Prime Time Wrestling (9/30/86)
– Your hosts, as usual, The Gorilla and the Brain. All matches on this show are from the 9/6/86 Boston Garden Event.
Match #1: Bob Orton v. Cousin Luke: Orton has recently joined forces with Adrian Adonis and is sporting a pink Cowboy hat. Luke has had several gimmicks in the business, none of them ever gained enough fame to remember however. Orton tries an attack on the Hillbilly but Luke has none of it. Luke goes for a bear hug early on but the Ace Cowboy gets out. Orton uses some dirty chicanery to take over for a few moments. Luke amounts a come back but the crowd doesn’t care. Luke nails a hip toss but runs into Cowboy’s knee in the corner. Orton covers for the quick win at 3:57. Rating: Very short, DUD
-Back from commercial and we are shown one of the most infamous segments in WWF history as Adrian Adonis’ “Flower Shop” Interview Segment goes head to head with Roddy “Piper’s Pit”. Piper returned from some time off to see that Adonis had taken the place of the Pit and Roddy wanted his talk segment back, so the duo were to compete to see who had the better “talk show”. Adonis’ guest was Bob Orton, while Piper’s guest was Don Muraco. Orton runs down Piper which brings Roddy over to the Flower Shop set. Roddy removes Ace’s pink cowboy hat and replaces it with a ladies hat. Hot Rod plays with Adonis’ breast before heading back to the Piper’s Pit set. Roddy brings out Don Muraco as his guest. Adonis & Orton come over to Piper’s Pit but Piper gives Adonis a bra and says “see ya later”. Great Stuff! Adonis returns and Piper places a giant pair of panties on Adrian’s head. Piper & Muraco begin to argue. Piper calls Muraco fatso, Adonis asks who Piper was calling fatso, Roddy replies “take your pick”. Orton & Muraco attack Piper, while Adonis beats on Roddy’s leg with a hair. The heels tear down Piper’s Pit as Jimmy Hart watches on. This entire segment was 10 minutes long and was just outstanding. This got so much heat and lives up to this day as being one of the best non wrestling segments in WWF history.
Match #2: Sivi Afi v. “Duke of Dorchester” Pete Doherty: Consequently enough Gorilla Monsoon says that Afi wants to be called “TAMA” now, this is just of course a month or so after King Tonga changed his name to “HAKU”. Funny thing is once the Islanders were paired up, it would be the Tonga Kid who would be named Tama, not Sivi Afi. Strangely here it is hinted that Sivi Afi was supposed to originally play the part of Tama in the Islanders, luckily he did not. Chops galore by Sivi to start. Afi applies a nerve hold for a moment, and a dropkick sends Doherty to the floor. Sivi misses a blind charge and Doherty takes control. Duke comes charging in and misses a move of his own, landing on his head. Afi comes back with a gut wrench suplex and a high cross body block for the win at 7:00. Rating: Sivi Afi + Pete Doherty = BAD MATCH, 1/4*
– Ken Resnick interviews John Studd & King Kong Bundy who are just huge, huge men.
Match #3: The Hart Foundation v. The American Express (Mike Rotunda & Dan Spivey): Upon Rotunda’s return from Florida the WWF gave him his old team gimmick back with a slightly altered team name and stuck him with Dan Spivey, who is replacing Barry Windham. The Express get the best of the Hitman early on. The Anvil is tagged in and Spivey & Rotunda work over his leg. We’re 10 minutes into the bout before the heels cut Rotunda off. The Harts hit the Demolition’s Decapitation move for two. Anvil gets a front face lock on Rotunda while Spivey chases Bret around the ring for what seems like a 5k run. The Harts throw Mike to the floor but Spivey posts the Anvil to give Rotunda time to get back in the ring. Mike gets a 2 count with a sunset flip but Neidhart cuts him right back off and goes back to the front face lock. Rotunda makes the tag, not once , but twice and the referee misses it both times. Spivey come in anyway and throws the Harts into each other. Spivey gets a bulldog on Bret but the Anvil breaks up the pin attempt as the bell sounds. We have a 20:00 draw and the crowd is pissed. Rating: They told a good story but the finish was a little questionable. **
Match #4: Pedro Morales v. Rene Goulet: Rene stalls but Pedro finally gets his hands on him and works on Goulet’s arm. Rene finally finds a way to send Morales to the floor. Goulet keeps Pedro on the floor for a while but eventually lets him back in. Goulet begins to go for the Scorpio claw, but that move never gets it done anymore, so he second guesses it and applies his new nerve hold which Gorilla calls “Dreaded French Croissant Crunch” or something like that. Apparently that doesn’t get it done either as Morales comes back with a back drop and an atomic drop for two. Pedro whips Goulet into the corner and Rene does the Ric Flair flip over to the apron but misses something from the top. Pedro takes advantage of Goulet and does a very sloppy roll up on Rene for the win at around 11:00. Rating: This was supposed to make people WANT to attend House Shows?!? 1/2*
– Ken Resnick interviews a heel Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Jake puts over his interview segment, The Snake Pit. TRUST ME, it’s good.
Match #5: Tag Champions The British Bulldogs v. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/Slick): Ahhh, look at the anti-Russian heat as the crowd fills the ring with garbage as Nikolai sings. Smith gets the best of the Iron Sheik early on but Sheik not only does a drop down, but a LEAP FROG BY THE IRON SHEIK!! In comes Dynamite who catches Sheik’s boot and goes to work on the Iranian. Iron Sheik gets a cut off on Dynamite and quickly throws him to the outside. Back inside Volkoff is tagged in and he levels Dynamite with a knee. Volkoff tries another one but Dynamite rolls out of the way and into his corner to tag in Smith. Davey Boy gets the hot tag and goes to work on the heels. Smith locks Volkoff in a bear hug until Sheik makes the break. Smith now applies a bear hug on Sheik for his troubles. Volkoff breaks the bear hug this time to return the favor to Sheik. Volkoff tags in Sheik who gets a gut wrench suplex and slaps on the CAMEL CLUTCH on Davey Boy. Dynamite has had enough and breaks the hold. Smith gets a small package on Sheik but Nikolai turns the Iranian over to be on the top. The Kid comes back in and rolls Smith back on top in the cradle for the pin at 7:00. Bulldogs get a pinfall win here. Rating: Very short and painless, they get *
– After a huge build up to seeing video footage of Gorilla Monsoon “the worst wrestler in the world”, instead we are shown a clip of Hulk Hogan beating down Heenan from WrestleMania 2. Monsoon calls Heenan the worst wrestler ever and Heenan goes nuts.
Final Thoughts: All that build up for nothing. Not that I expected for Heenan to make an ass of Monsoon, but still. These matches were the under card matches from a “B” House Show so they’re much better than I expected. It goes without saying, the Piper/Adonis segment was the best part of the program.
Match of the Night: The Hart Foundation v. The US Express
