The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (4.4.1988)

-Originally aired April 4, 1988.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan.

-We open the show with a montage of Randy Savage’s four victories at Wrestlemania IV. Bobby Heenan is dismayed that everyone is okay with how Savage won, while people would be calling for DiBiase’s head on a plate if Andre had run in with a chair.

-Bobby, feeling extra full of himself, chuckles as Gorilla mentions that Koko B. Ware is in the next match.

KOKO B. WARE vs. DINO BRAVO (with Frenchy Martin)
-From Hamilton, Ontario. Weirdness: they have two mats laid out in the ring, the normal one and then a smaller black mat on top of it. Koko gets the early advantage and Dino heads out to stall. Back in, Koko goes to work with rights and Dino does a Heenan-style bump to sell them. Dino counters a monkeyflip and knees Koko out to the floor. We hit the chinlock and the referee gets distracted while Koko connects with a bodypress. Koko reverses a piledriver and connects with some dropkicks. Dino ducks a corner charge and Koko takes an impressive crotch-first bump off it, and the side suplex gets the win for Dino. Short but decent.

-Craig DeGeorge is at the interview platform with Don Muraco and Superstar Billy Graham. They have nothing to say but they’re charismatic enough that the nothing sounds good.

BAD NEWS BROWN vs. BRADY BOONE
-From the SNME taping in Nashville. Hiptosses are traded and Brady takes over with dropkicks and sends Brown over the top rope. Brown avoids a corner charge and backdrops Brady. Gorilla observes that the crowd’s not really into this one, and Brady wakes them up with a sudden sunset flip for two. Brown cuts off the comeback and drops a leg for two. Boone fights back with a jawjacker for two, but Bad News cuts him down one more time and finishes with the ghetto blaster. Started off as just a squash but they came to life and made it something worthwhile.

WRESTLEMANIA IV REPORT
-Gene Okerlund runs down the results while we watch clips. I’m somewhat surprised by how many lengthy clips including finishes we’re seeing. Last year, they only showed stills at first while the announcers described the finishes, and they waited a full month to show actual video from the show for anything. I like that better. It gives more weight to the event.

OUTLAW RON BASS vs. RICK HUNTER
-Gorilla again has a questionable grasp on the word “special” as he introduces this bout from Wrestling Challenge. Bass rams him shoulder-first into the turnbuckle. Hunter tries a series of roll-ups out of nowhere for a series of two-counts, but Bass just gives him a punch right between the eyes to daze him. Pedigree ends it.

-After the match, Junkyard Dog heads to the ring for his own match and gets into a confrontation with Bass. Bass reacts by attacking him with his whip, choking him out and dragging him back to the locker room. It took over a year, but Ron Bass finally has something to do in this company!

-Good news, satellite dish owners! Wrestlemania IV will be replayed on April 24. Call this blurred out number right now!

NORIYO TATENO (with Itzuki Yamakazi) vs. LEILANI KAI (with Jimmy Hart & Judy Martin)
-From Hamilton, Ontario. Quick dropkicks by Tateno to start. Kai starts to work the arm. They stay on the mat with legscissors, which Kai turns into a slingshot. Kai starts working the leg, but Tateno counters a top rope splash and applies a figure four out of nowhere. Commentary sort of hammers a few things home, as Gorilla STILL hasn’t bothered learning the champions’ names and Bobby casually refers to Tateno’s wrestling gear as a “bathing suit.”

-Judy Martin attacks Tateno on the apron. Kai uses the tag rope to choke Tateno out. Tateno comes back with clotheslines and a double underhook suplex. Tateno shocks everyone by debuting the fisherman’s suplex in the WWF, but Judy Martin distracts to stop the pinfall. Jimmy Hart goes up to the apron and Kai accidentally collides with him, knocking herself out and allowing Tateno to get the winning pinfall. This was okay, but not up to the level of what they did together as teams.

ANDRE THE GIANT vs. BRIAN COSTELLO
-This is Andre’s first match ever on “Superstars of Wrestling,” believe it or not. Andre’s feeling extra-pissed off and attacks Costello before the bell sounds, headbutting the life out of him and throwing him out to the floor. Hacksaw Jim Duggan shows up, pissed off about losing his match at Wrestlemania IV and wanting to get some revenge for it. Andre starts choking out Duggan, who’s somehow bleeding hardway from the mouth and actually quite a bit is flowing out, to the point that they nearly re-shot this angle the next day. Duggan starts to pass out, but he starts to pass out near where he dropped his 2×4, so he grabs it and knocks Andre out with one solid blow to the noggin. Good angle! Funny thing is, I don’t think it would have been nearly as effective if Duggan HADN’T bled. If this was bloodless, than it’s Duggan demanding an unsanctioned match and immediately being overwhelmed. Blood shooting out of Duggan’s mouth makes this “Oh wow, Andre’s going too far, this isn’t okay,” and Duggan did the one thing he could do to save himself.

-Back from commercial, Andre is still unconscious and the ring fills with people tending to him. Andre wakes up and beats down every referee, road agent, and EMT in the ring, AND a cameraman for good measure.

GEORGE “The Animal” STEELE vs. BORIS ZHUKOV (with Nikolai Volkoff & Slick)
-Yup, this is the feature. George charges to the ring during the Soviet anthem and clears the ring. Steele beats on Zhukov while Volkoff protests on the apron, but Steele totally ignores Volkoff and just keeps attacking Zhukov. Slick hits Steele with his cane, which Steele no-sells as he keeps attacking Zhukov. So basically, they’re trying to make this interesting and Steele’s like, “Nah, I’m good.” Zhukov chokes Steele over the ropes and Steele finally decides to sell that. Zhukov stomps away, but George bites back, Volkoff just gets in and attacks for the DQ. Definitely a candidate for Match of the Last Two Minutes.

-Bobby announces that in honor of his impending anniversary as co-host, he’s commissioned a new set for the show.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Okay, that's how you use a supercard for momentum. While the NWA put the company on pause for a week after Clash of the Champions, the WWF directly built an angle from the finish of a match and gave it to us immediately. Good angles and a worthy mix of matches make for a quality show.