Royal Rumble 1990
Date: January 21, 1990
Location: Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jesse Ventura

We hit the 90s and there’s a bit of a new feel to the company with that new decade. Things are now being made to look a little newer and it’s probably a good thing that they are. Oh and there’s also probably the biggest moment in the Rumble for…..arguably ever actually so there’s that to look forward to. Let’s get to it.

We get the list of almost everyone in the Rumble to start just like last year.

Jesse Ventura in Mickey Mouse Ears is a scary sight.

Buschwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeaus

We get ALL AMERICAN BOYS for the Rougeaus and Jacques has his MANLY beard. This is a Wrestlemania rematch from the previous year. We start with Butch vs. Ray and while this may sound like a stretch, I think this might be a comedy match. A quick sleeper by Ray is broken up and it’s time to bite the trunks as well as the referee for some reason. The Whackers clear the ring but Jacques hits the floor to avoid the Battering Ram.

Off to Luke vs. Jacques, with Luke taking a bite out of his nose. Jacques says hit me in the face, so Luke charges with a clothesline and hits Ray instead. Things slow down again and the Rougeaus easily distract Luke, allowing Ray to jump him for two. Ray comes in for real and kicks Luke down for two more. Luke is sent to the floor and goes back first into the apron. This match is already dragging.

Back in and Luke bites some more but it doesn’t get him anywhere. Luke gets rammed into the corner a bit, drawing Butch in which allows even more double teaming. We hit the chinlock followed by an abdominal stretch from Jacques. Now it’s off to a reverse chinlock to keep things slow.

We get the Arn Anderson cannonball drop onto a guy on the mat but the guy on the mat gets his knees up to crush Arn’s balls spot, followed by a hot tag to Butch. The Rougeaus are sent into each other and Jimmy Hart gets involved and beaten up. Jacques gets a quick rollup for two and Ray puts a Boston Crab on Butch. With the Rougeaus hugging for some reason, the Battering Ram to the back of Ray is enough for the pin by Butch.

Rating: D+. This was WAY too long at nearly fourteen minutes. The idea behind comedy matches is to keep things quick so that people don’t realize that half of the stuff you see here is stupid. The Rougeaus clearly didn’t care anymore and this would be the last match of Ray’s career. Jacques would go on to be the Mountie and win the Intercontinental Title, in one of the biggest surprises ever. Well not really but it was pretty surprising.

Gene is with DiBiase and Virgil and Ted is annoyed. Gene brings up the shenanigans last year with Ted “drawing” number thirty, but this year there’s additional security. Virgil drew the number for DiBiase and he got number 1. DiBiase’s “Let me tell you something little man” is a GREAT delivery as he’s so great at talking down to people.

The Genius vs. Brutus Beefcake

If you’re not familiar with Genius, think Damien Sandow if he read WWF themed poetry. Oh and he’s a jobber. And Macho Man’s real life brother. Genius offers a left-handed handshake but Brutus isn’t interested. Jesse gets on Tony about Genius beating Hogan via countout on SNME. Tony: “Well…..” Jesse: “WHO WON THE MATCH???” Genius heads to the floor for a cartwheel and we finally get the first lockup.

We get a clean break and Beefcake tells Genius what he can kiss. They lock up again and Genius goes to the eyes to get the first advantage. Beefcake comes out with an atomic drop and Genius gets to do his way overdone selling. I miss that. Back in and Genius fires off some shockingly good punches so Brutus comes back with an even bigger punch. Expect to hear the word punch a lot in this match.

Beefcake steps on Genius’ fingers like a total jerk and crotches Genius on the top rope. Half of Beefcake’s taunts would get him fired today for suggesting that Genius is effeminate. We go back to the standard story of the match: Genius gets in some strikes, Brutus hits him once to take over again. A dropkick gets two for Genius as does a rollup, but Brutus catches him coming off the middle rope with a punch to the ribs.

There’s the sleeper but Genius quickly escapes. Another sleeper attempt is quickly countered, but the Genius is knocked into the referee. Ref bumps weren’t cliched back in the 80s, so this is kind of a big development. Anyway the sleeper goes on again and Genius is going down quickly. Brutus puts him out and starts cutting his hair, but Genius’ buddy Mr. Perfect comes out for the save and the DQ.

Rating: D. This is one of those matches that was bad but it was energetic. For as much of a mess as Brutus would become in real life, the guy could get the fans fired up. That’s pretty impressive as he was almost all punching and a sleeper. This was pretty lame stuff but the fans loved it which is the right idea.

Perfect and Genius DESTROY Brutus’ ribs with the chair post match.

Sean Mooney is with the Heenan Family and suggests that they could fight each other. An argument ensues. That’s what Mooney was good at: ticking people off.

A show is coming. It’s called Wrestlemania.

Greg Valentine vs. Ronnie Garvin

This is a submission match as they both use submissions for a finisher. See? Not that complicated. Now the interesting thing here is that both guys have shin guards (Garvin even has his named: the Hammer Jammer) which blocks the pain of a Figure Four. They slug it out to start with Valentine being rammed into the buckles repeatedly. Greg comes back with chops and they slug it out in the middle of the ring.

It turns into a boxing match until Valentine goes after the leg. That gets him a thumb in the eye and they slug it out some more with both guys going down via a Garvin headbutt. Ronnie tries a sunset flip for reasons of stupidity and Valentine tries a cover of his own. Both guys go down again as this match is already running too long. Garvin rolls him up again to REALLY make it clear that it’s a submission match. See, wrestling fans are stupid and can’t understand the basic explanation of the rules.

Valentine adjusts his own shin guard (the Heartbreaker) and puts Garvin in the Figure Four. Ronnie’s guard blocks the pain, so Garvin makes funny faces at Valentine. Since that doesn’t work, Valentine puts on an over the shoulder backbreaker, much to Jesse’s delight (his old hold). Garvin pounds away in the corner and puts on an Indian Deathlock which has an effect on Greg but Valentine finally makes a rope.

They slug it out for the fifth time, although this one is at least on the floor. Valentine backdrops out of a piledriver on the concrete and we head back inside. Garvin misses a dropkick in the corner and gets caught in the Tree of Woe. That goes nowhere so they collide again and both guys go down. Hart steals Garvin’s shin guard and there’s the Figure Four. After a rope is grabbed, Garvin can’t even stand up.

Valentine goes up and Garvin slams him down from one leg. He takes off Valentine’s shin guard and tries a rollup because Ronnie is STUPID. Valentine gets tied up in the ropes so Garvin beats up Hart for fun. A shin guard shot to the head knocks out Valentine and the Sharpshooter (called a reverse Figure Four) makes Valentine give up.

Rating: C+. Not a bad match here and it was even good at times, but MAN it was long, running nearly seventeen minutes. On top of that, the stupid pin thing went WAY too long into the match. This is probably the best Garvin match I’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t really mean much as he absolutely sucks most of the time.

Mr. Perfect doesn’t like Beefcake trying to take advantage of the Genius and we get a look at the chair attack from earlier tonight. Perfect says he got #30 in the Rumble. Well he is perfect after all.

It’s time for the Brother Love Show. You might know Love as Bruce Prichard, or one of the Gut Check judges on Impact. This is his most famous role, as a parody of 80s televangelists. He talks about what it means to be a lady, and brings out the woman whose picture is in the dictionary next to the word lady: Queen Sherri. Love sucks up to her and says he also looked up the word peasant in the Book of Love. The Book of Love is the dictionary?

Anyway the point is Sapphire (Dusty’s chick) is the definition of a peasant, making her fat and ugly. Sapphire comes out and they make fun of her looks, clothes and whatever else you would expect them to make fun of, while not letting Sapphire say a word at all. Now they make fun of Dusty for being fat and Sapphire finally blasts Sherri. Savage and Dusty come out and it’s a big brawl. Even Brother Love gets in on it until security breaks it up. A dance party ensues between Dusty and Sapphire, resulting in Love being thrown to the floor.

Duggan doesn’t have much to say about his match with Boss Man.

Big Boss Man vs. Jim Duggan

Boss Man has clearly lost a TON of weight since last year and he looks much better as a result. Duggan knocks him to the floor in a bump that Boss Man couldn’t have taken a year ago. They slug it out on the floor with Duggan taking over for a bit. Back inside and Boss Man reverses a whip before crushing Duggan with a splash. Boss Man busts out an ENZIGURI to put Duggan down again. It really is amazing to see how much better Boss Man looks after being a big fat blob last year at this show.

Boss Man hits his running crotch attack on the ropes to keep Duggan in trouble but he makes the mistake of ramming Jim face first into the buckles. Duggan’s comeback is short lived though as Boss Man hits him in the back to take over again. He cannonballs down on Duggan’s ribs as this is a good physical fight so far.

That of course comes to a screeching halt as we hit a neck crank by the cop. Duggan fights up and makes a quick comeback, only to get caught by a knee lift to the ribs. Back to the neck crank followed by a bearhug which Duggan fails to break with some smacks to the head. Instead he falls into the ropes and the brawl continues.

They slug it out some more and Duggan clotheslines him out to the floor. Back in and more punching (notice a theme here?) ensues by Jim. Boss Man comes back with a clothesline but misses a top rope splash. They collide again to put both guys down but Slick slips the nightstick to Boss Man which draws the DQ.

Rating: C+. They definitely made the right move here by going with a pure brawl instead of anything resembling a wrestling match. The fans absolutely love Jim Duggan so there was no way the crowd wasn’t going to be into this. Not a good match from a quality standpoint, but it was very fun which is the better way to go sometimes.

Wrestlemania is still coming.

We get some promos from guys in the Rumble, most of which are spent talking about whoever they’re feuding with at the time: Earthquake, Bravo, Demolition, Bad News Brown, Dusty Rhodes, the Rockers, Hercules (calling it the Rumble Royal, which was the original name for the show actually), Rick Martel, Tito Santana, Snuka, Akeem (Slick does the talking) and Warrior (Intercontinental Champion), who talks about Hulk Hogan. This would have given fans chills up their spine at the thought of it happening but then they would say “Nah, that couldn’t happen.”

More promos as we’re in intermission: Savage, the Powers of Pain (Fuji does the talking), Roberts, the Hart Foundation, Honky Tonk Man and Hogan (WWF Champion of course) who looks either bloated or high as a kite.

Royal Rumble

DiBiase is #1 and Koko B. Ware is #2. Ted jumps Koko as he gets in and stomps him down. The beating goes on for awhile until trying to ram Koko’s head into the buckle, which has no effect. See Koko is black and in WWF logic, that means he has a hard head. Koko fights back and misses a charge, sending him to the floor. Marty Jannetty is in at #3 and in literally one second less time, basically the exact same thing happens as did to Koko (minus the racial aspects) and Marty goes out.

Jake Roberts is #4 and they fight on the floor which I think is a first in the Rumble. DiBiase slams him on the floor before they head back inside. A backdrop puts DiBiase down but the DDT is countered into another backdrop. They keep brawling and #5 is Randy Savage. DiBiase and Savage forget their past hatred to double team Jake for awhile until Roddy Piper is #6, setting up one of those AWESOME tag matches we never got. Seriously, that would be excellent on a Coliseum Video.

Piper and Jake beat up the heels, nearly punch each other, and then beat up the heels even more. The energy for this match is WAY better than the previous two years, which is saying a lot. Warlord is #7 and he should be solid cannon fodder for some of these guys. Piper pairs off with him as DiBiase and Savage continue their beatdown on Roberts. Roddy makes the save until Bret Hart is #8, drawing a BIG pop.

We get a six man tag for all intents and purposes, which would be another pretty interesting one with Bret being there to bump like crazy for Warlord. Bret goes after Savage, which would be great like their match on SNME. Bad News is #9 as the good run of talent continues. Jake loads up a DDT on DiBiase but Savage clotheslines him out, which is probably a good idea given how many people we’ve got out there.

Dusty Rhodes is #10 and the place continues to erupt. He heads right for Savage as you would expect him do and it’s elbows a go-go. A backdrop puts Savage out and we get Brown vs. Dusty for awhile, which I’m not sure what to think of. DiBiase takes Brown’s place which is probably the right idea. Andre is #11 and the fans aren’t sure what to think of this. Warlord goes right to him and gets tossed to a big pop. The fans still love the Giant.

Heenan and Fuji get into a fight on the floor as Andre rams Piper and Dusty’s heads together before crushing them in the corner. They come back on him and it’s the Red Rooster at #12. Even HE gets a bit of a pop before people realize that’s who just came out. Piper eliminates Brown but Brown comes back to the apron and eliminates Piper. They brawl to the back, setting up one of the strangest matches you’ll ever see at Mania.

Andre beats up Rooster and tosses him out as Ax is #13. Their teams are fighting over the tag titles at this point so there’s a story there. Hart and Rhodes try to throw out DiBiase and we get the traditional Andre is tied up in the ropes spot. Haku, Andre’s partner, is #14. Andre stands on Ax as Haku beats on Dusty. Things slow down a bit, which is understandable after the very hot first twenty minutes.

Smash is #15, giving us a group of Ax, Smash, Haku, Andre, Hart, DiBiase and Dusty. Demolition demolishes Andre down for the second time in two years before going off to beat on Haku. Rhodes and Hart beat on Dusty as people swap partners a bit. Akeem is #16 to give us another big fat guy in there. He goes after the Giant, but it’s a Demolition double clothesline that eliminates Andre. I’ve always loved that moment. Bret went out somewhere in there too.

Here’s Snuka at #17 to go after Akeem and take him out with a running headbutt. Ted and Dusty hammer away on each other a bit more until Dino Bravo is #18 with his manly powder blood trunks. Demolition beats up DiBiase and Earthquake is #19. There’s another team getting back to back numbers. Rhodes is out at Earthquake’s hands, as is Ax. Neidhart is #20, giving us Neidhart, Earthquake, Haku, Bravo, Snuka, Smash and DiBiase. Everyone gangs up on Earthquake and eliminates him, much to Bravo’s chagrin.

Neidhart and Smash work together on DiBiase, which would be unthinkable in about eight months. Here’s Warrior at #21 to go right after Bravo. They’ve got a bit of a feud going right now so Warrior dumps him with ease. Things slow down until Martel is in at #22. Haku backdrops Smash to the apron and superkicks him out. We were getting too many people in there so that’s a good idea.

Tito is #23 and of course we get a Strike Force battle, as they feuded for like, ever. Honky Tonk Man is #24 as things slow down a bit. We need another blast of energy in this soon. A bunch of people get together and dump Neidhart and Warrior clotheslines DiBiase out, giving him a new Iron Man record at just under 45 minutes. At the moment we’ve got Warrior, Honky, Martel, Santana, Snuka and Haku. Remember that blast of energy I said we needed? Hulk Hogan is #25.

Snuka goes after him and is immediately put out. Haku takes a big boot and is gone. Warrior and Martel dump Santana and we’re down to four in the ring. Shawn Michaels is #26. Hogan dumps Honky and it occurs to me that for some reason the entrance music for people stopped after like #6. Hogan dumps Honky, Warrior dumps Shawn and Martel and there are only two left in the ring.

This is the moment that changed the course of wrestling for a LONG time. You often hear the expression “everyone is on their feet”. In this case, that’s literally true as the place goes nuts and everyone in unison stands up. It’s a really cool visual and proof that this would work for Wrestlemania. They collide a few times and no one moves.

We get a criss cross to set up a double clothesline to put both guys down and the place is eating this up. As I said, this changed wrestling because we now have a Wrestlemania main event, instead of the potential Hogan vs. Zeus or Hogan vs. Perfect. Perfect is great, but it wouldn’t have worked as the main event in front of 67,000 people. Anyway Barbarian comes in at #27 and doesn’t do much so Rick Rude comes in like twenty second early at #28. I’ve always wondered if that was intentional to prevent more of just Hogan vs. Warrior.

The heels double team Hogan to put him down but Warrior saves. They beat up Warrior a bit until Hogan Hulks Up and goes to the corner, eliminating Warrior in the process. Hercules is #29, which is pretty awesome luck as he got #28 the year before. Hogan tries to put Barbarian out but gets poked in the eye. Perfect is #30, giving us a final five of Hogan, Rude, Barbarian, Hercules and Perfect.

Hercules backdrops Barbarian out to get us down to four and we pair off with Herc vs. Rude and Perfect vs. Hogan. Rude backdrops the power dude out and we’re down to a handicap match. I think you can see how this is going to end. A quick double team ends with Perfect getting punched to the apron by Rude. Perfect low bridges Rude out and we’re down to two. Hennig pounds away and hits the PerfectPlex but it’s time for more Hulking Up. Slingshot into the post, clothesline, Hogan wins.

Rating: A-. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! They totally got the formula down here and had a white hot crowd to do it in front of. The first twenty minutes or so here are just about perfect with a ton of talented guys working HARD. The next big drags just slightly but certainly aren’t bad, and then things went through the roof with Hogan vs. Warrior and the ending. Perfect was supposed to win here, but Hogan vetoed it and got the win himself. The more I think about that the less I dislike it because after the first two matches, you almost had to have a main eventer win this. Either way, great stuff here and one of the best Rumbles ever.

Overall Rating: B-. This is one of those tricky shows to rate as you have four pretty weak matches to start things off, but the Rumble is great and is longer than all four other matches combined. The Rumble is all that mattered here anyway and we got a great one to really establish a standard for the match for years to come. Also Wrestlemania is shaping up really well, so I don’t have many complaints here at all. Good stuff.

Ratings Comparison

Bushwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeaus

Original: D+
Redo: D+

Brutus Beefcake vs. The Genius

Original: C+
Redo: D

Ronnie Garvin vs. Greg Valentine

Original: F (Biased). B- (Unbiase).
Redo: C+

Jim Duggan vs. Big Boss Man

Original: C+
Redo: C+

Royal Rumble

Original: A-
Redo: A-

Overall Rating

Original: C-
Redo: B-

Dang the weight of the Rumble has gone way up in the last few years.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

 

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Starrcade 1987
Date: November 26, 1987
Location: UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

The arena looks huge but very smoky.

Sting/Jimmy Garvin/Michael Hayes vs. Eddie Gilbert/Larry Zbyszko/Rick Steiner

UWF Title: Steve Williams vs. Barry Windham

Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express

Morton knocks Eaton around with the racket as Gibson pounds on Lane on the other end of the scaffold. Eaton busts out his trusty powder to blind Ricky and now Gibson is double teamed. Ricky gets the tennis racket back to stagger Bobby with as all four guys head back to the ends of the scaffold. Eaton drops the racket to the mat as Lane climbs under the scaffold.

NWA TV Title/UWF TV Title: Nikita Koloff vs. Terry Taylor

This is a unification match between the two Television Titles. Taylor has Eddie Gilbert with him as backup. Taylor grabs a headlock to start but is easily run over by a shoulder block. They head to the corner and amazingly enough we get a clean break. We go to another corner and Taylor tries a cheap shot, only to get punched in the face by Nikita. Taylor cranks on the arm so Nikita sticks his tongue out at him and puts on an armbar of his own.

Terry headbutts out of the hold but Nikita rams him shoulder first into the buckle. More right hands have no effect at all and Nikita cranks away on the wristlock into a hammerlock. Koloff muscles him down into a cover but Taylor makes the ropes and heads outside. Back in and Taylor talks some trash, earning himself a slap in the face. A backdrop gets two on Terry and its time for more stalling on the floor.

Tag Titles: Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard vs. Road Warriors

Off to Animal who catches Blanchard coming in off the top in a powerslam for another two count. Arn comes back in and manages to avoid a charge in the corner, only to have his head taken off by a clothesline from Animal. Blanchard tries to come in but gets punched right in the jaw as well. Both Horsemen try to go after Hawk, only to get clotheslined down for a near fall on Blanchard. Total dominance by the Warriors so far.

Back to Animal for a bearhug plus a right hand from Hawk. Animal drops Tully down and Blanchard goes bailing to the corner. A dropkick to the ribs puts Blanchard down again so he tags in Anderson. Animal has to chase Arn on the floor before coming back inside to gorilla press him down. A press slam on Tully by Hawk is broken up by Arn hitting Hawk in the knee and the Horsemen FINALLY take over.

US Title: Lex Luger vs. Dusty Rhodes

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Ron Garvin

Ron rams him into the cage and gets two off a top rope cross body and the same off a backslide. The fans are starting to get into this a bit. More chops have Flair in trouble and they go up top again. Ric gets crotched on the top rope and Garvin tries the top rope sunset flip which won him the title a few months ago. This time though Flair falls forward and grabs the ropes for two. Garvin pounds away in the corner but Flair shoves him off and crushes the referee. Ron hits his big right hand for two and sends Garvin into the cage for the pin and the title.

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WWC Anniversary Show 1988: Hot Night In Bayamon
Date: September 10, 1988
Location: Bayamon Stadium, Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Attendance: 23,000
Commentator: Hugo Savinovich, Brad Batten, Bert Batten

This is the first full Puerto Rico show I’ve ever done and it’s from the World Wrestling Council. Hot Night in Bayamon is their anniversary show for the year but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a complete version. Odds are it’s a trimmed down home video which is about as good as you can expect for something like this. I’ll be lost most of the time for this so bear with me. Let’s get to it.

Savinovich and a tag team called Double Trouble welcome us to the show and run down the card. Their commentary was recorded after the event.

Jimmy Valiant/Rufus R. Jones vs. Wild Samoans

Thank goodness there are English announcers. The Samoans in question here are Afa and Sika. From what I can tell this is the third match on the card but the first two might have been dark matches. We finally get a bell after a lot of standing around. Jimmy goes after Afa while Rufus knocks Sika (father of one Roman Reigns) out to the floor.

Things settle down again until it’s Afa vs. Valiant. Jimmy teases dancing with Afa before dropping down to hit him low. Sika takes a right hand off the apron as we’re still waiting for this to get going. The Samoans’ heads are rammed together before Rufus comes in and elbows away. More dancing ensues and Sika is getting annoyed. Sika grabs a headlock but Jones dances his way to freedom.

Back to Afa who doesn’t mind the chops in the corner but a low blow finally puts him down. They botch a spot where Afa was supposed to hit Sika when Rufus moved but Afa stopped his punch. The hot tag brings in Jimmy who clean house before Rufus hits a dancing low blow of his own. Jones gets double teamed in the corner but he basically shrugs it off and crawls over for the tag off to Jimmy. The referee keeps Rufus out as the Samoans throw Jimmy over the top for the DQ.

Rating: D. Oh man this wasn’t very good. Valient was ALL look and having fun with the crowd and was absolutely horrible in the ring. The Samoans were just doing the basics here but the live crowd seemed to like it a little bit. Jones and his dancing schtick got really annoying and I’ll never get why low blows are fine but something like going over the top is a DQ. Yeah that’s a standard rule, but priorities people. This was more about star power than anything else as all four were known names in America.

Assuming the Wikipedia page for this show is accurate, the show is going out of order now as there was another match (airing later) that took place between the tag match and the following match.

Puerto Rico Heavyweight Title: Mr. Pogo vs. Ricky Santana

Santana is defending and this is apparently a very big feud. The champion jumps Pogo to start and is all fired up. A middle rope forearm sends Pogo out to the floor for a breather. Back in and Pogo takes him into the corner to hammer the champion down to take over. They head back outside where Pogo holds up the title like a true villain would. Santana trips him up and wraps Pogo’s leg around the post.

A slam puts Pogo down on the floor and things slow down again. Back in and a sunset flip gets two for the champ but a manager distraction lets Pogo get in a cheap shot to take over. Pogo slams Ricky’s head into the mat and pounds away before we hit the nerve hold. Santana finally fights back and is all fired up again, hammering away at Pogo’s head.

He makes the mistake of going after the manager again though and Pogo takes over, only to miss a middle rope splash. Ricky misses the top rope version though and Pogo tries a cobra clutch. Santana fights out of it but runs into a big right hand. Pogo sends him out to the floor and knocks him off the apron with a football tackle. Ricky comes right back with a sunset flip for the pin to retain.

Rating: C-. WAY better match here though it could have been about two minutes shorter. Santana was young and in good shape, making him seem almost like a pretty boy with some fire in him. Pogo was a decent monster heel who probably did a lot more with run ins and segments than in the ring.

Pogo and the manager beat Santana up and put him in the Cobra Clutch, making him foam at the mouth.

Tag Team Titles: Batten Twins vs. Sheepherders

The Twins (Brad and Bart) are defending and I believe they’re the commentators called Double Trouble. The Sheepherders are better known as the Bushwhackers. This match was much later on the card, going on second to last. The stalling immediately begins with the champions heading outside and posing a bit. Back in with the champions doing the do see do bit into a double dropkick to send the champions outside.

Bart shoves Luke into the corner to start as it’s really strange to hear commentators talk about a match they’re participating in. Luke comes back with a hard clothesline to take over. Butch comes in without a tag but Bart dropkicks both guys down and rams the Sheepherders’ heads together to send them back outside. Off to Brad vs. Luke for an awkward segment culminating in Brad dropkicking him down for two.

Luke comes back with a knee to the ribs but misses a middle rope headbutt. Brad dropkicks Luke tot he floor again and for some reason there’s no hot tag. Luke quickly comes back in and the twins switch behind the referee’s back. It’s not really clear if the twins are heels or faces based on their actions. More switching behind the referee’s back has Luke in trouble until Butch trips let’s say Brad up to take over.

A belt shot to the back gets two and Bart tries to help, only allowing Luke to throw Brad over the top and out to the floor. Butch rams him into various hard objects outside but he’s able to sunset flip Luke for two back inside. It’s off to Butch legally for a change and a forearm to the chest gets two. Luke hooks a chinlock as Savinovich talks about how complicated it is to have the commentators being in the match.

Luke misses a middle rope headbutt and the hot tag brings in Bart. He hooks a quick sleeper on Luke and everything breaks down. Luke is whipped into Brad but it’s Butch being knocked to the floor. Brad hits a top rope cross body on Luke but the referee goes down, allowing Butch to hit Brad in the head with a flagpole, giving the Sheepherders the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. This was a pretty solid tag match with a basic brawler vs. high flier(ish) formula. The screwjob ending would have had the fans near a riot so the reaction was exactly what they were shooting for. The twins reminded me of someone like the Killer Bees so they would have fit in really well for something like this.

Another referee comes out and tells the first referee what happened so the Battens get the belts back.

Wahoo McDaniel vs. Danny Spivey

Two more guys here for name value. They stall to start as the announcers talk about some rivalry from when these guys played football. Danny tries to work on the arm but gets chopped back into the corner. Spivey kicks him in the ribs to take over and bites Wahoo’s forehead open. He drives some elbows into the cut and we’re already in the chinlock. The hold stays on for a good while before Danny kicks him in the head for two. Wahoo comes back with a low blow but charges into a boot to the jaw in the corner. The referee pulls Danny’s feet off the ropes, allowing McDaniel to grab a really bad rollup for the pin.

Rating: D. Spivey wasn’t bad but Wahoo was just big and old at this point. The match wasn’t anything to see and like I said was just there because both guys are known names. McDaniel would somehow stick around another EIGHT YEARS doing this kind of stuff, which is good for him but rather annoying for the fans that had to sit through his matches. He was very entertaining back in the day but not so much by about 1985.

Chicky Starr vs. Invader #3

The card continues to be all over the place as this and the previous match have swapped places. There’s actually a story here as Starr had invited a guy named the Super Medic to be on his interview segment but Medic was really Invader #3 in a fake mask. Starr’s man Manny Fernandez had put Invader out recently and it’s time for revenge. We see Starr get his head shaved so stitches can be put in to kill some time. Starr vs. Invader #1 was a feud that ran over TWENTY YEARS. Let that sink in for a minute before you complain about Cena vs. Orton again.

Invader #3 attacks Starr before the bell and the fight is on fast. He punches Starr out to the floor with ease and Chicky is in really early trouble. Chicky is already busted open so Invader sends him into the post for good measure. Back in and Invader bites at the cut to bust him open even further. Starr finally hits him low to get a breather and atomic drop has about the same effect.

They slug it out with Invader taking over off a headbutt. Starr begs off but gets kicked in the ribs to put him right back down. More biting of the forehead ensues and a big right hand to the head sends Chicky outside. Starr comes back with a kick to the side of the head but Invader just punches him down again. Invader chokes against the ropes but Chicky hits him low to take over again.

The announcers continue to praise Starr as they’ve gone full heel on commentary after starting the night as standard good guys. That’s interesting but I’ve never seen anything else on the twins. Invader gets two off a spinning cross body but Starr rolls it over into a two of his own. Starr blocks a monkey flip and drops an elbow for the VERY sudden pin. There didn’t seem to be any cheating in there eiither.

Rating: C. This was a blood feud but I’m not sure why you don’t have Chicky cheat to win there. I like the idea of the story and it works well enough, though this was about two months after Invader #1 was accused of killing Bruiser Brody so I’m assuming #3 was there to fill in. Starr seemed like an interesting character.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Iron Sheik

This is the match they skipped earlier in the night and it seems like more name recognition. Sheik jumps him to start as the announcers talk about how they’re both former World Champions though for different organizations. Sheik chokes away with his head gear but Garvin comes back by raking the back and pulling down the trunks on a rollup attempt.

Sheik comes back with a poke to the eye and a chinlock but Garvin fights up with a top wristlock. Garvin comes back with a BIG chop before they ram heads. Sheik crawls over for two and puts on the camel clutch but Garvin quickly escapes. He crotches Sheik against the post over and over before putting on the sleeper. Sheik escapes as well but gets dropkicked out to the floor. Garvin follows for some brawling and only Ronnie beats the count back in.

Rating: D+. Pretty standard match here and the brawling wasn’t bad. That being said, I have no desire to watch either of these guys in late 1988 and I don’t think many American fans would either. Garvin winning was the better call after the Starr match and thankfully it went by fairly quickly.

Huracan Castillo/Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Bobby Jaggers/Dan Kroffat

This is hair vs. hair and based on the commentary, Jaggers is one of the top heels in the promotion. You might know Kroffat better under the name Phillip LaFon. Jaggers and Kroffat hold the now defunct Carribbean Tag Team Titles. Castillo and Perez, later part of Los Boricuas in the WWF, are a regular team sometimes called the Puerto Rican Express. It’s a brawl to start with Perez and Castillo sending the heels out to the floor.

They head over to the scaffolding with Jaggers getting nailed in the head with a chair. The fight continues around the stadium with Miguel slamming Jaggers down and stomping away but slipping and falling on his face. Things settle down and actually get back in the ring with Jaggers taking Perez into the corner but quickly tagging out to Kroffat. The good guys hiptoss Kroffat down and a double dropkick has Dan reeling.

Kroffat is cornered but comes back with a low blow to Perez. It doesn’t seem to have much effect though as the tag brings in Castillo for a vertical suplex to Dan for two. Back to Miguel who gets driven back into the corner and nailed by Jaggers’ whip. Perez reverses a charge into a German suplex for two on Kroffat but Jaggers throws Miguel to the floor.

Kroffat powerbombs Miguel for two and it’s off to Jaggers for some forearms. Bobby allows the hot tag to Castillo and everything breaks down. Miguel is sent to the floor but gets back in just in time to break up a cover off a Hart Attack. Castillo backdrops Kroffat to the floor and into the mud but Kroffat nails him with a spinwheel kick. Everything breaks down again and Castillo falls on top of a monkey flip for the pin on Kroffat.

Rating: C+. This was a bit slow at times and could have used a minute or two trimmed off but it was entertaining enough. This was the basic formula of bullies vs. young speed and it’s going to work almost every time. It felt like another match that would have been a lot better had I gotten to see the buildup.

The losers get their hair cut post match.

The announcers hype up the main event.

Hercules Ayala vs. Carlos Colon

This is a fire match, meaning there are a bunch of what look like socks strung outside the ring and lit on fire. They’re not on the ropes, meaning there are two sets of ropes around the ring. It’s an awesome visual. They slug it out to start as the announcers actually explain the story: Colon was named Wrestler of the Year but Ayala beat Colon up and shoved his wife at the acceptance speech.

Ayala knocks him down and hits Colon with what looks like a can. Carlos stupidly touches the fire but makes a comeback with right hands and a headbutt. Another low blow puts Hercules down and Ayala’s face is shoved into the fire. Oddly enough it doesn’t seem to cause much damage. The fires start going out and the match becomes a lot less interesting in a hurry. Colon misses a middle rope legdrop and Ayala slowly kicks him around the ring. Carlos avoids a knee drop and puts on the Figure Four for the submission.

Rating: D. Well that happened. The backstory was good but man alive did it start looking stupid when the flames went down. At that point it’s just a boring match that only lasted a few minutes. Colon is beloved in Puerto Rico though so the fans went nuts over this. It really didn’t work though.

Carlos puts the hold on again to get some revenge.

The announcers wrap it up.

Overall Rating: D+. There was some decent stuff here but it feels dated and came off like a bunch of names being brought in because they’re names. That doesn’t work without the stories to back it up and really doesn’t work when you would have had the Mega Powers about to explode at this point. It’s not a terrible show but without the stories, it was a bunch of not great wrestling with some decent stories. I’ve seen worse though.

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