WWF at Maple Leaf Gardens (April 24, 1988)

Original Airdate: April 24, 1988

From Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Opening Match: Scott Casey v Iron Mike Sharpe: Mike with a bodyslam to start, as they do some posturing. Sharpe dominates with some takedowns, but Scott comes back with a bodyslam of his own, and an armdrag sends a frustrated Sharpe to the outside. Back in, Mike challenges him to a test-of-strength, and dominates it when Casey accepts. Casey turns it around, so Mike bails to the apron, but Casey is on him, so Sharpe decides to walk out on the match. He eventually opts to return, and he manages to turnbuckle smash Casey to get control. Mike unloads in the corner, and a ropechoke follows. Scott fights back with an atomic drop, and a clothesline follows. Casey delivers a piledriver to set up a fistdrop, but Mike is in the ropes at two. Backdrop, but Sharpe blocks. He tries a hiptoss, but Casey counters to a backslide for two, so Sharpe clotheslines him for two. Looked like Casey forgot to kick out there, and the referee had to stop short. Casey tries a sleeper, but Sharpe quickly shakes him off, so Casey tries a bodypress, but Mike catches him in a backbreaker. Sharpe tries an elbowdrop, but Casey dodges, and delivers a bulldog at 9:48. This was a mess. ¼*

The Killer Bees v The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers: B Brian Blair and Raymond Rougeau start, and they feel each other out. Raymond dominates, and starts working the leg, and he passes to Jacques Rougeau to continue doing so. The Brothers cut the ring in half on Blair, until Jacques telegraphs a backdrop, and gets nailed to allow the tag to Jim Brunzell. The Bees use a tandem backdrop on him, and Brunzell holds Jacques in an armbar following another combo. The Bees cut the ring in half on Jacques while working his leg, until Jacques manages a tag, and the Brothers hit Blair with a combo. Jacques hooks a Boston crab to try for the submission, but it fails. Ray with a bodyslam to set up a Boston crab/kneedrop combo with Jacques, and Jacques works a reverse chinlock from there. Ray misses an elbowdrop to allow Blair an atomic drop, but Ray comes back with one of his own. He looks to add a splash, but Blair lifts his knees to block, and Jim gets the hot tag! Brunzell runs wild on Jacques, and a sleeper looks to finish, so Raymond makes the save. Jim stays on Jacques with an atomic drop, and a dropkick gets two when Ray saves again. That draws Blair in to respond, and Roseanne Barr the door! Brunzell tries a bodyslam on Jacques, but Raymond helps his brother topple Jim, and Jacques scores the pinfall at 16:05. Competent enough, but pretty boring. ¾*

Don Muraco v Rick Rude: Heenan steps out to manage Rude, so Billy Red Lyons takes his place on commentary here, immediately bringing the quality of the show down significantly. Some posturing to start, and a big criss cross ends in Don decking him out of the ring. Rude stalls out there, so Muraco throws a kick at him from inside the ring, and Rick comes back in fuming. He manages to put Muraco in a standing side-headlock, but Don forces a criss cross, and grabs a bearhug. Rude kicks at him and goes to the eyes to try turning it around, and Rick hammers Muraco down. Rude works a ropechoke, and he takes him into the corner for a ten-punch count. Snapmare sets up a pair of kneedrops, and Rude goes upstairs for a flying fistdrop. Rick with a 2nd rope punch, but a whip into the ropes gets reversed, and Don drills him with a clothesline. Muraco adds a turnbuckle smash, and a snapmare leads to a bootrake. Another turnbuckle smash, so Heenan distracts him, and Rude capitalizes with a leveraged pin at 7:20. Not much doing here, but I’ve seen worse. Afterwards, Rude continues sexually harassing Cheryl Roberts, so Jake Roberts comes out to chase him off. ½*

Greg Valentine v Jake Roberts: Valentine is subbing for Harley Race here. Valentine works a headlock to start, and a bodyslam gets him two. Greg hammers him, so Jake tries for the DDT, but Valentine bails before Roberts can hook it. Inside, Greg works a double knucklelock into some pin attempts, so Jake goes for the DDT again, but Valentine hits the floor to shake it off. Greg suckers him into a chase and clobbers him in some good psychology, and a forearm drop gets the Hammer two. Figure four looks to finish, but Roberts uses a cradle to counter for two. Valentine swipes at the leg to keep control, and he works the part. He tries posting it, but Jake sends him flying into the guardrail to block, and Jake makes a comeback as Greg rolls back inside. DDT, but Valentine uses a backdrop to block, only to have Jake block the figure four on him anyway. Valentine responds with an elbowdrop for two, and a forearm drop is worth another two. Bodyslam, but Jake counters to the DDT at 14:03. Psychologically sound, but another super dull one. ½*

Andre the Giant v Jim Duggan: Duggan is subbing for Bam Bam Bigelow here. Andre protests the presence of the 2x4 at ringside, and refuses to get started. He stalls, and no contact is made until nearly three minutes in. Well, for Andre at this stage, that’s probably not bad. More stalling after they finally engage, and Andre powers him around a bit as they get going again. Andre works a standing bow-and-arrow, but Jim fights free, and makes a comeback. Three-point stance knocks Andre into the corner, and second one staggers him, but the big man doesn’t go down. Third one nearly does it, and the fourth time is the charm, popping the crowd big. They spill to the outside for a brawl, and Andre grabs the 2x4 to whack Duggan with out there. That allows Andre to beat the count in, but Duggan doesn’t at 9:13. The crowd was engaged, but this was really, really bad. Though, kind of par for the course for Andre at this stage. -¼*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid, and Koko B Ware v Haku, Tama, and Bobby Heenan: Koko and Bobby start, but Heenan quickly changes his mind, and passes to Tama. That leads to them measuring each other with headbutts, and tags are made to Kid and Haku. Kid wins that exchange, and Smith tags in to add a tandem clothesline. Davey works a chinlock, until Haku forces a criss cross, but Smith is ready with a bodypress for two. Tag to Kid for a headbutt drop, but that knocks Dynamite silly, in a nice touch. Kid with a snap suplex for two, and a tag to Koko allows the babyfaces a tandem backdrop for one, count broken when Heenan comes in. That distraction allows the heels to turn the tide, and they go to work on Ware. That goes on until the Bulldogs get sick of their cheating bullshit, and just come in to turn things around. Kid hits Haku with a kneedrop for two, as Koko chases Heenan to the back. Haku manages to fight Kid off with a side suplex, and it’s over to Tama to help work Kid over. Haku runs into a knee while trying a corner charge, allowing the tag to Davey, and it’s a hot one! He runs wild for a bit before passing to Koko to finish Tama off, but Heenan runs back out to shove him off the top rope, and Tama covers at 14:44. Best match of the show thus far at a whopping *

Main Event: WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Honky Tonk Man v Brutus Beefcake: Jimmy Hart is banned from ringside for this one. Stalling from Honky to start, but the champ manages to pound the arm once they engage, and he applies an armbar. Beefcake reverses, so Honky tries a punch, but Beefcake ducks, and responds with a series of them. Series of turnbuckle smashes follow, and a snapmare allows Beefcake to mess up Honky’s hair. That’s quite the high spot. Honky fights him off, as Gorilla keeps himself awake by listing off past Intercontinental champions. Hey, whatever ya gotta do, brother. Beefcake tries a sleeper, so Peggy Sue trips him up, and Honky clobbers him to keep control. He works a headvice, as Gorilla declares the crowd ‘stunned.’ That’s one way to describe ‘unconscious,’ I suppose. Beefcake escapes, so Honky charges him, but ends up tying himself in a tree of woe. That allows Brutus a comeback, so Peggy attacks again, and Beefcake gets counted out at 7:22. This was terrible. Afterwards, Peggy tries attacking again, but Brutus fights her off, and she’s revealed to be Jimmy Hart in disguise. DUD

BUExperience: This was flat out terrible for a major market house show.

DUD