wrestling / Video Reviews
WWF Prime Time Wrestling (11.27.1989) Review
Loading...-Originally aired November 27, 1989.
-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan & Studio A, and Rowdy Roddy Piper in Studio B. Gorilla is wearing black to mourn the death of the Heenan Family, while Heenan wears dark sunglasses, implying its to cover his black eyes from Survivor Series. Bobby declares that the Brain Busters are history, and the only tag team that matters now are Andre the Giant and Haku.
JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS vs. AL BURKE
-Al manages to cram a buzzcut and a mullet on only a single head of hair. Burke connects with a hard right hand, and Snake has an interesting reaction, daring Burke to meet him outside. So Burke goes out there and Jake just slides back inside. Burke follows him back in and Jake’s cunning plan reaches fruition as he just kicks Burke in the head.
-Ted DiBiase drops in for some comments and an evil laugh as Jake drives a series of knees into Burke’s neck. DDT ends it.
-Roddy Piper mentions that he and Rude are going to be doing battle in lumberjack matches around the horn in December, which is a logical extension of what happened at Survivor Series.
UPDATE
–No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie on Wednesday December 27. Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake will face Randy Savage & Zeus inside a steel cage in what’s being touted as the last time that Hogan and Zeus will ever be in the ring. They could have just gone with three hours of PPV time instead of two and added an undercard. Why not give us that Piper/Rude lumberjack match and, say, Dusty and Boss Man in a nightstick-on-a-pole match?
-Gorilla reminds us to mark that date, December 27, on the new 1990 WWF Calendar. Think about that for a second.
“Macho King” RANDY SAVAGE (with Sensational Queen Sherri) vs. PAUL ROMA
-Savage is wearing an amazing all-white ensemble. Roma immediately hits a running powerslam and comes off the top rope with a missile dropkick, and Savage bails while Sherri distracts Roma to give the king some recovery time.
-Roma misses a corner charge and Savage capitalizes for a two-count. He flings Roma over the top rope. Weird shtick on commentary with Vince literally trying to stop Jesse from talking, and Jesse responds by outing Vince for needing reading glasses now.
-Roma recovers and heads to the top again, but this time Sherri pushes him off and Savage hits the flying elbow for the tainted win. Better than usual squash match for Superstars.
-“The Model” Rick Martel models some tennis whites, “the country club look” according to Lord Alfred.
AL PEREZ vs. CONQUISTADOR #1
-Joined in progress from MSG. This is the beginning of a short and weird run for Perez, who will be in the WWF for the next nine months or so and according to The History of WWE, he never wrestles on the weekend syndicated shows, his matches only ever aired on Prime Time Wrestling. So if you were a fan of the WWF at this time and you don’t remember Al Perez, it means your parents didn’t let you stay up past 9 o’clock.
-Conquistador hammers him down and connects with a corner charge. Conquistador is apparently expecting to make quick work of Perez because he didn’t even bother tying the laces on his mask. Shot to Perez’s throat gets one, with Perez pressing him across the ring to kick-out. Perez whips Conquistador, who runs out of the way of the charge, and Perez gets hung up on the top turnbuckle, with Gorilla diplomatically fretting that Perez has torn his nutsack.
-Action goes to the floor and Perez gets fired up, ramming Conquistador into the steps and slamming him on the pretty blue mat. Lord Alfred Hayes is wandering around ringside for some reason as Perez brings him back in for, according to Gorilla Monsoon, “Suplex City.” Suplex City only gets two, bitch, so Perez tries working the neck. MSG debut of the Allicopter gets three. MSG pops big for that move, too. Other than that, though, the match just laid there.
BAD NEWS BROWN vs. MIKE JUSTICE
-Mike Justice looks like Great Value Jimmy Garvin. Sneak attack by Bad News. He mauls Justice while we get pre-taped words from Bad News, pointing out that he hasn’t had a title shot since Hogan won the belt but it’s only a matter of time until Chump Hogan has to deal with him. Ghetto blaster ends it.
EVENT CENTER
-Greg Valentine warns that Rugged Ronnie Garvin is about to become Ragged Ronnie Garvin. Brutus Beefcake promises to cut anybody in the WWF, even if they’re bad news or if they think they’re perfect.
-Roddy Piper introduces a segment in which Mr. Perfect pitches horseshoes by saying that Perfect is a perfect pitcher, and joining him is the Genius, who is a perfect catcher.
TITO SANTANA vs. BORIS ZHUKOV
-From MSG.
-Tito armdrags Boris so hard that Boris already wants to call it a night and go back to the locker room. He thinks better of it and heads back in for a a top wristlock battle, overpowering Tito with that. They go to a test of strength and Boris wins that too. Tito manages to pull Boris’ hands down and stomps to break that hold. Tito goes to a wristlock as both men are definitely setting a pace here.
-We pause for commercial and return, apparently jumping ahead a few minutes to a nervehold by Boris. Sure, why not. Tito gets out and tries to get a fight going, but Boris raises a knee for two. Back to the nerve hold. Tito escapes again and backdrops Boris. Flying forearm gets the three and allows us all to move on with our lives.
-Gorilla says that the Brooklyn Brawler’s career has nosedived ever since he stopped training with Pat Patterson & Terry Garvin, saying that Brawler never even finished a course with those two. Bobby says that Brawler is still available if you need a job done. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
JOSE LUIS RIVERA vs. BROOKLYN BRAWLER
-From MSG, with Jose working double-duty after being a Conquistador earlier in the night.
-Brawler clotheslines Rivera down and drops an elbow on the leg. He drags Rivera’s face across the rope, going here, there and everywhere with his offense. Corner charge by Brawler misses, but before Rivera can even catch his breath, Brawler just chomps on his face. Big dropkick by Rivera to finally get himself off the starting blocks, but Brawler tosses him out to the floor and posts him. Interesting touch from the MSG production crew, as they’ve duct-taped boom mics directly onto the ring posts. Wrestlers and referee are all taking full advantage of that too, arguing and trash talking through the whole thing.
-Brawler dumps Rivera on the floor. Back in, neck vice, switching to a chinlock by Brawler. Damn is this ever an MSG card we’re seeing this week. Brawler heads to the top rope, but Rivera slams him off. Corner charge is attempted, but Brawler meets him with a knee to the face and plants him on the mat for three. Brawler’s career is finally getting some momentum going again!
-Gorilla tops my snark, congratulating Brawler on his “winning streak…one in a row!” Gorilla is uncharacteristically excited about the upcoming Brother Love segment, while Heenan begs us to change the channel.
BROTHER LOVE
-So the lights come up on the set and the music is playing, but Brother Love isn’t there. Vince McMahon suspects it’s because he’s sewing extra buttons onto his vest because it keeps popping open. I like to imagine someone pointing out that Brother Love doesn’t wear a vest and it devolves into an argument like on The Office with everyone placing bets on whether or not Brother Love wears a vest.
-So they restart the segment, resetting the lights and the music. Nice touch from the cameraman, who uses the same shots as if Brother Love was there, and the camera is just tracking an invisible Brother Love opening segment.
-They restart the segment AGAIN and Roddy Piper shows up this time, walking with a really, really long rope. Piper reminds us that the first time he was a guest on Brother Love, he was attacked by Rick Rude, and he’s never really finished exacting revenge for that. Piper implies that he has some extra motivation for wanting to do this, reminding us that he used to have a weekly interview segment, but now he doesn’t, and Brother Love is hogging the airtime in his place.
-So Piper jerks on the rope and out comes what’s obviously Brother Love under a sheet, and when Piper pulls the sheet off, Brother Love is bound and gagged and wearing a diaper. Piper loses his grip just long enough for Brother Love to run away, and Piper promises that Rick Rude’s humiliation is next.
-Gorilla encourages us to stay tuned if we want to watch some whacking.
BUSHWHACKERS vs. BARRY HOROWITZ & DAVE WAGNER
-Oh.
-Horowitz pokes Luke’s eyes and dodges a clothesline, celebrating with a pat on the back. Luke retaliates with a bite on the ass and tags Butch. Battering ram and the double gutbuster make this a short week.
EVENT CENTER
-We get words from the Widow Maker. “Oh, he’s still here?” says everyone. Demolition promises not to relax now that they have the belts back.
HERCULES vs. AKEEM
-Rapid fire punches by Herc, but Akeem overpowers him. Hercules fights back with boots and they end up trading arm wringers. Akeem does a mid-air pivot and snaps down to the mat to sell a hold from Hercules, and it’s remarkable from a guy that size.
-Akeem rams Herc into the corner while Gorilla goes on a tangent about the night that he worked a match in MSG that went damn near 90 minutes, and I don’t understand how this territory thrived sometimes. We return with Herc attempting a slam but getting hammered down. Chinlock by Akeem. Akeem thrusts his African Dream into Herc’s neck and slams him into position, but the big splash misses and Hercules Hercs up.
-Punches and clotheslines by Herc stagger the big man, but Akeem reverses a whip and avalanches Herc. He pauses to celebrate while Herc recovers, and when Akeem charges, Herc ducks and Akeem flies over the top rope, giving Herc the win by count-out. It was fine but nothing special. It’s easy to forget that Akeem was a pretty agile guy for his size though, and I appreciate that about him a lot now.
