WWF Wrestling Challenge (January 25, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: January 25, 1987 (taped January 6)

From Hershey, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Junkyard Dog v Al Navarro: Bobby is teasing some sort of major reveal later, but won’t talk much about it. Harley Race split screens in here, promising to make Dog bow down to him. Dog with a scoop powerslam at 1:59, despite some poor officiating from Danny Davis throughout. DUD

Wrestlers’ Rebuttal is Adrian Adonis spraying Roddy Piper’s cover issue of the WWF Magazine with perfume to try and freshen it up. What’s he… been doing with it that it need freshening up?

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Demolition v Sivi Afi and Jerry Allen: This is only the second TV appearance of Demolition, following one on last week’s Superstars, which was taped just a day before this. This is actually only their third match, period, following a house show appearance on January 4, and the Superstars match.  Their face paint is still wildly different than the more familiar look later, and Ax even has red hair. Smash has green hair, but there’s an even bigger difference than that, as he’s being played by Randy Colley (Moondog Rex) instead of Barry Darsow. Demolition with a combo on Allen at 2:44. They still had some kinks to work out, but they were obviously going to be a force to be reckoned with. ¼*

Ken Resnick catches up with the American Express, who are trying to sell us that Dan Spivey’s knee injury was actually a good thing for them as a team. They’d be done as a team within about a month of this, and Mike Rotundo would be in JCP by March, so I’m not sure I’m quite buying that load

Kamala v Nick Foley: Another fun one here, as we get a young Mick Foley as an enhancement guy. Poor guy not only gets called ‘Nick’ but his last name gets butchered to ‘Fayley,’ which draws some annoyed looks from the kid. Kamala with a splash at 0:26. Gosh, I hope poor Nick’s career recovers after that embarrassment. He does a stretcher job on the way out to really sell Kamala as a monster. DUD

Resnick catches up with Hillbilly Jim, who appreciates the fans, schucks 

We get a look at Superstars, where Hercules challenged anyone to come out to try and escape his full nelson, and then attacked Billy Jack Haynes when Billy tried to take him up on the offer

The Killer Bees v Barry O and David Vance: The crowd is dead for this one, giving the Bees nothing. Meanwhile, Danny Davis split screens in, defending his decision to disqualify the Bees for using ‘illegal masks.’ Monsoon is all up in arms about it, but that seems like exactly the kind of thing he’d usually want a referee to do. The Bees put this away at 3:13. DUD

From Superstars, we get an episode of Piper’s Pit, with guest President Jack Tunney. This week, Jack brings Andre the Giant out, presenting him with a trophy for being undefeated for fifteen years. But before Andre can even say a word of thanks, WWF Champion Hulk Hogan rushes out to steal the spotlight. He puts Andre over as the greatest, but he’s really stealing the spotlight more than anything. And as he’s going on and on about how great Andre is, Andre just walks off the set - which Hulk tries to sell as ‘modesty’

Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart are in Memphis Tennessee, checking out Elvis’ plane (and shit talking it)

Don Muraco v Jacques Rougeau: Heenan is fuming that Andre not only got a smaller trophy than Hulk did last week, but that Hogan stole his moment. Gorilla, of course, is on Hulk’s side, and wonders why Heenan is advocating so hard for a guy he supposedly hates. Posturing to start, and Jacques catches him with a knife-edge chop. Jacques with a 2nd rope bodypress for two, and he grounds Muraco in a side-headlock. A criss cross allows Don a spinebuster, and he adds a backdrop as he takes control. Jacques manages a counter to a sleeper, so Bob Orton goes after Raymond Rougeau on the outside, and Jacques lets off the hold to go save his brother. That allows Fuji a cheap shot out there, so Don follows to try and drag Jacques in, but gets reversed into the post - just as the referee counts both men out at 3:07. Not much to this one. DUD

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Ricky Steamboat v Tiger Chung Lee: Monsoon infuriates Heenan by congratulating Andre on his trophy, and Bobby’s rant here is epic. His mouth is moving faster than either of these wrestlers are working. Miss Elizabeth split screens in here, clarifying that what happened to Steamboat’s throat was a ‘terrible accident.’ Steamboat with a flying bodypress at 3:15. The match was nothing, but points to Steamboat for selling the throat throughout. ¼*

Resnick catches up with WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage, who is ready to take on both Steamboat and George Steele

BUExperience: Oh, good shit this week.