Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 10/19/1990
From: New York, NY
Opening Contest: the Brooklyn Brawler vs. Shane Douglas: A slow start to the match with Douglas getting the better of the Brawler with a leg trip. Douglas maintains control with a simple arm bar. Brawler drops Douglas with a back breaker and a scoop slam. Brawler spears Douglas into the corner and proceeds to stomp on his back. Brawler has a bear hug locked in for a few moments. Douglas goes for a slam but Brawler lands on top for a near fall. Douglas gets out of a second bear hug and they collide in the middle of the ring. The referee is acting extremely slow. Douglas gets a second wind and clotheslines Brawler followed by a knee lift. Douglas rolls Brawler up out of the corner and gets the win. (*. A boring match between these two. Shane had some good effort and the motivation but was limited with Brawler who seemingly mailed in his performance.)
Second Contest: the Warlord vs Koko B. Ware: Koko knocks Warlord off his feet with a strike from off the top, but his offense is short-lived as Warlord hammers away on him in the corner. Warlord controls Koko with a bear hug. Ware gets out of the hold but Warlord maintains control by choking Ware over the top rope. Koko hits a missile dropkick but Warlord drops him throat first across the top to win. (*1/4. A couple of entertaining spots by Ware, but a completely forgettable match just to give Warlord some momentum.)
Third Contest: WWF Intercontinental Champion Texas Tornado vs. Mr. Perfect: Perfect doesn’t waste any time and sends Tornado to the floor with a clothesline. Tornado pulls Perfect to the floor and delivers a discus punch! Perfect is sent over the top to the floor. He gets back into the ring and puts a sleeper hold on the champ. Tornado breaks free to lock on in himself. Perfect comes back with a rolling neck snap. Tornado sends Perfect into the referee in the corner and misses a clothesline but hits the referee. Perfect gets control with a clothesline and hits the Perfect Plex but the referee is out. Perfect takes the top turnbuckle pad off and sends Tornado face first into it! Tornado kicks out on a slow count from the wounded referee. Tornado punches Perfect to the floor and they are brawling on the outside. Tornado sends Perfect into the ring post but they have both been counted out. (*1/2. Some fine action, but the match never got out of basic gear. The finish sets up their rematch next month in the Garden.)
Fourth Contest: SD Jones vs. Iron Mike Sharpe: Great, a match between glorified jobbers at the Garden on television, too. I’m not gonna waste time on a match no one cares about at all. Sharpe puts something into his arm protector and knocks Jones out with it to get the pin fall.
Rhythm and Blues come out to sing their hit song for the fans. Just a way to add heat to the main event tonight.
Fifth Contest: Dusty Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase: Virgil and DiBiase attack before the bell but Rhodes runs them over with a clothesline and several jabs before dropping them with an elbow strike. DiBiase knee lifts Dusty and delivers a few strikes but runs into an elbow strike. Rhodes atomic drops DiBiase into Virgil on the apron. Virgil grabs Dusty from the floor and tries to punch him on the floor but Rhodes puts a sleeper on him until DiBiase comes off the apron with a forearm strike. DiBiase sends Dusty face first into the ring steps and taunts the fans. DiBiase sends Rhodes chest first into the guard railing. Ted sends Rhodes into the ring post before sending him back into the ring. DiBiase maintains control with a sleeper hold. Dusty fights out but gets stopped with a knee lift. Dusty sends Ted into the corner head first and delivers a few elbow strikes. Rhodes hits DiBiase with ten elbow strikes in the corner and Ted falls to the outside. Virgil gets on the apron but is hammered on by Rhodes. DiBiase tries to use a steel bell, but Rhodes gets it and hits DiBiase with it! The referee sees that and DiBiase gets the win. After the match, DiBiase whacks Dusty in the head with the ring bell. (*1/2. The fans were into the match, but it felt like a match that was setting up a bigger rematch next month, I’d assume.)
We get comments from Hulk Hogan and Earthquake as they will wrestle next month at the Garden. Quake said it will be the end of Hogan while Hogan assures the fans that he will take care of the Natural Disaster.
Also, we heard from Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Duggan regarding their match next month. Slaughter is going to put Duggan in the torture bar (camel clutch). Duggan tells Slaughter to take a look at what is in NYC and tells Slaughter that as long as he can breath he will fight Slaughter for USA.
Backstage, Lord Alfred Hayes is with Dusty Rhodes. He says that DiBiase and Virgil are good at buying people with dirty money. He challenges DiBiase and Virgil to a tag match with his son Dustin.
Backstage, Lord Alfred Hayes is with Ted DiBiase and Virgil. DiBiase laughs at the challenge and looks forward to beating up two Rhodes instead of one. Ted says that Dustin is going to be begging for help and no one will be there.
Sixth Contest: Davey Boy Smith vs. Haku: Kind of odd to see Haku shake Smith’s hand, but he did with no cheap shot. Smith hits a dropkick early on to send Haku to the floor. Smith continues his offensive attack with a scoop slam. Haku backs Smith into a corner to deliver a few strikes but Smith locks in a sleeper hold briefly. Smith works over Haku’s left arm with a few knee drops. Haku counters a monkey flip with an atomic drop out of the corner. Smith ducks a clothesline to hit a cross body for a two count. Smith nearly wins with a crucifix pin attempt. Haku comes back with a quick piledriver for a near fall! Haku cuts Smith off with a knee lift to the midsection. Haku sends Smith to the floor and delivers a couple of stomps to his head. Haku gets a near fall after a big backdrop. Haku is yanking on Smith’s hair while sitting on his legs. Haku has a sleeper hold on Smith but Smith quickly gets out of the hold by ramming Haku into the corner. Haku sends Smith flipping into the corner. Smith is on the floor and Heenan delivers a cheap kick to the midsection. Smith fights back with a suplex and both men are down. Smith comes off the ropes and they collide again. Smith locks in the sharpshooter but Haku reaches the bottom rope quickly thanks to Heenan. Haku drops Smith with a chop and a shoulder breaker but can’t get a three on the cover. Smith avoids a dropkick by hanging onto the ropes. Smith hits a backdrop and a delayed vertical suplex but only manages to get a near fall. Haku misses a splash in the corner and Smith hits a running power slam to win the match. (**1/2. A good back and forth bout that got plenty of time to get going and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.)
Seventh Contest: Dino Bravo vs. Tugboat: Bravo works over Tugboat in the corner until he gets ran over with some clotheslines. Tugboat sends Dino to the floor with an atomic drop and plays to the crowd. Dino wants to do a test of strength but can’t reach Tugboat’s hands because of the size difference. Bravo gets the advantage on the test of strength but Tugboat almost turns the tables into his favor, only for Dino to knee lift and regain control. Tugboat scoop slams Bravo but can’t follow up. Bravo works over Tugboat with a few strikes. Bravo boots Tugboat in the corner and scoop slams Tugboat! Tugboat gets up and clotheslines Bravo from behind and hits a splash but Bravo gets his foot on the bottom rope. Bravo knee lifts Tugboat to the floor and Bravo won’t let him back in. The bell goes off as Tugboat never got back in and chases Bravo to the backstage area. Tugboat won by disqualification. (*. Well, that was not a good match and the cheap finish doesn’t help it either.)
Maiin Event: WWF World Tag Team Champions Hart Foundation vs. Rhythm & Blues: Neidhart and Valentine start the match. That doesn’t last long as Hart enters and hammers away on Valentine. Greg misses a spear in the corner and hits the ring post. Neidhart comes back in and shoulder blocks Valentine to get control. Honky distracts Neidhart to allow Valentine get control with a knee drop to the groin area. Honky enters but Jim puts a bear hug on him until Valentine knee lifts him from behind. Hart gets tagged in but the referee is distracted allowing the challengers to double team Anvil. Honky clubs Hart off the apron and the double teaming continues as the referee is distracted. Anvil comes out of the corner and clotheslines Valentine. Honky enters but Hart gets tagged in and hammers away on Honky. Valentine enters but is stopped with an atomic drop. Hart rolls Honky up for a near fall and clotheslines Valentine. Hart hits a middle rope forearm drop on Honky. Neidhart sends Valentine to the floor and chases after Honky. Valentine accidentally hits Honky with the guitar and Hart gets the pin to win the match! (*1/2. Well, that was a quick main event. I was hoping for a longer match, but oh well. They had some good crowd energy and their wasn’t rest holds or anything, so it was a painless match but certainly not main event quality.)
Final Thoughts:
This was clearly a secondary show with the lineup not featuring any real main event guys at the time. Thus, it didn’t really feel like a big MSG show, but rather it felt like a filler show as the 11/24 show has the bigger matchup of Hogan/Quake as the main event. A thumbs down for this one.
Thanks for reading.