World Wrestling Federation
Superstars of Wrestling
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Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, United States
21st March 1987
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Lead announcers: Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura & Vince McMahon
Line-up:
Barry O & Dusty Wolfe vs The Can-Am Connection
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Alex Knight vs Ron Bass
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Jim Duggan vs Tiger Chung Lee
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Jerry Allen & Jesse Cortez vs Kamala & Sika
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Jake Roberts vs Joe Mirto
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Billy Anderson vs King Harley Race
Vince McMahon opens proceedings with Bruno Sammartino and Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura who “tells it like it is”. This show was recorded before WrestleMania III, however aired a month later. Ah, the days of TV tapings and PPVs. This is a good example of the general TV shows WWF put out back then, so you can imagine how much more important the PPVs felt. Despite that, there is a huge crowd on hand.
Barry O & Dusty Wolfe vs The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk)
Vince marvels at the “young ladies at ringside” as they approve of the Can-Ams. Put that in the Vince Files.
And here’s our pal Dusty Wolfe, from WCCW! Hello again! Barry O is of course Barry Orton, brother to ‘Cowboy’ Bob in the Orton clan.
Wolfe takes the initiative, and seems to throw Zenk directly into his own partner on the apron, but it’s Zenk who is stunned by this. Martel sneaks in to catch Zenk out of a suplex attempt, assists Zenk with a lifting front dropkick to Barry and then Dusty, then they hit stereo dropkicks. As always, Jesse points out the blatant cheating by the good guys here. A nice drop-down and dropkick combo from the Can-Ams has Dusty rocked. A bridging German suplex (or “that manouvre!” as per Vince) from Zenk almost finishes this one quickly, but Barry O breaks up the pin.
Martel enters the fray legally this time and Wolfe takes a double dropkick, tagging out to Barry. During this there’s an in-frame promo from the Can-Ams targeting the current tag champions, The Hart Foundation. Commentary makes a good point about the Can-Ams having no manager, which is rare in this golden age of managers.
Martel takes a knucklelock into a headscissor, climbs the ropes with his hands and then twists Barry across the ring with a headscissor takeover, very nice! Martel runs rings around O, rolling through a failed O’Connor roll, cartwheeling and leapfrogging around with pace. O catches Martel mid-jump and hangs him out on the top rope. The heels are happy to poke eyes, ignore rope breaks and use closed fists, but Martel breaks away and tags out to Zenk who fires away with dropkicks and hiptosses. Zenk whips Wolfe into O on the apron and follows up with a slick whirling body slam. Martel takes the tag and gets the pin after an assisted slingshot splash! ■
“Very impressive – very illegal”. Jesse’s not wrong to be fair.
Craig DeGeorge introduces the ‘new’ Brutus Beefcake
This contains some WrestleMania III spoilers. Beefcake talks about being able to take a pounding. We’ll come to know why when we come to Mania itself. In other news, it looks like Beefcake has that classic Hasbro attire on. Nice.
‘Entertaining’ shenanigans
Hillbilly Jim and Outback Jack have a discussion about country living and cuisine, to the amusement of Vince McMahon alone.
Alex Knight vs ‘Outlaw’ Ron Bass
Alex Knight may be familiar to AWA fans, but he is much of an unknown to me. He is giving up a lot of height and weight to Bass. Much to my delight, Ventura asks Sammartino if he’s ever eaten any outback foods, prompting Vince to ask what a possum is. Highlight of the match already? Yes. Bass appears to have a beautiful valet, however Vince lets us know it’s “Betty Federette”, one of the Federettes who I have never seen featured so clearly on a broadcast before. They were essentially ring cabaret.
Bass dominates with strikes, a falling body slam and a back body drop. In-frame promo from Bass calls out Blackjack Mulligan. Fishhooks from Bass shows he’s a mean “hombre”, he must be getting revenge for his brother Sea Bass. Bass asks his opponent to hit him, giving away a few free shots, but Knight remains overpowered and is swiftly pinned after a diving back elbow from Bass. ■ Quick work for these boys tonight.
‘Mean’ Gene time!
Okerlund is hyping the upcoming Boston Garden show. The Duke of Dorchester is on the card, woo!
He is joined by The British Bulldogs, discussing the fallout from WrestleMania III regarding the Hart Foundation and Danny Davis. Davey Boy promises “no mercy” while Dynamite Kid is barely intelligible but says they are “stronger and more efficient”.
‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan vs Tiger Chung Lee
This is one of Duggan’s first TV matches in WWF following a highly successful run in Mid-South.
Tiger Chung Lee is a Korean-Japanese wrestler more famously known as Kim Duk, but in WWF he is probably best known as one of Mr Fuji’s former tag partners.
Duggan hits a lot of his repertoire early, clotheslining, knee dropping and body pressing Lee. In-frame promo from Slick with the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff targeting Duggan. Duggan and Volkoff know each other well from Mid-South.
Duggan misses a charge in the corner allowing some offence for Lee. This is quickly reversed with a quick elbow and a delayed body slam. 3-Point Stance Clothesline is enough for the pin. ■ Duggan’s in full stomping, cross-eyed, thumbs up “hooooo”ing form already. It’s impressive how long this shtick worked for him. This is even before he donned his trademark blue trunks.
Hulk Hogan rant time
Hogan addresses Bobby Heenan and King Harley Race, implying Heenan butters up his clients only for them to fail to beat him. Hogan states that Race is his “next victim”. I wonder how differently NWA or AWA would have treated a Hogan/Race match. That would have been interesting.
Savage squad antics
Mr Fuji is the new manager for the group and speaks with Sika, Kamala and Kim Chee, where he encourages Sika to munch on a giant raw fish…which Sika does, wide-eyed. Kamala’s wailing makes this even more questionable, with the big man trying to snatch some fish as we cut away. Vince seems to make some unusual noises himself as we go back to ringside. I wonder what Roman Reigns thinks when he sees stuff where his dad is featured like this.
Jerry Allen & Jesse Cortez vs Kamala & Sika with Kim Chee & Mr Fuji
Cortez is the future trainer-to-the-stars and referee Jesse Hernandez, while Jerry Allen may be known by AWA, Portland and Memphis fans as Jerry O or Oski. Jerry even had a run with UWF in Japan in ’84, so these are fairly notable jobbers.
I hate to say it, but I kind of loved Kamala’s entrance music. Fuji is noted as being new to the group and sports Kamala-esque face paint much like when he sported Powers of Pain paint. They come out as quite the stable of oddities.
Jerry looks quick and sharp in there, gaining advantage over Sika, but Kamala gets the tag, leapfrogs Jerry and lands a thrust kick. Cortez tags in but is floored by chops and headbutts from Kamala and Sika. Cortez looks so awkwardly stiff in the ring and takes the pin after a running splash from big Kamala. ■ Sika adds insult to the loss by choking out Cortez after the match.
Blackjack Country
Craig DeGeorge catches up with Blackjack Mulligan out in the desert, in what may actually be Mulligan’s private land. It seems Mulligan and Bass are at odds over the love of “Sarah-Jo Puckit”, who apparently spits tobacco better than any man Mulligan knows. Who says romance is dead?
Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts vs Joe Mirto
Mirto is a longtime WWF job guy, but looking jacked here! Reminds me of Lance Cade a little bit. Jake is so over at this stage in his career, it’s always great to watch the crowd get behind him. He’s like the original Steve Austin or Razor Ramon anti-hero type for WWF. And what’s in the bag, Jake…look at the genuine fear on faces at ringside. Gold.
Jake is looking quite trim here, maybe the best shape I’ve personally ever seen him in. Mirto manages to body tackle Jake to the mat. The advantage is lost early as Jake pounds and floors Mirto with an arm lock, trying to pull Mirto’s shoulder out. Jake is flagrant with his hair pulls and facewashing, wearing down Mirto with a half-nelson. Jake reaches for the snake bag from the corner which stirs the crowd again. Instead he uses the knee and elbow to wear down Mirto’s left shoulder.
There’s discussion from commentary and from an in-frame promo from the Honky Tonk Man about banning the DDT from WWF rings due to it being a “dangerous hold”.
A short comeback from Mirto as he stops Jake with a knee, however Jake responds with a knee lift, short-arm clothesline and it’s a thumbs up and thumbs down from Jake. The DDT!! Jake slithers over into a pin and it’s all over. ■ Jake rapidly releases his snake Damien and wraps him around Mirto’s neck. That’s what the people came to see.
Patera’s penance
‘Mean’ Gene details the sad arrest and imprisonment of Ken Patera following the infamous McDonalds incident which saw him sentenced to prison for two years, and how he is accepting of his punishment and returning to WWF a changed man. Patera appears from behind bars in the clip and blames Bobby Heenan for being abandoned. Patera wants to return to take out guys like Heenan. It’s a shame he never changed his hairstyle when he was in the slammer, he looks like my auntie Margaret.
Billy Anderson vs King Harley Race with Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan
Young Anderson is perhaps better known as The Black Knight, and in Japan as one of the Mercenarios Americanos (as well as Star Man). Having wrestled in Mexico at this point in his career, Billy doesn’t feel like your typical jobber on paper.
Not a huge fan of Race’s King gimmick, but Bobby Heenan is always welcome in a managerial role. He demands the humanoids pay homage to the King, and wonders why there is no ovation. He blames the mic and becomes the bearer of the crown for King Harley at ringside.
Race dominates early with knees, body slams and a hip-breaker. Heenan delivers a reply to Ken Patera with an in-frame video calling Patera “garbage”.
Prolonged butterfly lock into a butterfly suplex, then following up with some classic Harley knees. Race busts out a thumping fisherman suplex with a tight cradle for the easy win. ■ Poor Billy barely got out of the blocks.
Heenan re-crowns Race following the match and demands recognition from the crowd once more.
‘Mean’ Gene’s promotes the Boston show with Jake Roberts
This is the hilarious skit where Gene talks about upcoming show at the Boston Garden, posing with a golf club and a gavel, tossing the gavel behind the camera and getting an “OH!” from someone. “Sorry about that, pal”, as he tries to hide his smile. I love it when Gene breaks on camera!
Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation catches my attention as always. Jake faces Honky Tonk Man also! Which leads to a little chat with Jake Roberts…
“Just let me say this. I don’t mind being abused, I’ve been abused all my life. But then I like to return the favour from time to time, y’know, that way I feel like I’ve got something to live for. Y’know, it’s sorta like-Gene-you ever get on an airplane, man, and you’re up there in the air, and you’re flying along at 40,000 feet, and that plane starts to shake, and it’s creaking and flying from side to side, things flying through the roof, people jumping up and down and screaming, praying? You ever been through something like that?”
A worried Gene replies, “I’ve been uh…I guess a time or two.”
“What choice do you have when you’re up there? You can’t get out. No, no, you see the doors are shut, you’re 40,000 feet, you ain’t got no choice, you better ride this one all the way to the ground! Well, Honky Tonk Man, you took your shot, and it was a good one, it was a great one, and I can appreciate that! But my man, it’s my turn now, and when you shut that door by planting me with that guitar, man…you’ll have to ride it out. All the way down. And it’s a ride you can’t hold on to. It’s too much for him.”
Gene, again, looking somewhat worried, “It was a blast from the past, so to speak”.
Jake giving little laughs during his promos is always so devious. Easily my favourite interview guy, ever. I may end up writing out everything he says on here. I just love him.
“You’ll sing too”. Chilling.
Highlights:
Rick Martel is the man.
WWF’s Jim Duggan early days.
DUSTY WOLFE! The search for a win goes on. 0-2.
Jake the Snake takes the cake.
Thoughts:
Superstars shows itself to be mostly a quick enhancement show, but at least we get some segments with Gene. I forgot Craig DeGeorge existed and he features here quite a bit. I don’t have much high hopes for future episodes of Superstars, but we’re in it for the long haul.
Verdict: Very skippable, especially since I’m on a WrestleMania III hype train right now. I wanted more substance. Only Jake really stood out.
Available here on Dailymotion.