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WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.16.1989) Review

August 7, 2020 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
Bret Hart WWF Prime Time Wrestling 10-16-1989 Image Credit: WWE
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WWF Prime Time Wrestling (10.16.1989) Review  

-Originally aired October 16, 1989.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan in Studio A, and Rowdy Roddy Piper in Studio B.


BIG BOSS MAN (with Slick) vs. MARK BOSWELL

-Bossman’s whole entrance is removed, which has me somewhat concerned about the status of “Jive Soul Bro.” Boss Man bosses Boswell well, hammering him down while Dusty Rhodes drops in and says he’s comin’ for Bossman, daddeh. Back to the ring, sidewalk slam finishes. Mark bosses well, but not as well as the Big Boss Man.

-Gorilla finally points out that Bobby has been wearing the same outfit since July and Bobby says the fans really don’t deserve any more effort than that.

No Holds Barred is available at video stores everywhere, likely in that one section of the shelves that was the buffer between the really popular movies and the porno.

UPDATE

-Survivor Series is coming Thanksgiving night! Mean Gene announces the card, and they’re taking a different approach this year, with Gene announcing only the captains, with info about the teammates coming later. Hulkamaniacs vs. Million Dollar Team! Ultimate Warriors vs. Heenan’s Family! Dream Team vs. Enforcers! Roddy’s Rowdies vs. The Rude Brood! And the worst team name of the card, the 4x4s vs. The King’s Court!

-Back to the hosts and the war of words immediately starts about the Roddy/Rude match.

RUGGED RONNIE GARVIN vs. CRAIG GREEN

-Garvin slaps and chops Green around, and Greg Valentine drops in to warn Garvin that he’s going to apply the figure four leglock when they meet in the ring. Tony and Alfred have a funny exchange, wondering why Greg would just give away his entire game plan in his promo. Garvin ends it quickly with the sharpshooter.

THE GENIUS vs. TIM HORNER

-Horner’s mullet has achieved “next door neighbor in a drug bust on Cops” levels, while Genius has been hitting the gym and the tanning bed in anticipation of a main event run. I never got why they didn’t just run with Lanny Poffo long-term in this gimmick. Arrogant poetry-reading douchebag lends itself to a lot of natural pairings for feuds. You’re telling me they couldn’t have drawn money with three months of Dusty Rhodes reciting his own poetry for rebuttal promos, or some hilarious angle where he challenges Hacksaw Jim Duggan to take the SATs with him, and Duggan outscores him and walks around with a stained and wrinkled cap & gown for his own entrance?

-Horner and Genius take it to the mat and they’re pretty evenly matched early on, so Genius cranks up the aggression with kicks and uppercuts to take control. Horner fights back with an Irish whip, but he crashes on the attempted corner charge. Horner hangs in there and rams him into the turnbuckle ten times. GREAT snap suplex by Horner gets two. He goes for a slam, but Genius slides behind him and rolls him up for a three-count. Decent match that made both guys look good.

-Gorilla and Piper gang up on Heenan, saying that Mr. Perfect seems like a natural Heenan Family member and it seems like he dropped the ball by not locking him up.

HAKU (with Bobby Heenan) vs. RANDY LARSEN

-Larsen tries mat wrestling but can’t hang on to the waistlock. Haku bodypresses him as the laces are coming apart on Larsen’s boots and it’s instantly impossible to concentrate on anything else about this match. We get pre-taped words from the Brain, who tells us he has BIG plans for Haku and we’ll see what he’s up to in the next few weeks. I hope it’s new tights because he’s STILL wearing the King tights after four months. At this point, they might as well call him Cleopatra because he’s Queen of De-Nial.

-Larsen throws weak punches, but Haku just absorbs them all on Haku-like fashion. Larsen Irish whips him and Haku just knocks his jaw off with a crescent kick when Larsen attempts a corner charge, and that’s all it takes to get three. Haku was feeling generous here and let Randy hang with him for a bit.

EVENT CENTER

-Sean Mooney announces the full card and all the teams for the Survivor Series. It blows me away that here we are, 31 years later (which just seems IMPOSSIBLE as I type that number, but here we are) and I don’t need Sean to run down this card. This whole line-up is just locked in my head forever.

-Gorilla says “I’ve been around for ALL the Survivor Series!” Wow, all both of them! In Studio B, Roddy Piper actually acknowledges the past and says that he’s so committed to winning his match against Rick Rude that he recruited Jimmy Snuka for his team even though they still hate each other five years later.

HERCULES vs. THE HONKY TONK MAN (with Jimmy Hart)

-Atomic drop by Hercules because you can’t wrestle the Honky Tonk Man and NOT do that move. He noggin-knocks Honky and Hart, but Honky has already had enough of this and goes to the eyes, leading Gorilla to proclaim this a knock-down drag-out affair early on. Waiting for Vince McMahon to weigh in on whether it qualifies as a see-saw match-up back-and-forth, though.

-Back from commercial, Jimmy tries to trip Hercules from the outside, but his arm is so weak that Hercules doesn’t actually fall, and he heads to the floor to pursue the manager. Honky sneaks up and rams Hercules into the post, earning a wag of the finger from referee Joey Marella.

-Herc makes it back in and Honky applies a chinlock. He tries to transition it into Shake, Rattle, & Roll, but Herc backdrops out and punches him repeatedly. Torture rack looks to finish, but Jimmy Hart runs in and hits Hercules in the abs with the megaphone, and Jimmy and the megaphone pretty much just bounce off Hercules as Herc gives Jimmy a disappointed look. Referee calls for the DQ anyway. It doesn’t sound like much here, but it really was a pretty funny finish, with Jimmy looking like a total wimp.

BROTHER LOVE

-This week’s guest are the Macho King and the Sensational Queen. Sherri is wearing a lady’s version of Brother Love’s outfit. Savage abuses Sherri, choking her and yanking her by the hair because she’s not saying mean enough stuff about Jim Duggan, but it’s okay because she’s into it, and she just gets more and more insane each time Savage knocks her.

ROCKERS vs. TOM STONE & AL BURKE

-Great sequence of stuff right away, with Shawn Michaels dodging a clothesline from Tom Stone while Marty Janetty perches himself on the turnbuckles and clotheslines him from behind, then Irish whips the jobbers into each other. The whole sequence is so good that they go to a replay immediately, which they never did during a match in this era.

-Drop toehold/elbowdrop combo by the Rockers who are looking incredibly motivated this week. Powerslam by Shawn Michaels, and the double fistdrop is enough to end it.

EVENT CENTER

-We get words from the Powers of Pain, who just like to beat people up because it makes Mr. Fuji happy. Next, Sean Mooney (“Who?”) segues into a promo from Jim Neidhart (Who), and he’s crying on the inside because maggots like Slick and Bobby Heenan keep interfering in matches.

-We get a montage of Mr. Perfect’s vignettes from last year, putting, bowling a strike, and hitting the bullseye on a dartboard. Mr. Perfect and The Genius follow each clip by saying “Hulk Hogan, you can’t do that!” Point of order: showing Mr. Perfect putting a ball on a golf course actually goes against the character because it means he didn’t get a hole in one.

-Bobby Heenan taunts Roddy Piper for having such a crappy team at Survivor Series, but Gorilla fires back, busting on Bobby about the incredibly shitty opponents he keeps signing for his men, case in point…

BRAIN BUSTERS (Tag Team Champions, with Bobby Heenan) vs. BUTCH MAYO & JOHN WEISS

-We get pre-taped words from Demolition, warning the Brain Busters to look over their shoulder every time they go to the ring from now on.

-Gourdbuster by Arn, and the spike piledriver finishes right away.

BRET “Hit Man” HART vs. RICK MARTEL

-Bobby Heenan actually calls the finish before we go to the ring, as Piper says he’s betting on Bret Hart and Bobby doesn’t even go the heel route of calling it for Martel. He straight up says “I bet it’s a draw.”

-Feeling-out process gives away to some aggressive boots from Martel. He showboats a little bit afterward and Bret clotheslines his mullet clean off, sending Martel to the floor for a retreat.

-Back in, Bret works the arm, which works so well that Martel yells “My arm!” repeatedly. Back in the studio, Bobby stands by his prediction.

-We return from commercial with Bret lying on the floor and looking like his leg is injured. Back in, Bret crashes with Bret-like impact on an Irish whip and Martel looks to finish with a Boston crab, but Bret snaps his entire body in the opposite direction, causing Martel to lose his grip.

-Martel gets frustrated, booting Hit Man out to the floor and then following him out there with an axehandle off the apron. Bret makes it back to his feet and leans against the post to catch his breath and Martel goes back out there to clothesline, but you can already kind of anticipate where that’s going, right?

-So Martel’s arm is injured and both men are exhausted as they head back inside. Roll-ups and cradles are exchanged until the bell sounds and Bobby Heenan proves why he’s the Brain.

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
I know it doesn't seem like that great a show, but something really got into everybody working a squash match this week, with the Rockers busting out new spots, Brain Busters coming up with ANOTHER new way of getting to their finishing move, Genius and Horner doing a straightforward clinic, and then two pretty entertaining star vs. star combos. This is as good a week as you can ask for from this show.
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