Prime Time Wrestling (10/9/86)
– Hosting as usual Monsoon & Heenan for this special Thursday night episode. All matches are from MSG 9/22/86.
Match #1: Billy Jack Haynes v. Bob Orton (w/Jimmy Hart): Jimmy Hart makes his first appearance as Cowboy’s manager. Haynes bumps Orton around to start and Cowboy takes a crazy bump to the floor. Back inside Haynes slows things down keeping Orton on the mat. Orton gets in a cheap shot and tries for a top rope Vader bomb but Haynes gets his knees up. Haynes hits a forearm from the middle rope but only gets two. Billy Jack locks in the full nelson but throws Orton down after being distracted by Jimmy Hart. Haynes sends Orton to the corner but runs into the Ace’s knee. Seconds later Orton trips up Haynes and covers him while hooking the tights to get the pin at 9:28. I saw way more of Billy Jack’s ass than I ever wanted to. Rating: Not too bad *1/2
– Heenan makes an excuse for Orton cheating, coming up with a reason why his foot was on the rope, only it wasn’t. Goes to show you they didn’t even watch the matches they were talking about. BUSTED BOBBY
Match #2: The Islanders v. The Moondogs: This is very early on in the Islanders time as a team. Tama is called TOMA and Haku hasn’t grown his beard in yet. Tama starts off with fancy foot work on Spot. Haku follows that up using his power on Rex. The Islanders begin to work over Spot at this point. Rex comes in and pitches Tama to the concrete. Back inside, Rex gets a version of the Hot shot on Tama and Spot throws Tama back onto the floor. MD Rex gets a delayed suplex on Tama but Haku breaks up the count. Spot works over Tama with a chinlock. Rex comes in and hits a powerslam for two. Tama gets the tag but the ref misses it and forces Haku out of the ring. Spot goes back to a chin lock on Tama. The Islanders get another tag but the ref misses it again and the Dogs hit a double clothesline on Tama. Rex goes for a middle rope splash but lands on Tama’s knees and Haku is FINALLY tagged in. Haku goes to town on the Dogs and sends Spot to the floor. Haku slams Rex and tags in Tama who nails a top rope splash for the win at 13:14. Rating: Some of the Moondogs best work, still only *
– Ken Resnick is standing by with Slick & The Iron Sheik. This is back when Slick had a creepy ghetto trash beard. Slick talks about his stable which he got from Fred Blassie.
– We get footage of Roddy Piper after having his Piper’s Pit destroyed and his leg injured. Piper, on a crutch completely demolishes the Flower Shop set with a baseball bat. Piper swings the bat so hard he actually breaks it. Ever notice how cheaply made the sets were, they just folded up, even the desks and such.
Match #3: “Mr. Electricity” Steve Regal v. Jose Luis Rivera: In Progress. I believe this is Regal’s WWF debut. Regal was better known in the AWA as a former tag team champion with Jimmy Garvin. We start off with Regal working Rivera over with a chin lock. Jose Luis finally gets out and Regal goes for a backdrop. Rivera telegraphs it and nails Regal. Jose follows up with a dropkick for two. Regal takes a wild bump into the corner and Rivera hits a backdrop. Rivera gets two on a bodyslam. Rivera hits the ropes but runs into Regal’s belly to belly suplex for the finish at 4:38. Rating: It was In Progress, 3:00 of it was a chin lock. 1/4*
Match #4: SD Jones v. Mr. X: We join this match about 3 minutes in progress. X was played by Danny Davis. X tries an elbow on SD but learns that Jones is black, and all black wrestlers have really hard heads. Both men miss charges into the corner. A nothing match, SD wins it with a standing headbutt off the middle rope at 5:06. Rating: Absolutely nothing, but short. DUD
Match #5: Tito Santana v. Harley Race (w/Bobby Heenan): Santana grounds Race to start but the King eventually pitches Tito to the floor. Harley goes to work on Tito outside. Race breaks the count and comes back out to get Tito, only Santana now works over the King on the outside. Santana flips Race back into the ring and stomps the hand of Bobby Heenan. Harley attempts a suplex, but Tito reverses it for a two count. Tito misses an elbow drop and the King gets a belly to belly suplex for two. The King nails a knee drop and an elbow drop for two. Race grabs a headlock and Tito sends him off. The two men crack heads and Race falls to the floor. Back inside Race tries for something off the top but Santana presses him off the top. Tito tries a figure four but Harley rakes the eyes. Race gets a piledriver but misses a head butt! Santana gets Race in a sleeper and puts Harley out momentarily. Heenan distracts Tito and Race is back up and tries for an atomic drop but Tito reverses for one of his own. Tito tries a backdrop but Race boots Santana. Harley tries for a top rope head butt but Tito again gets out of the way. Santana tries the Figure four but is distracted by Heenan, which allows Harley to roll him up with the hook of some tights for the win at 12:48. Rating: Very Good match **1/2
– Jesse Ventura interviews the Hulkster. Never understood why Hogan worked with Paul Orndorff as much as he did but never got his last name right. Paul ORN-DOFF DUDE!
Match #6: The Hart Foundation v. The Rougeau Brothers: Very early on in the Rougeaus’ time with the WWF. They were still getting a decent little push upon their debut. The Rougeaus get the best of the Hart’s early on. Bret is actually sent out of the ring on 3 different occasions. Jacques can’t knock the Anvil off his feet so he dares Neidhart to try and knock him down. Anvil charges right into a slam and Jacques applies a Boston Crab very quickly. The Hitman is in to break up the submission hold, and the Hart’s hit the Demolition Decapitation finisher on Jacques for a two count. Jacques is thrown to the floor where the Hitman slams him into the apron. Inside the ring the Harts double team and work over Jacques some more. Jacques tries to amount some offense but misses a reverse body block. The Hitman gets a back breaker but misses a middle rope elbow and Raymond gets the hot tag. Ray throws the Harts into each other and puts a sleeper on the Anvil, which the Hitman breaks up. Jacques gets knocked to the floor and the Harts go to work on Raymond. The ref gets the Anvil out of the ring while Jacques comes out of nowhere with a sunset flip on Bret for the win at 13:50. Rating: 2 Good matches in a row **1/4
– Gorilla & Heenan continue to argue about if Heenan has a “doll” or not. Heenan says he will produce his figure next week.
Final Thoughts: Most of the garbage was In Progress, the two very good matches were complete. Thumbs up here. Match of the Night: Tito Santana v. Harley Race, Harts vs. Rougeaus wasn’t too bad either.
