– This is pretty awesome, because it’s got all the feuds they’ve been building up on PrimeTime Wrestling for the past few shows.
– Taped from Planet Houston
– Your hosts are Bruce Pritchard & Mike McGuirk. There’s also a heel commentator named “Duke Doherty” who I’m pretty sure is not Pete “Duke of Dorchester” Doherty because Pete didn’t go outside of Boston. In fact, I suspect it was Pritchard sitting there talking to himself while doing a Gilbert Gottfried impersonation. I can’t make stuff this ridiculous up.
Dusty Wolfe v. Sam Houston
Hey, the wrestler so famous that they named the arena after him! Houston gets a pair of armdrags, but Wolfe gets a hiptoss, so Sam does the TWO-STEP OF DOOM and goes back to the arm. He works on that for a while and the crowd doesn’t care. OK, now talk about wasting the hometown advantage — he actually shares the name of the city’s biggest hero and the arena itself, and he still can’t draw a reaction. Wolfe reverses the armbar into a wristlock, and Houston goes for the hair. Damn cheater, just like his brother. You know, Rockin’ Robin. Dusty bails and Houston yells at the referee about it. Was this supposed to be leading to a heel turn or something? Back in, Houston throws elbows and goes back to the faithful armbar, then slugs Wolfe down and finishes with the bulldog at 8:05 after a horribly botched reversal in the corner. Pretty dull stuff. *
Hercules v. The Junkyard Dog
Slugfest to start and Dog headbutts him down, sending Hercules to the floor. Back in, Dog gets a hiptoss and Herc bails again. Back in for the test of strength, but Dog headbutts out of it and Herc backs off again. Finally Herc just pounds Dog down and gets two, but Dog is COKING UP! Herc goes for the full nelson, but Dog runs him into the turnbuckles to break, and they slug it out. They do the lamest double clothesline I’ve seen in a while, barely grazing each other and Dog not even trying to sell it properly. Herc misses an elbow and Dog misses a headbutt, but Herc knees him in the gut and pins him at 8:13. JYD was wrestling like he was collecting a paycheque and nothing else. 1/2*
Billy Jack Haynes & Brady Boone v. Demolition
Big brawl to start and Boone hits Smash with a pair of dropkicks before Haynes presses his cousin into Smash for two. Neato. Billy Jack comes in with a hiptoss and grabs an armbar, as does Boone. Over to Ax, and he gets taken down with the armbar by Haynes as well. Smash comes in and gets slammed, but Ax finally gets a cheapshot from the apron and the Demos take over. They switch off an a neck vice and pound him in the corner, but Billy Jack responds with a suplex on Smash. Hot tag Boone, but he walks into a clothesline from Ax and the Demos are back to the offensive. Smash pounds the back with axehandles, as does Ax, and Brady gets tossed. Back in, Boone gets a sunset flip on Ax for two, but Smash flattens him to break and gets two. Boone tries a rollup, but Smash blocks and clubs him down into a neck vice. Finally Boone leapfrogs into the hot tag and Haynes is the house of fire. Powerslam for Smash gets two and we’re breaking loose in Tulsa. Boone pounds on Ax in the corner and the faces double-team Smash with a clothesline, but Boone goes up with a bodypress for two and then walks into a stungun and gets pinned. Boone’s sell of the finish was pretty great, and this was a dead solid tag match, well worth checking out. ***
Ravishing Rick Rude v. Paul Orndorff
Orndorff is all over Rude to start, tossing him and choking him out at the ringside table. Back in, Rude offers a handshake, which the announcers think might be a ploy. What? Rick Rude, lie? Paul is onto him, turning on him in advance with a clothesline and pounding away, then an atomic drop to prevent Rude from running. And now Paul wants the handshake, but really you can’t trust HIM. Ask Hulk Hogan. Rude pounds him down in response, but Orndorff gets a sunset flip for two. Nice bit there as Rude slugs out of it, but Paul just hangs on and lets gravity do the work. Rude slugs him to the floor and stops to pose, because there’s just no bad time. Rude slugs him down and goes to the Vulcan nerve pinch, but Paul fights out of it with a hiptoss. Elbow misses, but Orndorff gets a backdrop (with crazy elevation on the bump by Rude) and makes the comeback. Dropkick and he tosses Rude, then back in with another sunset flip, but this time Rude is ahead of him and grabs the ropes for the pin at 8:59. Nice little callback there, and a fun match. ***
The One Man Gang v. Brutus Beefcake
Damn, this is a hell of a card. If they had toured Vancouver with this lineup I’d have been going crazy to see it back in the day. They fight for the lockup and Beefcake backs Gang off with threats of a punch. So they try it again and this time Beefcake actually does punch him, then slugs away in the corner. Gang takes some nice bumps for Brutus and hits the floor. Back in, Brutus starts to work on the arm and slugs away, with Gang selling a surprising amount of stuff for him before getting caught in the ropes. Beefcake chooses to bite him, but Gang knees him down to take over and then uses some garbage tossed by fans as a weapon. Nice touch. Gang pounds away and takes him down with a kneebar of all things, but Beefcake fights up and gets the high knee. Sadly, he goes after Slick, and that’s his fatal flaw, as Gang decks him from behind and finishes with an elbow at 9:15. This was a shockingly good match thanks to Gang selling like crazy. **3/4 Gang and Slick get the scissors and go for the MULLET, but Beefcake fights them off. Whew.
WWF World tag titles: Strike Force v. The Hart Foundation
Harts go on the attack to start, but the champs whip them into each other and clear the ring. What was with the neckbands worn by Strike Force? No wonder people turned on them. Finally we get started and Bret pounds on Martel in the corner, but he comes back with a cross body for two. Sunset flip is blocked by Bret for two, but Rick finishes the move for two. Bret bails, and right back in for Rick to start working the arm with an armbar. Bret makes the ropes, but Martel pulls him back again and brings Tito in. He goes to work with a hammerlock on the mat and really cranks it on. Bret breaks and they criss-cross, but Tito stomps him in the head when Bret goes down, and he’s back to the arm. Strike Force switches off on the arm and adds a double-team, and Tito gets the flying forearm out of nowhere for two. Anvil DIVES in make the save, and the Harts switch without a tag, allowing Neidhart to choke Tito down. Bret stomps away from the apron while Anvil distracts the ref, then chokes him out when Martel comes in to protest it all. Anvil ties Tito up in the ropes, then distracts the ref again while Bret does his dirty work. Back into the ring, Bret slugs him down and drops an elbow, and it’s MORE heel work in the corner, as they choke Tito out and set up the double whip for two. Man, they’re just playing this referee and I love it. Tito fights back on Anvil, but it’s the facelock to cut off the ring and back over to Bret. Backbreaker gets two. Bret misses an elbow, but Anvil cuts off the tag with another facelock and the crowd is getting really agitated. Bret and Tito collide on a criss-cross, but Martel comes in early and that allows Neidhart to put Bret on top of Tito for two. Tito finally fights back and whips Bret into the corner, and it’s SOOOO close, but Anvil cuts it off again. You can actually see the fans standing up as Tito gets close to the corner, and then sitting down in annoyance again. I love it. Finally the Harts cheating backfires and they collide, and it’s HOT tag to Martel. He slugs away on Bret and monkey-flips him into a dropkick, then gets rid of Anvil with another one. Boston Crab for Bret, but Tito distracts the ref now and Anvil hits Martel with the belt to break. Pff, when has Bret ever submitted to a move like that anyway? Tito gets the belt and cleans house, but the ref calls for the DQ at 16:17 and gives the win to Strike Force? It really should have been Tito DQ’d for using the belt, but whatever. Bad finish aside, this was TEXTBOOK heat building and I was way into it. ***1/2
Iron Mike Sharpe v. The Ultimate Warrior
This should be quick. Pretty early on for Warrior here. Sharpe grabs a headlock, but Warrior puts him on the top to break and Sharpe bails. Back in, Sharpe tries to knock Warrior down and gets nowhere, and Warrior clotheslines him down. Sharpe pounds away, but Warrior slams him and clotheslines him again. Sharpe wants the test of strength for some strange reason, and quickly loses that one. Warrior charges and hits the corner and Sharpe loads up his medical armbrace and pounds away to take over. Warrior quickly comes back with the flying shoulderblock and finishes with the gorilla press at 5:34. Pretty standard Warrior squash, although not as quick as he’d become known for. *
Outlaw Ron Bass v. Ricky Steamboat
Steamboat evades Bass to start and gets a sunset flip for two, but Bass tosses him. Ricky skins the cat back in and dropkicks Bass, then takes him down with a rana for two. Bass bails and pulls Steamboat out, then sends him into the post to take over. Back in, he gets a clothesline, but Steamboat sends him out with an enzuigiri off the ropes. Bass stalls on the floor, and Steamboat brings him in and starts working on the arm. Bass drops him with a stungun to break, and follows with a piledriver for two. He drops Steamboat on the top rope and gets two again. Things slow down a lot with Bass on offense, as he pounds the Dragon down for two and follows with a swinging neckbreaker for two. He rams Steamboat into the mat for two and hits the chinlock. Steamboat fights back and rams Bass into the turnbuckles, but Bass clotheslines him down. Steamboat keeps coming, however, and gets the surprise pin with a bodypress at 9:29. **
Greg Valentine v. Kenny Johnson
So I guess is this the official start of the singles push for Valentine after the New Dream Team crashed and burned. Johnson goes for a headlock to start, but Hammer drops him with a backdrop suplex. He follows with a snapmare and goes to a chinlock, but Johnson decides to fight back. Hammer slugs him down and follows with a butterfly powerbomb, then drops the elbow and finishes with the figure-four at 3:00. Total squash. 1/2*
WWF World title: Hulk Hogan v. Ted Dibiase
Oh hells yeah. Hogan scares off the rest of the circus and puts Dibiase out with an atomic drop to start, then chases him out and rams him into Virgil. Back in, the big boot puts Dibiase right back on the floor, and then one for Virgil, and he even invites Andre into the ring. You don’t want none of that, Hulk. Dibiase stalls for a while on the floor, and they start for real back in the ring. Hogan actually chain-wrestles Dibiase down into a facelock, but Dibiase breaks with a shoulderblock on the ropes and pounds him on the floor. Virgil waves some money in Hulk’s face in a funny bit, and back in Dibiase stomps him down and chokes away. Hogan fights back with an elbow and slams him, then literally walks all over Dibiase, running the ropes and stepping on him each time…but Andre trips him up for the DQ at 5:50. Boo! However, Andre gets the boot and the match MUST CONTINUE. And he’s fined $2000! Geez, Dibiase could pay that out of the money Virgil carries on him for show. So we continue and Dibiase drops elbows, then the elbow off the second rope that never hits. Except it hits this time, so it’s something of a misnomer. That gets two, and he follows with a clothesline and the fistdrops for two. I’ve always wondered why he did the fistdrops that way — was it just a style thing like Hennig’s shaky kicks, or was there supposed to be a physics reason? Hogan comes back with clotheslines and rolls up Dibiase to retain at 8:04. Pretty disappointing, actually. ** Dibiase would have better title matches in 88, at least.
– Great show, everything felt fresh and there was very little dogging it (with one notable exception), and I’d have totally felt it was worth my $30 if I went to this house show. Check it out.
