WWF Prime Time Wrestling (December 11, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: December 11, 1986

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan from the studio

Pedro Morales v Dino Bravo: From Toronto Ontario Canada on November 16 1986. Posturing to start, lots of it. Finally, a cheap shot from Johnny Valiant allows Dino to take control, and a vertical suplex gets him two. Bravo goes to a chinlock, but Morales escapes, and they spill to the outside. Valiant comes over, but Morales bashes the heels’ heads together, and takes Bravo in for a Boston crab, but gets counted out while dealing with Valiant at 10:11. DUD

Gene Okerlund catches up with Ricky Steamboat’s doctor, who confirms that Steamboat has a crushed larynx, and his official medical advice is that Ricky hang the boots up

Gene takes Danny Davis to task for some of his recent controversial calls as a referee, but Davis refuses to be held accountable

Jose Luis Rivera v Frankie Lane: From Toronto Ontario Canada on November 16 1986. Joined in progress with Lane holding an armbar, as commentator Johnny Valiant mentions that he’ll be in Dino Bravo’s corner against Pedro Morales up next. It doesn’t annoy me that they air the matches in a different order than they took place, but it drives me nuts when they don’t bother hiding it. Although, that’s also kind of the charm. I should probably appreciate the transparency. A criss cross allows Rivera a headlock, so Lane forces another criss cross, and Rivera throws a dropkick, but doesn’t get all of it. Rivera starts throwing rights, and he catches Lane with a knee. Lane manages a cheap shot, and he dumps Rivera to the ramp, but Jose comes back at him with a sunset flip at 6:55 shown of 10:37. Let me be transparent: these two are jobbers, and should not have been featured. DUD

Paul Roma v Steve Lombardi: From Toronto Ontario Canada on November 16 1986. Both guys are dressed the same, like they’re tag partners, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. Posturing to start, with Roma generally controlling. Lombardi manages a backbreaker to turn it around, and he works on Roma for a bit, until Paul gets into comeback mode, and uses a powerslam to finish at 7:05. Another yawner. DUD

Jesse Ventura catches up with President Jack Tunney, grilling him about the decision to reinstate Andre the Giant. Tunney looked really heavy here, he lost a lot of weight later on. Anyway, Jack won’t say much, saying that it’s privileged information, though he does note that Heenan was in attendance at the hearing. Jesse was great here, and Tunney was perfectly suited for this role

Ventura catches up with Honky Tonk Man to discuss the results of the recent fan poll that revealed that fans ‘don’t dig’ him. Didn’t need a poll to tell you that…

Honky Tonk Man v Mr. X: From Toronto Ontario Canada on November 16 1986. X stalls to start, but Honky gets control with a wristlock. Honky takes him to the mat in an overhead wristlock, but X reverses, and the piped in ‘booing’ for Honky is way over the top here. I get that they’re running an angle, but the visual crowd reactions don’t mesh with the audio at all. X controls for a bit, but Honky uses a turnbuckle smash, and a 2nd rope fistdrop for two. X backdrops him over the top and onto the ramp, and X puts the boots to him on the way back in. X dominates for a bit, but runs into a swinging neckbreaker at 6:50. The parade of junk continues! DUD

Adrian Adonis v Paul Roma: From the December 6 1986 episode of Superstars (taped November 19) in South Bend Indiana, in what marked Adonis’ first TV match since September. RomaMania running wild this week. Though, not really, as this is a complete squash, ending in Adonis grabbing a sleeper at 1:43. This was actually the best match of the episode thus far. What a joke. ¼*

Tito Santana v Butch Reed: From Toronto Ontario Canada on November 16 1986, and also aired on the December 7 episode of All American Wrestling. Posturing to start, with Tito dominating. A hiptoss and a bodyslam lead to Reed bailing, so Butch comes in with a turnbuckle smash, but Tito shakes it off, and slugs him down. Tito grabs a headlock, but Reed forces a criss cross, and dumps Santana to the outside. Inside, Reed works a chinlock, and throws a knee when Tito escapes, then ropechokes the man. Tito tries slugging, so Reed dumps him to the outside again, and feeds him the guardrail out there. Santana flies back in with a slingshot sunset flip for two, so Reed tries cutting him off, but Tito manages a corner whip to stay in it. Tito follows in, but Butch blocks with a knee, and delivers a 2nd rope axehandle, but Santana is in the ropes to prevent a count. Reed responds with a catapult under the bottom rope, and he grabs a chinlock, but Tito fights him off in the corner. That’s enough to allow Santana a proper comeback, but a criss cross results in both men looking up at the lights. Reed is up first, and puts the boots to Tito, and uses a facebuster for two. Side-headlock, but Santana manages a kneebreaker to escape, and he goes for the figure four, but Butch blocks. Santana keeps coming at him, going after the leg, and he gets the figure four on, but time expires at 21:41. Finally something decent on this toilet of a show. **

BUExperience: This was a crap card, even on paper.