WWF at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (July 15, 1988)

Original Airdate: July 15, 1988

From Los Angeles, California; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, Sean Mooney, and Superstar Billy Graham

Opening Match: Big Boss Man v Scott Casey: Very early in Boss Man’s run here, as he’d only been on TV for about a month at this point. The announcers do a great job of talking about how all the gear Boss Man has on might not be legal, and the referee forces him to remove his badge under threat of disqualification. Also very early in Mooney’s run, as he’d only showed up on TV two months before this as a replacement for Craig DeGeorge. Boss Man dominates early, but Scott skins the cat to avoid getting dumped over the top, and Casey capitalizes with an armbar. Boss Man whips him into the ropes to escape, and he delivers a backbreaker to take Scott out. Boss Man hammers on the lower back, and he works a bearhug, until Casey uses his teeth to escape. Boss Man responds by dumping him to the outside, but Scott blocks an avalanche on the way back in, and Casey makes a comeback. Criss cross ends badly, however, as Boss Man catches him with a scrapbuster at 7:22. Dull stuff. DUD

The Rockers v The Conquistadors: The Rockers come out to Ultimate Warrior’s music here, for whatever reason. Well, at least it fits their gimmick. Marty Jannetty starts and delivers a bodypress for two right away, before working a mat-based side-headlock. The Rockers pepper them with some double teams to clean house, as Jesse Ventura randomly wanders out to do commentary. Couldn’t they just give us Monsoon/Ventura and be done with it? The babyfaces continue to easily dominate, until Shawn Michaels gets into trouble, and the heels work him over. Meanwhile, the announcers completely ignore the match to talk about bullshit, but at least it’s entertaining. They haven’t even tried to make a call on which Conquistador is which, however. Hot tag to Jannetty, and Roseanne Barr the door! Rockers with combos, and a flying fistdrop from Shawn allows Marty to score the pin at 14:23. This was way too long. ¾*

Andre the Giant v Jim Duggan: Andre with a bunch of stalling, refusing to engage until Hacksaw gets rid of the 2x4. It was always interesting how Andre, who is a legitimate monster, could play fear when needed (the 2x4, Jake Roberts’ snake), instead of just playing an unstoppable heel. After four minutes of stalling, Andre finally engages, and he chokes Jim for a while. Headbutt sends Duggan to the outside, and Andre with more chokes on the way back in. A chop sends Hacksaw to the outside, but he pulls himself together, and gets back in. Andre responds with a standing chinlock, and he hammers Jim in the corner, but Duggan slips away. That allows Jim to try a comeback, but Andre grabs a bearhug to cut him off. Duggan goes to the eyes to force a break, and now he’s able to mount a proper comeback. Three-point stance connects, but only knocks Andre into the corner, not down. Jim with a second one that puts the Giant down, but Duggan spends too long celebrating, and Andre blocks the pin attempt. Duggan responds with another three-point stance, but Andre uses a boot to block, and hooks a leveraged pin at 12:55. I think that may be the only time you’ll ever see Andre the Giant hook a leveraged pin. Andre was severely limited at this stage, and the match itself was terrible, but give it to them: they did their best with what they had to work with, and they never lost the crowd. -½*

Ultimate Warrior v Bobby Heenan: Heenan apparently signed an open contract that landed him here, which seems like a pretty stupid move for a guy called ‘the Brain.’ Bobby teases walking out right away, and he does a great job of selling his complete terror. He walks around holding a chair like security blanket, but Warrior drags him in. Bobby runs away again, but Warrior drags him in for a series of turnbuckle smashes, so Heenan pulls out a weapon, and jabs Warrior in the throat with it. Warrior shrugs it off pretty quickly, however, and goes back to wrecking Heenan. Sleeper finishes 7:24, leaving Bobby unconscious so Warrior can put him in a weasel suit. This was way too long for what it was. DUD

Jim Neidhart v Bad News Brown: Seeing these house shows really makes you appreciate how incredible their production was on major shows. Like, this building looks like a hole, but they really dressed it up when they ran WrestleMania VII there. Anvil attacks to kickstart the match, and he runs wild on Brown until Brown bails. He teases walking out, and Gorilla shares an interesting kayfabe rule I’ve never heard before: if you walk out, you forfeit even the loser's share of the purse. I never knew that! That’s a great detail that actually changes the way I’ve been looking at it for years. Neidhart knocks him around once they’re back inside, and Jim uses a shoulderblock for two. Bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope axehandle drop, but Brown dodges, and that’s enough to turn the tide. Brown goes to work, and a bodyslam sets up a pointed elbowdrop. A second pointed elbowdrop leads to a choke, and a legdrop gets Bad News two. Jim’s goatee is out of control here. Neidhart tries a corner whip, but Brown rebounds with a clothesline, and goes back to hammering the Anvil. Jim randomly starts no-selling and makes a comeback, but Brown sidesteps a charge, and Neidhart goes flying out. Brown follows to smash his face into a chair, but a dive off the middle misses on the way in, and Neidhart makes another comeback. Shoulderblock sends Bad News to the outside, and Jim follows to brawl. Jim goes back in first, and thinks he’s won by countout, but Brown beats it, and nails him with an enzuigiri to win at 12:44. This felt endless. Where did they find the balls to book these two for thirteen minutes? ¼*

Main Event: Rick Rude v Jake Roberts: Rude talks shit about Jake’s wife during his entrance, so Roberts runs out before his music even hits, and annihilates him. Rude bails following a stomachbreaker, and he gets to stalling. Back in, Jake goes for the DDT, so Rude hits the deck, and bails again. He suckers Roberts into a chase, and clobbers him, allowing Rick to take control on the way inside. He works a chinlock, but they end up in the ropes, so Rude switches to simply punching him in the stomach a bunch of times. Back to the chinlock, this time with the ropes for leverage, and it drags on for quite a while, to boot. Rick snaps his throat across the top rope after Jake fights out of the hold, and Rude dives with a flying fistdrop. Jake tries a sunset cradle for two, but Rude goes back to the chinlock to keep control of things. Roberts fights free, so Rude goes with rights, but Jake catches a second wind during the slugfest. Rude goes to the eyes to cut him off, and he goes upstairs, but Jake crotches him up there. Roberts makes a comeback, and it’s DDT time, but Rude holds the top rope to block. Jake responds with a short-clothesline, but Rude grabs the referee to block another try at the DDT. Roberts responds by clotheslining him over the top, and Rude takes a walk, but Roberts chases him down in the aisle. He looks to drag him back in, but Rude slips away when Jake trips, and Roberts is counted out at 17:51. As usual with these two, the match had great heat, but was boring as hell. ¾*

BUExperience: Thirteen minute Bad News Brown/Jim Neidhart match. Thirteen minute Bad News Brown/Jim Neidhart match. 

DUD