WWE Vintage Collection Report: 19th October 2008
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund
Welcome aboard. This week we head north of the border to Canada. To be specific, we head to the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. The date is May 1st, 1989 and we’re just four weeks removed from WrestleMania V. Bret Hart, Mr Perfect and Tito Santana are all promised, so let’s get right into it. Six matches and a Battle Royal await us. Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes call the action.
The Honky Tonk Man w/Jimmy Hart vs Jim Powers
Jim Powers was going it alone in singles. This was following a stint in the Wild Stallions tandem with Paul Roma, which ended at the back-end of 1988. We join the match in progress. Powers escapes a chinlock and briefly applies an abdominal stretch. Monsoon calls Powers out on his lack of killer instinct and inability to cinch in holds. Not very endearing words for the babyface. Both men miss elbow drops. Honky delivers an Irish whip and double axehandle from the second rope. As Honky settles into another chinlock, Powers is verbally buried some more, when the announcers say he has no finisher. Powers is a bit late in delivering a gut punch as Honky comes off the second rope again. Honky sells the shot anyway. Powers unleashes punches, kicks, nine head rams in the corner, an Irish whip, clothesline, backelbow and dropkick. Honky cuts Powers off with a knee to the gut, then finishes him off with the Shake, Rattle N Roll (neckbreaker) 1-2-3. Here is Your Winner: THE HONKY TONK MAN. So-so opener. You’ve got to feel for Honky, who went from being the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, to curtain jerking. On a sidenote, vote Honky for Cyber Sunday. Not long after this, Powers became the babyface Brooklyn Brawler, by way of jobbing to the stars on Superstars and Challenge. Speaking of the Brawler, he’s up next.
The Brooklyn Brawler vs The Blue Blazer
The Brawler was enjoying a small push, by way of getting booked in competitive matches. Okerlund actually acknowledged Owen Hart as the Blazer before the bout. The story here was Brawler trying to ground the aerial Blazer. Brawler does this with chinlocks and a backbodydrop. Brawler slams, but Blazer catches him going up top and throws him off. Blazer nails a dropkick, slam and legdrop. Brawler reverses off the ropes and throws Blazer to the outside. Brawler snapmares Blazer across the top rope to keep him out. Blazer walks around to another side of the ring, before getting back onto the apron. Blazer reverses a head ram into the ringpost. Blazer connects with a springboard cross body from the top rope to score the win. 1-2-3. Here is Your Winner: THE BLUE BLAZER. Good showing from Owen, as expected. Just weeks after this, a frustrated Owen gave notice and left the WWF due to a lack of a push. Owen would return in 1991 after spending some time in Germany and Japan. The Brawler meanwhile, by years end, soon went back to being a two minute TV job guy.
Greg “The Hammer” Valentine w/Jimmy Hart vs Hillbilly Jim
The commentators note it takes Valentine 10-12 minutes to warm up. God, I hope this match goes less than that. Jim starts with a side headlock and ruffle of Valentine’s hair. As Jim applies his patented bearhug, Hart gets on the apron to cause a distraction. Valentine goes to the eyes, then takes advantage with shots to the back, and a boot choke underneath the bottom rope. Hart gets a cheap shot in from the outside. Following a Valentine chinlock, Jim attempts a slam, but Valentine falls on top for a nearfall. Valentine keeps the advantage with a second chinlock and several throat shots in the corner. Valentine Irish whips and avoids Jim’s float over attempt. Monsoon calls it as a missed mule kick on Jim’s part. Jim delivers an atomic drop and big boot. Sensing the end, Hart causes another distraction. Jim swallows the bait, Valentine hits a knee to the kidneys and rolls up Jim (albeit sloppily) for the 1-2-3. During the pinfall, Hart tries to push the camerman away to hide the sloppiness. Bad match. Here is Your Winner: GREG “THE HAMMER” VALENTINE.
WWF Tag Team Titles
Demolition vs The Twin Towers
Time for some tag team action. Conspicuous by his absence was Slick from the Towers’ corner. Before the bout, Okerlund puts over Demolition huge. We pick it up with Ax playing the face in peril. Boss Man looks really heavy here, as he delivers an Irish whip and backelbow. Akeem struts and pisses off Smash on the apron. The Towers nail a two man avalanche on Ax in the corner. Boss Man delivers a slam, Akeem a splash, as Ax is ripe for the pickings. Smash interrupts a cover, before Ax rolls up Akeem for a nearfall. Ax throws Akeem down face first to the mat. Boss Man intercepts a tag. Akeem Irish whips, but Ax avoids a charge, then two elbow drops, before making the hot tag. Smash runs wild, sending Akeem into the Boss Man, before clotheslining Boss Man to the outside. A Demolition double clothesline to Akeem also wipes out the referee. Demolition hang Akeem up on the top rope. Ax covers, but Boss Man smacks him with his nightstick. Smash shoves the referee out of the way, before getting laid out himself. As the Twin Towers continue to abuse Ax with the nightstick, the referee throws the bout out as a DOUBLE DQ. The Towers were put over quite strong here. Surprisingly, Demolition ended up dropping the titles to the Brain Busters in a two-out-of-three falls match at a Saturday Night’s Main Event taping and not the Towers. This feud spilled over into SummerSlam where Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Andre the Giant were added to the mix. I liked this match. Big Demolition fan you see. They were cool when I met them in Manchester earlier this year.
“The Model Rick Martel” vs Bret “Hitman” Hart
Martel was fresh off walking out on Strike Force partner Tito Santana at WrestleMania V. The newly christened ‘Model’ is seen working over Bret’s back with a backbreaker and several calculated shots. The announcers put over Martel’s energy as opposed to his reliance on holds. Bret counters a rollup attempt off the ropes, by falling on top of Martel and hooking the legs for a nearfall. Martel goes back to work with another backbreaker. Bret telegraphs a third backbreaker with a small package for two. Martel applies his Boston Crab, but Bret gets to the ropes straightaway. Monsoon notes that Martel should have pulled him away before applying the hold. Bret reverses a snap suplex before Martel delivers a series of punches. Bret comes back with a backbodydrop and punches of his own. Bret hits an atomic drop and inverted atomic drop. Martel begs off into the corner. Bret delivers punches and a side russian legsweep, which Monsoon wrongly calls as a neckbreaker. A backbreaker by Bret is followed by a barrage of punches in the corner. The referee steps in. Martel drives his head into Bret’s gut, scoops the legs, and with his feet on the ropes, scores the cheap pinfall.
1-2-3. Here is Your Winner: “THE MODEL” RICK MARTEL. Sudden ending, but Martel needed the win here, to establish himself as a heel. The loss wouldn’t hurt Bret, as he was still seen as more of a tag team guy at this point. Good matchup and psychology used with Martel working the back.
Mr Perfect vs Tito Santana
Most house show lineups at this point had Bret facing Perfect and Santana squaring off with Martel. Good of WWF to switch things up a little. Perfect was at the height of perfection. The commentators speculate on Santana matching his former partner in the previous bout with a win. As Perfect holds Santana in a long head vice, the commentators put over the life of a wrestler, saying how hard it is to balance going to the gym with constantly being on the move. Back to the match and Perfect clocks Santana with a hard clothesline, right between the eyes. After disputing a nearfall, Perfect slaps and talks trash to Santana. Perfect Irish whips, before running into a boot. Perfect goes spinning to the mat, following Santana’s punches. Santana gives Perfect a neck jerk in-between his legs as Martel comes out from the back. Santana keeps his concentration and connects with a forearm from the second rope. We get a botched cover and count, as Perfect forgets to kick out at two. Santana continues his offense and hits his flying forearm. Martel pulls Santana off of a cover, behind the referee’s back. With Santana now distracted Perfect rolls Santana up and hooks the tights to get the 1-2-3. Match was good apart from the botch. They’ve had better exchanges. Post match sees Santana chase Martel to the back. Here is Your Winner: MR PERFECT.
16 Man Battle Royal
Main Event time. I love Battle Royals. Joining the fourteen superstars we’ve already seen in action, were Red Rooster and an unknown called Richard Charland. Three referees are deployed on the outside to prevent any shenanigans regarding eliminations. We join the match with fifteen participants remaining, as Demolition eliminated Akeem after just nine seconds. A noteworthy early exchange sees Bret Hart and the Blue Blazer briefly gang up on Greg Valentine. Also, in rare heel vs heel action, Big Boss Man brawls with Mr Perfect. Not long after, Boss Man quickly tosses out Ax and Jim Powers, while Smash deposits Honky Tonk Man. Off camera, Richard Charland gets eliminated by Hillbilly Jim, as does Blue Blazer by the Brooklyn freakin’ Brawler. No wonder Owen upped and left. Mr Perfect and Smash combine to oust the Brawler, whom Monsoon calls a dirty pig. LOL. We’re now down to nine. Valentine gets sent out onto the apron. After jawjacking with the crowd, Valentine manages to hoist the Red Rooster out, after Rooster tried and failed to eliminate him. Hillbilly Jim pushes Valentine off the apron, to send him to the back. Lord Alfred says we’re down to six when there’s clearly seven men left. Boss Man sends Smash onto the apron, then turns away, thinking he’s eliminated him. Smash surprises Boss Man by pulling him out by the back of his shirt. An enraged Boss Man pulls Smash off the apron and the referee has to separate the two. The camera misses yet another elimination, as Mr Perfect takes care of Hillbilly Jim. We’re down to the final four: Mr Perfect, Rick Martel, Bret Hart and Tito Santana. Straight away, faces and heels pair off then go at it. Bret gets whipped into Perfect, while Santana gives Martel an atomic drop. As Santana tries to oust Martel, Perfect comes from behind and eliminates Santana. Santana hangs around to support Bret, who inevitably gets double teamed. Martel and Perfect high five, before Martel instructs Perfect to hook Bret. As Martel runs the ropes, Santana pulls them down and Martel goes sailing out. Bret quickly takes advantage and clotheslines Perfect out. As Bret celebrates, Santana comes in and leaps into an embrace. Here is Your Winner: BRET “HITMAN” HART. This was a good Battle Royal and told a good story, as most of the people who lost in their respective matches, got a measure of revenge during the Battle Royal.
Okerlund wraps things up to end the show.
What a packed show! I know that in the past, I’ve said that joining matches in progress hurts the show. However, in this case I’m willing to make an exception. By seeing practically all the matches from this card, we bought into the stories and heat they built up, during the Battle Royal. If there had been no Battle Royal then I’d have preferred to see less matches with more content shown. All-in-all, a good showing from the midcard talent. Thumbs up from me.
Other results from the show: Red Rooster beat Richard Charland by submission: Ultimate Warrior defeated Intercontinental Champion, Ravishing Rick Rude by countout.
Best match: Rick Martel vs Bret Hart.
Worst match: Greg Valentine vs Hillbilly Jim.
Condolences to the family of former 80s announcer Jack Reynolds, who passed away earlier in the week. Reynolds did a great job announcing part of last week’s Vintage Collection show. Also, comiserations to Lance Cade. I can only describe Lance as being the wrong guy, in the wrong place at the wrong time, regarding his release and subsequent reports that have made the rounds this week. Hopefully, he’ll be back someday soon, as he is a great talent with a lot of upside. I’ll be back next week with some more Vintage Collection and a Cyber Sunday preview. Have a good week. Shaun.
If anyone wants to sound off, chew the fat or talk wrestling get in touch. Comments/praise/feedback/criticism/discussion points please direct to [email protected].
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