WWF Prime Time Wrestling (July 28, 1986)

Original Airdate: July 28, 1986

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan from the studio

Tony Garea v Harley Race: From New York City on July 12 1986. Race attacks from behind to kick start the match, and dumps Garea to the outside for a few smashes into the announce table. He leaves Garea out there to eat the count, but Tony beats it in, so Race tries a slam. Garea looks for a counter, but Race blocks, and uses a muscle buster to finish at 2:05. Garea looked really slow and out of shape here, but Race was showing some fire. DUD

Pedro Morales v Iron Mike Sharpe: From New York City on July 12 1986. Pedro dumps him over the top almost right away, so Mike comes back in looking for a headlock, but Morales shakes him off, and tosses him over the top again! Mike comes back in and dumps Morales out to get some payback, and Sharpe bootchokes him as Pedro tries climbing back inside. That just makes Pedro mad, and he chases Mike to the outside for a smash into the announce table, then one into the turnbuckle on the way back inside. Morales with a cross corner whip, but the charge in misses. That allows Mike to try a clothesline, but Morales ducks, and hooks a small package at 5:54. This was beyond basic, but managed to be engaging nonetheless. ¼*

Ken Resnick catches up with Junkyard Dog, who seems to be auditioning to replace Mr. T

Recently, Paul Orndorff stopped by the Flower Shop to introduce Bobby Heenan as his new manager. Adrian Adonis using a bouquet of flowers as a microphone is a tremendous touch

Speaking of flower shops, Gene Okerlund recently accompanied Adrian Adonis and Jimmy Hart to ‘Mr. Bruce’s’ flower shop, where they serve up lots and lots of gay jokes

Velvet McIntyre v Penny Mitchell: From Poughkeepsie New York on June 24 1986. Velvet with a takedown into an armbar right away, but Penny complains of a hairpull, and the referee forces a break. McIntyre stays focused and wins a reversal sequence, but Penny gets into the ropes after Velvet applies another armbar. Mitchell pops her with a punch to grab control, and a backelbow gets her two. Penny does some hairpulling (of the actual kind, not the nonexistent kind she accused McIntyre of earlier), so Velvet tries a bodypress, but Penny dodges. Penny with a gourdbuster for two, and a ropechoke follows. McIntyre tries a flash pin with a somersault cradle, but it only gets two, and Penny snapmares her to set up a kneedrop for two. Legdrop misses, however, allowing McIntyre to make a comeback! Victory cradle gets her two, and a backelbow sets up a giant swing. Splash, but Mitchell rolls out of the way. McIntyre tries a springboard bodypress to keep control, but Penny dodges that as well, so McIntyre uses a bridging cradle for two. Dropkick gets another two, so Penny goes to the eyes to buy time. That allows Penny to try a bodyslam, but McIntyre topples her for two, and hooks a victory roll at 8:10. They were having a real match here, and it’s interesting how modern it felt in the sense that this is basically what the men’s style has evolved into about fifteen years later. ** ¾

Resnick catches up with Freddie Blassie, who is apparently in a contest with Bobby Heenan to see who can pull off the biggest pinky ring possible   

King Kong Bundy v Swede Hanson: From NYC on April 22 1985. Interestingly, this one had already aired on Prime Time before this, back on May 7 1985. Hanson is looking really old and broken down by this point, and he’d hang it up before the year was out, not surprisingly. Hanson works a standing headlock early on, but Bundy goes to the eyes, and hammers him down. Bundy plods along, until Hanson randomly starts no-selling, and makes a comeback. Bundy reverses a corner whip, however, and he follows in with the avalanche at 4:27. It’s odd that they featured this, not only because it had already aired prior, but because Jimmy Hart was still Bundy’s manager when this was taped, and his association with Heenan was such a big part of the storyline when this aired again. DUD

Lanny Poffo and George Wells v Rusty Brooks and Johnny K9: From All American Wrestling on February 23 1986 (taped February 18) in Poughkeepsie. Lanny starts with Rusty, and uses his speed to offset Brooks’ fat. Poffo gets into trouble in the heel corner, however, and they double team. Johnny misses a legdrop, allowing Lanny to dump him to the outside for a dive, and he passes to George on the way back in. Wells with a bodyslam for two, but he also gets trapped in the heel corner, and the tide turns. They try to work him over, but can’t properly cut the ring in half, and George nails Johnny with a jumping shoulderblock at 3:49. This didn’t have a lot of direction. ½*

Bret Hart v Ricky Steamboat: From Boston Massachusetts on March 8 1986. Joined in progress here, with Steamboat reversing a hiptoss, and grabbing an armbar. Looks like we’re joining in very early, as neither guy has really broken a sweat. But, even so, would it kill them to give us the full version of the one match that actually might be a classic on paper? Bret escapes, and tries a side suplex, but Steamboat lands on his feet, and superkicks him. Backdrop, but Hart counters with a swinging neckbreaker, then adds a legdrop. Steamboat does some great selling as Hart works the midsection, and the Dragon ends up on the outside. Did Bret ever wear that black/yellow combo besides here? I don’t recall ever seeing it, but it definitely works for this specific arena. Hart with a vertical suplex for two, and he grounds the Dragon in a side-headlock. Ricky fights to a vertical base and tries a bodyslam, but Bret topples him for two. Backbreaker, but Steamboat counters back to the bodyslam. He looks to add a splash, but Bret gets his knees up to block, and he puts the boots to the Dragon. Hart dumps him to the outside for a bodyslam on the floor, and another one gets two when Steamboat beats the count back in. Backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope elbowdrop, but Ricky rolls out of the way, and blasts him with a knife-edge chop for two. Side suplex follows for two, and a fistdrop is worth two. Steamboat unloads in the corner, but the referee gets bumped on a corner whip reversal, and Hart delivers a hangmans clothesline. Cover, but there’s no referee. Hart stays focused with a bodypress, but Ricky manages to roll through for the pin at 10:08 shown of 15:08. I feel comfortable enough to rate this, even with the first five minutes cut out. It’s solid, but hardly a classic, and though I understand Bret was disappointed when they cut this match from WrestleMania 2, I think he actually had a more memorable moment/bigger impact with his role in the battle royal than he would have with this one. * ¾ 

Cage Match: Randy Savage and Adrian Adonis v Bruno Sammartino and Tito Santana: From New York City on July 12 1986. The heels attack as Bruno and Tito are climbing into the cage, and off we go! Bruno makes a comeback and goes nuts on Savage, until Randy tries escaping out the door just to get away from the beating, but Bruno won’t allow it. Bruno whips him into a tree of woe in the corner, and continues to unload, as Adonis and Santana basically just dick around in the background. Adrian suplexes Tito and tries to climb out, but Bruno puts a stop to that, allowing Macho to go for the door again, but Tito manages to cut him off. Bruno crotches Adonis on the top rope to buy himself the time to going back to destroying Savage, but Adrian saves, and Randy feeds Tito the cage to draw blood. Savage dives at Tito with a flying axehandle, but Bruno gets fired up, and starts wrecking bodies. Savage tries another flying axehandle, but Tito blocks him this time, and sends Macho flying into the cage to draw blood. Savage’s bladejob there was pretty freewheeling. Adonis tries a flying splash off the top of the cage, but Bruno dodges. Randy climbs the cage, so Tito knocks him off, and Savage goes crashing down into Adonis. That allows both babyfaces to escape at 10:46. This was really fun, even if not a technical masterpiece by any means. * ½ 

BUExperience: A fun episode this week, with two really big matches (one at the time, one historically), and a good women’s match underneath.