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WWF Superstars of Wrestling January 10th, 1987

January 10, 1987

From the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, AZ

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura, and Vince McMahon

In action tonight will be the Junkyard Dog & George Steele & Billy Jack Haynes, Jake Roberts, and the main event of Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff vs. British Bulldogs in a non-title match.




Mike Lucca & Tim Patterson & Frenchy Martin vs. Junkyard Dog & George "The Animal"  Steele & Billy Jack Haynes

Match starts with Haynes overpowering Martin. Steele tags and slams down Martin then does the same to Patterson. JYD now tags and he hits Lucca with the running powerslam for the win as Steele eats the turnbuckle (1:30).

Thoughts: The crowd barely reacted to this match, which is surprising because JYD and Steele always got favorable reactions. Haynes did not fit in with this group. Well, his character didn't anyway.



WWF Update with Gene Okerlund. This week's subject is Paul Orndorff as we get a promo from both Heenan and himself about just how wonderful he really is and how much Orndorff loves hitting his opponents with the piledriver.



We now are shown a vignette of Jimmy Hart and the Honky Tonk Man outside of Graceland in Tennessee. They both consider renaming the mansion "Honkyland." Honky told about how miserable he was filming these vignettes as it was freezing cold the whole time and he stood outside in a knit Elvis jumpsuit on his 1987 WWE Timeline from Kayfabe Commentaries.



Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/ Slick vs. British Bulldogs

This match was taped a few days before the Dynamite Kid suffered his back injury at the 12/13/86 house show in Hamilton, Ontario that all but ruined his career. They continue the angle of Slick being afraid of Matilda before the match too. Match starts with Davey overpowering Nikolai but Slick trips him up and that allows the heels to take the advantage. Sheik gets nearfalls with a clothesline and a gutwrench suplex. Davey eventually fights back and hits a vertical suplex before making the tag. Dynamite gets two with a snap suplex then locks on a sleeper but Slick breaks that up by whacking Dynamite with his cane. Vince screams about how referee Danny Davis had to have seen that but he didn't and now Davey takes Matilda and chases Slick all the way to the back as Davis now declares Sheik & Volkoff as the winners due to outside interference (3:00).

Thoughts: They were at one point leaning towards Sheik & Volkoff regaining the Tag Titles but Dynamite would only drop them to the Hart Foundation and that was the end of the feud. With Dynamite hurt, Davey would defend the titles with several different partners.



Piper's Pit with guests Randy Savage and Elizabeth. Piper and Savage get into it verbally as Savage has a Ricky Steamboat action figure and calls him a "has-been" then tells Piper that he was unable to put someone (Adonis) out of wrestling unlike himself. Savage then gives Piper a action figure of himself as a gift as Piper then gives Savage a gift, which is a ringside ticket for next week to see Steamboat wrestle as Savage is in disbelief. Good stuff here as Piper and Savage had wonderful interactions with each other.



Alex Knight vs. Hercules w/ Bobby Heenan

Hercules beats on Knight then takes him down with a clothesline. He then drops a few elbows before making Knight submit to the Backbreaker (0:57).

Thoughts: Hercules is getting a solid push now and he was a solid power wrestle so I have no problem with that.



We get another clip of Ventura trying to get information from Heenan about Andre the Giant's suspension being lifted. Heenan completely avoids the question and talks about how he acquired Hercules as Ventura can't believe this is happening again.



Ken Resnick is with Randy Savage, who comes out and rants about Bruno Sammartino having to resort to cheating to beat him down. Savage was great here as the crazy heel.


Another vignette from Blackjack Mulligan at his ranch. He calls out King Kong Bundy while riding a horse.



Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. Billy Anderson

Anderson got a pop due to being billed from Phoenix. Match starts with Roberts beating on Anderson in the corner. He hits a slam as the announcers put Roberts over as a threat to both singles titles. Roberts works the arm as we get an insert promo from Roberts as he talks about his DDT. Roberts hits the short-arm clothesline then puts Anderson away with the DDT for the win (1:38). After the match, Roberts puts the snake on Anderson as Vince is irate on commentary.

Thoughts: Roberts is also getting a strong push as a top heel now and Vince was really going all out trying to get the post-match stuff over on commentary.



Resnick is with Ricky Steamboat, who cuts a promo while selling the throat injury on Sika, his opponent at the February Boston Garden show. Steamboat's acting still sucks.



Another airing of the music video package set to "Bad Boy" from the Miami Sound Machine.



Jack Kruger & Kevin Collins vs. Rougeau Brothers

The Rougeau's work over Collins as we get an insert promo from them wishing us a Happy New Year. Kruger tags and slams Jacques but misses a top rope splash, which is ironic since Kamala hit him with one that had Kruger cut a promo on how devastating the move was, then the Rougeau's hit him with the Rougeau Bomb (1:26).

Thoughts: Nothing but filler. The announcers talked a bit about Kamala. The Rougeau's came across as a lame team with their corny promos.



Another Outback Jack vignette as he shaves his face with a knife while talking about how he can compete in the WWF.



"The Natural" Butch Reed w/ Slick vs. Reggie Parks

Parks wrestled for years in the NWA and AWA. He started wrestling in the 1950's too so he was an old-timer. Parks starts by taking down Reed but the crowd doesn't care. They seemed burned out as this was the final match of the taping. Reed takes control and whips Parks into the corner as Jesse will be attempting to get some information out of Andre the Giant next week. Parks fights back as the crowd starts a "Reggie" chant but Reed knocks him down then gets the win with a flying clothesline (2:06).

Thoughts: The crowd actually got into Parks here. He could throw a decent punch at least. The announcers talked about the Andre the Giant angle for a majority of the match.



Ventura is shown at the entrance expecting Randy Savage to walk through the door as he hears girls going crazy but it turns out to be the Can-Am Connection, which disgusts Ventura for some reason. The Can-Am push started very quickly and ended just as soon, courtesy of Tom Zenk. At one point, the Can-Am's were scheduled to face the Hart Foundation for the Titles at WrestleMania III but that idea got scrapped.



Resnick is with Bruno Sammartino, who tells Savage that there will be nowhere for him to hide in their Lumberjack Match at the Boston Garden in February. Bruno also promises to teach him a lesson.



Next week, Johnny v. will introduce us to his new tag team (Demolition). Also, Ricky Steamboat will make his return to the ring and Outback Jack will be here (he wasn't).



Final Thoughts: They had a big advancement in the Steamboat/Savage storyline and made it clear that they are pushing Hercules, Jake Roberts, and the Can-Am Connection so that was good. The rest of the show seemed like filler but with the intrigue of the Andre the Giant storyline and the Piper/Adonis feud they still had a lot of stuff going on in the company. Overall, a solid show.



Here is my schedule for the next several days:

Thursday: Kayfabe Commentaries 1988 WWE Timeline as told by Jim Duggan
Friday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 1/11/87
Saturday: RoH Do or Die 5/31/03
Sunday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 1/17/87
Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 1/18/87

Comments

  1. Jake Roberts was still being pushed as a heel even though his face turn was a few weeks away.

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  2. I guess Ricky would just have to rely on his wrestling and put on three of the best matches of the 80's... (I still love the best of 3 at the Clash of the Champions the most)...

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  3. Virgil's Gimmick TableDecember 2, 2014 at 10:33 PM

    I was thinking about that match the other day. For a match to go almost an hour and be amazing throughout, that is special. Because most matches that go more than 15 minutes are boring.

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  4. Good episode here. Awesome Piper's pit and the last healthy DK showing.

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  5. I saw this episode a few months ago and man that Ventura bit at the end is gold too. I wish they'd dump these on the network.

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  6. Jobber, you can troll me, but... Just let me finish my pie first...

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  7. Lmao! Oh man and that pie looked like some seriously awful jello prison thing. What an awful way to spend your last minutes

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  8. REGGIE PARKS!!!1! KING OF THE BELTS!!

    ReplyDelete

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