The Name on the Marquee: Madison Square Garden Presents the WWF (05.18.1987)

-I was poking around WWEClassics.com and found this hiding among the assorted treasures, and that works just fine since I just finished up the month of May for WWF-TV. It says running time is 77 minutes, so, duh, it’s not the complete show, but let’s see if it’s worth having a look…

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Lord Alfred of Fifthwheelton.

SAM HOUSTON vs. TERRY GIBBS
-This is Sam’s MSG debut and earrrrrrrrrly in his WWF run, because he didn’t even appear on TV until the fall. Houston offers a handshake but gets blown off, and then Gibbs goes out to the apron to stall. Woah, woah, you guys need to pace yourselves.

-Gibbs tries a cheap shot and gets punched down. Arm wringer by Houston, but Gibbs makes the ropes and complains about pulling the tights. Attempted clothesline is ducked and Houston hits a bodypress off the ropes for two. Armbar by Houston; Gibbs tries to armdrag out, but Gibbs hangs onto the armbar. Gibbs get to his feet and tries a clothesline. Houston ducks and catches him with an atomic drop. Discussion on commentary is about who may have trained Houston, because it’s obviously somebody who knows a lot about wrestling. This is the kind of thing that they would freely acknowledge today.

-Armdrag by Houston and he goes back to the armbar. He switches to a hammerlock, then a hammerlock applied with the legs. He falls backward with that to snap the arm. He goes back to the armbar and Gibbs makes it to his feet and backs him into the corner. Punches are thrown and an Irish whip is reversed, but Gibbs avoids the charge and Houston goes shoulder-first into the post and hits the floor outside. Hard chop by Gibbs and he goes out to the floor to keep dishing out the punishment. He bodyslams Houston on the unprotected floor and slides back in. Houston makes it back into the ring and tries a sunset flip, but Gibbs blocks it with a punch. Kneedrop by Gibbs gets two. Houston begins to fight back with punches. Small package gets two. Irish whip by Houston, but Gibbs raises a boot and takes him down on the attempted charge. Bulldog by Houston gets the three-count. 0 for 1. This was pretty standard opening match stuff.

PAUL ROMA & JIM POWERS vs. COWBOY BOB ORTON & MAGNIFICENT MURACO
-Now this match could really go either way, given where both teams were headed. Powers starts with Muraco. Muraco knees Powers and takes him down. Snapmare and a sloppy clothesline-ish move by Muraco. In comes Orton with a backbreaker. Snapmare is blocked by Powers. Powers punches the midsection. Orton elbows him down. Irish whip is reversed and Orton gets straddled on the top rope. Side headlock by Powers and Roma comes off the top rope with an axehandle. Roma applies his own side headlock, then rams Orton into the turnbuckle. He goes back to the side headlock until Orton punches out and grabs the tights to send him out to the floor. Muraco attacks on the floor and sends Roma into the post. Powers helps him back to the apron, but Orton is waiting for him with a delayed suplex.

-Muraco tags in with a backbreaker of his own, and then a slam. He goes to the second rope and attempts a diving headbutt, but Roma rolls away and then dropkicks him. Muraco gets pinballed by the faces. Roma locks in a full nelson and Orton comes in to break it. Before he can, Muraco reverses it. Orton goes in again to take a free shot, but Roma ducks and Orton decks his own partner. Powers tags in and applies a side headlock on Muraco. Muraco shoves him off and shoulderblocks are exchanged. Dropkick by Powers takes down Muraco. Powers goes to a side headlock and we get a great routine on commentary where Gorilla does some more of his medical terminology and Heenan repeats every word he says to make it sound like he knows this stuff, too.

-Muraco gets to his feet and sends Powers into the ropes, and Orton is ready and waiting with a knee from the apron. Orton tags in and hits a belly-to-belly for two. Hard Irish whip by Orton and he goes to a bearhug…what’s with Orton working like a super-heavyweight tonight? He rams Powers into the corner and Muraco steps back in for a spiffy double-team move from the second rope. Bearhug by Muraco causes Powers to fade away, but he raises his arms when the referee checks. He punches free but gets knocked down by a forearm. Orton comes back in and connects with a dropkick. Pump splash is blocked by raised knees and Powers makes the tag. Powers takes care of both opponents and a brawl erupts, but the heels Irish whip the faces into each other. Roma rolls up Orton in a small package behind the referee’s back. Orton reverses, but Muraco, not paying attention to what he’s doing, rolls it back so that Roma is on top, and it’s a pinfall victory for the new team in town. Orton & Muraco settle their differences quickly and leave the winners laying. 1 for 2. These guys meshed well and put on a pretty good show.

KOKO B. WARE vs. DANNY DAVIS (with Jimmy Hart)
-Well, hot damn, Danny’s actually wrestling a match. Granted, 95% of the fanbase won’t see it, but here you go. His ring gear just gets odder by the week, as he’s now sporting a shirt with the widest collar ever, something that looks like a cummerbund, pinstriped long tights, and half-black half-white short tights over top that don’t fit properly and sag for the entire match.

-Davis attacks from behind but gets elbowed right down and he goes to the floor to recover. Koko slingshots him back in and Davis hides in the corner for a while. Lock-up and Davis throws punches. Koko comes back with kicks and Davis tumbles out to the floor again. He gets back in the ring and throws punches again, but Koko reverses an Irish whip and backdrops him. Davis goes to the floor again as I start gradually losing patience with this match.

-Back in the ring, Davis offers a handshake and Koko tricks him into laying his hand on the mat so he can stomp on it. Davis goes to the floor (FOURTH TIME!) to recover. Back in the ring, Davis tries to finish quickly with a sunset flip, but Koko counters with a sit down splash, and Danny…good lord, Danny, again? Fifth bailout for Davis and he goes back into the ring and asks for a test of strength. Crowd begins chanting “Danny sucks” and Danny is so mad that he goes to the floor for the sixth time. He goes back in and tries a test of strength, and he actually gets the upper hand with it. Koko falls to his knees, but gets back to his feet and dropkicks out of the hold. Danny makes it seven. Back in the ring, Koko Irish whips him but misses a charge. Davis puts the boots to him for an extended spell. He goes to the second rope and comes off with a double axehandle. Uppercut by Davis and he chokes Koko over the middle rope. Elbow gets one and Danny complains about the slow count in a poetic moment.

-Davis punches Koko down and lands a clothesline for two, and Davis just goes ballistic about the count. Sleeper by Davis almost finishes, but Koko fights out with elbows. Koko locks in his own sleeper. Davis counters by ramming Koko into the top turnbuckle, breaking the hold in the process. Davis makes it to his feet but walks right into a right hand. Splash by Davis is countered by raised knees and Koko begins flapping his wings and throwing punches. Davis bails out again, but this time Koko chases him and catches up with him. TEN headbutts by Koko, and since he’s black, that’s like 30 headbutts. Koko whiffs on a slam and gets two when Davis gets a foot on the ropes. Koko gets into an argument with the referee, and that gives Jimmy Hart an opening to pass some knucks to Davis. One punch takes out Koko, and it’s a win for Danny Boy. 1 for 3. It started to get good late in the game, but Davis was just killing me with all of the stalling and it took me out of the match.

LEAPING LANNY POFFO vs. DAVE BARBIE
-Poffo recites his Jerry’s Kids poem. In a nice touch, he goes to the broadcast table and gives his Frisbees to Gorilla, leaving it up to him to lob them to the fans. In an even nicer touch, Gorilla keeps “accidentally” slapping Bobby with the Frisbees as he tosses them.

-Barbie overpowers Poffo and slams him. Poffo gets to his feet and applies a side headlock. Barbie shoves him off. Shoulderblocks go nowhere and Poffo gets a sudden drop toehold. He applies a front facelock, but Barbie backs him into the corner and hammers him down. Poffo fights back with punches and kicks. He puts the boots to Barbie and rams him into the top turnbuckle. Barbie goes to the eyes and sends Poffo into the turnbuckle a few times. Irish whip and a charging elbow by Barbie. He drops Poffo throat-first on the top rope. Barbie keeps hammering him down. Neckbreaker and a fistdrop by Barbie. He keeps pounding Poffo. Poffo kicks Barbie down. Slam by Barbie and an elbow gets two. Barbie tosses Poffo to the floor. Back in the ring, Barbie keeps hammering Poffo and clotheslines him down. Poffo fights back with kicks and tosses Barbie to the floor. Barbie tries to get back in, but Poffo rather heelishly kicks him back onto the floor. Barbie makes it back into the ring and Poffo goes after him rather aggressively, but misses a dropkick. Elbow by Barbie and he suplexes Poffo for two. Running commentary gag has Heenan talking about how Barbie would win a belt under his tutelage and Gorilla incredulously reminds him that he already has a large stable and nobody’s won a title yet. “Harley Race has wrestled all over the world! Does he have a belt? No!”

-Poffo keeps on Barbie and finally hits the moonsault for the win. 1 for 4. These guys couldn’t decide what they wanted to do in there, so it was just six or seven minutes of move, move, move, finish.

WORLD TITLE: HULK HOGAN (Champion) vs. KING HARLEY RACE (with Bobby Heenan)
-Well, Harley has a crack at winning a belt now, at least, so Heenan might know what he’s doing after all. Hogan gestures that he wants the crown if he wins.

-Race catches Hogan with a kneelift and some clubbering early on. Series of headbutts by Race. Hogan reverses an Irish whip and follows through with a clothesline. Another clothesline sends Race over the top rope, onto the floor, and head-first onto a chair. Damn, Harley! Hogan brings him back into the ring with a forearm over the top rope. Race suckers Hogan in and headbutts the midsection, then tosses Hogan to the floor. Hogan comes right back in and gets dropped to the mat. Kneedrops by Harley get a two-count. Elbows get a two-count. More kneedrops by Race, but Hogan fights back with punches and an elbow. Boot to the face sends Race through the ropes and onto the floor. Hogan follows him out and they brawl on the floor. Race sends him into the barricade and tries a falling headbutt, but Hogan rolls and Harley hits concrete. Back in the ring, Hogan slams Race. Race eludes an elbow and applies a sleeper. Hogan raises the arm and elbows free. Shoulderblocks from every angle by Hogan. Right hands by Hogan, then a series of elbows. Race fights back with headbutts and Hogan is busted open. Race sticks with what works and when he sees that Hogan is bleeding, he throws more headbutts. He goes to the top rope and tries a diving headbutt, but Hogan rolls out of the way and rolls Race up immediately for a sudden three-count. Abbreviated, but still quite a good brawl. 2 for 5.

-Post-match, Hogan attacks him from behind with the title belt and leaves him laying unconscious.

-Backstage, Gorilla Monsoon talks to Fabulous Moolah, and it’s another semi-face promo for her. Lord Alfred Hayes tries to sniff out some gossip about any men that Moolah may be canoodling with these days.

LADIES’ TITLE: FABULOUS MOOLAH (Champion) vs. DEBBIE COMBS
-Funny pre-match bit sees the referee doing a weapon check, but Moolah gets pissed at him for trying to cop a feel. Combs gets fed up with waiting and attacks right away for an early two-count. Wattskick by Combs and Moolah goes out to the floor. Combs brings her back into the ring with force and slingshots her from one side of the ring to the other, then again. Snapmare by Combs gets one and Moolah goes to the floor. Back in the ring, Moolah goes on the offensive with hairpulling and stomping. Slam gets two. Combs gets a full nelson applied out of nowhere. Moolah tries to break it, but Combs hangs on and makes it a legscissors. Moolah has some fun with a foreign object before tossing Combs out to the floor. Combs tries to get back into the ring but gets knocked off (and appears to bang her head on the apron a little hard on the way down). She finally makes it back into the ring and takes Moolah down with a series of monkeyflips. Axehandle by Moolah and she tries to finish with a Boston crab, but she’s close to the ropes and Combs knocks her out of the ring and onto the floor. Atomic drop by Combs and Moolah goes into the post. Combs makes it back into the ring before the ten-count, and it’s a win for Combs by count-out. That’s actually a hell of a surprise, but the match wasn’t much. 2 for 6.

-That’s the end of the WWEClassics.com version, but here’s a bonus match from the same card, thanks to Coliseum Video.

KEN PATERA vs. HONKY TONK MAN (with Jimmy Hart)
-Patera dodges a punch and slams Honky across the ring. He does it again and Honky goes to the floor to recover. Back in, arm wringers are traded and Patera gets the advantage with that. Honky tries to punch out, but Patera calmly atomic drops him and musses the hair for added insult. Honky is so mad about it that he decides to call it a night right there and heads for the locker room, but Jimmy Hart compels him to change his mind. Patera outmuscles Honky down and elbows him. Series of forearms by Patera, followed by an Irish whip Honky moves out of the way of a charge and Patera hits the post. Honky takes advantage and works the arm. Axehandles by Honky and he stretches the arm a bit to work it over. Axehandle by Honky and he chokes Patera down. Patera shows signs of life with a few boots, but Honky goes to the eyes. Kneelift by Honky. He drops the elbow and goes up to the second rope. Double axehandle by Honky gets a two-count. He tries another double axehandle, but Patera rolls out of the way and throws punches. Monkeyflip by Patera and a clothesline takes Honky down. Backbreaker gets two when Honky gets a foot on the ropes. Slam by Patera, but Honky gets a foot on the ropes again. Hart comes up to the apron for a distraction. Patera feigns falling for it, but when Honky charges toward him, the Olympian is ready with a bearhug. It looks to finish, but Hart gets desperate and comes in with the megaphone to break the hold, and the referee calls for the bell. Patera wins by DQ. Post-match, Patera gets his arms around both Honky and Hart and applies a double-bearhug, and lifts both of them in the air to make it look REALLY cool. 3 for 7. Nothing special or required reviewing here, but it was fun to watch.

End of the show. Go to Game Show Utopia now.

The 411: A few good curiosities here, but not mandatory for any reason, and Hulk & Harley went on to better matches together. It's still fun to have a WWE Classics subscription, though.
Final Score:  3.7   [ Bad ]