August 22, 1987
From the Dane County Expo Center in Madison, WI
Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Vince McMahon
In action this week will be Ken Patera, Butch Reed, Kamala & Sika, and the Islanders. Plus, more on the Battle for Bam Bam and Bobby Heenan will bring out Paul Orndorff.
Before the show we see Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, wearing a WWF hat and looking like a complete goof, shaking the hand of Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster tells him he is the toughest governor.
Tom Stone vs. Ken Patera
Patera knocks Stone down to start. He then hits an atomic drop before sending him over the top rope with a clothesline. Patera brings him back in and slams him but in the process injured his arm so he takes Stone down with a snapmare then gets the win with an elbow drop (2:00).
Thoughts: This match sidelined Patera for a couple of months and he was no longer booked to be a threat after that, which was fine at this point in his career.
WWF Update with Craig DeGeorge. This week's subject is the split between Don Muraco and Bob Orton. We see a clip of their brawl then comments from both as Muraco tells us that he will no longer have any managers or partners as he will face on all comers. They are making it a bit more clear that Muraco is a face as a result of the split but these two were washed up and treated as afterthoughts prior to the breakup.
We get a clip of Slick telling us he has recorded the song "Jive Soul Bro" for the Piledriver album.
"The Natural" Butch Reed w/ Slick vs. Jim Evans
Reed roughs up Evans as we get an insert promo from Superstar Billy Graham telling Reed he will be coming after him. Reed then tosses Evans to the floor then brings him back inside where he gets the win with a press slam (2:35). After the match, Reed calls out Graham, who makes his way to the ring. Reed tries to attack Graham but loses that battle as he bails, along with Slick.
Thoughts: Not really feeling the Reed/Graham feud, especially when Graham can barely walk.
Gene Okerlund runs down tonight's card for the Madison Square Garden. We then get a clip of Ricky Steamboat, who will be facing the Honky Tonk Man in a Lumberjack Match for the Intercontinental Title. Generic promo from Steamboat as he runs down Honky.
Jesse Ventura is with Mr. Fuji and tells him that he is out of the running to manage Bam Bam Bigelow. That leaves just Slick and Bobby Heenan left in the running.
Jim Powers & Paul Roma vs. Kamala & Sika w/ Mr. Fuji & Kimchee
Roma uses his speed to elude Kamala. Powers tags and gets caught by Sika but dodges a charging Kamala then hammers away. Powers & Roma maintain control with a few double-team moves until Sika chops down Roma. Kamala is hammering away then the match breaks down as Powers & Roma take Sika over the top rope with a double dropkick. Kamala charges as they move out of the way as the crowd is going nuts. The referee counts to then as Roma & Powers win the match by countout (4:06). After the match, Kamala & Sika attack the winners as Roma ends up getting splashed by Kamala.
Thoughts: Roma & Powers get another win over a name team but once again end up getting tehir asses kicked as a result. They were at least trending in the right direction.
Okerlund is with Randy Savage, who will be facing Kamala at the September 13th show at the Nassau Coliseum. Savage cuts a wacky promo about how he will win. By facing monster heels, it was getting clearer that Savage was turning face.
Rick Derringer hypes the "Piledriver" album and puts over Mean Gene Okerlund as a rock star for singing "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo."
Mike Richards & Jerry Allen vs. The Islanders w/ Bobby Heenan
The Islanders destroy their opponents to start. They toss Allen to the floor then beat on Richards until getting the win with a double jumping headbutt (0:53).
Thoughts: Dominant performance by the Islanders, who were a great heel team in 1987. Once Tama gained a lot of weight and stopped caring in general, they stunk but at this point, they were awesome.
Craig DeGeorge is in the locker room with Rick Martel and Tito Santana. They are not impressed by the Islanders as Santana tells us they will be "striking with force" as Martel loves that and adds how it will be "lightning force" as the Strike Force team is born.
A plug for the WWF Action Line, where you can call and learn about the WWF.
Killer Khan w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Billy Beauman
Khan beats the piss out of Beauman to start. He hits a thrust kick as Vince and Jesse talk about how Slick and Heenan are the two managers left in the running for Bam Bam. Khan then sprays mist into the face of Bowman then climbs up top and gets the win with a knee drop (1:38).
Thoughts: Same as every other Khan squash match.
Craig DeGeorge is with Bobby Heenan, who promises that Paul Orndorff is glad to have Rick Rude as part of the Heenan family and will even admit how Rude has the better body. Orndorff comes out and asks Heenan if he really wants to know how he feels as Orndorff proceeds to remove his robe and says that Rude does not have the body then tells Heenan that he is sick and tired of lying for him and to the people. Orndorff tells Heenan he has created nothing but misery for himself as he fires Heenan as his manager. Heenan tries to plead with Orndorff but that goes nowhere. Orndorff then introduces his new manager, Oliver Humperdink. They walk off as Heenan is in disbelief. They have had Orndorff turn on Heenan for the second time in two years although this one was done seemingly out of the blue and had far less impact.
An engineer for the "Piledriver" album tells us that this will be a masterpiece while putting over its production values. Lots of plugs for this album.
Chris Curtis vs. Koko B. Ware
Jesse cracks a lot of jokes about Koko, even asking him if Our Gang was performing his backup vocals. Curtis attacks Koko to start but that fails. Koko hits a fist drop off of the top rope then gets the win with the Ghostbuster as Danny Davis is shown in an insert promo threatening Frankie (0:34). After the match, Koko brings Frankie into the ring and puts him on Curtis.
Thoughts: Koko getting the push for singing the lead track on the piledriver album.
Next week in action will be Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, One Man Gang, Strike Force, and Demolition.
Final Thoughts: A lot of stuff went on here but not all of it was good. Graham had no business wrestling at this point and that along with a second Orndorff face turn all seemed like old hat. The formation of Strike Force was historical but most of this show was filled with older guys and plugs for the Piledriver album.
Here is my schedule for the next several days:
Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 8/23/87
Thursday: Highspots Shoot Interview with Brickhouse Brown
Friday: WWF Sam Houston Coliseum 8/28/87 (Paul Boesch Retirement Show)
Saturday: Brickhouse TV: Season 1, Episode 1
Sunday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 8/29/87
From the Dane County Expo Center in Madison, WI
Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Vince McMahon
In action this week will be Ken Patera, Butch Reed, Kamala & Sika, and the Islanders. Plus, more on the Battle for Bam Bam and Bobby Heenan will bring out Paul Orndorff.
Before the show we see Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, wearing a WWF hat and looking like a complete goof, shaking the hand of Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster tells him he is the toughest governor.
Tom Stone vs. Ken Patera
Patera knocks Stone down to start. He then hits an atomic drop before sending him over the top rope with a clothesline. Patera brings him back in and slams him but in the process injured his arm so he takes Stone down with a snapmare then gets the win with an elbow drop (2:00).
Thoughts: This match sidelined Patera for a couple of months and he was no longer booked to be a threat after that, which was fine at this point in his career.
WWF Update with Craig DeGeorge. This week's subject is the split between Don Muraco and Bob Orton. We see a clip of their brawl then comments from both as Muraco tells us that he will no longer have any managers or partners as he will face on all comers. They are making it a bit more clear that Muraco is a face as a result of the split but these two were washed up and treated as afterthoughts prior to the breakup.
We get a clip of Slick telling us he has recorded the song "Jive Soul Bro" for the Piledriver album.
"The Natural" Butch Reed w/ Slick vs. Jim Evans
Reed roughs up Evans as we get an insert promo from Superstar Billy Graham telling Reed he will be coming after him. Reed then tosses Evans to the floor then brings him back inside where he gets the win with a press slam (2:35). After the match, Reed calls out Graham, who makes his way to the ring. Reed tries to attack Graham but loses that battle as he bails, along with Slick.
Thoughts: Not really feeling the Reed/Graham feud, especially when Graham can barely walk.
Gene Okerlund runs down tonight's card for the Madison Square Garden. We then get a clip of Ricky Steamboat, who will be facing the Honky Tonk Man in a Lumberjack Match for the Intercontinental Title. Generic promo from Steamboat as he runs down Honky.
Jesse Ventura is with Mr. Fuji and tells him that he is out of the running to manage Bam Bam Bigelow. That leaves just Slick and Bobby Heenan left in the running.
Jim Powers & Paul Roma vs. Kamala & Sika w/ Mr. Fuji & Kimchee
Roma uses his speed to elude Kamala. Powers tags and gets caught by Sika but dodges a charging Kamala then hammers away. Powers & Roma maintain control with a few double-team moves until Sika chops down Roma. Kamala is hammering away then the match breaks down as Powers & Roma take Sika over the top rope with a double dropkick. Kamala charges as they move out of the way as the crowd is going nuts. The referee counts to then as Roma & Powers win the match by countout (4:06). After the match, Kamala & Sika attack the winners as Roma ends up getting splashed by Kamala.
Thoughts: Roma & Powers get another win over a name team but once again end up getting tehir asses kicked as a result. They were at least trending in the right direction.
Okerlund is with Randy Savage, who will be facing Kamala at the September 13th show at the Nassau Coliseum. Savage cuts a wacky promo about how he will win. By facing monster heels, it was getting clearer that Savage was turning face.
Rick Derringer hypes the "Piledriver" album and puts over Mean Gene Okerlund as a rock star for singing "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo."
Mike Richards & Jerry Allen vs. The Islanders w/ Bobby Heenan
The Islanders destroy their opponents to start. They toss Allen to the floor then beat on Richards until getting the win with a double jumping headbutt (0:53).
Thoughts: Dominant performance by the Islanders, who were a great heel team in 1987. Once Tama gained a lot of weight and stopped caring in general, they stunk but at this point, they were awesome.
Craig DeGeorge is in the locker room with Rick Martel and Tito Santana. They are not impressed by the Islanders as Santana tells us they will be "striking with force" as Martel loves that and adds how it will be "lightning force" as the Strike Force team is born.
A plug for the WWF Action Line, where you can call and learn about the WWF.
Killer Khan w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Billy Beauman
Khan beats the piss out of Beauman to start. He hits a thrust kick as Vince and Jesse talk about how Slick and Heenan are the two managers left in the running for Bam Bam. Khan then sprays mist into the face of Bowman then climbs up top and gets the win with a knee drop (1:38).
Thoughts: Same as every other Khan squash match.
Craig DeGeorge is with Bobby Heenan, who promises that Paul Orndorff is glad to have Rick Rude as part of the Heenan family and will even admit how Rude has the better body. Orndorff comes out and asks Heenan if he really wants to know how he feels as Orndorff proceeds to remove his robe and says that Rude does not have the body then tells Heenan that he is sick and tired of lying for him and to the people. Orndorff tells Heenan he has created nothing but misery for himself as he fires Heenan as his manager. Heenan tries to plead with Orndorff but that goes nowhere. Orndorff then introduces his new manager, Oliver Humperdink. They walk off as Heenan is in disbelief. They have had Orndorff turn on Heenan for the second time in two years although this one was done seemingly out of the blue and had far less impact.
An engineer for the "Piledriver" album tells us that this will be a masterpiece while putting over its production values. Lots of plugs for this album.
Chris Curtis vs. Koko B. Ware
Jesse cracks a lot of jokes about Koko, even asking him if Our Gang was performing his backup vocals. Curtis attacks Koko to start but that fails. Koko hits a fist drop off of the top rope then gets the win with the Ghostbuster as Danny Davis is shown in an insert promo threatening Frankie (0:34). After the match, Koko brings Frankie into the ring and puts him on Curtis.
Thoughts: Koko getting the push for singing the lead track on the piledriver album.
Next week in action will be Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, One Man Gang, Strike Force, and Demolition.
Final Thoughts: A lot of stuff went on here but not all of it was good. Graham had no business wrestling at this point and that along with a second Orndorff face turn all seemed like old hat. The formation of Strike Force was historical but most of this show was filled with older guys and plugs for the Piledriver album.
Here is my schedule for the next several days:
Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 8/23/87
Thursday: Highspots Shoot Interview with Brickhouse Brown
Friday: WWF Sam Houston Coliseum 8/28/87 (Paul Boesch Retirement Show)
Saturday: Brickhouse TV: Season 1, Episode 1
Sunday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 8/29/87
Ordorff going heel-face-heel-face like that was being Big Show before being Big Show was cool.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Humperdink showed up *before* Bigelow. Was this his introduction?!? Talk about no fanfare!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, he debuted out of the blue here and was barely even shown on screen for this.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how quickly the 81-86 generation just gets phased out as major players.
ReplyDeleteThey became lower card guys overnight.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lesson I wish they'd keep doing now. All the guys that showed up and filled the upper-midcard from the Punk Generation (07-11) need to just be either de-emphasized or cleared out. We're on I think nine years of Cody Rhodes, Kofi and Dolph. Time to clear room for a new generation of midcard to uppermidcard guys.
ReplyDeleteThose guys from the 80's all put over the newer guys coming in like Rude, DiBiase, Bam Bam, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd by 92, the whole Dibiase/Warrior/Honky/Rude generation was gone too.
ReplyDeleteI re-read this to even find where he was.
ReplyDeleteThe need to clear out the guys from the late 90s first.
ReplyDeleteAnd joined WCW as a face, left came back as a heel, than turned face right before his retirement.
ReplyDelete