wrestling / Video Reviews
Prime Time Wrestling (9.4.1989) Review
Loading...-US Open was still going on at this point, so my guess is this is another episode that aired only in the Pacific Time Zone.
-Originally aired September 4, 1989.
-Your host is Gorilla Monsoon, who clarifies that he’s alone because Roddy Piper and Bobby Heenan are still bickering about hosting the show as long as the other one is there, so until the dispute is settled, Gorilla is your sole host.
BUSHWHACKERS vs. BLACK KNIGHT & DARRYL NICKEL
-Whackers whack around their opponent as if they’re mere bushes. Luke gets caught in the wrong corner and they briefly gang up on him, but Luke fights free and chops Nickel between the eyes. Butch tags in and stomps him HARD right in the neck. This slowly turns into an NWA-style longest squash ever, as Nickel just gets mauled for half a lifetime, but the battering ram and the double stomachbreaker end it.
UPDATE
-Mean Gene announces that we have a NEW Intercontinental Champion, the Ultimate Warrior, partly as a result of a surprise visit by Rowdy Roddy Piper during Rick Rude’s title defense at SummerSlam. We get exclusive words from Rude and Heenan taped immediately after the match, and Bobby Heenan bursts into tears mid-promo because he’s so distraught about what happened.
FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS (with Jimmy Hart) vs. JIM EVANS & DENNIS BERTROCH
-Jacques showboats while the Rockers drop in and say that they got screwed at SummerSlam, but the war will keep going. Jobbers taunt the Rougeaus and then sucker Jacques into getting double-teamed. Jacques, furious about being embarassed, cleans house with dropkicks. Raymond knocks out Bertroch with a superkick and Jacques follows that up with a series of forearms. Kneedrop by Jacques finishes.
-In the studio, Gorilla addresses the mail from fans who can’t tell the Rougeaus apart and explains that Jacques is “the fat one.”
KING DUGGAN vs. BROOKLYN BRAWLER
-Duggan clotheslines Brawler around until Brawler retreats to the floor. Brawler gets aggressive, joking Duggan and poking his eyes. Brawler tries a chinlock, which I’d call pretty flagrant false advertising on his part. Duggan elbows free and applies a chinlock of his own. Brawler fights out so Duggan just tosses him out to the floor and rams him into the barricade hard enough to topple it. And Brawler has had just about enough by that point, so the three-point stance finishes. This was fine for what it was.
-In the studio, Gorilla says that Bobby Heenan only manages guys as long as he can make money off of them, so if Heenan isn’t there now, it means Brawler’s done as a prime contender. I know this is a tangent I’ve been on before, but I never got demoting Brawler so fast because there was absolutely a role for him as Heenan’s personal jobber, the guy that the babyface defeats on TV to set up the house show matches against Heenan’s other guys.
DINO BRAVO (with Jimmy Hart) vs. LOUIE SPICOLLI
-Suplex by Dino, and he launches Spicolli out to the floor. Back in, Dino hits the side suplex to wrap it up.
-Gorilla says there are rumors running rampant that Slick and Jimmy Hart are negotiating a business deal and we might be getting a Rick Martel/Dino Bravo tag team out of it. Wow, that could have worked.
EVENT CENTER
-Oh, weak, it’s an Event Center rerun! Well, it’s still a pretty good promo from Bad News.
THE GENIUS vs. MARK YOUNG
-Genius walks sideways all the way down the aisle so that none of the fans can touch him. Genius rhymes “Ogden Nash” with “Diaper Rash” for his poem and even Lord Alfred concedes it was actually a pretty damn good poem.
-They have a nice exchange to start that leads to Young dropkicking Genius to the floor and debuting the spinarooni in the WWF. Genius is so disgusted he slaps Young around. Young works the arms and does some Steamboat-caliber armdrags, no sarcasm. One minute with the Genius and he already looks like a bigger star in the WWF than he did in his entire NWA run.
-Genius raises the boot to block a corner charge. Somersault misses and Young gets going again, but Genius ducks a right hand and rolls him up for three. So Genius gets a lucky win and the commentators note that it wasn’t exactly an impressive showing for him. Mark Young looked like somebody here.
SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Mean Gene welcomes Dusty Rhodes to the interview platform. Dusty says he wants to talk about the Big Boss Man and “that melon farmer, Slick.” He promises that he’s ready for an interrogation, whether it’s in the ring or in a dance hall. Gene gets so fired up listening to Dusty talk that he starts dancing when it’s all through.
BRUTUS “The Barber” BEEFCAKE vs. CHUCK CAMPBELL
-We get words from Rick Martel, as it’s the start of another lazy “I’m cutting a promo, so let’s feud” round of booking. Bruce Prichard can be famously full of shit, but I can easily believe his account of Rick Martel’s career in 1989, where he turned heel and then everybody suddenly went “What the hell do we do with him now?”
-Brutus drives a series of knees into Campbell, and the sleeper finishes things for this week.
EVENT CENTER
-Rockers want a shot at the Tag Team Titles. Greg Valentine cuts this really generic promo and then suddenly remembers in the middle of it that he’s feuding with Ronnie Garvin.
COLISEUM CORNER: SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA vs “Million Dollar Man” TED DIBIASE (with Virgil)
-From WWF Fan Favorites, which I reviewed years back and was actually a shockingly good tape.
-DiBiase has a big wad of money for Snuka, in exchange for throwing the match; DiBiase says he doesn’t feel like sweating tonight. Snuka refuses the cash, punching him out of the ring and passing the cash out to the front row. Back in the ring, DiBiase realizes that his money is missing and charges at Snuka. Snuka’s ready for him and just beats him all over the ring until DiBiase goes to the floor for a retreat.
-DiBiase keeps trying to get offense in, but just cannot get the ball rolling with anything. Virgil trips him up from the outside. Snuka goes after him and DiBiase sneaks up and rams him into a table to finally turn it around. DiBiase tries to get the pin a few times, but nothing he does can get a three-count. He clotheslines Snuka out to the floor and suplexes him back in for another two. Buy the rest of the videotape to see how it ends! The finish is actually kind of surprising.
-In the studio, Gorilla is on the phone with Roddy Piper, who’s in Los Angeles with an attorney working out some sort of deal with USA so he can legally continue being on Prime Time after the altercation with Rick Rude.
POWERS OF PAIN (with Mr. Fuji) vs. DALE WOLFE & TOM STONE
-Backbreakers on Wolfe. Stone tags in and gets boots to the face. Hart Attack off the turnbuckles finishes.
PAUL ROMA vs. BORIS ZHUKOV
-Tons of empty seats on hard camera side; I’d like to think this is the opening match of the TV taping.
-Roma clotheslines Boris for an early two-count, and Boris staggers around the ring in a daze. Roma rams him from corner to corner. Roma climbs the turnbuckles and hits a series of axehandles until Boris collapses for another two-count. Side headlock by Roma, wrenching it and wrenching it. Roma misses a corner charge and Zhukov tries to end it right away, but he can only get two. Roma gets sent to the floor and slammed back in for another two-count. Roma gets his second wind and suplexes Boris. Bodypress off the top rope, but Boris rolls through…for two. Boris bounces off the ropes but Roma catches him and turns it into a powerslam for the three-count. Another match that was just fine.
EVENT CENTER
-Ronnie Garvin, whose green screen logo looks like they just pulled up a file called “Template 4” and typed his name on it, vows that he’s coming for Greg Valentine. Meanwhile, the Widow Maker has this really kick-ass font for his name and a beautiful painting of a desert at sunset for his soft-spoken evil promo.
-And now, a surprise promo from the returning Jake “The Snake” Roberts. He gives credit to Ted DiBiase for laying him out, but DiBiase made one mistake: he forgot to throw dirt on Jake when it was done. And now he has to live with what he’s done.
RICK MARTEL (with Slick) vs. TIM HORNER
-They trade arm work to start off. Martel cartwheels to avoid a backdrop, but Horner gets tired of waiting and just clotheslines Martel out to the floor during his celebration. We get pre-taped words from Martel and Slick, who are disgusted by the ugly Brutus Beefcake poster on sale right now, and says he’s refused to authorize the sale of a Rick Martel poster because the fans don’t deserve it. Martel regains the advantage in the meantime, and a knee frop the top rope finishes. Turn out the liiiiiights, the party’s over.
HERCULES vs. BIG BOSS MAN
-Lock-ups go nowhere, and both men put up their dukes and threaten ungentlemanly fisticuffs before the referee puts a stop to that. Boss Man misses a succession of moves and Hercules throws a whole punch of punches like a common ruffian. Series of clotheslines by Hercules takes the big man off his feet. Herc goes for the torture rack, but he stops completely for no reason and goes after Slick, and Boss Man just grabs the nightstick, gives him a good shot to the back, and gets the three count. Tony Schiavone is 100% right in his post-match assessment, saying Hercules completely EARNED this loss, even if Boss Man cheated. Nice twist on post-match antics, as Boss Man cuffs Hercules and tries to dish out some hard times, but Herc just gets mad and kicks Boss Man’s ass while handcuffed.
