WWF @ Madison Square Garden
January 19, 1987
by Scrooge McSuck
Taped from the World's Most Famous Arena(™) in New York City, NY. Gorilla Monsoon and Gene Okerlund are ringside to call all the action, unless otherwise noted. I could not find a full broadcast version of the show, so we're cobbling it all together thanks to the help of Prime Time Wrestling, Coliseum Video, and other means. The only match I could not get footage of is Junkyard Dog vs Harley Race. Not a big loss, but I still like to have as much of a show as possible. The WWF ran shows in Augusta, GA (headlined by Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage) and Lincoln, NE (Tito Santana vs Butch Reed in a Cage), so even with the talent spread out across three shows, this one is easily the "A" show because of Hulk Hogan being on the card. (Matches are presented in the order listed on TheHistoryofWWE.com).
Brad Rheingans vs. Frenchy Martin:
Reinghans is one of those guys I forget WWE picked up from AWA. He wasn't around too long, and was back in the AWA during their dying days, winning Tag Team gold with Ken Patera. Thanks to the magic of Prime Time Wrestling, we're Joined in Progress, with Martin sending Rheingans to the turnbuckle and popping him in the throat with the thumb. Martin rakes the eyes and the back. Snap mare and Frenchy drops a knee across the chest for a near-fall. Rheingans escapes a pinning combination with a bridge and catches Frenchy in a body-scissors. Frenchy offers a handshake, crosses his heart and hopes to die, but Brad already fell for that when cutting a deal with Gagne. Rheingans catches Martin off the ropes with a hip toss, and a slam sends Martin to the floor for a breather. Martin surprises Rheingans with a sucker shot and grabs a nerve hold. ASK HIM! Rheingans with an escape, but Martin cuts him off with a pair of knees. He tries keeping Rheingans out of the ring, but he fights his way back in. Rheingans unloads on Martin with right hands and connects with an atomic drop. The crowd is getting hot for BRAD RHEINGANS? Whip is reversed and Rheingans with a rolling cradle for two. He plants Martin with a slam, but misses an elbow from the second rope. Whip and Martin with a snug diving clothesline for two. Rheingans reverses a whip, takes Martin over with a gut-wrench suplex, and finishes with a flying shoulder tackle at 9:44 (shown of 17:00). Looked like your typical opener of the era. Nothing fancy, technically fine, but with some boring periods. *½The Can-Am Connection vs. The Dream Team (w/ Johnny Valiant):
This is the first time we're getting to see Martel and Zenk as a team at the Garden, though Martel is no stranger to MSG. The Dream Team feels like they don't have anywhere to go, and are just filling out the card. Our source for this match is the Coliseum Video "Best of the WWF Vol. 11", and we're probably 30-seconds in progress. Martel and Valentine start. Lockup into the ropes and Valentine shoves off after the break. Valentine with a drop toe hold, but Martel quickly rebounds and the Can-Ams take turns working on the arm. Valiant jumps in on commentary and I want to stab myself in the ears. Beefcake tags in and doesn't fare much better, quickly tagging out. Valentine gets sent to the corner with an atomic drop and does his signature face-first bump for a two-count. Valentine escapes an arm bar, dropping Martel across the top rope. Beefcake with a gorilla press into a back breaker for a near-fall. Martel pops Valentine with a big right hand, but he manages to trap the leg, preventing a tag. Martel fights out of a chin-lock and takes Beefcake over with a back-slide for a two-count.Valentine and Martel trade blows, with Martel getting the better of the deal. Whip is reversed and Martel gets sent crashing hard into the turnbuckle. Probably should have tagged when he had the chance. Valentine with a suplex and ridiculous cover for a two-count. Beefcake continues the trend of doing the least amount of work, tagging in long enough to grab a hold before tagging out again. Martel counters a Figure-Four attempt with a small package for two. Zenk FINALLY gets the hot tag, hitting both men with dropkicks and a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Whip to the corner and Beefcake pops out with a clothesline. Valentine slows things down with an abdominal stretch. Beefcake cuts off a comeback with a sloppy inverted atomic drop. It's safe to say that Brutus was NOT the excellence of execution. Valentine and Zenk with a clothesline double-down. Valentine grabs a front face-lock for my favorite spot, the hot tag the referee didn't see. They tease the hot tag again, and the crowd doesn't react because the match is falling apart. Valentine with the Figure-Four on Zenk, but Martel comes in with a slingshot splash for the three-count at 17:07 (shown). This felt long for the sake of going long. The work was mostly fine, but would have been far more enjoyable with 4-5 minutes trimmed, and the finish fell apart with the referee constantly out of position. **½
"Special Delivery" Jones vs. "The Outlaw" Ron Bass:
Bass is making his debut at Madison Square Garden, and from what I can tell, was likely set for a house show run with Blackjack Mulligan, but Mulligan was gone before WrestleMania III, so Bass just hung around aimlessly with little to do. S.D. Jones is strictly enhancement talent, but he still gets the occasional pop in the right places. Bass gets the jump on Jones and chokes him out with his entrance gear. Whip to the ropes and Bass takes Jones to the canvas with another blatant choke. Jones fights back with left hands and headbutts. Whip to the ropes and Jones with a baby soft elbow, sending Bass out of the ring. Back inside, Jones blocks a cheap shot and sends Bass into the corner with an atomic drop. Jones with a snap mare into a chin-lock. Crisscross and Jones with a cross body press for two. Bass can't string together much offense, because Jones is terrible at making people look good and constantly cuts him off. The crowd isn't into this one. Whip to the ropes and Bass with a knee to the midsection. Bass lays Jones out with a clothesline and drives him face-first into the canvas for three at 6:57. If the point of this match was to make Ron Bass look good, the mission failed. ½*
George "The Animal" Steele vs. "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/ Bobby Heenan):
Woah, I know Orndorff vs. Hogan was done to death, but this man deserves better than having to sell for George Steele! Orndorff is still using Real American, and Heenan has a poster of Elizabeth that I'm sure will not factor into the finish of the match. Heenan shows off the poster to Steele and tears it up in front of him. Wow, I lost that bet immediately. Orndorff jumps Steele and unloads with a series of knees. Steele retaliates with some biting and ramming Orndorff into the turnbuckle. Steele rips the turnbuckle pad off and rams Orndorff into the exposed steel. Is the referee going to do anything about this?! Steele chases Heenan back to the dressing room, and to my surprise, that isn't setting up a lame count-out, as Steele returns and dumps Orndorff through the ropes. Steele distracts himself by putting the pieces of the poster together, giving Orndorff more free shots. Orndorff chokes Steele with the cable of a handheld camera, and the referee seems OK with it. Steele avoids an elbow in the corner and works the arm with some greco-roman biting. He teases the flying hammer-lock, but Heenan has returned and he has ANOTHER poster! Steele grabs a chair and bops the referee for the cheap disqualification at 5:59. Orndorff tries using the chair himself, but Steele wrestles it away and stands tall. You're not getting much out of Steele, you just hope for short matches. *Jerry Allen vs. Tiger Chung Lee:
It doesn't look like my suffering will end any time soon. I honestly have little to say about Tiger. The only memorable moment of his run in the WWF that I can recall is a sketch on TNT where he had trouble breaking bricks with his hands. I feel bad that I need to research Allen every time I go a long time between appearances of his, only to find out that he passed away in 1995. Allen with a side headlock. Whip to the ropes and they somehow make a clothesline look terrible. As I type that, they seem to get cross on another spot! Allen reverses a whip to the corner, takes Tiger over with a snap mare, and drops a knee for a two-count. Allen controls with a side headlock while making goofy faces. Tiger forces a break and shows off a bit of chain wrestling, and when an old TIGER CHUNG LEE is showing you up, we're in trouble. Okerlund and Monsoon with the inside baseball talk to tell the audience this match stinks and the crowd is dead. Tiger gets flipped upside-down on a whip to the corner. Allen with right hands and a dropkick. He comes off the ropes with a pair of shoulder blocks. Tiger sidesteps a third, dumping Allen over the top rope. Back inside, Tiger avoids a cross body press and drops an elbow for three at 7:36. Oh, did that sound impressive? Well, here's the more detailed version: Tiger casually no-sells a body press that catches a bit of him, then drops a crummy elbow like he's late-stage Andre the Giant. This was no good, and I was begging for it to end as soon as possible. ZERO STARS
WWF Heavyweight Championship; No DQ Match: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Kamala (w/ the Wizard & Kim-Chee):
Rematch from the card in December where the match ended in a cheap disqualification. Some markets got them in a Steel Cage (like Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on January 11th), but we're getting a simplified No DQ stipulation. Hogan is wearing war paint to show he means business! Kamala jumps Hogan as he enters the ring and starts whipping him with his own championship belt! How can Gorilla tell the referee to do something in a NO DQ MATCH? Whip to the ropes, Hogan ducks a clothesline with the strap and unloads with right hands. Hogan comes off the ropes, bopping Kamala with the belt, then takes a shot at the Wizard at ringside. He chases Kim-Chee into the ring, allowing Kamala to take control of the distraction. Whip to the ropes and Kamala with a kick under the chin of the Champion. Kamala with a slam and the big splash for a near-fall. He makes a trip to the top rope, but Hogan slides across the ring to get out of the way of danger. Kamala misses a second splash attempt, opening the door for the comeback. Hogan with right hands and a clothesline to take down the Ugandan Headhunter. Hogan uses wrist tape to choke and connects with an atomic drop. Whip to the ropes and Hogan knocks Kamala through the ropes with the big boot. Hogan unloads on everyone at ringside before sending Kamala back in the ring. Hogan with a slam but he misses an elbow drop. Kamala's "cannibalistic tendencies" come out. Hogan digs into his tights and throws PYTHON POWDER in Kamala's face! Hogan snatches the Wizard's horn, whacks Kamala with it, and finishes with the leg drop at 7:57. Post-match, ANDRE THE GIANT comes to ringside to awkwardly hand Hogan his Championship belt. A good smoke-and-mirrors match. You're not getting a technical masterpiece out of Kamala, but Hogan knew how to work around his weaknesses. ***
"Leaping" Lanny Poffo vs. The Red Demon:
I guess there is no end to my suffering with the prelim junk on this card. Masked enhancement talent is always difficult to keep track of, but I want to say that the Demon is Jose Luis Rivera. Demon forgoes a lockup, driving a knee to the midsection and grabbing a choke. Whip is reversed and Poffo takes him out of the corner with a contrived head-scissors. Poffo with a slam and flying head-scissors before going to work on the arm. The Demon tries a cheap-shot in the ropes, but Poffo blocks and knocks him to the floor. Gene speculates the Demon is a member of the Denver Broncos. Back inside, there is no fluidity to the action. The Demon teases having a gimmick tucked in his gear. Poffo goes for the mask, unsuccessfully. BUTT-UGLY rolling cradle ends up in the ropes. Demon with choking, choking, and more choking. There's no excuse for THIS match to be going as long as this. Demon loads up the mask and bops Poffo with a headbutt. Poffo regains control AND GOES FOR THE MASK AGAIN! Poffo with a dropkick, knocking the Demon off the apron. Demon loads up the mask AGAIN for a headbutt. Poffo avoids an elbow from the second rope, plants Demon with a slam, and finishes with a top rope senton at 14:44. This was a truly unpleasant waste of my time. -**Davey Boy Smith & Billy Jack Haynes vs. The Hart Foundation (w/ Jimmy Hart):
The Dynamite Kid Substitution Tour continues, with Billy Jack in as Davey's partner. As we've seen in recent shows at the Spectrum and Maple Leaf Gardens, Danny Davis is the assigned referee, and he's going to do everything he can to give the Hart Foundation an unfair advantage. Jimmy Hart selling for Matilda never gets old. Davis gives Haynes the business over the tape on his right hand. Bret and Davey start. Lockup to the ropes and Bret complains about the hair being pulled. Davey carries Bret to the corner to break a front face-lock and slaps him around like he owes money. Neidhart and Haynes in. Neidhart with a shoulder block, but a second attempt is countered with a drop toe hold. Bret sneaks in for a distraction, allowing Neidhart to attack Davey from behind. Davey gets dumped to the floor, where Neidhart takes advantage. Back inside, Bret with an inverted atomic drop and elbow drop. Davey surprises Neidhart with a sunset flip, but Davis is slow making the count. Excessive double-team work by the Foundation while Davis yells at Billy Jack for yawning. Davey hooks Bret with a crucifix cradle, and Davis again with blatant favoritism. Bret grabs a sleeper, but Davey picks Bret on his back and slams him into the turnbuckle. Whip is reversed and Davey presses Bret overhead and drops him across the top rope. Haynes with the hot tag, running wild on both opponents. Davis tries to get in the way of the action, but is accidentally whacked by Bret. Haynes applies the Full Nelson, and a second referee comes in to say Bret gave up at 9:29. It's the original Bret Hart screwjob! We've seen this script before, but keeping it a little shorter and not having the "Davis is too dumb to realize who is making the pin" finish makes this one a little bit better. ***Final Thoughts: The WWF trying to run three tours at a time spreads the talent a little too thin, leaving us a few solid matches on top and an absolutely dreadful lineup of prelim geeks. Hogan vs Kamala is always a good time (at least in the mid 80's, cannot say the same for mid 90's WCW), and we've got decent tag matches featuring Davey/Billy Jack vs The Hart Foundation and the Can-Ams vs The Dream Team, but there's no point in wasting time with anything from the bottom of the card.
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