It is the go-home show for WrestleMania
IV and Gorilla is at Trump Plaza getting ready. He is looking for
Bobby, asking the attendant if he has seen him, and he has never even
heard of Heenan.
Next, we see Heenan trying to check in
at the front desk but they can not find his reservation that Miss
Betty made for him. The clerk says all they have for him was a Trump
Plaza hat and Bobby was appalled at this and called the lady a bimbo.
Bobby insisted that she call Donald Trump but she had not direct
number to him and Heenan said he had it though. Gorilla finally met
up with him and the lady and security all knew exactly who Monsoon
was. Gorilla said he could stay in his suite but he had to use a
roll away bed.
The Killer Bees v. The
Conquistadors-Winston-Salem, NC March 9, 1988
This was a short, basic but very fun
match with the Bees in control most of the time. The Bees kept
getting the upper hand as the Conquistadors could not communicate
very well. Blair put on an abdominal stretch and for some reason,
Brunzell distracted the ref which allowed for an illegal tag and
isolation of Blair. This led to all the usual tag match spots and
hope spots including a tag that the ref missed. Then, the Bees
managed to get their masks on and kept switching out illegally much
like the Conquistadors had done earlier on Blair. The ref was
totally lost by this point and I believe Blair came off the ropes
with an elbow and got the win. The parts of this were very fun with
the Bees switching out. The Conquistadors were Jose Estrada and Jose
Rivera.
Gorilla and Bobby arrived at their
suite and Bobby was very impressed. He stole something off a table
but Gorilla said he would be frisked and searched before leaving the
hotel. Gorilla told him not to touch anything but Bobby touched a
chandelier and got smacked for it.
S.D. Jones v. Steve Lombardi-March 5,
1988 Boston Garden
This match was about as boring and
basic as you can get. Jones spent most of the time selling and his
comeback was slow and dull. Apparently, Terry Garvin was at the
Boston Gardens to watch Lombardi during this match. I can't seem to
imagine anyone, even Garvin, desiring to watch this match. Heenan
was shown at the hotel picking Jones to win this match because he
would not pick someone associated with Garvin. Lombardi sure has a
ton of back-ne. Lord Alfred said Lombardi has gotten some wins
lately and Gorilla asked if this was when he was away. Gorilla said
that Lombardi must have met up with Brutus Beefcake for his haircut
and that he could not imagine anyone paying for his haircut. The
only decent/unique part of this match was a hope spot where Jones
kept rolling, trying to trip up Lombardi as he was running the ropes.
The finish was a small package by Lombardi in the middle of the ring
and no one could believe it. Lombardi finally got some heat for this
match after he won. Tremendous dud here.
Bobby was back at the hotel and he did
not want champagne that the waiter was handing out as he brought his
own big bottle of sparkling water. He was trying to lay off stuff
like that because he was training for his match at Mania.
We had a Craig update and he asked who
would be champ after Mania. The show is sold out and he ran down the
tourney. We saw very short promos from Don Muraco, Dino Bravo, Jake
Roberts, and Rick Rude for their matches. We then got a Robin Leech
promo as he was announced as the guy who would present the belt to
the winner of the tournament.
Craig interviewed Hulk Hogan and he ran
down the status of Hulkamania. He said it was in a positive upswing.
Hulk saw the dollar signs in the eyes of Andre and Dibiase's laugh
after being handed the belt made his Hulkamaniacs cry. Hulk said his
fans would never cry again and that Andre has never beaten him.
Well, at least not in the last seven to eight years. Dibiase has no
chance at Mania and he still saw dollar signs in Andre's eyes. At
Mania, he will prove that if you live by the buck then you die by the
buck and the Maniacs will have the last laugh.
Heenan talked to his friends on the
phone whom he promised tickets but could not make good with that
promise. They are now going to rent out MSG and watch the show on
giant closed-circuit screens in their own private viewing party. He
said something went wrong with the mail as to why the tickets did not
come through. Next, we got a Bob Eucker promo.
Gorilla and Bobby were playing
blackjack. Bobby was given $8000 in chips to play but they were
actually chocolate mints and they would not let him play. Also, he
could not get a line of credit to play anything. He told Gorilla
that he was too good of a player to play there anyway.
Hercules w/Bobby Heenan v. Scott
Casey-Bristol, TN March 8, 1988
Hercules had just got done doing a few
jobs to guys like Ken Patera and Ricky Steamboat, prior to this
taping. Vince McMahon seemed to have a fascination with Bobby's
“posterior” during this match. He kept talking about it and
saying how he could not wait until Mania to see Matilda bite him in
that location. Scott Casey got some good offense in the beginning
but things did not pan out too well for him in the end. Hercules
threw him over the top rope but Casey held on and ran at Herc with a
cross body on the other side, spilling both men outside to the floor.
Casey gave him some shots outside and a suplex and backbreaker,
inside the ring. However, all Herc had to do to stop him was hit him
in the throat. Either Casey's offensive moves are executed poorly or
Hercules does have mythological powers in his hands. Vince can not
wait to see Matilda's face on a giant closed-circuit screen as she
bites Bobby's posterior. Casey got a short comeback but it was not
much and lost via the torture rack and he got dumped with a
backbreaker on Herc's shoulders for good measure. This was not the
worst squash I have seen but nothing too amazing. On a side note,
Hercules and The Warrior went to a twenty-minute draw on January 22nd
in Rochester! Anyone got a handheld of that one?
Bobby ordered some drinks for him and
Gorilla and he gave the waitress a mint as a tip and then left for
the health club at the hotel.
Greg Valentine w/Jimmy Hart v.
“Leaping” Lanny Poffo-March 9, 1988 Winston-Salem, NC
Poffo had a short poem that Vince was
very excited about. I have no idea how anyone could think that this
gimmick would work for a babyface. Valentine showed that he was the
veteran by dominating Poffo with clubbing strikes and knees. He
tried to hit Poffo from the top and got a fist in the gut as a
result. They duked it out in the corner but Valentine dished out an
eye poke to stop it and continued his dominance. Poffo got some hope
spots but nothing major and then a comeback. There was even a small
Poffo chant. He tried a leap in the corner and missed big, allowing
Valentine to hit him from the top and put on the figure-four for the
win. Pretty average squash but Valentine is always a fun watch. I
can't think of much historical stuff to say about Poffo other than
Frenchy Martin beat him in Toronto in November 1987. He also took
the fall during Boris Zhukov's TV debut in that same year in Green
Bay.
Missed dive |
Honky Tonk Man w/Jimmy Hart v. Jim
Evans-March 9, 1988 Winston-Salem, NC
Short squash match. Jesse Ventura
said that one thing Honky has going for him is luck and that can not
be easily overcome. Honky did some strikes, a clothesline, and the
Shake, Rattle, and Roll for the win. Vince hates his hair and is
eagerly anticipating Brutus Beefcake cutting it at Mania. Honky
tried to sing and wanted to his music played but Brutus cut it off.
He said that he would also cut off Honky's hair at Mania.
Bobby is in the gym filled with archaic
equipment that is probably housed in some fitness museum today. He
is on the bike and Gorilla asked how long he had been going and he
said he has not stopped peddling since he got there. Gorilla tried
looking for an odometer but it was broke and Bobby said he was
keeping track of his distance in his mind. Later, in another segment
in the gym, Bobby was seen sweating and he said he would try to move
around a lot during his Mania match. He also predicted Andre would
win the title, if Rick Rude got eliminated.
George Petraski v. Junkyard Dog-March
8, 1988 Bristol, TN
Petraski had a build like an
old-school wrestler, similar to Stan Stasiak, just fatter. He did
not fare very well against JYD. At one point, he attempted a slam
but it was blocked. Later, like a dummy, he tried for another slam
which was also blocked. JYD hit a powerslam for the win and he had
the crowd behind him the entire match. Petraski only worked a
handful of matches in 1988 and for the WWF and ended up back there in
1992 under the last name Petrovsky. He was trained by Ox Baker and
also worked some WCW and AWA as a job guy, under the name The Russian
Brute. Wikipedia seems to also have him working with Angelo
Savoldi in ICW earlier in the 80's.
Interview with Dibiase and Andre about
Mania. Dibiase said that no one will stop his destiny to become WWF
Champion. All the Hulk-A-Morons have no faith in Hogan anymore
because he is a loser. Andre said he was still undefeated and by the
end of Mania, Hogan will still be the ex-champ.
Ken Patera v. Tom Stone-March 9, 1988
Winston-Salem, NC
It was pretty ironic that Patera faced
a guy named Tom Stone. No intros for this one and it was a pretty
boring squash. The only entertaining thing was Stone getting slammed
on the floor outside. Patera won with the full nelson. Nothing but
squashes is how this episode is ending up.
Bobby was getting a massage from a
woman named Barbara. Bobby asked her to go a little harder but
Gorilla took over for her. He went really rough on her until Bobby
realized it was him.
WrestleMania report with Mean Gene
running down all the matches. He called One Man Gang tons of fun.
We saw short promos from Hercules, Ultimate Warrior, JYD, Harley
Race, and the Bolsheviks.
Bobby was training on the boardwalk by
running on the beach. He said his guys have been training there for
a week.
Harley Race v. The Ultimate
Warrior-March 5, 1988 Boston Garden
This was a rematch of sorts from the
February 22nd show (January 26th event). Race
made the Warrior look about as good as anyone could. In the
beginning, he sold and bumped a ton for Warrior's strikes including
falling down the ring steps and getting his foot tangled in the
railing of them. At one point, they collided and Warrior went down
as Race bounced off the ropes and fell head first into Warrior's
crotch. Later, Race hit some headbutts and a piledriver and used
Warrior's momentum to fling him outside. He tried to suplex him back
in but the Warrior got behind him and rolled him up for the win. Not
a very good match here but who really expected one?
Heenan told Gorilla he drank a carrot,
banana, sour kraut, and dill pickle health drink for his training.
We got a very short Strike Force promo followed by the closing of the
show as Bobby pushed Gorilla away on the boardwalk in a cart.
My goal is to do an update once a week
for the next few weeks to catch up on things, including more
Primetime episodes.
I am going to be giving away a back
issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
It is the March 24, 2003 issue with a look back at the history of
the WWWF/WWF from Bruno Sammartino up until the start of the national
expansion and Hulkamania. It is an amazing article and here are the
ways to win it...
1...Follow
me on Twitter @stevesgraps and look for my contest tweet and then
re-tweet it to your followers
2...Email
me at stevesgraps@yahoo.com
and tell me you want to win
4...Refer
anyone to my blog and have them do any of the prior three steps. Be
sure to mention to them to note your referral.
From
now until March 1st,
you can enter and after that date I will put everyone's name into a
hat and pick one. I will contact you, get your info, and gladly mail
the prize to you! You can enter as many times as you do any of the above ways but only once for number two!
Thanks
Steve
Viglio
No one could forget that last scene of Heenan and the cart, moreso as it was part of the Prime Time opening for years after.
ReplyDeleteHarley vs. Warrior made me chuckle a bit...did you ever hear CM Punk's story about what Harley had to say about him?
BTW I tried posting from AIM, my name is jmfabianorpl...
DeleteYea, I think you got like three chances in the contest now!
ReplyDeleteI never heard the story about Punk and Harley, what was it?