Sage Cortez
With SummerSlam done and dusted, the WWF has the task of picking up the pieces of their feud between Hogan and Zeus and trying to continue to get something out of it. What they came up with was an idea to sell a double feature PPV called No Holds Barred: THE MOVIE/THE MATCH. Obviously, the match was going to have Zeus in it, so a money making venture Zeus will still remain. Obviously heading out of the show, we have an injured Terry Taylor. It does look like Jake Roberts will be coming back, though.
– August 29th, 1989, from the Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts
The Rockers vs. The Hart Foundation
Pre-Match Thoughts: Rare to see a babyface match in the 80’s, but here we are! This was taped for Prime Time Wrestling and was also placed on a Coliseum Video, so you’d think that this is going to be really good. Who knows though, those are so hit and miss. Looks like Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred Hayes are on commentary for this outstanding matchup. What a battle of theme music, too!
Match Review: Marty and Bret will start the match off, and what a duo this is. Marty puts a headlock on Bret, who gets out and tries a bodyslam only for Marty to try a cradle. Then, he takes Marty down with a hip toss, gets kicked away, and they fight over wristlocks. Michaels tags in, and they give Bret a double hip toss and a double elbow drop. The Anvil runs in and takes both guys down with a shoulderblock, and we’re back to square one. He and Michaels are the legal men now, and Neidhart puts the young man in a headlock. Michaels shoots Neidhart into the ropes, and gets run over. He comes back with a drop toe-hold, and puts his own headlock on. Michaels eventually rolls up Neidhart for 2, and the Rockers do some quick tagging and double chops. Neidhart drops Michaels with a bodyslam, and out he goes for Bret who misses an elbow smash. Marty tags in, knee drops the arm, and puts Bret in an armbar. The match has a strange clip of some sort where Michaels and Neidhart wind up in the ring, and Bret hits Shawn with a dirty knee from behind. He tags in and gives Michaels a backbreaker, then tags back out after ramming him into Neidhart’s boot. Neidhart puts Michaels in a chinlock, then decides to make it a bear hug instead. He tags out and Michaels flips through another backbreaker, then slams Bret only to be unable to tag out. Neidhart tags in for a dropkick, it gets 2. He always looks funny when he does that move. He then backdrops Michaels for 2, and tags in Bret for some elbow smashes. Bret plants Michaels with a bodyslam, then brings Neidhart in for a slingshot splash that misses. Bret makes the tag back in quickly though, then blocks a Michaels charge to the corner and misses an elbow drop from the second rope.
Marty makes the tag in and people are loving it, and he hits Bret with a flying back elbow. After a dropkick, Marty powerslams Bret for 2. Marty clotheslines Bret in the corner, then hits him with a knee lift for 2. Michaels tags in and the Rockers hit Bret with a double superkick, and the Anvil breaks the cover. Michaels suplexes Bret for 2, then dodges a Bret charge to the corner only to be clotheslined. Bret now makes the sort of hot tag, and the Anvil runs Michaels over. He then gets shot into the ropes and Bret flies into the rail, obviously injuring him. The Rougeau Brothers then head out to the ring and attack the Rockers, and the match is a no contest at 13:25. The Rougeaus continue to attack the Rockers, but the Hart Foundation heads back into the ring to put a stop to it, and all four babyfaces beat them up. Then, the Rockers and Hart Foundation chases the Rougeaus to the back. Excellent!
My Thoughts: This was a lot of fun, and I’m sure there’s more to come from other matches between these guys. I don’t know how else to describe the match, really. It was just fun. The finish was good too, and I was expecting something a lot worse. The crowd loved it, though. ***1/4, maybe not worth a watch because there are better matches with these guys, but I really enjoyed it. The crowd did seem to clearly favor the Rockers, but I don’t think that means a whole lot in terms of who should have been pushed. These were the #2 and #3 teams on the babyface side, after all.
– August 30th, 1989, from the Civic Center in Portland, Maine
Koko B. Ware sings new entrance song!
I’ve always liked this song better than Piledriver. The crowd liked it too!
– Taped to air September 9th, 1989, on Superstars, from Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California
The Brother Love Show with Roddy Piper
This was taped well before SummerSlam, but didn’t air until afterward. Either way it makes sense seeing as to the fans in attendance, Piper was getting back at Rude when he mooned Rude at SummerSlam. We also had the Prime Time Wrestling segment to justify Piper’s interference at SummerSlam to those who did not attend this TV taping. Anyway, this was a total setup for Rude to attack Piper from behind. It was great when Piper poured toothpaste into Love’s mouth, though. About time somebody shut him up. Eventually, Bobby Heenan comes out there and distracts Piper long enough for Rude to grab mouthwash and pour it into Piper’s eyes. Rude gives him the RUDE AWAKENING, and throws Brother Love’s podium onto Piper. He puts the mouthwash in his own mouth and spits it at Piper, then officials head out from the back to save Roddy. Very good segment.
– Taped to air September 23rd and 30th, on Superstars, from the Civic Center in Portland, Maine
KING’S CROWN MATCH
For some reason the whole match isn’t shown, but we had Randy Savage challenging King Duggan for his crown. The footage pans over to Duggan having his hands on Sensational Sherri, and Savage uses the loaded purse to hit him from behind. That wins Savage the KINGSHIP. Even though we now have a Macho King, he sure as hell doesn’t intend to act like one. He positions Duggan in the middle of the ring, and heads up top for the FLYING ELBOW! He drops another two on Duggan, and destroys jobbers from the back too. Sherri even lands a few big splashes from the top on Duggan too. Good angle, you’d rarely see a wrestler be made to look like that on TV in those days. A stretcher was needed, just to finalize the beating that Savage put on Hacksaw. The next week we had…
CORONATION OF OUR NEW KING
The Genius read a poem for his brother, and now the crowd’s catching onto the gimmick and booing it loudly. GET THAT INTELLECTUAL BULLSHIT OUTTA HERE, PAL. The Million Dollar Man has a gift for the King, and it is…a GOLDEN SCEPTER.
– September 30th, 1989, from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York
Demolition vs. The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan) for the WWF Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’m always interested in a return match, and the Busters being in that match makes it even better. Nice sold out crowd for this show which featured matches between Andre the Giant and the Ultimate Warrior, and Rick Rude facing Roddy Piper. Big crowds like that without Hulk Hogan on the show were extremely rare. Before this show, the Brain Busters gave their notice that they were quitting the company. Of course, that meant they were going to lose the titles sometime very soon. Supposedly, the deals that were in place for those guys were $250k deals. WHo could turn that down?
Match Review: Looks like a brawl and Demolition doesn’t even have their headgear off. The Busters get thrown into each other, then Tully tries to fly off the top rope with a punch and gets caught in the gut. Smash blocks a sunset flip by Arn, and hits him with a big boot. Blanchard tags in, and Smash catches his cross body attempt and places him in the corner for a double team attack. Ax tagged in, hit Tully with an elbow, and choked him until Arn popped him with a left hand. Arn gets hit with a clothesline and so does Tully, and Smash chokes Arn with his boot. Smash puts Arn in a neck vice, and Demolition switches when Tully enters the ring on a non-tag. Smash puts a stomp on Arn until he falls out of the ring, then Ax rams Arn into the apron and throws Tully into the post. Just thugged those guys out of there. He gets in and does the same to Arn, then he draws Tully in with an elbow and tags back out. Smash hits Arn with a back elbow for 2, but Arn comes back with his own shot and makes his exit. Tully comes in with an elbow from the top, and hits Smash with a bunch of them. Arn tags back in and hits Smash with the SPINEBUSTER, then drops a knee only to have it blocked by Smash. Smash atomic drops him into Ax’s boot, and suplexes Arn for a 2 count. Tully rushes in and switches with his partner, but Ax hits him with a knee to the back as he runs the ropes. He tags in and hits Tully with a bunch of double axehandles, then puts him in a chinlock. He gets out and Arn tags in, and taken down with a hip toss. Ax goes to a neck vice, but Tully walks in and hits him from behind to break that up. He also chokes Ax with the tag rope, then sends him back in for more punishment. Tully now puts Ax in a chinlock, and Ax tries to pick him up, only for Arn to be the guy to tag in. He simply stomps away relentlessly, then tags out and takes his turn choking Ax with the tag rope. He tags back in and Tully tries to attack Ax from the apron, only to be rammed into the post. Ax then gets back in and collides with Arn, and Tully walks over to the corner to pull Smash off the apron before Ax can tag out. Arn then heads up to the second rope, and jumps into a clothesline. Ax then does make the tag out, and Smash bodyslams Arn. He then throws Tully out of the ring, and spikes Arn’s head into the mat. After an inverted atomic drop to Tully, he clotheslines him over the top again. He then drops Arn throat-first on the top rope, and Tully pulls the referee out of the ring for a DQ during the cover at 12:51. Now that’s how you keep your titles.
My Thoughts: This was solid stuff, not quite as good as their SNME matches but very solid. The finish was also great for garnering more heat in the future, as you can hardly think of many more cheap ways of keeping those titles. The match also had a lot of heat as per usual at MSG, can’t complain about that. I think the best thing about the match was that it was exactly the right length, not too long and not too short. **1/2.
Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Roddy Piper
Pre-Match Thoughts: Really looking forward to this match after the earlier angles between these guys. The crowd should be on fire to see Piper’s MSG return, they have to be. Rude’s shtick got immense heat, louder than I can remember ever happening to him. I was right, the crowd really wanted to see this. So do I and it’s over 25 years later. Rude wanted to say something before the match, and it was that Piper better take his skirt off.
Match Review: Rude tries to attack Piper, but Piper throws Rude over the top, leaving him in the ring with Heenan. He chases Heenan to the back, and runs back to the ring before being counted out to choke Rude with that skirt. Piper also bites Rude, then Rude comes back by whipping Piper with a belt. Piper fires off a dropkick, then they fight over the belt with Piper getting the better of it. Piper whacks Rude across his whole body with that belt, finishing it off with an old fashioned butt whipping. He then rams Rude into the buckle, but Rude hits him with an inverted atomic drop. A clothesline knocks Piper down, and Rude goes to a bear hug. Piper reverses into one of his own, but he takes a thumb to the eye and some punches to the back. Rude puts him in a chinlock after that, then he throws Piper out of the ring only for Piper to fly back into the ring. Rude then hits him with elbows, and back to the chinlock he goes. Piper picks Rude up on his shoulders, then he drops him backwards. He tries a suplex, but his back is messed up. He falls down during a bodyslam and Rude gets a 2 count, then Piper tries a sunset flip. Rude accidentally punches the canvas, and they fight over a backslide. Rude gets the better of it for a 2 count, and Piper rolls Rude up in a small package for 2. He hits Rude with a spinning backfist, but he misses a charge and his head winds up in the buckle. Rude heads up top, and lands a fist drop from way up there. The cover only gets 2, but the match has died off a little bit. Rude decides to go for the RUDE AWAKENING, but Piper hits him down low and uses a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Rude backdrops Piper over the top rope after a failed charge by Piper, then Piper throws a beer in Rude’s face. He rams Rude’s face into the mat after beating him up a little bit, then both guys tumble over the top after a cross body. Piper and Rude fight it out on the floor, and the bell sounds at 11:00 as both guys were counted out.
Piper then drags Rude back from the backstage area, and picks up a chair. He hits Rude in the head with that chair, and punches the referee too. Rude hits Piper back with a chair, and this time when he leaves, he’s gone.
My Thoughts: This was far less of a match than I had expected. Sadly, both guys didn’t, or rather couldn’t live up to the high standard that the fans expected. They both looked very tired after those 11 minutes, so I’m sure that played a part. It’s a shame because that match started off very hot and both guys are capable of better. Hopefully their rematch in a cage will be better, I still feel like I have to see that. **1/4, crappy finish didn’t help matters either.
– October 8th, 1989, from Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario
MACHO KING (w/Sensational Sherri) vs. Jimmy Snuka
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a match that should have drawn money, in theory. Sherri was also deemed important enough to the act that she was allowed to travel on the road and keep making money, which was a luxury not all the other managers were allowed. Royalty shouldn’t have to face wild men like Snuka!
Match Review: Snuka keeps our new king out of the ring for a while at the beginning of the match, and when he gets in, he keeps getting chased out of it. Once that’s done, Snuka hits Savage with a chop, then hits Savage after an attempted distraction by Sherri. Snuka lands a flying headbutt, then after a snap mare, drops a fist from the second buckle. Snuka then hits Savage with a set of knees, and sends him out to the floor. Snuka simply chases Sherri away and tosses Savage back in, then hits him with a double axehandle. Savage runs into Snuka’s bare foot, and Sherri finally provides a meaningful distraction by grabbing Snuka’s foot until Savage can attack from behind. She then chokes Snuka, and Savage hits the poor guy with an elbow to the throat. Sherri hits Snuka with her boot, then Savage throws Snuka over the top. He follows with BOMBS AWAY, still impressive after all those years. He also drops Snuka onto the railing, and back inside the ring, Snuka starts no-selling Savage’s stuff. It’s hilarious, too. After a headbutt by Snuka, he hits Savage with another one of those sorry looking chops only to get hit in the eyes. Savage picks him up for a piledriver, but Snuka reverses into a backdrop. Now Snuka heads up top, and down he comes with a big headbutt. The referee was distracted by Sherri and could not count for a while, and in the end the count was 2. Savage then hits Snuka with a knee from behind that also knocks down the official, and decides to head up top once again. Macho gets hit in the gut on the way down, and Snuka slams him. He heads up to the second rope again, and hits Savage with a diving headbutt. Sherri tries to run in the ring with her LOADED PURSE for a kill shot on Snuka, but he spots it and grabs hold of her. This makes me a little uncomfortable. Savage then accidentally hits Sherri with a high knee, and gets tied in the ropes by Snuka. He decides to chop away at the Macho King as he’s locked up in those ropes, and Sherri gets in the ring again. This time, she clocks Snuka with the LOADED PURSE, and Savage covers for the BS victory at 11:52.
Despite the match being over, Savage wants to take Snuka out. He heads up top, and here comes HACKSAW out from the back to CLEAR THE RING. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
My Thoughts: This match really stunk, not that I’m surprised. Snuka didn’t have a whole lot left to offer and Savage’s attempts to bump around for him didn’t really work. The match was also extremely slow and was pretty much standard fare for house shows. Doesn’t sound very fun to me and it’s no wonder attendances went down with matches like these. *.
– October 10th, 1989, from London, England
Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Bret Hart
Pre-Match Thoughts: After Bret’s stories about how terrible a wrestler Bravo was, I feel obligated to watch a singles match between the two of them. As we know, Bravo injured Bret and Bret went on to write a big passage in his book about how poor of a wrestler Dino Bravo was. Let’s see how poor this match was! Also, it isn’t in doubt that Bret Hart had a ton of fans, the reaction when he entered the building was enormous. This was the WWF’s first show in the UK, so I bet the fans reacted huge to everything.
Match Review: Bravo shoves Bret down to the canvas to begin the match, but Bret slaps a headlock on him. Bravo comes back with a shoulderblock, and an inverted atomic drop for good measure. Bret tries a cross body which gets 2, and gives him his own inverted atomic drop. After a dropkick, Bret clotheslines Bravo a few times and Bravo has to take a break. He gets back on the apron, and Bret knocks him back down to the floor with a right hand. Good spot, got a nice pop from the crowd. Bravo tries to leave the arena, and is persuaded by his manager to change his mind. When he gets in the ring, Bret arm drags him, and they do some collision spots. On the last of those spots, Bret waits for Bravo to duck down and elbows him. He takes him down with some arm drags that have super sloppy bumps, then tries a crucifix that wasn’t able to be pulled off. Instead Bret has to go back to the armbar, and he hits Bravo with a kick down low as well. Bravo fires off some kicks of his own after a low headbutt, and sends Bret to the outside. Then, Bret does his idiotic bump into the railing that eventually hurt him, as he flew off the apron after a shove by Bravo. Not too smart. The match heads back into the ring after that, and Bravo drops an elbow for 2. Bravo puts a chinlock on the Hitman, then clotheslines him when he breaks out of it, getting another 2 count. Back to the chinlock again, and then a gutwrench suplex for 2. Bret tries a backslide which also gets 2, and Bravo regains control right after that. He puts Bret in a bear hug, then whips him hard into the corner for 2. Love that Bret super speed spot. Bravo goes back to the bear hug, then misses a charge to the corner a few moments later. Bret tries an elbow drop from the second rope, and sadly that misses. Bravo heads up top in a rare moment, and Bret hits him on the way down! Bret follows with a backdrop, and drops the leg as well for 2. A small package also gets 2, and then Bret gives Bravo a backbreaker for another near fall. Bret hits Bravo with a dropkick to send him out to the floor, and Bret decides to follows that with a plancha! Against this guy! WHAT? Bravo tries to suplex Bret back into the ring, then Bret reverses that into a cradle. Bravo reverses that into one of his own, and that gets the victory at 16:09.
My Thoughts: Once somebody comes out and says that another guy was a poor wrestler, it seems as if you immediately notice why they were a poor wrestler. Dino Bravo was a very poor wrestler. His bumps off of arm drags were really sloppy and lazy. When he was knocked to the outside, he never took a bump over the ropes and simply fell onto the canvas and rolled out of the ring. That’s a bad wrestler. Despite that, I thought the match was fine as a lot of those things weren’t readily apparent. **1/2 and this is pretty much all for Bret’s performance. He did some stupid things that he should not have done with such a bad wrestler.
– October 13th, 1989, from Versailles Arena in Paris, France
The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Rockers
Pre-Match Thoughts: As far as matches go, we started with the Rockers and will finish with the Rockers. The Rougeau Brothers were on their way out, so they were doing jobs around the circuit. Hopefully they worked hard too! This was also a long-running program in need of being capped off. Also on this tour of Europe, there was an incident where Koko B. Ware got fired after a fight with an executive. It eventually came out that the executive used racist language against him and he was reinstated. Good for Koko for standing up for himself, and it’s good I get to hear his theme more often.
Match Review: The Rockers attack early, hit the Rougeaus with stereo superkicks, and that clears the ring of the Rougeau problem. Raymond and Michaels start the match properly, and Raymond takes control with an attack from behind and some kicks. Jacques tags in, and Michaels rams his face into the mat, then tags out. Marty hits Jacques with a back elbow, and follows with a splash in the corner. He tries it again and Jacques moves out of the way, so Marty hits him with a right hand from the second rope for a 2 count. Raymond tags in and gets elbow dropped, then Michaels tags in with a splash to the leg. He and Marty exchange places a few times while keeping a leg lock on Raymond, and they wishbone him too. The crowd seemed to enjoy the act. Finally, when Raymond kicks Michaels back into the ropes, Jacques pulls hair to knock him down and Raymond hits Michaels with a knee from behind. He follows by sending Michaels upside down into the corner, and the brothers use some tag rope choking shenanigans. After a double team gutbuster on Michaels, Jacques does a kip up taunt. Haha. Raymond switches back in illegally for a 2 count, and Jacques tags in for a flying back elbow. The Rougeaus follow that with a double chop, and after that Raymond uses a superkick to send Michaels over the top and out. When Michaels gets back in, Raymond puts him in a chinlock until it’s time for Jacques to give Michaels a big backdrop. Back out he goes, and Raymond goes to a front face-lock. Jacques switches in to keep Shawn from tagging, and uses the same hold. Raymond does the same thing after both guys kick away at Shawn repeatedly, and after a very long time the wrestlers resort to the blind tag trick. During the Rougeaus attempt at a double team, Jacques hits Raymond with a high knee and Marty makes the tag in!
He hits both Rougeaus with punches, then Jimmy Hart gets on the apron to eat one too. Marty blocks a sunset flip by Jacques, then covers only for Raymond to break it up. He tries a backslide on Jacques, and it isn’t counted at all. Marty gets tripped by Hart, and Jacques then piledrives him. Shawn rushes in and plants Jacques with his own piledriver, then puts Marty on top for the pinfall win after 14-plus minutes.
My Thoughts: I wish I hadn’t watched this as it was a waste of time. Both teams didn’t wrestle anything more than a basic standard match, nor did they take a lot of bumps. Certainly didn’t try to tear the house down for a new audience. That’s too bad. Just ** here, it’ll be weird when the Rougeaus are gone as the WWF would desperately need a team to fill in, it just took them a while to come up with one.
– September and October 1989
Mr. Perfect vignettes
With Perfect about to have his push ramped up into a feud with Hogan and subsequently the Ultimate Warrior, it was time to bust out more vignettes to remind people of how perfect this guy was. They paired the Genius with Perfect, and the reasoning on behalf of the Genius was that he admired the perfection. I think you can see where this is going by watching the video, they made the Genius into a gay guy. Camped that stuff up big time. The vignettes are fantastic, better than when they did them the first time as they were targeting a specific wrestler, and because they had someone to do the narrating.
Brother Love Show with the Genius
I thought this was great too, it was the first time that the Genius was linked with Mr. Perfect outside of the vignettes. Perfect was also given a brutal entrance theme that I’m glad they dropped. This was a great thing they had going, but it could have been even better. They should have had a non-title match that Perfect won, but that would have taken the luster off Hogan putting over Warrior.
So, those shows are in the books, and it would appear that not a lot happened. In truth, that’s about how it went. Not a lot happened. Jake Roberts made his return on TV, and the WWF toured Europe as I showed. The SNME coming up looks very interesting, and that’s what I’m going to review next. It would appear that Hulk Hogan defends his title against Ted DiBiase, and that Roddy Piper will make his network TV return. Good idea to put both those things on the same show. Zeus will also be in Ted DiBiase’s corner, so the WWF wasn’t done with him yet! The situation with the Brain Busters was interesting, but that developed more a lot closer to Survivor Series, as did everything else. We’ll get to it when we get to it.
Best: Brother Love Show with Roddy Piper. I don’t like Love, but this was a big money segment that was great for pushing the house shows.
Worst: Lack of content. I need more!
