Sage Cortez
We’re back to the WWF to fill the gap between SNME #23 and Survivor Series, and boy we really do have a lot going on here. For the first time, the WWF aired a special before the PPV that had somewhat interesting, full-length matches. So, I’ll be checking the matches from that show out. We also have an MSG card that Dave Meltzer rated as one of the worst house shows he had ever seen. Will have stuff from that too. I’m looking forward to this Survivor Series once I get to it as I’ve never watched a single thing on the show. Other than Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior obviously winning their matches, I can only guess what the rest of the show has to offer. Sorry for the above spoilers, but it has been 25 years. If anyone was wondering what happened to Barry Windham and why he left the WWF, apparently he had a benign tumor that had to be removed from his chest and he simply never returned to the company.
– Taped to air October 28th, 1989, on Superstars, from the Civic Center in Wheeling, West Virginia
The Brother Love Show with Roddy’s Rowdies
I didn’t watch all of these nor could I find them, but leading into Survivor Series they had a bunch of these Brother Love Shows with the teams that were put together for the PPV. The most obvious reason to watch this one is that Piper constantly picks on Brother Love. Hopefully he will again. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Piper’s team is facing Rick Rude’s, and he drafted in Jimmy Snuka and the Bushwhackers. Piper and Snuka being teamed up is WEIRD. The Bushwhackers basically bit Piper’s shirt until it was torn off his body. That’s really gross.
– October 28th, 1989, from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York
Macho King (w/Queen Sherri) vs. Jim Duggan for the KING’S CROWN
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is that MSG card that Meltzer said was a horrendous house show. Fortunately, being picky and choosy and all of that, I’m only going to watch two matches from it. This would seem to be the best one. The funniest thing about this show sucking, and really it’s not so funny, but 16,000 people paid to watch this. Hacksaw needs REVENGE for the attack on him when he lost his crown. During his entrance, he cleared the ring to a pretty big pop. Savage and Sherri had to run away!
Match Review: Savage attacks Hacksaw from behind, so here we go. Hacksaw comes back with a clothesline, and some big right hands follow that. Hacksaw clotheslines Savage again, then knocks Sherri down when she loses a tug of war over her King. Duggan atomic drops Savage, then Sherri pulls the top rope down on Hacksaw as he runs the ropes, so Hacksaw takes a big bump. Sherri pushes Hacksaw into the post as well, then smacks him with the purse for good measure. This lady is evil, bro. She kicks Hacksaw too, what a great performer. This is garnering so much heat. Savage climbs up top, and down he comes with BOMBS AWAY, this is turning into a beating. Hacksaw finally crawls back into the ring, and Savage drops him backwards by running him throat-first into the top rope for 2. He heads up top again after that, and lands a double axehandle for 2. A knee drop follows that for another 2 count, then Savage misses a leapfrog body guillotine! The crowd popped so big for that spot. Hacksaw misses an elbow drop, so he’s back to the position of being dominated it would seem. Savage heads up top, and comes down only to be hit in the gut this time. Hacksaw gets raked in the eyes, then he backdrops Savage big time over the top rope. Man, that’s a hell of a bump. Hacksaw throws Savage into the crowd, THE ROYALTY IS NOW WITH THE PEASANTS, BROTHER. He drags Savage back over the rail and rams him into the stairs, then cracks him in the ribs with a chair. Hacksaw slams Savage, then drops a knee on him and goes for a cover. Sherri gets on the apron of course, which means the cover can only be a 2 count. Sherri then puts Savage’s foot on the ropes during another cover, and Hacksaw has words for her this time. STOP CHEATING. He takes Savage out with a shoulderblock, then misses another and gets thrown into the buckle. Savage follows that with a clothesline, and heads up top once again. This time it’s for the FLYING ELBOW, but Hacksaw moves! He gets up for a clothesline on the Macho King, then hits him with a second. Another clothesline sends Savage back into the corner, and it’s time for Hacksaw to try the THREE POINT STANCE. He runs Savage over with a gigantic clothesline, but it knocks him out of the ring. Of course, Hacksaw picks Savage up and throws him back in, then Sherri scratches Hacksaw’s back. He’s had enough of her shit now, and chases her around the ring! He finally grabs hold of Sherri, and the referee gets between them before something happens. So, Savage hits Duggan from behind with a high knee, and that knocks the referee down as well. Hacksaw tries a small package and has Savage down for the count, but the referee is unconscious. Hacksaw wants another referee, but there isn’t one coming by the look of it. He gives Savage an atomic drop and clothesline, then covers again for no count. Sherri passes the LOADED PURSE over to Savage as Hacksaw is worried about the referee, so Savage hits Hacksaw with it. He can’t win the match either. So, Sherri wakes the referee up, but Duggan kicks out at 2! Gigantic pop! Savage tries another cover with his feet on the ropes and Sherri holding his feet there, and the referee is so out of it that he doesn’t spot them. As such, Savage gets the pinfall victory at 16:04. Hacksaw gets up, grabs the 2×4 and hits Savage with it, but that’s a bit empty as he lost the match.
My Thoughts: This was a hell of a match, where one guy did all the working for another guy who just stood there dishing out clotheslines. Sherri also played a major part and did the work of another wrestler on the outside of the ring. She always did, as far as managers go, she has to be up there with the best ever. *** for the match, Savage earned all of those by himself. Hacksaw looked majorly gassed out working a match that long, but he had it in him to have good matches against the right opponent and this match shows that. The next time they went to the Garden, they had a rematch where the bout had two referees. No doubt I’ll check that out.
Andre the Giant vs. The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
So, this is a bit of an infamous match. No point in doing the usual structure as I believe everyone knows what happens here. Bobby Heenan gets kicked out from ringside for arguing with the referee, which gets some early heat on the match. I think perhaps Heenan didn’t want to take bumps from Warrior or that they didn’t want Heenan associated with this. Anyway, Warrior runs straight in the ring, hits Andre with 3 clotheslines, a big splash, and pins him after 21 seconds. They didn’t even stop the music! The thing is, the MSG crowd is the hardcore fanbase, so they didn’t react the same as the other cities around the country. At MSG they popped for the finish. In the other cities, people felt like they got completely ripped off for what they had paid to see. This was Andre’s only pinfall loss at MSG, by the way.
– Taped to air November 4th, 1989, on Superstars, from the Civic Center in Wheeling, West Virginia
Demolition vs. The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan)
Pre-Match Thoughts: With Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson on their way out, this would appear to be the time for a title change. Sure it’s regular TV, and sure it’s not ideal, but you do what you have to do. I hope it’s somewhat as good as their other matches, although the Superstars format doesn’t quite allow for a match that’s the length needed for that to be the case.
Match Review: Smash and Arn start the match, and Arn throws him into the corner for an early double team. Smash fights out of it, and all four guys wind up in the ring as Ax and Smash hit both Busters with back elbows. They pull Tully in for a double back elbow, and Smash goes to work on him until he misses a charge to the corner. Tully leaps off the second rope, but Smash catches him and takes him back to the corner for more double team punching. Ax tagged in during thatt, and hits Arn. All four guys are in again, and Tully gets tossed over the top as Arn hits Smash with an elbow. He tries a knee drop, but Smash blocks it and follows with an atomic drop that sends him into Ax’s boot. He tries a suplex, but Tully runs in and clips Smash’s knee so Arn falls on top of Smash. Tully tags in, rams Smash’s face into the mat, and clobbers away until he tags out. Arn chokes Smash with the tag rope for a while, and Tully does the same thing. Some real cheating going on here. Tully tags in again and lands an elbow from the top, it only gets 2 though. Tully then gets thrown into Arn’s knee, but Arn tags in before Smash can make his exit. Arn gives Smash the SPINEBUSTER, it gets 2 as Ax breaks the cover. Tully comes in for a suplex, but Smash reverses into one of his own and makes the tag out. Ax hits Tully and Arn with clotheslines, then slams them both for good measure. Smash uses a HOTSHOT on Arn, then it’s time for Tully to take DEMOLITION DECAPITATION. Ax covers, and that wins the titles for Demolition after 5:29!
My Thoughts: I think the crowd was really surprised by how that ended, as they weren’t exactly standing up when Demolition delivered their finish. Maybe they didn’t think it was possible for them to win the belts in a match taped for TV, but that’s what happened! It was simply standard stuff, nothing special, but they put the belts back on the right team. **. Demolition didn’t really celebrate the win like you’d expect either, that was kind of a let down. This was also the last time I’ll watch Arn and Tully team up. For my money, the best heel team going. Then or now. They had so many spots to rotate through, so much chemistry, and they knew how to get heat in front of any audience, even a WWF audience without having a gimmick. I feel like the videos going forward will be lacking something now that they’re not in them.
– Taped to air November 11th, 1989, on Superstars, from the Civic Center in Wheeling, West Virginia
DINO BRAVO TEST OF STRENGTH
This was intended for Jimmy Hart to have the biggest guy in the audience sit on Bravo’s back while doing a push-up. BAH GAWD, THAT LOOKS A LOT LIKE EARTHQUAKE. He said he was from West Virginia, and said that his name was John. He weighs 460 pounds! Bravo does the push-ups, and now it’s time for a challenge. He issued that open challenge, and here comes THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR. He gets on the mat for his set of push-ups, and when it’s time for John to sit on his back, he jumps on him and Bravo drops an elbow on the back of his head. Earthquake squashes him with a set of big splashes, and I suppose we have a feud now. It’s beyond me what Bravo did to earn this spot, other than be in the WWF for a while and be a bad wrestler. Warrior got up after all that, and his selling was amazing too. THAT OWNED.
– Taped to air November 12th, 1989, on Survivor Series Showdown, from Kansas Coliseum in Wichita, Kansas
The Big Boss Man (w/Slick and Akeem) vs. Tito Santana (w/Dusty Rhodes)
Pre-Match Thoughts: This was a concept show where select wrestlers from the teams facing each other at Survivor Series would face each other in singles matches. Good concept! This match sounds like it could be the best that took place here, many of which I’ll review. Both guys were capable of putting on great matches.
Match Review: Boss Man appears to finally have his nightstick back, but the match starts with a hell of a lot of nothing. Santana gets the first punches in, but Boss Man comes back with his own that knock Santana down. He comes back with some dropkicks, and those send Boss Man out of the ring to the delight of the crowd. When he gets back in, Santana puts a headlock on him. Another dropkick knocks Boss Man down, and it appears Boss Man is bleeding a bit. He drops Santana with a back suplex, then follows that with a gutwrench powerbomb! Never see that move back then. He lands on Santana with a leapfrog body guillotine, then chokes him with his boot. Boss Man slams Santana, then misses an elbow drop. Santana takes him down with a cross body for 2, and when Boss Man kicks out, he tosses Santana out of the ring. Santana crawls back in and gets slapped, then chopped down to the canvas with some huge right forearm shots. Boss Man puts him in a chinlock to follow that up, then tosses Santana hard into the corner. Boss Man misses a charge to the corner, and Santana goes to work on the knee that hit the turnbuckle. He signals for the figure-four, then Dusty and Slick get on the apron. Akeem tosses the nightstick to Boss Man, who hits Santana in the gut and goes for a cover. Dusty hits Boss Man with his nightstick, and Santana picks up the pinfall victory at 11:35!
My Thoughts: This match wasn’t quite what I expected, but the finish was very surprising as Santana won it. Him winning a match like this, even with help, was quite unusual. I’m cool with how it turned out although I think Boss Man could use a victory at Survivor Series to make up for this. Following booking patterns that would occur 13 years after this, it would mean that Boss Man was going to win. *3/4.
Tully Blanchard (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WWF Intercontinental Champion)
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a hell of a weird matchup, but it’s non-title. Perhaps as weird as it gets all things considered. Tully never got the chance to wrestle a singles match in the WWF other than this match, so I don’t know what quite to make of it. Warrior has improved a lot but he still sucks, perhaps Tully can do some great heeling for him though.
Match Review: Tully tries to push this monster, and runs after Warrior only to be shoved down a lot. Warrior grips his hand too strongly on a handshake, and pulls him back into the ring from the apron when he tries to run away. Tully thumbs him in the eye, and Warrior no-sells all of the punches that follow. He launches Tully over the top rope, then follows him out there for a punch. Warrior throws him over the top again when they get back in, and Tully wants to leave the ringside area. Of course, Warrior follows him and picks him up to press slam him back into the ring. Warrior heads up top now, and comes down with a double axehandle. He rams Tully into the buckle a few times, then misses a big splash in the corner. Vince McMahon is on commentary and claims there’s dissension in the Heenan Family, but who knows. Tully chokes Warrior with his boot, then gets clotheslined as Warrior runs out of the corner. Warrior misses another splash, this time landing on Blanchard’s knees. Warrior reverses a suplex into one of his own, then goes for an elbow drop that he misses. Warrior runs into a knee now, and Tully heads up top only for Warrior to catch him with a powerslam. Heenan signals to the back for help, and Warrior picks Tully up for a press slam. Arn Anderson comes out and kicks Warrior from behind, leading to a DQ at 6:00. Warrior clotheslines both of the Busters, and here comes Haku from the back now. These guys triple team Warrior for a while, until reinforcements arrive. IT’S THE ROCKERS AND JIM NEIDHART. Those three clear the ring, and then here comes ANDRE THE GIANT. He doesn’t get in the ring, though. Too bad.
My Thoughts: This was a great performance on Tully’s part, he did a hell of a job calling spots that made Warrior look great. The powerslam after Tully jumped off the top rope was possibly the best spot Warrior had been given to that point. Of course, Warrior actually made it look really good himself. He also held up his end of the bargain, so we’ll go with **1/4 due to the non-finish. Affter this show was taped, Tully Blanchard got fired due to a failed drug test. He also refused to job to Warrior in this match. Tully overplayed his hand very massively as that drug test pretty much got him blackballed from the two major promotions. He did it to himself. I also read that his status was such that Vince had tried to make him do things he may not have wanted to do or he wouldn’t release the Busters from their contracts. What exactly that means, I don’t know.
Ted DiBiase vs. Smash (WWF Tag Team Champion)
Pre-Match Thoughts: I generally don’t like Smash’s singles matches at all, so not really looking forward to this one too much. DiBiase can be similarly slow at times. Sadly, he does not yet have an entrance theme, even though nearly the entire roster did at this point. I suppose Ax can’t accompany Smash to the ring due to the famed MANAGERIAL LICENSE. Too bad.
Match Review: Smash hits DiBiase with a right hand from behind, and here we go. He gives DiBiase an atomic drop to send him over the top, and Smash has some money to put in his trunks now. He’s gotten a bit fat. Smash backdrops and clotheslines DiBiase, but DiBiase uses his craft to gain the advantage by forcing Smash to chaase him around the ring and attacking first. Sadly, Smash comes back with a clothesline, and does it again to send DiBiase back over the top. He rams DiBiase into the post, then goes to clothesline him and hits the metal. DiBiase clotheslines Smash on the floor, and brings him back in for a knee to the gut. DiBiase drops a fist a few times, then uses a swinging neckbreaker on Smash. Rarely see DiBiase do that, but it got a 2 count. He drives his knee into Smash’s head for another close count, then puts a chinlock on him. When Smash gets out, DiBiase hits him with another knee, and covers for 2. Back to the chinlock again, sadly. It goes on for terribly long, which makes matters worse. Smash gets out again, and gets hit with a clothesline for 2. Is it back to the chinlock again? Yes. Smash runs DiBiase into the turnbuckle so he breaks free, then DiBiase goes to the chinlock AGAIN only for Smash to break it. This sucks. Smash hits DiBiase as DiBiase leaps off the turnbuckles, then he backdrops him. Now, out from the back…here comes ZEUS. THE WRECKING MACHINE. Smash powerslams DiBiase, but now he has that problem to deal with. DiBiase dumps Smash out to the floor, where Zeus does the NECK BREAK. BAH GAWD HE BROKE THAT NECK IN HALF. DiBiase covers, and wins the match at 10:11. That’s the best Zeus has been put over! DiBiase then slaps the Million Dollar Dream on Smash until Ax runs out there, and DiBiase and Virgil have to hold Zeus back from attacking Demolition and destroying them. Too bad, that would have been the best thing in the match.
My Thoughts: This was a terrible match, full stop. I wish I hadn’t watched it, as it only served to aggravate me and bore me to death. Could have spent 10 minutes of my Sunday a hell of a lot better than that. 1/4*, possibly as low as you’ll find for a DiBiase match, although I may have rated one lower I can’t currently think of.
– Taped to air November 19th, 1989, on Wrestling Challenge, from Kansas Coliseum in Wichita, Kansas
Akeem (w/Slick) vs. Dusty Rhodes
Pre-Match Thoughts: Rest assured I have a reason for watching and linking this. I don’t watch these matches from Wrestling Challenge very often. Dusty was so over even though this was so far past his best days, which speaks to the power of the WWF marketing machine. He was nowhere near this over when he left the NWA.
Match Review: While this match gives off the appearance of sucking, I dig the personalities here, as shown when Akeem gets in the ring and dances. Dusty does the same too! Akeem misses a splash in the corner, so Dusty punches him 10 times as Boss Man’s ENFORCERS have an insert promo. Alright, then. Slick grabs Dusty to stop him from running, so Dusty gets knocked down by Akeem, who puts a nerve hold on him. Slick starts arguing with a Dusty fan in the front row, that fan does look awfully familiar. Dusty runs into an elbow, and the camera goes back to Slick and the fan. Slick starts poking her and telling her to sit down, then Akeem walks out of the ring to scream at her as well. Dusty decides to walk out and knock Akeem down, so Akeem gets counted out at 3:52. Dusty cleared him from the ring too.
My Thoughts: I believe this is the first time Sapphire was shown on WWF TV. I didn’t like the direction of that and found it embarrassing, but Dusty really made it work. I don’t know why they did that to him after he had gotten over as well as he did, but if the intent was to bury him, it didn’t really work. DUD match, interesting for the angle and where it went.
The build to Survivor series was interesting I thought, and it seemed as if the WWF really put a lot into building it up. Maybe they thought it wasn’t going to draw people in, maybe they realized how important it was to hype up the show, I don’t really know. The match lineup was very odd and the roster had thinned out quite a bit, but they were still able to fill the show very easily. Going forward, I believe the Piper/Rude feud continued and ended with a cage match at MSG, and the Macho King/Duggan program continued. Both of those will be reviewed the next time I go through WWF’s random matches, which should actually be a while from now. Lot of big shows had come up on the calendar. Next up it’s going to be Clash of the Champions 9. I’ve only ever seen the I Quit match from that, and I’m really looking forward to the rest.
Best: Macho King vs. Hacksaw. By far the best, was a hell of a performance by Savage.
Worst: Pairing Dusty Rhodes with Sapphire in an attempt to embarrass him. That’s just not cool.
