The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (6.13.1988)

-Originally aired June 13, 1988.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan.

“The Rock” DON MURACO (with Superstar Billy Graham) vs. DARRYL NICHOLS
-From Fresno, and dig this commentary team: Vince McMahon & Slick!

-Muraco works the arm and gutwrenches Nichols. Chinlock is applied. Nichols shows some signs of life with punches, but Muraco just mows him down with a clothesline, and the tombstone finishes things.

SAM HOUSTON & FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS vs. DANGEROUS DANNY DAVIS, CHRIS CURTIS, & PETE SANCHEZ
-Houston starts with Sanchez. Houston leapfrogs right over him and punches Danny off the apron. Danny avenges it with a knee to the back as we go to pre-taped words from the face contingent. The Rougeaus won’t let Sam Houston talk, while they promise that they’re willing to help their younger, inexperienced partner win this match.

-Jacques works Curtis’ arm and applies an abdominal stretch. Savate kick by Raymond, and Houston comes back in to add an elbow. He wants to stay in the ring, but the Rougeaus demand that he tag. The Rougeaus double-team Curtis while Jesse asks yet again which Rougeau is which.

-Rougeaus trade off on Curtis and refuse to tag Houston. Doomsday Device gets three. Sam Houston jaws with Danny Davis, and while he’s not looking, the Rougeaus hit Le Bombe De Rougeau on Sanchez for the hell of it.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Craig DeGeorge welcomes Bad News Brown to the interview platform. Craig makes the mistake of touching Bad News and he snaps like a twig. Bad News says that Bret Hart is just a cupcake, and his partner the Anvil better stay away. This was such an awkward feud, as Bad News is a singles wrestler picking fights with a tag team at a period when they were actively trying to split the tag team up, while at the same time also pushing an angle where the tag team that breaking up is also feuding with their manager. It’s like NWA booking.

SPECIAL REPORT
-Sean Mooney interviews fans at a TV taping to remind us that wrestling fans on camera is never NOT the worst fucking thing ever.

-Hold a WWF Fund Raiser for a worthy cause today, like the new XFL maybe.

BAM-BAM BIGELOW vs. HERCULES
-We’re in Boston Garden. They trade arm wringers and Bam-Bam headbutts Hercules out to the floor. Boston Garden has a beige floor instead of a yellow floor tonight so we’re viewing this in one parallel universe or another. Next thing you know, they’ll be showing a match from Toronto and it won’t have that runway.

-Back from commercial with Bam-Bam suplexing Hercules into the ring and applying a chinlock. Corner charge misses, and Hercules throws clotheslines until Bam-Bam goes down. It looked like Hercules wanted him to go over the top there and Bam-Bam was like “Nah, I’m good.” Another weird spot as Hercules simply lies down and goes for the pin and Bam-Bam just resists the shit out of it and Hercules has to do a half-nelson. Yeah, I know, in a real fight, you’d resist a pinfall attempt but it was just a really weird looking thing for Bam-Bam to do. Bearhug by Hercules. Bam-Bam breaks but crashes on an attempted bodypress. Hercules comes off the top with an axehandle. He charges at Bam-Bam but gets stungunned, and Bam-Bam finishes with the slingshot splash. Weird match, as Bam-Bam seemed a little salty about something.

-Gorilla looks at the schedule for next week’s episode and asks what “Brother Love” is. Bobby says it’s the name of a good friend who helps him in times of need.

JERRY ALLEN vs. CONQUISTADOR #1
-Stalling abounds until #1 kicks Allen low and clubbers. Allen reverses an Irish whip and backdrops him. Dropkick over the top rope. Allen slingshots #1 back in and atomic drops him int the corner. Allen works the arm until #1 takes him down with a clothesline. #1 chokes away at Allen. Dusty elbows by #1, although I suspect that this particular Conquistador is not really Dusty Rhodes. Splash by #1 is countered by raised knees. Lefts and rights by Allen, and a double underhook gets two. Attempted second rope bodypress by Allen, but he crashes, and #1 dives on him with an elbow to pull out the win. Nothing wrong with it, but both guys were really really pacing themselves the whole way through and the match just seemed to go forever.

-Bobby Heenan tries to call Jack Tunney collect and is insulted when he doesn’t accept the charges.

BRADY BOONE vs. STEVE LOMBARDI
-From Oakland. I’m somehow a little surprised that Boone is still around. Powerslam by Boone, and Lomardi goes out to the floor for a break. Boone works the arm and charges at Lombardi, but Lombardi press slams him, with Boone just LAUNCHING himself in the air to see the move. Elbows all around by Lombardi get a two-count. Boone makes his comeback and gets a two-count. Lombardi misses a corner charge, and a German suplex by Boone gets the three-count. This was okay, actually.

UPDATE
-Greg Valentine continues to insist that his suspicious shinguard is a necessary medical device.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Craig welcomes Jake “The Snake” Roberts, who says Rick Rude’s ego was bruised when he found one woman who wouldn’t come when he snapped his fingers. He brings out Cheryl, which gets a great line from Bobby, who says Jake is lugging around TWO bags in the arena now.

-Gorilla gives Bobby a present, but The Brain can’t figure out what it is.

ULTIMATE WARRIOR & STRIKE FORCE vs. DEMOLITION & MR. FUJI
-From Boston. That’s a nice feature for this show, too.

-Rick Martel throws right hands at Smash. Smash smashes him down in appropriately named fashion. With Martel sufficiently weakened, Fuji tags in, but Martel immediately comes back to life and slams him all around. Ax and Warrior do battle now. Ax axes away but gets clotheslined down. Smash comes back in and gets caught in an armbar. Weird to see a hold from the Warrior like that. Smash takes over and in comes Fuji again with a headbutt to the nut region. Everyone tags and it looks like Tito is about to finish this one with a figure four on Ax, but Warrior clotheslines Fuji as he’s about to blind Tito with a handful of salt…and Fuji’s dead from that. Fuji is carried back to the locker room and Demolition now has to continue the match without him.

-Back from commercial with Tito getting attacked on the floor. Back in, Smash blocks the hot tag and Demolition takes turns punishing Santana until he weaves his way to the corner and makes the hot tag to Martel. Dropkicks for everyone. Pier sixer breaks out. Warrior gets dumped on the floor. Tito gets dumped on the floor. Demolition double teams Martel until Warrior surprises everyone by coming off the top rope onto Ax for the three-count. That was fine.

-We get words from Brother Love, who promises that he’ll be here next week…because he loves us.

Gorilla finally explains the gift that Bobby can’t make sense of. He says it’s a “silent smoke alarm,” which Heenan doesn’t get and he’s genuinely appreciative of the present.

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

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