WWF Prime Time Wrestling (December 10, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: December 10, 1987

Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan from the studio

Greg Valentine v Brutus Beefcake: From Superstars of Wrestling on November 28 (taped November 17) in Des Moines Iowa. Greg attacks from behind to kickstart the match, but Beefcake wins a slugfest, and corner whips him to set up a clothesline on the rebound. Beefcake with a bodyslam, and a turnbuckle smash staggers him for Beefcake to chop down. Another bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Greg dodges, and blasts him with an elbowsmash. Hammer with a backbreaker, and he goes to the top, but Brutus slams him off before he can dive. Brutus with a ten-punch count, and he drops an elbow to the groin, but telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. That allows Greg some mounted punches, but Beefcake blocks the figure four. He tries an axehandle, but Greg blocks. He goes back to the figure four, but Beefcake blocks again, so Jimmy Hart distracts him, allowing Valentine to put Beefcake down again. Figure four, but Beefcake blocks again, so Greg starts cracking him with chops. That triggers a slugfest, and the referee gets caught in the crossfire, so there’s no one to check for a submission as Beefcake gets the sleeper on. That allows Hart to come in with the shears, but Beefcake blocks him, only to get clobbered by Valentine. Hammer gets the figure four on, but there’s still no referee. Beefcake gets hold of the shears and scares his way out of the hold, as the referee recovers and calls a double disqualification at 8:12. This was a solid TV match. I always dug how the WWF presented star/star matches on TV, basically condensed versions of house show matches that cut right to the chase, and lots of angle. Like, I’m sure these two could have had a technically ‘better’ match with twenty minutes, but sometimes you just want to be entertained, and see a story play out in the ring, as opposed to pure workrate. * ¼ 

From Superstars, Craig DeGeorge brings Ted DiBiase out for a podium interview, so that Ted can relive his favorite moments in embarrassing fans. And, for his next trick, he’s going to prove that even Hulk Hogan has a price - which he’ll prove by purchasing the WWF Title off of him

Pete Doherty v Jerry Allen: From Boston Massachusetts on October 3. They shit they could put on TV in 1987 and still make money. A slugfest see’s Pete pop the referee for the DQ at 7:24. DUD

Gene Okerlund catches up with Rick Rude, who thinks the comparison between him and Paul Orndorff is a joke

Dino Bravo v Brady Boone: From Philadelphia Pennsylvania on November 7. Boone throws some spice early on, and gets an armbar on for a bit, but Bravo fights to a hammerlock. Boone gets a takedown into a hammerlock of his own, but Dino drops him on his head, and dumps him to the outside for Johnny Valiant to abuse. Bravo wasn’t even managed by Valiant anymore by the time this aired, I’m surprised they featured this. Inside, Dino grabs a bearhug, wearing Boone down for an elbowdrop, but Brady rolls out of the way. Boone makes a comeback, but misses a big charge in the corner, and Bravo finishes at 5:59 shown of 6:31. ¼*

From Wrestling Challenge, DeGeorge brings Sam Houston and Danny Davis out for a face-to-face podium interview, but Davis takes exception to Houston refusing to remove his hat. Yeah, they don’t sell hot dogs here. It ends up triggering a brawl

Ultimate Warrior v Frenchy Martin: From New York City on November 24, in Warrior's MSG debut. Commentator Nick Bockwinkel wonders if Warrior has some sort of ‘mental deficiency’ that causes him to paint his face. They’re also putting over Warrior as having ‘maybe twenty five inch’ biceps, which is bigger than Hogan’s gimmick, so you have to know they saw big things for him right from the jump. Warrior throws him around, and finishes at 4:38. This wasn’t explosive enough to really get over. DUD

DeGeorge is in the studio with an Update on the Slammy Awards. I never got the gag of making it the ‘37th annual’ edition. As a kid, I was desperately hoping to see all the previous versions. Fuckin’ Rio de Janeiro

Honky Tonk Man music video

Junkyard Dog v Hercules: From Philadelphia on November 7. Joined in progress, with Hercules in control. He works Dog over, but Dog starts no-selling, so Hercules goes low. That allows him to get JYD down for two, and a clothesline gets another two. He goes for the full nelson, but Dog is able to block him from locking the hands, so he doesn’t get all of it. Hercules holds it as best he can, but Dog fights free, and delivers a Russian legsweep for two. A schoolboy gets two, and a side suplex is worth two. Dog keeps coming with a headutt, so Hercules goes low, and hooks a leveraged pin at 5:05 shown of 7:57. Pretty mundane. ¼*

DeGeorge catches up with WWF Women’s Champion Sensational Sherri, and I’m still trying to understand if she’s a heel or a babyface

The British Bulldogs v The Bolsheviks: From Toronto Ontario Canada on November 1. The British versus the Russians in Canada… what are the odds we get a ‘USA’ chant here? Davey Boy Smith starts with Boris Zhukov, and a criss cross is won by Smith with a hiptoss. An armdrag into an armbar follows, and he passes to Dynamite Kid for a snap suplex. Kid with his own armdrag into an armbar, and back to Davey for a flying axehandle. The Bulldogs dominate Boris by making use of quick tags, until Kid runs into trouble in the heel corner, the the Bolsheviks take control. They cut the ring in half on Kid, until he manages to slip away from a double team, and make the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! The Bulldogs get reversed into each other on a combo, allowing the heels to isolate Smith, but before they can put him away, Kid is able to sweep Boris’ leg during a suplex attempt, and Davey topples for the pin at 14:47. Very basic. ½* 

BUExperience: This was watchable enough, though nothing of any real note.