- Taped from Springfield, Maine.
- Your hosts are Vince & Jesse.
(Yay, another point system rant.)
Who the hell thought of THIS matchup? (Well, Bill Watts originally, I’d imagine.) Herc pounds away, but gets clotheslined. He bails and talks things over with Andre. Duggan gets an atomic drop and Hercules bails again. Back in, Duggan gets a backdrip, but misses a kneedrop and Herc jumps on the knee. Duggan fights back, but misses a charge and Hercules chokes him out. Duggan comes back, but gets tossed. Back in, Herc stomps away, so Duggan grabs his 2x4 and clears the ring. We return from break as Herc goes to the eyes and grabs a bearhug. That oughta pick up the pace. Not. Kneelift and more choking follow. Duggan comes back and hits the three-point stance, but everyone runs in for a DQ at 7:22. God, they gave it 7 minutes for THAT finish? Warrior saves to give us the Dream Team for the 90s: Duggan & Warrior. There's not enough stars in the sky and negatives to put in front of them for that teaming. 0 for 1.
- Dangerous Danny Davis v. Brutus Beefcake.
It's the Pat Patterson Alliterative Nickname Nightmare match. Brutus tosses Danny around and gets a hiptoss. Davis comes back with some token jobber offense, but gets caught with the sleeper and goes to lullaby-land at 3:02. Total squash. 0 for 2.
- WWF title match: Randy Savage v. One Man Gang.
Gang overpowers Savage, but Randy does some sticking and moving. Bodypress gets two as he muscles Gang down by sheer force of will. A bodypress off the top gets a more convincing two. Stungun gets two. Gang nails him in the corner to end all that fast-paced offense, however, and gets down to the business of slowing things down with some good old fashioned choking. Quite a lot of it, as well as that other big fat guy standby, pounding on the back while yelling. (It’s the CLUBBING FOREARMS.) Elbowdrop gets two, but a charge misses and Savage elbows him right back. He dumps Gang and drops the double axehandle, but presses his luck by coming off the top again inside and gets caught on the way down. Gang goes up, but misses the 747, while Slick puts the moves on Elizabeth. Savage takes offense, so Slick takes a swing with the cane, nails his own man by mistake, and Savage drops the elbow for the pin at 5:56 to retain. They should have done that match at Wrestlemania 4. 1 for 3, for Savage's offense.
- Demolition v. The British Bulldogs.
This is non-title. Smash & Smith start off, and Smash kicks some ass. Dynamite sneaks in with a clothesline, but Smash blocks a rollup and tags in Ax. He gets double-teamed by the Bulldogs, but a well-timed cheapshot turns the tide. Smash gets a backbreaker on Dynamite for two. Bearhug, but the Kid fights free. Ax keeps pounding him, but Smash misses a charge. Hot tag Smith, and he dumps Ax. Dynamite comes in, but Smash tosses him. The dog chases Fuji to the back as we go to a break. We return with a brawl and the Bulldogs quickly getting DQ'd at 4:46. Hot match, stupid finish. 2 for 4. The canned heat was ludicrously overbearing here as they constantly tried to drown out the cheers for Demolition. (It’s BIZARROWORLD.)
- Ted Dibiase v. Don Muraco.
Dibiase attacks to start and pounds away, but gets backdropped. He bails and buys some time. Back in, Muraco overpowers him and gets a clothesline. Powerslam gets two. Dibiase takes over with a clothesline for two. Suplex gets two. Side salto gets two. Muraco catches him with his head down and gets an elbow and standing powerslam for two. Dibiase sucker-punches him, however, and gets the pin at 4:10 as the referee "accidentally" fails to notice Muraco's foot on the ropes. Vince makes allegations about the ref's honesty. Good little match while it lasted, though. 3 for 5.
- Rick Rude v. Koko B. Ware.
Koko slugs away to start, and loses badly. Rude poses and gets dropkicked, which only further serves to piss him off. He pounds away on Koko's back, and the goes up for the fistdrop. He gets a rare dropkick, but tries again and misses. Koko comes back but quickly hotshots himself and the Rude Awakening puts him away at 3:37. You can't spell sasquatch without "squash". 3 for 6. (I have no idea what I was going for there, either.)
- Vince wraps things up.
The Bottom Line: Quite the decent little episode here. A .500 average is about all you can ask for these things anyway.
Not to be "that guy", but as a resident of Maine, I feel compelled to mention that this show was in Springfield, Massachusetts, not Maine.
ReplyDeleteSpringfield, Maine is a town of about 400 people and has no proper arena, so I do, however, expect them to host a TNA event very soon...
Not much love for Hacksaw/Hercules. It did look good on paper, 2 power guys, with Andre (also part of the Heenan family) ominously at ringside. Sounds like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI like the point system for older shows like these. The evolution of the art makes a lot of these matches not stand-up on the star system, but there are still many enjoyable moments.
ReplyDeleteThis match against Gang, and a title defense against Andre later in the year were the only times Savage defended the title on TV or PPV until he dropped it to Hogan.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Virgil, and Conquistador #1 on Superstars? Or were they non title matches? Cause I was totally buying the threats!
ReplyDeleteState abbreviations have never been my strong point, so I'm assuming I saw "Springfield, MA" and thought it meant Maine. Because that would, you know, make sense.
ReplyDeleteJust saying. Don't rush out and change the abbreviations on Canada's behalf or anything. But you can if you want.
He defended the title against Akeem on Superstars.
ReplyDeleteAnd Primetime from Paris in November.
ReplyDeleteRIGHT!
ReplyDeleteMA is Massachusetts, ME is Maine, MS is Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused what's going in on here?
And Scott's Canadian. He saw MA, and thought it was Maine. Expecting a Canadian to know US Postal Abbreviations is like expecting an American to know "God Save The Queen", every lyric word for word.
ReplyDelete"You can't spell sasquatch without "squash". 3 for 6. (I have no idea what I was going for there, either.)"
ReplyDeleteBecause Rude was a hairy motherfucker? I dunno.
You just have visions of the Animal dancing in your head. And then somehow mutated it with Rude's body, wierd??
ReplyDeleteNo such match took place according to cage match, at least for the title.
ReplyDeleteI remember cheering Demolition at this point, because I thought they were bad assess.
ReplyDeleteI remember the match, and Savage resented Hogan for helping him out. Was very close to the heel turn. (For the title or not, that I'm not sure)
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile somewhere in Hollywood Hulk Hogan was being called a "jock ass."
ReplyDeleteHe did defend against Bad News Brown on TV twice... once from MSG and once from the Spectrum. Also Haku on TV from the Spectrum. He also defeated Dibiase in a cage at the Spectrum (again televised regionally.) And the Akeem one did happen. It's listed as a "house show" on cage match but was televised on prime time. 7/10/88.
ReplyDeleteI know God Save The Queen by heart... assuming we are talking about Sex Pistols (who weren't as good as the Backstreet Boys according to Caliber)
ReplyDeleteThe music from this era is timeless and should be brought back.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry...there are plenty of Americans that think MA is Maine. Being a Mainer, it's just a pet peeve of mine. Plus, I just couldn't pass up taking a shot a TNA...
ReplyDeleteI'm not counting the MSG network type matches because those were just filmed house shows.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget about MI for Michigan, MO for Missouri and MN for Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteOh, well he defended against Virgil on Superstars.
ReplyDeleteAnd nobody touches Blink 182. Don't forget about that!
ReplyDeleteI used to have a bad habit of referring to Arkansas as AK when that's actually Alaska. I fixed that habit by not referring to Arkansas any more.
ReplyDeleteI don't even think Blink 182 would agree with his opinion on Blink 182.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty safe bet. They're actually pretty smart guys.
ReplyDeleteHere's comes the Ax, here comes the Rybacker. there called Rybaxel, they are a disaster, they will job to you, can they go awayyyy?
ReplyDeleteToo many states start with M. Hell, too many start with MI.
ReplyDeleteIt gets a little easier when you use AP Style for state abbreviations and not Postal Codes. Except for when interns and young reporters without a clue try and change the AP Style BACK to Postal codes, usually incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteI was always a Hart Foundation guy...I kind of did tears in my eyes when they finally beat the Demo's for the tag titles
ReplyDeleteThat match was so awesome to watch as it was happening. That "pink and black attack is back" promo got me pumped.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird how the longest match is 7 minutes and the world title match is 6 minutes. If that happened today on Raw, we would be complaining that it was so short and that Gang would be getting buried.
ReplyDeleteOriginally from Maine myself. Where you at?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the match was abominable. As in, Abominable Snowman. As in, Sasquatch.
ReplyDeleteDid Danny Davis actually have muscles? He never took off that white shirt, so it looked like he was wearing a padded costume.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Bangor and, after about eight years out of state, my wife and I moved to Falmouth, just north of Portland, about 2 1/2 years ago. You?
ReplyDeleteIronically when I think of Arkansas, 'AK! AK!' is the sound I start to make.
ReplyDeleteAlmost nobody knows the FULL lyrics to God Save The Queen.
ReplyDeleteMost people don't know there's a whole verse about crushing 'rebellious Scots' for instance.
Technically.
Must... resist... 'Did you go to Bangor? joke...
ReplyDeleteHARDLY KNEW HER!!!
ReplyDeleteGrew up in Bath, but have lived in Bangor, Lewiston, and Auburn.
ReplyDelete(Is Falmouth as snobby as we were always led to believe? )
(You should try The Holy Donut in Portland. Delish. )
Love The Holy Donut...good call!
ReplyDeleteI'll probably have a better idea of Falmouth's level of snobbery once my daughter's school-age and we start interacting with other parents in town. Right now, most of our friends are in Portland proper, so we don't really socialize in Falmouth at all.
Given the Falmouth High School mascot is the "Yachtsmen", though, I'm gonna go ahead and assume there's some level of pretentiousness here, yeah...
Oh man, I remember when they beat Strike Force and the fans went nuts. Amazing to see a "bad guy" team so cheered at that time and era.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we were the "Shipbuilders". Real intimidating (eyeroll).
ReplyDeleteConquistador #1 was never a threat, (one of the Dos Hombres on the other hand...)
ReplyDeleteEven background and Montage music was awesome
ReplyDeleteYes. It was a snme
ReplyDeleteAK is the worst. I work at a call center and when I see AK I always say Arkansas first.
ReplyDeleteIm in Rockland, went to School at Husson in Bangor
ReplyDeleteWhy is this not getting more up votes?
ReplyDeleteWas I the only one looking forward to the Hacksaw/Andre feud in 1988. I remember seeing it on an episode of superstars that did not have anybody on broadcast. Some glitch with our copy.
ReplyDeleteThis again happened in the summer of 1988 when the tape got garbled and the network started airing an episode from 1987 which really confused me in 1988. Wondering why the Cam Am connection got back together and what happened to Tito. Also wondered why Bruno was back and was happy to see Kamala. Also Mene Gene had gone on vacation at this time and I was happy to see him back. When they got to the Killer Bees beating the Hart Foundation in a non-title match with a promo with the Harts with the belts - I realized it was a episode from 1987.
It's my gimmick. I'm a heel.
ReplyDelete"The Bottom Line: Quite the decent little episode here. A .500 average is about all you can ask for these things anyway."
ReplyDeleteThey went .800 on the show before this!
I've heard he was rather powerfully built.
ReplyDeleteHow is it weird? SNME was 90 minutes long, not 3 1/2 hours like Raw.
ReplyDeleteKind of weird to see them stick Hall of Famer Koko in the "nobody's up anymore" slot instead of non Hall of Famers Savage and Demolition.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he actually wore the shirt to hide his muscles. It WAS a little awkward to see him one day as a referee unable to take a single hit without getting knocked unconscious, then the next day be a wrestler who could take a pounding... then see him as a referee again unable to take a hit. But his heel wrestler act was a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat, so what's Arkansas then? AR? And shouldn't Alaska be AL? Or I guess that's Alabama.
ReplyDeleteI think you guys need a better system. OBAMA's FAULT, am I right?
Who won?
ReplyDelete