WWF Prime Time Wrestling 30/06/1986

Pedro Morales vs Bob Orton

Solid match, though neither guy feels like they’re really stretching themselves. Orton is on the defence early, with a big goofy sell of a slam and of an atomic drop. A good chunk of this match is built around punches, but luckily both guys have neat looking strikes. Orton sends Morales to the floor with a lovely flurry and slams him onto the concrete. Morales shows some fire when he fires back with a nice range of punches himself. Orton tries to suplex Morales to the floor, but settles for crotching him on the top rope instead, drawing the DQ. Nothing bout, but enjoyable enough.

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik vs Danny Spivey & Corporal Kirschner

This was a very poor bout. Crucially, Kirschner is really bad here, looking really lost in the opening matwork. Sheik would take him down, then just roll over to try and give the impression that Kirschner had reversed it. They heels work the heat on Corporal with Spivey yet to get in the ring. It’s a brief heat, though they force in a false tag in those few minutes. Spivey gets tagged in, not exactly a house of fire and is soon locked in a really poor abdominal stretch by the Sheik. It’s so bad that both Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Al call him out on how bad it looks. Sheik does hit a cracking gutwrench suplex moments later, so it’s not all bad. Kirschner gets tagged back in, looking barely trained with some awkward bumping, before Sheik “loads the boot” and gets the pin following a kick to the gut (with Kirschner selling it with a front flip bump, fair play for that). Terrible stuff.

Hercules vs George Wells

On the other hand, this goes less than 5 minutes and is really great. Herc keeps it simple, but his punches look crisp and he hits some great driven knee drops. Just nice connection. Herc goes up top, and Wells catches a crossbody and nails a backbreaker. He immediately misses a corner splash and Herc drives a forearm into his face for the win. Good, simple stuff, executed really well, with one super impressive strength spot by Wells midway through.

Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell

Delightfully, this is really neat too. Bret reverses an early wristlock to a headlock by yanking the hair, then really works the hold, keeping it locked in despite getting whipped to the ropes. Brunzell starts working the arm, yanking it on the mat whilst forcing Bret’s head away with his boot. Bret turns the tide with a lovely knee to the gut, and proceeds to wear Brunzell down by wearing down the torso, nailing headbutts and boots. Lovely spot where Bret ties Brunzell in the ropes and charges, but Brunzell escapes and Bret gets tangled up at extreme speed. Brunzell bites Bret’s nose, returning a move from Bret earlier, and gets a great nearfall off an O’Connor roll. Brunzell gets the win with a sudden backslide. Really good stuff.

King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim

Very brief match, but nothing much to complain about. Two big lads hitting hard-hitting, yet unrefined bombs. Hillbilly avoids what looks to be an unlikely Bundy dropkick early doors, but meets boots in the corner. They do some shtick where Bundy won’t let Jim back into the ring, before Jim gets the boots up on an avalanche. Jim gets a few moves in, but makes the mistake of trying to whip Bundy into the corner. Of course, he reverses it and nails the Avalanche, then hits a huge splash for the win.

Sivi Afi vs Ron Shaw

This puts an end to the “really good stuff” run, though I kind of liked Shaw here. Big goofy looking guy, but he moved well, looked athletic on a leapfrog and nailed a big jumping knee. His back breaker was pretty soft though. Afi doesn’t do much here, few headbutts and a lot of armbars held from armdrags, before a top rope crossbody gets the win. Meh.

Big John Studd vs Paul Orndorff

Orndorff is wearing a protective cast on his right arm, which features prominently in this match. Studd is sluggish, but Orndorff is fired up and works around the fact you can’t do much with Big John by milking the most from every shot he hits. Studd catches him on a crossbody and roughly slams him in the corner, but then bizarrely goes to the top rope, predictably eating a cast shot to the stomach on his way down. Studd hits a sloppy looking atomic drop and telegraphs Orndorff skinning the cat by clearly talking to him and gingerly throwing him over the top rope. Orndorff hits Studd with a flurry of neat shots and nails him off the top with his cast, but Heenan comes in to break up a bodyslam, earning the DQ win for Orndorff. Great performance by Mr Wonderful.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 16/06/1986

Bret Hart vs Sivi Afi

Better than the match they had a few episodes earlier, there was nothing blown here and Afi looked to keep up with Bret better here. Fun opening section with Bret holding onto a headlock on Irish whips by grabbing Afi’s hair. Afi hits a nice crossbody, but Bret takes over by brilliantly catching a leapfrog into an atomic drop. Enjoyed Bret sending  Afi to the floor, not letting him in by booting him off the apron only for it to be paid off by Afi coming back in with a sunset flip for two. Didn’t like Afi’s “flying headbutt” he hit on a standing Bret, before he hits a top rope corssbody, but Bret is clearly waiting and rolls through to get the win. Good stuff.

Jim Neidhart vs Lanny Poffo

Poffo starts off with a really terrible poem, so bad he deserved to get jumped at the start by the Anvil. Hilarious spot where Poffo skins the cat, and turns around right into an Anvil forearm that instantly decks him. Neidhart’s offence looks good here, with Poffo seemingly happy to make everything he does look killer. Even an Irish whip into the corner looks bone rattling. Poffo makes a nice little comeback with a killer dropkick, and I liked him dropping to the mat, dragging Neidhart down by the beard. Moonsault gets him two, but Poffo spends too long going for a senton which misses and Neidhart hits a 2^nd rope forearm for the win.

Tony Garea vs Iron Mike Sharpe

Since I’ve started watching Prime Time, Tony Garea has been a constant disappointment in the ring. In contrast, Mike Sharpe has been a constant source of stooging joy. This match is pretty par for the course for both men. Sharpe is great from the start, acting befuddled by an armdrag, missing a dropkick and getting slingshot into the corner. Garea isn’t very interesting on offence, so Sharpe’s performance is needed to keep this on track. Garea goes for a good few pinfalls, but also does things like lock on a long abdominal stretch to kill the momentum of the bout. In contrast, Sharpe’s clubbing blows look good and it’s a nice surprise when he ducks a corner charge, sending Garea into the turnbuckles and leaving him prone for a roll up from Sharpe for the rare victory.

Hercules vs Scott McGhee

On the subject of people who’ve been surprisingly good, Hercules really impressed me in the tag match on the previous episode, and he looked good here too. Far better movement than I remembered him having, working a satisfying quick sequence with McGhee and bumping big for dropkicks. He also hits a nasty looking stun gun on McGhee, basically just hurling him head first at the ropes. McGhee also looks good, really liked his belly to belly and his top rope kneedrop. Genuinely enjoyed this bout, Herc even looked good on the ending as he catches McGhee, hits a back breaker and smoothly rolls into the pin. Pleasant surprise.

Big John Studd vs Jim Powers & Rick Hunter

Basic squash used as the backdrop to a Studd/King Tonga angle. Both guys try to slam Studd early, with the $10,000 slam challenge being offered pre-match by Bobby Heenan. Neither succeed, and Hunter gets pinned after a Studd slam. Post match, Tonga comes in, having been rebuffed pre-match by Heenan, and successfully slams Studd to a huge pop.

Johnny Valiant, Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake vs Davey Boy Smith, Pedro Morales & Danny Spivey

Real mixed cast on that face team. Really enjoyable six-man tag, it’s really a formula that’s very hard to mess up. Valentine, being by far and away the best worker on his team, works a good percentage of the match, and has to eat offence from all three faces early doors. Valiant in particular is mainly used as a tool for distraction. Davey Boy ends up the face in peril, with the idea being that the Dream Team want to weaken him for a future tag title rematch. The heel control is basic, but fun, with distractions, chokes and double teams being really well worked to keep Davey Boy in their corner. Loved how it backfired in the end, as Morales gets fed up with all the cheating, stomps on Valentine as he locks on a figure four, and gets Smith to the face corner for the tag. In the ensuing chaos, Pedro hits a backbreaker on Valiant and Davey Boy gets the win. Good, crowd pleasing match.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 09/06/1986

George Steele vs Adrian Adonis

Obviously, there is only so much that you can do with Steele, so the fact this is quite fun is pretty impressive. Adonis controls with some nice punches and an assortment of chokes, before Steele takes control with a foreign object. Adonis is a lot of fun here, taking a huge bump over the corner and hamming it up when a wobbly rope causes him to crotch himself on the top turnbuckle. We get a ref bump, allowing Adonis to survive Steele’s hammerlock submission and roll him up for the win. This was fun.

Steve Lombardi vs Tony Parisi

This is less fun, but that’s mainly because Lombardi isn’t much cop. Parisi is impressive here, he was winding down at this point, but still has really good movement, wrestling quickly around Lombardi. Lombardi locks on a lengthy chinlock, before Parisi takes a big bump over the top rope to the ramp. Lombardi’s generic offence sadly means that this match does drag a bit, but Parisi nails him with a corner elbow and a cannonball for the win.

The Rougeau Brothers vs Terry Gibbs & Hercules

Well, I wonder who will eat the pin here. This is a pretty decent tag match, nothing spectacular, but good solid formula stuff. I enjoyed the early spot where Herc challenges Raymond to an arm wrestle in the middle of the ring and is winning, only for Herc to poke his eyes to take control. Jacques becomes face-in-peril after missing a springboard crossbody from the corner. Heels control decently enough, showing some actual continuity by holding hands on an abdominal stretch or Gibbs holding Rougeau in the ring after making a tag. Raymond is all action on the hot tag and we end up with all four guys in the ring. In the melee, Raymond hits a missile dropkick on Gibbs to win.

The Moondogs vs Tony Parks & Nelson Veilleux

Fun squash, where the faces get a little shine before Veilleux becomes the face in peril. The Moondogs are nicely stiff here, with Spot hitting a vicious shoulderbreaker and Rex nailing a nasty looking kneelift. Loved Rex holding a headlock and punching Veilleux in the face as he releases. Parks gets tagged in (because Rex lets him), but his fire is soon snuffed out by a big Rex powerslam and a decapitation elbow.

Andre the Giant vs Alexis Smirnoff

Basic, though fun, squash where Alexis tries ill-advised moves like a hiptoss and a flying headscissors that Andre is easily able to block. Andre holds an armbar for maybe a bit too long before ending a brief Smirnoff flurry with headbutts, a big boot and a butt splash.

SD Jones & Paul Roma vs The Menace & Jim Haley

Not much to this one. The faces do some basic arm work to both heels, lots of arm wringers and ax handles from the turnbuckles, before Roman hits Haley with a powerslam to win. Nothing bout.

King Kong Bundy vs Tony Atlas

Fun opening spot, as Atlas crashes and burns on two attempted shoulderblocks, but has more success taking Bundy down with a crossbody. Sadly, Bundy is really not up for much in this match, some very slow and plodding offence. Atlas nicely blocks an avalanche with a headbutt from the corner, but Bundy quickly hits him with another avalanche and a big elbow to win. 

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 12/05/1986

George Steele vs Jim Neidhart

This isn’t a match up that really appeals, but this is surprisingly not too bad. Liked the opening where Neidhart suckers Steele to chase him outside and ends up with Steele tangled up in the ropes. This is a really short match, which is probably for the best, as Neidhart goes to get a chair from outside, gets stopped by the ref and in the melee Steele hits him with a loaded fist for the win.

Bret Hart vs Sivi Afi

There’s a noticeable gulf in quality between these two here, Bret being clearly a step or two ahead of Afi. An early O’Connor roll is blown, but at least we return from an ad break with Bret in control. His offence looks really good here, loved how fluidly he goes from dropping a 2^nd rope elbow into a pinfall. We get a “Samoan man has a hard head” spot as Afi no-sells a shot to the turnbuckle and rams his own head several times, but aside from that he contributes little. He looks like he’s not really sure how to run the ropes, always going from odd angles. A flipping senton looks more like he’s doing a forward roll, but Bret suddenly catches him with a great-looking backbreaker for the win.

Iron Mike Sharpe vs Corporal Kirchner

Hard to say how I felt about this one, wasn’t a particularly bad match, but nothing about it really stands out. It just…happened. Sharpe continues to be fun at stooging about, leaping about to put over the power of Kirchner’s hammerlock and taking a hilarious fall into the announce table. Sharpe isn’t as much fun on offence – he’s plodding and slow, with big pauses in between blows. Kirchner seems pretty athletic and moves well, but doesn’t do anything to convince he can put a match together. A nice Samoan drop gives the Corporal the win.

Jake Roberts vs Scott McGhee

McGhee is pretty generic on offence, all pretty simple bodyslams and decent punches. Jake’s movement really stood out, loved the way he doesn’t so much climb in the ring as he slinks in. Jake hits a nice stomachbreaker and I dug the mindgames as he held McGhee in a chinlock and slowly dragged him towards the snake bag in the corner. McGhee fires back and looks really good in the process – nice looking back suplex that hits with real impact and a decent second rope kneedrop. Roberts hits a DDT from out of nowhere to win. The post-match ‘snaking’ sees McGhee coughing up blood in a nice twist.

Tony Atlas vs Hercules

This is JIP and we’re instantly into a test of strength spot. Hercules is pretty sluggish in control, which really contrasts with Atlas, who looks fired up on his comeback. Herc locks in a pretty mighty looking torture rack before Atlas gets the win with a sunset flip. Too short to be offensive, at least.

The Killer Bees vs Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik

Pretty decent match to end the show, it’s a formula tag team match and they interestingly keep Volkoff out for the majority of the bout. The Bees work well in the early stages, isolating Sheik and making quick tags. Brunzell and Blair both spend time as the face in peril, and I liked how, when Brunzell did get to make a small comeback with a sunset flip, Sheik instantly come in to distract the ref and prevent a count. Blair gets locked in the Camel Clutch and gets to hold on a surprisingly long time before Brunzell makes the save. Brunzell gets the hot tag, and looks pretty fired up when he get’s on offence. He locks a sleeper in on Sheik, but Volkoff nails him from behind which gives Sheik the win. Just a nice, solid tag match.