The Name on the Marquee: Madison Square Garden Presents the WWF (10.24.88)

-It’s October 24, 1988 and we’re watching WWE Old School on the Network.

-Your hosts are Rod Trongard, Superstar Billy Graham, and Lord Alfred Hayes.

PAUL ROMA vs. DANGEROUS DANNY DAVIS
-Lock-up, Danny stalls. Backdrop, Danny stalls. Bodyslam by Danny, Danny celebrates. Roma cocks his fist, Danny stalls. Bodyslam by Danny, Danny celebrates. Paul Roma takes a step toward Danny, Danny stalls. Roma slams Danny, Danny stalls. Roma goes after Danny, Danny stalls on the floor. Hiptosses by Roma, Danny stalls.

-Roma chases Danny and Danny just starts going to town with axehandles to the back of the head to take control. Danny stomps away and headbutts Roma. He slams Roma into place and comes off the second rope with a forearm for two. Clothesline by Danny, and he applies a chinlock. Roma gets free and picks up the pace with a sleeper, but Davis rams him into the corner to break it. Chinlock by Davis. Alfred polishes the turd by saying this is brilliant strategy by Davis, who knows that Roma is accustomed to fast-paced matches. He keeps the chinlock clamped on as the commentators actually start discussing the effect of jet lag on pro wrestlers to explain the quality of the match.

-Roma finally gets free and connects with a right hand. Irish whip and a clothesline by Roma, and a missile dropkick to the back of the head finally, finally, finally, finally ends it. 0 for 1. Sweet finisher though, and the crowd popped big for it.

KOKO B. WARE vs. BIG BOSS MAN (with Slick)
-Network is editing ALL of the entrances and ring intros from this show for whatever reason.

-Boss Man takes a swing at Koko, but Koko ducks and tags him on the jaw. and then they circle the ring and test the fans’ clapping skills before stuff actually happens, and these guys don’t seem to be on the same page for a bit before Boss Man finally starts giving him shots to the back and Koko goes flying. Koko gets thrown to the floor and Boss Man tries a headbutt, but hurts himself. Koko slingshots himself back in and tries to capitalize on the dazed Boss Man, but Boss Man’s too big for that, and he chokes the Birdman over the middle rope and follows with the Boss Man legdrop.

-Boss Man lifts and chokes Koko, then ragdolls him in a bearhug until Koko claps his hands and gets free. But then Boss Man just slams him and cuts off the comeback. Splash off the ropes by the Boss Man misses and he throws a series of rights, but he hits the ropes and tries for a charge, and Boss Man just gives him the Boss Man slam to finish it right there. 1 for 2. These guys worked really well together. Koko made him look like a million bucks every time, and Boss Man would always give Koko some spots to shine on the way there.

TAG TEAM TITLE: DEMOLITION (Champions, with Mr. Fuji) vs. ROCKERS
-Ax and Shawn Michaels begin this one. Ax shoves him down and axes him while Billy commends the Rockers for learning how to gain weight since they debuted. Shawn surprises Ax by just lighting into him with punches. Everybody tags and Smash smashes Janetty, but the Rockers just start pinballing him with dropkicks. Rockers go to work on the arm, but Ax tags in and he’s had enough, just headbutting Janetty into goo. Smash tags in but continues having an off-night as Janetty just elbows him in the chin and tags out. Shawn is all over Smash but he starts to hit the ropes and Ax yanks the top rope down and sends Shawn tumbling to the floor.

-Demolition works the back, with Smash applying a Boston crab and holding onto it while Ax repeatedly axes the back. Smash applies a bearhug, but Shawn breaks free and connects with a Decentkick to daze Smash. Hot tag Janetty, and we end up with all four men in the ring. Demolition gets Irish whipped into each other. Ax is cleared from the ring and Fuji takes a shot. Rocket launcher ALMOST leads to a title change, but Ax barely makes it back in to break the pin and we have all four guys in the ring again. Referee tries to restore order, but in the confusion, Demolition uses a Hart Attack to take Janetty out, and that’s enough for the win. Hot match. 2 for 3.

HERCULES vs. THE BODYGUARD, VIRGIL (with The Million Dollar Man)
-Hercules charges the ring and goes after DiBiase first, backdropping him and sending him out of the ring, then going after Virgil. Hercules just beats on him and Irish whips him back and forth. Clothesline and a powerslam by Herc, and the full nelson gets the submission. Just a squash match. 2 for 4. DiBiase attacks from behind, but Hercules keeps the full nelson locked on while being attacked, just to make a point. He even no-sells a chairshot. DiBiase finally breaks it by grabbing the chain and choking Hercules, but Herc gets his hands around the chain and just whips DiBiase across the ring to break.

BLUE BLAZER vs. STEVE LOMBARDI
-Okay, WWE Network didn’t dub the Blazer’s entrance music, but he’s coming to the ring to something that definitely isn’t his music tonight. Frankensteiner draws Oohs and Aahs from the appreciative crowd, and a dropkick sends Lombardi to the floor. Back in, a bodypress gets two. Top rope bodypress gets another two. Dropkick and a suplex get two more. Atomic drop sends Lombardi tumbling into the post shoulder-first, and Blazer gives him 10 punches in the corner. Lombardi gets frustrated and manages to clothesline Blazer to the floor. Back in, Lombardi sticks with the clotheslines and takes Blazer’s head off with one.

-Lombardi goes to a chinlock, but Blazer gets free, so Lombardi does the clothesline again and heads to the top. Blazer kips up and slams him off. Missile dropkick by Blazer. Backbreaker and a belly-to-belly. This is actually kind of funny, as you can tell Owen wants to do some smooth-looking spot where whatever he does causes Lombardi to land in perfect position for something off the top rope. Lombardi, through no real fault of his own, keeps landing the wrong way, so Blazer is just murdering him with different moves, before finally just giving up and slamming Lombardi into position for a moonsault. Not a bad match. 3 for 5.

WWF TITLE: RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (Champion, with Elizabeth) vs. ANDRE THE GIANT (with Bobby Heenan)
-The title can change hands on a DQ or count-out tonight. Pre-match drama sees Pat Patterson come to ringside with a chair and forcing Bobby Heenan to sit in it. Heenan throws a fit about the order, and Howard Finkel gets on the mic to announce that Heenan and Elizabeth BOTH must remain seated for the duration of the match, and if either of them gets up, the match ends immediately.

-Savage charges and Andre chokes and headbutts him to the floor. Savage claws his way back in and Andre chokes him some more. Savage backs him into the corner and scales the turnbuckles to try to get some leverage, but Andre just shoves him off. Andre just ties up Savage’s arms in a hold that no one can classify. Savage gets free and it turns into a fist fight. Savage throws some nice chops and knocks Andre into the ropes. Savage goes to the top, and the double axehandle takes the Giant off his feet. Flying elbow MISSES and Andre rolls out to the floor for a break. Savage just goes back up to the top again and connects with an axehandle out there. Heenan gets desperate and grabs Savage’s ankle to try to get him counted out, but the referee catches him and rings the bell, giving the win to Savage. Not one of Andre’s better nights, but the last three minutes or so were so white hot it merits a thumbs-up. 4 for 6. Andre goes insane and attacks the commentators afterward, but Lord Alfred Hayes unfortunately is able to continue the show.

-Intermission interview-palooza! Ted DiBiase wants what he bought and paid for. Hacksaw Jim Duggan reminds Dino Bravo that weights don’t fight back. The Rougeau Brothers are always rooting for the Hart Foundation to do well in their matches, because they get a 50% cut of the Harts’ money thanks to Jimmy’s chicanery.

HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. DINO BRAVO (with Frenchy Martin)
-Dino tries a sneak attack, but Duggan just clotheslines him and backdrops him, and he heads to the floor for a retreat. Dino heads back in and an atomic drop sends him right back out. Duggan gets distracted by Frenchy and Dino sneaks up and chokes him out. Chinlock applied. Duggan fights out but gets booted down, and Dino chokes him out. Duggan comes back swinging, and the three-point stance sends Dino out to the floor, which means we’re getting a screwy finish. They slug it out and Duggan gets distracted by Frenchy again, so Dino slips back in to take it by count-out. Meh. 4 for 7.

HART FOUNDATION vs. FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS
-Anvil overpowers Raymond with a test of strength. Everyone tags and Jacques DEMANDS sportsmanship. Bret applies a side headlock. Jacques escapes and attempts a monkeyflip, but Bret just drops an elbow on him. Stall session follows until Jacques ends up taking a beating in the Harts’ corner, with Anvil distracting the referee while Bret chokes him out. Raymond comes in to protest and Anvil uses the opening to choke Jacques himself. Anvil locks on a bearhug, but the Raymond breaks the hold while the referee is distracted and the Rougeaus just switch without tagging while they have the opening.

-So now Anvil gets worked over in the corner and it’s a weird dynamic because the face team totally deserves it in this situation. Bret comes in and takes both of them on, but gets overwhelmed by some illegal Rougeaunanigans. Bret’s the face in peril for a spell. Jacques locks on an abdominal stretch and Rod Trongard is giving me absolutely no frame of reference for if the move is applied correctly or not, so I’m totally lost at this point. No wonder he didn’t last. Rougeaus keep switching without tagging and work Bret over with alternating rear chinlocks. I actually just had to replace the alternating rear chinlocks on my Toyota not that long ago.

-Inverted atomic drop by Bret, but the referee is distracted and the crowd doesn’t even pop for the false tag because they’ve seen it enough by this point. Splash by Raymond misses and Anvil finally gets in there and knocks Jacques around from every direction. Raymond comes in and Anvil noggin-knocks them. Bret tags back in and sends Raymond to the floor. Hart attack looks to finish, but Raymond rings the bell and the referee falls for it and declares this match a draw. Anvil demands the Rougeaus grow a pair and get back in for five more minutes. Rougeaus are like, “Nah, we’re good,” but Pat Patterson, Mr. Law and Order, apparently, comes to ringside, consults with the timekeeper, and determines there’s three minutes remaining in the bout and sounds the bell to restart the match.

-Jacques reluctantly heads back in and the Harts just completely tee off on him, but Jacques got enough rest during all the confusion that he manages to stay alive for three minutes and the bell sounds again to make this an actual draw. 5 for 8. These teams can’t let me down.

DDT vs. RUDE AWAKENING: JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS (with Cheryl Roberts) vs. RAVISHING RICK RUDE
-Stipulation for this one: the match cannot end until somebody hits their finishing move. I’ll tell you, after the matches between these two that I’ve sat through, “the match can’t end” is a terrifying phrase to stick into a stipulation.

-Jake applies a wristlock. They both go after each other’s eyes and Jake punches Rude down to the mat. Rude tries a new strategy, tying Jake into the ropes and going after Cheryl, but Jake frees himself in time and attacks Rude from behind. Back in the ring, Rude hits an atomic drop and Jake rolls to the ring for a rest. Rod Trongard is the first one to ask what the hell the referee is counting for when the guys go outside the ring. They trade punches while Trongard shares this gem: “Jake is an excellent wrestler. He didn’t get there by winning some drawing contest or what-have-you.”

-Back in the ring, Rude applies a rear chinlock and then a regular chinlock, to mix it up a little, I guess. Rude snaps Jake’s neck over the top rope and the match goes out to the floor. They battle to ram each other into the post and Jake gets the upper hand on that one. They head back in and Jake gives Rude a stomachbreaker and signals for the DDT. Rude tries to escape but we get the bare ass shot of the night. This leads to a funny visual, as the referee hikes up Rude’s tights for him while Rude is in position for a DDT. Rude rams Jake into the corner to escape and heads to the top rope, connecting with a fist drop.

-Rude makes another play for Cheryl and she winds up and starts to slap him but Rude anticipates and twists her arm away. Bastard. Rude lifts Jake for a slam, but Jake wriggles free and DDTs Rude, and pins him immediately. 6 for 9. I liked it exactly enough not to hate it.

6.6

The final score: review Average

The 411

More hits than misses The tag teams were particularly on their games tonight, so check it out.