Friday, February 5th, 1988
Market Square Arena
Indianapolis, Indiana
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Off The Grid, Volume 31:
I have a confession to make. I have never seen this before. I have watched just about everything major in the pay-per-view era of WWF, particularly 1988 and after. But never this.
We start off with a Saturday Night's Main Event style intro with Macho Man, Honky Tonk Man, Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan doing quick promos. This one is actually live and Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are on a live house mice going over the show. We then cut to a Hulk Hogan training video that couldn't have even been cool in 1988. I will never understand the appeal of Hogan.
We go back to Mean Gene with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. They talk about how badly Miss Elizabeth wants Honky.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Honky Tonk Man vs. Randy Savage
Peggy Sue is introduced out as Honky's girlfriend and dances like only Sherri can do. They go to Mean Gene with Savage and Elizabeth. Savage looks like he's going to burst. Savage starts out on fire and snaps Honky's neck on the top rope. That will forever be one of my favorite moves. Jimmy Hart grabs the leg of Savage on his way in and Honky takes advantage. Savage had hit him earlier, so Ventura says it's all fair. Savage misses a charge in the corner, but Savage misses an elbow drop. Jimmy Hart once again distracts Savage and it leads to Honky hitting Savage in the midsection with the megaphone. Savage tries to switch control, but Honky catches him with a knee to the midsection. Savage is just so good. Honky starts to go after Elizabeth and this allows Savage to attack him from behind. The crowd is loving all of this. Savage hits him over the top rope and then hits a top rope ax handle. Back in the ring, Savage hits another ax handle and then pulls Hart into the ring. He avoids a knee from Honky and he hits Hart. Savage slaps on the sleeper hold, but Peggy Sue is going after Elizabeth. Savage intervenes and then hits a diving Honky in the midsection. He throws Honky into the ring post and gets back into the ring, so he wins by countout. After the match, Honky tries to go after Savage with the guitar, but instead Hart hits him with the megaphone. Elizabeth gets in the way, but he swings anyway. Savage blocks it with his hand and Honky scurries. He breaks the guitar on the ring post and then celebrates his "victory". This was a pretty good match that was made by the charisma of the performers.
Match Rating: **1/2
We now see highlights from WrestleMania III and then from last month when Andre attacked Hogan. We then see the contract signing before going to Andre The Giant and Ted DiBiase. They say what you would expect them to say.
WWF Championship Match
Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan
We get a Hulk Hogan promo as well and he's talking about a profit sharing plan or something.After some stalling, Hogan takes care of both Virgil and DiBiase before going after Andre. You'll never guess this, but Hogan can't knock Andre off his feet. Hogan tries to go up top, but Andre throws him off the top. Andre misses with the headbutt and he's finally off his feet. Hogan goes for a delayed cover, but Andre grabs him by the throat. Andre hits a body slam and uses some more chokeholds. Andre hits a big boot and knocks himself done. To say Andre was on his last legs would be an understatement. Hulk fights his way out of a dreaded nerve hold and hits some right hands. Hogan hits a clothesline off the second rope and knocks him down. He goes to run the ropes, but Virgil grabs his leg. The referee distracts the ref and Hogan hits a leg drop. The ref is still distracted, so he doesn't count. Hogan gets into it with Hebner and Andre headbutts Hogan in the back. He hits an ugly suplex and the referee counts 3 even though Hogan's shoulders were clearly up. Vince refuses to believe it and the crowd is in shock. Vince can't believe his "stupid mistake". Hebner hands the title to Andre and Fink makes the announcement. Mean Gene is out for an interview and Andre announces that he will be giving the title to DiBiase. Hogan is irate, but can't do anything about it. Out comes the real Dave Hebner to confront fake Dave Hebner. Although they do look slightly different, this was an absolutely brilliant angle. Not exactly a hot take, I know. The Hebners start arguing and Earl attacks Dave. Hogan then grabs Earl and hits a press slam onto DiBiase and Virgil. This was about as good of a match as you could expect from these two, but the angle is what makes it.
Match Rating: **1/2
Hart Foundation vs. Strike Force
The Harts are already in the ring since we're running out of time here. Vince lets us know that "Mean Gene Okerlund is standing by with Mean Gene". He means Hulk Hogan, who's almost in tears wondering how much money DiBiase spent on the plastic surgery. How does this clip not get played more? They show the clip of the pin attempt again. Again, I never will understand the appeal of Hulk Hogan. We come back from commercial and the match is underway. Bret hits a piledriver on Martel and he kicks out of the pin. Bret goes for a sunset flip and Martel hooks his legs for the victory. We literally got to see 2 moves from the match. No rating for this one.
Match Rating: No Rating
Well, this is an all time classic 1 hour episode of wrestling television. You have one of the most well done angles in company history and a super hot opening match. With it actually being live, we got screwed out of what would have been a great tag team match, but you can't win them all when it's live. Great stuff.
Overall Rating: 90%
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