WWF House Show 10/24/1988

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 10/24/1988
From: New York, NY

Matches:
1.)Paul Roma defeated Danny Davis
2.)The Big Bossman defeated Koko B. Ware
3.)WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition defeated The Rockers to retain the titles
4.)Hercules defeated Virgil
5.)The Blue Blazer defeated Steve Lombardi
6.)WWF World Champion Randy Savage defeated Andre the Giant by disqualification to retain the title
7.)Dino Bravo defeated Jim Duggan by count-out
8.)The Hart Foundation fought the Rougeau Brothers to a time-limit draw
9.)Jake Roberts defeated Rick Rude

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Roma gets the first notable offense of the match when he drops Davis with a backdrop. There has been a lot of stalling by both men in the opening moments. Davis scoop slams Roma a couple of times, but doesn’t follow up on them. Davis bails to the floor after he is slammed by Roma. Davis stops Roma with an eye rake and works over Paul with several strikes. Davis gets a near fall after a middle rope forearm drop. Roma battles out of a headlock and gets the pin on Davis following a missile dropkick off the top rope. (*. These house shows seem to start off on a bad note. Roma had energy, but the match was just slow and boring. I think if Roma had a better opponent the show would’ve had a stronger start.)

2. Koko uses his speed advantage to get a few right hands in on the Bossman, but this is obviously just going to be an extended squash match to promote Bossman. It doesn’t take Bossman too long to club Koko over the head and gets control of the bout. Koko avoids a big splash and gives the fans some hope. Bossman cuts Koko off as he runs the ropes and hits a side walk slam for the win. After the match, Bossman handcuffs Koko to the ropes and beats him down some more. (*. A standard squash match where the jobber doesn’t get much notable offense and the top star leaves the lasting impression.)

3. Michaels and Ax kick off the match. Ax works over Shawn with several strikes and catches him on a cross-body attempt to slam Michaels down. Michaels battles back with right hands. Jannetty and Smash are now the legal men. Jannetty and Michaels dropkick Smash until he falls down. The Rockers have the fans behind them for this match. Rockers are focusing their offense on Smash’s left arm. Rockers do the same to Ax that they just did to Smash by working over his left arm with quick tags. Ax stops Jannetty with a headbutt. Jannetty hits Smash with a leaping elbow and Michaels enters. Ax pulls down the top rope and that causes Michaels to crash to the floor. Smash suplexs Michaels from the apron back into the ring and locks in a Boston Crab. Michaels tries to fight back and tag in Jannetty but isn’t quite able to. Soon enough Jannetty gets the hot tag and he cleans house with right hands and nearly pins Smash with a cross-body off the middle rope. Rockers hit a double dropkick on the champs! Jannetty comes off the top to hit a big splash on Smash but Ax broke up the count. All four men going at it. Jannetty is caught by Smash and is hit by Ax on the apron. Smash covers and wins the match. (**1/4. The Rockers tried to make this a better match with their speed and high flying, but Demolition just kept it simple and it made for a lackluster match.)

4. Ted DiBiase tries to attack Hercules before the match, but Hercules backdrops DiBiase and does the same to Virgil. Virgil is tossed around the ring and dropped by a clothesline. Hercules locks in the full nelson and wins the match. After the match, DiBiase enters to attack Hercules but Hercules isn’t breaking the hold. So, DiBiase comes in with a chair, but that still doesn’t hurt Hercules. DiBiase chokes Hercules with his own chain, and that causes Hercules to break it. However, Hercules yanks on the chain and flips DiBiase out of the ring. This might be the biggest pop Hercules has ever gotten in the ring that I have heard. This did a good job of getting my interest in a Hercules/DiBiase match.

5. This is the Blue Blazer’s (Owen Hart) debut match at MSG. Blazer hits a nice hurricanrana in the opening moments and you can tell the fans are entertained by him already. Blazer comes off the middle rope with a cross-body for another two count. Blazer hit a twisting top rope cross-body for another two count. Late in the match, Blazer delivers a belly to belly suplex and comes off the top rope to hit a cross-body for the win. (*1/2. An entertaining squash match just because Blazer was able to provide high impact moves and wasn’t stale in the ring.)

6. Andre sends Savage to the floor with a headbutt. Andre wears Savage down with a headlock for a few moments. Andre is not allowing Savage to get anything going on offense as he clubs the champ over the back. Savage gets a few right hands in to the midsection of Andre and an elbow strike. Savage knocks Andre into the ropes and Andre has fallen down to the canvas! Savage comes off the top with a double axe handle and Andre falls down to the canvas! Savage comes off the top but misses the elbow drop! Andre bails to the floor but Savage comes off the top to take Andre out with another double axe handle! Bobby Heenan has grabbed Savage from getting back into the ring and that causes the disqualification! After the match, Andre has gotten back up but misses an elbow drop. Savage punches Heenan and Savage celebrates his victory. (*3/4. The match wasn’t good but there was some entertainment to the match. The finish was weak, but I guess they weren’t about to have Andre be pinned here. The crowd was into the bout and I’d expect another rematch between these two on the house show market.)

7. Backstage, Ted DiBiase is interviewed. He calls Hercules his slave. Yes, Virgil is standing right next to him. DiBiase says that Virgil isn’t a wrestler, but he is. DiBiase doesn’t think Hercules has a brain or he would have been listening to him already! Ted proclaims that Hercules is his and before long Hercules will realize it!

8. Backstage, Jim Duggan is interviewed. Duggan is upset with Bravo waving his flag in the United States. Duggan is going to fight back against Bravo tonight. Jim threatens Frenchy Martin to not get involved or he may have to deal with his 2×4!

9. Backstage, the Rougeau Brothers are interviewed. They are saying they want the Hart Foundation to win because they get more money. They are waving little American flags and promise to not let the people down.

10. Backstage, Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan are interviewed. For his match with Jake Roberts, the match must end via the finishing move for either man. Rude is going to take Jake’s wife out after the match for a night out!

11. Bravo attacks Duggan from behind to get the cheap advantage. That doesn’t last long as Duggan clotheslines Bravo and follows up with a backdrop. Bravo is sent to the floor following an atomic drop and he walks up the aisle way as if he is going to leave. Bravo returns and controls Duggan with basic offense on the mat. Duggan powers his way to his feet and hammers away on Bravo in the corner before hitting a clothesline. Duggan sends Bravo to the floor with a running clothesline. On the floor, Duggan sends Bravo shoulder first into the ring post. Duggan gets distracted by Frenchy Martin and loses by count-out. (*1/4. Yet another basic and boring contest here. This is becoming a rough show to get through.) After the match, Duggan hits Martin with the 2×4 two times, but Bravo bailed to the floor.

12. Neidhart and Raymond start off the contest. Nothing of note happens between them so Jim tags out to Bret and Jacques enters as well. There is a lot of stalling going on here. Bret blocks a sunset flip attempt by Jacques with a right hand and tags in Neidhart. Jacques is double teamed in the corner. The Hart Foundation continue to control Jacques until Raymond illegally enters and attacks Neidhart to get the upper-hand. Bret gets a rather quick tag as Neidhart wasn’t worked over too long. Bret cleans house with atomic drops and right hands. Bret is just having his way with Raymond until Jacques trips him from the floor. Jacques gets a two count on Hart following a jumping back elbow strike. Bret tags in Neidhart but the referee didn’t see the tag. Bret avoids Raymond on a splash attempt and Neidhart gets the hot tag. Neidhart takes care of business with a backdrop and several strikes. Bret sends Jim into Jacques into the corner to hit a spear. Bret hits a middle rope forearm drop on Jacques and dropkicks Raymond to the floor. They hit the Hart Attack but the bell is rung and the match is over due to a time limit. (**1/2. Nothing all that good this go around, which is rather disappointing. The offense by the Rougeau was simple and uninteresting to me. These four are capable of a much better match, in my opinion.)

13. Roberts attacks Rude from behind and avoids Rude in the corner to hammer away on the Ravishing One. Roberts tries for a DDT but Rude is able to avoid it and bails to the floor. Rude hammers away on Jake once he is dragged back into the ring. Roberts comes back with a series of strikes of his own. Rude ducks a short arm clothesline and drops Jake with a clothesline. Rude has trapped Roberts in the ropes and has left to the floor to stalk Cheryl, but Roberts breaks free and attacks Rude. Rude atomic drops Roberts to regain the advantage. Rude rams Roberts arm into the ring post. Roberts gets out of a headlock by ramming Rude into the corner but soon runs right into a high knee. Rude goes for the Rude Awakening but Roberts avoids it by biting Rude’s hands. On the floor, Roberts sends Rude arm first into the ring post. Jake jabs Rude several times and delivers a gut buster. Jake sends Rude down with a high knee lift and signals for a DDT, but Rude hangs onto the ropes. Roberts exposes Rude’s butt and hits a short arm clothesline. The fans want the DDT badly now but Rude avoids it once again. Rude avoids a knee lift by sending Roberts into a corner. Rude comes off the top with a fist drop and taunts Cheryl Roberts. Rude blocks a slap from her and goes back to Jake. Jake gets out of a scoop slam and plants Rude with a DDT for the win! (**3/4. An alright main event, but it’s not a show saver by any means. The DDT is incredibly over at this point. I’d say this was the match of the night and a good choice to close the show.) After the match, Cheryl enters and slaps Rude twice!

Final Thoughts:
Well, on paper I thought this was an interesting show that could provide with some quality action. That was not the case. Instead, it was a bland show that didn’t feature any match worth viewing. It seemed to drag along and was a real disappoint to me. This gets a thumbs down from me, folks.

Thanks for reading.