The Chrononaut Chronicles – WWE 24/7: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – Tuesday, November 1, 1988
– I decided to turn my WWE 24/7 Halloween Trilogy into a… Quadrilogy? Here is Part 3, with the Halloween edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event comprising Part 4 tonight.
– Candice Michelle talks about the scary creatures roaming around on Halloween and says that we’ll see a Gorilla and a Weasel on this special Halloween edition of Prime Time Wrestling.
– The Prime Time opening with funky ’80s saxophone music kicks us off before we go to the studio with Gorilla Monsoon (wearing a gorilla mask and gloves with his usual suit and glasses) & Bobby Heenan (in a homemade Big Boss Man costume) as the Brain calls Boss Man a “hero” for assaulting Hulk Hogan and they discuss the lineup.
– Boris Zhukov vs. The Blue Blazer
The dream team of Sean Mooney & Lord Alfred Hayes are on commentary as Nikolai Volkoff is with his fellow Bolshevik and insists on singing the Russian national anthem, but the Blue Blazer’s music cuts him off and the masked Owen Hart sprints out. Zhukov pounds Blazer, but misses a charge in the corner and the Blue One dropkicks him through the ropes before diving off the top turnbuckle with a forearm smash to the outside. Back inside, Blazer tugs on Zhukov’s beard and works over his arm, but Boris reverses a hammerlock and Blazer flips over his back into a rollup for a two-count. Blazer continues to focus on the arm until Zhukov blocks a monkeyflip and tosses him to the floor, where he rams the Blazer into the guardrail and hammers him on the apron. Blazer comes back in with a sunset flip, but Boris blocks it and takes the advantage until missing an ill-advised dive off the top as the Blazer unloads on the Bolshevik. Zhukov counters a back-bodydrop attempt with a kick to the face for two and throws Blazer over the top rope, but the masked Owen lands on the apron and scampers up while Boris has his back turned. The Blazer soars off the top turnbuckle with a flying bodypress on Zhukov for the 1-2-3.
– Heenan worries about how his costume looks, but Monsoon tells him he looks like garbage and says that Boss Man didn’t finish the job on Hogan. After the break, they discuss the upcoming Survivor Series.
– Mean Gene Okerlund hosts the WWF Update featuring a look at the Brother Love Show with Slick spraying mace in Hogan’s eyes and Boss Man brutalizing him with the nightstick. The crowd chants “Hogan” as Boss Man handcuffs the Hulkster to a railing and continues the assault. Mean Gene notes that they will be on opposing sides at the Survivor Series and we see a Hogan promo where he vows revenge on Boss Man.
– Monsoon & Heenan hype the Sugar Ray Leonard boxing match that Vince tried to promote, also known as “WBF: The Prequel”. After the break, Monsoon claims that WWF President Jack Tunney is going to take away Greg Valentine’s shinguard, but Heenan points out how unfair that is since they allow snakes at ringside. Good point.
– Greg “The Hammer” Valentine vs. Tommy Angel
Semi-competitive squash here as Angel tries a couple of comebacks, but the Hammer dismantles him and turns the shinguard around so that Valentine can cinch in the figure-four leglock on Angel for the submission victory and celebrates with Jimmy Hart.
– Heenan is on the bananaphone and promises that his makeup lady is on her way to get him a real Halloween costume.
– Sean Mooney hosts the WWF Events Center and runs through some matches for Survivor Series. Brutus Beefcake & Ultimate Warrior cut a promo promising victory for their team, while the Honky Tonk Man & Ron Bass do the same for their squad.
– In one of the classic vignettes to build up his “Mr. Perfect” character, Curt Hennig wins a game of chess to show how Perfect he is.
– Heenan leaves the desk to go get made up.
– Honky Tonk Man vs. John Ziegler
Chrono Fact: the Honky Tonk Man’s theme song is one of my favorites of all time. I’M COOL, I’M COCKY, I’M BAD! I also liked how he’d have something different written on his tights; this week it’s “All Shook Up”. After totally squashing him, Honky Tonk finishes off Ziegler with the Shake Rattle ‘n’ Roll and sings and dances in the ring.
– Monsoon introduces an on-location piece in Toledo, Ohio, at Tony Packo’s Hungarian Hotdog & Sausage House as Monsoon & Heenan arrive to eat, although the Brain isn’t impressed with the place. They talk to Tony himself and he gets them to autograph hotdog buns for the Wall of Famous Buns before Gorilla heads off to the kitchen to prepare a “treat” for the Brain, but the sausage is very spicy and the sauce is too hot so Heenan coughs a lot. To be fair, it does look like instant diarrhea to me. I’m not sure of the point exactly but these two are great together, and that’s probably the whole point of the video.
– Heenan returns to the desk and looks proud of his makeup job, but he didn’t get a chance to look in a mirror. Of course, the makeup is some whiskers and a nose painted on his face so he looks like a weasel. The studio crew laugh at him from off-camera and he can’t understand why.
– “Dangerous” Danny Davis vs. Paul Roma
Two of the most boring workers of all time in my opinion (although I did like “Romeo” Roma as one-half of Power & Glory) and to top it off we get Rod Trongaard, Superstar Graham, & Lord Alfred on commentary. Davis keeps stalling to increase the boredom factor right off the bat and Roma back-bodydrops him, but Davis comes back with bodyslams as Graham guesses that Roma has between 3-5% bodyfat. That can’t be normal. Davis bails out a couple of times when Roma gets some offense and Roma chases the evil former referee around ringside until Davis cheapshots him back in the ring and unloads with his thrilling moveset. After a commercial break, the Dangerous One drops a forearm blow off the middle turnbuckle for a two-count and remains in control as Hayes notes that Roma is suffering from jetlag since he just wrestled in Italy a couple of days earlier. He was in ITALY and he made it back in two days?!? The WWE 24/7 Retro Timeline runs at the bottom of the screen listing off title changes throughout history in the last week of October so that we don’t completely fall asleep during this match as some “Boring” chants can be heard. Roma finally breaks out of the eternal chinlock and mounts a comeback to wake up the fans as Roma lands a missile dropkick to the back of the head off the top turnbuckle for the three-count on Davis. Nice finish, but what a godawful match. Davis had far outlived his usefulness by this time and would be back to referee duty in 1989 without even an explanation as to why Jack Tunney reinstated him after banning him for life.
– Sean Mooney is back in the Events Center to talk about the 20-man (5 tag teams on each side) match at Survivor Series. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers & Jimmy Hart cut a promo targeting the Hart Foundation and promising to survive the match for their team, while “The Baron” (Baron Von Raschke in his brief WWF stint as a manager) speaks for the Powers Of Pain and states that it’s all about survival of the fittest.
– Heenan still can’t find a monitor or a mirror to see how he looks and complains that Monsoon never lets him talk, so Gorilla promises not to talk for the rest of the program and sits silently.
– On the Brother Love Show, Brother Love classifies Hercules as an ingrate for protesting his sale from Heenan to Ted DiBiase and introduces the Mighty One as his guest. Hercules explains that he served the Brain because he trusted him and states that no amount of money can buy his dignity, adding that the Million Dollar Man will feel his wrath. WWF Champion Randy Savage comes out with Elizabeth to a great pop and notes that everything he read in mythology books as a “Macho Baby” is the same as Hercules describes and shakes Herc’s hand for standing up to DiBiase. Love doesn’t approve and runs off while Savage & Elizabeth raise Herc’s arms to put him over as a top face. I guess this was part of the supposed “Hercules as the third Megapower” plan that never worked out, although it set up Herc as a member of their Survivor Series team.
– Monsoon hums instead of talking while Heenan complains about Hercules and gets cut off by a commercial break. When we come back, the Brain gets flustered as he obviously can’t handle being the host and the feature match is ready to roll before he can introduce it.
– WWF Tag Team Title: The Rockers vs. Demolition [champions]
Mr. Fuji is still with the heel WWF Tag Team Champions as their face turn wouldn’t come for another few weeks at the Survivor Series. Trongaard notes that this is the biggest match of the Rockers’ lives as Ax pounds Shawn Michaels to start and bodyslams him when he tries for a crossbody, but misses an elbowdrop and Shawn explodes with a flurry of fists. They both tag out and Marty Jannetty outmaneuvers Smash as Ax yells at him to “stay in one place”. Smash rains down the double-axhandles, but Marty fires off a pair of dropkicks for a one-count and punches away as Smash no-sells the blows and consults with Fuji. Jannetty reverses an armwringer and drags Smash to his corner as the Rockers exchange very quick tags and work over the arm to pop the crowd. Smash makes the tag and the Rockers bring Ax to their corner to work over his arm with the rapid tags until Ax clobbers Marty with a headbutt and tags Smash, who pummels Jannetty as Demolition isolate him to take control. Jannetty comes back with a twisting back-elbow off the ropes and tags Michaels, who unloads on Smash as we go to break. When we come back, Shawn tumbles out to the floor when Ax pulls down the top rope and the camera misses Fuji jabbing Shawn with his cane. Smash suplexes Shawn back into the ring and applies a Boston crab as Trongaard references Demolition injuring Rick Martel.
Michaels is about to break free, but Ax tags in and hammers the future Heartbreak Kid. Smash gets the tag and cuts off a comeback attempt by drop-toeholding Shawn and tagging Ax, who squeezes Shawn in a bearhug as Marty claps on the apron. Michaels fights out, but Ax knees him in the gut and tags out as Smash resumes the bearhug until Michaels escapes and counters a back-bodydrop attempt with a kick to the face. Jannetty gets the hot tag and unloads on both Demolition members as we get all four men slugging it out and the Rockers whip Demolition into each other. The Rockers snap off a pair of double dropkicks, level Ax with a flying double shoulderblock, and double-bodyslam Ax before knocking Fuji off the apron. Smash eats a double clothesline and Marty launches off Shawn’s shoulders in the corner with a flying splash for a near-fall, but Ax makes the save and we get all four guys in at once again. The referee ushers Michaels back to the apron while Smash lifts Jannetty up and Ax punches him from the apron to give Smash the pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship. Solid match, as I believe this would have been one of the Rockers’ first televised title shots and they looked surprisingly strong against the dominant champs.
– Heenan laughs about the Rockers’ loss and guesses the excuses that Monsoon would have given while Gorilla is still silent. Director Kerwin Silfies cuts in to remind Heenan to plug next week’s special show from Paris, France, which was actually shown on WWE 24/7 in August. After a commercial break, the Brain taunts Gorilla until Monsoon himself appears behind Heenan and scares the shit out of him. Heenan questions who the Gorilla is and Monsoon claims he was two hours late as Heenan runs off and the credits roll while Monsoon sits down with the Gorilla. It’s a Halloween mystery!
Afterthoughts: Not much of a Halloween theme to the show, other than the hosts in costume and the Tag Team Champions wearing facepaint in the main event. Actually, let’s try to connect the Halloween theme to the rest of the show: Blue Blazer wore a mask, Greg Valentine wore a shinguard he didn’t need, Honky Tonk Man dresses like Elvis, and Roma vs. Davis was definitely a trick, not a treat. So there you go. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the future.
