WWF Prime Time Wrestling (April 6, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: April 6, 1987

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan from the studio

Blackjack Mulligan v Tiger Chung Lee: From Springfield Massachusetts on February 17. Pretty great reaction for Mulligan here. He’s a huge dude, too. Some fun camera work going on for this nothing match, really making you feel like you’re in the live crowd for this, while also giving you all the benefits of TV coverage. Mulligan catches him with the jumping backelbow at 3:23. DUD

Gene stayed behind at the Silverdome after WrestleMania III, where he recorded a recap of the show. This kind of thing was everything back in the days before you could look stuff like that up online. I’m actually shocked that they not only showed lots of video (as opposed to stills), but actually showed the finishes for every single match. Maybe that edict hadn’t come down yet, but that was definitely a huge no-no later on

A look at Ken Patera’s story, with an eye on his return… from prison

Honky Tonk Man v Koko B. Ware: From Dayton Ohio on March 10. Honky’s got a quality jumpsuit this week. Honky stalls to start, but gets caught in an atomic drop once getting in, and Koko throws a dropkick to put him on the outside. Inside, Honky tries a headlock, but Koko whips him into the ropes, and delivers a jumping shoulderblock. Koko with a bodyslam, so Honky hides out in the ropes. Honky manages another standing side-headlock, but Koko fights, so Honky hiptosses him. Fistdrop, but Koko dodges, and grabs a headlock of his own. Honky escapes, and manages an axehandle drop, and now he’s got control. He hammers on Ware, and a bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope fistdrop for two. A criss cross allows Koko to fire back with a bodypress for two, but Honky quickly puts the boots to him to cut off any potential comeback. Honky with a northern lights suplex, and a 2nd rope elbowdrop gets him two, ahead of a chinlock. Koko escapes, so Honky tries a backdrop, but Koko counters to a sunset flip for two. Honky throws a hangman clothesline to cut him off again, and he covers for two. Honky works a headvice from there, but Koko escapes, and uses a turnbuckle smash. He goes on the comeback trail, and a big dropkick sends Honky over the top! Koko looks to suplex him back in, but Jimmy Hart hooks Ware’s leg, and Honky topples him at 11:46. This was more interesting than I expected it to be. * ¼ 

Gene Okerlund catches up with Jim Duggan, who hates anyone not American, basically

Fuji Bandito! This week, Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji make a western - complete with Fabulous Moolah as a madame. Seems about right

Ron Bass v Salvatore Bellomo: From New Haven Connecticut on February 16. Bellomo is now going by the ‘Italian Stallion,’ which Bruno Sammartino mocks right away on commentary. It doesn’t help him much, though, as Bass finishes him with a jumping backelbow at 3:29. DUD

Gene catches up with Mr. Fuji, to discuss his acquisitions of Kamala and Sika

Demolition v The Islanders: From New York City on February 23. Demolition are now without Johnny Valiant, though they don’t have Mr. Fuji yet. They taped stuff with Valiant after this, so maybe he just had the night off, though the announcers already talk about them joining Fuji’s growing stable during the studio bits, so I guess they were repurposing. Smash and Tama start, as Bobby reminds us that it doesn’t matter which Islander starts, since ‘they’re all the same.’ Oh Bobby, don’t pick a fight with the Islanders, buddy. Smash tries powering him around, so Haku comes in, and the Islanders clean house. The dust settles on Ax and Haku, and the Islanders pinball him in their corner. Tag to Tama for a flying axehandle, and he grounds Ax in a hammerlock from there. Back to Haku for stereo backelbows, and Haku gives him a stomp to the groin, before working his leg. The Islanders stay on Ax’s leg with quick tags, and they didn’t even bother rerecording commentary for this, as Gorilla and Bobby discuss WrestleMania as an upcoming event throughout the match here. I don’t mind it, but I’m surprised they let it air that way. Tama gets dumped into the front row to kill that effort, and Demolition take over. They work Tama over, until he manages to block a backdrop, and get the hot tag to Haku! Haku superkicks Smash, and tags Tama back in for a combo. Tama with a flying bodypress, but Ax saves at two, and Roseanne Barr the door! The chaos allows Demolition to hit Tama with their finisher to… finish… at 10:21. ½*

The Hart Foundation v The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers: From Boston on February 7. The Foundation's WWF Tag Team title is not up for grabs, as they’d just won the belts on TV earlier that same day (though the match was taped in late January). Bret Hart and Raymond Rougeau start, and they do some posturing, as Gorilla notes that the Brothers are destined to wear the tag gold around their waists eventually. Well, he was half right. They trade wristlocks, with Ray controlling, and it’s over to Jacques Rougeau for a dropkick to set up a splash for two. Hart bails to regroup, as Resnick considers it an embarrassment that the WWF tag belts are being held by guys wearing pink. Tag to Jim on the way back in, and Jacques tries to bodyslam him, but that gets reversed. Anvil tries a whip into the ropes, but Jacques reverses, and manages a sloppy powerslam. That didn’t look great, but it worked in the sense that Jacques shouldn’t be casually powerslamming a guy like Neidhart anyway. Tag to Ray, so Bret distracts him, and Anvil clobbers him. That turns the tide, and the Foundation go to work on Raymond, as the announcers hype up WrestleMania as the greatest event of all time. That might be one of the few times in history that doing that in advance of a show didn’t backfire after adding the benefit of hindsight. Ray gets some nice hope spots in, but the double teams keep cutting him off, until he manages to dropkick Bret over the top, and get a hot tag to Jacques - Roseanne Barr the door! Jacques hits Hart with a 2nd rope fistdrop for two, and a sleeper looks to put it away, but Jim saves. The Foundation try whipping them into one another, but it gets reversed, and Ray pins Bret following a combo at 10:52. Nothing special, but this was solid tag wrestling, unsurprisingly. * ¼

BUExperience: This was a much peppier episode of Prime Time than usual, mostly because they pulled dark matches from TV tapings, rather than the dimly lit, overlong house show matches we usually get.