ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: July 11, 2006
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 3,000
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

Welcome to the rest of ECW. After last week, there was no way that this could be considered ECW anymore so we’re now in whatever you want to call this. Big Show is champion and he’s supported by the EVIL Heyman, which is WWE all the way. There isn’t much else to say but the show is going to be old vs. new now. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the main event from last week.

Flair vs. Big Show for the ECW Title later. This isn’t going to get any easier.

Here’s Heyman who says he made sure RVD lost the title last week. Don’t blame him though, because it’s the fans’ fault. It’s the people’s fault that RVD got suspended for thirty days. It’s their fault that he had such a rigorous schedule and it’s their cheers that made him jump off the top. Heyman talks about the sacrifices he made for ECW and how he’s the savior of the company. He’ll do things like this if it saves the fans and he’ll do it for the good of ECW. That isn’t really an explanation but that’s too much to ask for.

Heyman and his security leave and run into Dreamer. He wants an explanation but Dreamer has a match immediately so Heyman doesn’t have time to explain.

Raw ad, on an ECW show. It’s a different company remember.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Test

Dreamer is in street clothes. Test slaps him so Dreamer goes crazy on him. They go to the floor where Test rams his back into the post to take over. Test whips him into the corner and stomps him down as this is looking like a squash. A backbreaker sets up a bearhug which is broken pretty quickly. Tommy hits a pair of neckbreakers but the DDT is countered into a full nelson slam. The top rope elbow misses and Dremer tries the DVD. Test slips off the shoulders and rolls Dreamer up, putting his feet on the ropes for the cheap pin.

Rating: D. If they really think this is how the new brand was going to get over, they were idiots. At the end of the day, this is Test, the same guy that wasn’t over from 2001-2005, so they keep pushing him anyway. Nothing to see here and Dreamer was treated like a jobber the whole time of course, which is one of the few things they’ve gotten right.

Candace says her expose will be hot.

Kelly and Candance do a dance together. At least the song is different. Knox does his usual stop but Sandman pops up to hit him with the cane. My goodness it’s an actual story.

Ariel and Kevin Thorn are creepy.

Punk talks about how his tattoos tell a story. Seriously, get to him already. He’s WAY better than this.

Sabu vs. Justin Credible

Sabu was hyped up for the first half of the show so this should be a squash. Sabu goes straight at him and knocks Justin to the floor where he looks for a weapon. That goes badly for him as Sabu hits a flip dive to the floor. Slingshot legdrop gets two back in the ring. Sabu heads to the floor and loads up a broken table, which he puts Justin through after a brief fight for the DQ. Yeah a DQ in ECW. Next.

Balls Mahoney is a little bit nuts. His words not, mine.

Flair says he’ll win his 17th title tonight. Foley needs to grow some balls as well.

Shannon Moore (not named) is freaky looking.

ECW World Title: Ric Flair vs. Big Show

Extreme Rules again. Show throws him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Flair pounding away in the corner. Joey calls this historic. Not exactly the word I’d use but whatever. Show press slams him and Flair is busted open from something. Knowing him it was a stiff breeze. Flair tries chopping him but gets knocked down by one from Show. They head to the floor for another slugout, won by Show.

To keep up the tradition, Flair chops and punches but Show chops him down with one or two shots. Show measures him but Flair hits him low. Keeping with the tradition theme, Flair hits him low a second and third time. Make it four and Show is in trouble. Flair finds a barbed wire ball bat from somewhere and hits Show in the head with it before digging it into Show’s face.

Trashcan shot to the head staggers Show as does a chair to the chest and back. Show goes down but it only gets two. Flair busts out some tacks and knocks Show into them with about five chair shots to the head. That just ticks him off though so he pulls Flair into the chokeslam and a cobra clutch backbreaker. He keeps the clutch on for the knockout win. Show throws Flair into the tacks post match.

Rating: B-. I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to. Flair is still a master of making you believe that it could happen, which is what he did here. Also, notice that he puts Show over by making it look like Show shrugged off all that offense and won with ease. That’s hot you make someone look good, which Flair made a career out of.

Flair is helped out to end the show. That and replays ate up the last three minutes.

Overall Rating: C. I think this was the best show of the first batch of them, and that’s not saying much. The show was ok with the main event being a highlight, but it’s much better because the idea that this is the rebirth of ECW is forgotten now. Instead the ECW Title is the third WWE Title, making it a much easier show to book. The opening was weak as was the rest of the show other than the main event, but I really dug that match. Watchable show, but nothing great.

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ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: July 4, 2006
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

I remember this day very well because I was dragged to a free country music concert downtown which was supposed to feature 9 acts. Due to the hardest rain storm I’ve ever seen, that wound up being 2. This show was actually a standalone ECW show, as in Smackdown was taped the Monday before but this was just ECW. The result: 1,500 people in a place that holds ten times that much (Survivor Series later that year got 15,400). It’s the old Main Event deal where it’s a full show but only the last few matches make the broadcast. This is a major overhaul in ECW’s show which is very interesting so let’s get to it.

Heyman and RVD are in the back with Heyman trying to get RVD on his side in something not important enough to explain. Big Show comes in and DEMANDS a title match tonight. No answer yet but it wouldn’t be ECW without some potentially big match being hotshotted right?

Theme song.

Time for Kelly’s Salute To America Expose, which is the usual thing (same song third week in a row too) in front of a bunch of flags. This would be light years better with Layla or the Bellas, who can actually dance a bit, or a lot in Layla’s case. And here’s Mike Knox for the save.

Mike Knox vs. Little Guido

Knox says Kelly is his so we don’t get to see her. The fans chant at him as they should. Guido jumps him to the pop of the night. He hits a dropkick to the side of the head but a second attempt misses, allowing Knox to take over. The fans want pizza and think Knox can’t wrestle. Knox goes into an EXTREME series of bodyslams as the fans think this is boring. Guido tries to get something going but gets his head kicked off and the spinning downward spiral ends this.

Rating: F. This match, if it wasn’t already, proves that ECW is dead. Guido was a big deal (kind of) in ECW, but here he’s a jobber. You know, like everyone that isn’t one of the top ECW guys. And to Mike Knox? The most generic of generic big men ever? They were going off on him here. Imagine what he would have gotten in the ECW Arena. But this is the new ECW, where the fans mean nothing and the ECW Originals are a stable 8 months from now.

RVD tells Heyman that it’s cool. Ok then.

Back in the arena a bald guy jumps the guardrail and grabs the mic. The guy is wearing what appears to be a priest’s outfit. He says this is his first ECW show and he’s disgusted by the sex, violence and language. This form of entertainment shouldn’t exist and if you enjoy it you’re a sinner, which gets the biggest pop of the night. Oh and he’s not a priest. He just wore it to get our attention. Yeah because WHO WOULD WANT A CHARACTER AGAINST EVERYTHING ECW IS FOR??? Sandman comes out and beats him up, meaning we’ll never see the priest again. I’m so glad this was included. It enhanced so much.

RVD slaps Big Show, accepting his challenge. It’ll be Extreme Rules.

Video on Test. He’s coming soon.

Test vs. Al Snow

Very soon it seems. Yeah it’s Test, one of the guys that got close to being over once and then never meant a single thing again. He’s one of the guys that’s supposed to represent ECW. The crowd things Test takes steroids. Big boot and a TKO end this.

Video on Sabu, who TALKS, and says he won’t be silent anymore. I was wrong. THIS is where they clearly didn’t get it.

We see some tattoos and hear a voice saying that he’s straightedge. He doesn’t do drugs, he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke. His addiction is wrestling. His rush is competition. His name is CM Punk. Another sign that WWE clearly had no intention of this being ECW: Punk is the antithesis of everything ECW was about, so naturally he’s a face.

ECW World Title: Big Show vs. Rob Van Dam

This is just after RVD lost the WWE Title due to the drug arrest, so there’s about zero doubt as to who wins here. We get big match intros and this is under Extreme Rules. Show chases him into the corner but Rob comes back with kicks to the legs. The fans hate Show here as you would expect. A headbutt puts Van Dam on the floor and he gets crotched while trying his kick from the barricade.

You know it’s amazing: Joey, the free thinking announcer that went to ECW because he was tired of being a WWE announcer, uses the EXACT same lines about Big Show (you have to see him live, hands like skillets etc) that the WWE announcers use. Pure coincidence of course, because Joey Styles is different and WWE would never tell him what to say, which is why we need to bring him back right? He just goes renegade every night and says whatever he thinks. Van Dam gets in a kick and the spinning kick to the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Rob in trouble but he manages the springboard kick out of the corner. Not that it matters as he gets crotched and superplexed for two. The walking legdrop gets two. The fans are trying to be an ECW crowd but they’re in the wrong arena to do that. Show drops an EXTREME elbow for two as the fans chant marijuana. A bearhug goes on and the fans totally turn on the match. It gets even worse as Show lays down on the mat while still holding it.

Show follows that up with a backbreaker, bending Rob over his knee afterwards. There hasn’t been anything EXTREME in this match so far either. That stip has been completely worthless. Show tries a chokeslam but Rob counters into a DDT. Rolling Thunder gets two. He tries the top rope kick but Show catches him with ease and throws him to the floor. Show tries the steps but gets his knee kicked out and his head hits the steps.

A top rope dive is caught again and Show keeps control to make sure the crowd doesn’t get interested. Rob grabs a chair but it gets swatted away and the chokeslam gets two. There goes the referee and Show loads up a powerbomb. Rob grabs the chair though and pops him with the chair, ala HHH vs. Undertaker at Mania X7. Van Daminator sets up the Five Star but there’s no referee. Here’s Heyman ala One Night Stand but instead he turns heel and joins Big Show. Chokeslam changes the title as it’s Survivor Series 2002 all over again. That belt looks like a toy on Show.

Rating: D-. Not only was it stupid, but the match wasn’t even that good. If ECW wasn’t dead already, this ended it. To begin with, it’s a special match now that it’s Extreme, even though that’s the name of the company. Second, this was a WWE main event style match, but Big Show was the weakest main event guy in the company so no one was interested. Third, it’s another corrupt authority figure, which is WWE Booking 101. Bad match to end a horrible show.

Overall Rating: E. As in ECW is Dead. The company was done back in 2001 but for one night (in 2005), it was around again. The TV show was never going to be ECW, which is clear here for all the reasons I gave earlier. The Originals would be jobbers forever and the big muscleheads like Knox and Test and eventually Lashley would become the focus, which no one wanted to see. If this new show had been called ANYTHING but ECW, it wouldn’t be nearly as reviled as it is. Even if we ignore the name though, the show’s biggest problem is that it’s not that good. This is a really boring series and it needs to change a lot, which it would.

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WWF Wrestling Challenge
Date: January 24, 1988
Location: Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan

This is the day of the first ever Royal Rumble but of course this show was taped weeks earlier. They’ve been treating the Rumble like any other house show which is so strange to hear when it’s such a huge event anymore. On the other hand, there’s only one more show after this before Hogan vs. Andre II so expect to hear a lot more of that in the next two reviews, assuming I get the January 31 edition. Let’s get to it.

After the usual rundown we’re ready to go.

Jerry Allen vs. Honky Tonk Man

Some of the fans have the mini-megaphones that Beefcake mentioned last week. Allen, who I’m sure I’ve heard of, grabs the arm to start but Honky takes him to the ropes to break. We get an inset promo from Liz of all people, saying she doesn’t like Honky like Peggy Sue (Sherri) claims. Honky throws him to the floor for nothing of note. Back inside Allen gets in a few punches before ducking his head against a guy whose finisher is a swinging neckbreaker. This guy deserves to get pinned, which he does.

Quick recap of the Matilda theft story, including a message from the Bulldogs saying they’re worried even though they have her back.

Strike Force vs. Dave Waggoner/Tiger Chung Lee

Non-title again. Santana and Lee start things off. The champions start off with some double teaming as we hear Demolition talking about wanting the titles. Martel hits a nice flying headscissors to take Lee down and grabs an armbar. Waggoner comes in and has some better luck against Tito, but it lasts about fifteen seconds before Santana shoves him to the Strike Force corner and brings in Martel. Strike Force takes over and the forearm gets the pin.

Rating: D+. This was your usual tag team squash but I’m a big Strike Force mark so I almost always rate them higher than usual. It’s kind of strange that no one remembers their title reign but it ran for about six months. If a team were champions for six months today the world would probably collapse. Actually scratch that as no one would notice.

Gene talks about the Rumble. Hacksaw says he’s going to stay in a corner to see them all coming. Listen to this man! He doesn’t like Harley Race that much either.

Bigelow says this is going to be his year.

Ted DiBiase vs. Dave Stoudemire

Dave dropkicks DiBiase into Virgil to start and gets thrown to the floor for his efforts. Ted pounds him on the floor then he pounds him in the ring. A powerslam sets up a middle rope falling elbow for the pin. Total squash but the dropkick at first was a little surprise.

Muraco talks about needing the luck of the draw.

Bad News Brown is still coming.

Brutus Beefcake vs. Dusty Wolfe

Wolfe takes over quickly but charges into an elbow. Jimmy doesn’t like Brutus that much and wants the Barber banned. Sleeper and we’re done.

Wolfe gets his hair cut.

Ron Bass is the “live” interview this week. He says he won’t whip DeGeorge but says that he’s the baddest man around. Bass issues challenges to all the big names and makes DeGeorge get on his knees.

The fans are split on Hogan vs. Andre.

Greg Cooper/Brady Boone vs. Islanders

Boone actually shoulder blocks Tama down to start but gets slammed face first into the mat. Tama shouts that it was for Bobby. SAVAGES DON’T TALK! IF THEY COULD THEY WOULDN’T BE SAVAGES!!! I’m not sure what there is to say here. It’s total dominance and Tama wins it with the top rope splash on Cooper. Total squash.

More fans talk about the title match and there’s no consensus still.

Don Muraco vs. Mike Sharpe

Sharpe gets in some shoulders and a headlock but Muraco runs him down. Gorilla talks about Pat Patterson and the IC Title which is something you don’t hear about that often. Muraco comes back with power and a modified tombstone wins it.

Dino Bravo vs. WD Wellington

The majority of the match is spent talking about the bench press attempt at the Rumble. That segment would last about twenty minutes, or longer than anything but the Rumble. The match is a quick squash and ends with the side suplex.

Gene talks about the Rumble which has the proper name now. The odd thing is that these promos would all be shot in one long day so I wonder why they changed it in the middle. Slick comes in and hopes his men have high numbers. He also respects Gene. Ok then.

Overall Rating: D. This was again boring and I wasn’t really caring that much. The bigger names on the card were some nice changes though as we had the IC and tag champions out there. Hogan didn’t even show up on Superstars so this is as good as any TV show got. This was nothing special though and the squashes were shorter than usual.

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WWF Wrestling Challenge
Date: January 17, 1988
Location: Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan

Back to the early 1988 B shows from the boys up north. We’re still getting close to the Rumble which probably won’t be mentioned more than in passing. Expect some more talk about the upcoming Hogan vs. Andre II match, assuming that’s been advertised already. This is going to be very similar to the Superstars shows that I’ve already done so I’ll know a lot of it before I watch it. Let’s get to it.

We get a message from Bill Boner, the mayor of Nashville, welcoming us to the city.

Gorilla and Bobby are hosts. Gorilla: “Gorilla Monsoon here with this miserable individual.” He’s coming out swinging this week.

They run down the card and Duggan is called a policeman. I haven’t heard that one before.

Jake Roberts vs. Gino Carabello

Gino can barely make it onto the bottom rope to hold his arms up. Gino gets in a single shot before Jake knees him in the ribs to take over. Jake grabs the arm as the fans chant for the DDT. Short clothesline and a slam set up the DDT for the quick squash win.

Gino gets the snake treatment.

Dino Bravo is going to attempt to break a world bench press record at the Rumble and he speaks French about that for a bit.

Jimmy Hart’s Glamor Girls defend the Women’s Tag Titles against the Jumping Bomb Angels. Look those challengers up if you want to see some cool women wrestlers. They get a quick word in Japanese here.

Demolition vs. Omar Atlas/Rex King

Ax and let’s say King start us off and it’s time to pound on the back. Smash comes in for some slams and throws King to the outside. Ax slams him on the concrete and it’s time for more pain. A HARD chop puts King in the ropes and it’s off to Omar. He gets smashed (see? The name makes sense) down as Gorilla and Heenan have some funny exchanges about Heenan’s standing in the company. Fuji says that’s enough and the Decapitator ends Omar.

Rating: D. This wasn’t much other than a long squash, but the tag matches were almost always longer. Demolition was straight up awesome and they dominated for so long that there was no one capable of hanging with them. The match was boring but at least the music was cool.

Gene keeps telling us about the Rumble Royal coming up next Sunday in Ontario. Ron Bass likes his chances and explains the rules one more time.

Bad News Brown is coming.

Jim Duggan vs. Joe Mirto

Harley Race says he’s the real king. Heenan bails to go take care of something else as Duggan pounds away. Mirto is a big guy too so this is even more impressive. Three Point Clothesline ends this.

Van Van Horne vs. Rick Rude

Gorilla thinks Rude vs. Warrior would be a classic. Well I wouldn’t say classic but it was certainly good so chalk up most of one for Monsoon. Rude offers a free shot at the ribs which does nothing of course so he snap suplexes Van Horne after shrugging it off. Rude keeps beating him down but Heenan won’t let him end it. Oh ok now he can so Rude hits a NICE dropkick. I’ve never seen him do that before but it worked perfectly. Rude Awakening ends this.

More Rumble stuff. The Gang and Reed aren’t wanting to go to Canada but they’ll go for the money.

Young Stallions vs. Los Conquistadors

Powers starts with let’s say #1 and armdrags him down. Off to #2 who gets caught as well. The Stallions double team #2 as Heenan is back with facts about Los Conquistadors. They’re from South America and one of them is not named Raoul. One of them, the one we’ll presume isn’t named Raoul, comes off the top with a shot to the back of Powers and more double teaming commences. #1 misses a dive off the top and it’s off to Roma. No one in the crowd seems to care as Powers hits a powerslam on #2 for the pin.

Rating: C-. Not the worst match in the world but the Stallions weren’t interesting at all. They were both your run of the mill muscle guys that were nothing different than any other guys with their builds would have been. There’s just nothing there and that’s why no one cared about them. Even in a less crowded tag team scene they wouldn’t have meant anything.

We get our “live” interview segment with Andre and DiBiase. They talk about the Main Event and Andre says he’ll win the title for DiBiase.

Ultimate Warrior vs. Brian Costello

Warrior immediately clotheslines him over the top to the floor before suplexing him back in. Someone gives Heenan an envelope. Gorilla press and splash get the pin.

Bolsheviks/Butch Reed/One Man Gang vs. Killer Bees/Lanny Poffo/Rick Hunter

This is the closest thing you’ll get to a big match on this show for all intents and purposes. The Bees break up the Soviet anthem and we start with Blair vs. Boris. Off to Brunzell quickly as Heenan shows Gorilla a letter from Tunney reinstating the Islanders. O’Connor Roll gets two on Nikolai, who locks in a bearhug on Brunzell. Reed comes in and runs over Lanny with an elbow and Hunter comes in. Reed runs him over and the Gang hits whatever he called the gordbuster for the pin. Not enough to rate but it was a squash.

Beefcake has his own small bullhorns which he’ll give to the fans to counteract the Megaphone. Then it’ll be him vs. Valentine, which is what he wants.

Gorilla and Bobby wrap it up.

Overall Rating: D+. Nothing of note here but it wasn’t bad. The idea was to talk about the Main Event and it’s pretty clear that no one intended the Rumble to be a major event. I’m more curious about what they’re doing with the name, as it was Rumble Royal a week before the show but the Royal Rumble when it aired. Anyway, pretty weak show, but things would pick up soon.

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I like this for a contrast to Cena vs. Rock, as they’re not making us wait that long. The company is hot right now so they’re capitalizing on it. The opening brawl was awesome too.

Thoughts on this?

Superstars of Wrestling
Date: February 3, 1990
Location: Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, Alfred Hayes, Tony Schiavone

Ok I promise this is the last Superstars for awhile as even I’m sick of watching it at this point. I wasn’t going to do another one but this is from my birthday so I have to do it. We’re past the Rumble and coming up on Wrestlemania with Warrior challenging Hulk for the title. Other than that it’s too early to know much about it and that match hasn’t been announced yet. Let’s get to it.

Theme song opens us up. It’s nice to see some fresh faces in there.

Roberts vs. DiBiase today, which should be a good one.

Dusty Rhodes vs. Tony Burton

For some reason after Vince and Jesse introduce the show, Tony and Alfred take over on commentary. After Sapphire “dances” to get on my nerves, Dusty pounds away to take over. Hayes talks about all the time that Dusty must spend in the gym. That’s British humor right? Big elbow ends this quick.

Gene talks about how awesome the Rumble was and we see part of Beefcake vs. Genius. Oh this is the post match beating from Perfect.

Perfect says Beefcake’s ribs know not to mess with Perfect.

Beefcake says that was overboard.

Rick Martel vs. Reno Riggins

Martel dropkicks him down and is much more aggressive than I’m used to seeing him. A backbreaker sets up the Boston Crab, which Martel says is for Beefcake.

Jim Duggan vs. Mike Davis

Duggan hits a lot of clotheslines as the announcers talk about about grammar. Davis pulls Duggan to the floor and that doesn’t go well for him. Back in and a slam sets up the Three Point Clothesline.

Jake Roberts vs. Ted DiBiase

Jake stole the belt but never beat DiBiase for it. Ted jumps him immediately and ties him in the ropes for a beating. Jake comes back with a hip toss and tries the DDT but Ted bails. Slick is at ringside with DiBiase for some unknown reason. Jake rams him into the corner and escapes a piledriver with a backdrop. Another DDT attempt is countered as is the third try. DiBiase bails to the floor and whispers something to Slick, who leaves. They brawl to the floor and Bossman pops up to hit Jake with the nightstick for the DQ.

Rating: C-. Not much here but they only had about three minutes to work with, making it understandable that it could only be so good. This would result in a big face turn for Bossman, which was necessary because he was wrestling a style that was going to get cheered eventually. It also set up Wrestlemania.

Actually the face turn is right now. Bossman handcuffs Jake to the ropes and steals Jake’s bag which has the snake and presumably the belt in it. They go to the Brother Love Show where DiBiase says he bought and paid for the belt. DiBiase brags about getting the belt back, but slips up and says he bought the services of Bossman via Slick.

Bossman doesn’t like that at all because he’s not for hire. He was going out to retrieve stolen property, not be a hired gun. DiBiase says give him the belt but Bossman says no one tells him what to do. Ted says Bossman is scared, so Bossman gets in his face and pulls the belt out of the bag. If DiBiase wants it, he can earn it back. So Bossman is aiding in a theft now. He walks back to the ring and uncuffs Jake before handing him the belt.

Canadian Earthquake vs. Mike Justice

Is he related to Sid? That’s the same as the regular Earthquake but at first he was Canadian Earthquake for some reason. Quake knocks him all over the place and drops an elbow before hitting the Earthquake for the pin.

Another Earthquake hits post match and Davis is taken out on a stretcher.

Hogan says he has to know if his power is greater than the Warrior’s. He wants to tie Warrior up and clean his face. You do that Hulk. He issues a challenge to Warrior and swears by the #1 Hulkamaniac “up there”, that if he loses to someone who, and I’m quoting here, “races his Harley next to the devil himself and drinks the sweat from the devil’s armpit”, he’ll striker Warrior down. Your childhood hero ladies and gentlemen.

Warrior accepts….I think.

Powers of Pain vs. Chris Walker/Butch Stanley

Barbarian starts with Stanley and it’s off to Warlord to pick the meat of whatever Barbarian left. Barbarian comes back in and kicks Walker’s head off and what you could call a top rope Hart Attack ends the massacre.

Piper is ready for his cage match with Rude in a week.

Savage rants about Dusty.

The Powers of Pain are ready for Demolition.

Demolition is ready for the Powers of Pain.

Overall Rating: C+. The wrestling wasn’t great, but we got a big face turn and the beginning of the Ultimate Challenge, so this show has to be worth something. It was nice to see something other than the same guys from 86 all over again too. The squashes get old quickly, but these were fast enough to keep it from being boring.

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Superstars of Wrestling
Date: October 4, 1986
Location: Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 7000
Commentators: Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura, Vince McMahon

Back with the last episode of this series that I have at the moment, although that’s likely to change. With Superstars there isn’t much you can predict as far as matches, but I would expect something more from Piper vs. Adonis which is the top angle on the show at the moment. There’s also supposed to be an interview with Hogan which should be good. Let’s get to it.

Intro and whatnot.

Randy Barber vs. Koko B. Ware

An inset promo from Koko tells us that his bird is named Frankie. Jesse wants a jump off between Koko and Brunzell. Koko throws him around for awhile and hits some dropkicks and a neckbreaker before the Ghostbuster (brainbuster) gets the pin.

Video of Hillbilly Jim singing a song I believe at the reception for Uncle Elmer’s wedding.

Sika vs. Mario Mancini

I’ve heard of Mancini I think. Sika chops him down and chokes to start and we get a chinlock in a squash match. I don’t recall seeing that before. They go to the floor for a bit and back inside the Samoan Drop finishes this.

Tito is ready for his match with Race tonight in Boston. Why does Race wear that ovrcoat when it’s hot out?

Ron Shaw vs. Honky Tonk Man

This is Honky’s TV debut. Vince actually calls him Wayne Ferris. Honky is in suspenders stil here. Mr. Fuji doesn’t wank Honky’s greasy hands on his tuxedo. Honky works on the arm to start but Shaw gets in a thumb to the eye. Honky rams him into the buckle but Shaw comes back. He beats on Honky for a bit until Honky slams him down and the middle rope fist (which isn’t like his cousin AT ALL right?) gets the pin. Honky was light years better as a heel.

Savage says he’ll go to a different galazy tonight and says the gimmick is No DQ. Holy cocaine promo Batman.

Paul Orndorff vs. Dan Haskins

The stolen music continues. Orndorff says the music is his now and not Hogan’s anymore. Paul gives him a clean break to start but the second time he hits him in the ribs. Out to the floor for a slam as Heenan praises things on. Clothesline, piledriver, see ya.

We see Piper, in his trunks for some reason, in the back yelling while on a crutch and holding a ball bat. He goes psycho and DESTROYS the Flower Shop with the bat, falling over from swinging so far.

Dan McGuire vs. Randy Savage

Billy Graham wants the Intercontinental Championship Belt “of the entire universe”. Savage sends him to the floor and rams him into the barricade with an ax handle off the top. Slam and elbow finish this quick.

Jesse talks to Hogan who is wearing a Harley-Davidson bandana. Hulk doesn’t think much of Orndorff and doesn’t think he’s a real American. There’s a birther joke in there somewhere.

Moondogs vs. Killer Bees

Blair and Rex start us off and Vince calls a clothesline a necktie for some reason. Both Moondogs get slammed and it’s off to Spot vs. Brunzell. Brunzell gets in trouble for a good ten seconds before hitting his dropkick and an enziguri and tagging Blair back in. Blair cleans house and Rex hits Spot so Blair can pin him. The Moondogs argue post match.

The Machines say everything they’ve been saying for the last few weeks.

Overall Rating: D+. This was pretty boring here with nothing interesting on the whole show. The Piper scene was cool, if nothing else because of his swearing, but as a whole this was one of the weaker shows I can remember in a long time. The problem is nothing really happened until January so this was kind of a weak time. Bad show for the most part.

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Superstars of Wrestling
Date: September 27, 1986
Location: Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 7000
Commentators: Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura, Vince McMahon

Back for another episode in this series and the main attraction this week is the debate/likely fight between the Flower Shop of Adrian Adonis and Piper’s Pit of Roddy Piper. Other than that I wouldn’t expect much more than a bunch of squashes, but at least they’re short and get things done with quickly. Let’s get to it.

Usual opening stuff.

Harley Race vs. Mike Kelly

Kelly would once again be Shane Douglas. That’s the good thing about jobbers: no one cares enough to remember their faces. Race beats him up like Shane is some loudmouthed guy that had one famous moment and was then made into some kind of hero in a glorified indy company because he threw down a title that didn’t mean anything and has tried to make a career out of that for almost twenty years since because he simply wasn’t good enough to make it big anywhere else but a dying WCW who would take ANYBODY. Fisherman’s suplex ends this quick.

Ricky Steamboat is in Hawaii. Fighting ninjas. Yeah that’s what he’s doing alright. This is really campy as the ninjas are in full fledged ninja gear and look about as effective as Foot Soldiers from TMNT 2.

Billy Graham talks about his big return tonight. He and Jesse have a bit of an argument about who influenced who.

Bob Bradley vs. Billy Graham

What is with this Bradley guy? I’ve never seen him before and then he’s in three of the four shows I do. This is Graham’s first WWF match in three years after going to the NWA for awhile and becoming a karate master. Vince freaks when Graham takes his shirt off, shocking no one. It’s a former world champion’s first match in three years. What do you think is going to happen here? Bearhug ends it in less than a minute and a half. Graham wouldn’t have another WWF match for almost a year.

Heenan’s team isn’t worried about the Machines.

Tony Parks vs. Kamala

I don’t see this going well for Parks. Maybe we can get Joseph to help him? The Wizard talks about Kamala wanting Hogan. The announcers debate why Kamala beats on his stomach as the beating begins. Vince asks why someone like Parks would sign on for a match like this. That’s a really good question. Shouldn’t you hold out for a lower level opponent? A top rope splash finishes the murder.

Boston house show ad which we’ve heard about for almost a month now. Tito says he’s going to take care of Race and says a lot of stuff in Spanish.

Time for the Pit vs. Shop. Piper gets a big ovation and Adonis is booed out of the arena. His guest is Bob Orton who thinks Adonis’ show is better. Piper walks onto the set of the Flower Shop and goes off on Orton, saying that he was nothing without Piper. Piper says Orton sold out and tells the cameraman to come to the Pit which gets a big ovation. His guest is Muraco who can’t remember the name of the show he’s on. He was the guest host of the Body Shop in Ventura’s absence.

Adonis comes over to keep arguing but gets sent away by Piper. Muraco doesn’t like the kilt and Adonis comes back to talk about flowers some more. Piper gives him some underwear and Muraco yells about not getting enough attention. He says this is a cartoon. I think he’s got the wrong studio. Hulk Hogan’s Rock N Wrestling is down the street. Muraco yells about how much better Adonis’ show is so Piper calls him fatso. It finally gets to the violence with Adonis breaking a flower pot over his head and beating on Piper’s bad leg with a chair. They destroy the set and cover Piper’s face with lipstick. Great beatdown.

Slick says he has a surprise for us.

William Tabb vs. Butch Reed

Here’s the surprise. The shoulder block and a gutbuster get the pin in about a minute.

Tito Santana vs. Jimmy Jack Funk

Tito takes him down with the armdrags and into an armbar to start. Vince points out that Miguel Alonzo and Pedro Morales are doing Spanish commentary. Alonzo died about two days before this was written so his name is in my head somewhat. Dropkick puts Funk on the apron but he comes back with a shot to the ribs to take over. Funk stands on his throat then hits a neckbreaker for two. Tito suplexes out of the second attempt at one and pounds Funk down so that the figure four can end it.

Rating: C+. For a three and a half minute match, this was really pretty entertaining. We had a nice back and forth match here with Tito getting a win after he had to work for it a bit. That’s probably too high of a rating but given how little we get on this show that can be rated, it’s hard to not overrated it.

Boston stuff, this time with the Machines saying they’re not worried about Piper’s injury. Steele pops in and says Animal Rules vs. Savage. He means No DQ. The match wound up being like four minutes.

Some wrestlers try to get Piper medical attention but he goes psycho and won’t let them.

The announcers wrap it up and we’re done.

Overall Rating: C+. This was one of the more entertaining shows that they’ve had in awhile. We got a big angle with Piper vs. Adonis which would be a very fun one indeed. Other than that the matches were ok with the debut of Reed and a decent main event. For Superstars, that’s a pretty good show.

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Superstars of Wrestling
Date: September 13, 1986
Location: Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, Bruno Sammartino

From what I can tell, this is the second ever episode of this show. Hopefully I can find the debut eventually but for now this is what you get. I have a few more from this era which I’ll do in a row here. This is during the Hogan vs. Orndorff feud which will probably be talked about a lot on here. I’m not sure about what else you’ll see here but let’s get to it.

Intro and preview as usual. Well, as usual as you can get for the second show.

Paul Orndorff vs. Sivi Afi

Orndorff is more or less the top heel in the company and in a pretty brilliant heel move, he comes out to Real American. Why has no one ever used that in a feud since? Stealing someone’s music could be seen as a pretty big heel move. Could it be that 90% of the songs today are completely interchangeable? He even holds his hand to his ear. Jesse had said that the REAL Orndorff would come out eventually and that’s what’s going on here.

An inset interview from Orndorff has him laughing about the idea of being sorry for what he did to Hulk. We get some clips of Paul beating Hulk down during the feeling out process. Short and sweet, but they hardly ever happen anymore. Orndorff cheats to start but Afi rams the head into the buckle. And never mind as a knee to the face puts him right back down. Afi makes a comeback and goes up but his cross body misses. Clothesline sets up the piledriver for the pin. Short and about what you would expect.

We see Harley Race’s coronation as King.

Sika vs. Don Driggers

Sika is returning to the company here and has King Curtis as a manager. Curtis goes for the wild ones I guess. We get the inset of Curtis yelling about how great Sika is. Sika rakes his eyes over the face of Driggers then cranks on the neck a bit. Samoan Drop completes the squash.

Randy Savage is ready for his No DQ title defense in whatever city it is against George Steele. It’s in Boston and he doesn’t like Tunney putting him in there, because it’s a disgrace.

Islanders vs. Moondogs

I think the Islanders are faces here. Yep they certainly are. Here’s it’s Tonga Kid (Tama) and King Tonga (Haku) vs. Spot and Rex. Rex and Haku start and not much happens so here’s a double tag. Honky Tonk Man has an inset interview about Paul Orndorff for some reason. Honky talking about Hulk Hogan as his good friend is bizarre. The Moondogs take over on Tonga Kid but heel miscommunication allows for a tag to Haku. He rams the Moondogs together and a superkick sets up a top rope splash by Tama for the pin.

Heenan and Race are ready for Piper and Santana respectively. And cut, so sayeth the director.

Randy Savage vs. Troy Martin

Martin would be the real name of a brand new kid named Shane Douglas. His training partner is in the main event. Savage takes him to the mat and rides him around with ease. Pedro Morales thinks Savage is a bad champion. Martin gets a small package for two, so Savage throws him to the floor and drops the double ax on him. Troy gets thrown into the crowd for a bit and then goes back in for an ax handle and the elbow for the pin.

Time for the return of Piper’s Pit, which is back after being replaced by the Flower Shop for a few weeks. The guest is Ken Resnick, the backstage interview. Before he can talk though, Adonis comes in and says Piper’s time is over. Adonis is now and in two weeks, it’s Flower Shop vs. Piper’s Pit in a debate.

The Machines vs. Rick Hunter/JJ Jackson/Al Navarro

The Machines are a long story but it’s Ax, Blackjack Lanza and Andre under masks and pretending to be Japanese. I think Lanza starts with whichever jobber you want to pick. Ax comes in for some pounding before Andre is in, punches whichever jobber that is and it’s over. It lasted like a minute and a half.

Jack Foley/Les Thornton vs. British Bulldogs

This would be the main event I mentioned earlier, and that would be none other than Mick Foley as one of the jobbers. He looks like he weighs about 200 pounds here but the face is almost the same. The Bulldogs are tag champions. Thornton and Smith get us going with Les trying a test of strength for some reason, resulting in a nice sequence of them going back and forth for control.

Jimmy Hart talks for awhile and it’s off to Foley and Kid. Dynamite beats the tar out of him with suplexes and a headbutt. Off to Davey for the powerslam and suplex. Foley even gets in a little offense, but when he back elbows Davey, it’s Foley that goes down. That’s a new one. Kid comes back in and hits a clothesline with so much force that Foley said he couldn’t eat solid food for a week. Smith hits a belly to back off the middle rope for the pin. Foley is dead.

Rating: C-. For a squash, this was pretty hard hitting and brutal. I can’t remember where I read it but I seem to recall hearing about Foley accidentally disrespecting the Bulldogs and them taking it out on him in the ring for it. Based on the match I’d buy that because he took a BEATING. Cool to see for history’s sake though.

The Machines say they’re going to enjoy teaming with Piper Machine. George Steele pops in and is looking forward to a No DQ match with Savage.

The usual stuff ends the show.

Overall Rating: C. I liked this show better than last week’s, partially because of better star power this week. Seeing Savage and the Bulldogs in there is a rare treat and it’s cool to see the more famous guys getting in there as total rookies. I don’t have the third episode so I’ll have to skip the 9/20 episode, which is cool because the Pit vs. Flower Shop debate is on the 9/27 edition.

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