The Repo Depot: Best of the WWF: Volume 20 (1989)

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The Repo Depot: Best of the WWF: Volume 20

– Well…uuhh…hi? Yeah, I know, I haven’t been around since October. I’ve been ridiculously busy with teaching and real life both being stinkers on me. I haven’t even had time to even post at my
my home and favorite forum
*winkwinknudgenudgevisitnow*. Does one review a month sound okay? And hey, the name of my column isn’t bad!

– Let’s dip into the mailbag with letters from October… First from good friend “BlackScorpionV4”:
“Great review on the 1990 Survivor Series Showdown (even if you didn’t take my advice… :D), and continuing the trend of reviewing stuff that hasn’t been done by about 600 different people in the last month. I think it’s better to post reviews of shows most fans don’t remember, or the very least aren’t much available around the internet in review form. Now, a few questions since I have nothing better to do…

1. Why must you insult Marty Jannetty? He wasn’t a Jobber God dammit! He was talent enhancement who occasional won matches against established superstars.

2. Since you reviewed the lead-up show, what are your opinions in quick-quick form on the 1990 Survivor Series?”

1. I can only think of Marty doing the job most of the time.

2. I thought the show was ok, but the whole “face winners vs. heel winners” at the end was a bit silly and pointless. Of course, there’s also the growth of Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and the Gobbledy Gooker…

Here’s one from RobJv1:
“Another good review… Very few people review television stuff from this era, as it is pretty hard to come by for those of us that did not save our old tapes.”

Yeah, it pretty much has become impossible to even bother with buying old footage…

– And speaking of Marty, isn’t this the 8th time he’s been released? It’s too bad too, because Marty is such a talented wrestler and performer, but his drug and alcohol abuse keeps slowing him down. Seriously, the guy’s had so many second chances, and has blown almost all of them. So much for finding jesus…Now let’s review, mmkay?

– We’re going to 1989 here, around Summer 1989. We’re about to go to the period where Coliseum Videos were going to move to the point where they’d be all 2 hours of Coliseum Video “Exclusives”. Also known as “wrestlers at house shows half-assing it with the cameras watching.”… Let’s go!

– We first go to Brutus Beefcake with cigarettes in his mouth. I could go for the obvious Julius Caesar joke, but that’s been done to the death… Beefcake cuts all of them with his shears. “Be a survivor, don’t smoke!”. I love these. I wish the WWE would do these now. “Smoking? That’s not cool.”

– SummerSlam ’89 on video, 9/19/89! I’m actually trying to buy a copy of this on eBay, as we speak. Good omen?

– Your host is Sean Mooney, celebrating the 20th volume of this series with some big party. Atleast they got creative, and it wasn’t, “Sean Mooney in the front of some crappy blue backdrop with the words “MEGA SUPER MATCHES ’93” or something…He lists many big guests showing up at the party, including Hulk Hogan and the Hart Foundation…we’ll see about that.

– The Red Rooster vs. The Brooklyn Brawler
I first must say, the times of the matches all come from Graham Cawthon’s amazing site at http://thehistoryofthewwe.com. If it weren’t for him, I’d have to actually go out and buy a stop watch…Sadly though Graham has results for one match, but it’s still ok for me to plug him! Remember this feud? Tony and Lord Alfred Hayes are with us here. They have a shovefest to begin, but then a slugfest ensues. Twice, with both men winning once. Neckbreaker, and an elbow by Rooster. Chop, and Brawler fights back with punches. Brawler knocks him down, but misses an elbow, and Terry gets up riht away to do a Russian leg sweep. Slam for 2. Armlocks, and Brawler screams in pain. I thought Mike Sharpe was there for a moment…Brawler tries to reverse, but it fails and Terry goes back to the arm. Brawler rams Terry into the buckle, and does shoulderblocks and punches there. He sends Terry to the other turnbuckle, and he runs for an elbow, but misses. Terry comes back with a kneedrop and a clothesline for 2. Back to the arm we go. Brawler takes control however, and sends Rooster out. He taunts, but Terry comes from behind, and he tosses Brawler out. Brawler takes control with kicks and punches, and he sends Terry to the pole. He rams Terry’s head into the pole. Terry is sent back in, with kicks and stomps. Slam, and a kick to the gut by Brawler. Long choking by Brawler ensues. Taylor goes to the turnbuckle, and Brawler pushes him down and covers for 2. Headlock, and Terry fights back, and gets into another headlock. Terry fights back again, and this time he hits a back suplex. He sends Brawler to the ropes, and Brawler hits a high cross body for 2. Small package by Terry gets 2. He then goes for a backslide for 2. Brawler takes control with punches and an eyepoke. Turnbuckle rams, and Brawler does three punches. Atomic drop by Rooster. Neckbreaker by Terry, and Brawler kicks. Punches, and Brawler gets sunset flipped after missing a turnbuckle spot for the 3. Ehhh…they did a decent match. The Brawler was in the mood to do a good match, I guess. **. The headlock spots were not needed, though.

– Brother Loves shows up at the party to drink punch. Mooney claims he’s not supposed to be at the party, but Love still decides to stay.

– Bad News Brown vs. Brutus Beefcake
No real backstory to this one. We’re in the Boston Garden here. Bad News almost walks, and I wouldn’t blame him. Bad News is just tricking Bruti though, and he wallops Beefcake to start. Punches galore. He chokes Beefcake with Beefcake’s own jacket. More chokes. Punches by Brown. He then follows it up with an elbow on the throat. Chokes with the foot by Brown, and he goes back to hammering him. Headbutts and kicks by Brown. Punches, and a rope choke by Brown, who looks like he’s really laying it into Brutus. Beefcake however, fights back. Brown with chops and elbows. Punches and a slam by Brown. Throat drop by Brown, and more of them to the buckle. Brown misses a charge. Punches to the neck by Beefcake. Rake in the eyes and more punches. 10 count punch on the buckle. Kicks. Turnbuckle ram, but Brown feels nothing and attacks Beefcake hits a high cross body for 2. Punches and a slam by Brown. Brown goes up, but gets caught like Flair and slammed. Punches by Beefcake. He motions for the Sleeper, and hits punches. Sleeper by Beefcake, but Bad News somehow gets out of it. He nails Beefcake with a clothesline and gets the mic. He yells at Beefcake, and grabs the scissors. Looks like Beefcake could be the bald one. However, Beefcake rolls him up from behind for the 3! Bad News jobs in a pinfall rollup? It happened. Good match from these two. **.

– More crap with Mooney and Love.

– Jim Duggan vs. King Haku (W. Bobby Heenan) for the King Title.
Copy and paste time, as I’ve already done this one before. Superstars Feature match. I love feature matches. Jesse argues that Duggan has nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Good point. I don’t think Haku really wants Duggan’s flag or 2X4. Lockup. Haku starts with chops to the gut. He misses a clothesline, but Duggan doesn’t. Headlock, and a shoulderblock won’t knock down Duggan. Duggan then nails a hiptoss. Lockup, and Haku with armholds that DUGGAN COUNTERS?! Who are you, and what have you done with Jim Duggan? Slugfest, and both trade ramming their heads to the turnbuckle. Duggan is Hulking Up, now. Haku nails a clothesline, misses his splash, and Duggan nails a 3 point stance for the 3 and the King title at 3:29! Yup, It’s THAT match. Wow! That was fun and didn’t suck! **. Heenan smartly takes the crown and cape before Duggan can go and celebrate. Goodbye Haku’s push, it’s not like we even missed you.

– We now go to the coronation with various faces clapping and bowing. Andre and Haku watch and vow revenge.

– Mooney’s wearing a hat now. That’s all to note. Besides that these segments are too boring…

– 16 Man Battle Royale
We’ve got Bret Hart, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Akeem, Big Bossman, Ax, Smash, Blue Blazer, Richard Charland., Jim Powers, Honkytonk Man, Greg Valentine, Brooklyn Brawler, Hillbilly Jim, and The Red Rooster. From Canada, with Alfred Hayed and Gorilla Monsoon on commentary. Akeem’s already gone. Next to to is Ax. Then, Jim Powers and the Honky Tonk Man are eliminated. Charland is gone. Then, The Blue Blazer and the Brooklyn Brawler get dumped. Rooster is done, and Hillbilly dumps Valentine. Bossman is gone and he dumps out Smash with him. Jim is gone. Final Four: Hart, Hennig, Martel, Tito. Best Final Four ever? The faces and the heels come together as two different teams. Perfect quickly dumps Santana, but Santana hangs around while Martel and Hennig work on Bret. Santana dumps Martel out, and Bret nails Hennig out. Bret wins! Good battle royale, but like Scott Keith, I don’t like rating battle royales. It was pretty fun to watch, though.

– Brother Love plays with crap.

– The Hart Foundation vs. The Rougeau Brothers
From a Main Event taping. Brother Love is the guest referee, and he stalls with him rambling on about the most boring junk. Atleast I got to hear “All American Boys”. This is the basic formula of the match: Harts get offense and cover, Brother Love counts slow, breaks the count, and talks to Jimmy. Rougeaus cover, he counts fast. Lather, rinse, repeat for 20 minutes and MAN does it get old. Plus, he interrupts the match every five seconds, so these guys never even get to gel together. What trash. This could’ve been a good match. The Rougeaus win in some way, but who cares? No need to rate this garbage. Although I must admit, when Bret went for the cover after the Hart Attack, and Brother Love stopped counting to go to the cameraman and say “I looooooooooooove yooooooouuuuuu”, it was pretty funny. Brother Love gets the Hart Attack in the end.

– Brother Love defens his actions and walks out. Kevin Dunn (!) gets pissed because no one is there, and tells the staff to eat the cake.

– Hulk Hogan vs. Rick Rude
From the Bostom Garden in 1988. 1/9/88 to be exact. Monsoon and Jimmy Hart here. Heenan about Hogan’s song “Turn that junk OFF!”. Hart adds in “I hate that song…”, He hates his own work? Heenan yells at Hulk Hogan. Lockup, and Rude wins! Rude gloats and lies down. Time for an arm wrestling match. Hogan wins and he shoves and punches Rude. Buckle rams galore. Chops. Atomic drop and Rude heads out. Heenan gets nailed. Lockup, and Hogan punches. Hogan hits more punches and an armlock. Hogan gets more punches and a suplex. He misses an elbow, and Rude hits fists to the neck. Punches, and Hogan fights back, abd chases Bobby. Rude fights back. Rude with punches, and he brings in a chair. Rude nails him with it for 2 behind the ref’s back. Headlock. LONG headlock. Hogan fights out of it, and nails shoulderblocks. Rude with kicks and a backbreaker submission. Rude thinks he’s won. He goes to the top and nails Hogan. He covers for 2. Hulk up. Finger wag, 3 punches, you know the drill. Clotheslines and a slam are added in. Legdrop gets the 3. Bleh…but it wasn’t too bad. *1/2. Should’ve been a bit faster paced.

– Brother Love still parties. Tony comes out of the curtain and says Mooney’s MISSED the party! Haha, moron. Mooney says goodbye for the last time from the Best of the WWF series. End of tape.