WWF Prime Time Wrestling (May 19, 1986)

Original Airdate: May 19, 1986

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan in the studio

Adrian Adonis v Dan Spivey: From Toronto Ontario Canada on May 4 1986. I miss the days when different arenas were instantly recognizable, and had unique characteristics like elevated aisleways, or the hard camera placement. Spivey knocks him to the outside early on for a bodyslam on the floor, and he grabs a headlock as they head back inside. Dan sinks his teeth into the headlock for a long time, until Adonis fights free, but Dan bodyslams him again, and it’s back to the hold. Adonis escapes again and manages to turn the tide this time, and he works Dan over in dull fashion. He tosses Dan over the top, but Dan fights him off on the way back in, and makes a comeback. Backbreaker gets two, but a corner charge misses. That allows Adonis to get to the top, but Dan slams him off - only for Adonis to roll through into a cradle at 7:55. Total dishwater. ¼*  

Tiger Chung Lee v Don Kolov: From Toronto Ontario Canada on May 4 1986. I like how Lee is simply billed as “from Korea,” and Kolov as “from Bulgaria.” I’m not familiar with Kolov, but apparently he worked only a handful of matches for the WWF, and they stopped using him by the end of 1986. Kolov takes him down early, but Lee gets a toehold, and Kolov needs the ropes to free himself. Dropkick sends Tiger to the outside, and he stalls a bit out there to break the momentum. Lee hammers him after getting back inside, as Heenan suggests that Kolov become a househusband, since this wrestling thing ain’t working out. Sidekick gets Lee two, and a kneelift is worth two. Kolov tries a corner whip, but Lee quickly fights him off again, and a tombstone finishes at 5:33. More dishwater. DUD

Ken Resnick interviews Paul Orndorff, and apparently Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji are still complaining about the finish of their WrestleMania 2 match. Orndorff is terrible cutting a babyface promo here, and is a much better fit as a heel

Bret Hart v Jim Brunzell: From Toronto Ontario Canada on May 4 1986. Bret pounds him down to start, and literally kicks him out of the ring. Those are some really janky guardrails out there, wow. Brunzell sweeps Hart from the outside to allow him to crotch the Hitman on the post, and Jim slips back in to stomp the groin. Brunzell goes to work on the leg, as Heenan brushes Monsoon’s accusations of his cheating, noting that he’s got Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy - what could little Bobby possibly do to help them that they couldn’t do themselves. Hart fights him off with a snapmare to set up a pair of pointed elbowdrops, followed by a legdrop. Backbreaker gets two, and an inverted atomic drop leads to a chinlock. Brunzell tries forcing a break with an atomic drop, but Hart hangs on to the hold anyway, then dives with a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Brunzell with a sunset flip for two, and he bashes Bret with his (possibly loaded) taped up arm. Legdrop and a cross corner whip leave the Hitman looking up at the lights, and a dropkick gets Brunzell two. Hart goes to the eyes to buy time, and he drops Brunzell crotch-first across the top rope, but the referee is no fun, and calls a DQ at 9:11. This got pretty good by the end, but the finish was weak. * ½ 

Back in the studio, Heenan notes that Hart was clearly just going for an atomic drop, and it got away from him - no cause for a DQ, it was just bad officiating

Resnick catches up with Nikolai Volkoff, who appears to be doing a Bill Clinton impression. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work for the American people

Jim Neidhart v B. Brian Blair: From Toronto Ontario Canada on May 4 1986. Neidhart tries using his power advantage to start, but Blair rebuffs him with a hard right, sending the Anvil out to the ramp. Blair keeps hammering him as he comes back inside, but Neidhart is too big to cross corner whip. Anvil with a cross corner whip of his own, but a charge misses, and Blair armdrags him over for an armbar. Jimmy Hart lends a distraction to allow Neidhart an attack from behind, as Heenan makes excuses for Bundy at WrestleMania by noting that the door in the cage match was much smaller than usual. Bobby would have made an amazing defense attorney. Love the way he notes that Hulk never once used the door, even when making his entrance, because he was probably in on the con. He even gets Monsoon to admit that he has a point! Neidhart works a chinlock, as the announcers have a funny exchange about how you should only call what you see on the monitor, which I actually think has been the official party line in the WWF since forever. Brian escapes the hold and makes a comeback, but an elbowdrop misses. That allows Neidhart a three-point stance, but Blair dodges, and hooks a sunset flip at 7:17. Solid. Afterwards, Bret runs back in to help with a beatdown, but Brunzell returns to back his partner up, setting up a few tag matches between the teams on the road - though none in the Toronto area, surprisingly. Considering how often they used to come through Toronto in that period, that’s kind of surprising. *

Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Bobo Johnson and Cowboy Colt v Billy the Kid and Little John: From New York City on November 22 1976. This card had an interesting sounding Gorilla Monsoon/Stan Hansen match, which actually ended up on Prime Time in March '86, but sadly that episode is not on the Network yet. This is joined in progress with Bobo holding a headlock on John. Over to Colt and Billy, and Colt quickly scores a pin at 2:12 shown. Colt with a low blow, but John tags in, so Colt corner whips him. Again, but Bobo blocks the collision, and Roseanne Barr the door! It’s clear from hearing Vince McMahon’s enthusiasm on commentary here that he loved this sort of comedy wrestling, and he probably thought stuff like Dink was going to set the world on fire. At least Dink was fairly harmless, and almost never actually wrestled. Little John looks like a mini Nick Bockwinkel. They keep trading off without much of consequence going on, until Bobo starts running wild with multiple hip attacks, which Vince is very excited about. Hard to imagine that Vince was only 31 years old at the time. Bobo with a sunset flip on Billy at 7:47 shown. I won’t rate this since it was clipped, but the original Rocky was released in New York theaters the day before this - people should have spent their time seeing that instead

Back in the studio, Heenan complains that he doesn’t have a mascot, and suggests getting one of the little people from the previous match to act as one. Bobby’s such a generous guy. I mean, they were all probably out of work by 1986. That’s just pure kindness

Scott McGhee v Johnny K-9: From Toronto Ontario Canada on May 4 1986. These two also get the ‘country only’ introductions, and Heenan thinks McGhee sounds like “an unemployed bagpipe salesman.” But why unemployed? Was there a big downturn in the bagpipe market in 1986, or something? Just wait until Roddy Piper turns babyface, sales are going to shoot through the roof! McGhee works the arm early on, but Johnny fights him off, and rakes him across the top rope. Knee to the gut drops McGhee, and Johnny scoops him up for a bodyslam, setting up a headbutt drop for two. Johnny with a kneelift, but Scott gets sicks of him, and slugs him down. Kneedrop gets McGhee two, and a cross corner whip sends Johnny rebounding into a forearm. McGhee unloads in the corner, and a bridging German suplex finishes at 5:23. Nothing to this one. ¼*

Back in the studio, Bobby endears himself to the Scottish community

Hoss Funk and Jimmy Jack Funk v Lanny Poffo and George Wells: From Toronto Ontario Canada on May 4 1986. Jimmy and George start, and Wells hooks a sunset flip for two. Hoss runs in, but Wells bodyslams him, and Lanny runs in to add a dropkick, allowing the babyfaces to clean house. Dust settles on Hoss and Poffo, and Poffo tries working a headlock, but Hoss quickly escapes. Poffo responds with a bodypress for two, and he goes back to the headlock, but Hoss side suplexes his way out in short order. Tag to Jimmy for a bodyslam, and a kneelift follows. Another bodyslam, but Poffo counters with a rollup for two, and he passes back to George. Wells blasts Jimmy with a headbutt ahead of a chinlock, but Jimmy tags out while in the hold. Hoss outmoves Wells through a criss cross with a shoulderblock, and he goes to the mat with an armbar to take control. The Funks work George over, but he manages to get a tag to Lanny, and Poffo comes in all fired up. He bites off more than he can chew against the two Funks, however, and they go to work on their new victim. Wells gets the tag, and he runs wild on Jimmy. Jimmy tries a flying bodypress, but George catches him in a backbreaker - only to miss a corner charge, knocking himself silly on the turnbuckle. That allows Jimmy a scoop powerslam, and that’s the pin at 13:28. This was well paced, but I didn’t really get into it. * ¼ 

Back in the studio, Heenan continues his show long trend of promising to take the tag title from the British Bulldogs soon. I’ve mentioned this before, but that would have been a great program, and they should have run with it

BUExperience: Not a very good episode this week.