wrestling / Video Reviews

The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.25.1988)

September 30, 2018 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
WWF Prime Time Wrestling Bobby Heenan, WWE Network
6.4
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The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.25.1988)  

-Originally aired October 25, 1988.

-Your host is Gorilla Monsoon. And this week, we’re ON LOCATION at Sugar Ray Leonard’s training camp as he trains for his boxing match on November 7. Bobby’s not here because he’s concerned about backlash for the negative things he’s said in the past about Sugar Ray.

ROCKERS vs. FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS (with Jimmy Hart)

-The commentary is actually more interesting than the match, as Sean Mooney suggests that Jimmy Hart’s nickname should be “The Spoon” and Alfred freezes until Sean explains “Because he stirs up trouble.” Alfred explains he took the nickname to refer to soup because “you suck it off” with the spoon.

-Marty Janetty works Jacques’ arm and it turns into double-teaming right away for two. Rockers tag off and stay on the arm, but they make the mistake of knocking Raymond off the apron while they’re at it, and that puts Raymond in prime position for tripping Shawn Michaels, and the Rougeaus cut the ring in half and work him over.

-Breaking: Sugar Ray Leonard is punching the speed bag, because apparently this Lalonde fellow is ready to fight. You wouldn’t think you’d have to train this hard to fight the host of “The Mad Dash.”

-Back to the match, Raymond has a rear chinlock applied. Shawn fights it so Raymond tags out and Jacques does this awesome dick spot as he accuses Marty of doing something illegal on the apron, while not even facing him, and the referee runs over to check, allowing the Rougeaus to switch without tagging. We get the dreaded false tag and the Rougeaus gang up on Michaels. Raymond goes for a backdrop, but Shawn elbows him and makes the hot tag. Fun spot as Marty rams Jacques’ head into the turnbuckle ten times, then distracts the referee while Shawn gives him ten more. Jimmy Hart lobs the megaphone into the ring, but the referee catches him for the DQ. This was a surprisingly methodical pace but it told a good story and had some entertaining moments.

-Bobby Heenan still isn’t here.

UPDATE
-Dino Bravo interrupted Hacksaw Jim Duggan during The Brother Love Show last week, but Duggan chases him off with the 2×4. Duggan cuts a promo afterward about the experience and adds some creepy subtext, wiping his mouth after he mentions the name “Brother Love.”

-Gorilla thinks Sugar Ray’s match will be a classic confrontation. Gorilla implies he’s doing commentary for the fight. Oh my god, think of all the references to the manidibular lardassimous and the peruvian crayon protuberance we were deprived of when that fell through. Bobby Heenan finally shows up with his fists taped.

SCOTT CASEY & SAM HOUSTON vs. BOBBY HEENAN’S MYSTERY TEAM

-Bobby grabs the mike from Mike McGuirk and reminds us that he promised new additions to the Heenan Family and by god he’s delivering. Here are Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, the Brainbusters. Commentators put them over right away, saying that to sign Arn & Tully, Brain must have actually opened up his wallet for once.

-Arn starts with Sam Houston and it feels like old times. They trade hammerlock reversals and Arn just levels him with a forearm to take control. Everyone tags and Casey takes control of Blanchard with a backdrop. Blanchard uses handfuls of tights to throw Casey to the floor. Casey slingshots himself back in for a sunset flip, but he doesn’t see Tully make the tag and Arn sneaks in with a boot. Arn slugs it out with both opponents and Houston takes him down with a clothesline. He tries to follow with a monkeyflip but Arn turns it into an inverted atomic drop. Tully tries to capitalize, but gets hiptossed. He tries to follow with flying headscissors, but he’s close enough to the ropes for Arn to clothesline him off Tully.

-Houston reverses a suplex and everyone tags again. Casey unloads on Arn with Polish hammers to the face, but Arn comes back with the spinebuster. Bowling-shoe ugly spot sees the Busters and Casey collectively bungle an attempted pin being broken up, and Tully just calls it a night right there with the slingshot suplex. Unexpectedly back-and-forth match for the Busters’ debut, but I enjoyed it enough that I can’t complain.

EVENT CENTER

-Demolition wants to hurt people, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts and his wife stand side-by-side to remind us what hair looked like in the 1980s.

THE BROTHER LOVE SHOW

-Angle hint: Brother Love’s set suddenly has barricades surrounding it for no reason. He’s also not wearing glasses and looks surprisingly strange. Brother Love gives a sermon about how Hulk used to be loved until he lost his title, and without love, he has no sense of self-control, which he proved by threatening Brother Love and chasing him off the first time that they crossed paths.

-So Brother Love’s guest is indeed Hulk Hogan, and once he shows up, that’s when Brother Love puts on the glasses, to avoid getting hit. He says he decided to hire a security guard to protect him, which today would lead to some hilarious skit where Kevin James shows up in character as Paul Blart and dances with New Day while Michael Cole shouts “That’s Kevin James dressed as Paul Blart and he’s dancing with New Day!”

-But no, in fact, Brother Love hiring a security guard is going somewhere, as he brings out the Big Boss Man and Slick, and Slick and Hulk are actually almost eye-to-eye. Slick and Hogan trade taunts and the camera reveals that Slick has a can of mace behind his back. There’s a weird moment as someone seems to forget their cue; Hogan and Boss Man just stare at each other, and Boss Man finally whacks him with the nightstick. Slick sprays him with the mace for no reason at this point; I think Slick was supposed to mace him first and just straight-up forgot. Boss Man unloads on Hogan with shot after shot with the nightstick and handcuffing him to the barricade, and if we faded to black right here and ended it with Hulk in a coma as officials run out to break up the scene, that would be one hell of an angle, but instead, Hulk makes a comeback and chokes the Boss Man while still handcuffed, then lifts the barricade and chases Boss Man with it. OH, FUCK OFF.

-“Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig shoots hoops. He’s perfect.

-Sugar Ray confronts Bobby about all the things he’s said for the past month. This is such a weird segment, as Heenan is a heel for saying things that, as far as I can tell, a lot of legitimate sports commentators were saying about him at this point, and Sugar Ray basically says this might be his last fight anyway.

JUNKYARD DOG vs. KING HAKU (with Bobby Heenan)

-From MSG. Haku just goes nuts with headbutts and chops. JYD fights back with slams, and the rolling headbutts send Haku out to the floor. Killer spot follows as these two take turns trying to kill each other with headbutts and no-selling them until Haku finally gives out and collapses, and JYD gets two. JYD goes to a chinlock, but Haku elbows out quickly. JYD tries the arm instead and goes to a hammerlock until Haku makes it to the ropes. JYD tries headbutting the shoulder to soften him up and reapplies the hammerlock as we pause.

-Bobby is missing again.

-Back to the match, Haku applies a double purple-nurple, but the Dog is smart enough to realize he can still move his head, so he just headbutts out of it. Haku knocks him on his ass, though, and having learned from this, Haku tries doing the hold from behind so Dog isn’t in position to headbutt out. JYD stomps on his foot to break it, but Haku uses his good foot to kick JYD down for two. He throws JYD to the floor; Heenan was at the commentary table talking shit about JYD, but Haku sent him out to the commentary table side and Heenan immediately stops talking and walks away in a classic bit of Brain cowardice.

-Back suplex by Haku, and then he goes back to the purple nurple. Again, JYD realizes that he can still move pretty freely, so he just gives Haku a thumb to the eye and backdrops him. Thump almost finishes, but Heenan runs in to break the pin. JYD gets out of the way and Heenan stomps his own man, and Heenan almost gets an ass-kicking, but Haku recovers and it’s a 2-on-1 attack to give the Dog the win. JYD was fired before they got to the rematch that this was obviously leading to. The sad thing is, JYD actually cared tonight and put on a good match for his last MSG show.

-Donny LaLonde and Sugar Ray Leonard cut promos on each other.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

-Mean Gene Okerlund welcomes Demolition and Mr. Fuji. They’re survivors. They’re winners. They’ll prove it at Survivor Series.

TITO SANTANA vs. RAVISHING RICK RUDE (with Bobby Heenan)

-Rude works the arm, Tito reverses. Rude decides a test of strength is more in his wheelhouse and gets the advantage with that. Tito goes down but hits Rude’s hand, using the position to his advantage. Rude bails and Heenan gets his hand stomped on for funsies. Tito applies a side headlock and we pause…

-We return with Tito caught in a rear chinlock. Tito fights it and Rude stays on the back. Bearhug by Rude. He tries a rear chinlock again, but Tito breaks it with an electric chair. Santana unloads on Rude with right hands and stomps a mudhole. Bodypress gets two. They keep slugging it out until the bell sounds for the time limit draw. Gorilla and Bobby have an argument afterward about something we didn’t see that happened post-match, exposing the editing done to the match to get around Rude’s music.

6.4
The final score: review Average
The 411
Good selection of matches this week plus a bit of history with the Busters' debut, but Hogan's ego trip wrecked a great segment and the boxing stuff was tiresome.
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