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