WWF at Philadelphia Spectrum (February 6, 1988)

Original Airdate: February 6, 1988

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Dick Graham and Lord Alfred Hayes

Opening Match: Lanny Poffo v Terry Gibbs: They trade armbars to start, and a criss cross ends in Poffo armdragging him into another armbar. Gibbs manages a bodyslam to escape, but an elbowdrop misses, and Lanny goes back to the hold. From a distance, Gibbs looks like Ted DiBiase out there. Gibbs escapes the hold again, and a shoulderblock allows him a kneedrop, but Poffo reverses a turnbuckle smash, and goes back to the armbar. Gibbs throws a knee to escape, but gets hiptossed while looking for a follow up, and Lanny takes it to the mat in another armbar. Gibbs throws a knee again, and this time dumps Lanny to the outside to buy himself some time. That allows him to recover long enough to fight off Poffo’s next attack, as the announcers note that Lanny is “not what you’d call a flamboyant wrestler.” Who would then? Inside, Gibbs with a backbreaker for two, and he stays on the part with a bearhug. Lanny manages a hiptoss to escape, and a somersault senton splash connects, but damages Poffo as well. That allows Gibbs a neckbreaker for two, but a turnbuckle smash gets reversed again, and Poffo makes a comeback. Dropkick gets him two, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. That allows Gibbs to go upstairs, but Lanny slams him off, and a bodyslam sets up a flying moonsault at 8:59. Extremely basic, but completely competent, and told a story. * ½ 

George Steele v One Man Gang: Steele attacks before the bell, and hammers Gang until the big man falls out of the ring. Gang loses his jacket in the process, so George gives the garment an elbowdrop, like Ric Flair in 1998. Lots of stalling from Gang, until Slick can distract Steele, and Gang jumps him. Gang hammers on the Animal, until Steele ends up on the outside, and he stupidly goes after Slick again, allowing Gang to attack. Gang nails him with the ring bell, but a clothesline on the way back in gets blocked with a bite. George backdrops him over the top (in the weakest manner imaginable), but gets distracted by Slick yet again, and Gang squashes him at 4:35. This was really slow and loose. -¼*

Ricky Steamboat v Dino Bravo: Posturing to start, and Bravo suckers him into a cheap shot off of a test-of-strength. He dumps Steamboat over the top, but the Dragon skins the cat, and backdrops Dino over the top. Back in, Steamboat uses a hiptoss and an armdrag to trap Bravo in an armbar, so Dino forces a big criss cross, but ends up right back in the hold. Dino fights to a vertical base, and he pounds Ricky in the corner after the break, then whips the Dragon into the ropes to set up a knife-edge chop for two. Bravo with a clothesline for two, but a second one gets countered with a crucifix for two, and Steamboat armdrags him back into an armbar. Ricky runs him into the corner, but Bravo counters a monkeyflip with an inverted atomic drop, and Dino drops him with another clothesline for two. He really likes those clotheslines. Piledriver leads to a chinlock, and he wears Steamboat down for a few two counts. Ricky manages a sunset flip for two, and a somersault cradle gets him another two. Steamboat with a swinging neckbreaker for two, and he dives with a flying tomahawk chop for two. Series of turnbuckle smashes rattle Bravo, but he’s not too rattled to try a leveraged pin - though he gets caught at two. Corner whip sends Steamboat bumping over the top, and Dino drags him back in, but they’re too slow, and we have a time limit draw at 13:11. Huh? That looked like a double countout to me. Did they get their wires crossed? Maybe they were supposed to get back in and do something else before time ran out? Or maybe it was meant to be a double countout, but the ring announcer messed up? Either way, a cheap ending to a rather boring match. ¾*

Sam Houston v Danny Davis: Davis does a bunch of stalling to start, until Houston grabs hold of him, and takes him to school in an armbar. Danny manages to sucker him into a criss cross, and he ducks to dodge a bodypress, sending Houston crashing to the outside. Davis trying to coach the referee in how to lay in the count is a great touch. Houston makes it to the apron, so Davis gives him a turnbuckle smash out there to send Sam back to the floor. Davis tries a vertical suplex back in, but Houston topples him for two, so Danny puts the boots to him, and dumps him back to the outside. Houston recovers with a slingshot sunset flip for two (with Davis arguing the count, in another nice touch), and he cuts Sam off again. Vertical suplex, but Houston reverses, and mounts a comeback. Bulldog gets two when Davis gets into the ropes, and Danny bails to regroup. Sam chases him back in for a rollup, but Davis reverses, and uses the ropes to leverage a pin at 9:18. Competent wrestling. *

Main Event: Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant v Hulk Hogan and Bam Bam Bigelow: This is the day after the Main Event, and DiBiase has the WWF Title belt, and is announced as the champion, which is pretty cool to actually see. Huge heel heat for him, too. The babyfaces rush in to kick start the match, and we have a big brawl. The dust settles on Ted and Bam Bam, and Bigelow knocks him around. Atomic drop and a clothesline connect ahead of the tag to Hulk, so Andre comes in without a tag, but Hogan cuts him off. Hulk with a cross corner clothesline on Ted, and the babyfaces pinball Ted in their corner until he flops. Mounted punches, so Andre comes in again, but Hulk fights him off once more. Hulk with a clothesline ahead of a tag back to Bigelow, and they deliver stereo big boots. Bigelow with a headbutt drop, and poor DiBiase is so battered that he tries to tag out in a neutral corner. Hulk tags in to crack him with a big chop, but he stupidly goes after Andre, and gets clobbered. Well, that was his own fault that time. Andre was just hanging out on the apron, and Hulk ran right up to him with a punch for no reason. The heels double up on the Hulkster, and they cut the ring in half. Hulk fights Ted off long enough for the tag, and Bigelow runs wild on the Million Dollar Man. Press-slam sets up a splash, but Virgil trips Bigelow up. That allows Ted to recover, and the heels double team. Ted with a clothesline to set up a dive, but Bam Bam slams him off the top, and makes the tag back to Hogan! He runs wild on Ted, and the big boot connects. That draws Andre in, but Hulk clotheslines him into the ropes, and hits Ted with the legdrop at 9:58. Ted did all the heavy lifting for his team here, and it was a really fun match, with a very hot crowd. And a clean finish! That’s always nice. ** ¾ 

The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers v Steve Lombardi and Barry Horowitz: Jacques Rougeau starts with Barry, and wins a criss cross with a monkeyflip. That draws Steve in without a tag, but Jacques takes him out, and the dust settles on Raymond Rougeau with Steve. Steve tries his own monkeyflip, but Ray blocks, so Barry runs in, but Ray hiptosses him. The Brothers continue fighting off double team efforts, until they manage to clobber Raymond, and the tide turns. The heels work Ray over, until Steve gets crotched on the top turnbuckle, and Jacques gets the tag! The Brothers set Steve up for the bearhug/flying seated senton combo, and that’s all she wrote at 9:09. This was a big cool down after the hot main event. Pretty dull, but not without any merit. ½*

Iron Mike Sharpe v Brady Boone: Really bringing the star power to Philly tonight. Boone dominates early on, but ends up in a standing headlock. Boone forces a criss cross to escape, and a bodypress connects for two, so Mike bails. Sharpe manages to pound him down on the way back inside, and he goes to work on Brady, but Boone reverses a series of turnbuckle smashes. Cross corner whip works, but the charge in doesn’t, and Mike backdrops him for two. Again, but Boone counters with a sunset flip for two, so Mike chops him back down. Another backdrop, but Boone dodges, and rolls him up for two. Takedown gets two, so Mike dumps him to the outside to buy time. Mike follows to beat him up on the outside, but a clothesline misses on the way back in, and Boone rebounds with a jumping backelbow. That allows Brady a kneelift, and he makes a comeback, so Sharpe pulls a weapon out of his tights, and pops Boone with it for the pin at 9:03. ½*

The British Bulldogs v The Islanders: Brawl to start, with the dust settles on Davey Boy Smith and Haku. Davey tries a headlock, so Haku forces a criss cross, but a rollup gets blocked on him. Tag to Dynamite Kid for a quick double team on the switch, and a criss cross ends in Haku missing a bodypress. That allows Kid to clothesline him over the top, and the Islanders regroup out there. Inside, Kid grabs him for another double team with Davey, but Smith gets railroaded into the heel corner after tagging in, and Tama tags in. Criss cross allows Smith a hiptoss, and the Bulldogs pinball Tama with headbutts in their corner. Atomic drop follows, and Kid tags in to try a headlock, but Tama forces a criss cross. He tries a monkeyflip, but Kid blocks with a headbutt drop, so Tama begs off. Kid responds with a catapult into the corner, and Tama ends up regrouping on the outside. Haku goes over to help, but the Bulldogs are on them, and we have another brawl. The dust settles on Davey and Tama, and Smith press-drops him across the top rope for two. Back to Kid, so Tama goes to the eyes, and passes to Haku. The Islanders work Kid over, until he slips away, and Davey catches the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Smith hits Haku with a hanging vertical suplex for two, and a small package gets another two. Running powerslam looks to finish, but Tama saves. That allows Haku a bodyslam, and Tama punctuates it with a flying splash, but Kid saves at two. He slugs it out with both heels, but gets worked up, and shoves the referee down for the DQ at 13:07. The heat segment was a little dull, and the finish was cheap, but it was a decent match otherwise. * ½ 

BUExperience: This version omits a WWF Women’s title match between Sensational Sherri and Rockin’ Robin.

This was not much beyond a mildly enjoyable house show, but it had a really fun tag main event, with the added historical significance of seeing Ted DiBiase as WWF Champion.

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