Vince McMahon calls today’s action with Jesse Ventura. This is the last show of the taping cycle in Glen Falls, New York.
Jimmy Snuka
What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – April 29, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan call today’s action, still taped from Syracuse, New York.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – April 16, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan host tonight’s broadcast.
Jake Roberts’ squash from Wrestling Challenge airs.
What the World Was Watching: The Wrestling Summit (Special Column)
As noted in prior columns, this show was a joint effort by the WWF, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. The WWF was looking to expand its global presence while New Japan and All Japan felt threatened by Akira Maeda’s shoot-like Universal Wrestling Federation, which drew a 50,000 person crowd to the Tokyo Dome for a big show in November 1989. To counter them, New Japan and All Japan worked together on a supershow at the Tokyo Dome on February 10. Then, they built on that effort by partnering with the WWF for another big card in Tokyo on April 13 that was named The Wrestling Summit. According tothehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 53,742.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – April 14, 1990
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are in the booth, and they are taped from Glen Falls, New York. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these tapings took place on April 4.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – April 2, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are manning the studio. Monsoon announces that the Ultimate Warrior is the new WWF Champion, and adds that Hulkamania has now achieved immortality. Heenan challenges the Warrior to put the title on the line against an undetermined member of the Heenan Family.
What the World Was Watching: WrestleMania VI
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are in the booth and they are live from Toronto, Ontario, Canada in what will be Ventura’s last appearance calling a WWF pay-per-view. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sellout crowd of 67,678, a new attendance record for the venue. It drew a buyrate of 3.8 (an estimated 550,000 purchases). This was a decline from the 5.9 buyrate of WrestleMania V, but this can be attributed to more homes getting pay-per-view access by 1990, thereby messing with the buyrate average.
Robert Goulet sings the Canadian National Anthem. According to Bruce Prichard, Goulet was picked for this spot because he badly botched signing “The Star Spangled Banner” several years earlier and this was a chance for him to redeem himself in front of a live crowd. The WWF put the lyrics on the Skydome’s video screen to ease Goulet’s nerves. And if you watch his body language during the performance, he goes from a bad of nerves to a guy having the time of his life halfway through. His wife, who watched backstage, cried her eyes out after he nailed the song.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – March 24, 1990
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura handle commentary duties, starting a new round of tapings in Sacramento, California. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these tapings took place on March 6 and attracted a crowd of 13,500, with 2,000 of those fans attending for free. This week Ventura has his face painted like the Ultimate Warrior – a horrifying sight – and is wearing tassels because he is once again changing his prediction for the WrestleMania VI main event.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – February 12, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan handle studio duties for tonight’s show.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – February 5, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan host tonight’s show.
The Bushwhackers squash from the January 29 Wrestling Challenge episode airs. Heenan wonders whether fans need shots after the Bushwhackers lick them. He likens the spectacle to “a petting zoo on the road.”
Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. The Funk Brothers (and other Dream Matches!)
Watch the Funk Brothers, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Jimmy Snuka AND Giant Baba all get into it!
Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time, I take a look at the early 1980s of All Japan, because I was curious about just what the Funk Brothers were like in their 30s (the answer: Still old!). And they’re taking on another gaijin team- the brawling mega-heel Bruiser Brody, along with “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka himself!
Also, prepare for some torture as we dive further into the career of one ERIK WATTS- two matches featuring the blandest, most forgettable tag team in WWF history, and one from his bizarre 1999 WCW comeback! That’s right- it’s time for some TEKNO TEAM 2000! Watts & Chad Fortune team up against Barry Horowitz & the Brooklyn Brawler, then the Smoking Gunns! And then watch ’90s Dudebro Heel Watts up against the legendary jam-up guy, El Dandy!
REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE 1981- FINAL MATCH:
THE FUNK BROTHERS (Terry & Dory Jr.) vs. BRUISER BRODY & JIMMY SNUKA (w/ Stan Hansen):
(All Japan, Dec. 13th, 1981)
* Damn, so Snuka has wrestled in Japan before. And here he is teamed up with legendary psychopath Bruiser Brody against the Funks, at this point beloved heroes in All Japan. Dory merely looks to be 75 here, as opposed to his usual self, while Terry has the curly hair and looks reasonably in shape. Both Funks are in blue trunks, while Brody & Snuka are in black (Broady with furry boots) and backed up by Stan Hansen. Jimmy looks like he’s only had a dinner plate full of cocaine compared to how much he was using in the WWF, and looks weird with boots and normal wrestling gear on. I’ve literally never seen a Brody match before this, so this will be interesting.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – January 22, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan do the studio duties for tonight’s show.
Bret vs. Misawa, Savage vs. Tenryu & Hogan vs. Hansen (and other Dream Matches!)
Hogan & Hansen: Main Event in the making!
WWF/AJPW/NJPW WRESTLING SUMMIT:
(Tokyo Dome, April 13th, 1990)
* This is a pretty wild and wacky card, full of the kind of “Dream Matches” you’ll never see again- I’m really shocked it’s not more famous. I mean, it’s a triple-show with All Japan, New Japan, AND the WWF all at once! In the Tokyo Dome! Apparently highlights were aired on Japanese TV, but complexities with the rights led to the full event never being shown in its entirety (which might be why it’s so obscure). The biggest matches are Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen, Macho Man vs. Genichiro Tenryu, and the Ultimate Warrior vs. Ted DiBiase. The WON awards declared this the “Best Major Wrestling Show” of 1990!
“TL;DR” Version: So come see Bret Hart vs. Mitsuharu Misawa in the most disappointing Dream Match of all time! Hogan with his “Japan working boots” (where he’s more “Unstoppable Monster” than the Technically-Gifted Powerhouse I was led to believe he was) on against Stan Hansen in one of his greatest matches ever! Macho King & Queen Sherri doing their schtick against a stoic top-tier Japanese legend in a befuddled Tenryu! Grumpy ol’ Jumbo Tsuruta dealing with hard-working heels in Martel & Perfect!
The show had two dark matches- Dan Kroffat, Doug Furnas & Joe Malenko beat Samson Fuyuki, Tatsumi Kitahara & Toshiaki Kawada in (11:56), and Jushin Liger beat Akira Nogami in (8:37). An extremely shaky fancam of the latter exists- it’s mostly hold-trading. They trade corner moves and Liger hits a surfboard and a rock-the-cradle. They trade flash-pins and Nogami hits a very good plancha and German Suplex for two, but Liger dropkicks him coming off the top and hits a Tope Con Hilo to the floor! He misses a roundhouse kick but gets a powerslam and finishes with a Moonsault Press. Looks **1/2-ish but holy god am I not gonna go move-for-move with such a shaky vid.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Royal Rumble 1990
Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are in the booth and they are live from Orlando, Florida. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, this show drew a sellout crowd of 16,000 fans. It also drew a buyrate of 2.0 (an estimated 260,000 buys), an increase from the 1.5 number the Rumble did the previous year. This would also be the last pay-per-view that Schiavone would call for the WWF.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – January 21, 1990
Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon call today’s action, which originates from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The taping took place on January 3. This is the last show before The Royal Rumble.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – January 15, 1990
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are in the studio to spar with each other before they toss the broadcast over to new matches. Tonight’s feature match comes from Chattanooga, Tennessee and was taped on January 3.
Heenan is upset that he cannot have the guests he wants on the program whereas Monsoon was able to bring Arnold Skaaland on last week’s show. Monsoon tells Heenan that he had better not abscond with the yellow Royal Rumble hats on the broadcast desk.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – January 7, 1990
Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon handle commentary duties and they are taped from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. This taping took place on December 12, 1989. Schiavone has a guitar and tries to play a song and does terribly.
Rock Star Gary reflects on AWA WrestleRock ’86
Live from Minneapolis, MN
Airdate: April 20, 1986
Attendance: 22,000
Hosted by Rod Trongard & Larry Nelson
Three cage matches along with the Midnight Rockers, Sergeant Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka, Road Warriors, Freebirds, and more fill out this star-studded supershow. Read on!
Smackdown – April 17, 2003
Smackdown
Date: April 17, 2003
Location: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz
It’s tournament night as we have the finals to crown a new #1 contender. John Cena will be facing Chris Benoit, which is pretty much the best final they could have gone for. Cena should be the favorite after having spent weeks taunting Lesnar but Benoit is one of those cases where it’s easy to see him pulling it off. Let’s get to it.
Rock Star Gary reflects on WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event XXI
Taped from Des Moines, IA
Airdate: May 27, 1989 (taped 4/25)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Vince McMahon & Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Can Hogan successfully defend the WWF title in a cage against the Big Boss Man? Let’s find out!
