WWF Prime Time Wrestling (8.28.1989) Review

-So this is neat. If you missed the last review, USA Network was airing the US Open, which pre-empted Prime Time in most of the country (hence the reason they had SummerSlam on a Monday back in those days)…but time zones being what they are, Prime Time had to air as scheduled in the Pacific Time Zone, after the US Open had ended for the day, and after SummerSlam ended. So most of the country didn’t see this episode.

-Originally aired August 28, 1989.

-Your host is Gorilla Monsoon, all by himself. Aw, crap, get ready to hear the sentence “Action and excitement, indeed” a lot during this episode. The set’s not even decorated or anything, it just looks like they snuck into Studio A to tape this.

SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA vs. MIKE LUCA
-Honky Tonk Man drops in with some words for “Monkey Man.” Snuka takes his sweet time adjusting his kneepads in the corner and Luca sneaks up and attacks. Chops by Snuka to total silence from the crowd. This was an odd quirk about the WWF, they’d sweeten the audio for their syndicated shows, but usually, they wouldn’t bother for Prime Time. Kick to the stomach and a slam by the Superfly, and he goes to the top rope to wake up the crowd finally. Splash finishes.

-We rewatch the whole straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back segment from last week, where Roddy Piper just gets fed up and he and Rude have to be pulled apart in the studio.

BUSHWHACKERS vs. PETE KETCHUM & DON STEVENS
-Mr. Fuji is warning us that the Powers of Pain are getting ready for the Bushwhackers.

-Ketchum takes his licks–figuratively, which is important to clarify in a Bushwhackers match. They force Don Stevens to tag in. Battering ram and the double stomachbreaker finish with ease.

RED ROOSTER vs. WIDOW MAKER
-So in terms of getting a cool name when he jumped ship, Barry Windham is already the winner, but let’s see how the actual match goes.

-Widow Maker does the obnoxious “I’m not touching you” that older brothers the world over have perfected, and Rooster just gives him a smack. Chops are exchanged, and Rooster throws a dropkick that sends Widow Maker retreating. “Like a rooster would!” Lord Alfred declares.

-Rooster applies a side headlock. Widow Maker turns it into a back suplex, but Rooster rolls out of the way of a kneedrop, and Rooster has his target and stays on the leg. Aggressive clothesline by the Rooster, but he’s too close to the ropes for the pin. Widow Maker slips outside, grabs Rooster by the ankle, and brings him out to whip him into the barricade. Inverted atomic drop by Widow Maker, and he drills Rooster with a shot to the jaw and hurts his own hand with it.

-Rooster reverses an Irish whip but runs into a boot. Suplex by Widow Maker gets two. Rooster counters an attempted backdrop and appears to be setting up for the chicken wing, but Widow Maker gets a handful of tights and flings him out to the floor. Widow Maker whips him into thje post and Rooster NO-SELLS it and jumps up to the apron, and Widow Maker snaps his neck over the top rope, and Rooster crumbles to the floor, and the referee counts ten to give the win to Widow Maker. Slow pace and an odd finish. Seriously…no-sold a shot to the post and was out cold and counted out 20 seconds later.

ROCKERS vs. BROOKLYN BRAWLER & TOM STONE
-Shawn starts with Brawler, and that would be a main event in MSG eight years later because wrestling is weird like that. Shawn hiptosses Brawler and works the arm over. Rougeaus drop in and accuse the Rockers of jealousy. What I find fascinating about this feud was that it was ignited by a version of the Rockers’ entrance music that existed only for the single TV match that was used to ignite the feud. We never heard it again.

-Stone elbows his way out of a chinlock and this crowd is just so READY for whatever Coliseum Video match is getting taped after this one. Even the teen heartthrobs can’t wake them up. What must it have been like to even work these tapings? You have crowd that slowly transforms from fans to hostages by the end of the night and you’re dying and it isn’t your fault. It must have been such a weird feeling some nights.

-All four men end up in the ring. Jobbers are whipped into each other, and double fistdrops from the top rope finish.

EVENT CENTER
-Words from King Duggan, which is sad because you can tell he’s having a great time with this run and it’s coming to an end. Bad News Brown runs down the Macho Man AND “Hollywood Hogan” for hiding from him and not giving him title shots. I love that. Bad News equally hated EVERYBODY and nobody was doing that at the time.

HILLBILLY JIM vs. “Million Dollar Man” TED DIBIASE (with Virgil)
-Virgil distracts Hillbilly Jim by teasing going after the horseshoe. He takes the bait and DiBiase attacks from behind, but he targets the head and DiBiase just good and mad and rams him into the turnbuckle ten times. DiBiase is just WHIPLASHING himself taking those blows; I think he and Jacques Rougeau were the best at taking those. Clothesline sends DiBiase out to the floor and Virgil has to help him to his feet because he’s already worn out. Hillbilly gets bored with the stalling right away and he noggin-knocks them, although Tony Schiavone comes up with an even cheekier name for that spot, “double coconuts.”

-Odd spot where Hillbilly rubs his ass across the turnbuckle and makes a big show of it, and the commentators don’t know what to do with that. Virgil trips him from the outside and DiBiase attacks from behind again. Hillbilly hangs in there, but DiBiase drives a series of knees into the back. Hillbilly makes his come back with punches, a headbutt, and a lethal hand-clapping. Big boot by Hillbilly, and Virgil interferes again, and Danny Davis is just suspiciously incompetent here as DiBiase sneaks up again with a knee to the back and gets the three-count. This was pretty good!

KOKO B. WARE vs. GREG “The Hammer” VALENTINE (with Jimmy Hart)
-From “Superstars.” We get words from Ronnie Garvin, who warns Greg Valentine that he’ll be watching closely. And he MEANS it because he walks straight to the ring after saying that. Valentine has the early advantage thanks to a sneak attack, but he gets distracted by Garvin and now Koko sneaks up to take advantage. He crashes on an attempted bodypress and Valentine looks to finish with the figure four, but Garvin complains to the referee about the leg brace and demands an inspection. Valentine goes to say something to Garvin, but Koko rolls him up for the three-count. Jesse is PISSED, and that’s why I love him.

EVENT CENTER
-Big Boss Man has a destiny, and it’s to injure people. Jim Neidhart tries to explain why the Hart Foundation sometimes go their separate ways and sometimes work as a tag team.

BIG BOSS MAN (with Slick) vs. BOB ALLEN
-Boss Man just whips Allen back and forth while we get words from Big Dusty Dust, who plans to hand out Dream Justice, baby. Boss Man slam, turn out the liiiiiights, the party’s over!

-Post-match, Boss Man handcuffs Allen, dishing out his justice, but Dusty Rhodes walks in and knocks Boss Man out with a shot from his stolen nightstick. And then Dusty steals Boss Man’s replacement nightstick!

COLISEUM CORNER: DEMOLITION vs. BOLSHEVIKS
-The most interesting thing about this match is that this is from BEFORE Demolition’s face turn, but the crowd’s behind them because they’re American. At least I assume Parts Unknown is in America.

-Demolition pretty much dominates this. Watching this and Mid-South, I’m kind of fascinated by Jim Nelson’s entire run as Boris Zhukov, as he was always presented as a star and a threat, and had a star gimmick (evil Russian in the 1980s), but he was always really just a jobber who got more attention than other jobbers. Demolition works his arm over and Smash yells “You stinkin’ commie!” to a big pop. There are layers to that given Smash’s own past, but I think to think that he learned and grew after his own evil Russian phase.

-Smash threatens to break the stinkin’ commie’s arm, then tags in Ax, . Chinlock by Ax, and Boris is just getting MAULED here. Demolition switches off without tagging, to the dismay of Nikolai Volkoff on the apron. Brawl erupts among all four men and that’s as much as Tony will let us see.

HERCULES vs. DARREL NICKEL
-Nickel is a pretty bulky jobber and makes a show of clotheslining Hercules, but he celebrates too early and Hercules clotheslines the hell out of him. Torture rack ends it!

HONKY TONK MAN (with Jimmy Hart) vs. LOUIE SPICOLLI
-This is such a weird episode, as Gorilla is all alone in the studio, and for obvious reasons he can’t really talk about any major angles, so he’s hosting the show like a disc jockey. “That was Hercules, now we have the Honky Tonk Man coming up.”

-Honky works the arm and chokes Spicolli out as we get words from the Superfly. Honky’s gonna sing a different tune soon! Back to the ring, and the Shake, Rattle, and Roll finishes.

EVENT CENTER
-Mr. Perfect is perfect. Tito Santana warns Rick Martel that he’s listening to the wrong crowd.

BRUTUS “The Barber” BEEFCAKE vs. HAKU (with Bobby Heenan)
-Beefcake gets distracted by Heenan right away, and he looks pretty stupid because Heenan truly wasn’t doing anything. Early edge for Haku, but Beefcake connects with a knee to take control back. Haku gets some advice from the Brain and comes back with chops and chokes. Lord Alfred gently points out that it’s a little weird that Haku is STILL wearing his “king” tights, but credit to Haku because he’d change his look soon after this. Not like Tito Santana, who got ditched by Rick Martel and then walked around for the next two years in his Strike Force tights like it was Miss Havisham’s wedding dress.

-Back from the break, a shoulderbreaker gets two for Haku. Brutus very…gradually…comes…back…to…life…with…punches, and Heenan starts checking his pockets for something, getting the commentators’ attention. Beefcake applies a sleeper. Heenan runs in to interfere, and Beefcake just releases and switches to applying the sleeper on Heenan, and the crowd comes UNGLUED thinking Heenan is about to get his hair cut. Well, he escapes, and so does Haku, and Beefcake has it by DQ. Beefcake was still in his zone here.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

For obvious reasons, a filler episode, but it had its moments.