Donnie watches WWF 1988

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion: Randy Savage-27/3/88
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Honky Tonk Man-13/6/87
WWF Tag Team Champions: Demolition-27/3/88

WWF Wrestling Challenge
April 24th, 1988
Springfield, IL

Match#1 Junkyard Dog vs Barry Horowitz
Barry is lumped with the worst wrestler in the company for 3 minutes as Vince wants to see how much crap he can carry. He bumps and stooges as well as he's going to do for such a lazy turd, and JYD is beyond done in every aspect of wrestling. Bass has a cut in saying nothing new as they've already ran out of stuff to say 3 weeks in. THUMP beats poor Barry.
1/4*

WWF Special Report-
-Demolition are as cold and mean as the black cold leather they wear on their bodies.
-They show the ending of the tag title match, and it occurs to me we haven't seen Demo since they won the titles.
-Martel says the belts were stolen from them and they won't get away with it. Tito can't wait to step back in the ring, baby.
-Demo have been ordered to win the titles and now they're champions, so bring it on. Ax says the mark of true champions is standing with gold, and that's them.

Match#2 Bad News Brown vs Keith Watkins
News bashes another jobber for a few minutes as he's super angry and wants to kill, and he does indeed that by throwing the kid as hard as he can against the ropes and smashing his face in. News wins with the Blaster.
**

WWF Events Center-
-Danny Davis says words about Sam Houston.
-Sam also says words in response to the words spoken to him.

They replay Hacksaw holding the ring last week against Andre.

Match#3 Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Conquistador #2
Bobby says Andre is known world wide as an actor and biggest wrestler in the world, while Hacksaw is known for termites in his board. GOT EM. Gorilla says he's the only man to knock Andre out, and Bobby says he had to cheat to do it. This is super fun as Hacksaw gets 2 minutes and beats the snot out of the masked goober with his hard shots and slams and hoooooos a lot in between it all. He wins with the 3 Point.
**

WWF Events Center-
-Gene has a foam finger and tells us to buy it.
-George Steele says Animal and Anvil and points a lot before saying hurt and bye-bye.
-Jim says he does his homework and studies well, but you can't study a man like that so it's just straight punching in the mouth. He's just as crazy as he is.

Match#4 Dino Bravo w/Frenchy Martin vs Omar Atlas
Oh no. Bile and vile 2 minutes for this bum whose now got an anti USA sign with him as Vince couldn't stop himself any longer with the most boring trope in the world, Bravo does his awful power stuff and bad punches before he wins with his crappy Sidewalk Slam.
1/6*

Patera comes out on the stage and leads a USA chant and talks about how strong he is. Hey, please go away.

Match#5 The Islanders w/Bobby Heenan vs Van Van Horne & Scott Casey
More good times from the Islanders in their last stop before they break up forever. Haku leads the charge clobbering and killing, and Tama does cool high flying to add to the fun. Bobby has a cut in laughing about beating Koko, and says he could do it again if he wants. Tama wins with his splash.
**

WWF Events Center-
-They replay the one about HTM and Brutus.

Match#6 The Ultimate Warrior vs Dick Donovan
Warrior gets time as well and fights the kid on the outside for something new, and he does a few slams on the floor and looks good in the process. He brings him back in and hits some headbutts and other Warrior offence, and i like Warrior squashes. Press Slam and Splash gives him a win.
*3/4

WWF Events Center-
-Hercules says all the doubts will be squashed and stopped as Warrior will be his.
-Bobby saying Hacksaw will be yelling at Andre chokes him and chokes him. Andre says next time no one will get Hacksaw out of this and he won't be able to quit because he won't be able to talk. Goddamn.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF MAPLE LEAF GARDENS-24/4

Hey, lets watch a full show because only one match looks bad.

Match#1 Scott Casey vs Iron Mike Sharpe
Mike comes home to show the world why he's the best wrestler to ever sharpen iron and the best guy to ever have OCD. Also, this is not the match that looks bad because Mike is never in a bad match, and Casey is a good as hell hand. Scott uses his power to hurt our hero and send him to the floor a few times, and it's not a nice thing to do to someone, but it looks real good. They have a test of strength and poor Mike loses it, and storms off down the long ramp to take a powder before coming back in like the man he is. Sharpe finally cracks him with some sweet clubs and forearms and kicks his ass in a good control seg. Casey fights back and its a piledriver and nearly wins, but Mike gets his foot on the rope to save. Casey stays on him and punches at him, but Mike won't die and cracks him with his loaded forearm for a near fall. He keeps dropping him, but Casey grabs his head out of nowhere and hits a Running Bulldog to win.
**

Match#2 The Fabulous Rougeau's vs The Killer Bees
They're introduced under their new name and get tons of boos and jeers, and even mockingly offer to shake hands. We're finally here, thank goodness. Ray and Blair go on the mat and have a sweet smooth battle for control, and the Brothers are already great on the mat but adding being cocky assholes to it, makes it even better. Bobby can't get over the name and you can tell he's not sure if he's meant to cheer for them yet, so it's a touch off at points. They target Blair's knee and go to town on it with some great double teams like a running knee into it as one brother holds it, and a wishbone to mess both up. The best part is when Blair hold onto the ropes to try and get free, and the other brother dropkicks him right in the face!! Blair manages to push one of them down and tags in Jim for 20 seconds before the big moron tags a hurt Blair back in without letting him get a break. They target Jaques knees in revenge and do pretty good work on it as they do the same as the brothers, but not to such an awesome degree. Still, Jaques sells his ass off as the Bees beat the breaks off him, and it's a lot of fun. Blair gets kicked to the ramp and Ray goes to help him up, but Blair waves him off, SO RAY KICKS HIM IN THE STOMACH. WOOOO. He tags in and beats the shit out of Blair, and Jaques joins in and drops him as well and hits his back over and over. They drop him and lock in a Boston Crab for a few minutes. Blair finally gets out and they trade rollups but neither can get it done. The Brothers take back control and one of them jumps on Blair's back with a knee as he's locked in the Crab once more for another few minutes, and it's really good but also to a point where it feels like "yeah, time to end it" It goes for another 3 minutes before Jim finally gets the hot tag and does some pretty good firery offence, and the brothers bump all over for him before it breaks down. Jim picks one up for a slam but the other punches him in the face to send his brother on top of him for 3.
**3/4

Match#3 Rick Rude w/Bobby Heenan vs Don Muraco
Rick is amazing stooging and posing off breaks and drop downs, so Don drops him and poses himself much to the happiness of the crowd. Rick turns it into a slug fest to have a better chance and his offence is so much better now as he's clubbing and laying them all in, and Don has some great sells for it as he drops to a knee and is punch drunk very fast as a result. Rick beats him up for a while, but Don catches him with a gross lariat to the jaw to finally stop him and mounts a fun comeback of power and anger as he wreaks the pretty boy. Bobby distracts him so Rude can double leg him and get his feet on the ropes to steal the win.
**

Post match, Rick tries to find another woman but Jake runs down and chases him off.

Match#4 Greg Valentine vs Jake Roberts
Hammer grabs a headlock as Jake goes for the arm and he squeezes the life out of Jake's head, and stops him from getting out by pulling his hands back and quickly getting back on. Jake punches his way out and sends him running to the floor for a break, so Hammer messes with Damien to try and goad him outside and Jake nearly bites. but smartly backs off. Jake fights him when he gets back in and hits the knee and goes for the DDT, but Hammer bails once more to break it up. They go for a tie up and Hammer gets him in a nasty looking knuckle lock to twist and hurt his wrists and keeps Jake down on his knees as he pushes down as hard as he can. Jake again kicks him in the guts and goes for the DDT, which leads to Hammer running to the floor and grabbing Damien and finally bating him out. Jake rolls under the ropes and Hammer kicks him in the head a few times and drops an elbow across the throat. He beats the shit out of him and goes for the knee now, and it's Greg Valentine beating a knee so it's fucking perfect in every way, and Jake's selling is tremendous as he's crippled and dubbed over in pain the entire time. Jake tries to fight back, but he's too badly hurt and Hammer is able to stay on the leg and beat him back down. Hammer picks him up for a slam, AND JAKE SLIPS DOWN AND TURNS HIM INTO THE DTT TO KNOCK HIM OUT COLD AND HE GETS THE WIN.
***1/4

Jake limps over to the bag and gets Damien out, but Hammer wakes up and rolls away to safety.

Match#5 Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Andre The Giant w/Bobby Heenan
Andre has to lean on Bobby as he walks down to the ring, and Gorilla remarks he's never been bigger in his career. It sucks to see him breaking down knowing where this is all going, so i'm going to enjoy as much of Andre as i can every time he makes tape. Hacksaw actually plays it smart and doesn't try and fight him, but Andre grabs him by the throat again and crushes him in the corner with his huge ass and unloads those wild and loud as hell chops. He hits the headbutts as well into Hacks's mouth, so Hacksaw bites him and jumps on him and hits him with punches, but Andre cracks him with another motherfucker of one to send him all the back across the ring in an insane bump for a man as big as Hacksaw is. Andre pulls his arms all the way back and clubs at his chest, and Hack's selling rules a ton. Hack fights back and runs at him with lariats and the 3 point, and Andre has to hold the ropes to not fall as Hack keeps doing it, and Duggan finally kicks his hand off to get him to fall. They roll to the outside and fight and Hack smashes his face off the table, but Andre gets the board and hits Duggan in the back to knock him out and he rolls in to win by countout.
**1/2

Post match, Duggan gets his board and hold the ring.

Match#6 The Islanders & Bobby Heenan vs Koko B Ware & The British Bulldogs
Hell yeah, love to see Bobby and Koko back in to bring some much needed life to this awful feud. Koko and Tama trade headbutts to start, and Koko proves the rule is a lie as he staggers Tama and beats him up! The Dogs and Islanders do their things and it's fine, but i'm over writing about it when they haven't changed a thing in months. The only good thing is Bobby being Bobby. Koko goes after him and ends up getting kicked in the head by Haku to isolate him, and we get a new and fun control seg as they beat his brains in, and he sells like death. Bobby finally gets in and chokes Koko with a hidden tape in his hand and the fellas kick and punch at Koko as well to make it worse. Bobby throws tons of awesome punches and kicks and looks fantastic all while making sure to still be a complete coward running away the moment he gets challenged. Heenan runs off and we get more of the tag feud and it's good as DK is controlled and beaten up for a while. Davey gets the hot tag and goes nuts before shit hits the fan, AND BOBBY RUNS BACK DOWN AND HITS KOKO WITH SOMETHING TO KNOCK HIM OUT AND THE ISLANDERS STEAL IT.
**1/4

Match#7 Honky Tonk Man (c) w/Peggy Sue vs Brutus Beefcake (WWF Intercontinental Championship)
This would be the match that didn't look good because how could it be good. They trade really terrible looking strikes and bumping as Brutus brings the worst out in everyone because he's easily the worst pushed act in the company at this point. HTM takes over and beats him up with his actual good strikes, but the issue is then Brutus sucks at selling and conveying emotion so it all falls short thanks to him being the worst. they fight on the outside and Peggy trips him and Brutus loses by countout.
1/2*

Post match, Brutus strips Peggy and we see it's actually Jimmy Hart in a wig and dress. HTM saves and they run off.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF MADISON SQAURE GARDEN-28/4

FREAK OUT FREAK OUT IT'S TIME FOR THE MADNESS' FIRST TITLE DEFENCE. YEAH DIG IT IN THE GARDEN

Ken and Bravo have an arm wrestling contest before their actual match and i want to skip it, but i want the most complete reviews possible so here you go. They have a proper battle for a good minute or so as both dudes give it all they've got, and Patera uses his power to get him down to win. Bravo argues that Ken cheated by moving his hand to the side of the table, and he demands a rematch. Ken stupidly agrees to it with an already bad arm post injury, so if this goes wrong he deserves it. Hey, Ken gets him down once again, so Bravo kicks the table into him and beats his ass. He picks the table up and whacks him in the back with it to send him to the floor. He tries to throw it at him but the ref pulls it away. Strongbow and Skaaland come out to check on Patera and get him out of there. The highlight is Gorilla calling Strongfake super fat which leads to Hayes laughing a lot. Fink declares Bravo the winner of the now cancelled match.

Match#1 Bret Hart vs Bad News Brown
Bret's first singles match in months and months is finally here, and man am i happy to see him get the chance in a proper feud this time. News attacks him as he gets in the ring and tries to bully him, but Bret shows heart and fights him face to face and knocks him out of the ring with a back elbow to the mush. He keeps on the attack and throws those great body punches and slams, and you can see all the babyface offence slowly being bought to life as he goes on. Bret controls for a while, and News shows he can bump around pretty well for someone who hasn't needed to do it yet. Bret goes for a backbreaker and News is able to claw at his eyes to get him down, and he goes to work with his mean offence. Good choking and punches, and a few super hard slams on the floor and into the post. He clobbers the back and it's fine, but you can also see he's not a man who should be in really long matches when he's more of a 4-10 minute brawler type of wrestler. It's not bad per say, he just kinda does a lot of the same stuff as he's ran out of ideas and looks tired. Bret rolls out of the way of a splash and comes back and runs through him and hurls him to the floor for some revenge for earlier. They move into a back and forth from here and both do some ok stuff, but it's sadly not a natural paring. It ends up going to a 20 minute draw in a massive miss of a call.
**

Post match, Bret slaps him a few times in a nice screw you.

Match#2 One Man Gang vs Bam Bam Bigelow
Wooooo fat men fighting for once again. They smack into each other and jokey for position as Gorilla says he hopes the ropes hold up under their weight. Bammer uses his speed and his head to attack OMG's arm, and the big falls and is stuck as Bammer stick his feet on his face and yanks his arm in a gross looking way. OMG manages to stand up and drops all his fat down on Bammer's chest when he hits Tremors! He beats the hell out of him with his fatness as he locks in a nerve hold and crushes his body, and we get some awesome Bammer facial sells. Bammer comes back and hits a flying lariat to drop him, AND BAMMER RUNS AT HIM FOR A TACKLE BUY OMG MOVES AND BAM FLIES OUT THE RING AND HITS THE FLOOR. FUCKING HELL. He's knocked loopy and can't get back in time and is counted out.
**1/4

Bam snaps and tackles him and swarms him with punches and then slams him and runs him off.

Randy comes out for the title match and the Garden EXPLODES for him. Like, a pop that would rival Hogan in the last year or so.

Match#3 Randy Savage (c) w/Miss Elizabeth vs Ted DiBiase w/Virgil (WWF World Heavyweight Championship)
Randy chases after Virguil when he messes with Liz, and Ted jumps off the apron onto his back and beats the crap out of him with a ton of punches to the head. Randy shoves him off into the post and kicks his ass for some sweet revenge, and DiBase pinballs himself all over and hurts his arm in the process. Randy kills him more and more as the Garden loses their minds for Ted dying. Savage targets the arm and cripples it using the ropes and the post as Ted bumps like a madman for everything and sells his ass off. He knocks Ted on his ass with running elbows to the face and looks to have it in hand, but Ted rakes his eyes to stop him, and then a minute later grabs him by the tights and pulls him out of the ring through the ropes where Randy splats on the floor. Ted now kicks the shit out of him using the rail and apron along with his awesome offence, and Randy's body is badly hurt as Ted mauls him in one of the best control segs he's given us thus far. Ted lays in every shot as hard as he can as the sound echoes when hitting Randy's body. Randy's attempted comebacks are amazing as he grabs at Ted whenever he can to hit him, and manages to get a super close rollup at one point. Ted keeps cutting him off for long as he can, but Savage suplexes him down to hurt Ted a little more. DiBisase gets up first though and knocks him back down and works a sleeper to wear him down, and Randy's selling is again so good at looking like he could pass out at any moment. Randy stands up as he's still being choked and he runs at the buckle and smacks Ted's face into it. Ted tries the back elbow, but Randy moves and finally fights back and whips his ass in the most frantic pace possible. They fight in the corner and Savage throws a back elbow and knocks the ref out cold. He goes for the elbow, but Virgil shoves him off to the floor, and the ref gets back up and counts Savage out. Boooo.
***1/4

Liz helps Randy back to his feet, and we see Ted has the title around his waist like a real asshole. Randy runs in with a chair to chase them off and he gets his title back, Randy is announced as still being the champion, but he's too insane as he's screaming at Ted to get back out here. Love this feud so much.

In the back, Gorilla is with Ted and Virgil. He says they're smart enough to understand he can't win the title like that, and Ted says he's done everything he promised he would do and he beat Randy in his first defence. His arm was raised in victory, and Gorilla asks whose still got the gold, Ted says they have the rule book and he's not selling Randy short because he wouldn't have the title if he wasn't good, but he's the real champion and he's not stopping until he has the title. He will have it and you can take that to the bank.

In the back, Hercules says he doesn't need to prove his power as everyone saw him break that chain and he's going to show it again against Warrior.

In the back, Demo and Fuji are now with Gorilla. Fuji says anyway you can win is and what you call Strike Force doesn't matter as they're the champions. They will now undertake even harder training now they have the titles. Smash says they're at the Mecca of wrestling and SF used to have the titles and that's life and they do whatever Fuji tells them to do. Ax says they're proved they can fight anyone and everyone and he doesn't think Tito and Martel have the heart.

In the back, Randy says he doesn't care what Ted has to say because he's the champion. He beat him at WrestleMania and he beat him tonight. Yeah he's got dirty money and got a shallow victory, and he's demanding a rematch. He wanted to unload the madness in the Garden but he stopped himself. Jack Tunney know my name and my voice because i'm going to knock your door down and make sure the match is happening. This will be the last match of Ted's life.

In the back, Strike Force promise to always come back and come back until they win. They have a plan for all three of them. Tito says they keep coming back because they have the guts and determination to get the titles back. Fuji keep your nose out of it so we can see who the real bad boys are.

Match#4 The Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules
Yeah, i'm doing this for you and me. They have another fun battle of strength that leaves me pondering whose actually stronger as they're both monsters in their own right. Both men manage to throw the other down at points so it's hard to tell. It turns into a fist fight and Warrior's offence is still really shoddy looking as he misses stuff by a mile, and that better not be the norm in the next two years, but i got a bad feeling He does at least throw a mean looking closeline, but everything else fucking stinks and has me feeling bad for Herc. Hercules tosses him to the floor and kicks him in the head to take over, and that's pretty bad, but it's a little better as his punches at least connect and he knocks this goof on his ass a few times. Call it the least worse option. Warrior makes a bad comeback as he's all blown up now and has zero clue on how to actually conserve energy so he looks like a dying man sucking wind. Warrior hits his moves of doom and wins with the Splash.
3/4*

Match#5 Demolition (c) w/Mr Fuji vs Strike force (WWF World Tag Team Championships)
SF ATTACK THEM FIRST TO SHOW THEY'VE GOT ALL THE HEART AND BALLS DEMO THINK THEY LACK, AND IT'S A SICK AS HELL BEATING FROM OUR GUYS. They drop them with elbows and knees all while using the arm to keep them at bay, and it's a wonderful, wonderful stuff. They control Ax by double teaming him when he tries to fight back, and Gorilla is in shock that SF is able to do this. Ax gets free and brings in Smash, but he gets the same treatment. Fuji distracts the ref so Ax can lariat Martel in the back of the head and Smash can hit him in the face with another!! Demo beat the hell out of him with a killer contol seg of clubbing and thumping, and holy shit have i missed them SO much. They beat Martel into the mat and throw him to the floor, and Smash picks him up and drops him back first onto the apron. He tries to fight it, but Ax gets the tag and clubs his face in more, and Demo attack body. Martel finally comes back and shows all the heart he can muster as he drops the big fucker with a series of punches and a sick running back elbow. Tito gets the hot tag and lights them all on fire with an Ungodly beating as fast and frantic as possible. He knocks Ax down with the Forearm, but Smash pulls him off. It breaks down and Fuji sneaks in and hits Tito in the face with the cane and Ax rolls on top to steal it.
***1/4