WWF at Maple Leaf Gardens (October 9, 1988)

Original Airdate: October 9, 1988

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

Opening Match: Scott Casey v Richard Charland: ‘Richard Charland’ is a really weird wrestling name. It’s like he’s from 1995 and has a gimmick as the general manager of a Bloomingdales, or something. They feel each other out early on, with Casey dominating. A shoulderbreaker gets him two, and Casey continues to dominate, so Charland goes to the eyes. A snapmare allows Charland to go for the leg, and Mooney sounds like such a tryhard at this stage. He just had no confidence in this role. Meanwhile, Gorilla talks about literally anything else besides this boring match, including what his career might have looked like if he kept wrestling into the 1990s. Now I kinda wish we could have seen that. I’m trying to imagine him mixing it up with the New Generation guys, and it’s glorious. Charland works a sleeper, but Casey escapes, and delivers a sloppy bulldog at 13:39. DUD

B. Brian Blair v Iron Mike Sharpe: Blair shows up late, leaving Mike to stall for time until Brian gets around to making his entrance. Man, even Larry Zbyszko wouldn’t go that far. Lots of posturing here, with Blair initially dominating, but Mike turning the tide. Sharpe with a backdrop for two, but a second one gets countered with a sunset flip for two. Small package gets another two, and a criss cross ends in Sharpe missing a dropkick. That allows Blair an elbowdrop to the groin, and a bootrake follows. Brian with an atomic drop and a clothesline, followed by a Russian legsweep at 8:21. Dull. ½*

Blue Blazer v Steve Lombardi: Blazer dominates early, using a hiptoss and a bodyslam to set up a kneedrop for two. He adds a backbreaker for two, and he goes to a chinlock from there, wearing Steve down. Blazer shifts to a headvice, and another bodyslam sets up a headbutt drop for two. Blazer goes to an abdominal stretch next, but Steve hiptosses out, and then reverses a cross corner whip for two. Blazer took that bump with gusto, bless him. Steve with a chinlock of his own, and a clothesline gets him two. Back to the hold, but Blazer escapes, and uses a slingshot sunset flip for two. Steve fights him off with a backelbow, but misses a 2nd rope axehandle, and Blazer backdrops him. Blazer with a hanging vertical suplex for two, but Lombardi blocks a monkeyflip. He looks for a follow up, but Blazer suplexes him before he can figure one out, and a flying splash finishes at 7:30. This was okay, but nothing notable. * ¼ 

Bad News Brown v Koko B Ware: Koko with a few armdrags right out the gate, and a dropkick sends Bad News to the outside. Brown regroups out there, but makes the rookie mistake of trying a turnbuckle smash on the way back in, which goes nowhere. Koko with a schoolboy for two, and a snapmare puts Brown in position for a stomp to the groin, but a charge misses, and Koko goes flying out of the ring. Ware manages a bodypress for two on the way back in to keep things going, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. Koko fights him off again and uses a bootrake for two, and manages a jumping shoulderblock. Brown tries a charge, but runs into the corner when Koko dodges, and Ware gets him in an abdominal stretch. Bad News quickly escapes, as Gorilla reads him the riot act about everything about his execution on that one. Brown with a bodyslam to set up a dive, but Koko slams him off the top, and Ware comes off the top with a missile dropkick. Brown rolls to the apron to avoid getting covered, and by the time Koko drags him in for a slam, it only gets two. Mounted punches get two, but a corner charge of his own misses, and Koko wipes out. That allows Bad News to recover with an enzuigiri at 10:22. I really enjoyed the layout of the match, as Koko basically dominated the whole thing, before missing a move, and Brown catching him with the finisher. Very refreshing compared to the usual ‘babyface dominates -> heel takes control for a heat segment -> babyface makes a comeback -> finish’ formula. * ¼ 

WWF Title Match: Randy Savage v Dino Bravo: Savage’s gear is all over the place here, as is Dino’s. Some posturing to start, and Macho gets a sunset flip for two, so Bravo bails to stall him out. Inside, Macho takes him to the mat in an armbar, so Frenchy Martin goes after Miss Elizabeth, and Randy takes the bait. That allows Dino to clobber him on the outside, and he rolls the champion back in for a stomping. Bravo works a chinlock for a bit, and a piledriver gets him two. Dino goes to a reverse chinlock, so Savage tries a criss cross, but gets caught in an inverted atomic drop that gets two. Bravo goes to another chinlock, but Savage escapes, and plants an elbowsmash on him. Inside cradle gets the champion two, and a clothesline is worth another two. Randy with a bodyslam for two, but he ends up on the outside out of the kickout, and Bravo boots him. Bearhug looks to put it away, but Savage escapes, so Dino drops him with the sidewalk slam. Elbowdrop follows, but Macho moves, and comes back with some shots in the corner. Bodyslam sets up the flying elbowdrop, but Bravo gets vertical, so Macho nails him with the flying axehandle instead. Back up for the elbow, so now Frenchy hops up onto the apron. Randy takes the bait, allowing Bravo to recover with a sneak attack, but it backfires. Randy schoolboys for two, so Frenchy trips the champion up as they criss cross, and Savage takes the bait again. That leads to a chase on the outside, and Bravo shoves Elizabeth into Randy. Savage is, of course, all over that, and he gets himself counted out at 11:01 while tending to his lady. Shitty finish aside, Macho was working hard to make Bravo look like a threat here. * ½ 

The Hart Foundation v The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers: Brother Love acts as the special guest referee for this one, and is openly favoring the Brothers before the bell even rings. Bret Hart and Jacques Rougeau start, and they trade wristlocks. Hart hits a bodypress, but Love slow counts his way to two, despite Bret having him down for a solid eight count. Hart with a rollup for another delayed two count, and then Jacques hooks a rollup for a super fast two. Tag to Jim Neidhart who also gets fast counted when Jacques makes covers, and Jacques holds him in a reverse chinlock. The Brothers work Anvil over with massive leeway from the referee, but Bret gets a tag, and unloads on Jacques. Raymond Rougeau comes in, but Bret fights off the attempted double team, and goes back to destroying Jacques. Hart with a dropkick and a backdrop, followed by a pointed elbowdrop for a delayed two count. Jim has enough and tosses Love out of the ring to allow the Hart Attack, and another official runs in to count the pin at 11:56. The crowd pops huge for it, of course, and I’m honestly shocked that we don’t get some sort of reversed decision. Bret Hart doing a Memphis match doesn’t really work, though. ½*

Hillbilly Jim v Haku: Haku hammers on him as we get going, but Jim fights him off with a clothesline, and adds a bodyslam to send Haku bailing. Inside, Haku dominates a test-of-strength, and a dropkick gets him two. Jim fights back with a series of turnbuckle smashes for two, and a backelbow gets him another two. Haku fires back with a chop, so Jim big boots him, but an elbowdrop misses. That allows Haku a sloppy superkick, and a headbutt drop finishes at 8:03. Really slow and dull, and the crowd was spent after the tag match anyway. DUD

Main Event: WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ultimate Warrior v Honky Tonk Man: Warrior blitzes him to kickstart the contest, and Honky ends up on the outside right away. Warrior chases to beat him up on the outside, and then inside for a series of mounted punches. Warrior with an elbowdrop, so Jimmy Hart trips him up to prevent a second on. Warrior takes the bait, allowing Honky to clobber him on the outside, but the champion no-sells it, and presses the challenger back into the ring. Inside, Warrior unloads in the corner, but misses a corner splash. That allows Honky to take a shot with the megaphone while Jimmy distracts the referee, and Honky adds a series of axehandles. He looks for the swinging neckbreaker, but Warrior backdrops him, and makes his comeback, as Gorilla goes on about ‘adrenaline.’ Yeah, pretty sure that’s crack, Monsoon. The press-slam looks to put it away, but Hart runs in for the DQ before Warrior delivers it at 4:04. Really? Couldn’t job Honky at this stage? The match was okay for what it was, shitty ending aside. ¼*

BUExperience: I enjoyed bits of this but it’s not really worth your time overall.

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