The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.1.1987)

-Originally aired October 1, 1987. Ohhh, I know that date off the top of my head! That’s the day that Los Angeles had a big-ass earthquake and this thing happened.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan. Debuting this week: Bobby’s awesome Hollywood Walk of Fame jacket. One of my dream “dumb waste of money” purchases if I were to win the lottery would be a replica of that jacket.

GEORGE “The Animal” STEELE vs SIKA (with Kimchee and Mr. Fuji)
-From MSG. Kamala quit, so Kimchee needs somebody else to handle. I guess Kimchee is a freelance handler, but I like the mental image of Kamala just roaming the streets unemployed and randomly attacking people because he doesn’t have a handler anymore.

-Steele attacks Kimchee, with Kimchee presumably seeing Steele’s wild untamed nature and handing him a business card while being strangled. Sika attacks from behind and chokes him out. Mr. Fuji attacks with the cane from the floor. Steele pulls a weapon from his tights. Steele makes contact with the weapon several times. Kimchee trips Steele from the floor and Steele goes after him. Steele spots an empty chair out there and tosses it in the ring. Sika grabs it and attacks Steele, getting himself DQed, so Steele basically outsmarted his opponent there, which makes it a mildly clever finish.

COWBOY BOB ORTON vs SCOTT CASEY
-From Maple Leaf Gardens. Gorilla and Bobby make an interesting point while discussing the split between Muraco and Orton, basically saying that one’s still a heel but it appears that both of them dumped Mr. Fuji.

-Top wristlock by Orton. Casey simply rolls him up for two, and Orton is complaining about pulling the tights. Casey looks JACKED this week. Orton clamps on a bearhug. Casey elbows out and cradles Orton for two. Orton tries to take a time-out and they end up fighting it out on the entrance ramp. Orton slams Casey on the wood floor and in a fascinating visual that you only got in Toronto, he throws Casey over the top rope INTO the ring.

-Powerslam by Orton. Orton goes for the Vader Bomb and it’s turned into his own version of Flair going to the top rope because he always hits the raised knees. Neckbreaker by Casey gets two. Hard right causes Orton to take an impressive bump through the ropes and onto the floor. Casey rams him into the barricade and teases coming off the top rope and onto the floor with something, which gets a big anticipatory pop from the crowd but the referee tells him not to.

-Orton makes it back in the ring. Casey applies a bearhug but Orton turns it into a belly-to-belly for two. Casey avoids a corner charge and Orton goes corner-first into the post. Casey capitalizes on that with a shoulderbreaker. Orton tries to turn the tide with a slingshot suplex, but Casey shrugs that off pretty quickly and piledrives Orton. That should finish, but Casey drops a fist from the second rope and leaves Orton too close to the ropes, so Orton survives.

-Casey tries a sleeper, but Orton backs him into the corner to break. Casey tries going to the top rope again, but Orton connects with a hard right and superplexes Casey to finish it. Good win for Orton, but without Fuji, it’s just clear that there’s no direction left for him, and it’s easy to see why he left before year’s end.

UPDATE
-Craig says optimism is running rampant about the impending release of Piledriver. Fans are hotly debating which song was the best cut on the album!

-Craiggers is at the interview platform with the Honky Tonk Man. Honky continues to defend is hardline stance that he’s the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. Randy Savage runs out to get in Honky’s face and warn him that “People with big mouths get into big trouble.” Savage challenges Honky to a match RIGHT NOW and makes a beeline for the ring.

-Tito Santana is at the commentary table in the arena, once again calling play-by-play for Spanish television. The Islanders come out to confront him. Tito’s ready to fight, so it’s a 2-on-1 attack with Heenan supervising.

PAUL ROMA & JIM POWERS vs THE NEW DREAM TEAM (with Johnny V)
-From Maple Leaf Gardens. Roma & Powers are finally facing a non-Shadows tag team, which makes me curious to see if we get an awkward moment where Paul Roma tries to pull off Dino Bravo’s non-existent mask because of muscle memory.

-Roma gets caught in the Dream corner early on. He avoids a corner charge and Dino accidentally collides with Valentine and knocks him off the apron. Bodypress by Roma gets two. Valentine tags in and gets caught in the face corner. Roma and Powers switch off with a side headlock as Gorilla predicts that the winner of this match will be named #1 contender for the tag team title.

-Bravo finally takes advantage with a series of chops and a boot that takes down Jim Powers. Gutwrench gets two. Valentine continues attacking as Gorilla mentions that Greg still needs to get warmed up in there. Dino applies a bearhug on Powers and triumphantly yells “I got him now, Greg!” Powers escapes but stupidly tries to dish out punishment instead of tagging, and Dino turns an attempted monkeyflip into an inverted atomic drop.

-Slam by Valentine gets two. Side suplex by Dino gets two. Big elbow misses and it’s hot tag to Roma. Roma cleans house. All four men end up in the ring. Roma rolls up Valentine, Dino slips in and elbows Roma, and Valentine reverses the pin to take the win. Dream Team just had NO heat at all, as the crowd dozed off any time that Roma & Powers weren’t on offense. Anyway, two days later, Saturday Night’s Main Event rolled around, and the Hart Foundation did indeed defend the tag team titles…against Paul Roma & Jim Powers. I’d love to sit in on the meetings with that championship committee.

-Gorilla finally calls Roma & Powers “the Young Stallions” while jut relentlessly shitting all over the New Dream Team and their godawful manager.

GORILLA: History was made in Houston not long ago when Sensational Sherri stripped The Fabulous Moolah…
BOBBY: Oh no!
GORILLA: Of the WWF Women’s Title.
BOBBY: Oh. Whew.

WOMEN’S TITLE: SENSATIONAL SHERRI (Champion) vs VELVET MCINTYRE
-Oh my god, the name change is a play on “Fabulous Moolah”! I just got that!

-Sherri whips McIntyre back & forth. Velvet blocks an attempted monkeyflip and connects with a knee for two. Chinlock is countered by Sherri and she faceplants Velvet. Velvet goes into the ropes and Frankensteiners Sherri to a nice pop. Slam by Velvet, followed by a giant swing (four revolutions if you’re keeping score) but it only gets a two-count. Velvet tries rolling Sherri up, but Sherri gets a handful of tights to reverse it and get the win. Velvet kicks Sherri’s ass after the match, which never really got paid off. I never understood why they didn’t give Velvet a run with the belt.

HILLBILLY JIM vs KING HARLEY RACE (with Bobby Heenan)
-From MSG. Hillbilly clotheslines Race down. Suplex gets two. Elbow misses and King takes control with a knee. He sends Hillbilly out to the crowd and goes out there to attack, but Hillbilly just sends him into the post. Question: Why were there always just random empty chairs around ringside at MSG?

-Back in, Harley attempts a headbutt. Hillbilly just shrugs it off and takes Race down with one of his own. Harley manages to get Hillbilly out to the floor and piledrives him on the concrete, but he does it so gingerly that even though that should be a hardcore spot, the commentators just completely shrug it off. What IS a hardcore spot is Race following that with a diving headbutt, missing, and hitting his head on the floor with an audible thump.

-Back in the ring, Harley ducks a corner charge and slams Hillbilly. Bobby Heenan heads over to do some guest commentary, but Gorilla just busts on him about how cheap the crown and his jacket look, and Heenan gets so flustered that he takes off.

-Hillbilly cradles the King for two. Flurry of punches by Hillbilly. Harley reverses an Irish whip and jauntily speedwalks to the corner, where he runs into a boot. Hillbilly attempts a move off the second rope but crashes, and another diving headbutt by Harley gets the win. This match really put the “ARG” in “LETHARGIC.”

JACQUES ROUGEAU vs “The Million Dollar Man” TED DIBIASE (with Virgil)
-They’re touting this as DiBiase’s first match against an actual opponent.

-DiBiase stalls a little bit. Jacques locks up with him, which DiBiase breaks with a jerk of the hair while simultaneously tripping him. Jacques tries an arm wringer but DiBiase just jerks him down by the hair again. Jacques starts getting aggressive himself with right hands, and a dropkick sends DiBiase out to the floor. DiBiase heads back in and runs right into a bodypress for another two. Jacques is all over him with a Gorilla Monsoon favorite, “Roundhouse rights,” but DiBiase matches him with punches of his own.

-DiBiase chokes out Jacques and gets him against the ropes, and Virgil just gives Jacques a hard pull out to the floor. DiBiase lights into Jacques with punches, as Gorilla Monsoon whips out every bit of jargon in his arsenal, declaring in a single sentence that “DiBiase is bent out of shape and he’s throwing the rulebook right out the window.”

-It turns into a slugfest and Jacques wins the duel with an elbow to the jaw. Virgil comes up to the apron and provides enough of a distraction for DiBiase to schoolboy him for the win.

5.7

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

A few winners, a few losers, and fired up Randy Savage. Better than bad but not exactly good.