WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.23.1989) Review

-Originally aired October 23, 1989.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan in Studio A, and Rowdy Roddy Piper in Studio B. Show opens with the announcement of the Survivor Series Showdown on November 12. Piper’s shtick in Studio B: finding all of the magazines and newspapers Heenan left lying around when he was using the set.

MR. PERFECT vs. RENO RIGGINS
-New pre-match ritual, with The Genius reading a poem singing Perfect’s praises before he makes his entrance. Perfect is still using the Exodus theme for his entrance, and WWE is still leaving it intact! Does WWE Network just use coin flips to make decisions about music usage?

-They hit the ropes and counter each other before Perfect launches Riggins into space with a hiptoss. Dropkick by Perfect. He biels Riggins by the hair while Genius flutters his eyes at ringside, admiring his perfection.

-Hard forearm off the ropes by Perfect, and he is NOT wasting this opportunity. He’s busting his ass as hard as you can while working a one-sided squash match. Perfect-plex finishes, and with the music, the hype man in his corner, and a much more fired-up attitude, Perfect finally, finally feels like a STAR in this company.

-Back in the studio, Gorilla explains the premise of Survivor Series Showdown. The names of all the Survivor Series participants were put into a hat and a random drawing was held to create five one-on-one matches with members of opposing teams.

UPDATE
-We head off to Saturday Night’s Main Event, where Tito Santana is battling Rick Martel, and all of their Survivor Series teammates are surrounding the ring, and sho’nuff it ends in a mini-battle royal. Gene Okerlund says that what happened in this match was “ironic” because everybody is in the same match at Survivor Series. I really just want that word to die completely at this point.

RUGGED RONNIE GARVIN vs. TONY BURTON
-Garvin shoves Burton so hard that he tumbles over the top rope. Back in, Garvin wrings the arm but Burton breaks free with a right hand that knocks Garvin loopy. Now THAT’s a chance to use the word “ironic.” I think.

-Garvin gets good and mad, throwing a series of chops and backdropping Burton into place for wrestling’s greatest manuever, the Garvin Stomp. See, the beauty of the move is that instead of just stomping him, Garvin stomps him multiple times to really make it his own. Sharpshooter gets the submission.

-Classy Freddie Blassie walks into Studio A for a surprise appearance after three years, and it’s a face turn, as Blassie refuses to shake Heenan’s hand over a $65 loan that Heenan’s never repaid and threatens to kick his ass so bad that Heenan doesn’t make it to Survivor Series. Heenan is just completely shocked at being on the receiving end of Blassie’s wrath.

AKEEM (with Slick) vs. PAUL ROMA
-This match was taped in Wheeling, West Virginia. And as an ’80s child who grew up in West Virginia, I didn’t need Tony Schiavone to tell me this was taped in Wheeling, West Virginia. The number of kids in the crowd with buzzcut/rat tail combo told me.

-Akeem misses a corner charge immediately, but Roma doesn’t capitalize on it at all and lets Akeem recover. Hard camera side seats are emptying at a breakneck pace as Roma tries a bodypress, only for Akeem to catch him and turn him into a bodypress. Spots like this make me wish the real world worked the same way as pro wrestling, where fat automatically means superhuman strength.

-Akeem throws Roma out to the floor, but Roma pretty much no-sells it and launches himself back in with a dropkick. Roma is so fired up he manages to Irish whip Akeem, but he misses the charge, and a splash by Akeem finishes. Turn out the liiiiiights…

-We go to Studio B, where Blassie is now Piper’s guest. I mean, the Bobby Heenan Show set does come with a couch so he might as well hang out over there. So Piper just kisses his ass and they gang up on Heenan. Blassie and Piper discuss what a good manager does and doesn’t do, and they agree that if a guy is a reigning champion getting ready for a title defense on pay-per-view, you don’t allow that champion to antagonize somebody and start a feud with them.

HERCULES vs. GEORGE SOUTH
-South dodges a clothesline and celebrates prematurely, and Hercules clotheslines him from behind. Ten shots into the turnbuckle, and South does a great sell off that. South fights back with a clothesline that doesn’t even budge Herc, and another great reaction. The squash matches on this show have been really fun for the past few weeks.

-South tries a corner charge now and hangs himself over the top turnbuckle, and he tries to tag out because he’s so dazed. Torture rack puts him out of his misery.

EVENT CENTER
-Sean Mooney runs down the Survivor Series card, giving a chance to just sit back and savor the drum track for a few moments. We get words from the King’s Court, including Dino Bravo, who promises “We gonna do the job!” Okay then!

WWF TITLE: HULK HOGAN (Champion) vs. “Million Dollar Man” TED DIBIASE (with Zeus)
-Zeus wastes no time trying to trip up Hogan, but Hogan shakes it off and gets the early offensive. Zeus trips him up a second time and Hulk and Zeus start choking each other. Referee breaks it up and Hogan goes right back into control. Hulk gets distracted one more time and it finally works and Zeus strangles Hogan while DiBiase has the referee’s attention…and that brings out Jake “The Snake” Roberts. This time, DiBiase gets distracted and Hogan rolls up up for two.

-Hogan lays a beating on DiBiase while Jake stares down Zeus, and then Virgil pops up out of nowhere, snatches Damien, and hauls ass out of the building. Jake chases Virgil, which leaves Hogan all alone again.

-Back from commercial, DiBiase is in control with elbows and a clothesline for two. Suplex gets another two. Axehandle from the ropes gets another two. Chinlock by DiBiase. Hogan breaks free, but a double-clothesline wipes out both men. DiBiase recovers and hits a knee from the top rope for another two, and this time, Hulk makes his big pissed-off comeback. Hogan connects with the big boot and Zeus heads in and grabs onto him for an attempted double-team. DiBiase clotheslines Zeus by mistake, and just stares in shock at Zeus until Hulk rolls him up for a three-count. Post-match, Zeus attacks and DiBiase capitalizes with a Million Dollar Dream, and Jake returns with Damien to clear the ring. This was good enough, and as a nice bonus, Hulk changed up the formula a little bit.

EVENT CENTER
-We get point/counterpoint from the Hulkamaniacs and the Million Dollar Team. Sean “Hot Take” Mooney speculates that Hulk and Zeus will still have animosity by the time Survivor Series rolls around.

WIDOW MAKER vs. JIM MACPHERSON
-Widow Maker carries MacPherson around with one arm for a bit just to show off. Inverted atomic drop, and then he rips at MacPherson’s face. Nice touch from Barry Windham, as he dashes over and wipes his fingers on the turnbuckle after doing that. Superplex finishes.

BROTHER LOVE
-Dusty strolls out, still wielding the stolen nightstick. He ain’t worried about the Survivor Series, because he’s got “Poultry in Motion” himself, the Red Rooster, on his team.

-Roddy Piper mentions that ever since he got Snuka to agree to be a Survivor Series partner, he’s made it a point to address him as “Mr. Snuka.” Just in case.

SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA vs. BROOKLYN BRAWLER
-Forget the racial stereotypes; the most outdated gimmick of ’80s wrestling is the Brooklyn Brawler. In 2020 he’d be the Brooklyn Gentrifier and he’d cut a bunch of promos on the fans about how they all look like they attend public school, unlike his children, Brayden & MacKayleigh Lombardi.

-Brawler actually has control for a little bit until the corner charge misses. Superfly splash gets three.

BRUTUS “The Barber” BEEFCAKE vs. GREG “The Hammer” VALENTINE (with Jimmy Hart)
-From Nassau way back in June. Copy-pasting this from an old review.

-For Christmas, I got my brother the Brutus Beefcake issue of Wrestling Spotlight and it actually gave some good backstory for this match. Now, we know these guys were tag team partners, and they had a falling out that was teased for a few months before Valentine finally cut ties with him at Wrestlemania III, but they never explained what the falling out was about. Well, you’ll be delighted to know that according to Wrestling Spotlight magazine, in 1986, Beefcake felt that the Dream Team had stagnated and suggested that the team could gain some extra momentum by doing more crowd-pleasing maneuvers that would put the fans on their side. Valentine resented the suggestion that they try to please the fans, so that’s what caused the rift.

-Beefcake is wearing a bizarre-looking single hair extension tied into a dreadlock. Think Eddie Murphy in Coming to America. They stall for a bit and in Gorilla’s absence, Lord Alfred takes the initiative in explaining Valentine’s need to get warmed up.

-Beefcake atomic drops him and clotheslines him down. Valentine retreats to the floor and gets aggressive when he gets back in, throwing forearm after forearm and wearing Beefcake down with them. Beefcake fights back with a clothesline and slams Valentine down. Choke by Beefcake and he punches Valentine ten times in the corner.

-Beefcake signals for the sleeper, but Valentine gives him a knee to the gut and Beefcake tumbles out to the floor. Back in, Valentine takes a turn setting up for his finisher, targeting Beefcake’s leg and it’s time for the figure four. Or not, because Beefcake kicks him away. Wait, maybe it is because Valentine goes for it again. No, Beefcake kicks him away.

-Valentine goes to the top rope because his ex-partner Ric Flair never warned him about that. Beefcake meets him with a shot to the gut and a series of punches. Sleeper applied, but Brutus gets distracted by Jimmy Hart. Valentine sneaks up with a shot to the back and drops an elbow for two.

-Jimmy Hart gets Beefcake’s bag and stands on the apron, looking through it to find the scissors, but while he’s distracted by that, Beefcake shoves Valentine into his manager and rolls him up for three. Not a classic but perfectly acceptable.

7.9

The final score: review Good

The 411

This show is just on fire, with fun squashes, good competitive matches sprinkled in, and some fantastic studio segments. No wonder I got hooked at this point.