WWF Prime Time Wrestling 5/11/1987

Written by: Man of Steel from Place To Be

Prime Time Wrestling
May 11, 1987
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Gorilla welcomes us to the show this week and Bobby is in a neckbrace, back after taking a week off to recoup from the confrontation with Ken Patera. Gorilla says Bobby got what was coming to him after attacking Patera. Bobby says the man is a savage and should be locked up again. Gorilla also gave back the 3 bucks Bobby gave the crew for playing the Fuji-Muraco stand up bit, which was not played. We go to our opening match, but Bobby stops because he doesn’t want to keep turning around for the matches (not that they’re really there anyway).

Davey Boy Smith defeats Bret Hart with a running powerslam at 3:44
4/23/87, Worcester Centrum
Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, and Bruno Sammartino

Criss Cross to start and Bulldog shoulder blocks Hitman out of the ring. Bret back in and Davey Boy keeps working Bret over in the corner. Bret comes back with some right hand,s and a low knee. Bret with a reverse atomic drop and a knee to the breadbasket. Davey Boy off the ropes and a back drop followed by a knee drop. Bret with some right hands pitches Davey off the ropes, but Bulldog tries for a crucifix but Bret drops him. Bret whips Bulldog into the corner but he misses a charge and Davey returns with a shoulder block. Bret’s whipped chest first into the turnbuckle, then lifted and dropped by the hair. Davey with a clothesline while Dynamite Kid and Jim Neidhart are brawling outside, Davey Boy pins Bret with the powerslam. Davey Boy goes after Jimmy Hart and Danny Davis comes in to jump Bulldog. The Hart Foundation work Davey Boy over until Dynamite comes in to chase them off. Decent little match, but nothing like their big time meetings in 1992 and 1995.

Paul Roma defeats Steve Lombardi with a Sunset Flip off the top rope at 9:56
3/14/87, Spectrum
Dick Graham and Ken Resnick

They lock up and Lombardi complains. They lock up again and Roma pushes off. They lock up again and Lombardi with a headlock, but Roma gets out of it and hits a leapfrog and a bodyslam. Lombardi with a drop toehold into a headlock. Roma had to have been on some steroids because he is ripped here. Into the ropes and Lombardi with shoulder blocks, but whips Roma into the ropes and after a couple of leapfrogs Roma hits a cross body for 2. Roma with an armbar. Roma works the arm over, and even pulls Lombardi off the ropes instead of breaking it. Roma with a shoulder block and a snap mare, and back to the armbar. Lombardi breaks it with a right hand and a backbreaker for 2. Lombardi with a knee drop for 2, and a stomp to the gut. Lombardi with a snapmare into a headlock. We work this move for a while, but Roma breaks it with a low elbow. He comes off the ropes and Lombardi with a reverse elbow. More clubbing blows by Lombardi and a rake of the eyes by the rope. Roma with a weak shoulder block, but then a clothesline. Roma whips Lombardi in the corner and leaps on him, but Lombardi recovers with a reverse atomic drop. Lombardi with a suplex for 2. Lombardi is whipped into the steel post shoulder-first, then Roma with punches in the corner. Roma with two drop kicks, and a clothesline for 2. Roma with a powerslam for 2. Roma goes to the top and hits the sunset flip for 3. Nice move as he had to go pretty far to execute it.

-A hilarious bit in studio when Bobby drops Gorilla’s pen and they butt heads, causing Bobby to almost cry.

-We go to Craig DeGeorge with our News Update, and he recaps the Bobby Heenan/Ken Patera confrontation.

Sika defeats Pete Doherty with a Samoan Drop at 3:08
5/2/87, Boston Garden
Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes

We always love a good Duke of Dorchester sighting, and he’s even a face in this one. Sika with some fingernail raking and some right hands. Duke with a drop kick and Sika hits the floor. Duke with right hands but Sika with an eye rake and a head butt. Duke off the ropes and Sika with a chop. Sika rakes the face and starts biting. Sika with more head butts and a chop. Duke fights back with some chops but Sika with another head butt drops Doherty. Sika with a snap mare but misses a flying head butt. Doherty with toe stomps but Sika’s no selling. Doherty off the ropes and Sika catches him with the Samoan Drop for the win.

-We go to a TNT clip with Mr. Fuji and Magnificent Muraco’s stand up routine, which was unintentionally funny.

Ricky Steamboat defeats Hercules Hernandez to retain WWF Intercontinental Title by disqualification at 6:54
4/28/87, Joyce Convocation Center; South Bend, IN
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

This is from a Saturday Night’s Main Event and Herc starts bombing away. Ricky fights back but Herc with a gut shot. Steamboat into the turnbuckle but he ducks a clothesline and hits multiple drop kicks and Herc heads outside. Both men battle outside for a bit then get back in. Steamboat with chops but Herc grabs the tights and pulls Steamboat into the turnbuckle. A second window opens and Randy Savage is shown backstage openly rooting for Steamboat. Back to the match as Herc is stomping away. Into the ropes and Herc with a clothesline. Steamboat fights back with some kicks and chops but Herc with a low blow. Steamboat is whipped in the corner but he catches Herc with a head scissors and boots his noggin. Steamboat slams Herc’s head into the turnbuckle, then a neckbreaker. Steamboat with chops, but Herc with a eye rake into the Full Nelson. Savage runs out and grabs Herc’s foot and he breaks the hold. Herc, Bobby, and Savage are arguing as we go to break. Gorilla gives Bobby crap about allowing Savage to do that as we go back to the match. Herc comes off the top rope for a splash but Steamboat raises the knees. Both men to their feet and Herc with a slam. Herc misses an elbow, then an elbow into the corner. Steamboat with chops and the crowd is hot. Steamboat goes into the corner and Herc rebounds with a reverse atomic drop. Bobby throws the chain into the ring and Herc wraps it around Steamboat’s throat and the ref calls for the bell. Herc chokes Steamboat out and leaves. Savage gets in the ring and checks on Steamboat, then out of nowhere Savage goes to the top rope and drops the big elbow.

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake defeats Johnny Valiant with the sleeper at 2:14
4/23/87, Worcester Centrum
Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, and Bruno Sammartino

The first match for the Bruti as “The Barber”. Luscious John with a pearl harbor job but Beefcake with a bodyslam. Valiant with some punches, but off the ropes Beefcake locks up the sleeper and its goodnight Johnny V. In the aftermatch Beefcake shaves half of Valiant’s head.

Honky Tonk Man defeats George “The Animal” Steele by disqualification at :23
4/24/87, New Haven Coliseum
Gorilla Monsoon and Ron Bass

Ah, I love seeing my old stomping grounds. They run around the ring, Steele swings the guitar and the bell rings. Well that was a pile of nothing.

-Mean Gene has an interview with Randy Savage, who rants about losing the IC Title to Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania. Savage’s purple t-shirt is definitely in the top 5 of greatest wrestling t-shirts of all time.

Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff & Butch Reed defeat The Young Stallions & Joe Mirto when Reed pins Mirto with a Gorilla Press Slam at 2:38
4/23/87, Worcester Centrum
Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura & Bruno Sammartino

Slick starts badmouthing Jim Duggan (as I probably was at the time too), then as the match starts a small window pops up and Outback Jack starts babbling about something. Sheik starts working Powers over, but off the ropes Powers with a hip toss. Tag to Roma who tries a sunset flip but Sheik stops it. Tag to Reed who hits a reverse elbow. Tag to Volkoff who throws some soupbones. Roma ducks a clothesline and tags Mirto, and now the match is over. Volkoff with some elbows, and a tag to Reed, who drills Mirto with the Gorilla Press Slam for the win. Slick then sings the Russian National Anthem.

-Bobby complains about Jim Duggan’s 2×4, and that he’s always cheating. SEE? I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.

-Mean Gene is back and an interview with The Can-Am Connection. God Tom Zenk was a goof.

The Rougeau Brothers defeat Magnificent Muraco & Bob Orton by disqualification at 10:19
4/23/87, Worcester Centrum
Jesse Ventura and Bruno Sammartino

Back to SNME for this one. Jacques starts with Muraco and they push off. Jacques with a headlock, but Muraco pushes off and and Jacques gets nothing on a shoulder block. Muraco now with the headlock, Jacques pushes off and Muraco dumps him with a shoulder block. Muraco postures but Jacques hops on his shoulders and gets a roll up for 2. Armbar by Jacques and a tag to Raymond. Muraco pulls the hair and the ref argues. Locking up and Raymond with a hammer lock but Muraco pulls the hair again. Raymond starts pulling Muraco’s hair in frustration and a tag to Orton. Orton with a low knee and whips Raymond into the ropes, who ducks a clothesline and hits a cross body for 2. Orton ducks a clothesline but Raymond tags Jacques and he does a over the top rope sunset flip for 2. Jacques with an armbar on Orton. Jacques with a short back drop. Orton with a body slam tags Muraco who walks into hip tosses and back to the armbar. Tag to Raymond who keeps the armbar. Raymond bounces off the ropes and Fuji trips him with the cane. Muraco occupies the ref and Orton roughs Raymond up. Orton tags Muraco and he keeps working Raymond over. Tag to Muraco who holds Raymond in the corner and Fuji whacks him with the cane while the ref wasn’t looking. Orton holds him in the corner while Muraco hits him. The ref is distracted again and more double-teaming. Muraco with a neckbreaker for 2. Tag to Orton and he hits some elbows. Orton distracts the ref and Muraco with the business to Raymond. Orton drops him on the top rope for 2 with an arrogant cover. Off the ropes and Orton bends down with a back drop and Raymond kicks him. Orton tags Muraco but Raymond hot tags Jacques who cleans house on both guys with a nogginknocker. Tag to Raymond and a low kick to Orton but Muraco breaks up the tag. Double drop kick but Muraco breaks the count again. All 4 men start brawling. Raymond is pitched, and Fuji’s guys start beating the hell out of Jacques and the ref disqualifies them. The Rougeaus fight back but the heels bolt.

-Gorilla lets us know about next week’s main event: Ricky Steamboat vs. Butch Reed and Ken Patera vs. Hercules.

DRAMA’S TAKE: A decent show with a good cache of matches. After a Bobby-less week, Heenan returns and the hilarity of back-and-forth with Gorilla made the show flow. They continue to pump up the Heenan/Patera feud and actually put a match on the show for next week to bring more emphasis on the feud, which is cool because it gives the mid-carders something to fight about during this post-Wrestlemania lull. This show was definitely used to enhance the rest of the roster, as we haven’t seen a Hulk Hogan match in almost a month, and except for some Heenan jabs, he’s barely mentioned. Solid show otherwise. FINAL GRADE: B-