WWF at Maple Leaf Gardens (July 24, 1988)

Original Airdate: July 24, 1988

From Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Sean Mooney

Opening Match: Terry Taylor v Scott Casey: Extremely early in Taylor’s WWF run here, and I don’t think he’d even debuted on TV yet at this point (though he had taped some stuff for TV earlier in the month). Terry shakes off some offense, and delivers a chincrusher for two. Taylor goes to the mat with a side-headlock, but Scott reverses. Taylor counters to a headscissors hold, but Casey counters back to the headlock, as Gorilla does his usual reminiscing about Toronto. Criss cross allows Taylor a clothesline, and he takes control of things. Casey fights back with a sunset flip for two, but Taylor cuts off the potential comeback, and delivers an elbowdrop for two. Terry works a chinlock, but Scott fights into a cradle for two, so Taylor pounds him into the corner to cut him off again. Corner charge, but Casey blocks, and covers for two. Taylor dumps him into the corner to buy some time, and a sleeper looks to put it away, but Casey drops down with a jawbreaker. Taylor tries a sunset flip, but Scott blocks, and delivers an earringer. Casey goes on the comeback trail, and a clothesline gets him two. Another one finds the mark for another two, but a high knee in the corner misses, and Terry capitalizes by pouncing on the leg. Sharpshooter follows, and Casey quits at 12:08. This was really dull, but not poorly worked. *

Haku v SD Jones: Haku attacks right at the bell, and pounds Jones down in brutal fashion. Jones fights back with a pair of bodyslams and an armdrag, and Haku wisely bails to break the momentum. He takes his time coming back in, and then stalls Jones out some more once inside, frustrating SD. It backfires when Jones takes him down again, and Haku hides in the ropes to avoid more punishment. Jones blasts him with a shoulderblock, but Haku doesn’t go down, and delivers an inverted atomic drop. Haku throws a dropkick and grabs a nervehold, but Jones is fighting, so Haku dumps him to the outside for some abuse on the floor. Back in, Haku headbutts him for two, and goes back to the nervehold. Jones fights out again, but Haku is in no mood, and just feeds him a superkick at 10:01. ¾*

Greg Valentine v Don Muraco: In 1988? Don comes in hot, unloading on the Hammer, but Greg blocks him from taking the brace off of the leg. Valentine bails to the outside to break the momentum, but Don keeps on him as he comes back inside, and then dumps him right back to the outside so he can bash Greg’s arm into the guardrail. Don sends the arm into the post next, then smashes it into the announce table for good measure. Inside, Don goes to work on the part, as Valentine sells up a storm. Greg finally manages to take him down in between arm abuse, and he bashes Muraco’s leg into the post to turn the tide. Hammer with a flying axehandle to make sure Don’s knocked loopy, and Greg goes to work on the leg. Figure four looks to finish, but Don counters with a cradle for two. Both guys get vertical for a slugfest, and Don goes to a bodyslam to try and turn the tide, but Valentine topples him for two. Valentine goes for a dive to try and put this away, but Muraco blocks, and delivers a piledriver. That allows him a splash, but Valentine lifts his knees to block, and covers, but Muraco’s in the ropes. Greg pounds the leg to set up another go at the figure four, but Don blocks again. Greg responds with a high knee, and he starts throwing chops, but Muraco starts no-selling. Greg tries elbowsmashes, but Don is feeling his oats now, and he makes a comeback. Tombstone looks to finish, but the referee gets bumped in the process, and there’s no one to count. Don goes to revive the official, so Greg pops his brace off, and blasts Muraco in the head for the pin at 13:53. Another one where maybe I didn’t find it terribly exciting, but the work was solid. It got undeniably good in the second half of things, though. ** ¼ 

WWF Title Match: Randy Savage v Ted DiBiase: Macho charges in and attacks before the bell, and he nails Ted with the title belt. Kneelift sends DiBiase to the outside, so Virgil rushes over to help him up, but Macho is on them, bashing their heads together. Randy with a flying axehandle on the way back inside, but a charge misses, and Savage crashes into the corner. Ted tries turnbuckle smashes, but Randy reverses, and throws jabs. Corner whip follows, but Ted blocks the follow-up charge, and tosses Macho over the top. Virgil is right there for a cheap shot, and Ted is ready with a blatant choke after his servant rolls the champion back inside for him. Macho tries bailing, but Virgil is on him again, and Ted dives with a 2nd rope elbowsmash for two. DiBiase with a clothesline to set up a fistdrop, and a backbreaker gets him two. Macho fights back with right hands, but Ted quickly cuts him off, and dives off the middle with an axehandle for two. Vertical suplex, but Randy reverses, and wins a slugfest from there. Criss cross allows him a bodypress for two, but he runs into a clothesline as he pops up. Savage tries a high knee to avoid losing control, but DiBiase sidesteps, and Randy runs his knee right into the turnbuckle. DiBiase capitalizes with a spinning toehold, but Savage shoves him over the top to escape. Ted hustles to the top with a flying axehandle to try and keep control, but Randy blocks, and manages a comeback. Randy does a great job of selling the leg while running wild. Macho with a flying axehandle to set up the flying elbowdrop, but Virgil is on the apron, and Randy gets distracted. That allows Ted a sneak attack, but Savage dodges, and DiBiase collides with Virgil. Schoolboy gets the champion two, but Ted fights him off, and gets the Million Dollar Dream on! Savage makes the ropes, so Virgil blasts him with a chair, and Ted makes the cover for a dramatic two. DiBiase stays on him with a bodyslam, but Randy counters with a cradle, so Virgil dives in for the DQ at 12:21. This was basically the same match they’d have at WrestleFest a week later, and like that one, this was really fun. ** ¾ 

Terry Taylor v Richard Charland: Taylor is subbing for Hercules here, which is why he’s working double duty. I’m not too familiar with Charland, but he was an enhancement guy that they used for years whenever they’d run cards in Canada. He rarely made it to TV, though, so not the most well known of jobbers. Taylor with a sharpshooter at 5:47. Just an extended squash. ½*

The Powers of Pain v The Bolsheviks: The Powers had just debuted on TV a week before this, and this is less than a month into their run. They do the Road Warriors entrance where they run in and just wreck anything that moves, and the dust settles on Barbarian and Nikolai Volkoff. Volkoff can’t match power with Barbarian, so he passes to Boris Zhukov, but that doesn’t go well for old Boris. Warlord tags in for a test-of-strength with Nikolai, which he easily dominates, so Boris dives off the middle with an axehandle. That allows Volkoff to turn it around, but a second cheap shot backfires, and Barbarian tags in for a double team on Boris. They take turns working wristlocks on him, and holy crap, Warlord is jacked up. How did he not get a big run at some point? You’d think Vince McMahon wouldn’t be able to resist heating him up for a run against Hogan or Warrior at some point. Actually, properly building him up as Warrior’s first challenger in 1990 (instead of Rick Rude) might have worked better. A heel cheap shot allows them to get control of Barbarian, and they cut the ring in half on him. Barbarian fights off a double team long enough for the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! Barbarian with a flying clothesline on Boris at 11:39. This should have been a sprint, with the Powers gobbling them up. Despite that, Gorilla still notes that they made ‘quick work’ of the heels. Even if I was fast forwarding, twelve minutes is hardly ‘quick work,’ you bullshit artist. ¾*

Main Event: Six-Man Tag Team Match: Demolition and Mr. Fuji v Ultimate Warrior and The British Bulldogs: Fuji and Dynamite Kid start, and you can guess who dominates that one. Fuji tags out to Ax following a bodyslam, and Ax has a bit better luck, pounding Kid down with axehandles. Kid fights back with a wristlock before tagging Warrior, and he’s like a caged animal. Ax tries a headlock, but Warrior immediately escapes, and they do some posturing from there. Over to Smash to try pounding Warrior into the corner, but a cross corner whip backfires when Warrior rebounds out with a clothesline. Warrior with a series of chops ahead of a tag to Davey Boy Smith, and Bulldog uses a headscissors takedown into an armbar. Smash tries escaping, so Davey bodyslams him, but Ax puts the hurt on Smith in the heel corner. The heels triple team Smith, until Fuji misses a flying headbutt drop, and Warrior gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! The heels try dumping Warrior over the top so they can gang up on Kid, but Warrior comes back in with a flying axehandle on Smash at 7:35. Fun, though not good. *

BUExperience: There was nothing bad here, but other than the Savage/DiBiase match (and maybe the Valentine/Muraco one) there’s nothing of note either.

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