Prime Time Wrestling 3/7/88
Prime Time seems like it has stabilized back to Monday night. I like this continuity thing.
– Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan back again. Heenan acknowledges that he’s wearing the same clothes as last week. Not because they’re taping two shows at once. On no. It’s because Vanna White fell in love with him in these duds. Heenan with some fun comments about his six-man match at WrestleMania.
Match #1: Hercules (w/ Bobby Heenan) v. Jerry Allen. From the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kansas, “Wrestling Challenge” TV Taping 2/17/88. Gorilla and Alfred Hayes on inserted commentary. Allen was well put together, he got minor pushes in some of the smaller territories under the name Jerry Oske. Allen even defeated the Macho Man Randy Savage for the Southern Title in Memphis. Allen stuck around a while here in the WWF, but never amounted to anything more than a Jimmy Powers or someone like that. Hercules muscles Allen around the ring, but Jerry floats over a slam and hits a dropkick. Allen comes off the ropes with a cross body, but Hercules catches him and dumps him over the top rope and out of the ring. Allen gets rammed into the steel post, then Herc with a backbreaker when Allen gets back inside. Bearhug by Herc, Allen fights his way free but runs into an elbow from Hercules. Some Irish whip reversals lead to Herc clotheslining Allen out of his boots. Herc then locks on the Torture Rack for the submission win after 6:48. Hercules tried to give Allen several hope spots and small comebacks but Jerry kept blowing the spots. Just looked like Allen was unprepared for going on the offense here. Just a long squash 1/2*, could have been better if Allen had handles his cues to go on the offense better.
Match #2: “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan v. “Outlaw” Ron Bass. From Madison Square Garden 2/22/88. Match is joined in progress with Monsoon and Lord Alfred on commentary. Duggan escapes an abdominal stretch but misses a knee drop. Duggan with a small package gets him 2. It’s back and forth with plodding punching and such. Duggan runs over Bass with a tackle, but then grabs a chinlock. Bass stumbles forward and causes Duggan to fall through the ropes to the floor. A short brawl on the floor and they’re right back in the ring. Duggan on the offense, referee gets in between and Duggan shoves the ref. The Outlaw goes outside for his bullwhip “Miss Betsy” and he begins choking Duggan with it, but the referee just stands there and lets it happen! Duggan breaks free and grabs the 2X4, but Bass begins choking him again with Miss Betsy. Bass shoves the ref. Bass continues to choke Duggan with the whip until Hacksaw reaches the board and begins plastering Bass with the board. THE REFEREE HAS YET TO DISQUALIFY ANYONE. Instead Duggan chases Bass backstage and the two men are counted out. Are you frickin serious? Not only do they both knock around the referee, but they blatantly beat the crap out of each other with weapons of choice, and it ends in a double count out? Talk about leniency. Only 6:00 of this 15:00 match is shown, and for that I am thankful. Bad match, but I can go 1/4* for the fact that 9:00 were cut and they got to beat on each other with plunder, if you will.
– UPDATE with Craig DeGeorge: Funny how last week they didn’t show the tournament brackets, and now this week the brackets have changed to the more familiar lineup that would actually take place at WrestleMania IV. The Dibiase/Duggan and Snake/Rude matches get flipped. Andre the Giant comments wrestling Hulk Hogan in the quarter finals. Andre says he will kill Hulkamania. The Hulkster responds, he’s not the champion, but nothing has changed because he still has all his Hulkamaniacs. Hogan says the third time is a charm and he will beat definitively. Hogan claims he himself has never been pinned. The ego is in full effect.
– Vanna White promo for WrestleMania IV
– Special Interview: Craig DeGeorge brings out “Macho Man” Randy Savage to talk about the WrestleMania IV tournament. Savage will have to win 4 times to become the WWF Champion. Macho has respect for Butch Reed, but Savage has a special inspiration named Elizabeth. Out comes Liz to stand by her man. Ooooooh Yeah! Dig that!
Match #3: Bad News Brown v. John Stewart. From the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kansas, “Wrestling Challenge” TV Taping 2/17/88. Gorilla and Bobby on inserted audio. This would be the “Illustrious” Johnnie Stewart of AWA fame, but here he’s just John Stewart, resident jobber, like most of Verne’s roster. Brown jumps Stewart. Gorilla refers to Stewart as “Jimmy Stewart”, not Johnnie. Stewart reverses a whip into the corner but Bad News sidesteps a charge and Stewart goes flying out to the floor. Bad News nails Stewart with a steel chair on the floor. The referees are real lenient on this episode. Stewart gets thrown into the steps, takes a clothesline, and Bad News finishes it off with the Ghetto Blaster after 3:11. Squash, DUD.
– A new poster has been delivered to Gorilla. It’s a poster of Hulk Hogan with the word “ALIVE” written on his chest. This goes against what Heenan has been saying all episode that Hulkamania is dead. Gorilla hits Heenan over the head with the rolled up poster and Bobby sells it like he was hit by a rock.
– Mean Gene promo with Bob Uecker.
Uecker: I Wonder how much Vanna would charge for a vowel?
Mean Gene: Depends on if it’s a “U” or an “I”
– Back in the studio, Heenan is wearing sunglasses, he says Monsoon hit him in the eye with the poster and now he might not be able to wrestle at WrestleMania. The two talk about Heenan’s attorney “Lance”. Bobby says Lance won’t be out of prison for two years.
Match #4: Scott Casey v. Barry Horowitz. From the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kansas, “Wrestling Challenge” TV Taping 2/17/88. Gorilla and Bobby on inserted commentary. Right away Monsoon refers to Barry Horowitz as being from the Terry Garvin school of self defense. On three consecutive lockups, Horowitz gets the best of Casey first with a hiptoss, then an armdrag, finally a bodyslam. On their fourth lockup, Casey responds by hitting all three of those moves in a row. That’s a classic spot from way back, so simple, yet effective. Barry powders and threatens to leave, but decides to come back. Scott on offense short term, Horowitz takes over and hits a nice gut wrench suplex. Horowitz uses an abdominal stretch and a chinlock to wear down Casey, but Scott frees himself and fires back. Casey plants Horowitz with a piledriver, how is that move not a finisher in the WWF? Horowitz tries a clothesline, but Casey with a crucifix finishes the match off. Casey wins in 9:57. This is your basic show opener from beginning to end. The did just enough to get the crowd into things, without doing too much. I don’t know that I’d want to watch it again, but it was fine for what it was. *1/4
Match #5: Jake “The Snake” Roberts v. Dino Bravo (w/ Frenchy Martin). From Madison Square Garden 2/22/88. Joined in progress with Bravo on top of Jake with a chinlock. Jake escapes with a jawbreaker and lands a series of jabs and the short clothesline. Jake calls for the DDT, he hooks it, but Frenchy grabs him from outside. Roberts releases the hold but stays on the offense. Dino tries a backdrop, but Jake counters with a sunset flip for a near fall. The bell sounds and we have a time limit draw. Only 3:30 of a 19:30 match is shows so I can’t really rate this anything more than 1/4*. I think if I saw this entire 20:00 match I would have rated it lower. There’s no way any 20:00 Dino Bravo match can be a positive star rating. Even in this 3:30 of action, half of it was a Bravo chinlock. Jake’s comeback was fun so 1/4* it is, just for the come back.
– Back in the studio, Bobby starts to go on about animals in sports. He says in another sports you don’t see Dogs, Birds, Snakes…….Kodiak Bears. Bobby’s delivery on the silliest things make me LOL. Bobby of course has his issues with Matilda and Frankie.
– Craig DeGeorge interviews Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and the Islanders about the upcoming six-man at WrestleMania. Bobby hasn’t been in the ring in over a year. He doesn’t need to be training for people like the Bulldogs and Koko. Heenan says he has his own dogs, attack dogs, meaning the Islanders.
Match #6: Brady Boone vs. “Iron” Mike Sharpe. From the Spectrum in Philadelphia, 2/6/88. Alfred Hayes and Dick Graham on commentary. The usual Mike Sharpe stalling to start the match. Mike threatens to leave, but he delivers on an even worse threat by returning. Boone with some fast stuff but he misses a charge into the corner and Sharpe takes over. Lots of crappy stuff follows. Boone leapfrogs a backdrop and delivers a rolling reverse cradle with a bridge for 2. Boone tries something that appeared to resemble a dragon screw leg whip, but Sharpe just takes a back bump and it looks stupid. The match goes to the floor and Sharpe tosses Boone into the announce table and then the time keeper table. Boone comes battling back with a kneelift and takes Iron Mike to the corner. The referee forces Boone back, and Sharpe loads his forearm brace. Sharpe tries to use the forearm brace twice but Boone counters. Brady does a back flip off the top rope for NO REASON WHAT SO EVER and barely lands on his feet. A few seconds later and Sharpe blasts Boone with the loaded forearm clothesline to pick up the win in 9:05. That was pretty bad, but exactly what I expected. We had the usual stalling and crappy Mike Sharpe offense up against the king of blown spots Brady Boone. It delivered on every level. DUD at best, though I liked the stiff clothesline Sharpe gave Boone for the finish. Unfortunately, that one move didn’t let me forget the 9 minutes that took place prior.
– Special Interview: Craig DeGeorge interviews Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant from a TV Taping. Andre says since he couldn’t sell the title to DiBiase, then he should still be the WWF Champion. Makes sense to me. Andre says he will pin Hogan for the fourth time. I’m not sure where the third time happened, since we’re only counting Titan years here. DiBiase says he had a taste of being champion, and Jack Tunney ripped him off. Million Dollar Man rips his first round opponent Jim Duggan. DiBiase says he always gets what he wants.
– WrestleMania IV Report with Craig DeGeorge. Donald Trump invites everyone to the event. DeGeorge announces the latest match added to the PPV, the 20-Man Battle Royal! We hear from some of the participants including the Rougeau Brothers, Ron Bass, Bad News Brown, Harley Race, The Hart Foundation, Danny Davis, and The Young Stallions . A funky version of the future Powers of Pain music plays for these interviews. They really recycled the beat for that theme. Robin Leech is also announced as the presenter of the WWF Title at the PPV, a brief promo from Leech follows.
Match #7: Demolition (w/ Mr. Fuji) v. The Young Stallions (Jimmy Powers and Paul Roma). From the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita, Kansas, “Superstars” TV Taping 2/16/88. Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino & Jesse Ventura on commentary. Smash starts off pounding on Roma, but Paul uses some quick maneuvers to dodge smash and take over with an armbar. Young Stallions with some double arm wringer fun, Wild Eyed Southern Boys style. Some quick tags by the Stallions to work the arm of Smash, but Roma gets stuck in Demolition’s corner and Ax tags in. To the surprise of Demolition, the Stallions continue the offense, working on the arm of Ax. Powers ends up in the wrong corner and Demolition take over for a moment. But the Stallions go right back on top of Smash, that is until Ax catches Roma in the back with a kick as Paul was bouncing off the ropes. A commercial break follows and now it’s all Demolition all over Paul Roma. Paul is given some hope spots but he’s shut down every time. Ax slams Roma on the floor, and rolls him back in for Smash. But Smash misses a charge at Roma in the corner and Jim Powers gets the hot tag. Jimmy with a body press on Smash for 2, Powers all over both Demos. Fuji up on the apron but he’s decked by Paul Roma. Jimmy Powers takes Ax to the corner to work him over while referee Dave Hebner gets Roma out of the ring. With Hebner tied up with Roma, Smash sneaks up behind Powers and blasts him with Fuji’s cane. Ax covers for the win in 9:25. Sucked to see Demolition have such a tough time with the Stallions and have to cheat to this degree while being built up for the title run. I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal though. Match was okay, the Stallions did little more than armbars so I can’t give this match a huge rating. *1/4
– Studio chat with Gorilla and Bobby. Heenan knocks something off the desk and says it’s time for him to make some predictions. Again, the delivery of this was just awesome. It was hilarious and came out of nowhere. Heenan says that if Rick Rude is somehow eliminated from the tournament at WrestleMania, then Andre the Giant will win. Heenan holds up the new Andre the Giant t-shirt. A handprint on the front, footprint on the back. Bobby asks Monsoon to put his foot up to compare to Andre’s foot size. Funny stuff.
– After the final break, Gorilla tries talking WrestleMania IV, but Bobby interrupts with a phone call to order some shinpads to block Matilda from biting him. Bobby says Frankie will end up in a bag of Shake-n-Bake. The Brain also claims he has a surprise for next week! Stay tuned!
Final Thoughts: We’re well on the way to WrestleMania IV. The card is finalized, the special guests are finalized, and we’re 3 weeks out from the big event. Lots of Mania 4 hype in between the action, plenty of Gorilla and Bobby banter goodness. Heenan just spouts things out of nowhere, and every line is a gem. The matches this week ranged from watchable to complete crap. A mixed bag for sure. Bless the producer who decided to give us Ron Bass vs. Duggan and Dino Bravo vs. Jake in short form, that could have been disastrous. Dino Bravo in a 20 minute match? Wow, remind me NEVER to review that MSG!
Match of the Night: Casey vs. Horowitz or Demos vs. Stallions, take your pick. Both were solid and basic matches that would be used early on a card. Nothing good enough to sit through again, nothing too exciting, but neither match made me cringe.
