Back with another episode of Prime Time Wrestling. I’d like to thank Bjack and the rest of the Crazymax crew for hooking me up with the second half of this episode as my original copy had some issues. I also want to thank you guys for the nice advertising banner in the slide scroller, it looks great, and I can always use the advertising. 😉

I’m posting a couple of days early, but I’ve got some things going on mid-week and I wanted to make sure I got this out in time. I believe in the whole promptness thing, and when I take on a project I don’t believe in half assing it. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it right, dammit!

Last I left you, we were heading in to the big 2/5/88 Main Event special on NBC. Plenty has happened since then, including Hulk Hogan losing the WWF World Heavyweight Title to Andre the Giant, and not without a load of controversy. Twin Referees? The Giant then kept his promise and passed off the World Title to “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase for an undisclosed amount of money. Business is starting to pick up as we begin the road to WrestleMania.

Prime Time Wrestling 2/11/88

– Gorilla Monsoon returns after a week off. It’s nice to have Monsoon & Bobby back together, even if was only a week without their antics. It’s a special edition Thursday, and as we kick things off Gorilla Monsoon immediately explains that there’s a gag order in effect and there will be NO discussion of the February 5th “Main Event” special. Bobby is dying to discuss the Hulk vs. Andre match, but Monsoon explains that WWF President Jack Tunney has ordered against discussion until it is finished being investigated. Bobby says he has freedom of speech and he’s going to talk about what he wants. Monsoon asks Bobby if he wants to be fined $10,000, and Heenan has to rethink things. Bobby promises to let the cat out of the bag before the end of the show. Gorilla disagrees.

Match #1: Hillbilly Jim (w/Little Beaver) v. The One Man Gang (w/Slick): From Boston Garden, 8/15/87, your commentators are Alfred Hayes & “Luscious” Johnny Valiant. The bell rings prematurely and everyone is still in the ring. Beaver has fun with Slick before the match, taking his hat and giving the fans a laugh. The two big guys test each other out, with Jim hitting a big boot before the Gang takes over. Little Beaver can be funny, but in this match he’s pretty irritating. Beaver spends the majority of the match, on the apron, sitting on the top rope, or running around the ring. It’s like he’s trying to upstage the guys in the ring. There’s a time for it, and it’s not THE ENTIRE MATCH. Beaver sneaks in and slaps the Gang upside the head, and I guess that doesn’t constitute a DQ simply because he’s a midget. They go for a test of strength and Gang kicks Jim in the gut to get control. Beaver comes in during the test of strength and clocks the Gang in the butt three times with his shoe. I can’t tell if the Gang even sold it or not because Jim took control. I seriously think Beaver is just doing his own thing. Jim stomps the hands of the Gang, and we get an early scene of AKEEM. The Gang does the Akeem dance while he sells his fingers. OMG backs to the corner and has his butt bitten by Beaver. Gang distracts the ref while Slick chokes Jim. The Gang misses an Avalanche in the corner and Jim trips him down. Little Beaver hits a splash on OMG and the referee COUNTS? WTF is that about? Beaver gets tossed off the Gang and jumps on the referee for a comedy bump. Jim charges at Gang in the corner but takes a boot. OMG hits a series of short Avalanche splash in the corner on Hillbilly and drops an elbow for the corner, but Little Beaver rushes in and cracks OMG upside the head with his shoe. Again I ask, where’s the DQ? Interference is interference. Slick goes after Beaver, but Jim nails Slick on the floor. OMG goes outside and attacks Hillbilly, rolling him back in the ring at the count of 9. The Gang doesn’t beat the count, and Jim wins the match by count out in 12:46. Immediately after the match Beaver hits OMG with a broom. Gang lays out Hillbilly, and then THE GANG SPLASHES LITTLE BEAVER! Flipping Awesome. That’ll teach him. Not a whole lot too this match, but I was expecting a lot worse. I’ll still bump this thing up to 3/4* just for that Splash on Beaver.

– Gorilla brings up WrestleMania III and the previous match, Beaver getting squashed twice in a year. Bobby says Beaver has found his niche in life, getting squashed.

Match #2: George “The Anima” Steele vs. Wellington Wilkins. From the WWF Superstars Tapings, 1/26/88; in Hershey, PA from Hershey Park Arena. Wilkins would have moderate success internationally in Stampede Wrestling, Japan, and other countries, he has since passed away. Steele brings a chair into the ring and its forced to relinquish. Wilkins attacks George from behind but the Animal no sells. George beats on Wilkins in the corner and pitches him to the floor. Steele rips open a turnbuckle pad and rams Wilkins into the exposed buckle. Isn’t that illegal? George picks Wilkins up into the Flying Hammerlock and wins this thing in 2:36. Complete Stinker. DUD

– Bobby Heenan notices that Dave Hebner was the referee in the Steele match. Bobby tries to segue Dave Hebner into the “Main Event” fiasco but Gorilla cuts him off.

– Craig DeGeorge talks WrestleMania IV. It’s coming to Trump Plaza, won’t that be fun. DeGeorge doesn’t have to look down at his notes as much this week. Good for him.

Match #3: Omar Atlas v. Dusty Wolfe: 1/25/88 from MSG. Announcers are Vince McMahon, Alfred Hayes & Bobby Heenan. In progress, Wolfe has an armbar applied. Hayes rips Dusty apart.
Bobby thinks Wolfe needs to go to the “Terry Garvin School of Self Defense”.
Hayes says he thinks Wolfe has already been there.
Vince plays dumb and inquires about who Terry Garvin is.
Heenan explains that Garvin is an old wrestler who “breaks a lot of young talent in”.
Hayes responds “I saw him in Europe a few years ago breaking talent in”. I don’t know how the announcers are keeping straight faces during the discussion.
Vince changes the subject to discuss a variety of matches on the MSG card and they all but completely ignore the first several minutes of the match, and for good reason. Lots of mat junk, Atlas finally picks things up, gets a string of offense going and puts Dusty down with a rolling cradle. 4:06 of this match is shown out of the full 7:30. Nada. DUD

– Hercules & Bobby Heenan Promo from the locker room right before they enter the ringside. Hercules says he’s ready.

Match #4: The Ultimate Warrior v. Hercules: 1/27/88 Wrestling Challenge Taping in Salisbury, MD from the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. Vince McMahon is alone on commentary as Heenan is at ringside and this was taped during the period Gorilla was MIA. Hercules wants a Tug-of-war with the steel chain, and the Warrior finally agrees. When it looks like Warrior may when, Hercules boots him down and challenges him to get up. Warrior stands up and yanks the chain, SNAPPING the chain! Both Vince & Hercules sell in shock the power it takes to snap a steel chain as the Warrior stands ready to fight. Hercules grabs the remainder of the chain and clotheslines the Warrior with it, resulting in a quick DQ at 1:56. Hercules chokes the Warrior with the chain following the match. The Warrior recovers and chases Hercules down in the aisle and drags him to the back. This would begin their program for WrestleMania IV. There was no wrestling so no rating there, but I’ll give it 3/4* for the angle.

– In PTW Studio, Heenan brags about Hercules snapping the chain. Gorilla & Heenan have some fun banter about the incident. Bobby winds up frustrated. Good little segment.

Match #5: Scott Casey v. Jose Estrada. From MSG, 1/25/88. The Garden is looking pretty empty and Vince covers by saying the fans are still filing in. Lots of good wrestling by both guys, back and forth. This is the difference between good mat wrestling and bad. These guys know what they’d doing. Casey’s biggest run came out of his native Texas, while Estrada has been a WWF guy most of his career. The pace picks up for a moment, but Casey takes it back down to the ground with a Fujiwara armbar and more mat wrestling. Back to their feet the two men trade shots and Casey hits a great looking Piledriver. Kudos to Estrada for taking it the way he did, springing up in the air, these guys really made it look good. Casey covers after a long delay and Jose has his foot on the rope. The two men go back to the mat until Jose escapes by biting. Estrada works over Casey and pitches him to the floor. Estrada hits Casey with a shoulder to the gut and Scott takes a NASTY bump off the apron to the concrete, looked like Casey slipped. Casey slingshots back in with a sunset flip for a 2 count. The two trade some blows, Casey misses a body block. Estrada tries a hangman’s neckbreaker, but Casey holds onto the ropes and Jose takes a bump on his own. Scott follows up with a shoulder breaker for the win in 12:07. It wasn’t bad, but seemed to go right from the beginning of the match, to the finish. There was no real action in between. Both guys looked good, Estrada was a great bumper. I can only give this thing 1/2* though because 10 minutes of the match was really just rolling around on the mat. It wasn’t a bad match though, if that makes any sense to you.

– Mean Gene interviews Mr. Fuji & Demolition. Fuji says the Demos have had some extensive training, including walking up walls. Wow, that is extensive training! Gene asks Smash about Haynes & Patera, but the Demos have made it past them and are now focused on the Tag Team Titles. Ax calls Mean Gene, “Howard”, per usual, Ax says they do whatever Fuji wants, whether it’s a “poked out eyeball” or Tag Team Titles. That promo was something else.

Match #6: “Ravishing” Rick Rude v. Jerry Allen. From MSG, 7/25/87. Rude had barely been in the company 6 weeks when this match first took place. When some guys would first come to the WWF, Vince would have them job on random house shows or at TV Tapings prior to the televised matches in order to test their reaction to doing the job, and also so he had a video of them losing to a jobber put away in case he ever needed to pull it out if a wrestler jumped ship. In Rude’s case, he was forced to do a job to Jerry Allen in the Meadowlands just 2 weeks earlier. Here’s Ricky’s chance for a little revenge. Rude slowly loses the robe and we get things going. Rude tries to psycho out Allen, then throws a clothesline but Jerry ducks and Rude goes flying out of the ring. Allen with some token offense before Rude catches a cross body and turns it into a backbreaker. Flying fist drop by Rick for 2. Rude does a lot of posing in between his moves. Nerve hold by Rick, Allen manages to break free but Rude stays on top with a pair of suplexes. Allen reverses a third suplex, but it does little for him. Rude plants Allen with a dropkick, and is supposed to miss a second one but Jerry forgets to hold onto the ropes and the dropkick actually connects, even though Rude sells it like he missed and Allen sort of stands there confused. Time for Jerry’s comeback. Token baby face offense by Allen and a monkey flip to finish it up. Jerry goes for a second monkey flip but Rude counters with an inverted Atomic Drop. Rick finishes things off with his over the shoulder backbreaker for the submission in 7:13. This really wasn’t much of anything. A stretched out squash for newcomer (at the time) Rude. 1/2*

– Special Report on Royal Rumble 1988 and the Bench Press Record. For those who don’t know, Dino bravo was to set the World’s Bench Pressing record by lifting 712 lbs, but required assistance from his spotter, Jesse Ventura, to make the lift. A clip of the Bomb Angels defeating the Glamour Girls for the Ladies Tag Titles is also shown.

– We follow up with Craig DeGeorge and a special interview with Jesse Ventura, Dino Bravo & Frenchy Martin. Craig questions their claim that Bravo set the new World’s Bench Press Record. Ventura & Bravo swear that Jesse never touched the bar. Martin likely says the same thing in French. That was pointless. (taped 1/26/88 from Hershey, PA @ Hershey Park Arena)

– The third or fourth WrestleMania IV promos airs on the show.

Match #7: The Junkyard Dog v. “The Natural” Butch Reed (w/Slick). From Salisbury, MD and the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, 1/27/88, announcers Gorilla & Bobby doing voiceover work. Gorilla claims they’re in Hershey, PA which was the venue for the Superstars tapings but the banners clearly show this was taped at the Wrestling Challenge tapings in Salisbury, MD. Come on Gorilla, get your stuff together. As things get started all I can keep thinking to myself is how good this could have been 4 years ago in Mid-South. Slick distracts JYD to allow Reed to get the jump, but the Dog takes right over. Some decent bumping by Reed. It’s too bad Butch missed his boat in the WWF after no showing the TV Taping in 1987 where he was to defeat Ricky Steamboat for the IC belt. Honky ended up getting the sport, and well, you know what happened from there. JYD works the arm of Reed and both men clothesline each other, but it looks like JYD wasn’t supposed to hit Reed. Butch half ass sells the clothesline, stays on his feet, and takes over on the Dog. Both guys trade punches, nail each other at the same time and both take bumps. Butch comes back and drops the Dog throat first across the top rope. Some hope spots by the Dog but Reed maintains his control.

Reed nails JYD with a PILEDRIVER but the Dog kicks out on 2! Butch goes up to the top rope but comes down into a punch from the Dog. JYD goes on the offense with the crawling headbutts. Slick gets up on the apron to distract JYD and the referee, and Reed takes the cane of Slick and beats JYD with it repeatedly. Reed just keeps beating on JYD like he’s waiting for something. Oh, nevermind. Here comes Don Muraco jogging to ringside. Better late than never Rock. Muraco hits the ring and goes after Reed. The referee misses Reed with the cane, but he sees Muraco and calls for a DQ with Reed getting the win in 7:13. Muraco chases Reed off with the cane. It wasn’t very good and the finish left a lot to be desired, but Reed tried and I’ve seen JYD look far worse. 3/4*.

– Gorilla promises next week that we’ll hear ALL about what happened at the Main Event. Can’t wait for that! Heenan randomly wanders off the set and into the “producer’s booth”. Bobby promises to finally tell us what happened between Hogan vs. Andre, but Monsoon has his microphone cut. PTW returns next week with a special Friday edition. Man, they’re all over the place on show dates right now.

Final Thoughts: For a show that couldn’t discuss anything that took place at the 2/5 Main Event show, they did a great job of building suspense, dropping hints, and keeping you anticipated. Next week should be a fun payoff show. Not one match even cracked a single star, and there are a couple of matches here that I find even more questionable than usual. I’m wondering if the only reason the Omar Atlas vs. Dusty Wolfe made it to air was for the Terry Garvin banter. There’s a couple of little things I liked here, namely the Warrior/Herc segment and Little Beaver getting put in his place, but the other 1 hour and 55 minutes of the show is a certain skip this week.

Match of the Night: You can’t really call it a match, but for me the Warrior vs. Hercules angle stood out for me. It was the beginning of their strongman feud for WrestleMania, but it was also just a fun little segment that brought the Warrior into the next level of competition. It certainly beat everything else. Gang squashing Beaver comes in second.

I’ll be back with the Friday edition of PTW from 2/19/88 soon, with the fallout from one of the most infamous angles of all time between Andre, Hogan, and twin referees.