wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (6.29.1987)
Loading...-Originally aired June 29, 1987.
-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan. Gorilla is still questioning the legitimacy of the neck injury.
BRAD RHEINGINS vs TERRY GIBBS
-From Hamilton, Ontario. This is a bit of a dick move by Vince, as Rheingins was running the AWA wrestling school for Verne, so Vince signed him and used him as a jobber just to kill the school.
-Right hand by Rhengins. Shoulderblock and a side headlock by Rheingins to keep control. This arena is not well laid-out for a TV taping, as the exit in view of the hard camera is ENORMOUS and it looks like there are ten fans in attendance. This side headlock goes on for 12 lifetimes before Gibbs fights out. Rheingins charges but Gibbs ducks. Crowd is starting to back Gibbs in this match just because he’s doing something.
-Slam by Gibbs and he does an obnoxious little dance as he comes off the ropes. Bearhug by Gibbs as he apparently decides he needs to beat Rheingins not just at wrestling but also boring the crowd. And Rheingins claps his hand to break the hold just to piss me off.
-They slug it out and Rhengins backdrops Gibbs. Gutwrench by Rhengins gets two. Gibbs tries for a backdrop, but Rhengins turns it into a cradle, damn near breaking Gibbs’ neck with the way he applies it but ending the match. That was longer than need be.
HILLBILLY JIM vs IRON MIKE SHARPE
-Some fan in the front row went to the trouble of making a sign that says “Hillbilly Jim is Great!” Really weird entrance for Hillbilly, as they’ve dubbed his entrance music, but the Network puts up a chyron saying that there were “technical difficulties” during Jim’s entrance. You dub everyone’s music on every old show in the vault but for some reason you care badly enough to lie about it on this ONE match?
-Iron Mike stalls, which I normally hate, but it’s Iron Mike Sharpe, so he can do it all he wants. We finally make contact with a top wristlock. Sharpe wins that and uses the hair for a side headlock. Hillbilly gets revenge by planting Sharpe on the top rope and threatening to punch him, but Sharpe escapes and goes to the floor to stall more.
-We inexplicably and inexcusably have a commercial break and return to Hillbilly slamming Sharpe to the mat. Iron Mike goes outside and takes a walk. Back in, Iron Mike turns the tide with the forearm brace to the eyes and snaps Jim’s neck over the top rope. Iron Mike does more clobbering with the armbrace, then goes into the tights to load it with something, but Hillbilly sees the arm coming and reverses it to knock out Sharpe with Stop-Hitting-Yourself to get the pin.
-Mean Gene welcomes Jimmy Hart and the NEW Intercontinental Champion. Honky’s not wearing the belt because it’s not suited for his waist, so Peggy Sue’s polishing it and having it refitted as we speak. He dedicates the win to his fans and says that any fans are welcome to look at the belt as long as they clean their teeth and fingernails first.
-Bobby Heenan has his x-rays and wants to show Gorilla that he’s been telling the truth about the severity of his injuries. Bobby mentions that Hillbilly won the New York Lottery and got Little Beaver as a prize. The losers each got TWO Little Beavers.
SNAKE PIT
-Jake welcomes Hillbilly Jim and Little Beaver. Hillbilly says his little buddy is lucky to be alive after Wrestlemania III. King Kong Bundy is a coward for what he did, and he’s doing to pay.
JUNKYARD DOG vs TERRY GIBBS
-This is JYD’s return after “a tour of the Orient” (he basically quit after Wrestlemania III but came back immediately). Revisionist history is that JYD was a top star in the WWF, but looking back, he was adrift far more often than he had anything to do. Honestly, I think the fact that he was on the cartoon causes people to remember him being more than he was in this company.
-JYD clotheslines Gibbs down. Gibbs just goes to the top rope for no reason, but JYD slams him off and headbutts him to the floor. Thump gets the three-count. JYD brings in a bunch of kids to dance after the match, and the skinniest white kid alive gets DOWN.
-Bobby finally unseals his X-rays and sorts through them…but he can’t find that he wants to show Gorilla.
LEAPING LANNY POFFO vs FRENCHY MARTIN
-This is jarring; they’re in Boston but they don’t have the yellow floor like they usually do. Poffo reads a poem showing his support for Ken Patera.
-They trade holds in pretty quick succession. Frenchy stalls in the corner and gives him a thumb to the throat to take control. Nerve hold by Frenchy. Funny bit at ringside as Gorilla tries to explain what muscles are affected by a nerve hold and you suddenly hear “OW!” on commentary because he’s demonstrating it on Heenan’s neck brace.
-Frenchy punches and kicks Lanny as Heenan mutters “I’ve had enough of this match!” and leaves. Heenan’s departure gets a bigger reaction than anything that’s happened in the match, and Lanny kind of seems to take a hint from that and just hits a moonsault right away to end it out of nowhere.
-Gorilla finally looks at Bobby’s X-rays and he’s bewildered because they’re all chest X-rays, which has nothing to do with his injury.
SIVI AFI vs JOSE ESTRADA
-Classic heel maneuver as Estrada demands an inspection of the tape on Sivi Afi’s ankles, then assaults him while the referee is checking. Afi fights back and armdrags Estrada out of the ring. Estrada takes control back with a snapmare into a chinlock. Clothesline by Estrada to mix things up, and then we go back to the snapmare/chinlock combo. Afi escapes and kicks Estrada down, but Estrada raises the knees to counter an attempted splash.
-Estrada chokes out Sivi. Afi comes back with a suplex and a diving headbutt for two. Elbow by Sivi gets two. Bodypress by Afi is “reversed,” by which I mean Sivi has to jerk extra-hard on Estrada’s legs to roll him on top of his own body so that Estrada gets the surprise win.
-Gorilla is now looking at X-rays of Bobby’s feet. He asks Bobby why and Bobby takes a look and says “These aren’t even MY feet.”
JIM POWERS & PAUL ROMA vs THE SHADOWS
-God help me, if this match has the same finish as the previous two matches we’ve seen between these teams, I swear, I’m going to make a snarky remark, suck it up, and keep reviewing these shows like a bitch.
-Powers starts with Bulky Shadow. He dropkicks Shadow into his partner to knock him off the apron, then dropkicks him again, affecting the ramus of the mandible, which is a rare new term from Gorilla. Side headlock applied by Powers until Bulky Shadow backs him into the corner and rams him. Powers fights back with a lethal…side headlock.
-Back from break, Paul Roma locks up with Bulky Shadow. They back Roma into the corner and the Shadows do a ridiculous “double team” that’s just Thin Shadow holding Roma’s leg and swinging his own foot back and forth. Uh, take THAT.
-Roma gets sent out to the floor and the Shadows attack while Powers pleads for clemency with the official. Backbreaker by Bulky Shadow gets two. Bearhug applied. Powers fights it and gets the false hot tag. All four men wind up in the ring and a Shadow gets Irish whipped into Paul Roma, knocking both of them out of the ring. Shadow reenters the ring while Roma just heads upstairs and comes off with a bodypress to get three. Cool! Something different!
-Mean Gene talks to Koko B. Ware, who’s disgusted about the weird and controversial way that Ricky Steamboat lost the Intercontinental Title. Koko also promises to keep a close eye on Danny Davis for a while.
NON-TITLE: HART FOUNDATION (Tag Team Champions, with Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis) vs KILLER BEES
-Blair starts with Neidhart. Blair rolls him up right away for two. Brunzell elbows him down and gets another two. They slug it out and Bret tags in and gets a near-fall from a backbreaker. Brunzell rights back with right hands and hits the ropes. Danny Davis trips him, so the referee calls a team of cops to ringside andhas him dragged off while the Bees put on the masks. Sweet finish sees a Bee try to sunset flip Hart; Hart resists so the other Bee sunset flips in and pins him.
