The SmarK 24/7 Rant for Maple Leaf Gardens – November 16 1986

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

Technorati Tags:

The SmarK 24/7 Rant for Maple Leaf Gardens – November 16 1986

– This is a pretty special one for me because this would be the house show circuit they were running in Canada around the time that I went to my first wrestling shows in Vancouver, with pretty much the identical lineups around the horn.

– Your hosts are Gorilla & Johnny V

Cowboy Frankie Lane v. Jose Luis Rivera

Truly a main event in any arena. Rivera starts with a headscissors while the announcers have a prophetic discussion about Toronto is becoming the “new Hollywood” because of all the filming there. And in fact that came true to an extent. Lane slugs back and hits the chinlock, then goes into an armbar on the mat before bailing to yell at the fans. Back in, Rivera head-fakes him and gets a dropkick off a criss-cross, and then they do that spot again. It really wasn’t that great of a spot, guys. Rivera slugs away and we get more stalling from Lane, and they actually take the time to dub “WWE” over Valiant’s use of “WWF”. Can’t Vince just donate a few million to the Fund and suck up his pride to make this go away? Lane tosses Rivera to the ramp as this may be the most boring 10 minutes of anything ever. And I’ve seen “Eyes Wide Shut” and M. Night Shymalan’s “Signs”. Twice. Rivera wins with a rollup at 10:36 as I’m making that joke. 1/2*

Dino Bravo v. Pedro Morales

Dino is newly heel at this point, and still sporting black hair. Pedro works the arm for a bit to start and puts him down with a shoulderblock for two. Atomic drop and Dino bails to think it over. Back in, Dino gets a cheapshot in the corner and slugs away, and Pedro bumps to the floor as a result. Back in, Bravo with the suplex for two. And we hit the chinlock. Pedro fights up, but Bravo sends him to the ramp and slams him there. Kind of sad to see Pedro turned into enhancement talent at this point in his career, but man he’d just go out there and bump like crazy to put you over, even if it’s a useless stiff like Dino Bravo. Back in the ring, Pedro slugs Bravo down and puts him on the floor for some weak brawling. Back in, Pedro gets a boston crab, but the ref stops the match and awards to Bravo via countout at 10:00. Dull match, weak finish, good bumping from Morales. *

Kamala v. George Steele

Now here’s some freakshow appeal. Very, very long stall to start, as you’d expect, with the two savages sizing each other up. First contact comes at 3:00 when Steele stomps on Kamala’s foot, which shows you what you’re getting into here. Steele goes after Kim Chee, which allows Kamala to hit him with a cheapshot and splash him for the pin at 4:27. Yup. -***

Tito Santana v. Butch Reed

Tito takes him down with a couple of headscissors, but Butch makes the ropes. Weird spot as Tito tries a sleeper and Reed kind of fights him off and then makes the ropes. Tito gets a pair of slams and Reed bails. Back in, Butch with the kneelift off a cheapshot to take over, but Tito rams him into the turnbuckle. Gorilla declares Tito one of the best I-C champions that he’s seen in the past 25 years, which is saying something because the title had only been around for 7 years at that point. Ah, Gorilla-isms. Criss-cross and Tito puts him down with a dropkick for two, and Tito takes him down with a headlock off that. Butch reverses out of that and then dodges a charging Santana, sending him to the floor and ramming him into the railing. Necksnap on the top rope and an elbowdrop gets two. Reed hits the chinlock and Tito fights up, but walks into a high knee and the crowd is really buying into it now because of their timing and chemistry. Tito fights back, but gets dumped, and fights back in with a sunset flip for two. Reed freaks out and stomps him down, but Tito is FIRED UP and of course immediately charges into a knee as a result. Reed goes up to finish and hits a weak double axehandle to the back of the head for two, but Tito is in the ropes. Reed slingshots him under the ropes and goes back to a chinlock. Tito runs him into the corner to break, but Reed goes up for the double axehandle again, and this time Tito catches him coming down. Nice callback there. Tito goes nuts on him and comes back with a backdrop for two. They collide on a criss-cross and Reed recovers first with a faceplant for two. He tries a headlock and Tito counters with the kneecrusher into the figure-four, but Reed kicks out of it. Tito is having none of that and pounds the knee down again, and this time he gets the move. It’s in the middle, but the bell rings for the draw at 21:21. That was a heck of a match, in fact, as they gelled slowly but had the crowd in their hands by the end. ***1/2

Steve Lombardi v. Paul Roma

Lombardi powers Roma down, but gets slammed as a result. Roma gets a pair of armdrags and works on the arm, but walks into a clothesline. He hits the chinlock and tosses Roma, but Paul fights back in the ring and whips Lombardi into the corner. Powerslam finishes at 7:05. Nothing match. *1/4

The Hart Foundation v. The Islanders

Tama starts with Bret and chops him out to the ramp right away, which has the Harts threatening to leave already. Luckily they don’t. Back in, Haku trades shots with the Anvil and the Islanders double-team him in the corner and trade off with chops. Tama works on the arm, but Bret gets his patented knee to the back from the apron, and Neidhart gets two. The Harts quickly double-team Tama with the Demolition elbow, and Bret adds a slam and elbow for two. The Harts switch off and Anvil clotheslines Tama and sends him to the ramp, where Bret does his thing. Tama takes a nice bump down the steps here. Back in, Anvil gets two and Bret gets an atomic drop for two. Hot tag to Haku off miscommunication, however, and noggins are knocked. They double-team Bret with headbutts, into a high cross from Tama, but the ref is distracted with Haku. It’s BONZO GONZO and Anvil drops Tama on the top rope, and Bret gets the pin at 11:22. BIG pop for the Hart Foundation win here, oddly enough. Canada wasn’t really into the “cheering for Canadian heels” thing at this point, but that was a massive babyface reaction for Bret. Decent match, pretty much paint by numbers stuff. **1/4

Mr. X v. The Honky Tonk Man

Clear editing in post here as they’re using “Honky Tonk Man” as a theme despite this being in 1986, long before the Piledriver album. Honky, who is supposed to be a face, gets booed out of the building. Awesome. Unless it’s a Canada thing because Honky Tonk Wayne was a hated heel in Stampede. Honky drops a fist and just gets booed mercilessly, then takes X down with an armbar. X escapes, which results in the only time I’ve ever heard Danny Davis getting a babyface pop. To his credit, X goes with it, playing to the crowd, but misses a blind charge, and Honky slugs him down and goes to the chinlock. X reverses to a wristlock (“Yaaaah!”) but Honky reverses out (“Boooo!”) as this is just bizarre. X fires away with forearms in the corner and drops an axehandle off the middle, but Honky slugs him down and drops a fist of his own for two. X dumps him to the ramp AND THE CROWD CHANTS “X”! What the FUCK. They slug it out in the corner and X tries a springboard splash, but misses, and Honky clotheslines him down and finishes with Shake Rattle and Roll. This was absolutely hilarious to watch, as supposed babyface Honky Tonk Man was getting increasingly mad at the hostile crowd over the course of the match and they just wouldn’t let up on him. **

Magnificent Muraco v. Rowdy Roddy Piper

Piper, still miffed over the whole Pit thing, attacks and slugs Muraco down, then goes with the eyepoke and fires off the jabs in the corner. Muraco bumps upside down in the corner and Piper gets cheapshots in, but Muraco dumps him and Fuji hits him with the cane. Muraco drops him on the railing, but Piper fires back from the apron and yanks Muraco to the floor for the brawl. Muraco catches him with another cheap one coming back in, and follows with the piledriver for two. Clothesline gets two. Piper wants more and fights back, but Muraco goes to the eyes and follows with a powerslam that wipes out the ref. Muraco with a neckbreaker, but no ref. Fuji lends him the cane, but Piper gets it first and uses it for the pin at 7:00. Fans got what they wanted out of this. *1/2

Take a pass on this show. Dunno why it was included this month, frankly.