Written by: Tom Hopkins
We still have the Ultimate Warrior opening, even though he’s been without the title for two weeks. I guess Honky is forever gone from the announce booth as it is only Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper calling the action. They talk about the Wrestlemania VII main event being announced showing up during this show as well as highlights of the Duggan/Slaughter match and the Perfect/Tornado IC match. Looks like a loaded show!
-Big Boss Man vs. Jeff Sword-
Sword has a good name, but is way too out of shape to be anything. Sword is dumped early and chopped on the outside. Boss Man talks about wanting to destroy the Heenan family in a pre-recorded interview as he covers Sword twice and picks his head up twice. Boss Man Slam finishes this at 1:26. 1/4*. Boss Man handcuffs Sword to the ropes before running to the back.
We look back at The Main Event from that previous Friday with Jack Tunney announcing that the main event match of Wrestlemania VII will be Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter. This was the first time the winner of the Royal Rumble became the #1 contender for the title belt. We hear Slaughter’s response, too.
-Demolition vs. Two Jobbers-
Demolition don’t even get an introduction, and neither do the jobbers. Demolition was just Smash and Crush by this point. Crush starts with the first jobber and he gets tossed around before the other jobber (they said his name was Mike Wallace, I believe) tags in. He is just destroyed with Axe-handles by Smash. The second rope elbow drop off the knee of Smash finishes this at 1:39.
We don’t see their celebration at all as we go to Sean Mooney where he gives us promos from the British Bulldog (he wants to beat Dino Bravo and Warlord) and then we hear from Dino Bravo.
-Undertaker vs. William Ford-
Undertaker still has Brother Love with him. Roddy says that Undertaker’s role in the Royal Rumble was “very methodical.” Now I know where Ross got it from! We hear from Undertaker in a prerecorded promo about his upcoming match with Tugboat. I would be interested in seeing that. Ropewalk and a Tombstone finishes this at 1:33. 1/2*.
We go to Sean Mooney at the Event Center and more promo’s, including the Legion of Doom and the Warlord.
We now go from the Event Center to clips from The Main Event, and Duggan defeating Slaughter by means of disqualification. Slaughter used a chair on Duggan to get the DQ and he keeps using it until Hogan runs in for the save. Slaughter shows his wits by seeing Hogan and bashing him with the chair, too. We hear a Hogan interview from that night, too. He does the Pledge of Allegiance and vows to God that he will beat Slaughter.
-Shane Douglas vs. Dale Wolf-
Shane doesn’t get an introduction tonight, either. We hear a pre-recorded comment from Shane about his performance in the Rumble and he’s ready for Wrestlemania VII. I don’t think he made it, did he? Anyway, Shane wins with a crossbody from the top rope at 1:03. Again, no celebration is shown. ¼*
Instead, we go back to the Royal Rumble and the DiBiase & Virgil/Rhodes match and joining with Virgil accidentally hitting DiBiase. We then see Virgil finally stand up against DiBiase after the end of the match. We also see DiBiase’s response to what happened and basically, Virgil is going to pay!
-Mr. Perfect(c) vs. Texas Tornado for the Intercontinental Title-
Kerry slaps Heenan out of the ring then strips Hennig of the belt to start the match. Kerry discus punches Perfect a few times and trash talks him in the direction of the camera. Perfect shows how Perfect he is by ducking a blind charge and Kerry ends up posting his shoulder. Perfect unwraps the top turnbuckle and tries to ram Kerry’s head into it but Kerry blocks and instead it is Perfect that is sent head-first into the exposed steel. Heenan runs to the back as a discus punch knocks Kerry down. Heenan is stopped by the Big Boss Man. Meanwhile, Perfect lifts his foot at a charging Von Erich and heads outside to dropkick Boss Man. Kerry follows and knocks Perfect down before heading back into the ring. Perfect is counted out at 3:41 for the really cheap ending. Their first match was a lot better. *.
We head to Mooney and more promos. We hear from the Orient Express and Jake Roberts. We also hear breaking news that the Ultimate Warrior has challenged the Macho King to a match and Macho King challenged him to a retirement match. We end with an announcement for a Tugboat/Earthquake match and one final Earthquake and Tugboat promo.
-The Bottom Line- This is easily the best episode of 1991 so far. There was a lot of star power in the matches (Undertaker and the IC match) as well as big announcements regarding some Wrestlemania VII Matches. The preview for next weeks shows maybe the WWE was leaning towards one big match a show, as Earthquake/Tugboat is not your usual jobber match. This was a really fun episode.