WWF Prime Time Wrestling (June 22, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: June 22, 1987

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan from the studio

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ricky Steamboat v Honky Tonk Man: From Superstars of Wrestling on June 13 (taped June 2) in Buffalo New York. 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 a 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

The Can-Am Connection v The Shadows: From New York City on June 14. So now, instead of going around the horn wasting the Young Stallions’ time, they’ll start wasting the Connection’s time instead? Okay, noted. I mean, I get that squash matches are good and important, but if it’s going to be a squash then be a squash. Every match I’ve seen with these two masked jobbers has been fifteen minutes at a minimum. Roseanne Barr the door, and the Connection outsmart the Shadows at 19:27. I wish these two would just disappear into the shadows already. Afterwards, Bobby Heenan is out, and makes a challenge on behalf of the Islanders. The Connection are game, so the Islanders come out to throw down, but security intervenes. ¼*

Craig DeGeorge is in the control center with more on old man Superstar Billy Graham

Gene Okerlund catches up with Brutus Beefcake, who might be a doctor now? 

The Islanders v The Young Stallions: From New York on June 14. The Islanders wear bowties now, to properly get over their new heel attitudes. Tama and Paul Roma start, and Paul grabs a hammerlock, so a furious Tama gets into the ropes, and flips out. He’s embracing the heel turn wonderfully. A criss cross ends in Roma hiptossing him, and a bodyslam follows. A dropkick connects as well, and Tama wisely bails to break the momentum, as well as strategize with Haku and Bobby Heenan. Back in, Tama tries suckering him into accepting a handshake, but Roma is too smart, and hits him with an atomic drop. Tag to Haku, but he can’t get control on Roma either. That Paul Roma is simply unstoppable! Tags all around, and Jim Powers gets Tama in a wristlock. Tag back to Roma for more wristlock action, as the Stallions control Tama with quick tags. The Stallions land stereo dropkicks for two, so Tama resorts to hair pulling to get Jim in the heel corner - only for a double team to backfire. That allows Powers to armdrag Tama into an armbar, and back to Roma for a wristlock. The Islanders are finally able to successfully double team Roma, but Haku misses a splash after tagging in, and Paul gets fired up again. Jesus. Haku goes to the eyes to cut him off, and a bodyslam sets up a headbutt drop, but Roma dodges. Tama tries a cheap shot, but Roma ignores it, so the heels beat him up but good. And that, finally, gets him down. The motherfucker was no selling like Scott Norton against a cruiserweight. The heels go to work on Paul, until Powers gets the hot tag. He runs wild, but Roma doesn’t really come in to properly get the fire running, and the Islanders catch Powers with a combo at 20:06. Lengthy, but solid work throughout, and I was really enjoying the Islanders as heels. Particularly Tama, he’s great. * ¾ 

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Danny Davis v Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid, and Billy Jack Haynes: From New York on June 14, with Haynes subbing for Koko B. Ware. The babyfaces run in to kickstart things before the introductions are over, and they clean house. The dust settles on Bret and Davey Boy, and Smith powers him into the corner, so Bret bails. Inside, Hart and Smith trade wristlocks, dominated by the Bulldog. Tag to Haynes for an earringer, and he grounds the Hitman in a chinlock. Tag to Kid for a clothesline for two, and a matslam gets another two. Back to Davey for a crucifix, but Hart counters with a Samoan drop, and he tags to Anvil. Jim misses an elbowdrop on the way in, allowing Haynes to tag back in, and armbar the Anvil. Tag to Kid for an armbar, so Jim goes to the eyes, and Bret takes a shot from the apron to leave Kid looking up at the lights. That allows Davis to tag in, but he gets too cocky, and nearly gets knocked silly by Kid. The heels work Kid over, but he gets away from Davis, and tags Haynes. Haynes comes in with a press-slam on Danny, and he goes for the full nelson, but Bret saves right away. That allows the heels to take control of Haynes, and they work him over now. Davey finally gets the hot tag, and he runs wild - Roseanne Barr the door! The babyfaces dominate, and Davey press-drops Kid onto Bret for the pin at 21:04. This was well formatted, with Bret doing all the heavy lifting on the heel side, and good timing on the hope spots. * ½ 

BUExperience: Long tag matches, and a title change that already aired a bunch of times before this. Doesn’t sound exciting on paper, but the wrestling was pretty solid this week.