Friday, February 3rd, 1989
Bradley Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Off The Grid, Volume 43:
We get the usual introduction to the show, with all of the focus on the Mega Powers vs. Twin Towers. We eventually go to Mean Gene Okerlund and he's with Akeem, Big Boss Man and Slick. I'll still never really understand why Boss Man thought he was a police officer when he was actually a prison guard. We now get an extremely cheesy music video of the Mega Powers' friendship and they sprinkle in a little bit of the attack by the Twin Towers. Mean Gene is now with the Mega Powers. Hulk compares the love between he and Elizabeth as loving her like a sister. He keeps talking about love. Vince and Hogan both suck.
Twin Towers vs. Mega Powers
Hogan wants Boss Man and surprisingly we get that to start off. Hogan of course cleans house and the crowd loves it. Savage joins in on the fun and it's all Mega Powers to start. The Towers get their opportunity and Boss Man hits a piledriver on Hogan. It doesn't last too long and in comes Savage again. He snaps Akeem's neck on the top rope and then hits the double ax handle from the top rope. Slick gets involved and it once again shifts the momentum in the favor of the Towers. We then get the most notable spot of the match where Savage gets thrown into Elizabeth. Big brother Hogan is there to check in on Elizabeth and Savage is a little upset about it. Hogan then takes her to the back to get medical attention. They show her on the stretcher with Hogan freaking out rather than the actual match. I know this storyline is considered one of the greatest of all time, but I just never have gotten into it. Hogan's acting is so terrible and he's in the wrong as a character. The Warrior/Savage storyline to me was 100 times better and so well executed. After a commercial, we go back to the match where Savage is getting worn down as a result of the 2 on 1 advantage. We go back to Hogan and Elizabeth and some more horrible acting. Hogan finally leaves her side and is on his way back to the ring. Savage is able to make a comeback and dumps both opponents over the top. Hogan is begging for the tag, but instead Savage slaps him in the face. Hogan's in the ring now and piece of garbage Vince can't understand why Savage would be upset. Savage now leaves the match and Hogan is getting double teamed. Savage comes back down and they have some words. Savage grabs his title belt and this time leaves. Hogan is Superman, so of course he just wins the match any way with his boot and leg drop. As soon as the match is done though, Boss Man attacks Hogan from behind and tries to handcuff him to the top rope. Hogan instead handcuffs Boss Man to Slick and makes them look like a bunch of goofs. We then go to the back and Hogan confronts Savage backstage, who is with Elizabeth. We get lots of yelling at each other and Savage says that the reason Hogan has never asked him for a title shot is because he knows he can't beat him. Savage then attacks Hogan with the belt and Elizabeth checks on him. Savage then pulls Elizabeth off of her and throws her out of the way. Brutus Beefcake tries to stop Savage and he throws him out of the way. This just shows you that his reaction to Hogan weren't wrong because they had to have him go way over the top to make him the heel in this scenario. The match itself was nothing and no one seemed to think the Twin Towers had a chance. Like I said, I know this all went on to do a ton of big business, but I just don't care for it.
Match Rating: **
Hercules vs. Ted DiBiase
Hercules attacks DiBiase as he's walking into the ring and before he even takes off his jacket. He throws him out of the ring and then goes after Virgil. The story here is that DiBiase bought the contract for Hercules from Bobby Heenan and Herc didn't like that. Herc then hits a press slam and hits an atomic drop that sends DiBiase out of the ring. DiBiase takes control and slows the match down. Herc comes back with a big powerslam, but misses with a charge and hits his head on the turnbuckle. Virgil gets up on the ring apron and ties Hercules's chain into the turnubuckle. Hercules blocks it and hits DiBiase's head into the chain. DiBiase kicks out of the pin attempt, so Herc goes and does it again. Virgil gets the attention of the referee while Hercules has him up in the Torture Rack. The referee goes to check on the chain and this allows DiBiase to get out of the hold and roll up Hercules for the victory. Hercules attacks DiBiase after the match and then grabs the chain. DiBiase and Virgil head to the back as Hercules swings his chain over his head. The match was actually a little bit better than I expected here.
Match Rating: **1/4
We go back to Mean Gene and he wants a word with Hogan, but he's in so much pain that we instead just watch Hogan moan and groan in frustration.
We go back to Jesse Ventura and the human garbage. Jesse stands up for Savage, as you would expect. We then go back to Hogan looking all over the place for Savage, grabbing wrestlers such as Bret Hart and throwing them to the side when they say they don't know where he's at.
I'm a little conflicted on this one. On one hand, the show was mostly entertaining. On the other hand, Hulk Hogan gives one of the worst performances in a major role that I can think of. Hogan was obviously the favorite of the generation and one of the most popular wrestlers in history, but Savage is just better in every way you can break it down. The DiBiase match was better than I expected, but of course it was just secondary to what was going on.
Overall Rating: 66%
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