Original Airdate: Saturday, March 11th, 1989
Hersheypark Arena
Hershey, Pennsylvania
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Off The Grid, Volume 55:
Miss Elizabeth must choose between Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan tonight. Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are the hosts, as per usual.
We go to Mean Gene, who is with Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan. Even Bobby seems bored by the fact that he has to take on Beefcake tonight.
Mean Gene is now with Beefcake and he compares Heenan to a hair dryer, he's full of hot air. Cuttin' and struttin'.
Rick Rude vs. Brutus Beefcake
There really is a pretty big difference visually between 1989 WWF and 1990 WWF. It's all Beefcake at the beginning and he even gets the sleeper hold on briefly. And with this being so close to WrestleMania, we get shenanigans. Andre the Giant is out and he attacks Beefcake. So that brings out Jake Roberts. It leads to Rude and Andre destroying Jake. Beefcake makes the save and knocking Rude out of the ring. His attack on Andre has no impact and Andre starts choking Beefcake. Now Big John Studd is out and then Jake throws Damien in the ring and Andre scurries. This was pointless.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Hulk Hogan tells us that Bad News Brown will be yesterday's news.
Jesse interviews Bad News and he says that Elizabeth is a problem. He says that no woman would ever get in his way.
Now Mean Gene is with Hogan and Elizabeth. I don't understand how anyone could even side with Hogan during any of this? Or ever.
Bad News Brown vs. Hulk Hogan
In case you were wondering, this was exactly like every Hogan match ever. Hogan hits the big boot very early on, but doesn't follow up with the leg drop. They start brawling outside a little bit and then for some reason Bad News has a shovel and is holding it up while Hogan is in the ring and we go to commercial break. Bad News gets his offense in and then gets on the mic to taunt Hogan. Shockingly, that backfires and now it's time for the Hulk up. He hits a high knee and then a leg drop and gets the win. Whatever.
Match Rating: *
They show Randy Savage backstage before going to Mean Gene with Ted DiBiase and Virgil. He shows off the Million Dollar Championship.
Blue Blazer even gets an interview and tells DiBiase he's going down.
Ted DiBiase vs. Blue Blazer
DiBiase clotheslines Blazer after his flip that he does as part of his entrance. Blazer sneaks in a few quick pin attempts, but DiBiase kicks out and is frustrated. Blazer is able to dropkick DiBiase to the floor and follows it up with a dive through the ropes. He hits a crossbody off the top rope and gets a 2 count while Jesse wonders if Blazer will get the Million Dollar title if he wins. Blazer hits a couple of dropkicks but catches Blazer and hits a powerslam for a victory. Kind of a lame finish, as they were putting in a good match until then.
Match Rating: **
They show Savage pacing outside Elizabeth's dressing room and we get a Burger King sponsorship.
Mean Gene is in the arena now and brings out Miss Elizabeth. Gene cuts right to the chase and asks whose corner she would be in. Elizabeth says that she hoped that it would never come down to this. So Gene just asks her if she will be in Hogan's corner at WrestleMania and she says no. That brings out Savage and he is celebrating his victory here. He answers for her when Gene asks, but Gene demands to hear it from Elizabeth. She says no and that angers Savage, which brings out Hogan. Things get heated and Hogan says he will be champion again.
Mean Gene is now with the Brain Busters and Bobby Heenan. They are sick of hearing about the Rockers.
This of course leads us to Mean Gene with the Rockers. Shawn Michaels is basically a different human at this point.
Brain Busters vs. Rockers
We get a quickly paced opener that features all four men at the same time. Both of these teams are just really good. I know that is a real controversial statement. Heenan pulls down the top rope and it sends Michaels to the floor. The referee catches wind of it and throws Heenan out of the match. That of course leads to our commercial break. We get some pin attempts by both teams, but no victory out of them. Arn comes in and hits the big spinebuster. Arn goes for the Vader Bomb, but Marty gets the knees up. Both teams get the tag and Shawn wins that battle. Shawn goes for a suplex, but Arn knocks him into a pin attempt, but then Marty breaks that up. They start brawling outside and you know where we're going here. They love doing this finish during this era. So we get no winner, but we do get more Rockers dropkicks after the bell. This was good as we all would expect, but that finish just sucks.
Match Rating: ***1/4
We get a recap of Brooklyn Brawler attacking Red Rooster and then go to Jesse Ventura with Brawler and Heenan. Heenan says Brawler is a bigger and better nobody than Rooster is.
Mean Gene is with Red Rooster and he says that he is a somebody. I still can't believe this gimmick didn't get over.
Brooklyn Brawler vs. Red Rooster
They fight for like 30 seconds and Rooster gets a small package for the victory. This was as stupid as you would expect it to be. Heenan teases getting into the ring and that distracts him to allow a Brawler attack. They double team Rooster until he is able to kick Brawler out of the ring. Heenan retreats and that's all. Why were they even wasting Heenan's body on this crap?
Match Rating: 1/4*
Mean Gene is in the locker room with Randy Savage and he's out of control and throwing things around because of Elizabeth's decision, even though he says he doesn't need her. This leads to another commercial.
I will always be the one guy who doesn't love this particular time period. Hogan was so obnoxious and there should be absolutely no sympathy for him at all. That whole story just took me out of the beginning of the show. I did enjoy the DiBiase/Blazer and Rockers/Busters matches, but then it ends on such a sour note with a terrible storyline. The sound on here sucked too, which just made it more annoying.
Overall Rating: 48%
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