wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: WWF Spectrum Wrestling (7.23.1988)
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Originally aired July 23, 1988.
-Your hosts are Dick Graham, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Superstar Billy Graham. Oh man, smoke if you got ’em, this is going to be a long show.
-What’s interesting to me is how many little hints there are already in this show that the regular WWF production crew had nothing to do with the televised Spectrum house shows because there are so many little sloppy issues to start: empty seats are lit up like a Christmas tree, the main event is promoted with a graphic where Ted DiBiase is wearing the title belt, Sam Houston’s entrance music is overmodulated. You don’t notice what these people are doing until you see a show where they aren’t doing it.
SAM HOUSTON vs. BIG BOSS MAN
-In one of his first nights with the company, your ring attendant is Mike Chioda. Boss Man pops Houston with a series of punches. Houston fights back with a standing front facelock that gets Boss Man down to his knees, but Boss Man rams him into the corner to break it. HHouston ducks a clothesline and goes for a sleeper, but Boss Man dumps him out to the floor. Back in, Boss Man surfboards Houston. Houston uses the stunner to break out of a chinlock. Boss Man tries an avalanche but Houston dodges that and gives Boss Man a knee to the head. Missile dropkick by Houston, but Boss Man gets out at one. Houston goes to the top to try it again, but Boss Man catches him in mid-air and turns it into a powerslam for three. Boss Man looked like a badass, with Houston showing just enough stuff to keep it interesting. 1 for 1. Boss Man goes nuts on Houston with the nightstick afterward.
“The Rock” DON MURACO vs. GREG “The Hammer” VALENTINE
-Graphic says that Muraco is from “Sunset Beach, HA,” as in “Ha, Philadelphia doesn’t know the postal abbreviation for Hawaii. Valentine connects with punches and forearms, but misses a corner charge. Battle goes out to the floor, and Muraco uses the commentary table to destroy Valentine’s arm while Billy Graham taunts Valentine for a nice bit of payback. Muraco whips Valentine’s arm against the post. Shoulderbreaker by Muraco, which is a weird spot for him to use because it means he basically had Valentine in position to use his finisher and he chose not to.
-Corner charge by Muraco, but everybody is having a shitty night with that move tonight and Muraco’s no different, running into a knee. Valentine drops elbows but Muraco won’t stay down for a pin. Valentine adjusts the knee brace and gets ready, but Muraco gives him a thumb to the eye and they trade punches. Valentine tries again but Muraco cradles him for two. Valentine gives up and tries a piledriver instead, but Muraco counters with a backdrop. Muraco starts no-selling everything Valentine throws at him. Tombstone by Muraco, but Valentine manages to slip a leg out of the ring and the referee forces a break. Valentine removes the leg brace and gives Muraco a shot to the throat, and that knocks Muraco right out and Valentine gets the pin. 2 for 2. Hot match in a feud that unfortunately was on a road to nowhere; I don’t know why they didn’t blow this off at Summerslam.
BRITISH BULLDOGS vs. BOLSHEVIKS
-While Nikolai Volkoff sings the Soviet national anthem, I tooled around on thehistoryofwwe.com to see what other house shows the WWF was running this day…
WWF @ Roswell, NM – High School Gym – July 23, 1988 (3,397)
DJ Peterson defeated Billy Anderson; the match replaced the previously advertised Brady Boone vs. Jos LeDuc match
WWF Women’s Champion Sensational Sherri defeated Rockin Robin
Paul Roma & Omar Atlas (sub. for Jim Powers) defeated Barry Horowitz & Sifi Avi
Frenchy Martin pinned Koko B. Ware
Tito Santana pinned Ron Bass
-That card drew 3,397 people. This company was on FIRE.
-Long stall session before Davey Boy finally gets Zhukov to lock up and shoves him into the corner. Davey Boy armdrags him. Zhukov gets free but, continuing our theme for the evening, he misses a corner charge. Snap suplex by Dynamite gets two. Bulldogs make a wish on Nikolai and Dynamite targets the leg from that. Nikolai rakes Davey Boy’s eyes and takes control until they collide on a double shoulderblock. Dynamite tags in and drives forearms into Nikolai’s skull. Zhukov gives Dynamite a knee to the apron and it looks like this is the point where the Bolsheviks actually take over.
-Dynamite takes another knee to the back and Nikolai drives axehandles into the spine to work him over. Back suplex by Zhukov gets two. Volkoff tags back in and chokeslams Dynamite…well, closer to a chokedrop…but they bungle a double-team and Nikolai bumps like a champ over the top rope. Running powerslam by Davey Boy looks to finish, but Volkoff dives back in there and breaks it at the last second. Volkoff tags in proper and applies a bearhug. Davey Boy slips himself over Nikolai’s head and rolls him up for two. Hot tag to Dynamite and he takes on both Bolsheviks. Brawl erupts, and in the confusion, Nikolai slips over and clotheslines Dynamite down, and Zhukov covers immediately…for three! Yeah, the Bulldogs’ star power had faded by 1988, but the Bolsheviks were the bottom rung of the heel tag teams, and Philadelphia is in shock. Your usual tag team match but nothing wrong with it. 3 for 3.
SPECTRUM FAN OF THE MONTH
-Some kid named David.
SCOTT CASEY vs. TERRY TAYLOR
-Vocal contingent welcomes Taylor to the WWF with a “Terry! Terry!” chant. Nice mat wrestling exhibition to start. Terry begins stalling a lot and complaining and non-existent hair-pulling, and Philadelphia just instantly turns on him with a “Boring” chant. Casey dumps him out to the floor and Taylor teases walking away before reluctantly going back in and getting caught in an inverted atomic drop for two. So now we get some scintillating dramatic irony as Terry Taylor is the one to pull the hair in this contest. Casey takes him down to the mat with a side headlock. Taylor gets free and jawjacks him. Taylor applies the chinlock, then throws Casey out to the floor.
-Back in, they trade two-counts and Taylor goes to the eyes. He tries a piledriver, but Casey turns it into a backdrop to NO reaction from the crowd whatsoever. Taylor comes back and works the legs, and the sharpshooter gets the submission. 3 for 4. Crowd wasn’t int this and different really have a reason to be.
-Kal Rudman talks to The Million Dollar Man. Randy Savage may have the “Undisputed WWF Championship,” but Ted DiBiase sure as hell disputes it after Randy’s guardian angel interfered at Wrestlemania IV. DiBiase proved he was the superior man anyway by orchestrating the attack on Randy Savage where he was left lying on the concrete because that WOMAN couldn’t do anything to help. He warns Elizabeth to stay out of his way tonight and that if she can’t stand the heat, she should stay away from the ring.
WWF TITLE: RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (Champion, with The Lovely Elizabeth) vs. “The Million Dollar Man” TED DIBIASE (with The Lovely Virgil)
-Virgil suckers Savage into chasing him at ringside and DiBiase comes off the apron with an axehandle to stat. DiBiase takes Savage into the ring and lights into him with stomps, but Savage rebounds with clotheslines and a knee that sends DiBiase to the floor. DiBiase comes back in and gets atomic dropped right back out. Superstar Billy Graham hands him the house mic just so Savage can give an “Oooooh yeah” in mid-match, and then Savage goes right back to kicking some million dollar ass.
-DiBiase gets a handful of tights and yanks Savage through the ropes and to the floor. DiBiase works Savage over on the apron, then comes off the turnbukcles with an axehandle for two. Savage reverses a suplex and they slug it out. DiBiase gets the upper hand and bodypresses DiBiase for two, and DiBiase springs right up and clotheslines him. DiBiase applies a regular garden-variety sleeper, a Median Wage Dream, I guess, but Savage runs into the corner and forces DiBiase to crash to break the hold. DiBiase gets rammed into the turnbuckles ten times and gets his neck snapped over the top so he can do his beautiful sell of that.
-Double axehandle off the top by Savage, and he heads to the top rope to finish, but Virgil knows the Achilles heel to work with here and grabs Elizabeth, dragging her into the aisle, which brings Savage out to defend his lady’s honor. He kicks the shit out of Virgil but gets himself counted out in the process. 4 for 5. This feud by itself could be a DVD set. Awesome heel spot post-match, as Savage lifts Elizabeth on his shoulders to pose, and DiBiase and Virgil run back into the ring and attack from behind, knocking her off! Ted DiBiase is a total bastard, ladies and gentlemen.
TAG TEAM TITLE: DEMOLITION (Tag Team Champions, with Mr. Fuji) vs. POWERS OF PAIN
-Fight goes to the floor immediately, and Demolition retreats nervously. Ax gets caught in a series of arm wringers. Smash comes in and Barbarian flattens him with a clothesline. Smash gets pinballed by the Powers. Ax takes over with a neckbreaker and clotheslines Barbarian out to the floor, where Smash posts him while the referee is distracted by yelling at the Warlord. Ax clamps a nervehold onto Barbarian. Smash tags in, but unfortunately for him, so does Warlord, and we have a donnysixer in there. All four men end up on the floor and Ax makes a classic mistake, throwing his opponent in and then climbing back in himself, which means he just got himself counted out and the Powers win this one. Like the other tag team match, it was okay, but nothing memorable. 5 for 6.
-Kal Rudman welcomes the greatest Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion of ALL time. Honky’s girlfriend Peggy Sue will be at ringside, but he’s dismayed that Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake is bringing some woman named Georgia at ringside. This is a weird promo because Honky just straight up gives away the plot twist about “Georgia,” saying he hears Beefcake’s girlfriend is a hairy-looking animal.
INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE: HONKY TONK MAN (Champion, with Peggy Sue) vs. BRUTUS “The Barber” BEEFCAKE (with Georgia)
-The gag in the build-up has been that Jimmy Hart is barred from the arena because he keeps interfering in matches, and Peggy Sue is obviously Jimmy in drag with his jawline covered. And indeed, Georgia is Georgia “The Animal” Steele in drag.
-Beefcake throws punches and messes up the hair to gain an early psychological edge. Series of elbows by Beefcake get a two-count. Honky comes to life with knees, but Brutus fights back with a knee of his own and Honky runs out to Peggy Sue for a hug. Georgia objects to acts of compassion, being an animal, and chases Honky back in. Beefcake…wait for it, misses a corner charge and crashes. Honky applies a neck vice. Beefcake elbows out and clotheslines Honky down. He tricks the referee into focusing on Peggy Sue so George can hold him in place for a punch, and goes it for the kill with a sleeper, bu the seconds get into an altercation and Honky uses the megaphone to lay Beefcake out and get the pin to retain. 5 for 7. This was weird. This should have been a comedy match with all kinds of shenanigans breaking loose at ringside and dueling interference spots, but instead they just had a regular match with two guys in drag standing at ringside.
ULTIMATE WARRIOR vs. HERCULES
-Man, Warrior was kind of drifting before they put the Intercontinental Title on him, wasn’t he? Herc sneak attacks with a top rope axehandle while Warrior is arguing with the referee. Warrior fights back with right hands and chops, and the action goes out to the floor. Herc rams him into the commentary table. Warrior comes back and rams Herc into the table, and then Warrior goes totally crazy ad just dismantled all the monitors and audio equipment on the table, then props it against the ring and rams Hercules into it again. We have no commentary as Warrior takes Hercules back in the ring and splashes him for a quick three-count. 6 for 8. Warrior gets a point for cutting off that commentary team.
