Original Airdate: Saturday, May 27th, 1989
Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Des Moines, Iowa
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Off The Grid, Volume 22:
Hulk Hogan cuts a promo behind the blue cage and in front of a green screen to start things off. As far as Hogan promos go, this is pretty standard fare.
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are here (but not really) to kick things off. They show a clip of Rick Rude winning the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania V. We then go to Rude and Bobby Heenan with Mean Gene Okerlund. After Rude's entrance, newly crowned King Jim Duggan is here and calls Rude pink.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Rick Rude vs. Jim Duggan
I didn't realize Duggan got the entire king treatment with the music and being carried down to the ring. Duggan starts off hot and then hits a series of clotheslines. Rude hits a headbutt to the gut to shift the momentum. Rude goes up top and hits him with a clubbing blow. Duggan hits a piledriver, but Rude gets his foot on the bottom rope. Out comes Haku and he wants his crown back. Officials get involved and we head to commercial break. When we come back, Rude hits a dropkick. It should be noted that the crowd is extremely hot for this match. WWE would kill to have the crowd this invested for an undercard match these days. Duggan makes his comeback and hits a big back body drop. Duggan hits the running clothesline, but Rude falls out of the ring. Duggan is portrayed as such an idiot, that he just lets him get counted out and the crowd goes along with it. I don't get the logic here at all. The match itself was fun though.
Match Rating: **1/2
Mean Gene is now with Jim Neidhart to talk about his match with Randy Savage. Neidhart hates Savage for how he treated Miss Elizabeth. Neidhart's promos worked better with Bret to go back-and-forth with. Jesse Ventura is with Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri. Savage says that he's coming for Hogan after this. This is before Sherri went completely off the rails with Savage.
Jim Neidhart vs. Randy Savage
Savage is rocking the neon green trunks with shite knee pads. Sherri grabs Neidhart's knee, but it doesn't end up doing much for Savage. Neidhart locks in an early bearhug, but Savage rakes the eyes to break the hold. Savage drives a running knee to the back of Neidhart, sending him sternum first into the turnbuckle. Sherri gets in a little choke behind the referee's back. Savage hits a double ax handle from the top rope, but Neidhart kicks out with authority. Neidhart launches himself from the apron over the top rope for a shoulder breaker and a dropkick to the shoulders to knock Savage out of the ring. Neidhart turns his attention to Sherri, but the distraction doesn't work, as he catches Savage sneaking up from behind. Neidhart misses Savage and falls to the outside, allowing Savage to hit the double ax handle to the floor. He puts Neidhart back in the ring and hits the top rope elbow drop for the victory. This was better than it had any business being, mostly because Savage was just insane here.
Match Rating: **3/4
Jesse Ventura is with Slick and Big Boss Man. This is pretty much Slick's biggest achievement as a manager with Boss Man getting the title shot tonight. Slick is an easy favorite of mine on the mic.
Steel Cage Match For The WWF Championship
Big Boss Man vs. Hulk Hogan
Slick mentioned that he had a surprise and it's none other than Zeus. Zeus is standing in front of the cage door and they do a good job of making Zeus look huge. Zeus attacks him with less than convincing offense and we head into a commercial break. When we come back, Hogan is still down and Boss Man brings him into the ring. It doesn't take long for Hogan to gain control and it also doesn't take long for Ventura to get in a good dig on how good this match is for Hogan is because he can cheat like crazy. Hogan tries to climb out, but Boss Man knocks him off and hits a splash. He heads for the door, but Hogan grabs him by the ankle. Boss Man is able to climb the cage and makes it over the top. Hogan grabs him through the cage and hits a huge superplex that is still impressive 33 years later. Slick tosses Boss Man a chain and he uses it to choke Hogan. Hogan makes another comeback here and tosses Boss Man repeatedly into the cage. Slick throws the referee into the cage and gets into the ring. He grabs Hogan by the leg as he is climbing. Hogan kicks him away and then crotches Boss Man on the top rope. Hogan handcuffs Boss Man to the ropes and Slick desperately tries to get him uncuffed, but Hogan climbs over the top and picks up the victory. After the match he throws Slick around the cage because Hogan was always a heel. I never have liked Hogan, but as far as Hogan matches go, this was a good one.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Jesse Ventura is with Bobby Heenan and the Brainbusters, who are confident they will walk away champions. Demolition is with Mean Gene and they are going to demolish their opponents.
WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Brainbusters vs. Demolition
The champions are able to get the best of the contenders in the early on. They even are able to fight off an illegal knee to the back and Heenan tries to come up with a plan. Ax gets hit with knees to the face, but catches Blanchard and knocks him to the floor. Smash tosses him right back in the ring and the champs look unstoppable. Blanchard gets thrown over and he hits Heenan and he looks to be almost legit mad about it. The Busters use their intelligence to finally get some offense in on Smash. Anderson hits his always impressive spinebuster and gets a 2 count. Smash comes close to making the tag, but Blanchard sneaks from behind and pulls Ax off the apron. Things break down and we have a brawl. The referee gets shoved to the ground and it results in a disqualification with the Busters winning. We then get a brawl all the way down the aisle. Another dumb ending, but the match was good. I keep finding myself saying Demolition was a lot better than I remember them being.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Ventura is once again with Savage and Sherri and they call out Hogan.
Boris Zhukov vs. Jimmy Snuka
Snuka's music of course interrupts Zhukov's attempt to sing the Russian national anthem. Snuka hits a couple of moves and then hits the Superfly Splash for the quick victory. I guess this was just to re-establish the returning Snuka.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Mean Gene is with Hogan and he's in full No Holds Barred mode here to close out the show.
I am very much a 90s WWF over 80s WWF guy, but this was a great slice of nostalgia here. The matches were all given time to tell their story and honestly if it weren't for the stupid finishes in two of the matches, it'd be an even higher rating. I highly recommend this one.
Overall Rating: 84%
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