WWF Superstars of Wrestling (January 24, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: January 24, 1987 (taped January 5)

From East Rutherford, New Jersey; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, and Jesse Ventura

Paul Orndorff v Paul Roma: Oh, wonderful. Orndorff with a piledriver at 2:29. This was pretty decent. DUD

Gene Okerlund is in the studio for Update, and it’s a real fats mcgats this week, with a look at King Kong Bundy and Kamala

Koko B. Ware v Steve Lombardi: Lombardi beats up an exiting Roma on his way out to the ring, which is pretty feisty for a jobber. No wonder he made it to JTTS status, eventually. Steve then keeps it going by attacking Koko to kick start the match, and he actually gets a lot in, before Ware finishes him off with a missile dropkick and a splash at 3:32. ½*

Ken Resnick catches up with Ricky Steamboat, who is looking forward to being one of the lumberjacks when Randy Savage faces Bruno Sammartino in a Lumberjack match

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Backstage, Lombardi mocks Roma

The Can-Am Connection v Don Muraco and Bob Orton: The Connection run in to trigger a brawl, and the dust settles on Rick Martel and Orton. Martel dominates, and a rana gets him two. Rick with a slam, so Bob tags out. Martel passes to Tom Zenk to hook a rollup, but referee Danny Davis doesn’t count, since Martel is still inside of the ring. The heels use that distraction to gain control, and they work on Zenk, but Tom manages a headscissor takedown on Don. Again, but Orton nails him, and the heels deliver stereo backelbows. They continue to cut the ring in half, until Martel gets tired of the double teaming, and evens things up. All four men brawl, until the referee disqualifies both teams at 3:58. Everyone talks about how the matches were all super short during the Attitude Era, as if they were having marathons before then. They were just as short on TV during this period, before getting a little longer during the New Generation, then scaling back again during the Attitude Era. Realistically, the New Generation was the outlier. ¾*

Resnick catches up with Billy Jack Haynes, who is fuming at Hercules’ claims of being the ‘master of the full nelson’

Outback Jack vignette 

Randy Savage v Tom Sharpe: The WWF Intercontinental title is not on the line for this. Savage with the flying elbowdrop at 0:44. Macho didn’t even bother taking off his shades for this one. DUD

Roddy Piper hosts 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 visit the Heartbreak Hotel in Memphis Tennessee, but Honky thinks the place is kind of a joke compared to the restaurant he’ll be opening. Which will serve ‘Honky Burgers.’ On white bread, I assume

The Hart Foundation v Tony Garea and Scott McGhee: The Foundation with a combo at 2:41. DUD

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Six-Man Tag Team Match: Mike Rotundo, Blackjack Mulligan, and Dan Spivey v Ron Bass, Jimmy Jack Funk, and Gladiator: One guess who does the job here. Jesse Ventura wants to know if Mulligan ever washes his gear, to which Vince McMahon claims he has no clue. Well, maybe he should take a more hands on approach to that sort of thing before jobbers start getting rashes. Could have saved everyone a lot of trouble in 1996. Blackjack blasts Gladiator with a jumping backelbow at 3:22. DUD

Resnick catches up with Savage, who is ready for all comers in the Lumberjack match

BUExperience: The continuation of the slow build Hogan/Andre angle is always a good thing. The rest was whatever, but nothing bad.