Saturday, July 29th, 1989
Madison Square Garden
New York City, New York
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Off The Grid, Volume 37:
We start off with the music that ends up being the music for the Royal Rumble and then we go to Gorilla Monsoon and Superstar Billy Graham (ugh).
Fabulous Rougeaus vs. British Bulldogs
The crowd is hot and Davey Boy Smith uses the turnbuckle to bully Jacques. He throws him in his own corner and allows him to tag in Raymond. The Bulldogs limit the Rougeaus to no offense whatsoever in the first few minutes of the match. Jacques trips up Davey Boy running the ropes and the Rougeaus finally get their opening. They go to work on the leg of Davey Boy and slow things down. Davey Boy comes back and hits a running powerslam, but Jacques breaks up the pin. Jacques slaps on the abdominal stretch, with both Graham and Gorilla talking about him not putting it on properly. Davey Boy runs in and breaks it up, but now Raymond comes in and puts it on. Davey is able to break out of it. The Rougeaus hit an inverted atomic drop/splash combo for a 2 count. Dynamite gets a small package, but the referee was distracted and he only gets a 2 count out of it. The Bulldogs make the tag, but the referee didn't see it and doesn't allow it. Davey Boy gets Jacques up for the gorilla press and drops him on the top rope, crotching Jacques to a huge pop. Davey Boy press slams Davey Boy on top of Jacques and then the bell rings for the time limit expiring. There's no better way to start a pay-per-view than with a time limit draw. The match was a good one though and the crowd was into it from bell to bell. Both teams start going at it after and the Bulldogs end up chasing them into the locker room.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Gorilla announces that Brutus Beefcake is unable to wrestle tonight. I'm sure that won't have any impact on the show. They show the clips of Ron Bass attacking him. Interestingly, they have the "Of Wrestling" blurred out on Superstars Of Wrestling. We also get the big X with "censored" written on it. Even though you can still kind of see it.
Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera
Oh boy, babyface Ken Patera. Even elementary school me who rented this years after it happened thought this guy was a dork. Brown attacks him right away and hits a body slam. Ken makes a quick comeback and has a worse haircut than most grandmothers during this era. This match already has worn out its welcome. They have sucked the life out of the building already. What better way to get them back than by putting on a bear hug? Are you kidding me? They have a miscommunication on the Irish whip that makes this even worse. On the second one, Bad News sidesteps him and he hits his shoulder. Bad News hits the Ghetto Blaster and that's all. To say this was terrible would be an understatement.
Match Rating: 0 Stars
We go to Mean Gene and he's with the Mega Powers. They hype up the secret weapon, who is Miss Elizabeth and she looks as uncomfortable as ever.
Rick Rude vs. Junkyard Dog
This just feels like such a bizarre pairing. Rude tries to attack JYD, but Rude gets hit with a huge back body drop and some headbutts. Rude regroups and hits a clothesline and a double ax handle from the top rope. Let me tell you, two back to back 6 minute matches that have rest holds is quite the choice. JYD gets in an Irish whip, but runs into a big boot in the corner. JYD gets in a headbutt but then immediately gets distracted by Heenan and Rude attacks from behind. Rude hits a fist from the top rope after rolling down his pants to expose Cheryl Roberts on his trunks. Jake Roberts runs in and attacks him to cause the DQ. Maybe they should have just wrestled each other? This stunk.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We go to Mean Gene who is now with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart about the news of Brutus Beefcake. Gene hypes up the mystery man, but Honky doesn't care.
Bolsheviks vs. Powers Of Pain
Speaking of bizarre pairings, this is easily one of the weirdest booked matches in WWE pay-per-view history. Like every other match tonight, they are brawling right away. Nikolai Volkoff trips up the Barbarian, but Zhukov still gets hit with a double clothesline right after. We get one of the most telegraphed back body drop attempts I have ever seen and a total miscommunication after that. This is as bad as I was expecting. Barbarian gets a nice little sequence to help save this match from being complete garbage. They hit a double leaping shoulder tackle. Warlord then hits a powerslam and a diving headbutt by the Barbarian for the victory. The last 45 seconds really saved this one.
Match Rating: 3/4*
It's now time for The Brother Love Show. His special mystery guest is Hacksaw Jim Duggan. If I remember right, there were a lot of rumors of big names that were supposed to be the guest here and instead got Duggan. Things escalate quickly, as they often do here. Duggan threatens to hit him with the 2x4 and swings at him, but Brother Love escapes. This was stupid.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Honky Tonk Man vs. Ultimate Warrior
I have a feeling the show will pick up here. The Ultimate Warrior comes out and blows the roof off the building. Warrior hits all 4 moves that he has and we have a new champion. As a kid, this was about as good of a moment that I had ever seen. I probably rewatched this 10 times the first time I rented it. Despite knowing the Warrior was not the person you wanted him to be, the moment is still priceless. A lot of credit goes to Honky for this too, being the great heel for a long time and putting over the hot new babyface in convincing fashion. It's a squash, so I can't rate it much higher, but the moment is a 5 star moment.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo
As you'd expect from these two, it's mostly power stuff to start. Dino gets in about 45 seconds of offense and then Muraco hits a neckbreaker. Bobby Heenan joins the announce team while Muraco starts hitting right hands. Muraco goes for a body slam, but Bravo blocks it after they possibly accidentally hit the referee. Dino hits the dreaded side suplex and picks up the victory. Whatever.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Sean Mooney is with Jesse Ventura and questions the decision Jack Tunney has made to handpick Ventura to be the referee tonight. It doesn't really make sense. Mooney then brings up how Ventura accepted money from Ted DiBiase and he plays it off that if someone's willing to give him money, he's going to take it.
WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Hart Foundation vs. Demolition
The 1990 sequel is the more talked about match and to be honest, I don't really remember this one. I've really grown to like Demolition though and the Hart Foundation has always been a favorite. They start the match off with a really nicely paced seesaw opening. Bret gets thrown into the ring post and Demolition goes to work on his shoulder. I should note that Jimmy Hart is joining Mr. Fuji in the corner of Demolition here. It's interesting because the crowd isn't into this match as much as you would expect. That's not to say they aren't, but just not as much as I would have expected. Bret gets his leg up on a charging Smash and finally gets the tag to Anvil. He clears the ring and now the crowd is to their feet. I spoke too soon. Bret slingshots Anvil over the top and onto Demolition. Neidhart hits a powerslam, but Smash is able to get the shoulder up during the pin attempt. Bret throws Neidhart into Smash in the corner, but it's still not enough. Bret tries to hit a piledriver, but Ax gets Jimmy Hart's megaphone and hits Bret in the back with it behind the referee's back and that's all for the champs to retain. This was a good match from these two with the expected interference finish.
Match Rating: ***
We go backstage to an irate Honky Tonk Man with Jimmy Hart and crew. He says that he'll always be the greatest of all time and that he will get his belt back if it's the last thing he does.
Big Boss Man vs. Koko B. Ware
Boss Man was pretty much brand new here. Koko hits a dropkick and it ties up Boss Man in the ropes. Andre couldn't have liked that. Boss Man is able to hit a splash in the corner and then the splash with Koko draped on the second rope. Boss Man goes up to the top rope, but Koko barely rolls out of the way. Boss Man then misses in the corner and crotches himself. Koko starts hitting some right hands and hits an effortless missile dropkick. He goes for the cover, but as Gorilla says, he pushed him off of there like yesterdays garbage. He hits the Boss Man Slam and that's all. This was essentially a squash, as Koko seemed to always have that spot on the card during this era. After the match, he drills Koko with the nightstick in the ribs.
Match Rating: *
Sean Mooney is with Ultimate Warrior and he cuts his usual gonzo promo about spaceships or something.
Hercules vs. Jake Roberts
This is our final weird pairing of the night. They decide to work a snail's pace to start things off. THey have already completely lost me here. I'm not really sure why they decided to put this on right before the main event, as it seems like the Boss Man squash would have probably worked better. Jake is able to dump Herc over the top rope, but then Herc snaps Jake's neck on the top rope. Jake goes for a DDT, but Herc dumps him on his back. Jake misses with a knee lift and falls hard. Herc gets in a little offense, but Jake hits a DDT out of nowhere to pick up the victory. That was a 10 minute match that felt 10 minutes. Damien comes out and is dumped on Hercules.
Match Rating: 3/4*
We get a video package about the main event feud.
Mega Bucks vs. Mega Powers
I hate that DiBiase didn't have his entrance music here yet. The Mega Powers come out to Savage's music, as they should. We get a ton of stalling prior to the match with Jesse Ventura getting ready for the match. Hogan and Savage dominate the early part of the match and there continues to be a lot of confusion created by Elizabeth, Virgil and Bobby Heenan outside the ring. The Mega Bucks get their opening and Andre starts to work on Hogan. Andre seems to be in a good mood tonight. After a lengthy rest hold from DiBiase on Hogan, Hogan gets up and they hit a double clothesline. Savage gets a hot tag and is a house of fire. It doesn't last overly long and before you know it, Andre is shoving his butt into Savage's face. Now Hogan gets the hot tag and he has both opponents down. Savage goes up to the top rope, but runs into the boot of Andre. Hogan has a sleeper hold on DiBiase until Andre grabs him from behind and throws him out of the ring. Elizabeth gets up on the apron and rips off the bottom of her dress, which exposes her bikini bottom essentially. They try to make a huge deal of this, but it is very much just cheesy 1980s WWF. Hogan and Savage hit their finishers and Savage has to help push Ventura's arm down to count 3. The crowd was crazy hot for this one and they mostly delivered here. It was a good storyline that leads to another good one. As they celebrate, this is where the jealousy will begin with Savage accusing of Hogan lusting over Elizabeth.
Match Rating: ***
This wasn't a complete dud or anything, but it is nowhere near as good as the following year's event would be. There is just a lot of pointless stuff here including the turkey of Bad News/Patera, JYD/Rude and Bolsheviks/Powers Of Pain. The Ultimate Warrior title change is far and away the moment that most people associate with this event and we also got three good tag team matches.
Overall Rating: 51%
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