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WWF Superstars of Wrestling March 28th, 1987

March 28, 1987

From the Hara Arena in Dayton, OH

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Vince McMahon

In action this week are the Can-Am Connection, "The Natural" Butch Reed, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and the Hart Foundation.



Bob Uecker is shown with Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan. Uecker is bullied into announcing Andre as the new Heavyweight Champion over and over again.



Steve Lombardi & Johnny K-9 vs. Can-Am Connection

The crowd went ape shit for the Can-Ams entrance. Lombardi chokes out MArtel from the apron but gets accidentally hit by his partner. Martel works the arm as we get another insert promo from Bob Orton, Don Muraco, and Mr. Fuji hyping their WrestleMania III match. Back to the match as the Can-Ams remain in control as they work over K-9. Lombardi then cheapshots Martel as he was attempting a flying headscissors. He tags and collides with Lombardi then Martel makes the hot tag to Zenk, who runs wild on K-9. He catches him with a powerslam then tags Martel, who gets the win with a slingshot splash (3:16). The fans once again go out of their minds for the Can-Ams after they win.

Thoughts: Its unreal as to how over the Can-Am Connection was at this time. They had been in the company for just about four months too. Unfortunately, Zenk quit a few months after this and the team did not get the titles.



WWF Update with Gene Okerlund. This week's topic is the Intercontinental Title match at WrestleMania III between Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage. We get a solid promo from Steamboat that lacked the corny "karate" phrases and was effective as a result. They have done as good of a job building up this match as humanly possible.



"The Natural" Butch Reed w/ Slick vs. Jim Powers

Match starts with a lockup that ends in a stalemate as we get an insert promo from Koko B. Ware, who tells Reed that he will be flying all over him. He sounded like a preacher here as Vince enjoyed himself on commentary. Reed then beats on Powers, who comes back with a dropkick. Reed then catches Powers with a clothesline before slamming him down then gets the win with a flying clothesline off of the middle rope (2:30).

Thoughts: Reed looked awful here as he was as slow and lumbering in the ring as could be. Just a segment for Reed to look strong heading into WrestleMania against Koko B. Ware.



Gene Okerlund is with the Rougeau Brothers, who want Dino Bravo to keep his nose out of their match against the Dream Team at WrestleMania III. The promo ends with some lame babyface stuff that did nothing to help out the Rougeaus in the loaded Tag Team division the WWF boasted at this time.



Rick Hunter & Joe Mirto vs. Hart Foundation w/ Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis

The heels all break huddle in the ring as Jesse and Vince argue about how Davis will fare in his match at WrestleMania III. We are then shown an insert promo of Matilda walking around as Jesse joked how it looks like Sammartino's girlfriend. The Hart Foundation beat on Mirto, mixed in with some illegal tactics, until they put him away with the Hart Attack (2:35).

Thoughts: The Hart Foundation was firing on all cylinders here. They had swagger and were very crisp in the ring. Their heel act was perfected too as the fans fucking hated them.



Jake Roberts and Alice Cooper are shown cutting a promo on the Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. Jake was good here as Alice was passable I suppose. He didn't seem too comfortable here.



A replay of Hacksaw Jim Duggan running off the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and Slick last week. Then after that Slick and the Iron Sheik are shown as Slick issues a challenge to Duggan for a match next week, promising to keep Volkoff home. Duggan is then shown telling them both that he will be there, closing the interview with his thumb up yelling "tough guy."



Moondog Spot vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Huge ovation for Jake here. Match starts with some back-and-forth action as we get an insert promo from the Honky Tonk Man who promises to defeat Jake at WrestleMania III. Spot takes control of the match and gets two off of an elbow drop. Jake fights back then leapfrogs Spot before booting him in the gut then hitting the DDT for the win (1:51). After the match, Jake grabbed the snake but the referee rolled Spot to the floor.

Thoughts: Not much of note here other than this was Spot's last match with the WWF as he went back to Memphis. He was always an underappreciated talent in his prime.



Piper's Pit with no guests. Piper says that this is the last edition of the Pit we will ever see as the fans are showing their respect for him. Piper then stands on the table and delivers a speech about how he was a "street kid" and how wrestling saved his life. He then says that being shot at and in a plane crash did not stop him from wrestling but that his daughter grabbing his leg, begging him not to leave, is what got him to retire. He then talks about being here on a Green Card and puts over America as the crowd eats that up like candy. Piper closes by saying "daddy is coming home" as the takes his portrait and walks away.



WrestleMania III Report airs.  Jimmy Hart trying to get Mary Hart to join the Hart Foundation as she reluctantly agrees. Not a bad segment at all. Heenan then welcomes Aretha Franklin to the WWE, who tells him that he better show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Hogan. Decent for a celebrity apperance. Okerlund then runs down the rest of the card.



Uecker and Mary Hart are shown talking backstage as they do a comedy bit in which Uecker tries to pretend that he did not lose the tickets to WrestleMania III. They were both good sports.



King Harley Race w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Jerry Allen

Race grabs a side headlock to start. He then pulls up as Allen attempted a dropkick then hits a belly-to-belly suplex as JYD is shown in an insert promo hyping their match at WrestleMania III as Race gets the win with a cradle suplex (1:01).

Thoughts: Just designed to get over the stipulations of the JYD/Race Mania match in which the lose must bow before the winner, who if JYD will be the king.



Okerlund is with Hulk Hogan, who talks about his match against Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III and how he does not want the kids to be deceitful like Andre the Giant.



Next week in action will be Harley Race, Jake Roberts, Demolition, and the featured bout of the Iron Sheik vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan.



Final Thoughts: This aired the day before WrestleMania III and at this point, everyone watching regularly was ready for the PPV. This show was hyped brilliantly as every match had a backstory and they were blowing off some major feuds here as well. Not much else to say here other than that.



Here is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Sunday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 3/29/87
Tuesday: WWF WrestleMania III
Thursday: Shoot Interview TBD
Friday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 4/4/87

Comments

  1. For two guys who reportedly hated each other outside the ring, Martel and Zenk did great together.

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  2. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogFebruary 20, 2015 at 2:32 PM

    What was Harley Race's last good match?

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  3. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogFebruary 20, 2015 at 2:33 PM

    Rick Martel was awesome. In tag teams, as the Model, even his later WCW resurgence

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  4. Had a surprisingly good one with Tommy Rich on the GAB '90 undercard.

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  5. The quality of Race's WWF matches depended on his opponents. He was great in the six man at the Boston Garden a few weeks prior to this show. He was the heel who held the match together (although everyone except JYD contributed).

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  6. They didn't hate each other until Zenk abandoned Martel.

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  7. Can't wait for your WrestleMania III review

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  8. Zenk felt Vince went against his word on pay, so he left. He didn't abandon anybody.

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  9. Thank you. Also can't wait to see it after watching all of the build up as it happened.

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  10. Zeno is almost universally lpayhed by his peers.

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  11. True but in everyone's eyes he left abruptly, however whatever hatred that may have existed between the two did not exist while they were a team.

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  12. So was Warrior ... and it was because he cared about making money over anything else. It's such a strange thing in that business. If u take your wrestling seriously, they mock you. If you take the money seriously, they mock you for not loving the business

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  13. Idk I always kinda dug Zenk. I thought him & Pillman as a team & as the NWA U.S. Tag Team champions was pretty cool. I always imagined another cool duo as Zenk & Roma hooking up in WCW as former WWF mid-card tag team players/upper tier jobber guys.

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  14. He also had a good match with Larry Zbyszko at the final AWA taping. And the 'round-the-horn matches with Hogan were good, too.

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  15. Martel also wanted Zenk to at least do business and work an injury angle with Demolition or something, but Zenk was having none of it.

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  16. Probably his ones with Hogan.

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  17. And if you take both seriously, you're Hulk Hogan.

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  18. That Pipers Pit is one of my favorites. Along with the Pit where Piper interviewed himself.

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