Prime Time Wrestling 12/11/86
– Matches are from the 11/16/86 Maple Leaf Gardens show unless specified otherwise.
– Heenan & Monsoon open the show with a rundown of the matches. Heenan offers to manage Gorilla if he will come out of retirement. Monsoon passes.
Match #1: Pedro Morales v. Dino Bravo (w/Johnny Valiant): Bravo has just returned to the WWF and is now a heel w/Valiant as his manager. Dino has yet to bleach his hair but is still able to work a little here. A feeling out process to start, which Morales wins and Dino’s heads for lower grounds to talk to his new manager. Dino gets back in the ring and takes control over Pedro and stomps him to the mat. Valiant gets some cheap shots on Morales while Bravo distracts the referee. Dino takes Pedro out onto the old MLG Ramp and slams Morales, and as cheap as that wood looks, I can’t believe it didn’t break. Pedro comes back with a vengeance and works over Bravo on the floor. Pedro sends Dino into the ring and then works over Johnny Valiant at ringside as well. Morales heads back in the ring and applies his patented Boston Crab on Bravo when the bell rings out of nowhere. The ring announcer states that Pedro has been counted out….which is strange since the referee wasn’t even counting after Bravo rolled back in the ring minutes earlier. Very weird ending. Bravo wins via count out at around 9:00. Pedro attacks Dino after the bout to get his heat back. Rating: Decent bout considering Bravo was in it. *
– Mean Gene interviews Dr. Bob Ponavich about Ricky Steamboat’s injury. The Doc says the Dragon has a crushed larynx and says Steamboat should quit pro wrestling.
– Mean Gene interviews referee Danny Davis. Dangerous Dan continues his heel turn using excuses and showing no remorse for the recent Steamboat injury he was involved in.
Match #2: Frankie Lane v. Jose Luis Rivera: Lane was a name in the Toronto area and the WWF used him frequently when at the MLG. Lane is usually a face but works as a heel here. Frank applies a variation of the short arm scissors which Rivera gets out of with little trouble. Jose frustrates Frankie and Lane teases a walk to the showers. Back inside finally and Rivera works over the cowboy. Lane takes a short cut and sends Jose onto the ramp at ringside. Lane proceeds with your basic heel tactics and goes for a charge in the corner. Rivera sees Frank coming and gets a Brisco sunset flip out of the corner for the win at 9:52. Rating: Nothing Match 1/4*
– Monsoon mentions that Louie Dondero and Terry Garvin have a piece of Steve Lombardi’s contract. Heenan replies, “Yeah they have a piece of him all right!”. WOW I need not say more. Dondero was the long time partner of Pat Patterson.
Match #3: Paul Roma v. Steve Lombardi: Nothing much here. Roma gets some slams in, Lombardi comes back with a cut off and a backbreaker for two. Steve applies a chinlock and Roma begins fighting back so Lombardi sends him to the floor. Roma returns to the ring as a house-o-….okay Roma returns to the ring and moves through the baby face motions with very little fire. Paul hits a powerslam and get the pin at 7:04. Rating: Bad Match, finish was out of nowhere, if they were telling a story it must have been in another language because I didn’t understand it. DUD
– Jesse Ventura interviews WWF “President” Jack Tunney. Jack talks about the hearing where Andre the Giant was reinstated. Tunney mentions Andre didn’t show up for the hearing but Bobby Heenan was. Hmmmmmm, the plot thickens.
– Gorilla questions The Brain about the Andre hearing, but Heenan refuses to answer out of “respect to the WWF President”.
– Jesse Ventura is with a baby face Honky Tonk Man. The WWF has polled the fans to see if they like the Honky Tonk Man. As a shoot Ventura announces the fans hate Honky and thus begins Honky Tonk’s heel turn. The WWF actually did this mail in voting scam as a way to get everyone’s address for their merchandise mailing list.
– Gorilla again questions Heenan about Andre. Monsoon asks about Andre, Heenan replies, “I don’t know how Andre voted for the Honky Tonk Man”. A very funny bit, you’d have to see to really enjoy.
Match #4: The Honky Tonk Man v. Mr. X (Danny Davis): Honky is a full blown face at this point and the crowd is just booing the living crap out of him. The fans hate Honky so much they actually cheer Mr. X. HTM comes to the ring with his original “Honky Tonkin'” Theme, if anyone has that on MP3 please email it my way! Honky works over X’s arm to start. HTM does more actual WRESTLING in the first 2 minutes of this match than he does the rest of his WWF career. And after watching Honky wrestle I will gladly say, I’m happy he turned heel. HTM gives X very little offense and delivers a Memphis like middle rope fistdrop. Honky takes a swing at X but X ducks and backdrops HTM onto the ramp and the crowd is going NUTS for X. They REALLY, REALLY hate the HTM!!! The booing of Honky is so ridiculous even Johnny V. & Gorilla on the mic are pointing it out. Every time Honky gets a blow in, the crowd says Booo…Boooo….Boooo….it’s hilarious! Mr. X cuts Honky off to the crowds delight and goes for a SPRINGBOARD SPLASH!!! but misses. Holy crap Danny Davis was doing springboards in 1986!!! Honky capitalizes with a running clothesline and the shake, rattle ‘n’ roll neckbreaker for the win at 6:47. HTM gets the win and the crowd is booing him like he’s Sgt. Slaughter supporting Iraq. Rating: Match wasn’t much but the crowd interaction was fantastic and makes the watching worthwhile.*
Match #5: Adrian Adonis v. Paul Roma (from 11/19/86 Superstars Taping): Adonis is sporting a purple velvet ring jacket…errr something like a jacket anyway. Adonis has on a pink knitted beret and is using an oxygen mask to breathe “CLEAN AIR” from NYC! Just awesome!!! A huge “FAGGOT” Chant by the fans as the bout starts, Vince claims they’re chanting “Piper”. Not hardly Vince. Adrian misses a charge in the corner and Roma gets in a dropkick and a monkey flip. Roma tries for a second dropkick but misses. Adonis delivers a headbutt and slaps on the sleeper for a quick win at 2:51. Afterwards Adonis crams flowers into Roma’s mouth. Rating: Adonis could work that gimmick like no other. But the match itself was barely there. DUD
– A little off topic but I have the original commercials aired and do you remember the old HOSTESS PUDDING PIES?!? How Cool were they? I seem to remember green Slimer pudding pies when the Real Ghostbusters were big time over.
Match #6: Tito Santana v. Butch Reed: This is early in Reed’s WWF tenure. Reed had a lot of success in the territories, especially Mid South but is now “The Natural” with blond hair of course. Nice solid wrestling by both throughout the bout. Reed gets frustrated and eventually sends Santana to the floor. Tito enters the ring and Reed takes advantage with some cheap shots. Butch gloats to the fans in between moves on Santana. Tito tries a comeback so Reed sends Santana back to the floor. Tito re-enters the ring with a sunset flip for two, Butch cuts Santana off and takes control once again. Tito tries yet another comeback but Reed hits a version of the face buster! Tito can have no more however, and fires up!. Santana slaps on the Figure Four and the bell sounds. Santana believes he has won only to find out the match had went to the full 20:00 Time Limit Draw. After the match Tito calls Reed out and Butch gets in some cheap shots before high tailing it to the back. Rating: Good Mid card match. **3/4
– Monsoon promises the fans he will find out what’s going on with the Andre/Heenan situation as the show ends.
Final Thoughts: Strange they gave Roma a win early on the show then buried him only a few segments later. This was either a dumb move or they were really trying to build Adonis up for his feud with Roddy. The Honky Tonk Man & Andre the Giant segments stole the show. All this plus a 20:00 bout with Reed & Santana. This is a must see PTW episode. Match of the Night: Butch Reed v. Tito Santana
