WWF @ The Boston Garden – October 10, 1988
by Scrooge McSuck
- This tape was picked at random, since I had no idea on what to recap next. I got this and a bunch of other stuff from an old dealer of mine who had a bunch of 24/7 stuff, so even though the card was unspectacular looking, I just had to have it. This tape also has MSG shows from 4/21/91 and 6/3/91, so maybe you'll be seeing those soon, too.
- Your broadcast team for the night consists of Ron Tronguard, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Superstar Billy Graham. Yeah, I’m not going to be listening to this show without the assistance of the mute button.
- B. Brian Blair vs. Iron Mike Sharpe:
By this point of their WWF run, the Killer Bees were broken up and basically put into singles JTTS roles for the remainder of their time on television. Blair would pack-up and go not long after this, while Brunzell hung around until 1993 with his new role. Oh, and Sharpe sucks. I’ve seen enough matches between these two guys from 1984-85 to know it’s not going to be much better four years later. Stalling to start by Sharpe. There’s a fucking surprise. Lockup, and Sharpe gives a clean break. Blair takes over with a side headlock, and Sharpe runs out of the ring for more stalling. Back inside for the Greco-roman knuckle-lock, won by Blair. Snapmare and elbow drop by Blair for a two count. Sharpe high-tails it out of the ring again. Sharpe takes over on offense, and it’s DULL. Blair’s comeback begins by hiding under the ring and sneaking back inside from a different side of the ring. Blair hits a bunch of stuff, but none of it is enough for the three count. Sharpe reverses an Irish whip, but Blair uses that moment to trap Sharpe in a Russian leg sweep, and that’s enough for the three count at 9:27. Definitely not too good of a match, but I’m sure some sick bastards would want this to add to their “Worst of Iron Mike Sharpe Collection.”
- Scott Casey vs. Pete Doherty:
Blech… Boston sure got a winning lineup for this night. I have no clue who Scott Casey is, other than he somehow got a spot on the Survivor Series ’88 card, basically because there was no one else. Doherty is “the Duke of Dorchester”, but he still gets boo’ed. He almost always got a match on the Boston shows, I noticed. I can guarantee this match is going to suck wet ass. [Stops tape to talk to Shannon] Okay, I’m back and feeling alive again… oh wait, I still have to watch this crap. Fuck, me! Lord Alfred Hayes makes fun of Doherty, to my amazement. He says Doherty is arrogant over the fact he’s won 2 matches in a row, breaking his streak of 136 consecutive losses. Ladies and gentlemen, the Glass Joe of WWF! Anyway, this match sucks. Back-and-forth “wrestling action” consisting solely of arm-bars and chinlocks. Casey eventually makes the “big” comeback, and finishes off Doherty with a weird bulldog/clothesline move for the three count at 6:43. Hopefully the next match will have some sort of entertaining value.
- The Blue Blazer vs. Steve Lombardi:
Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to accept watching the Brooklyn Brawler if it means I get to see a wrestler that does something exciting. In a surprising moment, the Blazer gets one of those “pre-teen chick pops”, much like a Shawn Michaels or Marty Jannetty. Weird. Billy Graham makes fun of the color coordination of the Blazer’s outfit. Knuckle-lock to start, and the Blazer does his usually bouncing flip off the top rope to counter it into a hip toss, and follows up with a hurracanrana for a two count. Good pop for that little bit of offense. Blazer continues to control, taking Lombardi down with a snapmare and follows with a knee drop for two. Scoop slam and headbutt for another two count. Lombardi takes over and the quality of the match takes a major dip. All he does is chinlocks. Seriously, that’s all. CHINLOCKS! Blazer comes back and steals from his brother, scoring two counts off of a suplex and back breaker. Scoop slam by Blazer. He heads to the top rope, and connects with a missile dropkick. NIP-UP! Lombardi blocks a monkey flip, but doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Irish whip is reversed, and the Blazer takes him over with an over-head belly-to-belly suplex. Blazer to the top, and a splash is all he needs to pin the Future-Brawler at 7:24. Fun match when Blazer was in control, shit match when he wasn’t.
- Hillbilly Jim vs. King Haku:
Oh my God… this is going to suck! I might add that Erick Von Erich sent me this match as a “surprise” on a DVD a whiles back, and I’m still trying to figure out a way to get my revenge. 24/7 dubs over HBJ’s music with thte most generic banjo music you can find. I think I heard better banjo playing on an episode of Doug, back when it was on Nickelodeon. To the enjoyment, Hillbilly does a little dancing with ring announcer Mel Phillips before the match. Oh well, as long as he doesn’t show him any feet. This match is a total turd-fest, so naturally it gets more time than any other match on the card. Hillbilly does nothing but his sloppy clubbing and hugging offense, and Haku does nothing but his shitty mock-karate moves. This match is a great example of what not to do when you’re a pro wrestler. Blech… After 4-minutes of hell, I hit fast forward until I over-shoot the finish: Hillbilly Jim misses a horrible looking elbow, and Haku follows by hitting a horrible thrust kick and headbutt for the three count at 12:07. Please God, give me at least one match that has a chance to be entertaining. PLEASE! I’ll never do anything wrong again.
- World Championship Match:
“Macho Man” Randy Savage © (w/ Elizabeth) vs. Bad News Brown:
(I originally went into detail PBP for this match, but my computer crapped out before I saved, so I'm getting lazy again) Thank you for finally answering my prayers. I’m not sure, but I don’t think their feud had begun yet, where Brown accused Elizabeth of doing “favors” for President Jack Tunney, and Savage for being a chicken. Hey, is this the WWF or Rocky III? Not much of a match in terms of actual ring-work. Savage plays the punching bag role for practically the entire match, and Brown never does anything more than punching. Move tot the finish, with Brown in control. Brown bounces off the ropes for the Ghetto Blaster, but Savage manages to duck it, to the non-surprise of me. Savage sends Brown out of the ring with a running high knee, and they brawl around it for a while. Brown, cowardly heel, grabs Elizabeth as a shield and shoves her into Savage, giving him the chance to run back into the ring, picking up the Count-Out victory at 8:51. Brown tries to take the championship, but Savage runs back in to clear the ring and to reclaim his gold. Bad match, but at least it set up their rematches in the coming months, so at least it wasn't entirely worthless.
- Koko B. Ware vs. Dino Bravo (w/ Frenchy Martin):
Speaking of being entirely worthless, here's Koko and Bravo in a match nominated for the "Cared About Least" award. For whatever reason, 24/7 DOESN'T edit out Piledriver. In a rare instance, Koko comes to the ring without Frankie. Bravo attacks before the bell, but he tries ramming Koko into the buckle, and we all know what that means. Koko no-sells and sends Bravo packing after some minor offensive fluery. Koko works the arm, but Bravo nails him with a forearm to take control. Frenchy Martin talks to the broadcast team, but he sounds like a mush-mouth moron. Impressive chinlock applied by Bravo. Koko mounts another mild comeback, but Bravo avoids a corner charge and plants him with a side suplex for the three count at 3:37. Well, at least they kept it short. That's really the only nice thing I can say about this match.
- Randy Savage comes back out in his street clothes, and he wants Bad News Brown in a rematch. Will this match happen? Only time will tell.
- WWF Intercontinental Championship Match:
The Ultimate Warrior © vs. The Honkytonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart):
I only hope this match is going to be short, as well. I guess the WWF did follow up on their SummerSlam match, but it never really went anywhere except for a random blow-off on Saturday Night's Main Event months after the fact. Warrior is weatring his lucky purple panties and fruity pebble boots combination for this match. Warrior dominates to start, and Honky begs him off. Warrior shows no mercy, though, dropping an ugly elbow on Honky. Jimmy Hart trips Warrior up in a blatantly obvious spot, but Warrior won't sell anything right now. Honky finally gets the upper-hand, nailing Warrior with the mega phone behind the referee's back. Warrior won't stay down for long though, escaping a Shake, Rattle n' Roll attempt. Warrior with some ugly rights, and he's Warrior'ing Up! Scoop slam by Warrior, followed by a diving shoulder tackle. Warrior calls for the press slam, but Jimmy Hart jumps on Warrior for the Disqualification at 3:56. Warrior tries press slamming Hart, but Honky throws his cocaine stash in Warrior's face. KABONG! Honky with a guitar shot to the chest and then the back, but Warrior no-sells that, too. Match sucked, but at least it was kept short.
- The Hart Foundation vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers:
(Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs. Jacques & Raymond Rougeau)
Special referee for the match is everyone's favorite religious performer, Brother Love. Ugh... I've seen the standard idea behind the match before, and it wasn't too exciting. For those who forgot, the Foundation recently dumped Jimmy Hart as their manager. Hart, still "owning" their contract, gave their contract to his newest team, the recently turned heel Rougeau Brothers. I don't know how the contract became void, but I'm sure it was in one of the many matches these teams had in the second half of 1988. Brother Love eats up a good five-minutes of time before the match, rambling about whatever comes to mind. Anyway, the premise of the match is simple. Brother Love is incredibly bias in favor of the Rougeau Brothers, and incredibly bias against the Foundation. If the Harts do anything of note, he'll get in their face, but if the Rougeau's do the same, no warnings. He'll also miss at least one hot tag made by the Foundation. All heck breaks loose, with the Foundation coming out on top of a brawl, and dump Brother Love out on his ass. Bret nails Jacques with the Hart Attack, and referee Dave Hebner comes in to make the three count at 11:27. After the match, Brother Love and the Rougeaus take their frustration out on Hebner, with Love nailing him in the midsection with one awful looking punch. How nice of Bret and Anvil to hang around long enough to make sure the referee didn't get his ass kicked.
Final Thoughts: A total stinker for a show. There's three top of the card matches, but two of them had lame indecisive finishes (and were both bad), and the other was a stupid gimmicky kind of match that's only success was getting cheap heat on Brother Love. The rest of the card is best reserved for an episode of Challenge. Mike Sharpe? Steve Lombardi? Koko B. Ware? Scott Casey? My God, the undercard of this show, for the time frame with such a deep roster, was pathetic at best. Unless you really love Savage/Brown or any other random superstar and/or match-up from this show, a total thumbs down. It stinks!
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