Andrew Lutzke
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan vs. “Macho King” Randy Savage
Sean Mooney and Alfred Hayes call the action. Savage drives Duggan nuts by slowly undressing while on the throne. Duggan finally climbs to the floor and dumps the throne and Savage over. Duggan uses his fists to rock Savage around the ring, shaking off the King’s brief attempt to mount a comeback. Sherri distracts Duggan and that allows Savage to get the drop on him. That’s both a metaphor and reality as Savage launches from the top rope down onto Duggan on the floor. Duggan’s skull meets with the steel post.
Savage attacks in the ring with another double axe handle. He then dumps Duggan’s throat on the top rope. Savage is dumped to the floor with a big back drop. Sherri tries to distract Duggan, so he tosses aside the ref and assaults Savage to spite her.
Duggan continues the battering in the ring, dropping a knee and earning a visual pin that Sherri prevents the ref from counting. Savage endures a series of clotheslines, and even Sherri jumping back on the ring edge can’t stop Duggan’s flurry. “It’s the broad!” he screams.
Duggan chases Sherri after she rakes his back. He threatens her with a punch and gets jumped by Macho Man. Sherri loads her purse and Savage cracks Duggan with it. Duggan kicks out! I’m legit surprised. Duggan kicks Savage’s butt a little more before Sherri trips him up mid-suplex and winds up getting pinned.
Duggan takes the loss poorly, assaulting Savage on the floor then cracking him with the 2×4 in the ring. This was great fun, with well designed teased finishes I totally bought into.
Profile: The Rockers
The Rockers vs. the Powers of Pain
Hillbilly Jim and Gorilla Monsoon are on the call from MSG. The WWF failed to draw well for this event, as the empty upper tier seats are evident. Michaels is tossed around by the Barbarian. Marty Jannetty makes a leap in, knocking Shawn’s back as the Barbarian has him scooped up. The Rockers use this opening to deliver several double team moves to both heels to send them in retreat.
The Warlord is immobile, so the Rockers do their best to use him as a base instead of someone who will bump for their moves. Shawn delivers a hurricanrana! Marty is caught by the Warlord’s mass and takes several high altitude bumps as the Warlord chucks him around.
The Barbarian boots Jannetty to the floor, where Fuji cracks him with his cane. Barbarian slams him back first into the pole, then slams him to the cement. The abuse continues back in the ring, with Marty bumping like mad while still trying to show some fire. Marty teases several tags. The Barbarian missing a flying elbow finally gives Jannetty the opening needed to tag Shawn.
Things quickly break down into a four-way skirmish. Shawn is tripped by Fuji and the Barbarian pins him. Ugh. The Rockers attack Fuji, so the Powers of Pain toss Michaels to the floor, allowing Jannetty to be mauled in the ring.
The Rockers got way more out of the Powers of Pain than I expected. They were excellent pinballs for the big men.
The Rockers vs. Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo
Jannetty is out muscled by Bravo early on, however, the Rockers speed sends the heels into retreat. Valentine uses his grinding style to slow Michaels down, until he misses a corner charge and the Rockers began a series of quick tags and double team moves to keep Valentine in trouble.
Bravo comes in fresh, leading to Jannetty becoming the face in peril. The heels grind and drive him into the mat numerous times as Marty tries to survive. This, of course, builds to Shawn making the tag behind the ref’s back- only to be denied entering.
Michaels finally makes the tag, delivering dropkicks to Valentine, Bravo and Jimmy Hart as the fans go crazy. The Rockers deliver the double fist drop on Bravo, but Valentine prevents the pin. They tease several more finishes, before Valentine clotheslines Jannetty and Bravo MAKES THE PIN!?!!??! WTF?
Ronnie Garvin, now a ref, runs down and reverses the call, giving the Rockers a shallow victory. This was standard tag team formula stuff, good enough – but nothing special.
Final profile tally: Two losses and a beatdown to boot.
Hercules vs. Akeem
Akeem sells Hercules swinging his chain by shucking and jiving on the floor. I am amused. Akeem gets the early advantage before taking a fat man bump to the floor. Slick gets whacked by Hercules, leading to the Slickster taking off his jacket and trying to get in the ring to fight. Akeem dances but can’t land a punch. Hercules attempts a slam, which ends poorly.
Akeem takes overly briefly before Herc roars back. Akeem does some more comedy selling before Slick pulls down the top rope while Hercules runs the ropes. Herc falls to the floor and the ref calls for the DQ. Akeem brings him in the ring and attempts a splash, which misses. Hercules slams him and celebrates with some chain swinging. This was short and inoffensive.
Lord Alfred Hayes teaches us some wrestling moves in “Call of the Action” featuring the Orient Express. Amusingly, he calls a chop to the neck a “forearm”. Sato impresses me with a sit out powerbomb!
Demolition vs. The Orient Express
Demolition uses their power and rough house style to control the early going. The Express get a little advantage from double teaming, but struggle to maintain control in one on one situations. Mr. Fuji finally gets involved with his cane and Smash ends up in the heel corner in a world of trouble.
Ax tags in after a bit and batters the heels. The Demolition Decapitation is set up, but Fuji gets involved again by whacking Ax with his cane. Ax chases him, falling into a trap as Sato blinds him with salt, leading to a count-out loss. This was taped 2 weeks before Wrestlemania 6, where the Express would beat the Rockers with the same finish. This was fine for a big man vs. little man clash.
Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Rick “the Model” Martel
Lord Alfred, Hillbilly Jim and Gorilla call the action. Martel uses his fists to wound Hart early, but the Hitman uses his scientific wrestling base to entangle and neutralize Martel. Hayes defines Martel as good looking enough to swoon any woman, whereas Hart is merely “ruggedly handsome”.
Hart is bumped to the floor and has his back driven into the ring edge. Martel focuses his attack on Hart’s back. Hart rallies with his side Russian leg sweep, diving elbow, and back breaker. The fight goes to the floor, where Hart atomic drops Martel and slips in the ring…but the time limit expired. This allegedly went over 20 minutes, which if true means I must have liked it more than I thought as the time flew by.
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude
This is the MSG cage match the WWF already put on an earlier release
BLOOPERS!~!~! We see some Heenan and Monsoon goodness here, mixed in with Lanny Poffo wearing a wig, some obviously staged bits with Mooney and Lord Alfred, a little Prime Time wackiness with Brother Love and Piper and it’s time for the feature match….
Brutus Beefcake and Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Perfect and The Genius
Monsoon, Heenan and Hillbilly Jim call the action. The faces clean house before the music for the Hulk even stops. Perfect surprisingly dominates Hogan in the early going, before Hennig is caught with a boot to the face, which sends him flying to the floor. Beefcake chases him down and knocks his head with the Genius’.
Monsoon compliments Beefcake’s recent steroid use. Perfect is dominated by Hogan and Beefcake for several minutes until Hogan is whacked in the face with the scroll. The Genius comes in and attacks the Hulkster in the most effeminate manner possible. Monsoon is disgusted. A moonsault ends poorly as Hogan gets his knees up. Beefcake and Perfect both come in fresh. Perfect bumps big for Beefcake’s offense.
The Genius smacks Beefcake with the scroll behind the ref’s back. Hogan chases the Genius to the back briefly. Perfect and the Genius spend several minutes working over the dazed Beefcake. Hogan makes a tag behind the ref’s back and is denied entry. This only serves to ramp up the drama.
Hogan is forced to run in and break up Perfect’s fisherman’s suplex. Hogan then tags in officially and is all fired up. Perfect pinballs for him, then flops over the top rope after Beefcake backdrops him. Hogan pins the Genius, then allows Beefcake to put him out with the sleeper. Hogan tosses the ref to the floor. What a dick. The faces prance around the ring, then cuts Lanny Poffo’s hair. This was pretty much by the numbers, but the fans were satisfied.
Final thoughts: This was a pretty solid line up, but all the tag matches were paint by numbers stuff, which may have numbed my brain after two hours of “okay” action.
