WWE Vintage Collection TV Report #16 – September 21^st, 2008

Shown on Sky Sports 3 in the U.K.

By Stephen Lyon.

This Week: After last week’s ‘vintage’ matches, this week we got the ‘collection’, with a show featuring matches from three different WWF tv tapings. Plus the rarity that is Howard Finkel, Jimmy Hart and Slick all providing color commentary on matches, and an incredibly hot Meadowlands crowd from 1984.

Introduction:

Mean Gene Okerlund opened the show, announcing that this week, the five featured matches would be from three different WWF tv tapings – December 1984, February 1987 and April 1989.

1) Junk Yard Dog defeated Paul Orndorff (w/Bobby Heenan in his corner). This match came from the December 10^th, 1984 tv taping at the Meadowlands, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The announcers for this match were Gorilla Monsoon and Howard Finkel. This was the first time I’d heard Finkel on commentary, and he did a really good job. He was easily better than the likes of Ron Trongard and Lord Alfred Hayes. This match was joined in progress, with JYD in control of Orndorff. JYD used a side headlock, but Orndorff escaped and threw some punches. JYD then pounded Orndorff’s head into the top turnbuckle a few times. The crowd was incredibly hot for this match, perhaps too hot. A fan threw a ‘foreign object’ into the ring, in a spot clearly unplanned, which Orndorff picked up and used on JYD, to a big crowd reaction. The action went back and forth, before Orndorff piledrove JYD, who then rolled to the outside. The crowd were starting to throw numerous things at the ring and the wrestlers at this point, as Orndorff put the boots to JYD outside the ring, then did bodybuilding poses in the ring, much to the crowd’s ire. Finish came when Orndorff brought JYD back into the ring, and then out of nowhere, JYD rolled him up for the winning pinfall. Crowd went nuts, with grown men physically jumping up and down in jubilation, and somebody in the crowd unfurled a big banner that read, ‘PAULA’. The match itself wasn’t much, but the crowd heat and awesome reactions were great to watch.

2) Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts defeated King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan in his corner) via count out. This match was from the February 23^rd, 1987 tv taping at Madison Square Garden, New York. The announcers for this match were Gorilla Monsoon and Jimmy Hart, although Bobby Heenan joined the duo on commentary for several moments during the match, complaining about Jake’s snake, Damien, being in Roberts’ corner. Match was joined in progress, with Bundy slamming Roberts, and getting a near fall with the move. Bundy dominated Roberts until he missed an elbow drop. Roberts attempted to give Bundy the DDT on several occasions, but each time, Bundy backdropped him out of the move. The two brawled outside the ring, with Roberts climbing back into the ring to break the referee’s count in time, and winning the match in the process. Afterwards, Bundy attempted to beat up Roberts in the ring, but missed an avalanche charge in the corner. Roberts then chased Bundy, Heenan and Jimmy Hart to the locker room with Damien the snake. Again, the wrestling wasn’t much at all, but the antics of Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan almost single-handedly (or rather, double-handedly) saved this and made it entertaining.

3) Superfly Jimmy Snuka went to a double count out with Cowboy Bob Orton. This match was from the December 10^th, 1984 tv taping at the Meadowlands, and Gorilla Monsoon and Howard Finkel were the announcers once again. Before the match, Okerlund set the scene, describing how this was at the start of the Snuka-Orton rivalry, that would eventually lead to Snuka breaking Orton’s arm, resulting in Orton wearing the famous cast for many months afterwards. Snuka acted crazy right from the start here, attacking Orton, slamming him, giving him a flying fist drop from the second rope and countless chops. Orton begged off, then gave Snuka an atomic drop. You can definitely see how Randy Orton’s wrestling style was influenced by his father. Snuka sold the atomic drop momentarily, then gave Orton a headbutt, and the two tumbled over the top rope to ringside at the same time. They brawled outside the ring, and were both counted out. Afterwards, Snuka teased giving Orton his big splash, but Orton managed to escape.

4) Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart in his corner) defeated Pedro Morales. This match was from the February 23^rd, 1987 tv taping at Madison Square Garden, New York. The announcers for this match were Gorilla Monsoon and Slick. This was a back-and-forth match. Honky slammed Morales, and put the boots to him, but the Puerto Rican fired up and came back. Honky used a suplex on Morales and got a two count, but then missed an elbow drop. Morales used some punches of his own, then backdropped Honky. Morales put Honky in a Boston Crab, but broke the hold to chase Jimmy Hart away from the ring apron. Honky hit Morales from behind, then pinned him with both feet on the middle rope for the win. The crowd were clearly deflated by Honky’s unworthy, heelish win.       

5) Bret Hart went to a 20 minute time limit draw with Mr Perfect. This match was from the April 24^th, 1989 tv taping at Madison Square Garden, New York. The announcers for this match were Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred Hayes. This match (which I believe features in its’ entirety on the new Mr Perfect DVD) aired in ten minute edited form here. This was an excellent match between two tremendous wrestlers. Highlights included Hart sidestepping an attempt by Perfect to use a leg takedown, and Perfect using a spinning toe hold on Hart, who pushed Perfect away with such force that Perfect fell into the turnbuckle and ‘hurt his shoulder’, which led to Perfect selling the body part and Hart working it over for the rest of the match. Hart put Perfect’s arm behind his back and slammed him on his bad shoulder. At one point, Perfect rolled to the outside, and Hart did a flying tope through the ropes and on to Perfect. Back in the ring, Hart was in the middle of finishing off Perfect, giving him the snap suplex, backbreaker and flying elbow from the middle turnbuckle, when the referee called for the bell, due to the time limit expiring. Even though the outcome of the match was unsatisfactory, even in edited form, you could not fault the masterclass of a scientific match that these two were putting on. 

Closing thoughts: This was a massive improvement on last week’s show. All of the matches were really interesting and entertaining, particularly the two matches from the Meadowlands from 1984, which illustrated how hot the crowds used to be. The main event was excellent, and whoever puts together this show for WWE deserves credit for making an effort most weeks to put a strong, lengthy wrestling match in the main event slot each week.

Match Results:

1) Junk Yard Dog defeated Paul Orndorff (w/Bobby Heenan in his corner) (Meadowlands, 10/12/84).

2) Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts defeated King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan in his corner) via count out (MSG, 23/02/87).

3) Superfly Jimmy Snuka went to a double count out with Cowboy Bob Orton (Meadowlands, 10/12/84).

4) Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart in his corner) defeated Pedro Morales (MSG, 23/02/87).

5) Bret Hart went to a 20 minute time limit draw with Mr Perfect (MSG, 24/04/89).

Please note: I DO NOT sell DVDs or tapes of any of these shows. Sorry!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s report. For other reports like this one, be sure to check it out my website archive at http://www.classicwrestlingreports.com .

It’s no longer updated, but this website carries all of my previous WWE Classics tv reports that have been featured on the old WrestlingObserver.com website.

As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Until next week, have a good week.

Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.  

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