June 21, 1987
From the War Memorial in Rochester, NY
Your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon
In action this week are the Islanders, Honky Tonk Man, Ken Patera, Koko B. Ware, and Demolition
Paul Roma vs. Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart
Honky immediately goes to work on the arm of Roma, who fights back and hits an atomic drop. Roma comes back with a nice dropkick then a slam but misses an elbow drop. Honky beats down Roma then taunts the crowd before going to work in the corner. We get an insert promo from Randy Savage, thanking Honky for taking care of Ricky Steamboat as he proclaims he will climb to the top and beat Hogan. Back to the match as Honky catches Roma with an elbow to the neck before hitting the Shake, Rattle, and Roll for the win (1:57). After the match, Honky dedicates his win to the fans then begins to dance.
Thoughts: Honky continues to get massive heel heat. The most hated WWF wrestler in 1987 if I had to choose.
Wrestler's Rebuttal with Craig DeGeorge. He is with the British Bulldogs and Matilda as Davey tells us that Matilda gives them advice. A waste of thirty seconds.
Rick Renslow vs. Ken Patera
Before the match, Patera points at Heenan, who goes off about Patera being a "violent animal." Patera shoves down Renslow a few times. Heenan puts down Patera constantly as Renslow takes a breather outside. Back in the ring, Renslow uses an eye rake but Patera fights back and slams him down. He follows with a suplex before getting the win with a bearhug (2:12).
Thoughts: Patera's push continues to fizzle out as not even Heenan could ignite their feud. Patera had nothing left in the ring.
Gene Okerlund puts over the Tag Team Division before bringing out the Can-Am Connection. Martel puts over all the teams then wants to know why the Islanders aligned with Heenan in a promo that seemed like a struggle. Zenk then promises they will be all over the Islanders. Rough promo from these two.
Scott Casey & "Leaping" Lanny Poffo vs. The Islanders w/ Bobby Heenan
Poffo's pre match promo involved the Can-Am Connection beating the Islanders. Johnny V. has replaced Heenan on commentary for this match, sounding more drunk than usual. Casey takes Tama over after an Irish whip sequence. Haku tags in and gets taken down with a few arm drags but is able to come back with a chop. The Islanders double-team Casey for a bit as they are in control of the match. Casey dodges a splash and tags out as Poffo runs wild. The match breaks down until Casey gets dumped then Poffo misses a dropkick as the Islanders hit the double diving headbutt for the win (3:27).
Thoughts: The heel push for the Islanders continues as their feud with the Can-Am Connection is getting a lot of TV time.
Okerlund is with Bob Orton & Don Muraco and brings up rumors of dissention between the two. Muraco tells us that sometimes in the heat of battle you can lose control but can easily rectify the situation as Orton says everything is alright and that they are ready to take on the competition. Muraco then cuts off Orton as he was talking as they are now both talking over each other. These two will be splitting soon.
Johnny K-9 vs. Koko B. Ware
Koko hits a backdrop as the announcers plug the WWF Magazine and how its now a monthly publication. Koko then hits a dropkick as the camera zooms in on Frankie. Koko gets the crowd going as K-9 takes a breather. Back to the action as Koko catches K-9 with a slam then hits a missile dropkick before hitting the Ghostbuster for the win (2:10). Man, that looked vicious.
Thoughts: Koko looked good here but had nothing going on at this point other than a feud against Danny Davis at house shows.
DeGeorge is with Danny Davis, who says the officiating has gone downhill since he was let go, something DeGeorge disagrees with. Davis then warns everyone that he is even better as a wrestler. Too bad his ring work never matched his mic skills because he could have been something.
Billy Jack Haynes tells us that he does not smoke, drink, or take drugs as there is not one positive thing you can get out of drugs as he pleads with the kids that drugs are negative while they are a positive influence to the world. This happened.
A repeat of the latest update on Superstar Billy Graham from this week's "Superstars of Wrestling."
One Man Gang w/ Slick vs. Brian Costello
Gang destroys Costello in the corner as Gorilla asks Heenan about Bundy and how he abuses the midget wrestlers. Costello is now in the tree-of-woe as Gang chokes him out with his foot. Gang roughs up Costello some more until he puts him away with a gordbuster (1:53).
Thoughts: Odd to see after a few weeks of putting over the Master Blaster that Gang switched to a new finisher.
Jim Powers & Jerry Allen vs. Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji
Ax beats on Powers as we get an insert promo from Fuji, telling us that Demolition will destroy every other team in the WWF. Smash now beats on Powers as Heenan proclaims that Demolition will not last ten minutes against the Islanders. Allen tags in and also gets destroyed. Ax clotheslines Allen over the top rope then they slam him repeatedly when he re-enters the ring then Demolition get the win with the Decapitation (3:45).
Thoughts: Total domination by Demolition here. They were such an awesome team.
Okerlund is with Randy Savage, who still states he is happy that the Honky Tonk Man beat Steamboat for the IC belt as he is now going to beat Hulk Hogan for the Heavyweight Title. Savage then guarantees he will win and is now doing things his own way as the "Macho Madness Bandwagon" has surpassed Hulkamania. Okerlund then brings up Elizabeth and when she is coming back with him for the interviews as Savage yells at him. They are subtle in planting the seeds for Savage's face turn. In hindsight, it was very well done.
Next week in action will be Randy Savage, Can-Am Connection, and Greg Valentine vs. Raymond Rougeau
Final Thoughts: Not that bad of a show but again, the company was in a downswing here. I dont have a lot more to add other than that but I dont have a copy of the 6/27 edition of Superstars (which featured the first-ever Million Dollar Man vignette) so I will skip to the 6/28 edition of Challenge this Tuesday.
From the War Memorial in Rochester, NY
Your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon
In action this week are the Islanders, Honky Tonk Man, Ken Patera, Koko B. Ware, and Demolition
Paul Roma vs. Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart
Honky immediately goes to work on the arm of Roma, who fights back and hits an atomic drop. Roma comes back with a nice dropkick then a slam but misses an elbow drop. Honky beats down Roma then taunts the crowd before going to work in the corner. We get an insert promo from Randy Savage, thanking Honky for taking care of Ricky Steamboat as he proclaims he will climb to the top and beat Hogan. Back to the match as Honky catches Roma with an elbow to the neck before hitting the Shake, Rattle, and Roll for the win (1:57). After the match, Honky dedicates his win to the fans then begins to dance.
Thoughts: Honky continues to get massive heel heat. The most hated WWF wrestler in 1987 if I had to choose.
Wrestler's Rebuttal with Craig DeGeorge. He is with the British Bulldogs and Matilda as Davey tells us that Matilda gives them advice. A waste of thirty seconds.
Rick Renslow vs. Ken Patera
Before the match, Patera points at Heenan, who goes off about Patera being a "violent animal." Patera shoves down Renslow a few times. Heenan puts down Patera constantly as Renslow takes a breather outside. Back in the ring, Renslow uses an eye rake but Patera fights back and slams him down. He follows with a suplex before getting the win with a bearhug (2:12).
Thoughts: Patera's push continues to fizzle out as not even Heenan could ignite their feud. Patera had nothing left in the ring.
Gene Okerlund puts over the Tag Team Division before bringing out the Can-Am Connection. Martel puts over all the teams then wants to know why the Islanders aligned with Heenan in a promo that seemed like a struggle. Zenk then promises they will be all over the Islanders. Rough promo from these two.
Scott Casey & "Leaping" Lanny Poffo vs. The Islanders w/ Bobby Heenan
Poffo's pre match promo involved the Can-Am Connection beating the Islanders. Johnny V. has replaced Heenan on commentary for this match, sounding more drunk than usual. Casey takes Tama over after an Irish whip sequence. Haku tags in and gets taken down with a few arm drags but is able to come back with a chop. The Islanders double-team Casey for a bit as they are in control of the match. Casey dodges a splash and tags out as Poffo runs wild. The match breaks down until Casey gets dumped then Poffo misses a dropkick as the Islanders hit the double diving headbutt for the win (3:27).
Thoughts: The heel push for the Islanders continues as their feud with the Can-Am Connection is getting a lot of TV time.
Okerlund is with Bob Orton & Don Muraco and brings up rumors of dissention between the two. Muraco tells us that sometimes in the heat of battle you can lose control but can easily rectify the situation as Orton says everything is alright and that they are ready to take on the competition. Muraco then cuts off Orton as he was talking as they are now both talking over each other. These two will be splitting soon.
Johnny K-9 vs. Koko B. Ware
Koko hits a backdrop as the announcers plug the WWF Magazine and how its now a monthly publication. Koko then hits a dropkick as the camera zooms in on Frankie. Koko gets the crowd going as K-9 takes a breather. Back to the action as Koko catches K-9 with a slam then hits a missile dropkick before hitting the Ghostbuster for the win (2:10). Man, that looked vicious.
Thoughts: Koko looked good here but had nothing going on at this point other than a feud against Danny Davis at house shows.
DeGeorge is with Danny Davis, who says the officiating has gone downhill since he was let go, something DeGeorge disagrees with. Davis then warns everyone that he is even better as a wrestler. Too bad his ring work never matched his mic skills because he could have been something.
Billy Jack Haynes tells us that he does not smoke, drink, or take drugs as there is not one positive thing you can get out of drugs as he pleads with the kids that drugs are negative while they are a positive influence to the world. This happened.
A repeat of the latest update on Superstar Billy Graham from this week's "Superstars of Wrestling."
One Man Gang w/ Slick vs. Brian Costello
Gang destroys Costello in the corner as Gorilla asks Heenan about Bundy and how he abuses the midget wrestlers. Costello is now in the tree-of-woe as Gang chokes him out with his foot. Gang roughs up Costello some more until he puts him away with a gordbuster (1:53).
Thoughts: Odd to see after a few weeks of putting over the Master Blaster that Gang switched to a new finisher.
Jim Powers & Jerry Allen vs. Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji
Ax beats on Powers as we get an insert promo from Fuji, telling us that Demolition will destroy every other team in the WWF. Smash now beats on Powers as Heenan proclaims that Demolition will not last ten minutes against the Islanders. Allen tags in and also gets destroyed. Ax clotheslines Allen over the top rope then they slam him repeatedly when he re-enters the ring then Demolition get the win with the Decapitation (3:45).
Thoughts: Total domination by Demolition here. They were such an awesome team.
Okerlund is with Randy Savage, who still states he is happy that the Honky Tonk Man beat Steamboat for the IC belt as he is now going to beat Hulk Hogan for the Heavyweight Title. Savage then guarantees he will win and is now doing things his own way as the "Macho Madness Bandwagon" has surpassed Hulkamania. Okerlund then brings up Elizabeth and when she is coming back with him for the interviews as Savage yells at him. They are subtle in planting the seeds for Savage's face turn. In hindsight, it was very well done.
Next week in action will be Randy Savage, Can-Am Connection, and Greg Valentine vs. Raymond Rougeau
Final Thoughts: Not that bad of a show but again, the company was in a downswing here. I dont have a lot more to add other than that but I dont have a copy of the 6/27 edition of Superstars (which featured the first-ever Million Dollar Man vignette) so I will skip to the 6/28 edition of Challenge this Tuesday.
I can only imagine the POV the smart audience had when Patera was getting this push. His look wasn't impressive, he couldn't cut a babyface promo to save his life, and his ring work was probably on par, if not worse, than Outback Jack.
ReplyDeleteThe 6/27 edition of Superstars is on Dailymotion if you wish to see it.
ReplyDeleteBilly Jack "accidental coke mule" Haynes giving an anti-drug promo. That HAD to be a rib.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw it there was no sound
ReplyDelete' Davey tells us that Matilda gives them advice. '
ReplyDelete- What the hell kind of advice could Matilda give?!
You know they're desperate when they debut main event angles on PRIME TIME WRESTLING!
ReplyDeleteThe first was an impromptu overuling by the then Commissioner of the World Wrestling Federation. And not a very good commissioner at that.
ReplyDeleteThe second was a judgment call by the referee. Had Rusev held the hold as long as Bret held in the Sharpshooter, he probably would have stopped it too.
There's no substitute for an actual three count. That would be even more rare than winning a title with a DQ.
ReplyDeleteLook at the talent roster WCW had around Clash XX. If only they knew how to run a competitive wrestling promotion back then...
ReplyDeleteHey, there are exceptions to evert rule. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis may have been Heenan's best-ever work. His reactions were a huge reason why the Perfect turn became so gradually plausible.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, Bret and Austin were in a submission match, not an 'I Quit' match. In the latter, you literally have to way the words, whereas in the former, you can just tap out/give up/pass out and have the ref stop the match.
ReplyDeleteBut see, I'm one of the ones who didn't know of ROH until after I saw Joe, Styles, and Daniels in TNA. So I kind of prove the rule. You may have known about him before, but how many more can say the same? A few thousand?
ReplyDeleteHow many of them know of them THANKS to TNA? A couple million?
I love ROH. But the fact is, the Fed that first makes someone a "name" tends to be the first Fed someone is associated with. Sure, Daniels bounced back and forth, but AJ? Joe? I'd say they were both "made" by TNA.
Now that ROH has TV and TNA less so, then it becomes more of a gray area.
Perhaps but if they look at you they would see a pathetic nobody, which is surely worse.
ReplyDeleteWe don't talk about the wrestling though we talk about the debacle. Debacles.
ReplyDeleteI mean, Caliber is discussed here often but it's not for his songwriting ability or cooking skills.
Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania this year alone proved that.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure who TNA would be. I wanna say Audioslave but they were successful.
ReplyDeleteBut they both mean
ReplyDelete"Will wrestle for little to no pay"
Hitting yer wife...that's a paddlin. Deflating footballs...that's a paddlin. Paddlin yer kid...you better believe that's a paddlin.
ReplyDeleteEspecially in contrast to the old footage they showed when they were reintroducing him where he looked badass.
ReplyDeleteAt one point they even gave a Matilda a voice over. I'm not kidding, I was watching a 24/7 version of Prime Time and Matilda actually talked via a voiceover.
ReplyDeletePatera got better in 1988 promo-wise. "I was in the Pan-American games and I won medals for my country." He was a JTTS by that point, but at least his USA gimmick was better than the push he was getting here.
ReplyDeleteWell, yes and no. They brought back ECW in those one time only PPVs because that ECW DVD sold so well, so that wasn't WWE pushing ECW, that was fans, maybe some who hadn't watched during the first run, wanting to watch ECW. The success of those PPVs brought back ECW as a show.
ReplyDeleteI see your point. If WWE pushed AWA like they did ECW, AWA would have a bigger following but the fact is the Attitude Era stole everything from ECW so it's tough for WWE to act like it was just some blip in the history of wrestling.
It was on several national television stations in a time frame people would see it. It has/had nationally shown ppv too. Don't get mad because Roh isn't mainstream, and don't try pretending tna isn't/wasn't.
ReplyDeleteNo he doesn't. He reviews shows he doesn't like, watching people making money doing something that he does not want to see. If you don't get that from most of the reviews posted by Scott keith then idk what to tell you. He likes the money, he doesn't like the product.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rspwfaq.net/2015/01/long-time-reader-first-time-emailer.html
ReplyDeleteWhy would I be mad? I haven't followed ROH for years so I'm certainly not a fanboy of theirs. TNA was a television failure.
ReplyDeleteAre there a good million people who know what TNA is?
ReplyDeletesdvsdvev
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It worked, though.
ReplyDeleteTNA and ROH, at least when Joe debuted for TNA, probably shared the same audience of hardcore net fans, excluding the 900 mutants allowed to attend the Impact tapings for free. If you watched or cared about TNA, it's safe to say most of those fans at least knew of ROH and who Samoa Joe was and what he brought to the table. When TNA signed him, it wasn't a "yeah, this guy" introduction. It was "yeah, this is SAMOA JOE", as if we were expected to know him.
ReplyDeleteA.J. Styles I'd give the "TNA made him" label. He was only a 2-3 year vet when he started in TNA, and his most prominent exposure was a few months as a JTTS in dying WCW.
Ah good point I had forgotten about that! Thankfully, the match took place just before they adopted tapping out as a visual representation of submission.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit...I didn't get cable until I got married some years later, so I never saw that. My God that may be the stupidest thing I've ever heard
ReplyDeleteYou gave up here? What gives?
ReplyDeleteGiven the ratings on Spike were generally around 1.0, that's a pretty safe bet.
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What was even sadder is it did many times their normal buyrate.
ReplyDeleteVelvet Underground and Nico holds up way better. Personally I prefer "Loaded"
ReplyDelete