SPORTS-(RASSLIN)
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What the HECK?/Intro- Rasslin Tape 9 (Winter/Spring 1990)
Picking up the gap between the 1990 Royal Rumble and including Wrestlemania VI.
My enthusiasm begins to slow down at the end of this tape....probably because
I turned 16 in March 1990, learned to drive, and got a job. Anyways, it was becoming
a WWF tradition to hype WrestleMania with a prime time Friday night card on NBC.
This year, it was around a few weeks later, and was broadcast on the last Friday
of February. Important, because the WWF had been promoting an appearance by
boxing champ Mike Tyson as the special referee for a Hogan-Savage title
match. However, just five days before the show, Tyson was knocked out in
Tokyo by James "Buster" Douglas. A HUGE upset, and one that basically screwed
the boxing industry into a depression it has yet to recover from. Tyson was
the undisputed champ, but the title lineage became incredibly
murky after this. "Title" reigns by Evander Holyfield, Tommy Morrison,
George Foreman, Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer, Lennox Lewis and a few others only
served to confuse the public and alienate boxing from its big time status of the 80's.
Unintentionally, the WWF event was suddenly a huge curiousity. Tyson was scheduled to appear, but
would he show up? With the WWF not saying a word or doing anything, their show was being promoted.
We start the tape and immediately the big question is answered:
it's WWF President Jack Tunney instructing the special referee...James "Buster" Douglas!
The 1990 equivalent of a "Holy Shit Moment". Hey, who's that guy with him? Holy Shit,
it's Pete Rose!! No wait, it's Eric Bischoff! Oh, it's only Buster's manager, John Johnson...he just
looks like a Rose/Bischoff mutt.
"You know what to do champ... if they step out of line, just do what you did to
Mike Tyson!". Buster clenches his right hand menacingly as we go to a promo from Hulk Hogan to
open the show. Irony of ironies: Hulk mentions "this might be the last time I ever face
the Macho Man.."
Main Event Match 1- WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Macho King Randy Savage (w/Sister Queen Sherri)
Both combatants enter, and then the special ref is introduced. Buster comes in and
after a mixed ovation, steps out. At this point, my dad was pissed that Douglas was
simply a "special outside referee", seconding regular ref "Evil" Earl Hebner. They'd been
promoting Tyson as the special REFEREE.. so I wonder if the original script had Tyson actually
being the main ref? Due to the fact that Buster was a last minute replacement, maybe they changed his role
to "special outside ref"? Who knows.
Hogan and Savage lock up. Hogan sends him to the ropes and hits a shoulderblock. Savage
jumps out for a breather and is confronted by Douglas. Savage hops back in for another lockup,
nails Hogan with the knee then clotheslines/bulldogs him on the top rope. A charging knee to
the back knocks Hogan out to the floor. Savage up top for a flying axehandle, but Douglas
blocks the path to Hogan. Savage re-enters, but Hogan has conveinently wandered over to Sherri's
locale, so she can grab him. Macho charges, but Hogan ducks and Sherri gets nailed with a knee.
Hogan punches and clothesline Savage, then whips him to the corner. Climbs for 8 punches (thanks
for the assist, crowd), chop, kick, running clothesline, powerslam and drops an elbow
on the Macho King. Hogan then straddles his man and delivers some shots to the forehead. He picks
up Savage for an atomic drop, then conveinently runs to Sherri's side of the ring, so she can
grab his leg, this time. Macho leaps up, misses a clothesline but the script called for a
2 count, here. Kneedrops get 2. He chokes away while Sherri tries to get involved again.
Douglas stops her and sends her to the back. Cameras follow Douglas and Sherri while
Macho goes up for an axehandle, and hits the chinlock right at the commercial break.
Hogan breaks the hold with 5 elbows, whips Savage to the ropes for a shoulderblock, then
both guys hit charging clotheslines and collapse. Macho is up first, and does the Tarzan
cover by placing one foot on Hogan's tummy. 2 count. He throws Hogan out and
connects off the top turnbuckle with more axehandles. In and out of the ring again and
Macho goes up top. Dougls stares him down, again. He tosses Hogan back in, powerslams
him and connects with the big flying elbow. Musta been spinach in that elbow, cuz
Hogan makes the instant Popeye comeback. After the big boot, Macho is knocked out of the ring.
Both guys brawl outside. They tumble back in as Hogan nails Macho and "Evil" Earl Hebner.
Hogan off the ropes with the big legdrop, but the ref is out! No problem, Buster Douglas
slides in and makes the 3 count. Afterwards, Savage argues with, and mocks, Douglas.
A few minutes of shenanigans, then Savage slaps Douglas, twice! Savage turns away, but
Hogan shoves him into Douglas. Douglas blows his first punch, but the second punch
connects and Savage is "knocked out". Big pop for that.
TV feed immediately cuts to Ultimate Warrior, who is talking about the
"cosmic powers of Mars" and other nonsense. Back to the ring where Hogan and Douglas
are posing. Commercial time and the Mountain Dew Slam of the Night is the
"Dont Call Me Canadian" Earthquake. We come back and Jesse Ventura is with Jimmy Hart,
Earthquake and Dino Bravo. If you need this transcribed, then I apologize.
Over to Mean Gene Okerlund, with the Warrior. Oh dear. Warrior mentions that
"the blood that flows through me is not the blood of normals!"
"The Brainwaves in my mind are of an unknown frequency".
"I need not Earthquake insurance.." It's even MORE insane, live!
Main Event Match 2- WWF Intecontinental Championship: Ultimate Warrior (c) vs.
Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart and Earthquake)
Warrior charges in and leapfrogs over Bravo. Hits Bravo with a powerslam, then a
quick clothesline from the top turnbuckle. Being the Warrior, he then runs around ringside,
chasing Hart. back in the ring and Earthquake grabs him. Bravo tries to charge, but
gets hiptossed. Earthquake grabs the leg and this time Bravo charges and knocks the
Warrior to the floor. Warrior then goes under the ring... crawls out the other side and
grabs Jimmy Hart. Jimmy is pulled under while Bravo and Earthquake act confused.
Hart emerges a minute later...with no pants. Verrrrry disturbing. Warrior
gets out and press-slams Bravo onto Earthquake. (must be a very slow count, he's been
outside the ring for a good two minutes) Earthquake then powerslams Warrior and throws him into
the ring. Bravo pounds on him and gets a bearhug. Side-slam gets a two count for Bravo.
Warrior staggers to the ropes and starts shaking them. Headbutt to Bravo.
Punch, 2 charging clotheslines, flying shoulderblock and the big splash
score the 3 count pin for Warrior. Before he can celebrate, Earthquake attacks.
he drops two big elbows and sets up Warrior for a big juggbutt splash off the second rope.
Hulk Hogan runs in to prevent the juggbutt drop. Hogan knocks
Earthquake out, then has another face-off with Warrior. Warrior and Hogan
start shoving each other as more referees run in to break it up.
Final segment has Vince McMahon interviewing Hogan. Hogan admits he's
concerned but wants the Warrior at 100% for WrestleMania (hmmm..the same line
he recycled for his 2002 WrestleMania match against the Rock). Over to Mean Gene and the
Warrior. Warrior seems to be teasing a heel turn and his whipsering is quite creepy.
Especially when he mouths "Hulk HO-gun". My buddies and I were worried that
they might make Warrior a heel at this point... in retrospect, that might have saved
his title run. Vince and Jesse wrap it up, and then Mean Gene has a final word
with James "Buster" Douglas. "Me and the Hulkster are going out drinking...
he's a skim milk man. Myself? I'm whole milk". Oh.. ha.... ha.. drinking milk....
humor! that whacky WWF!
Random Match 1- Hulk Hogan vs. Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart and Earthquake)
Shortly after the "Main Event", from Superstars of Wrestling, with Vince and Jesse.
Non-title match, by the way.
Hope you were paying attention, because this match is identical to the Warrior-Bravo
one, above! Thankfully, Jimmy gets to keep his pants this time. Bravo gets the
side-slam, but Hogan makes like Popeye and scores the 3 count win with the big legdrop.
Afterwards, Earthquake attacks, following the SAME SCRIPT as above. This time,
Warrior saves Hogan and paws at him. Warrior bounces around after clearing the ring and threatens
a clothesline to Hulk. Warrior gets all jolly and runs out
of the ring.
Random Match 2- Red Rooster vs. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil)
This was from a special PTW show, "Countdown to Wrestlemania VI" or some other shit, with
Vince and Jesse on the call. All the remaining matches, until we hit WM6 are
from this show. DiBiase now has his theme song, "Money, Money, Money, Money, Moneeeeeey".
I think it's relatively new at this point, because Jesse is singing along and praising it.
Looking ahead at the rest of my tapes, this is the LAST Red Rooster match I have! As a going away present,
he works a decent match, with glimpses of "Terry Taylor" showing through. Charging clotheslines
and a back bodydrop chase DiBiase from the ring. DiBiase works him over and
goes into a chinlock as the commercial break appears. Looks to be clipped a bit, and
we come back to Rooster atomic dropping DiBiase. Rooster hits a nice flying forearm and tries again.
DiBiase catches him, and clotheslines him on the top rope (stun-gun). Million Dollar Dream
is locked in and DiBiase gets the submission win. Rooster's mouth is stuffed with a c-note as
another going away present. Jesse: "Just think of all the chicken feed he can buy with that!".
Believe it or not, the best match on this tape, so far.
Random Match 3-Dusty Rhodes (w/Sapphire) vs. "Macho King" Randy Savage (w/ Sister Queen Sherri)
Savage was wasted in this angle,
as he never got to work much. A few axehandles and charging knees. Sherri gets most
of the action as she constantly interferes and shows off her bovine thighs in the process.
Sapphire finally waddles over and dukes it out with Sherri. Sherri gets chased all over the ring,
and at one point Savage steals the ring bell and hits Dusty with it, off the top rope.
Sherri eventually jumps in the ring and tries a sleeper on Dusty, drawing the DQ. Sapphire
tosses her out of the ring and the battle sows celebrate.
A Very Special Contract Signing: Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior
The two are seated at a table within Titan Towers, with Jack Tunney moderating.
Warrior mentions that the thoughts in his head are unknown to the noramls. He even acts
slightly heel-ish. Nothing earthshaking, and this is one of the few times
in pro wrestling where a contract signing did NOT involve someone being
assaulted or put through a table.
Random Match 4- Rugged Ronnie Garvin vs. Earthquake (w/Jimmy Hart)
Garvin bounces around like a boxer and jabs at Quake. He eventually knocks him down
and tries for the "Reverse Figure Four". Quake breaks and sends him to the turnbuckle.
Quake misses the follow up, which allows Garvin to sneak around and school-boy him.
Garvin comes off the top with a flying bodypress. Quake catches him, slams him, then
drops ass with the sitdown splash to score the 3 count. Afterwards, Quake drops
ass three more times on Garvin, who even twitches to sell it.
Random Match 5- WWF Tag Team Championship: Collossal Connection (c) (w/Bobby Heenan) vs.
The Rockers
(Andre the Giant and Haku vs. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
Heels attack, countered by dropkicks from the Rockers. Andre immediately does his
Special Move, by getting his arms caught in the ropes. He takes a seat and watches the
first minute or so as Haku and Jannetty go at it. Nothing spectacular until Andre
tosses Michaels out of the ring and they do their doubleteam superkick on Jannetty.
Cue the Demolition run-in, as Ax and Smash attack. DQ win for the Connection, as
the Rockers and Demos share hugs and handshakes.
Wrestlemania VI- The original PPV broadcast from SkyDome in
Toronto Canada. Abbreviated highlights, cuz you've
probably read about this, elsewhere. Show opens with a video of constellations and Vince
growling about the "Ullllltimate Challenge". Howard Finkel can be heard in the background,
counting down the seconds until the show starts. Crowd is going apeshit as the show starts,
and we can't hear Gorilla and Jesse's commentary. Two guys in the front row
are dressed up in tuxes, with Warrior face-paint, making them look more like Mr. Fuji than
their hero. Robert Goulet sings "O Canada" and we're off.
WM6 Match 1- Koko B. Ware vs. Rick "The Model" Martel
Koko does the "Bird, Bird, Bird" on the way to the ring...whatever that may be, but Gorilla
swears he's doing it! The wrestlers are being shuttled down the aisle
in those nifty carts made up like mini rings. Martel gets booed, despite being Canadian.
In the end, Martel cinches in the Boston crab for the submission victory.
Mean Gene interviews the "Colostomy Connection" backstage. Actually a funny joke,
for Okerlund.
Sean Mooney is in the locker room area with Demolition. Ax sez he's called the Ax, because he
can chop down the biggest trees- like Andre and Haku. Smash then mentions that he'd like
to "load Andre and Haku in the back of a semi-truck and then SMASH 'em off a cliff!!"
Five years later, his dream would come true when Smash, as the Blacktop Bully, faced Dustin Rhodes
on the back of a tractor trailer.
WM Match 2- WWF Tag Team Championship: The Colossal Connection (c) (w/Bobby Heenan)vs. Demolition
Andre the Giant and Haku vs. Ax and Smash
The commentary audio has been turned up by now. Gorilla mentions what would become an important
plotline- the Hart Foundation has already challenged the winners of this match.
Demos "three-peat" and regain the belts. Heenan shouts at Andre and slaps him. Big
"ooooh" from the crowd. Andre bitchslaps the Brain, then disposes of Haku. Heenan and Haku
try to escape on the carts, but Andre flings them off and rides out alone. Andre gets a
nice ovation, but it would have been HUGE if he had acknowledged the crowd. Just imagine
Andre stopping, turning his head to the crowd, smiling and raising one hand in the air. As it is,
he ignores the crowd and spends his time shouting and staring at Heenan and Haku.
As far as farewells go, this was lukewarm.
Last WWF TV match for Andre, and the last time many of us ever saw the big fella in the ring.
Interestingly enough, the WWF did a tour of the Pacific, about a week after WrestleMania VI.
They stopped in Hawaii, where the Demos defended their newly won belts against the
Colossal Connection AGAIN. However, this time Haku was cheered when the Connection
came to blows (Haku had been a fan favorite in Hawaii for years). A week later, the Demos lost a non-title match to Andre and Giant "Shoei" Baba
on a co-promoted card in the Toyko Dome. Betcha didn't know THAT stuff :)
Rona Barrett interviews Elizabeth in a pre-recorded segment. Rona babbles alot
and allows Liz to get in roughly 20 words. Liz sez that when she does come back to the
WWF, she'll be much more active. Great, does this mean she'll take off her pants, again??!
WM Match 3- Hercules vs. Earthquake (w/Jimmy Hart)
Gorilla mentions that "the ring has been specially reinforced for some of these matches,
today". Quake drops ass on Herc with the sit-down splash to get the 3-count. He drops
ass on Herc one more time for fun.
Sean Mooney is in the locker room with Brutus Beefcake. Brutus is taking one final look
at Mr. Perfect's record.
WM VI Match 5- Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect (w/the Genius)
Jesse jokingly ask Gorilla to "say hello to Terry, Tyrell and Jade in Minneapolis".
Genius forgoes Crappy Homosexual Poetry Corner and does a simple intro. I guess he ran
out of poems, so he's not THAT brainy. Beefcake gets the upset pin and Genius gets a haircut. Mary Tyler Moore is shown at ringside...fun.
Video recap of the Bad News Brown- Roddy Piper feud, showing the Royal Rumble and a brawl they had on Wrestling Challenge. Controversial moment, as we jump to Mean Gene interviewing Hot Rod, who's painted half of his body black. "Is it the Hot Rod [turns]..or the Hot Scot?"
WM VI Match 6- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown
Two of my all-time favorites. Horrible match that settles nothing.
Piper dons a white Michael Jackson glove halfway through and
does some unecessary sterotypical jive moves.
Bad News gets to punch the ring post, again, and both guys fight
to a double countout. Seemed like their feud would continue, but I guess the controversy
over Piper's antics led the WWF to ditch this angle. The feud was pretty good as it
was, and did not need Piper's paint job- It was just two tough guys who wanted to
beat on each other. Bad News was
moved to an awful program with Jake Roberts, two weeks later.
Steve Allen and the Bolsheviks are in the shower for a prime example
of Don't See TV.
WM VI Match 7- Hart Foundation vs. the Bolsheviks
(Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart vs. Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff)
Never noticed it before, but the Russians apparently dropped Slick as their
manager. Quick squash for the Harts.
WM VI Match 8- Tito Santana vs. The Barbarian (w/Bobby Heenan)
Okay, I read a recap of this somewhere, where the author sez
"this is the debut of Barbie's Horns and Antlers look". Incorrect. He's
still in his Powers Of Pain get-up, with the facepaint. Only difference is
it looks like he decided to start growing out his partial mohawk about one week
before this match. Barbie gets the three-count after a top-rope clothesline. Slight
pop, too.
Video flashbacks of incidents between Dusty Rhodes and Randy Savage.
Sean Mooney is standing by with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire. Dusty promises
the "crown jewwwwel"
WM VI Match 9- Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire vs. "Macho King" Randy Savage and "Sensational Queen" Sherri
Dusty and Sapphire are announced at a combined weight of 465.
Jesse: "Waitaminut, Gorilla! 465?! You're telling me
Rhodes only weighs 200?!" Before the match, Dusty grabs the mic and introduces Miss Elizabeth. Big
surprise at the time, and she gets a nice ovation. To quote Rain Man "she looks sparkly".
Sapphire rolls up Sherri
after Liz pulls the latter's hair. Sapphire and the Dream invite Liz into the ring to dance, where
she gets funky with the monkey.
Intermission time. Interviews with Demolition, Bobby Heenan, Macho King,
Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, to pass the time. Savage is upset and
mentions: "you'd better grab the phone and call somebody!".
Jesse and Gorilla are with Rona Barrett, who teases some scandalous evidence on The Body.
Rona and Gorilla promise a clip of Jesse in an adult video, before an interview
cuts in.
Big ad for Wrestlemania 7
is shown("The event that will shatter all coliseum attendance records!" -heh-) to round
out the intermission.
WM VI Match 10- Rockers vs. Orient Express (w/Mr. Fuji)
(Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty vs. Sato and Tanaka)
Gorilla tells Jesse that he's seen Rona's video, and there's
"little...very little for you to worry about, Jess". Express wins by
countount when Sato nails Marty with the ceremonial salt. Janetty staggers
around ringside and walks right over the railing! Rumors abound about what kind of
shape the Rocks were in for this match.
WM VI Match 11-"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart and Earthquake)
Crowd loves Duggan's "hooooo", but not his "U-S-A".
Duggan pins Bravo after using the 2 x 4. Earthquake attacks and drops ass a few times.
WM VI Match 12- Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil)
But first, let's re-live all the memories of the Jake/DiBiase feud. These guys
had ALOT of incidents in their year-long feud- WM 5, the match with Virgil,
Survivor Series, Royal Rumble,
two SNME confrontations, the Bossman angle,
... but we get to see how Jake stole the Million Dollar Belt.
Thus, this match is for DiBiase's Million Dollar Championship, which has been
residing in Damien's bag for about two months. Jake cuts a creepy promo before the match.
DiBiase wins when Jake is counted out. DiBiase then wanders into a DDT and gets knocked
out. Jake grabs some of the cash, passes it out to fans at ringside (yes,
REAL money) and one to Mary Tyler Moore. He saves one and stuffs it into DiBiase's mouth.
Before Damien can run wild on Ted, Virgil runs in to save his boss and take him back to
the locker room.
Decent way to keep both guys' heat while capping off their feud.
WM VI Match 13- Big Bossman vs. Akeem (w/Slick)
Both opponents give interviews beforehand. DiBiase has miraculously returned
to ringside, where he attacks Bossman as the match starts. Bossman is looking quite svelte, here.
I guess he sweated off all those pounds while being packed into that
police suit for two years. Match is actually longer than most recaps sites
will tell you.. about 3 minutes. Bossman gets the sidewalk slam for the pin.
Sean Mooney wanders out in the crowd, interviewing kids about the
new tune from Rhythym n' Blues. He then wanders over to "interview" Mary Tyler Moore,
who offers several one word answers. Well crap, when the only celebrities
that committed were Rona Barrett, Steve Allen and Robert Goulet, you
HAD to scrape for more!
A Very Special Interlude: Debut of "Hunka Hunka Honky Love"
Greg Valentine, Honky Tonk Man, Jimmy Hart, two Honkettes and
an unnamed chaufeurr (Diamond Dallas Page) drive a pink cadillac to the ring.
"Honkettes, you ready? Jimmy, you ready?" In stereo: "we're ready Honnnnkeeee!"
Honky actually SINGS while Greg Valentine plays air guitar...but with an actual
guitar in his hands.
I must be losing it, because this is the funniest damn thing I've seen all week!
I was rather apathetic when I saw this segment 12 years ago, but
for whatever reason, it's cracking me up this time around. Bushwhackers
are disguised as "vendors" and chase off the heels. Butch and Luke then make like
Paul Stanley and take turns smashing guitars.
WM VI Match 15- "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan)
Steve Allen joins the commntary booth, and adds "oooh!" and "hooooo-ww". He gets one
line: "I like Jimmy Snuka, cuz he's wearing my wife's underwear".
Note that Rude does NOT insult the crowd before the match.
Okay, I've seen some recap sites that mention this is the debut of
Rude's short hair look. Nope, it's greased down, but he still has the long haired mullet.
Good match that ends when Rude hits the Rude Awakening on Snuka for the pin.
WM VI Match 16- WWF/Intercontinental Title Match: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Ultimate Warrior (c)
I don't care what you say, I DIG this match! Crowd is into every move and
this was one of the few times when you actually DID NOT KNOW WHO WOULD WIN.
Warrior gets the win of his career. Ending is great, as Hogan congratulates him,
then begins the healing process with hug therapy. Fireworks go off as the show closes.
End of Wrestlemania VI broadcast. Arguably the end of
the "Hulkamania" period and the WWF's glory years. Almost seems like
one final blow-out party for the 80's WWF... kinda similar to John Elway closing out
his glory years in Super Bowl 33 (okay, a vague analogy). Sadly, this is also
the final show for my favorite commentary team- Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon.
Jesse left in the Summer, and for me, PPV's just weren't as special without
Jesse and Gorilla around. it's been over 12 years, and I still miss those guys.
Now things start to go downhill for the WWF...
Random Match 6- WWF Tag Team Championship: Demolition (c) vs. The Bolsheviks
(Ax and Smash vs. Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff)
Shortly after WM VI, on "Superstars of Wrestling" with Jesse and Vince.
Nikolai is complaining about Boris's vocals as they try to sing the Russian
anthem. Smash and Zhukov start and the Russian is powered into the corner.
Smash pounds on him and the Demos cut the ring off. Ax comes in with
a standing chinlock, and shouts at Nikolai "C'mon in, comrade!". More pounding on
Boris. Nikolai comes in and delivers a kick, then quickly tags Boris back in.
Smash with a powerslam. All four guys enter and the Demos irish whip their
opponents into each other. Ax knocks Nikolai to the floor while Smash clotheslines
Boris. Demolition Decapitation on Boris, and the champs retain. After the match, Nikolai
points an accusing figure and gets all up in Boris's area.
Random Match 7- Mary Janetty vs. Tanaka (w/ Mr. Fuji)
From PTW, with Vince McMahon and ..."Classy" Freddy Blassie on the call!
Blassie mentions that he managed Fuji when he held the tag championship..
then scolds Vince for not remembering that. Janetty punches away to start, whips
Tanaka to the ropes and lands an elbow. Tanaka is whipped to the ropes again, and
on the rebound, both guys blow a backdrop. More punching, but Tanaka does manage to
work in his spinning squat headbutt and a reverse thrust kick. The kick hits Janetty in
the upper thigh, but he still sells. Ending has Jannety pick Tanaka up for a marshmallowy
soft powerslam. Janetty covers, but Fuji is able to reach in and pull Tanaka's foot to
the ropes. Janetty reaches out for Fuji, and the cane is tossed into the ring.
Tanaka smacks Janetty in the back, then covers him to get the 3 count. Shawn Michaels
immediately appears to smack Fuji and Tanaka around. Sato runs in, and all four
guys punch away. The Rockers fight off the heels and everyone's HAPPY.
Random Match 8- WWF Intercontinental Tournament: Tito Santana vs. Akeem (w/Slick)
The week after WMVI, Jack Tunney made a Very Special Announcement: the rules of the
WWF do not allow a dual title holder.
(Nevermind that this rule was ignored 3 years later when Shawn Michaels
and Diesel both held two belts... Logic in Wrestling) Therefore, due to winning
the WWF Title, Warrior had to vacate the IC title. The WWF then picked eight guys
for a tournament to fill the vacant title. So here's our first round matchup.
Akeem boogies and tries to back Tito into the corner. Tito ducks, connects
with 5 punches and Akeem rolls out to the floor. Akeem returns after Slick's
hug therapy and walks into more shots. Tito twists the arm, takes him to the mat
and works the armbar. Tito signals for the figure four, but Akeem kicks
him to the turnbuckle. He pounds on Tito for a bit, but misses a clothesline.
Tito hits two dropkicks to send him to to the ropes. Akeem rebounds,
misses another clothesline, allowing Chico to charge and hit the flying jalapeno.
Impact knocks Akeem out of the ring, and Chico wins by countout to advance.
Random Match 9- WWF Intercontinental Tournament: "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka vs. Mr. Perfect
Hey, look who's NOT in Perfect's corner. Remember this my son, it will prove
important in the finals. Fast paced match as Snuka chops away to start. Perfect
does his traditional over-sell and flips out of the ring. Runs back in,
powerslams Snuka, but gets kicked in the eyes. Snuka does the same and
Perfect returns the kick. Perfect tries a rollup, then Snuka counters with an
underhook. Back and forth until Perfect lures Snuka into the corner. He grabs Snuka's legs
and does the old "feet on the ropes for illegal leverage" move, and steals the pin.
Only problem was, Perfect only had one toe touching the ropes, but cameras missed it,
anyway. Vince whines about the outcome as Snuka headbutts Perfect out of the ring.
Random Match 10- WWF Intercontinental Tournament: Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake vs. Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart)
Punchamania VI starts things off, until both guys run out to ringside.
Mr. Perfect cuts an interview in the inset box, letting us know that he's
watching this match. Bravo drops a double axehandle from the apron, beats on
Beefcake and tosses him back in. Bravo applies an inverted atomic drop and a gutwrench suplex.
Beefcake makes the comeback with a kneelift, backdrop and his charging high knee.
he signals for the sleeperhold and locks it in. The two stagger to the ropes abit, and
right on cue, Mr. Perfect runs down to grab Beefcake's leg and pull him out.
Perfect and beefcake duke it out, then Bravo decides he wants some of that action and
joins in. Both guys are counted out. The winner was to meet Chico in the semifinals.
Random Match 11- WWF Intercontinental Tournament: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. Rick "The Model" Martel
From "Wrestling Challenge", with Gorilla and the Brain. Yes, the Brain is back on
"Challenge", meaning Tony Schiavone has returned to the NWA/Crockett land.
Big pop for Piper. Piper instructs referee Joey Marella that, yes, Martel's "Arrogance"
spray can should be in THAT particular corner. Martel then attacks from behind and rams
Piper's head to the turnbuckle. Piper gets the Shemp Stooge Eyeboink, rams Martel's
head to the tunrbuckle, atomic drops him and gets a 2 count. Piper picks him up,
but Martel rams his head into his Piper's stomach. Martel with a powerslam,
drops 2 elbows, chokes, whips Piper to the turnbuckle again,
punches him and sends him flying out through the ropes. Martel hops up on the second
turnbuckel to let everyone know that yes, he is a model. Piper climbs up on the apron, sneaks
over and punches Martel in the tummy. Piper punches, Shemp Stooges, then tosses Martel out.
He rams Martel into the railing, the ringpost, then throws him back in. This time Martel
gets the eyeboink and chokes with his foot. Martel then decides that spraying water is the better
part of valor, and tries to grab his Arrogance can. Marelle breaks it up, so Martel
punches, slams, but misses an elbowdrop. Piper gets up for a double neck poke (um, yeah)
and more punches. Martel is wirish whipped to the buckle, where he climbs, turns and
misses a high crossbody. Martel begs off a bit and tries to escape the ring. Piper keeps pulling
him back in, chokes him and drops him on the top rope, neck-first. Martel pokes
the eyes and his finally gets his spray can. Piper ducks the spray and shoulderblocks him
into the corner. Both guys fight over the can, with Martel winning. Piper hops out and
grabs a chair to block the spray. Martel keeps spraying as Piper smacks him with the
chair. Bell sounds for a double disqualification. Martel gets another chair smack as Piper
clears the ring. The winner was to meet Mr. Perfect, who now has a bye to the finals. Thus,
Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana now becomes the final match for the Intercontinental Title.
Fans, who'll win THAT??!!
Why'd you tape this??
The Hogan-Warrior issue dominated most of this period.
Earthquake was being groomed as the top heel,
negating Mr. Perfect's stellar final quarter of 1989. Instead of feeding the top heel to the
Warrior (who had a past history with the Quake), they fed him to Hogan. Warrior recycled
his feud with Rick Rude, making the World Title seem second-rate. You'll also notice
that the WWF starts to add some cartoony angles after WMVI. Among them, the ridiculous
Jake Roberts- Bad News Brown feud, complete with Harlem sewer rats. Plus, Tugboat comes into
the picture as "Hulk Hogan Friendship Bracelets" become a big angle for the Summer of 1990.
The WWF's core talent from late 89 and early 90 was still around, but the match-ups and
angle start to eat away at everything. Cool thing about the upcoming "Rasslin Tape 10":
It contains NO PPV's, just six hours of "free" TV matches. Two SNME shows, plus alot
of PTW and Superstars matches. The Tito-Perfect match starts things out, and I
know you'll want to come back, with such a cliffhanger ending!
Comment about this article: email me or visit the NEW ES Bulletin Boards!
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