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Prime Time Wrestling 3/14/88
– Man the opening video is REALLY outdated. Cummon guys, get with the times, it’s 1988, not 1985! It’s Gorilla and Bobby and we’re only 2 weeks away from WrestleMania IV. Monsoon gives Heenan a hard time about his 6-Man match at Mania, Bobby replies with the usual fun responses. These guys make even the most lamest of conversation topics into something fun. Off to action.
Match #1: Jacques and Raymond Rougeau v. “King” Harley Race and “Iron” Mike Sharpe (w/ Bobby Heenan). From Madison Square Garden 2/22/88. Sharpe is subbing for Hercules for whatever reason. Gorilla Monsoon and Alfred Hayes on commentary. The Rougeaus spend the early minutes working the leg of Sharpe. Race finally tags back in and he takes over on Jacques immediately with the piledriver and a knee drop, but Jacques gets his foot on the rope to stop the count. The heels make some tags and get dirty on Jacques. Race with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Race with a belly to belly suplex also gets 2. Sharpe misses an elbow drop and Raymond gets the hot tag. Ray Rougeau is all over both guys, and gets a Sleeper on Sharpe, but Race breaks it up. Now all 4 men in. The Rougeaus reverse double whips and send the heels colliding into each other. Race is knocked from the ring and the Rougeaus land Le Bombe de Rougeau to finish this one in 9:26. Harley hit a lot of his token offense, but the match was nothing outside of that. I give this 3/4* to be kind.
– Gorilla mocks Bobby for having Mike Sharpe on his team. To Bobby’s credit, he doesn’t bury Sharpe. And now, it’s the WWF ON TOUR! They’re in 3 states tomorrow ranging from Texas to Ohio, and the next day, Connecticut. Jesus, what a shit schedule.
Match #2: Koko B. Ware v. Terry Gibbs. From the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita, Kansas, “Superstars” TV Taping 2/16/88. Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, and Jesse Ventura on commentary. “Piledriver” does not make very good entrance music. Koko with some basics, uses his speed, Gibbs eventually puts a stop with a back elbow to the face. Gibbs gets a minute or two to work over Ware, but Koko blocks a turnbuckle smash and starts flapping his wings. Ware comes back with a single backdrop before he lands the Ghostbuster, and a damn good one for what it’s worth, for the win in 3:50. Gibbs was decent as a journeyman wrestler in the late 70’s and early 80’s in places like Puerto Rico, Mid-Atlantic, Florida, and the Mid-South. In the WWF, Gibbs plays a jobber to the stars, and that includes Koko. Both guys did their job well, but Ware’s comeback was really quick and over. For a squash this gets a *
– EDIT: April 30, 2017. WWF Update with Craig DeGeorge. Leave already. We want Mooney. So anyway, this update segment was missing from my original 2014 review that was based on a live version copy of this show. The live version I had of this show was missing 15 minutes of the program. That would be this right here. The new WWE Network version has the missing segment intact, so here it is. We relive Hulkamania being born against the Iron Sheik, followed by a Real American music video, followed by WrestleMania III Hogan/Andre highlights, followed by Andre attacking Hulk, followed by DiBiase buying Andre, followed by the Twin Referee extravaganza, followed by Andre giving DiBiase the belt, followed by the title being stripped, followed by a far too long onstage interview with DiBiase & Andre. This entire Update segment runs a good 15 minutes.
– Vanna White hypes WrestleMania. She gives it her best for the 3 seconds of times she’s given.
Match #3: Sam Houston v. “Dangerous” Danny Davis. From Madison Square Garden 1/25/88. Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan and Alfred Hayes on commentary. These guys are feuding for battle of the top jobber. The feud actually started way back in the fall and they’re just following up on it now. There were a pair of TV matches, first Houston pinned Davis even though Danny had his foot on the ropes, the return match Davis conked Houston with Jimmy Hart’s megaphone for a count out win. If you don’t count the 100 matches they did on the house shows, we can pretend this is the rubber match. Yep, somebody is walking out of here top jobber. Sam Houston is out to “Midnight Rider”. Houston jerks Davis into the ring to get things going and works over the arm of 3D for the next several minutes. Davis ducks a cross body and Houston goes flying to the floor. PTW takes a commercial and Davis takes over in the ring. Davis with the most generic heel offense imaginable. Danny hits a shitty elbow drop and just can’t believe it wasn’t enough for a 3 count. Davis hits a nasty flying clothesline to the throat of Houston but argues with the referee and Sam counters with a small package for the win in 8:00. Davis attacks Houston and Sam clears the ring after the match, but we miss the entire thing for the epic instant replay. This was bad, Houston can have a decent match, but not with Davis. I’m changing my normal rank of DUD here, to CRAP.
Match #4: The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers) v. Barry Horowitz and Steve Lombardi. From the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita, Kansas, “Superstars” TV Taping 2/16/88. Gorilla and Bobby Heenan on inserted commentary. Roma shows off his speed and agility spots with Lombardi, then Powers does more of the same with Horowitz. The Stallions control the match for a lengthy amount of time, before Lombardi cheap shots Powers and takes over. Barry & Steve get a whopping 2 minutes of offense, before a Lombardi and Powers double clothesline spot. Hot tags to Horowitz and Roma follow. Nice dropkick by Roma on Barry, but Steve breaks things up. Roma then dropkicks Lombardi out of the ring. Tag back to Powers, Roma whips Barry off the ropes, drops down, Barry runs over Roma and right into a powerslam from Powers for the finish in 9:50. This was a textbook match, both teams were good at what they needed to do. A simple example of how NOT to make a basic match suck. Match lacked crowd response, but it’s no surprise given the guys involved. I was also disappointed there was no mention of Terry Garvin’s School of Self Defense. Match still gets *
– Special Interview: Craig DeGeorge interviews Hercules and Bobby Heenan up on the stage. The discuss the match with the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania IV. Herc says Warrior has to deal with his power. DeGeorge talks about Warrior breaking the chain. Heenan corrects Craig, he says Warrior was simply holding the chain, Herc was the one who snapped it. I believe this interview was also taped in Wichita at the Superstars Taping.
– WrestleMania IV Report: Bulldogs announce Matilda Returns at WM4! Koko has renamed his finisher the Weasel Buster! Does it get any better? Heenan responds, he’s prepared. We also have to listen to Beefcake suck at promos and Honky Tonk with empty promises of playing a tune on the Barber’s head. Moving onto the title tournament, Randy Savage is ready, and Greg Valentine wants the only title that has eluded him.
Match #5: The Killer Bees (“Jumping” Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair) v. The Islanders (Haku and Tama) w/ Bobby Heenan. From Madison Square Garden 12/26/87. Gorilla Monsoon and Alfred Hayes on commentary. I’m depending on this match to save the show. The Bees dominate the entire first half of the match. The Islanders make plenty of attempts to take over, but the Bees keep staying a step ahead. We go to take a commercial break, and Gorilla does everything but come out and say that the Bees suck and the Bulldogs are better. After the break the Islanders take control. Bobby Heenan interrupts the commentary several times to give his thoughts. Blair reverses a vertical suplex from Tama and makes a hot tag to Brunzell, but the referee misses it thanks to interference from Haku. Blair still manages a cross body on Tama for 2, and this time Brian tags in Brunzell, Haku tagged in as well. Brunzell going bonzo gonzo and hits the DROPKICK on Haku! Tama makes the save. Brunzell applies the Sleeper on Haku next, while Blair chases Tama around ringside and into the ring. Brunzell gets the sleeper hold broken and both he and Haku are down. While the ref gets Blair out of the ring, Tama comes off the second rope with a diving headbutt on Brunzell and puts Haku on top for the win in 10:45. Was expecting more from the island boys but the match was still decent for a show opener or something along those lines. *1/2
– Gorilla shits on the Bees some more, pointing out that the Bulldogs are quicker, stronger, and more determined. Heenan needs to be worried, WrestleMania IV around the corner. Next week on Prime Time, Bobby Heenan announces that they will be in Atlantic City and that he set everything up.
Stay tuned for Airwolf, next on USA.
Final Thoughts: The show itself this week, like most weeks, was throw away. The matches stunk for the most part, and there was even less than usual. Bobby and Gorilla were okay this week, not at their best but still fun. They sure knew how to hype their big shows.
Match of the Night: The Bees and the Islanders, and even that wasn’t exactly thrilling.
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