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WWF Wrestling Challenge April 12th, 1987

April 12, 1987

From the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, AZ

Your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon

In action tonight are Demolition, Killer Bees, Butch Reed, and the British Bulldogs & Tito Santana. Plus, highlights from last week's last from "Superstars of Wrestling" between Iron Sheik vs. Jim Duggan.




The Gladiator & Jimmy Jack Funk & Barry O. vs. Tito Santana & British Bulldogs

Before the match we get an insert promo from Danny Davis stating that he is not impressed by Tito or the Bulldogs. Match starts with the faces making quick tags as they beat on Barry. Dynamite is only able to do chops and headbutts as he can still barely move. Funk tags in as he now gets beat down by the faces. Davey is looking really impressive tonight by the way, displaying speed and power. Funk drops Tito throat-first across the top rope then tags the Gladiator but Tito fights him off and tags Davey, who is now beating on all three guys. He then tags Tito, who puts the Gladiator away with the flying forearm (3:58).

Thoughts: Looks like they are still keeping the feud going between the guys in the WrestleMania III six--man tag match. Davey looked awesome



Craig DeGeorge is with Brutus Beefcake, who is holding a bag that contains the hair of Adrian Adonis. Beefcake also said that it was his pleasure to cut his hair in front of the world.



"The Natural" Butch Reed vs. Sivi Afi

Afi gets the best of Reed to start as we get an insert promo from Slick warning Tito Santana that Reed will make him pay for destroying his suit at WrestleMania III. Reed now takes advantage with his methodical offense. Christ, Reed is blown up out there. Afi dodges an attack in the corner then lands a few kicks and a headbutt then ducks his head as Reed smashes him then drops Afi with a press slam while covering him with his foot for the win (3:02).

Thoughts: Reed looked horrendous in the ring. Looks like he is also gearing up for a feud with Santana, who is busy with midcard feuds at the moment.



Gene Okerlund is with the Rougeau Brothers, asking them about the New Dream Team. Jacques runs down Bravo for not doing things the right away and for ditching Brutus Beefcake. Raymond tells us that they have their eyes on him. Lame stuff here from the Rougeaus.



Brutus Beefcake is no shown telling Adrian Adonis that he will do everything in his power to make sure that he is bald then tells the Dream Team he will turn them into a nightmare. They are really putting over Beefcake as a babyface now. Gorilla even prefaced this promo by saying how Beefcake has changed his ways.



Rick Renslow & Dave Wagner vs. Killer Bees

The Bees are wearing the masks here. Blair works over the arm of Renslow to start. Brunzell then slams Wagner on top of his partner as the jobber team take a breather outside as we get a replay. Blair is now beating on Wagner then hits him with the Bee Sting but Renslow breaks up the pin. Brunzell tags in then hits Wagner with a dropkick for the win (2:35).

Thoughts: The Bees get a win to stay in the Tag Team Title hunt. Gorilla referred to them as a "Top 5" tag team as well so they will be in the mix of teams to contend with the Hart Foundation.



Okerlund is with Steve Lombardi, who talks about Paul Roma and warns him that the best thing he can do is to not show up. Lombardi tells Gene he does not need a manager and that Roma lacks the talent to belong in the ring. Okerlund then asks him about Danny Davis as Lombardi said he was unfairly fired from his job and that he has Jimmy Hart behind him so he can succeed in the ring. After a few month layoff they are rekindling the Roma/Lombardi feud. For all I know this interview was shot a few months before this aired.



Replay of Part Two of the "Ken Patera Story."



King Harley Race w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Jim Young

Johnny V. has replaced Heenan on commentary. Race catches Young with a clothesline and follows that with a suplex. He hits a bunch of elbow drops as we get an insert promo from Outback Jack who tells Race he looks more like a queen as Race puts Young away with a cradle suplex (1:28). Johnny V. then tells us that he has an important announcement coming in a few weeks.

Thoughts: A win for Race to keep him looking strong for his house show run against Hogan.



Snake Pit with guest "The Outlaw" Ron Bass. Roberts asks Bass why they call him the Outlaw as Bass tells us that he was not given the name but rather earned the name from every opponent is faced in the ring. Roberts cuts off his tangent to ask him about Blackjack Mulligan and how he is the biggest and baddest man to come out of Texas as that gets Bass pissed off then he runs down Mulligan's family until the segment ends. Mulligan was already gone from the company by the time this aired.



Highlights from last week's match on "Superstars of Wrestling" between Jim Duggan and Iron Sheik and Duggan coming out with his head bandaged and bloodied running off Sheik and Volkoff during Volkoff's match. This really was an excellent show-long angle to get Duggan over.



Johnny V. tells us that he sold the contracts of Demolition to focus on The New Dream Team. With decision making like that he could be the GM of the Cleveland Browns.



Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji vs. "Leaping" Lanny Poffo & Billy Anderson

Ax beats down Anderson as we get an insert promo from Mr. Fuji, wearing facepaint, telling us that he will make Demolition torture their opponents. Smash tosses Anderson around then Poffo tags but gets tossed around himself. Ax tags and slams Poffo down as he crawls back over to Anderson. Smash destroys Anderson for a bit until Demolition puts him away with the Decapitation (2:42).

Thoughts: Demolition looked so awesome here and the fans appeared to be in awe of them as despite being heels they were not getting booed.



In action next week will be Koko B. Ware, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Honky Tonk Man, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts.



Final Thoughts: Solid show. Where as "Superstars of Wrestling" put over Duggan strong as a face all show long, this show did a similar thing with Beefcake. Other than that, they kept plugged some other midcard feuds as the action was fine as a whole.



Schedule for next several days:

Sunday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 4/18/87
Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 4/19/87
Thursday: Shoot Interview TBD
Friday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 4/25/87

Comments

  1. Killer Bees should have achieved more. Rougeaus should have achieved less

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  2. The Rougeaus were one lame babyface act.

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  3. The Ghost Of Meekin's MoobsMarch 13, 2015 at 2:54 PM

    You understate things somewhat. The Rougeaus were the drizzling fucking shits as babyfaces. They were ok as heels, but not as good as the Quebecers.

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  4. Odd to think how close Demolition was to being there for Wrestlemania III. I would have loved to have seen them there against the Can Am Connection or against the Killer Bees. Probably the latter, as a squash for the Demos, would have served the WWF better than giving Sheik and Volkoff a meaningless match. Though it also would have been interesting had Demolition lost to the Can Ams only to see Demo come back and beat the new version (Strike Force) for the title the next year.

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  5. They made the right choice leaving Demolition off the Wrestlemania 3 card. Demolition was the tough guy heel tag team at a time when the tag champs were heels. They needed to remain strong and dominant. The WWF also needed to build up babyface challengers to the tag titles. The Can-Am Connection and the Killer Bees needed to be kept strong for a run against the Hart Foundation. Maybe Demolition could have went over the Rougeaus but they needed to tell the New Dream Team story (although that didn't pan out in retrospect). Demolition definitely should not job to anybody at this point of their WWF tenure but there wasn't any face teams they could have sacrificed at that point to put them over since they needed to keep the face teams strong for the champs. Keeping them off the card was the right thing to do.


    Amazing how you could make decisions regarding how tag teams should be used when there is an actual tag team division.

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  6. When I did my WrestleMania Re-Book for PTBN, I did Demolition vs. The Islanders. Plus with the Islanders turning soon anyway, they could afford a loss.

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  7. I remembered the Islanders after I finished writing that. You're right the Islanders could have taken the loss

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  8. Man, I wonder what Jesse Barr was getting paid for his Jimmy Jack Funk act. For a guy that seemed like a legitimate player in PNW and Florida, I'm kind of surprised he was okay doing jobs through this much of what should've been his prime.

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  9. Curtain-jerk duty for the WWF paid better than all but the very top spots in most other territories.

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  10. They were awesome heels. Man did people hate them despite their sweet double teams.

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