wrestling / Video Reviews

The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (8.1.1988)

August 18, 2018 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
WWF Prime Time Wrestling Bobby Heenan, WWE Network
6.6
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (8.1.1988)  

-Originally aired August 1, 1988.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan. Randy Savage will announce his tag team partner this week, but Bobby’s not worried.

SAM HOUSTON & TERRY TAYLOR vs. CONQUISTADORS

-From LaCrosse, Wisconsin. This is Terry Taylor’s first national TV match for the WWF, and he’s playing babyface to start, although he’s doing a lot of little subtle things during his entrance that indicate he only tolerates Sam Houston.

-Houston starts with #2 and hiptosses him. Flying headscissors follow, and he dropkicks #2 out to the floor. #1 gets in the match and gets his arms worked over, and Taylor sends him out to the floor too. Bobby foreshadows, saying he likes Taylor but that he’s saddled with a weak partner. Taylor gets caught in Conquistador Corner and double-teamed. Conquistadors trade off to work him over. Gorilla mentions the Conquistadors’ finishing move, “the double furnum,” which Bobby says he’s never seen, and Gorilla basically says it’s because they haven’t really had an opening to use it yet.

-Hot tag to Houston and we have all four men in the ring. Referee ushers Taylor out of the ring. Great finish sees Houston try to finish with the bulldog on #1, but #2 just clotheslines the shit out of him as he jumps in the air for it, and that’s enough for the win. The Conquistadors get a victory, and they didn’t even need the double furnum. Taylor gets on the mike after the match and complains that his debut should have been a big moment in the WWF, but Houston screwed it up for him. He kicks the shit out of Houston and throws him over the top rope to salvage things. Snazzy finish and a nice post-match angle to follow it.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

-Craig DeGeorge welcomes Randy “Macho Man” Savage, who’s here to announce his tag team partner for Summerslam, and the fans in the arena see this coming down the interstate. And surprise, surprise, it’s the returning Hulk Hogan. By the way, if anybody at WWE Network is reading this, there’s something really, really wrong with the video on this one, it blacks out repeatedly. Hulk plants the seeds here, declaring that Elizabeth is now “our manager” and they’re fighting for that woman’s honor. Really funny to watch the way this segment is shot, as director Kerwin Silfies seems to have set up every single shot for this one like he knows he’s going to need this for video montages later. The soft-focus shot of Elizabeth, the extreme close-up of the handshake, Hulk and Randy’s bodies framing a shot of Elizabeth looking at both of them. This is the most cinematic approach to wrestlers cutting a promo you’ll ever see.

-Bobby says that the Mega-Bucks, as they’re now officially christened, were anticipating it would be Hulk Hogan the whole time.

KEN PATERA vs. TOM STONE

-Staying in LaCrosse. Stone tries a hammerlock. Patera reverses and gives Stone a right hand that sends him to the floor. Back in, Stone goes to the eyes and gets Patera on the mat for a chinlock. Patera escapes and backdrops Stone. He whips Stone shoulder-first between the turnbuckles and into the post, and locks on the full nelson to get the submission.

SUMMERSLAM ’88 REPORT

-Gene Okerlund is back after quitting about a month ago and getting rehired because the “What the World is Watching” opening sounded weird with Howard Finkel doing it instead of Gene. Mean Gene announces the entire card. They tout the Intercontinental Title match as the last time that Beefcake and Honky will ever meet. Jake Roberts and Rick Rude, in the midst of a heated feud, do battle with different opponents. And Don Muraco, feuding with Greg Valentine, will battle with Dino Bravo, while Greg Valentine has the night off altogether. Yeah, yeah, I get it, house shows, but that’s still some weird ass booking for a pay-per-view.

-Gorilla is dismayed that we’re stuck with Brother Love on the pay-per-view.

-Prime Time Wrestling is doing another 3-hour special. Be still, my heart.

KING HAKU (with Bobby Heenan) vs. SPECIAL DELIVERY JONES

-From MSG. Bobby enters alone first, demanding proper respect for the king. Clock at MSG tells us this match is happening at 10:01 p.m., which has to be the latest that an S.D. Jones match ever started.

-Haku goes nuts on SD with chops as Superstar Billy Graham foreshadows Harley Race’s face turn, saying it smacks of greed for Heenan to give the king junk to Haku and strip Harley Race of the nickname due to an injury. Doesn’t Race deserve time to recover?

-SD revives with lefts and rights, then gives the king a backbreaker. Haku goes to the floor to recover while the Rosatti sisters taunt him. Back in, Haku chops SD down and kicks him square in the back of the head while he’s down. Shoulderbreaker gets two. Nerve hold applied. SD elbows out, but a nasty crescent kick puts him away. Good fight while it lasted.

-Bobby clarifies that King Haku isn’t on the card for Summerslam ’88 because the Isle of Tonga has declared August 29 “Haku Day” and he’s going to be in a parade.

EVENT CENTER

-Ultimate Warrior says that fans want to taste his power. Mmm, anabolicious! And Jim Duggan gets knocked down, but he’ll keep climbing to the top of the WWF. Sean Mooney says “He’s renamed his 2×4 (dramatic pause) the GIANT KILLER!” Aww, okay, I was hoping this would be some forgotten bit of failed re-branding, like Duggan was going to start calling the board “Old Shirley” or something from now on.

HART FOUNDATION vs. DAVE WAGNER & RICK RENSLOW

-Rick Renslow looks hilarious here, as he has a “spent a month on the beach” tan from the waist up but he’s the whitest white guy whoever lived from the waist down. Harts work over Wagner in the corner, distracting the referee and using that to choke him out. That was an interesting thing about the Foundation, they always remained just a LITTLE heelish after the face turn. Hart Attack finishes easily.

EVENT CENTER

-We get dueling promos from the Bulldogs and the Rougeaus. Dynamite sounds like he woke up two minutes ago, while the Rougeaus are just crushing it with their new smarmy douche personas.

BIG BOSS MAN (with Slick) vs. CHRIS GOODMAN

-Boss Man boots down Goodman while we get pre-taped words from Slick, saying Boss Man will go from a jailbird to a blackbird at Summerslam. Boss Man slam finishes.

THE BROTHER LOVE SHOW

-Brother Love welcomes the Mega-Bucks, who are very ready for Summerslam ’88. It’s kind of funny how snarky the heels are, as Ted DiBiase reiterates the point Heenan made earlier about how damn obvious it was that Savage would pick Hogan and that it was a little obnoxious for Savage to spend weeks building suspense for something like that. Cute ending, as Brother Love tells everybody on the set one at a time, “I love you.” Then he looks at DiBiase and just stares silently…until DiBiase hands him a wad of money, and THEN Brother Love says “I love you” to him.

ULTIMATE WARRIOR & BRITISH BULLDOGS vs. DEMOLITION & MR. FUJI

-From Toronto. Fuji actually starts the match, chopping away at Dynamite, but getting slammed down, and he goes out quickly. Ax axes Dynamite down, but Warrior tags in to an ultra-pop. Ax rakes the eyes but Warrior recovers quickly from that and clotheslines him down.

-Back from commercial, flying headscissors by Davey Boy takes Smash down. Davey Boy gets caught in the devious corner and Ax takes over with rapid-fire punches to the neck. Headbutt to the stomach by Fuji. Ax applies a nerve hold, but Davey Boy punches free and hot tags Warrior. Warrior fights the entire world by himself and all six men are in the ring to fight it out. Double axehandle from the top by Warrior is enough to pin Smash, and the pop from the Toronto crowd tells you exactly why this guy had a belt around his waist less than a month later. Short, hot match that sent the fans home happy.

6.6
The final score: review Average
The 411
This was just fine.
legend