Legacy Review- From the Vault
WrestleFest '88
July 31, 1988 from Milwaukee County Stadium in Milwaukee, WI
Commentary: Post-production rotating
Before WWF made it to the first Summerslam in late August, they decided to put on one more old school style summertime outdoor stadium show. Milwaukee County Stadium was first home to the Braves in their 12 year stop between Boston and Atlanta, then the semi-expansion (it's a long story) Brewers until the opening of Miller Park in 2001. It's a huge, Wrestlemania sized 15 match card they're putting on tonight too. Every title is on the line, and the main event will be the absolutely final one on one confrontation between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. The matches on this show were later chopped up and gradually shown on Prime Time Wrestling, the weekly show that was more a "compilation" show, and there was also a 2 hour edited Coliseum Video release. Because of that all the commentary was recorded off the tape in the Stamford post-production studios and will rotate around. Thanks again to the WWE Vault lads both for making this complete show available and for putting the matches back in original card order.
We start off with a classic Stamford green screen studio intro from Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes and Superstar Billy Graham and lots of piped in crowd noise. As is natural for WWF they set everything up to look as close to normal TV as possible. The ring is set up roughly over home plate to be close to the crowd in that section. Wrestlers make their entrance from the dugout area as they should for baseball stadium shows.
The Big Boss Man def Scott Casey in 4:15- Boss Man, formerly Big Bubba Rogers, made his WWF debut in the spring after spending his early years in JCP and Mid-South/UWF, mostly as the bodyguard for the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette, and he stayed a heel after coming over to WWF. As a big guy, much larger than he would later be in his underrated peak years as a worker, he was already being groomed to be a fresh Big Man opponent for Hogan. Mooney and Hayes are on the call for this one. Boss Man takes his sweet time before the match showing off his various law enforcement implements before we finally get going. Boss Man easily wins the first lockup so Casey tries to dodge around him. Casey actually gets a bit, cranking an arm wringer that Boss Man has to eye rake out of, then skinning the cat when Boss Man tries to toss him out. That leads to another arm wringer. Off the ropes Boss Man scoops him up into a backbreaker. Boss Man focuses on the back after that. Bear hug. Casey tries to bell ring out but Boss Man hangs on. Finally he bites Boss Man to get free. Who's the heel here? Casey slides under and puts a sleeper on with some difficulty. Boss Man easily gets free of that, but then runs into Casey's boot with a crazy delayed sell. Off the ropes again Boss Man (barely) hits the Boss Man Slam and it's over. Pretty much a jobber squash, but the crowd is definitely into things early. After the bell Boss Man does the night stick beatdown, but only drops his cuffs on Casey's chest instead of putting them on as he often did in these early days to really get over as a heel. 3/4*
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def Hercules in 9:37- The greatest commentary team of all time, Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, take over for this one. Heenan isn't out with his wrestlers most of the show because he has a match toward the end. Monsoon mentions the crowd and Heenan quickly quips the Brewers are lucky to get 60 people in here. Heenan does sound like he's in a closet though. Very bad audio mix for the postproduction commentary. Lots of posturing before the initial rough lockup. Monsoon mentions Beefcake is challenging for the IC title again at Summerslam. That will end up changing between when this aired on Prime Time and Summerslam actually happening. Beefcake works a headlock. Speed run and neither guy seems to know what to do with it, settling on a slugfest. A jumping elbow to the head from Beefcake sends Herc out to the floor. Usual recovery stalling follows. Another headlock from Beefcake. Herc tries a corner cheap shot but Beefcake blocks it and gives Herc some buckle shots. Atomic drop. Herc uses a tights pull to pull Beefcake out to the floor. Snap mare from Herc and we have a small clip, I think because of a Prime Time commercial break, into a chinlock. Beefcake's comeback is cut off by a knee to the gut. Another Herc snap mare and he drops an elbow. Very delayed cover for 2. Another chinlock and we go to arm drops. Full Beefcake comeback time. Back elbow in the corner. Clothesline. Beefcake calls for the sleeper, but goes for more punches instead. Herc pulls Beefcake head first into the top turnbuckle. Herc goes for the full nelson. Beefcake blocks it being fully locked in, runs him into the corner, and slaps on the sleeper. Herc tries to get free, so Beefcake pushes him into the corner, rolls him up, and gets the pin. Dead simple match layout with not much effort happening, but the end run wasn't terrible. *
The Fabulous Rougeaus def The Killer Bees in 13:59- It took longer than I remembered, but the Rougeaus have finally turned heel. You can tell by the tiny US flags they carry into the ring, not just the crowd reaction. Weird long tights look for the Bees tonight instead of their usual trunks. The Mooney/Hays/Graham team return to commentary, I'm pretty sure they were the team for the Coliseum Video release version of this show. Brunzell and Raymond start. Raymond immediately grabs the ropes off a whip and bails to the floor to stall. After a couple of headlock/headscissors exchanges Brunzell takes Raymond down with a flying headscissors, but toward the wrong corner and Raymond can tag out while laying on the mat. Horrible tag tactics there from a tag veteran. Jacques wants Blair to tag in and he does. After some feeling out they trade some hammerlocks. Blair gets an arm takedown. Speed run and Jacques hits a monkey flip. An insincere handshake offer follows. Left handed and everything. Another speed run and Jacques flips over Blair. While he's celebrating that Blair takes him down with a clothesline. Jacques quickly rolls around into his corner and tags out. Now that was quality tag team tactics. Raymond uses a rope break to get a leg takedown on Brunzell. The Rougeaus take turn working on Brunzell's leg. Brunzell counters a Raymond backdrop attempt and tags out. Now Blair works on Raymond's leg. Classic wishbone spot from the Bees. Blair tries a Boston crab but Raymond gets to the ropes before it's on. Another tactical muff from the Bees as Blair lets Raymond tag out. Jacques amusingly tries to stretch Raymond's sore legs out for him, allowing Blair to roll him up for 2. Drop toe hold from Jacques. After a bit of struggle on the mat Jacques goes for another one. Blair blocks it and hits his own. The Bees start cranking away on Jacques' leg. Blair puts on nearly a full spinning toe hold, then after a long fight gets the Boston crab on. Raymond pushes the bottom rope out with his foot, allowing Jacques to get a break. Raymond tags in and gets a Boston crab on Blair. Blair counters into a cradle for 2. He gets back on Jacques' knee, then turns him over and puts a full nelson on. Raymond distracts and Jacques pops Blair in the back of the head. Abdominal stretch from Jacques, which Raymond uses to hit a kick to the gut for 2. The Rougeaus continue to work ref Joey Marella to keep Blair from mounting a comeback. Raymond tries for a corner monkey flip but Blair blocks it and hits an inverted atomic drop. Tag to Brunzell! He unloads on Jacques, including hitting the corner monkey flip. Backdrop. Double noggin knocker for the Rougeaus. Brunzell puts a figure four on! It's submission hold bingo in this match, not that I'm complaining. Raymond sneaks in and breaks it up. Brunzell atomic drops Jacques into the Bees corner. Brunzell hits the dropkick! That was, I kid you not, his finisher. DONNYBROOK! Raymond punches Brunzell down into a Jacques cover and that gets the pin. Decent tag stuff. The Rougeaus looked far superior here, the Bees did not look good at all. And this would turn out to be the final major match for the Bees as a team. They were broken up soon after this and neither made a significant impact in WWF again. **1/2
Bad News Brown def Bret "Hitman" Hart in 6:26- This is coming out of the Wrestlemania 4 battle royale, where Brown ambushed Bret at the end to win, then Bret got mad and destroyed Brown's winner's trophy. That was a face turn for Bret, and it was intended to be the start of a singles push for him but as we all know it wouldn't stick yet and he was already slowly starting to team back up with Anvil again. We're starting to get into sunset now. No music for Bret or the Hart Foundation yet. Bret can't find a ring attendant to take his sunglasses so he tosses them away. I should note regular sunglasses, he didn't have the custom ones yet. Bell rings and immediately Brown hides in the ropes in the corner. Lockup after that and Brown to the shock of no one does not clean break. Buckle shots with classic Bret sells. Bret tries a floatover in the corner but doesn't get high enough and they have to improv a bit, but do it well. These guys were very familiar with each other as they had a huge feud back in their Stampede days, when Brown was Bad News Allen. Bret hiptosses Brown out of the corner. Slam/elbow drop combo. Gut stomp. He scrapes Brown across the top rope and drops another elbow. Corner whip and Brown gets a boot up on Bret. Brown goes up top. Bret pops up and slams him off! Classic Bret goldbricking. The elbow off the second rope hits for 2. Snap suplex from Bret. Legdrop for 2. Bret goes for a backbreaker but Brown eye rakes him. Why in all the years after did no one ever think of doing that counter again? Bret reverses a corner whip, but Brown pops out with a clothesline. He goes for the Ghetto Blaster but Bret ducks it! He backdrops Brown over the top to the floor! BRET PLANCHA! That was a HUGE move in 1988. Back in Bret drops another elbow. Brown reverses a whip but Bret flat runs him over with a crossbody. Full speed impact there. Sunset flip from Bret for 2. The backbreaker hits this time. Punch to the gut and Bret rolls Brown up. Brown reverses it, grabs a handful of tights and gets the pin! Anvil runs in to lead block for Bret, then the Harts beat Brown down a bit before he bails. Good stuff there. It started a little rough but Bret visibly got more comfortable as it went and they were going damn nice in the second half. Brown's a guy I've become a fan of as I've gotten older, I need to check out more of his pre-WWF work. ***1/4
Before his defense Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart join Mean Gene on the interview stage. All the usual things are said.
WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def The Honky Tonk Man (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) by DQ in 4:38- Honky hit one year on his improbable title reign at the start of June, and this show actually represents a major historical mark in his reign. By my calculations it's on the very day of this show that he tied Pedro Morales' single reign record at 425 days. If he can squeak away one more time the record will be his. Hayes tries to recreate Duggan's HOOOOOOOO and, just.....no. Not even close. About as bad as me trying to do a Ric Flair WOOOOOO, which I'll admit has always eluded me. As usual Duggan wants to GO and Honky wants to stall. Duggan finally catches him in the ring and pounds away on him. Mounted punches from Duggan. Big delayed Honky flop. Now buckle shots for Honky. The crowd's counting to 10 so much it's like a reverse Royal Rumble. Another big shot and Honky goes to the floor. Duggan reaches down and gives the heels a double noggin knocker. Honky catches him coming back in the ring. Hart chokes Duggan with the bottom rope behind Hebner's back. Throat shots from Honky. Duggan blocks a buckle shot and goes into comeback mode. Back elbow. Duggan signals for the 3 point stance, but Honky begs off so Duggan kicks him instead. Clothesline. Now he gets in the 3 point stance. Hart grabs Duggan's leg and Hebner quickly calls for a DQ. If you've seen one Honky IC title defense you've seen them all. 1/2*
Honky swings at Duggan with his guitar but Duggan ducks! That was better than anything in the match. Duggan chases the heels off with the 2x4, then chases them down and pulls Hart back in the ring. Honky follows and loads up another guitar shot attempt. Duggan pushes Hart into Honky! Honky dropped the guitar and it fell right on Hart's head! Ouch. Completely unintentional, but that had to have hurt. Duggan is officially announced as the winner by DQ, and to celebrate he destroys Honky's guitar with his 2x4. It's OK, Honky gets them from the same mass production factory Jeff Jarrett will later use.
The Powers of Pain def The Bolsheviks in 6:47- The POP had just jumped over from JCP, and in the middle of a huge feud with the Road Warriors no less. They came into WWF as faces after being heels in JCP and were already getting mixed up with tag champs Demolition in a natural battle of face painted teams. The POP run in and we're off with our first jump start of the night. Double clothesline on Zhukov and the POP pose while Graham practically has an orgasm over their look. Likely channeling Vince with that too. Slow reset with Barbarian and Volkoff in the ring. We get some power lockup standoffs. Volkoff tries some shoulderblocks with no one moving. Commentary has a laugh over Barbarian telling Graham before the match that they're from "none of your business". That's just down the road from Parts Unknown. Zhukov tags in and Barbarian runs him over. Powerslam from Barbarian for 2. Another reset with Volkoff and Warlord. Volkoff wants a test of strength and Warlord goes for it. Zhukov provides an assist off the top rope behind Marella's back, but it doesn't help much. Zhukov tries again and this time Warlord maneuvers so he hits Volkoff. Zhukov takes some shots in the face corner. Dodge and Barbarian posts his shoulder. That lets the Russians get some token offense in. The crowd gets distracted by something. Double clothesline from Barbarian and tag to Warlord. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! The POP hit Zhukov with the running powerslam/headbutt off the top rope combo and it's over. A squash for the newbies over an expendable low card team to get them going, but not a particularly impressive one. WWF will quickly discover there's not a lot of "there" there with the POP. 1/2*
Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart def "Leaping" Lanny Poffo in 2:34- Poor Anvil was left twisting in the wind during Bret's attempted singles run as he just wasn't cut out to be a singles star. Poffo (Randy Savage's real life brother, never mentioned on WWF TV) had been with the company for years as a lowcarder but would soon be featured much more as a wrestler and manager after being repackaged as the Genius. Both guys are in a weird tweener state where they're transitioning but not fully converted, Anvil from heel to face and Poffo from face to heel. Case in point, Anvil tries to jump before the bell but Poffo was ready for him. Slam from Poffo and he goes up to the second rope. He tries for a short moonsault (he was doing that years before anyone else in the WWF) but Anvil gets his knees up. And gives us a classic Anvil laugh after. Anvil's definitely working this match as a heel despite helping Bret earlier. He drops Poffo on the top rope. More clubbing blows and he demands Poffo to "GET UP!". He bites Poffo! Anvil is furious at the lack of fight he's getting. Poffo finally swings back and tries a sunset flip. Anvil cuts that off. Corner shoulderblocks. Anvil sets up and goes for a corner avalanche. Poffo dodges and gets some more shots in, but then runs right into an Anvil powerslam. That gets the pin. Squashy McSquashiness. 1/4*
WWF Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) (w/Elizabeth) def "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) in 14:52- Since Hogan and Andre are main eventing this is getting the classic pre-intermission semi-main slot. This is of course a rematch of the finals of the WM 4 tournament where Savage won the title. Without the constraints of the tournament these guys are fully capable of putting on a classic. We join the match after entrances are nearly fully completed. Virgil wanders over and annoys Elizabeth while the guys jockey in the ring. Savage then notices and you KNOW how he's going to react to anyone being within 15 feet of Elizabeth. While Savage is jawing at Virgil DiBiase hits him with an ex handle off the apron. Back in DiBiase pounds away. Back elbow. Corner chops. You can tell DiBiase was never an NWA/JCP guy by how weak those are. Savage comes off the ropes with a clothesline. Corner whip and back elbow. A kneelift sends DiBiase out to the floor. Virgil earns his pay blocking Savage and helping DiBiase up. But then Savage waffles DiBiase as soon as he gets back on the apron, frustrating DiBiase more. Back in DiBiase tries a kick but Savage blocks it. Spin into an atomic drop, which sends DiBiase over the top and back out to the floor. DiBiase takes a while out there and Savage holds the ropes open beckoning him back in. Back in DiBiase gets back on offense. He tries a sunset flip but Savage fights it off. Another clothesline and DiBiase begs off, then uses that to tights pull Savage to the floor. Elizabeth tries to help but Hebner flat yells at her to "GET OUT OF THERE!". DiBiase runs Savage into the tiny timekeeper's table. That thing's barely big enough to hold the bell. DiBiase continues to work Savage over back in. Savage comes off the ropes at 100 MPH and DiBiase clotheslines him for 2. Savage blocks a buckle shot and gives DiBiase one, but on the other side runs into DiBiase's boot. DiBiase gives Savage elbows to the throat on the apron. Double ax handle off the second rope from DiBiase. He takes forever and finally covers for 2. Backbreaker from DiBiase for 2. Savage blocks and hits a suplex. Both guys slug it out on their knees with Savage winning. Big Savage crossbody for 2. DiBiase pops up with a clothesline for 2. He tries to ground Savage with a chinlock. We go to arm drops and Savage powers back up. They get into a top wristlock fight and DiBiase possibly pulls hair to get Savage back down in a chinlock. More arm drops. Savage grabs DiBiase's hair to pull himself back up! He runs DiBiase into the top turnbuckle with a SPECTACULAR delayed flop from DiBiase. I'm always a sucker for those. But again Savage is cut off, this time with a punch to the gut from DiBiase. More corner chops. Corner dodge and Savage runs knee first into the top turnbuckle! Time for some classic Savage hurt leg selling, he was one of the best ever at that. DiBiase tries some spinning toe holds but Savage pushes him off into the corner. Another go at the toe holds and this time Savage pushes DiBiase so hard he goes 360 over the top rope to the floor! DiBiase goes up top. Savage catches him with a punch to the gut! Savage slugs back and DiBiase begs off again. Buckle shots for DiBiase. Savage is, naturally, still selling the leg by the way. Another good DiBiase flop and Savage covers for 2. Savage leaping clotheslines DiBiase over the top rope. Now he goes up top. The double ax handle hits. Savage says that's it and goes up again. Virgil gets on the apron and tries to shake the rope. Savage hops down and grabs him. DiBiase tries to ambush but Savage dodges it! Roll up for a long 2! That easily could have been the finish. DiBiase counters a backdrop attempt. Million Dollar Dream! Savage starts to fade, but then smartly falls sideways into the ropes to break the hold. Genius level ring awareness. Virgil gets a chair and hits Savage in the face with it! DiBiase had Hebner distracted. Cover. Savage kicks out! Fistdrops from a now very frustrated DiBiase at Savage still fighting. Savage counters a slam attempt into a Paul Smackage and gets the pin to retain! Great stuff, more on the level you'd expect than their WM match, but not *quite* upper echelon for me. Postmatch beatdown shenanigans follow with Savage having to rescue his belt from being stolen. During the whole victory celebration that follows Savage still sells the knee. ***3/4
Curt Hennig def Terry Taylor in 4:52- Not one, but two recent WWF signees here. Former AWA World champ and future Mr. Perfect Hennig is making his WWF debut after shrewdly using WWF negotiations the past year plus as a real life backstage ploy to keep the AWA World title. Taylor had spent his whole career in various southern territories to this point, and had left JCP early in the year after seeing how his fellow former UWF wrestlers were being treated. He had a stop off in dying WCCW in the interim. This is in a short gap after his debut but before he was saddled with the all time awful Red Rooster gimmick. Both guys get jobber entrances. This match was cut out of the Coliseum release and never shown on TV, so we're doing a bit of time travel in the commentary booth as we're joined by Michael Cole and Mick Foley. The scratch WWE logo has also popped up. I think this long lost match was finally released as part of a Mr. Perfect DVD set when WWE was doing a bunch of those pre-streaming era. Lockup and Hennig hits a hiptoss while Foley pulls the curtain back and says both these guys were contenders for the Mr. Perfect gimmick. In fact, I think this was the very tryout match to see who fit it better. Another lockup and Hennig gets an armdrag. Taylor does....something that Hennig bumps off of. Hiptoss and armdrag from Taylor, then he dropkicks Hennig to the floor. Back in they do a headlock/headscissors exchange. Shoulderblock from Taylor, and he takes advantage of Hennig rolling right back up to grab a headlock. Another shoulderblock and Hennig counters another headlock with a back suplex. They're keeping it dead ass simple so far, it's almost like a training match. He pounds away on Taylor's back. Taylor counters a hiptoss into a backslide for 2. Kneelift from Hennig as the crowd gets distracted again by something going on at the top of the stadium. Not that this match has deserved to hold their attention. Sleeper from Hennig. Taylor jawbreakers free. He fakes Hennig out with a crossbody, waits and hits it for 2. A corner punch results in a pretty classic Hennig oversell. Hennig pops out of the corner with a running forearm, almost Taylor's old fivearm finisher (which knowing Hennig might have been a deliberate rib), and that gets the pin. That was a bit of a mess. I don't know if they were instructed to keep it dead simple or what, but it didn't do either guy, both normally great workers, any favors at all. It's easy to see why this stayed locked in the vault until being put out as a historical curio on Perfect's DVD set. A side note on that, Cole and Foley's commentary is excellent, largely because it's all real life and no kayfabe since they did it so long after. DUD
Jake "The Snake" Roberts and "Ravishing" Rick Rude double countout in 15:44- This is a WM 4 tournament first round rematch, and has turned out to be one of the big feuds of the summer, with Rude openly going after Roberts' wife Cheryl. The match is JIP'd with Roberts attacking Rude during intros. Rude tries to run and we have a chase around the ring. Roberts hits a gutbuster in the ring and Rude escapes back out to the floor. The main Coliseum commentary team of Mooney/Hayes/Graham is back by the way. This time Rude gets time to recover. He tries to jump Roberts but Roberts was ready for him and Rude is soon back on the floor again. Back in Rude picks his spot and gets his first offense of the match in. Then poses because it's Rude. Roberts slips out of a slam attempt and hits another kick to the gut. Gut shots have definitely been the order of the day for both guys so far. After that is the usual early DDT tease with Rude getting the hell out of town as soon as he felt it. On the floor Rude sneaks over, grabs Damien's bag, and pulls it out into the aisle. Roberts reacts like Savage when someone gets close to Elizabeth. As he puts Damien back in his corner Rude jumps him again. After a few shots and another pose it's chinlock time. Having bad flashbacks to their WM match now. After a bit Roberts armdrags free, but then Rude puts him back down with a clothesline. Rude drops a forearm for 2 then a bunch of elbows. Now he puts on a neck crank, but it quickly becomes another chinlock. Roberts reaches out and tries to grab a rope but its just out of his reach. Rude turns around and gets some extra rope leverage. We go to arm drops and Roberts just barely stays in it. Roberts seems to tease a low blow to get free but that'd just be naughty. He's a good guy now. Roberts bites Rude's nipple to get free! That's sure what it looked like at least. Points for creativity. And a major commentary fail not even noticing it. Rude gets a knee up in the corner to put Roberts down again. Rude sneaks around the ring post on the apron to try to catch Roberts from behind and snaps him over the top rope. Rude goes up top and hits the fistdrop. Instead of covering he poses some more. He really needs Heenan at ringside to keep focused. Now he tries for an arrogant cover in an obvious position for Roberts to counter-cradle for 2. Rude rams Roberts' head into the mat. Roberts gets up and tells Rude to give him some more, hulking up off it. Full on slugfest. Rude cuts Roberts off with an eye rake. Running forearm from Rude. Graham says Rude spit on Roberts but I'm not sure. Rude goes up top again but Roberts punches him, dropping Rude crotch first on the top rope. Rude sells that wonderfully, as only Rude could. Roberts pulls himself up in the corner and Rude tries to back off. Classic Roberts jabs. Kneelift. He calls for the DDT. Rude hooks up in the ropes to block it. Another Roberts kneelift. Rude tries to escape again but Roberts literally pulls his tights down to get him back in the ring. Rude's ass is blurred out so the kids watching the video don't have to see it. Roberts short clothesline. Roberts stands over Rude and does a crotch thrust over him. That's not PG. He goes for the DDT again. Rude pulls the ref down and lands on him when Roberts DDTs him! That an inventive DDT cushion. Roberts 360 clotheslines Rude to the floor, then gets the ref back up. Rude decides to take a walk. Roberts chases him down and attacks him in the aisle. Slam in the aisle. The bell rings for a double countout but both guys don't care and keep fighting until Rude pushes Roberts into the ring post. Roberts then gets Damien out and wraps him around Rude to send the crowd to the next match happy. Rude actually tries to make it look like Damien is squeezing him before escaping. There were definitely rough and slow patches but they kept working and got going fairly decent the latter part of the match. Rude is very slowly putting the pieces together. **1/4
King Haku def Sam Houston in 5:04- Haku never won a King of the Ring tournament, but was gifted the King gimmick that floated around like an unofficial title during this period after fellow Heenan Family member Harley Race was forced to retire due to injury. Haku comes out to the King music but walks out like a pleb rather than be carried out. He makes sure Hebner takes good care of the royal crown and the royal robe....then swiftly gives the unprepared Houston a royal back kick to the gut. Haku's even got new purple tights with a crown on it. Both guys hit the ropes. Midring crossbody collision! Damn, how did that not kill Houston as tiny as he is? He even ends up on top and gets a two count. Armdrags from Houston and Haku declares a royal tactical retreat to confer with advisors. Back in Houston tries an arm wringer but Haku rams him into the turnbuckle. Houston dodges and gets another armdrag. He stays on Haku's arm. More speed. Haku gets Houston up in a press and drops him right on the top rope. He slingshots Houston into the bottom rope. Clothesline from Haku. He's been very very noisy tonight. Not just breathing, like he's chanting or muttering to himself all match. Haku puts on a Nerve Pinch of Double Fistedness +2. Houston hits headbutts to the gut to break the hold. He needs two tries to counter a Haku backdrop with a kneelift. Haku eye rakes and hits a slam. Houston dodges an elbow drop, then hits a supposedly flying lariat for 2. Houston is then way out of position to take Haku's superkick and it barely grazes the back of his head. Big splash from Haku and it's over. Another squash, but the best one tonight thanks to Haku's stiffness and Houston's seeming from a distance willingness to play along. Of course Haku being Haku he might not have had much of a choice. *1/4
Loser Wears a Weasel Suit: The Ultimate Warrior def Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in 4:59- This is a match that had been taking place on other semi-main shows like at MSG to try to get Warrior to a point where he was at least manageable in the ring. Once again tonight we join late in entrances. Warrior's supplying the weasel suit. He lays it out nicely in the corner before we get going. Heenan tries to hide on the floor so Warrior grabs his arms and pulls him into the ring post. A very extended chase follows. Heenan's pulling the strategy of the guy in the colosseum scene in Life of Brian, getting the huge gladiator to run around and around until he has a heart attack. Warrior manages to corner him eventually. Heenan drops a "son of a bitch" during the beatdown. Also not PG. He gets something out of his tights and hits Warrior with it in the throat. That gets Warrior gasping around for a bit. Heenan works Joey Marella beautifully to continue to hit shots with the object, but then Marella was never too bright to start with. Just ask Jesse Ventura. Warrior eventually recovers and we return to your scheduled beatdown. Heenan takes an upside down bump into the corner. He could still move. Warrior puts a sleeper on, unusual for him, Heenan goes out and it's over. The weasel suit goes on the unconscious Heenan, which takes almost as long as the match did. Warrior slaps him awake, Heenan goes nuts to make the kids happy, and we're done here. Warrior may still be horrible as a wrestler, but he sure knew how to work a crowd. That will pay off big time for him when we get to Summerslam. DUD
WWF Tag Team Championship: Demolition (c) (w/Mr Fuji) def The British Bulldogs in 7:08- Former tag champs taking on the new dominant champs to try to get the titles back. Smash and Davey Boy start with some back and forth slugging. Davey Boy tries a corner floatover roll up but Smash quickly escapes. Davey Boy then grabs an ARMBAR. Smash counters into an arm wringer and Davey Boy does some World of Sport style escapes. Dynamite tags in and quickly gets backed into the wrong part of town. Ax axes. Dynamite counters a backdrop attempt with a headbutt for 2. Shoulderblock standoff. Ax scoops and slams Dynamite. Smash tags in and we get the classic Demolition double team axsmashing. That's a word I jut now made up and it's sticking. Smash grounds Dynamite with a Fuji taught nerve hold. I think Dynamite has some of Ax's face paint on his back. It came off so clean, like part of Ax's face got stuck back there. Smash tags in and Dynamite grabs him in a flash small package for 2. The Demos toss Dynamite out to the floor. Ax snaps him over the top rope and stomps away on him. Bear hug from Smash. We go to very quick arm drops and Davey Boy runs in to save his partner. Dynamite catches Ax with a back elbow. Tag to Davey Boy! He fights off both Demos while Dynamite recovers. Ax barely gets over on a backdrop for 2. Smash blindsides Davey Boy to kill the momentum. Dynamite then tags back in. Snap suplex on Smash for 2. Davey Boy presses Dynamite and throws him at Smash to flying headbutt him! Ax runs in as we go full DONNYBROOK. Dynamite gets whacked with Fuji's cane, Smash covers and the Demos get the pin to retain. Pretty short for a tag title match, but they did just fine. **1/2
Dino Bravo def Ken Patera in 3:28- Your textbook "throw out a shit match right before the main event so people will cheer Hogan more" match. Another JIP with Patera hiptossing Bravo out of the corner while Bravo's getting his jacket off. Patera chokes Bravo with his own jacket. Backdrop. Bravo goes through the ropes to the apron but Patera stays all over him. He slams Bravo back in and drops an elbow for 2. Bravo slides to the floor but again Patera won't give him any space. Bravo counters a backdrop and hits an inverted atomic drop to turn things around. Elbow drop and a choke from Bravo. Now Patera goes out to the floor for space. Hypocrite. Bravo actually gives him the space too. When Patera gets back in Bravo gets right back on him. Corner whip reversal and clothesline from Patera. More elbows from Patera for 2. He wraps up a small package for a long 2. Now Bravo dodges in the corner and hits a clothesline. The side suplex hits and good night. Honestly that was probably as good as you could possibly have hoped for. 1/4*
Steel Cage Match: Hulk Hogan def Andre the Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) in 9:52- This is Hogan's first match back after taking a few months off to film what would turn out to be a very important movie that shaped WWF storylines in 1989, No Holds Barred. The one with Zeus. One plus of a prerecorded show is you don't have to wait through the cage setup. Yes it is the blue bar cage, which quickly became the standard after WM 2. Heenan has recovered enough from his weasel suit experience to finally be ringside for one of his guys tonight. Unusual variant red shirt for Hogan tonight. Someone got the preorder bonus download. Usual WWF escape only rules for this one. Andre plays nice and lets Hogan tear his shirt off before attacking him. Big choke from Andre and he hits a headbutt. He chokes Hogan with the remains of his own shirt. Andre tries to run Hogan into the cage but Hogan blocks it, then eye rakes Andre. Now Hogan tries to choke Andre with the shirt, then climbs up the ropes and hits mounted punches. He actually climbs up and chokes Andre with his boot. Andre wraps up Hogan's arms and goes back to the shirt choke. Andre ties the shirt to the cage while it's around Hogan's neck! Hogan's trapped and Andre chops him, clearly enjoying himself. Heenan rattles the door to get Andre's attention, then tells him to walk out and finish it. Hogan, miraculously now free, runs over and grabs Andre's foot. He punches away as Andre goes down. Andre grabs a bear hug while on his knees. Hogan clubs free and starts to climb the cage. Andre stops him with a shot in the back. Another chop puts Hogan down. Elbow drop from Andre! Heenan again tells Andre to go out the door. Hogan stops him again. While Hogan grinds away on his face Andre takes the top turnbuckle pad off. After a long grapple session in the corner Andre gets free and runs Hogan into the exposed buckle. Andre pounds on Hogan in the middle of the ring, mixing a bite in. Hogan is bleeding. Cage shot for Hogan! Andre hits a headbutt. He goes for the door again. Hogan barely stops Andre getting out. Off a whip Andre tries for a big boot but Hogan dodges and hits a clothesline. Off a chop Andre falls backwards into the ropes so hard he almost takes a side of the cage down. It looks like Andre's trying to tie himself in the ropes as he liked to do but can't because the cage is in the way. Another Hogan clothesline. Andre wobbles and goes down! Hogan hits the legdrop! Heenan gets in the ring and attacks Hogan. I'm thinking that's a poor decision. But, he has distracted Hogan enough that Andre's started to climb over the cage! I don't think the cage can hold him if he gets all the way to the top. Hogan sees and punches him back down before any disasters happen. Andre manages to get tied in the ropes while facing the cage! Heenan takes a cage shot. Hogan climbs up, over, and out for the win. Well, that was better than their WM 4 match at least. The layout was pretty solid if nothing else. It's definitely time for these two to move on from each other though. *1/2
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A pretty solid summer stadium show, the last gasp of that tradition before Summerslam took over the summer and PPVs took over the business in general. Nothing on here is going to blow you away, though Savage and DiBiase come pretty close. On the whole it's a decent watch.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C
