Through the Years: WWF Matches & Angles from July & August 1988

 

We’re back over to the WWF for matches and angles from July and August of 1988! A SummerSlam card is coming, and much of that card was put together without any build. The main event between the Mega Powers and Mega Bucks was the only match that I believe was built up at all. That’s too bad, but maybe that means a lot of stuff will be going on to build towards other things and house show matches during this period. Or not. Going to get right to it!

 

– Taped to air from June through September of 1988…

 

The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers turn heel!

 

There’s a 20 minute video above, and I’m not going to try to place all of it. The first thing in this video is a promo where they waved around miniature American flags and led a “USA” chant. The second thing is a six man tag where Sam Houston is their partner. They squash some jobbers, and after the match, the Rougeaus attack one of them. Hm…that is interesting.

On July 2nd, the Rougeau Brothers had a match with the Killer Bees on Superstars. They work the match as heels, and at the end win the match after consistently breaking the rules. WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

On July 16th, they have another squash match scheduled, and after it, they attack their opponents again. This is long developing, that’s for sure. The Killer Bees want a shot at them, and considering the way things are going, I think everyone knows who would win that program. In the end, they did that on some house shows and the Rougeaus did win.

After another squash match, the last five minutes are a series of interviews. YES! They say they don’t need a manager, and will be taking on the Hart Foundation. They will be moving to the United States! I’m HONORED to have these TWO GREAT MEN as citizens of MY country, let me tell you. Now they do need a manager, and it is…JIMMY HART! YES! He’s going to give them 50/50 shares of the Hart Foundation’s contracts. I enjoyed that video greatly.

 

On July 4th, Adrian Adonis died in a car accident. It’s too bad that he was no longer part of the promotion, as he had a lot to offer still. He also wouldn’t have died that way, sad as it is to say.

 

– Taped to air July 9th, 1988, from the Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York

 

HAKU BECOMES KING

http://www.wwe.com/videos/haku-becomes-a-king-superstars-july-9-1988-26118883

This was the best video I could find, even though the sound sucks. With Tama being gone, Haku has been freed up to work as a singles wrestler. Almost all of the heels in the company are in the ring for this. I don’t see Bad News Brown though!

 

Randy Savage interview

 

During his interview, Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan make their way to the podium. They’re merely a distraction for Ted DiBiase, who attacks Savage, causing him to fly off the platform. Andre chokes Savage now, and DiBiase dishes out the punches as Virgil holds Elizabeth in place to make her watch the beating. This worked really well.

 

– Taped to air July 11th, 1988, on Prime Time Wrestling, from the Coliseum in Oakland, California

 

Strike Force vs. Demolition (w/Mr. Fuji) for the WWF Tag Team Championships

Pre-Match Thoughts: I forgot to write about this one in my last article. This match really took place on June 1st, and I usually don’t save the PTW matches until a later article. The exception must be made here, though. This is the only rematch between these teams that I will have watched.

Match Review: Ax and Martel will start things off, and Martel does a good job of evading Ax and hitting him with quick punches. Ax comes back with clubbing blows, and Martel tries a springboard cross body. Ax catches him, and Santana comes in with a dropkick to cause Martel to land on top for 2. Strike Force gives Ax a clothesline, and Martel puts a wristlock on Ax when Santana leaves the ring. Santana tags in, drops a knee, and covers for 2. Ax pulls hair, which allows him to tag Smash. Martel had tagged in as well, and tags out right after that. Santana works an armbar, but Ax tags in, only to be given an arm drag. So, Santana keeps up with the armbar, until he gives a cross body for 2. With the referee distracted, Demolition gains control thanks to Mr. Fuji hitting Santana in the back with his cane. Smash hits Santana with numerous double axehandles, and Ax lands a back elbow. He misses an elbow drop, but cuts Santana off from the tag. Santana lands his FLYING FOREARM, and that allows him to make the switch. Martel comes in and gives Ax a dropkick, actually two of them in fact. He gives Ax a backdrop, and goes for the Boston crab, but Smash breaks it up with a clothesline to the back of the head. Santana rushes in to deal with Smash and Ax, but Smash heads to the outside. He has a chair, and nails Martel in the back with it. Ax heads over, and they give Martel the DEMOLITION DECAPITATION on the floor! Eventually the referee notices what happened, and counts out Strike Force at 8:16.

After the match, they do a full blown stretcher job with Martel not moving at all.

My Thoughts: So, the reason they did this angle was that Martel’s wife was very sick. He needed to take some time off and was obliged. It’s unfortunate that he’s gone because I enjoy watching him work. This wasn’t better than their WrestleMania match, but it was good enough. **1/4, I get the feeling these four have something more to offer, but it never clicked.

 

– July 13th, 1988, from the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin

 

The Conquistadors vs. Sam Houston & Terry Taylor

Pre-Match Thoughts: Terry Taylor’s making his debut here! You know, instead of what they wound up doing, Terry Taylor and Sam Houston would have been a really good tag team. The Conquistadors look really similar, and I would prefer not to review their matches, so obviously if I am there’s a reason for that.

 

Match Review: One Conquistador locks up with Houston, who gives him a hip toss and flying head-scissors. After that, there’s a dropkick, and the other Conquistador rushes in for an arm drag. That guy tumbles out of the ring too, and Houston does a dance. Taylor comes in, and gives the guy a bodyslam. The Conquistadors should have something to differentiate themselves, but they don’t. Taylor and Houston exchange tags, with Houston eventually coming in off the top with an elbow. Taylor comes in with an arm drag, but the Conquistador is able to make the tag. I guess one of them is fatter. The fat one is given a hip toss, and a dropkick to knock him outside. Taylor gives the taller Conquistador a dropkick to do the same to him, and things normalize after that. Taylor gets hit with a knee to the back by skinny, and fat tags in after a choke. He gives Taylor a back elbow for 2, and skinny tags in. Taylor gives him a sunset flip, but it’s too close to the fat guy, who breaks up the cover. He tags in, and lands a clubbing blow from the top rope. Skinny guy tags in, and gives Taylor a hard knee to the gut. This is kind of boring, but we’re nearly at the part that matters. Fat boy gives Taylor a backbreaker for 2, and Taylor kicks out hard enough to push him out of the ring. He finally tags out, and Houston cleans house. Houston goes for a bulldog, but one of the Conquistadors gives him a massive clothesline for the pin at 9:27. That came out of nowhere!

After the match, Taylor is clearly upset. He grabs the microphone and starts bitching about how his debut has turned out. He attacks Houston, and Houston bumps like a total pro for him. Taylor throws him way over the top, and makes his way to the dressing room.

My Thoughts: The match was nothing special at all, *1/2 at best. The Conquistadors matches border on unwatchable due to their gimmick and outfits. The post-match on the other hand was excellent. That was a good way to establish lower card talent, but where it went from there…there is no explanation for that. Can’t even defend it! Taylor and Houston could have been a good team, maybe they’d have had something to do, but Taylor was tough to deal with and made a lot of enemies. Maybe he wouldn’t want it.

 

– Taped to air July 16th, 1988, on Superstars, from the Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York

 

THE POWERS OF PAIN DEBUT

 

So, they finally made the jump over to the WWF. There were scaffold matches against the Road Warriors scheduled, and they just didn’t want to do them. I don’t blame them, look at how big they are. The NWA’s explanation was that the going got tough and the Powers of Pain wanted no part of those scaffold matches. They also left without giving notice. As everyone knows, these guys are really impressive physically. Mr. Fuji and Slick come out to ringside to watch their match, during which they destroy their opponents. It’s finished with Barbarian’s diving headbutt, and they get a large cheer from the crowd. Funny considering that they just appeared out of nowhere and were heels on Crockett’s TV.

 

– July 25th, 1988, from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York

 

Andre the Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Jim Duggan in a LUMBERJACK MATCH

Pre-Match Thoughts: The lumberjacks are the British Bulldogs, Bret Hart, the Rougeau Brothers, Demolition, King Haku, Don Muraco, the Rockers, SD Jones, Greg Valentine, Terry Taylor, Lanny Poffo, and Danny Davis. With this series being wrapped up, it seems to me that the MSG match is the one to choose for a look. This was the drawing card match, and it drew about 11k. Not so good for MSG.

Match Review: Duggan climbs into the ring, and we’re off. Andre is doing a funny job of heeling and playing that up for the crowd, then he grabs Duggan from behind and chokes him. Duggan falls out of the ring after a headbutt, and gets thrown back in. Andre continues to choke Duggan, then headbutts him and the lumberjacks have to keep Duggan in the ring. Andre sits on him, but Duggan is finally able to get up. He hits Andre, and breaks up Andre’s bear hug attempt. Andre gets tied in the ropes, and Duggan tries his own headbutt, which causes him to injure himself. The heels untie Andre, who then crushes Duggan in the corner. Andre puts a chinlock on Duggan, then Andre bites him. Andre puts him in a bear hug, and I’m shocked how heated this match is after how it has gone. Andre has given Duggan nothing. Duggan breaks the bear hug with a bite, then Duggan goes for his 3 POINT STANCE. He runs into Andre’s fist, and Andre goes to untie the turnbuckle pad. It’s off, and Andre throws him into the corner. Not face-first, but Duggan’s back into it. Andre chokes Duggan, and Andre misses a headbutt, driving his own face into the exposed turnbuckle. Duggan rams Andre’s face into that turnbuckle again, and finally the crowd gets what they wanted, as Andre tumbles out of the ring after a 2×4 shot when the official wasn’t paying attention! Andre beats up all of the lumberjacks, and crawls back into the ring. Duggan goes for a clothesline, but Andre hits him into the gut. After ramming Duggan into the exposed buckle, Andre drops an elbow, and gets the pinfall win at 12:38.

The babyface lumberjacks enter the ring to check on Duggan, who got beaten up pretty badly. Andre attacks them, and all of the lumberjacks start brawling now. Andre leaves the ring, and Hacksaw climbs in to clear all of the heel lumberjacks out of it.

My Thoughts: This wasn’t a great match, but I was able to stay completely interested. Both wrestlers did a great job of keeping the crowd involved despite a lack of action. I was actually quite impressed by that. It’s not often that a poor match can get that kind of reaction from me. Another thing is that with this being the standard Andre match, and the limit of what he can actually do, this was a pretty good performance. 1/2*, I won’t watch it again, but it was a good exercise in crowd control. Perhaps it’s the kind of match that WWE should show trainees.

Right before this card, Bam Bam Bigelow left the company. According to the WON, this was about travel, how he was used, and how he was paid. Not surprising, he wasn’t used very well at all. As for the travel schedule, the WON states that any trip less than 600 miles was one that the wrestlers would have to drive. Imagine driving 500 miles after a show…that is not cool.

 

– July 31st, 1988, from Milwaukee County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin…IT’S WRESTLEFEST!

 

Bad News Brown vs. Bret Hart

Pre-Match Thoughts: I’m going to review the matches from this show that I want to watch. This show wasn’t released in full on video, so this appeared to be the smartest thing to do. Bad News and Bret had a lot of matches around the horn, so it seems like the right thing to do to review one of them. Besides, I really want to see it. This was an outdoor show, and it drew a massive crowd. No surprise there.

Match Review: Brown stalls from the very beginning, which gets him booed immediately. They lock up, and Bret gets thrown into the buckle. Bret avoids a charge, lands some punches, and gives Brown a hip toss. After a bodyslam, Bret drops an elbow. Bret rakes Brown’s eyes across the top rope, and lands another elbow. Brown blocks Bret’s charge towards him, and heads up top. Bret springs up and slams him down, then goes up to the second rope for an elbow that gets 2. He gives Brown a suplex, and after a leg drop he gets 2. Bret goes for a backbreaker, but Brown rakes the eyes. He hits Bret with a clothesline, and says he’s going to hit Bret with the GHETTO BLASTER. Brown goes for it, but misses. He misses a charge to the corner as well, and Bret backdrops him over the top. Bret follows him to the floor with a plancha(!), then puts him back inside. Bret gives Brown a cross body for 1, then winds up on the apron. Bret comes in with a sunset flip for 2, and gives him a backbreaker now. That also got 2. Bret follows with a cradle for 2, but Brown reverses it while holding the tights, picking up the win at 6:26.

Jim Neidhart rushes down to the ring because of this miscarriage of justice, and distracts Brown long enough that Bret can take him out from behind. Well done! Brown rolls into the ring, Neidhart clobbers him, and Brown hightails it to the back.

My Thoughts: I thought this was a pretty good match for how long it was. They packed in a lot of stuff, had a pinfall finish, and had a good post-match. That’s ideal for an early match on a long card like this. Very pleased with how things turned out, ***.

 

Jim Duggan vs. The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Pre-Match Thoughts: HTM’s reign is winding down, but they’re still able to find new challengers for him. Duggan had not challenged him on TV at all, until this was aired on Prime Time Wrestling. I know this won’t be good, but it ticks off that unique factor that I’m looking for. Before the match, HTM was interviewed at the podium, and he said that he’ll sing and dance when the match is over.

Match Review: HTM stalls as per usual, until Duggan chases him. About time, that took quite a while. Duggan merely punches him, following that with 10 more in the corner. Duggan rams HTM’s face into the buckle 10 times as well, then hits him with a clothesline to knock him to the outside. Duggan rams HTM’s head into Hart’s, and brings him back in. HTM attacks Duggan on his way back into the ring, and distracts the referee so his manager can choke the challenger. HTM rams Duggan’s face into the buckle, but when trying it again, Duggan blocks and does it to his opponent. He hits HTM with a back elbow, and after a clothesline, it’s time for the 3 POINT STANCE. Duggan gets tripped by Hart, and the bell rings for a DQ at 4:38.

Duggan is understandably upset, so he chases Hart around the ring. HTM takes a big swing at Duggan with his guitar, and misses. So, Duggan gets the 2×4, and HTM and Hart leave the ring before getting hit with it. However, Duggan goes into the aisle, and brings Hart into the ring. HTM tries a sneak attack, and misses…when they leave the ring this time it’s really over. Duggan smashes HTM’s guitar for good measure.

My Thoughts: This wasn’t good or anything, I just wanted to see what kind of match they would put together. I’d give it 3/4*. Hot crowd for this card, they are cheering and/or booing pretty much everything.

 

Terry Taylor vs. Curt Hennig

Pre-Match Thoughts: Hennig has finally joined the WWF! I’m very excited to see this and the other matches that are in store from him. I’ve always enjoyed his work, but I haven’t watched nearly enough of his matches as I could or should have watched. That is about to change. Taylor is looking a bit plump. As the story goes, both of these guys were candidates for being named Mr. Perfect. In the end, they clearly made the correct choice.

Match Review: Hennig takes Taylor down with a hip toss, and an arm drag after that. Taylor comes back with his own hip toss and arm drag, then knocks him out of the ring with a dropkick. Of course, Curt took a great bump off that, and back inside, Taylor takes him down with a headlock. Hennig reverses to a head-scissors, and back to square one. Taylor takes him down with another headlock, and Hennig comes back with a back suplex. He slams Taylor, and Taylor comes back with a backslide for 2. After a knee lift, Hennig puts a sleeper on Taylor. Taylor uses a jawbreaker to get out of it, and he gives Hennig a flying body press for 2. Hennig hits Taylor with a running forearm, and gets a 3 count at 4:52. What, is he Lex Luger now? A forearm?

My Thoughts: This was a nothing match that could have been far better. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t really respond to any of it despite their hard work. More to come from these two, for sure. *1/2.

 

Andre the Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Hulk Hogan in a STEEL CAGE MATCH

Pre-Match Thoughts: This is Hogan’s return match after filming No Holds Barred. I believe this is the last singles match between these two to make tape anywhere. It being a cage match, there’s no doubt that this drew people to the stadium. Obviously it was a good idea to place a match like this at a stadium. The funniest thing about it is that the cage seems very short, perhaps that is due to Andre’s height. He isn’t much shorter than the top of the cage.

Match Review: Hogan and Andre lock up, with both guys immediately resorting to chokes. Andre grabs the remnants of Hogan’s shirt to choke him with, that goes on for a while. Hogan comes back with a choke of his own, and nails Andre with multiple punches in the corner. Hogan tries to climb enough enough to choke Andre with his boot, and nails him with a few elbows too. Eventually they fall back into the position of Andre choking Hogan, and he ties Hogan up in the cage with that shirt. Oh dear. He nails Hogan with his best chops, clobbering him with the biggest smile on his face. Andre goes for the door, but Hogan breaks free and grabs his leg. Andre tries a bear hug, but Hogan gets out and starts to climb, only for Andre to hit him. Hogan bumps from the second rope off a chop, and Andre drops an elbow on him. Over to the door again, and Hogan stops it. So, Andre unties the turnbuckle pad, and rams Hogan’s face into the exposed steel. Hogan blades off that, amusing considering that is supposed to have been banned by the WWF. I guess that does not apply to Hogan. It’s a real gusher, and Hogan gets rammed into the fence. In fact, this is the best I’ve seen a WWF wrestler blade in a while. Hogan hits Andre with a clothesline, and now the crowd is into this thing. Hogan nails Andre with another clothesline, and down the big man goes. Hogan drops the leg, at which point Heenan climbs into the cage. He tries to stop Hogan from leaving, as Andre tries to climb over the top. IS THIS FOR REAL? Hogan hits Andre until he goes down, and Andre gets tied in the ropes. Hogan launches Heenan into the cage, and climbs over the top for the victory at 10:03. That popped the crowd huge!

My Thoughts: I was sufficiently entertained by how that match finished. Starting from the point where Hogan bled, it was quite alright. I was also very surprised by Andre attempting to climb over the cage. I thought the cage would break, but it didn’t! I’m going to give this *, which is actually pretty good for a match between these two. Easy to see why they drew money as the crowd was invested all along.

 

I’m not reviewing this just yet, but there was a skit during a Superstars taping where Ted DiBiase attempts to bribe Jesse Ventura in anticipation of the SummerSlam main event. If I find a video of that I’ll fold it into the review of that show.

 

– Taped to air August 27th, 1988, on Wrestling Challenge, from the Civic Center in Wheeling, West Virginia

 

RON BASS ATTACKS BRUTUS BEEFCAKE

This is also part of the SummerSlam broadcast, but I need material. Brutus Beefcake was supposed to face the Honky Tonk Man at SummerSlam. At some point, Vince changed course and decided that was going to be the Ultimate Warrior’s job instead. They ran an angle here to get out of it, and it was Ron Bass raking his spur into Beefcake’s head. That’s a good way of blading somebody on camera, haha. Nice big censored sign on the screen there. Eventually, some wrestlers come out to break it up. Surprised they chose Ron Bass for that angle, he hadn’t done shit since joining the company. Earlier in the taping, Beefcake had attacked him and destroyed his rope, so naturally Bass had to slice Beefcake’s head open. I do believe they did not show that on the original broadcast.

 

– August 27th, 1988, from the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs. The Hart Foundation

Pre-Match Thoughts: As usual, a Hart Foundation match was found and will be viewed. That’s hardly surprising. Of note is that this Philadelphia card did horrible attendance with Rude facing Roberts, and Savage facing DiBiase. That’s a card that should draw, but maybe the title match is played out by this point. The commentary team of Dick Graham, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Superstar Billy Graham tends to drive me insane.

Match Review: I cannot believe all these empty seats shown on TV at a WWF show. Incredible, really. The Rougeaus want a handshake, and if you believe that, you’re nuts. That’s how Bret and Neidhart feel about it, too. Raymond and Neidhart start things off, and Raymond breaks a wristlock to some boos. That was funny. Anvil takes Raymond down with a shoulderblock, and Raymond comes back with a dropkick. After some dancing, Raymond is given a dropkick by Neidhart to knock him outside! Bret and Jacques tag in, and Raymond gets upset when Bret throws hair grease at Raymond. Haha, that was good too. Three funny bits already. Jacques wants to shake hands, and Bret obliges. Jacques tries to screw him over, but nothing comes of it and Bret applauds the efforts of his opponent. Bret stops a monkey flip by elbowing Jacques in the jaw, and Rougeau has to tag out. Raymond takes his turn, and tries a sunset flip which Bret blocks. Neidhart tags in, and Bret chokes Raymond behind the official’s back. Funny how the crowd cheers that cheating. Neidhart puts a chinlock on Raymond, then tags back out. Bret gives Raymond a backbreaker for 2, and goes to his own chinlock. Jacques trips Bret as he runs the ropes, and hits Bret with an elbow behind Dave Hebner’s back. They exchange tags, and eventually Jacques puts a chinlock on the Hitman. Raymond switches in and does the same thing, then there’s another switch when Hebner isn’t paying attention. After another switch, Raymond tries a bodyslam, but Bret falls on top for 2. The Rougeau’s give him a double shot, and drag Neidhart into the ring again. Raymond drops Bret on Jacques knee, and that gets 2. Bret pulls off a small package, it gets 2. Raymond uses a front face-lock to keep Neidhart from tagging, and Jacques switches in with more official assistance. Jacques puts Bret in an abdominal stretch, and these guys cheat yet again with the leverage move. This match is making Hebner look like an absolute idiot. Raymond tags in and hits Bret with a savate kick for 2. Jacques tags in, has his monkey flip blocked, and turned into an inverted atomic drop. Bret finally makes the tag, and here we go.

Neidhart cleans house with dropkicks and bodyslams, then throws Raymond and Jacques into each other. Neidhart goes for Raymond, and gives him a back elbow. Referee isn’t able to count, when he does, it is a 2 count. Bret tags back in, and gives Raymond an elbow drop after a Neidhart backbreaker, for 2. Bret gives Raymond an atomic drop, then follows that with a piledriver. The referee ushers Neidhart to the apron, and Jacques lands a double axehandle on Bret, who was covering Raymond. Jacques covers, and he gets 3 at 17:46.

My Thoughts: That was a textbook WWE house show tag team match. Didn’t try to tear the house down, didn’t take a whole lot of bumps, and didn’t do anything that you haven’t seen before. Surprisingly the finish was semi-clean, I didn’t quite expect that. I don’t like when the referee is made to look like such an idiot, but that’s to be expected at times. **1/2, I’m cool with how that went.
So, that’s two more months in the books. There were a few things that I did not review and should go over. One was that Owen Hart joined the company as the Blue Blazer. At the time he was considered one of the best workers on the planet, so he should be a welcome addition if I can find anything with him in it. The WWF tried to run a show at the Greensboro Coliseum and got stuffed. Crockett fans weren’t gonna watch that shit. There was nothing to recommend in any of this, but I didn’t think these months were bad match wise. SummerSlam wise, I can’t believe they pulled it off. The main event was the only thing of any significance. Let’s look at the hype package!

Best: Bad News Brown vs. Bret Hart. Was a nice match.

Worst: SummerSlam build. That wasn’t good.