Written in December 2013
We set the “Way Back Machine” to November 1987 and visit “historic Boston Gardens” for a WWE show that features the Honky Tonk Man vs. Randy Savage.
Gorilla Monsoon is our host, so that’s cool…but instead of Bobby Heenan we have Pete “Duke” Doherty, who looks like he’s arrived at the show dressed as a vampire. I can see I’ll be wishing Sean Mooney were here before long.
Let’s go up to ringside and we get a shot of the ceiling of the Gardens, with a big US AND Canadian flag. The American flag, I can see, but not sure why they have a big Canadian flag this far south. (Maybe the fact the Bruins play in the Gardens and would have a lot of Canadians on the team?)
Brady Boone takes on Dino Bravo in the opener. Apparently, this was shortly after Boone got the crap kicked out of him by Demolition as Gorilla references it a couple of times.
Funny bit as Monsoon and Johnny V get into a bit of a verbal altercation during the opening moments of the match when Gorilla asks Johnny why he isn’t sending his Dream Team after Strike Force.
Boone got quite a bit of offence and even took advantage of Bravo taking too long going to the top rope. However, in the end, pretty standard jobber match with Bravo picking up the win.
The Bolsheviks are in tag action against the Young Stallions. Without really announcing anything, former AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkle has joined the broadcast team. Paul Roma is in his pre-Horsemen era so this was back in the “Good Ol’ Days”.
Fun fact: Nikolai Volkoff later worked with the Baltimore Police Department and ran (unsuccessfully) in the 2006 Maryland Republican Primary for State Delegate in District 7 (representing parts of Baltimore & Harford County) in Maryland. For some reason, I thought he was a real estate agent. “Real estate agent” seems to be a pretty common post-wrestling career as Rick Martel and Rick Steiner are both real estate agents.
Imagine going to see a house and having Rick Steiner greet you at the door. Bet he still has the head gear on and runs around in a circle barking. Of course, if you went to the house Martel was showing he’d have the sweater tied over his shoulders. “This is a beautiful house, but it’s not as beautiful as me, the Model!” and then he’d spray Arrogance in your face.
Back to the match and in a bit of a shocker, Powers gets pinned by Zhukov after a lengthy match. I have to admit, I was expecting the Stallions to get the win. I think their “push” kinda came and went with a couple of TV victories (I think they beat Bob Orton and Don Muraco and the team of Kamala and Sika) and then a Saturday Night’s Main Event title shot against the Hart Foundation. The Bolsheviks were new on the scene and so I guess they needed to go over the Stallions to give them some momentum to start off. It wasn’t too soon before the Bolsheviks were pretty much the heel equivalents of the Stallions.
And then in a match that was probably seen in every arena in the country in 1987-88, Brutus “the Barber” Beefcake takes on Greg “the Hammer” Valentine. I’m not sure why but Doherty is violently opposed to Beefcake’s mere presence.
Beefcake tried to make news in 2012 by going to Toronto City Hall, attempting to speak with Mayor Rob Ford. Instead, he was escorted out of City Hall. It probably had something to do with the fact that “the Barber” brought his barber shears with him. (Because, you know, it’s always smart to walk into a government building with an over-sized pair of what amounts to sharp scissors.)
Or it could have been a case that he’s a guy in his mid-50s who still refers to himself as Brutus “the Barber” Beefcake.
I will say, I find it interesting that one of the news reports found it relevant to announce he also brought a submarine sandwich with him.
As the match winds down, Beefcake does one of the worst selling jobs of a figure-four leglock I’ve ever seen. Most guys stuck in the figure-four can hardly move and have to strain to get to the ropes. Beefcake was bouncing around from one side of the ring to the other, practically.
The end comes with Valentine delivers a belly-to-back suplex and both men’s shoulders were down as the ref counted three. As you probably expect, it’s deemed by the ref that Beefcake got his shoulders up and so he gets the win. Beefcake tries to put Valentine out with a sleeper but Bravo hits the ring. The three-on-one doesn’t last too long as Beefcake soon sends Bravo, Valentine and Johnny V scurrying. Not sure how this is supposed to sell a rematch if one guy has already fought off three guys.
Killer Khan takes on Bam Bam Bigelow in what should be an interesting match, since Bigelow was new on the scene but Khan had a bit of a push in late ’87, even getting some title shots against Hulk Hogan. Wow! I remember watching Detroit news, expecting to hear the Hogan had lost the WWF Championship to Khan after a show at the Joe Louis Arena. Of course, the news never even covered the show.
Bigelow has Oliver Humperdink in his corner and Mr. Fuji is in Khan’s corner. Khan goes for the green mist but Bigelow ducks. He follows up with a dropkick and splash for the pin. My Mom and Dad had stepped in to watch this and my Mom claims “his shoulders weren’t down for the three count.” Controversy abounds in 1987!
The Main Event of the first half is Randy “Macho Man” Savage (with Elizabeth) vs. the Honky Tonk Man (with Jimmy Hart) for the Intercontinental title. Was Honky built up to be that much of a legitimate threat that it seemed credible that he was on the same level as Savage?
Of course, one of the great things about the Honky Tonk Man was he was a selling machine. Sure, it’s no big thing to bounce around when you’re in there with Savage but this could have been a TV match against Koko B. Ware and Honky would have made him look like a million bucks.
Savage, meanwhile, was so damned intense back in the day. Okay, I take it back, these two guys made an awesome pairing: the ultra-intense Savage vs. the bump machine Honky Tonk Man, plus you had Jimmy Hart as the annoying interfering wimp and Elizabeth as the sympathetic beauty. This has to be one of the best feuds of the 80s.
Savage battles Honky and Hart outside the ring and it’s Honky Tonk Man by countout. Despite it being a short match, there was quite a bit of action and the crowd was white-hot for this.
We’re back with Demolition in the ring, and Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes entering the ring. Wow! We get an attack before the bell but it’s by the faces. You know, I think I saw this matchup at Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum in December 1987….or was it Haynes and Boone vs. the Demos?
I’m not sure why but I saw Ken Patera recently (I think it was tied to the History of the WWE DVD/Blu-Ray) and man! does he look weird today.
Okay, strangest observation of the day: Demolition Ax’s hair makes him look like Storage Wars’ Barry Weiss.
For some reason, as soon as the match started, I was thinking “I bet this goes to a double-dq!” and sure enough the match does get thrown out as all four men battle in the ring. Demos and Fuji go to work on Patera’s bandaged arm but somehow he gets ahold of Fuji’s cane. As Demolition leaves, Patera grabs a mic and tells Fuji to “get your butt back here so I can take this cane and shove it sideways.” And thus, the genesis of a Rock catchphrase was perhaps born.
Hercules takes on Ivan Putski. Considering I didn’t realize Putski was still on the roster in 1987, I think we know how this one ends. Actually, I do have a memory of seeing Putski make his “return” at one point with a full beard, maybe this isn’t a surprise. Of course, considering his “return” was about 1 match, this still doesn’t change what I figure the outcome will be.
This is actually a pretty good match as they are both strongmen, even if Putski was a couple of years past his real prime. Hercules with what looked like a side slam turned into an over the knee backbreaker.
The Junk Yard Dog takes on….well, not Ted Dibiase (who comes in on crutches) but Virgil. Virgil gets a bit of an advantage as he (and Dibiase) choke out JYD but then the Dog comes back. Virgil doesn’t get much of an advantage in what must be one of his first singles matches in WWE – his singles push is about four years away.
In one of the lamest finishing moments, the ref gets knocked out as JYD picks up Virgil for the slam. Seriously, he couldn’t get out of the way??? Dibiase comes in, hits JYD with one of his crutches. The referee makes a miraculous, impromptu recovery and makes the count on JYD.
The Main Event sees the Islanders take on Strike Force for the Tag Team Championship. Wow! Did Heenan never go to house shows unless he was on commentary? You know I think I had one of those Strike Force t-shirts. Not sure what music was playing for Strike Force but it sounded like the Ultimate Warrior’s theme but there were lyrics. Whoever was working the music for this show shoulda been fired as in a couple of occasions (this match plus Savage’s entrance) they didn’t start until the talent was nearly to the ring.
One interesting thing about this match is that there was a second referee outside in the Islanders’ corner. He shouted and gestured but really had little effect on the match until the end. (Gorilla always said there should be a second referee in tag matches.)
Tito Santana played Ricky Morton for an extended period of time. You could kinda see, however, the big turning point as Tama held up Tito for a savate kick from Haku. Of course, Santana ducked and Haku decked Tama, allowing Tito to tag in Martel. Martel went to work on the Islanders and it appeared as though they were setting up for the finish as Tito came in and hit a flying forearm on Haku.
However, Tama broke up the pinfall and all four men were in the ring. As the in-ring ref was distracted by Martel and Tama, Tito got a small package on Haku. The second referee came in and made the count, allowing Strike Force to retain.
Never seen this second ref thing save the Tag match at Wrestlemania 2 and the odd “Special guest referee” where they kept a celebrity referee outside to stay out of trouble.
This was a pretty good card. Two title matches, plus a couple of good match-ups (Bigelow-Khan, Bolshevik-Stallions) where you weren’t 100% sure who was going over when the opening bell rang.
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