WWF at Maple Leaf Gardens (September 18, 1988)

Original Airdate: September 18, 1988

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

Opening Match: Mr. Perfect v Jim Brunzell: This is just a few weeks after Hennig took on the ‘Mr. Perfect’ moniker/gimmick, though he was still wearing the short tights at this point, and hadn’t appeared on TV yet. Posturing to start, and Jim gets a headlock on, but Perfect powers into the corner, and takes a cheap shot on the break. That allows Perfect to pound him until Brunzell falls out of the ring, and Perfect gets him in a chinlock once Jim climbs back in. Brunzell fights out, so Perfect unloads with chops, and gets a reverse chinlock on. Brunzell escapes and successfully gets on the comeback trail, and a dropkick gets him two. Perfect dodges a legdrop, allowing him to throw a clothesline, and a bridging fisherman suplex finishes at 9:52. *

Iron Mike Sharpe v Tommy Angel: Angel gets a full nelson on, but Sharpe fights out, as Monsoon goes on a weird rant about how no one ever beat a wrestling bear, sounding something like Sam Elliott in the Big Lebowski. ‘Sometimes you beat the bear, and sometimes the bear beats you.’ Sharpe with a full nelson of his own that goes nowhere, so they do a test-of-strength, and Angel with a series of armdrags, leading Mike to bail. Sharpe gets control on the way back in, pounding Angel into the corner, and then ropechoking him. Angel fights back with a bodypress for two, but he runs into a boot while trying a charge, and Mike backdrops him for two. Another one, but Angel counters with a sunset flip for two this time, and he hammers Mike into the corner. A biel follows, as does a cross corner whip, and a monkeyflip. A second one, but Sharpe blocks this time, and loads up his forearm guard for a knockout shot at 10:21. ¾*

Brutus Beefcake v Ron Bass: Bass attacks as Brutus climbs through the ropes, but Beefcake fights him off, and chokes Ron with his barber’s coat. Beefcake with a ten-punch count in the corner to send Bass bailing, and he stalls for a while out there. Bass manages a knee on the way back in, but an elbowdrop misses, and Beefcake delivers a trio of fistdrops, ahead of some mounted punches. Bass takes a cheap shot to turn it around, and he delivers a piledriver for two, ahead of some mounted punches of his own. Bass works a chinlock, but Beefcake escapes, and makes a comeback. The sleeper looks to finish, but Bass bumps the referee to force a break. With the official down, Bass grabs his bullwhip to choke Brutus with, but Beefcake fights him off. That allows Beefcake to grab hold of the whip, as the referee recovers, and calls a DQ on Bass for the bump at 10:24. Weird timing there, making it look like the official was waking up just in time to see Beefcake with the weapon, when it had nothing to do with anything. ¾*

The Powers of Pain v The Bolsheviks: Brawl to start, with the Powers cleaning house. The dust settles on Barbarian and Boris Zhukov, and Barbarian dominates with power. A facebuster gets him two, and a side-headlock wears Boris down for another two count. Tag to Warlord to work a headlock of his own, but Nikolai Volkoff gets the tag. He tries a test-of-strength, but that goes badly, until Boris dives off the middle with an axehandle to help Nikolai turn the tide. The heels dominate Warlord (I can’t really call it ‘working him over,’ they just kind of control through double teams with Warlord occasionally selling), and he shrugs Volkoff off long enough to tag Barbarian. Barbarian properly dominates Nikolai, and a big boot gets him two. Back to Warlord to work Nikolai’s arm, but he gets into trouble, and the heels double team, though even Gorilla can’t take them seriously as a threat. Warlord fights off a double team for the tag to Barbarian, and he runs wild now. The Powers with a running powerslam/flying headbutt combo on Boris at 12:07. The dynamic of this just didn’t work because the Powers are just so much bigger than the heels that at no point could you get into the heat segment. And the heels don’t always have to be bigger, but if they’re not going to be bigger, they have to be adequately dastardly to make up for it, the the Bolsheviks were not that. ¼*

Rick Rude v Jake Roberts: Rude hammers him down early, as Gorilla shocks me, saying that, were he the promoter, he wouldn’t even have a referee out there for this. Who is this, and what has he done with the Gorilla. Rude bashes Jake’s face into the mat a bunch of times until Roberts bails, and Rick is on him for a few trips into the post, targeting the shoulder. Inside, Rick works a chinlock, and a fistdrop gets him two. Rick goes back to the hold to wear Roberts down some more, and he makes a lateral press for a few two counts. Back to the chinlock, until Jake uses a jawbreaker to escape, and he makes a comeback. Backdrop, but Rude blocks, cutting the comeback off. Rude capitalizes by… going back to the chinlock. Oh, fuck you, prick. Jake dumps him to the outside to force a break, so Rude pulls him out to try the post again, but Roberts reverses. He feeds Rick the rail for good measure, and Jake unloads with jabs on the way back inside. Stomachbreaker leaves Rude gasping for air, and a short-clothesline finds the mark. DDT time, so Rude throws the referee down to block. Jake tries to revive the official, but that allows Rick to recover with the Rude Awakening. Cover, but there’s no referee. Now Rude tries to revive him, and it results in a dramatic two count. Rick goes to work on the leg, but gets crotched in the process, and Jake schoolboys at 15:26. Well, at least they didn’t do the same DQ finish was in the Beefcake/Bass match. This was the usual boring Rude/Roberts match, they just had nothing in the way of chemistry. ¼*

Big Boss Man v Jim Powers: Boss Man tries pushing him around to start, but Jim isn’t having it, and throws fists. Boss Man gets pissed and hammers him into the corner for a corner splash, but an attempt at dumping Powers over the top gets blocked. Jim claps his ears and grabs a standing front-facelock, but Boss Man easily powers free, and unloads in the corner. Clothesline, but Jim ducks. He tries capitalizing with a bodypress, but Boss Man catches him in a backbreaker for his trouble. Boss Man with a headbutt and a straddling ropechoke, but Powers ducks another clothesline, and grabs a sleeper. Boss Man again easily breaks the hold, but Powers blocks an avalanche, and unloads turnbuckle smashes. Jim with a clothesline and a pair of standing dropkicks, but a criss cross ends in Boss Man delivering a scrapbuster at  3:58. Short and to the point. ½*

Main Event: Hulk Hogan v Haku: Hulk has both a gladiator helmet adorned with a fist on his head and a literal license plate around his neck, in an interesting turn. Haku and Bobby Heenan try attacking as Hulk climbs through the ropes, but Hogan easily shrugs them off, cleaning house. Haku chops Hulk down once getting back in, but Hogan starts no-selling, and uses an atomic drop to send Haku back to the outside. Heenan tries a distraction, but Hulk fights through the attempt, and clotheslines Haku down to set up a pair of elbowdrops. Hulk tries a wristlock, but Haku uses the hair to force a reversal, and a whip into the ropes allows him a knife-edge chop. Haku goes to an armbar from there, but Hulk escapes with a bodyslam, so Heenan trips him up to block the legdrop. That allows Haku a headbutt drop to keep control, and he bites the Hulkster down. Haku with a vertical suplex for two, and he works a chinlock from there, until Hulk fights to a vertical base, and makes a comeback. A clothesline gets him two, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Haku dodges. Haku capitalizes with chops, but it triggers the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Corner Whip! Corner Clothesline! Heenan tries using Hulk’s helmet against him, but it backfires on Haku, and the legdrop finishes at 12:48. Pretty dull stuff, actually. ½*

BUExperience: A couple of decent matches (decent, not good), and some really boring stuff, too. Don’t bother with this one at all.

DUD