The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.8.1987)

-Originally aired October 8, 1987.

-Your hosts are Gorilla and The Brain. Gorilla mentions that later in the show, we’re going to explain what exactly the Survivor Series is. Heenan teases that there’s discussion that the WWF may build a larger ring for the event.

“Mister Wonderful” PAUL ORNDORFF (with Oliver Humperdink) vs DAVE WAGNER
-From “Superstars.” Bobby Heenan promises an embarrassing surprise for Orndorff is coming this week. Orndorff knocks Wagner out to the floor and heelishly attacks. Suddenly, Heenan’s big surprise reveals itself: Rick Rude is on the interview platform, and he does some poses to taunt Orndorff. Orndorff kind of just blows it off and gives Wagner a back suplex for two. Clothesline by Orndorff, who continues to no-sell Rude’s taunting and simple piledrives Wagner to finish it without any trouble.

SPECIAL DELIVERY JONES vs STEVE LOMBARDI
-From Maple Leaf Gardens. There’s a guy trying to start a “boring” chant pretty much the moment the bell rings. Wonder what his username is.

-SD works the arm, then sends Lombardi into the ropes, only to get clotheslined down (and Lombardi apparently has a fan club in Toronto because that gets a pretty good reaction). Chinlock by Lombardi, and we make ourselves comfortable with that hold. Lombardi targets the head of SD Jones, and Gorilla quickly observes that he didn’t do his homework…but Lombardi manages to cut off the comeback with an elbow for a two-count.

-Lombardi tries an Irish whip, but SD reverses and Lombardi hits the post so hard that the crowd wakes up. Headbutts and punches by SD, and a pinfall reversal sequence goes back and forth until Lombardi makes it to the ropes. Gorilla on commentary: “What a feather in the cap it would be for Lombardi to get a win over SD Jones…or anybody for that matter.”

-But alas, this week won’t be that week because SD just rolls him up for three to end this match. The SD this week stands for “sleep disorder”: a potential cure lies in this match.

UPDATE
-Craig DeGeorge has “the latest on the Ken Patera situation.” Ken Patera is wearing his…ahem…weasel whacker, and says that the doctors have assured him of a 100% recovery.

-Thanksgiving Night: Witness the Survivor Series! Hulk Hogan’s Team vs. Andre the Giant’s Team! Hulk will be joined by Superstar Billy Graham, Paul Orndorff, Bam-Bam Bigelow, and Ken Patera. Andre will be joined by One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude, and Butch Reed. Hulk cuts a promo where he makes the rules sound more like a gauntlet match than an elimination tag team match.

BRAD RHEINGANS vs TIGER CHUNG LEE
-From MSG. Brad (I’ll be damned if I’m going to type that last name over and over again) takes Tiger down and works the arm. They go back and forth until Brad armdrags Chunger and goes back to the arm. Chunger gets to his feet and sends Brad into the ropes, but he ends up getting dropkicked down and Brad goes back to the arm. Lee gets to his feet again and Brad slams him so hard that it accidentally causes the MSG bell to sound.

-Chunger drops a knee for two while Gorilla waxes poetically about the building. Both guys suddenly come to life and slug it out. Atomic drop by Blond Backlund, but an elbow misses. Lee tries to capitalize, but Brad whips him into the corner, then backdrops him for two. Gutwrench suplex gets two, with Alfred speculating that Brad didn’t hook the arm because he has tape on his wrist. Lee with a shoulderbreaker…for three? Wait, that’s it? Even the commentators kind of spit-take at that one, as it really just came out of nowhere.

-Gene Okerlund chats it up with the Killer Bees. B. Brian promised Hazel, who works the counter at the tea store, that he’d bring in a title belt the next time he came and visited. The tea store.

SCOTT CASEY vs STEVE LOMBARDI
-From MSG. Okay, seriously, how does this show routinely have guys wrestling two matches? This company was taping 18 hours of matches per month at this point and we’re left with no choice but to show Steve Lombardi twice?

-Criss-cross to start and Casey gets the better end of it, hiptossing Lombardi. Lombardi attempts a monkeyflip from the mat, but Casey just stomps him and armdrags him. Lombardi gets aggressive, sending Casey out to the floor and not letting him back in. Back in, chinlock is applied and Lombardi puts a foot on the ropes, by kneeling, which would give him about 0.000000002% more leverage. Clothesline by Lombardi as we take a break.

-Front facelock by Lombardi, but Casey just works his way to his feet and turns it into an airplane spin. Both men are dazed. Lombardi recovers first and gives Casey a thumb to the throat. Casey with an abdominal stretch, which Gorilla notes he doesn’t have applied correctly (do a shot) and Lombardi hiptosses out. Lombardi applies a sleeper, which Gorilla says is applied improperly and is actually a choke, so mark that one off your Gorilla Monsoon bingo cards too.

-Lombardi goes to the top, but Casey slams him off and piledrives him for two. Lombardi sends him into the ropes and tries a clothesline, but he’s too weak, Casey ducks and bulldogs him as he comes off the ropes from the other side, and that gets three.

OUTLAW RON BASS vs LEAPING LANNY POFFO
-Poffo does a poem where he basically says he wants to spank Bass with his own whip, and Bass understandably feels harassed and attacks Poffo right away. Poffo fights back with a dropkick as Oliver Humperdink suddenly drops in on commentary for the new colorman auditions they were doing at this point.

-Knee to the gut by Bass, and Poffo just flies across the ring to sell the bump. Elbow by Bass gets two. Bass targets the stomach and slams Poffo down. Another big elbow gets two. Bass throws Poffo to the floor and Lanny goes flying again, just selling his ass off for Bass. Back in, Poffo starts to make a comeback with flying headscissors, but he goes to that well too many times and Bass finally just braces himself in place and stunguns Lanny to counter it. Pedigree finishes for Bass, and he actually uses the whip on Lanny after the match. I’ll be damned, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen Bass do that.

-Gorilla announces the rest of the card for Survivor Series. Interesting note: Gorilla announces Junkyard Dog for Randy Savage’s team, but they ended up giving his spot to Ricky Steamboat. Gorilla also casually mentions that Jim Duggan will be there, as if he’s been there the whole time.

BAM-BAM BIGELOW (with Oliver Humperdink) vs SHADOW #1
-Bam-Bam steamrolls Shadow with a shoulderblock. Dropkick by Bam-Bam. Shadow goes to the eyes, but Bigelow just shakes it off and elbows him. Press slam (which Bam-Bam almost screws up in frightening fashion), and the slingshot splash finishes.

-Gorilla whips out a subtle double bird on commentary, boasting that over 400 cable companies have agreed to air the Survivor Series.

ROUGEAU BROTHERS vs NEW DREAM TEAM (with Johnny V)
-From MSG. Johnny V has switched from bandanas and hats to a silly-looking wig. Gorilla, on commentary, just continues to bury the shit out of the Dream Team, because Johnny V’s finishing up and everybody thought that Greg Valentine was about to head south.

-Raymond starts with Dino Bravo. Attempted double-team backfires early on and Dino accidentally knees his own partner. Bodypress by Raymond gets two, and Dino runs to the corner and tags in Valentine. Valentine takes control with chops and forearms, but Jacques gives it back to him with chops and rights. Valentine goes to the floor.

-Back in, Valentine faces Raymond again and now Valentine comes to life by blocking an attempted sunset flip and causing Raymond to crash without him. Dino wastes no time bolting in and hammering away, but Rougeaus both distract Dino, get him confused, and then dropkick him together in a slick-looking spot.

-Ray tries to finish with a Boston crab, but Valentine runs in to break it and the Dream Team gang up on him. Ray gets fired up and just starts going to town on Valentine with punches, but Dino steps in and stops it by throwing Ray to the concrete. Ray makes the best of a bad situation and slingshots himself back in with an attempted sunset flip, but Valentine blocks it from the apron with a stomp to the face.

-Jacques keeps getting fired up and coming in, which gets the referee distracted and the Dream Team keeps Dream-Double-Teaming Ray. Standing front facelock by Valentine, and they cut to commercial to REALLY build the suspense for the false hot tag.

-Back from the break, Valentine attempts a piledriver and Rougeau reverses it by keeping his feet planted and trying to carry Valentine over to the Rougeau corner. Valentine slips free and stops that, and Bravo keeps up the beatdown. Sunset flip by Ray, but Valentine breaks the pin by just grabbing the referee’s belt and lifting him to his feet. I gotta agree with Gorilla. That’s such pure balls that it really SHOULD be a DQ.

-Bearhug by Dino is quickly broken by Raymond with punches—have I mentioned lately how much I like the faces who figure out that it’s actually easy to break a bearhug? Bravo with a side suplex, but instead of going for the cover, he goes for a big elbow and crashes. Ray does the big crawl forward and we finally get the hot tag. Jacques cleans house on everyone, including hitting Johnny hard enough to knock the wig off. Jacques applies a sleeper on Valentine but Dino breaks and we have all four men in the ring. Dream Team double-teams Jacques while the referee chases Raymond out of the ring. Valentine locks on the figure four and the bell sounds, but it’s just a time limit draw. Good but nothing you haven’t seen a million times.

2.9

The final score: review Very Bad

The 411

Gosh! That sucked!