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WWF Prime Time Wrestling (11.6.1989) Review

August 21, 2020 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
WWE WWF Prime Time Wrestling Curt Hennig Mr. Perfect Image Credit: WWE
7.9
The 411 Rating
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WWF Prime Time Wrestling (11.6.1989) Review  

-Originally aired November 6, 1989.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan in Studio A, and Rowdy Roddy Piper in Studio B. Bobby is finally wearing a different outfit after three months!

-Bobby Heenan is in a horrible mood after last week’s show, while Gorilla and Hot Rod insist it’s one of the best shows they’ve ever done.

THE GENIUS vs. JIM MACPHERSON

-Genius’ snobby sideways walk down the aisle was such a great character detail.

-Genius cartwheels. MacPherson taunts him by doing his own cartwheel, and Genius is so mad he goes straight to aggression, with stiff boots. He goes for an arm wringer, but MacPherson backflips out of it, showing Genius that he’s stuck with an opponent who can match him move for move.

-Genius finally takes firm control with flying headscissors and slams him into place. Moonsault looks to finish, but Genius changes his mind at a two-count and breaks the pin, going for the Honor Roll instead for the three-count.

-Sunday night! The Survivor Series Showdown!

SPECIAL REPORT

-Survivor Series is coming on Thanksgiving night, and we get dueling promos from the Big Boss Man and Dusty Rhodes. Boss Man reveals that since Dusty has stolen the nightstick, Boss Man is bringing his ball and chain to the Survivor Series instead. Dusty says go ahead and bring ’em, nothing will happen.

ROCKERS vs. BARRY HARDY & ALAN REYNOLDS

-Jobbers gang up on Shawn Michaels, applying the little known “Marine strategy” in this match, so as usual, a friend of Shawn’s has to come in from the apron to break it up and the jobbers end up on the floor. Bobby Heenan drops in and warns us that after the Survivor Series, there will be no more Rockers. That’s an oddly specific and cryptic threat for a Survivor Series promo and I feel like an angle got scratched when the Brain Busters gave their notice.

-Powerslam by Janetty flattens out Reynolds on the mat, and double fist drops get the win.

BAD NEWS BROWN vs. CHUCK CASEY

-Chuck Casey is the rare jobber who’s gotten the memo on Bad News Brown and attacks him as he enters the ring. He hammers Bad News until Bad News hammers back. The commentators mention that Bad News is sitting out the Survivor Series because he doesn’t like being on a team. Funnily enough, Akeem ended up not being medically cleared for the show and Bad News decided on a few days’ notice that he liked being on a team after all.

-Bad News keeps pounding and stomping. There’s a vocal pro-Bad News contingent in the first few rows and Bad News is playing to them during the match, and the ghetto blaster ends it to a standing ovation from 20 dudes.

JIM “The Anvil” NEIDHART vs. BROOKLYN BRAWLER

-Neidhart shoves the Brawler around because he can. He winds up for what looks like it’s going to be a lethal clothesline, but Brawler slides out to the floor to dodge it. He celebrates this cunning strategy for too long and Anvil goes outside to attack him and drag him back in.

-Corner charge by Anvil misses and Brawler bites him on the forehead before locking on a chinlock. A, uh, BRAWLING chinlock, to be clear. Anvil gets to his feet and counters it with a bearhug. Brawler counters that by going to the eyes. Back to the chinlock by Brawler, who really is just having the best week of his life here. Anvil elbows out and goes for a bodypress. Brawler catches him but can’t hold the weight and collapses for two.

-Brawler heads for the top rope to try to finish this, but he gets slammed off. Powerslam by Anvil finishes. Pleasant surprise–this was good and dare I say, actually kind of exciting at times.

-Roddy Piper makes a point about the Ultimate Warriors/Heenan Family match at Survivor Series: why would you give the role of “captain” who the member who is the hardest for everyone else to understand?

EVENT CENTER

-The Million Dollar Team is ready for Survivor Series! Hulk Hogan already learned what a powerful motivator the Million Dollar Man’s money is, and once DiBiase sends Jake Roberts back to the hospital to eliminate him, the rest of the team will be easy pickings. The Heenan Family cuts an international promo, with Andre and Haku speaking in Foreign.

DINO BRAVO (with Jimmy Hart) vs. DALE WOLFE

-Inverted atomic drop and a big elbow by Dino right away. We get pre-taped words from Dino, telling us that even the Ultimate Warrior is no match for his strength. Sounds like a disagreement that needs to be settled with a test of strength!

-Bearhug by Dino gets the submission victory.

-Piper promises that Sunday’s Survivor Series Showdown special will be a real clash of the…titans.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

-Mean Gene Okerlund welcomes the Ultimate Warriors to the platform. The gist of it seems to be that they’re not fond of the Heenan Family.

TAG TEAM TITLE: BRAIN BUSTERS (Champions, with Bobby Heenan) vs. DEMOLITION

-From Superstars of Wrestling. Brain Busters gave their notice earlier in the day and since there was a TV taping they decided to take care of this piece of business right away.

-Smash gets caught in the Busters’ corner right away but manages to fight both of them off. We end up with all four men in the ring and Demolition cleans house, which Jesse calls a strategic mistake because Busters retain in a DQ and Demolition has a track record of not being able to control their tempers when wrestling them.

-So now Tully gets caught in Demolition’s corner and they hang him over the top turnbuckle and chop his stomach repeatedly. He gets dumped to the floor but tags Arn in. Smash goes for a suplex, but Tully takes out the knee from behind, then dives out so Arn can tag him back in.

-Busters strangle Smash with the tag rope. Spinebuster by Arn gets two with Ax making the save. Busters switch without tagging, so Tully is in there illegally. Smash reverses a suplex and everybody tags. Ax takes on both opponents and the referee loses track of who the legal man is, so Demolition hits the decapitator on Tully Blanchard instead of Arn, but the referee counts the pin anyway, and Demolition has the gold back. Bobby Heenan has an absolute meltdown post-match. Three months ago, he had two titles in his family, now he has none.

-In the studio, Brain is fuming about how the wrong man got pinned, and Piper just laughs and laughs and laughs at him because Heenan again has to blame other people for losing a title.

SURVIVOR SERIES REPORT

-Good god, Gene Okerlund was good at his job. I’m completely revved up and excited about watching a 31-year-old show now.

HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN (with Rugged Ronnie Garvin, Bret Hart, & Hercules) vs. BARRY HOROWITZ

-Jesse Ventura is completely baffled that Duggan needs three guys all clutching 2x4s in his corner for protection against Barry Horowitz.

-Duggan sends Horowitz out to the floor, then brings him back in and rams him from turnbuckle to turnbuckle. Three-point stance gets the win. 4x4s celebrate the win with a choreographed 2×4 routine.

BROTHER LOVE

-4x4s are still in the ring, and wouldn’t you know it, Brother Love’s guests are the King’s Court. Everybody takes a turn cutting a promo on a member of the 4x4s. Sherri jumps in to yell “Eat cake!” And I get what she’s going for, but just yelling “Eat cake!” does NOT land at all for a wrestling promo.

-Gorilla Monsoon runs down the Survivor Series card and tells us, “It’s all downhill for Tully Blanchard from here.”

BRET “Hit Man” HART vs. MR. PERFECT (with The Genius)

-Normally this would be an obvious time limit draw, but super push + heavily pimping the Perfect Record for a main event run + new ringside “advisor”=obvious Mr. Perfect win. Should be good though.

-Shoulderblock by Hit Man. Perfect tries a hiptoss but Hit Man deadweights and throws him to the mat, and Perfect spins like a top on impact before sliding to the floor, and it’s so great that we get an instant replay immediately. Hit Man taunts Perfect by demanding a round of applause from the crowd for Perfect’s effort so far.

-Bret gives Perfect a shot to the face and Perfect just looks ANGRY at being shown up here. Bret applies a side headlock. Perfect uses the hair for leverage to get to his feet, so Bret yanks Perfect’s hair to keep it locked on. These guys are having the time of their lives wrestling each other.

-Bodypress by Hit Man for two. Perfect kicks out hard enough to send him to the floor, but Hit Man rams him from the apron and slingshots himself back in to reapply the side headlock, and all of that happens in the span of about ten seconds. Even the commentators are popping for that sequence. Perfect breaks the hold long enough to roll him up for a two-count, but Hit Man slides the side headlock back on as we go to a break.

-Back from commercial, Perfect lands one GOOD right hand to knock Hart on his ass, and Perfect sticks with the aggressive approach, booting him to the floor. Back in, Perfect just sticks with the angriest offense he can muster, ramming Bret into the corner and allowing Bret to do his killer bump off the turnbuckles.

-Perfect punches Hart down and declares, unbleeped, “Now I’m gonna finish this piece of shit off!” He should have just gone with that all the time instead of “Now you’re gonna see a Perfect-Plex!”

-Perfect goes to the top rope, but the piece of shit gets to his feet and punches Perfect in the face, causing him to crotch himself over the top turnbuckle. Atomic drop by Hit Man. He biels Perfect so hard that Perfect slides balls-first into the post. Suplex by Hit Man gets two. Hit Man just can’t put him away and gets frustrated about it, arguing with the referee. Perfect rolls him up from behind and Hit Man kicks out hard enough to send Perfect to the floor.

-They brawl on the outside, teasing the double-countout as long as they can before Perfect makes it back inside and tries to suplex Hit Man back in. Bret lands behind him and rolls him up, but Perfect reverses it and clutches the tights with both hands for the three-count. I’ll say it, hidden classic. For action, for excitement, I thought this was completely on the same level as their SummerSlam ’91 match.

-Bobby Heenan makes the point that it’s fine to cheat. “The record book doesn’t say pulled tights, the record book just says it was a pin.” Gorilla fires back “Just like it says Demolition pinned the Brain Busters?” And Heenan is speechless at having his logic shoved right back in his face like that.

7.9
The final score: review Good
The 411
This show continues to just be on fire. Highly recommended week of non-stop action and studio fun.
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