WWF Prime Time Wrestling (June 16, 1986)

Original Airdate: June 16, 1986

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan from the studio

Bret Hart v Sivi Afi: From Boston Massachusetts on May 24 1986. Interestingly, Bret is doing what Razor Ramon would come to be known for (threatening the ring attendant should he lose his stuff - glasses in this case), which is especially funny considering he’d soon become known for giving them away. Posturing to start, and Hart takes control, grounding Sivi in a side-headlock. Afi escapes, and wins a criss cross with a cradle for two, so Bret bails to regroup. Inside, Bret tries criss crossing with him again, but Sivi gets the better of it with a bodypress for two, and he takes it to the mat with a wristlock. Hart counters to a chinlock, but Sivi forces a criss cross, so Bret drops him with an inverted atomic drop. Hart puts the boots to him from there, and a snapmare sets up a pointed elbowdrop, followed by a legdrop for two. Back to the chinlock, bit Afi isn’t having it, so Bret pounds him in the corner instead. He dumps Sivi to the outside, bit Afi comes back with a slingshot sunset flip for two, but Bret cuts him off with an elbowdrop for two. Backbreaker gets two, but a series of turnbuckle smashes only serve to rattle Afi up, and he makes a comeback. Headbutt drop gets Sivi two, so Bret tries a dropkick, but Afi dodges. Sivi goes up with a flying bodypress, but Hart rolls through at 10:56. This was nothing special, but solid. Hart could sleepwalk through a watchable bout. * ¼ 

Jim Neidhart v Lanny Poffo: From Boston Massachusetts on May 24 1986. Neidhart takes offense to Poffo’s poem, and attacks. He hammers on Lanny early on, which goes on for quite a while. I generally like Neidhart, but man, he had nothing on offense at this point. It’s just punch, punch, punch. I mean, and kick. Can’t forget that nugget. Poffo randomly makes a comeback, and a dropkick finds the mark to set up mounted punches. Bodyslam sets up a flying moonsault for two, and another bodyslam sets up a flying somersault senton splash, but Neidhart dodges. That allows Anvil a 2nd rope fistdrop for the pin at 5:26. This was really boring before picking up in the final few minutes when Poffo started busting out the cool dives. ¼*

Ken Resnick catches up with WWF Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs, and boy, Davey Boy Smith was not a good talker, like, at all at this point. He was never a world class promo, but this was almost embarrassingly bad for an international level star. Not much here, Ken runs down the various teams in the WWF, and the Bulldogs give their thoughts on them as potential challengers

On Tuesday Night Titans, host Gene Okerlund had guest Junkyard Dog on, and we get a literal dog show. Was this supposed to be Vince’s way of making a case to the network not to preempt him for the dog show every year? Either way, this was a terrible segment

Tony Garea v Iron Mike Sharpe: From Boston Massachusetts on May 24 1986. Eww. I think I’d rather watch more of the dog show. They were putting this on TV, and still managed to stay in business. Imagine that! Feeling out process to start, dominated by Tony. Garea with a rollup for two, and he goes to a headlock, but Sharpe counters to a headscissors. Into the corner, where Sharpe reneges on a clean break, and hammers him. Sharpe snaps his throat across the top rope, and he goes to work. Piledriver, but Garea counters with a backdrop, and hooks a small package for two. Tony makes a comeback, but runs into a knee on a corner charge, and Sharpe delivers a facebuster. Tony comes back with an atomic drop, but Sharpe is in the ropes, so no count. Mike gets tied up in the ropes, allowing Tony to unload, and he hooks an abdominal stretch. Sharpe dumps him to the apron to escape, but Garea comes back at him with a slingshot sunset flip for two. Bodypress gets him another two, but Mike blocks a rollup, and cradles at 12:35. Okay, this actually wasn’t bad at all. * ¾

Resnick catches up with Hoss Funk, who isn’t very happy with Junkyard Dog. Yeah, get in line, Hoss 

Hercules Hernandez v Scott McGhee: From Boston Massachusetts on May 24 1986. Hercules dropping the last name was the right move for this gimmick. Hercules works a standing side-headlock early on, so Scott tries whipping him into the ropes, but Hercules barrels into him with a shoulderblock. Again, so Hercules tries the same trick, but Scott dodges him this time, and manages a pair of armdrags. Pair of dropkicks put Hercules on the outside, and he regroups out there to break the momentum. That strategy serves Hercules well, and he delivers a side suplex on the way back in, then pounds on McGhee for a while. Clothesline sets up an elbowdrop for two, so Hercules roughly drops him across the top rope, and then puts the boots to him until Scotty rolls out of the ring. Hercules dives after him with an axehandle from the apron, but Scott beats the count, so Hercules decks him. Vertical suplex, but McGhee reverses, and capitalizes with an elbowdrop. Belly-to-belly suplex sets up a flying kneedrop for two, but Hercules reverses a cross corner whip, and catches McGhee in a backbreaker on the rebound for the pin at 8:04. Both guys were showing good energy here. **

$15,000 Bodyslam Challenge Handicap Match: Big John Studd v Jim Powers and Rick Hunter: From Championship Wrestling on June 14 1986 (taped June 3) in Poughkeepsie New York. King Tonga shows up before the bell, and he wants to take Studd up on the challenge, but Bobby Heenan sends him packing. Powers and Hunter take turns trying for the slam, but get nowhere, so they try doing it together, but now they’ve angered the giant. Studd knocks them around, and Hunter eats the pin at 2:15. Afterwards, Tonga returns, and scoops Studd up in a bodyslam (with ease, too), but no cash for him, since he wasn’t an official challenger. ¼*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Davey Boy Smith, Pedro Morales, Dan Spivey v Johnny V and The Dream Team: From Boston Massachusetts on May 24 1986. Pedro starts with Greg Valentine, as the announcers talk about how ‘unusual’ it is to see a six-man tag that isn’t booked for multiple falls. That was certainly a trope that didn’t last long beyond this point. Pedro dominates him, and it’s over to Danny. Spivey wins a slugfest, and a cross corner whip leads to a backdrop for two. Tag to Bulldog, and Smith takes it to the mat in an armbar. Is this the first time Greg’s even worn purple? It’s a weird look on him. The babyfaces take turns working Greg over, but Brutus Beefcake manages to catch a tag, and he puts Davey in a front-facelock. Into the heel corner for a triple team, and the heels go to work on Davey Boy. Greg gets a figure four on, but Pedro makes the save, and Spivey gets the hot tag. He unloads on Johnny, and Roseanne Barr the door! Dan hits Johnnywith a bulldog, but Valentine saves at two, so Smith slugs it out with the Hammer. That allows Johnny to get a weapon, but Pedro clobbers him before he can use it, and Spivey scores the pin at 11:38. This had more star power than pretty much anything else tonight, but the match was pretty dull. ¾*

BUExperience: I enjoyed this episode. The matches weren’t top level stuff, but they weren’t all uniformly terrible, either. Plus Monsoon and Heenan are fun together (hardly news), making for an easy watch.