Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 9/18/1987
From: Philadelphia, PA
Opening Contest: Lanny Poffo vs. Barry Horowitz: Horowitz takes Poffo down with an arm drag at the start of the match. Horowitz hip tosses Poffo and pats himself on his back. Horowitz continues to control the match with a scoop slam. Poffo comes back with the same sequence of moves and a dropkick to send Horowitz to the floor. Poffo hip tosses Horowitz followed by a sloppy head scissors. Poffo continues to arm drag and hip toss Horowitz to maintain the advantage. Poffo comes off the ropes hitting a cross body for a near fall. Poffo head scissors Horowitz out of the corner and Barry backs off into the corner. Barry wants to shake hands but Poffo doesn’t really want to. Poffo goes for it and is slapped followed by a back scratch. Horowitz delivers a leg drop and a boot scrape. Horowitz staggers Poffo with a knee lift before choking him over the top rope. Poffo takes Horowitz over with a double under hook suplex. Horowitz tosses Poffo to the canvas and continues to choke him. Poffo nearly wins with an inside cradle but Horowitz regains control nearly winning with a backslide. Poffo hits a sunset flip and the fans thought it was over but was only a near fall. The referee is making a count in the cover despite Horowitz being nowhere near Poffo. Poffo slams Horowitz off the top rope to the canvas. Poffo monkey flips Horowitz out of the corner and sends Poffo into the corner. Horowitz counters with an atomic drop and a side Russian leg sweep to earn the victory! (*1/2. Wow, that is a rare victory for Horowitz in the WWF! It wasn’t a high energy match by any means. It wasn’t a complete waste of time, though.)
Second Contest: Frenchy Martin vs. SD Jones: You could probably hear a pin drop as the match starts, and I’ll be honest… I don’t really care to sit through this match. Martin rolls through an inside cradle and has a handful of tights to win the match. Even as I was fast forwarding through the match, it was apparent that the action was not very exciting and was slow.
Third Contest: Randy Savage vs. King Harley Race: This is a match that fans care about as both men get crowd reactions upon their entrance to the ring. Race misses a clothesline and Savage hits a clothesline of his own. Race controls Savage with a few strikes but is sent into teh corner and Savage gets a sleeper hold on Race! Race staggers around and reaches the ropes to break the hold. Savage clotheslines Race over the top to the floor. Savage flips Race back into the ring and stomps on Race. Race sends Savage to the floor but on the floor Savage slams Race face first onto the announcers table. Savage kicks Race from the apron and is pulled to the floor again. Race nails Savage with an uppercut but misses a head butt on the floor hitting the concrete. Savage rolls Race into the ring and nearly wins. Savage elbow strikes Race a few times to keep control in the corner. Race nails Savage with a head butt and goes for a piledriver, which he hits! Race doesn’t go for the cover and instead delivers an elbow drop for a two count. Race attempts a vertical suplex but Savage counters with a snap suplex. Savage delivers a knee drop for a two count as Race rakes Randy’s eyes. Race clotheslines Savage followed by a falling head butt for another two count. Savage blocks a few strikes in the corner and jabs Race followed by an elbow strike for a near fall. Savage comes off the top to hit a double axe handle for a two count. Savage blocks a backdrop with a kick and heads to the top leaping off but missing an elbow drop as Race rolled out of the way. Race grabs Savage but Savage gets a rollup and wins the match. (**. I thought it was a decent match between two guys that I didn’t think would mesh very well. The finish isn’t very decisive as I feel a rollup finish usually just advances the feuds for another month or so. It was an acceptable undercard match.)
Fourth Contest: Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Scott Casey: As per usual with Mike Sharpe matches, this is just an extended squash for Casey. Casey avoids Sharpe charging into the corner and hit a running bulldog for the win.
Fifth Contest: Rick Rude vs. Brutus Beefcake: Rude is posing for the crowd when Beefcake runs into the ring and hammers away on Rude from behind. Beefcake sends Rude to the floor and plays for the crowd. Rude returns to the ring and wants to shake hands but Beefcake isn’t interested. Beefcake pulls Rude into a clothesline but is sent chest first into the corner. Rude goes for a suplex but Beefcake counters with a suplex of his own. Beefcake locks in a bear hug followed by an atomic drop. Beefcake rams Rude head first into the corner several times. Beefcake hits another atomic drop and Rude is in pain. Beefcake sends Rude into the corner but runs into a knee lift. Rude rams Beefcake face first into the canvas and chokes Brutus. Rude continues to pummel Brutus and controls Beefcake with a nerve hold. Rude rams Beefcake into the corner head first and sends Brutus to the floor. Rude stomps away on Beefcake and taunts the fans while controlling the match. Rude keeps Beefcake on the canvas with a sleeper hold. Beefcake gets to his feet but Rude stops him with an atomic drop. Rude continues to work over Brutus with several strikes. Brutus hammers away on Rude managing to get the upper hand. Rude drops Beefcake with a knee lift for a two count. Rude chin locks Beefcake but Brutus comes back with a backdrop and a head butt.
Beefcake sends Rude into the corner face first and connects with a scoop slam. Beefcake stomps on Rude’s lower midsection. Beefcake sends Rude chest first into the corner. Beefcake goes for the sleeper but Rude rams Beefcake face first into the corner. Rude drives Beefcake down with a shoulder breaker and puts Beefcake over his shoulder for a back breaker before dropping Brutus to the canvas. Rude is arguing with the referee believing that Brutus had submitted. Rude goes to Beefcake’s jacket and tries to use the scissors. Brutus blocks it and puts the sleeper hold on Rude! The bell has sounded for some reason and here comes Harley Race to attack. Beefcake has the sleeper on Race, but Rude attacks Beefcake. Brutus is able to get the scissors and runs the heels out of the ring. (**1/4. It was a decent match and I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys compete again, actually. I feel like they didn’t do anything over the top, but I remained interested throughout.)
Ted DiBiase and Virgil are in the ring offering Junkyard Dog $500 to take the night off tonight. JYD doesn’t take the offer after teasing he would.
Sixth Contest: The Junkyard Dog vs. Ted DiBiase: JYD punches DiBiase a few times and grabs the money and passes it out to a few fans in the front row. JYD backdrops DiBiase several times and delivers a head butt sending DiBiase to the floor. DiBiase is stalling on the apron before getting in the ring and hammers away on JYD. JYD no sells getting rammed head first into the corner and rams DiBiase into the corner a few times. DiBiase bails to the floor to regroup. JYD atomic drops DiBiase into the corner and DiBiase takes his time before going after JYD. JYD controls the left arm of DiBiase with a wrist lock. DiBiase goes for a backdrop but is kicked to the canvas. JYD goes for a head butt, however DiBiase rolls to the floor to avoid it. JYD misses a falling head butt and DiBiase gets control choking JYD on the canvas. DiBiase elbow strikes JYD followed by several elbow drops and taunts the fans. DiBiase snap mares JYD and goes to the middle rope missing a forearm drop as JYD got his fist up to punch DiBiase in the face. JYD clotheslines DiBiase and delivers a head butt. JYD head butts DiBiase and gets on the mat to deliver a few more head butts. JYD knocks Virgil off the apron. Virgil trips JYD from the floor and DiBiase wins the match with a rollup from behind. After the match, JYD attacks Virgil on the floor and brings DiBiase back into the ring only to send him over the top to the floor. (*. It felt like DiBiase was trying his best to make this match work, but JYD is very limited with what he can do and the match suffered.)
Seventh Contest: WWF Tag Team Champions Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs. B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell: Neidhart and Blair kick off the match with Neidhart shoving Blair away a few times. Blair comes off the ropes and knocks Neidhart down with a leaping butt splash. Brunzell tags in and runs into a bear hug. Brunzell claps his way out of the hold and tags in Blair. Neidhart is punched in the midsection before being tripped by Blair. Brunzell focuses his offense on the left knee of Neidhart. Neidhart wiggles free and tags in Bret, who is met with a drop toe hold and the Bees split Bret’s legs apart. Blair wrenches on the left knee with an Indian death lock before driving Bret’s knee down into the canvas. The Bees are constantly tagging in and out to focus their attack on Bret’s left knee. Neidhart had enough with this and stomps Brunzell to help Bret and gets tagged in. Blair is getting double teamed by the Harts in the corner. Hart tosses Blair to the floor and distracts the referee pretending to have been blinded by Blair. Neidhart takes advantage and sends Blair into the guard railing. Blair nearly wins with a sunset flip, but Neidhart gets tagged in missing a clothesline. Bret knee lifts Blair from the apron and Neidhart maintains control of the match. Neidhart controls Blair with a chin lock but Bret tags in to keep control of the contest ramming Blair head first into the corner. Hart beats on Blair with several more strikes. Hart drives Blair down with a back breaker for a two count as Brunzell came in to break up the count. Bret chokes Blair over the top rope while Neidhart distracted the referee. Bret scoop slams Blair and drops a forearm for a two count.
Bret boots Blair in the midsection a few times for a near fall. Neidhart puts a bear hug on Blair but can’t get a submission. Bret misses a clothesline and Blair is able to drop Bret with a clothesline knocking both men down. Neidhart kicks Bret as Blair had a power slam attempt, but Blair rolls over and nearly wins the match. The fans really bought into that near fall. The referee doesn’t see Brunzell get tagged in. Blair avoids Bret in the corner and backdrops Neidhart over the top to the floor. Brunzell gets tagged in this time and backdrops Bret. Brunzell goes for the cover but Bret kicks out at two. Neidhart is struggling to get up on the floor. Brunzell clotheslines Bret for another two count. Brunzell goes for another cover but Bret gets his foot on the bottom rope. Blair nails Hart with an elbow from behind and hammers away on Neidhart on the apron Brunzell dropkicks Hart to the apron. Brunzell hooks Hart for a suplex but Neidhart trips Brunzell and Hart lands on top for the win! (***. That was a fun tag match with the Killer Bees having a few believable near falls. The finish is a little cheap, but it allows them to have rematches since the Killer Bees really had a good shot at winning the titles and held their own. This exceeded my expectations.)
Eighth Contest: Outback Jack vs. Tiger Chung Lee: Safe to say this is a filler match to kill the crowd before the main event since that tag match was really good and got the crowd riled up. Jack wins following a bulldog off the ropes after three minutes of action, or less.
Main Event: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Killer Khan: Khan attacks Hogan before the bell rings as Hogan still has the championship on. Khan is choking hogan with his headband. Khan removes the title and whacks Hogan over the back! Khan hits Hogan over the back with the championship a second time. Khan stomps away on Hogan after missing a mist to Hogan and the referee is blinded on the canvas. Khan distracts the referee as Mr. Fuji chokes Hogan with his cane. Joey Marella enters the ring to referee the match as Khan continues to beat on Hogan with a few knee drops for a two count. Khan knee lifts Hogan several times followed by overhand strikes to drop Hulk to the canvas. Khan chokes Hulk over the middle rope. Hulk has literally had zero offense thus far. Fuji nails Hogan with his cane from the floor. Khan drops Hogan with a savant kick but misses a knee drop. Hogan gets to his feet and appears to be getting a second wind. Hogan delivers a few karate chops and takes off his wrist tape. Hogan clotheslines Khan with the wrist tape a few times. Hogan chokes Khan with the wrist tape before delivering a few more chops. Hogan tosses Khan to the floor where Fuji tries to help his man up. Hogan follows to the floor and hammers away on Khan some more. Hogan whacks Khan over the back with a chair. Hogan continues to punch Khan several times before returning to the ring. Fuji hits Hogan with his cane, but that doesn’t do anything. Khan cheap shots Hogan from behind and works over Hulk with strikes. Khan controls Hogan with a nerve hold but isn’t going to get a submission. Hogan is getting up and hulking up. Hogan comes off the ropes with a few shoulder blocks but Khan forearms Hulk to the canvas. Khan scoop slams Hogan and goes to the middle rope hitting a knee drop. Hogan powers out a two on the cover and gets a second wind to hulk up. Hogan no sells some offense and blocks the mist with his hands! Hogan rubs the mist into Khan’s eyes and Khan drops to the canvas where Hogan hits the leg drop for the win! (**1/2. Well, that was a pleasant surprise for me. Khan’s offense wasn’t all that boring and the brawling nature was enjoyable. It did seem like the crowd didn’t buy into Khan as a challenger, but regardless, I thought the match was enjoyable.)
Final Thoughts:
I actually thought this was a solid house show for the WWF. Rude/Beefcake, Savage/Race, the tag title match and the main event were all entertaining matches. I left feeling like I watched a fun show. Thus, I’ll give it a mild recommendation. It’s a fun two hour show with a little bit of crap, but just skip over that stuff.
Thanks for reading.