WWF Superstars of Wrestling (June 13, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: June 13, 1987 (taped June 2)

From Buffalo, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, and Jesse Ventura

The British Bulldogs v Dusty Wolfe and Johnny K-9: Vince fawning over Matilda feels like a stretch. He just doesn’t seem like an animal guy. The Bulldogs put this one away at 2:10. DUD

Craig DeGeorge is in the control center with yet another update on Superstar Billy Graham. Apparently, he’s slightly less old and broken down this week, and might even make a comeback

Outback Jack likes WWF Ice Cream Bars

The Islanders v SD Jones and Eric Cooper: Haku now has a beard to really put over that he’s a heel. The Can-Am Connection split screen in here, still angry about the evil Islanders pulling their heel turn on them. The Islanders put Cooper away with a few combos at 2:28. The Islanders are a much better fit as heels. DUD

Gene Okerlund catches up with the Can-Am Connection, and man, they just can’t let this Islander heel turn go! Honestly, this is a good pairing, because both teams are hot at this point, and you can’t pick who will win the matches

Clips of Ventura in Predator, which opened the day before this aired

Junkyard Dog v Terry Gibbs: Gibbs gets cute with a sneak attack, but that goes badly, and JYD split screens in to do a general promo. General promos are the saddest. JYD with the scoop powerslam at 1:45. DUD

Okerlund catches up with Ron Bass who is really excited about his bullwhip 

The New Dream Team v Lanny Poffo and Scott Casey: Poffo has the balls to do a poem antagonizing Ventura, despite being on jobber duty. You’re not fooling anyone, Lanny! And, to really hammer that home, Casey doesn’t even eat the pin here, as Dino Bravo gets to pin Poffo at 2:50. DUD

Jake Roberts hosts the Snake Pit, with guests Hillbilly Jim and Little Beaver, who are furious about what King Kong Bundy did to the littles at WrestleMania. Man, things moved a lot slower back then, didn’t they? It’s been nearly three months, and we’re just now circling around to even talking about it. Even a decade later, they’d be getting into it the next night, and probably doing some sort of blow off by the April pay per view. But, I mean, I get it. It was a different time, a different schedule, and different mindset in terms of how the business was structured 

WWF Intercontinental Champion Ricky Steamboat urges us to ‘say no’ to drugs, because they ‘can’t help you.’ Considering he’s moments away from losing his title, perhaps he isn’t the best guy to take advice from. I mean, Honky would also probably advise us to ‘just say no,’ but to doing jobs

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ricky Steamboat v Honky Tonk Man: Honky attacks, and manages a turnbuckle smash to rattle the champion. Honky tries dumping him over the top, but Steamboat skins the cat, and backdrops Honky over the top. Steamboat uses a side suplex to force him back in, and an chop drop finds the mark. Steamboat with a snapmare to set up a somersault necksnap, and he uses a turnbuckle smash of his own. Steamboat keeps coming with a backelbow, and he throws some chops, then wins a criss cross with a rollup for two. Honky sends him into the turnbuckle with the force of the kickout, and the challenger quickly capitalizes by snapping the Dragon’s throat across the top. Honky with a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope elbowdrop, but Steamboat dodges. Ricky makes a comeback, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets nailed. Honky tries for the swinging neckbreaker, but Steamboat backdrops him to block. Honky tries a charge, but misses in the corner, and Steamboat puts him down with chops. That allows Ricky to go up with a flying tomahawk chop, but Jimmy Hart is distracting the referee, so no count. Steamboat goes after him, allowing Honky to recover, but the sneak attack backfires. Steamboat hooks him in a small package, but Honky reverses into a leveraged pin at 3:53. They didn’t get a lot of time here, but they worked really hard with what they had. * ¾  

One Man Gang v Silvano Sousa: Gang and Slick split screen in here, and I still don’t buy Gang as a top heel. He just looks too kind. Gang with a 2nd rope elbowdrop at 1:39. That spot looked terrible, and not at all an impressive use of his size. DUD

Okerlund catches up with Demolition, and Mr. Fuji knows each of their names. Well, that’s notable

Honky is back out to properly celebrate his new title

BUExperience: I mean, this had a title change. That’s big stuff, and the match was even solid on top of it. What more do you want?