Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are in the studio for tonight’s show. Heenan wants Mr. Perfect’s feature match against Hercules to air at the beginning of the telecast, but Monsoon urges patience because the show is two hours long.
Opening Contest: Jimmy Snuka (7-2) pins Chris Duffy after the Superfly Splash at 1:48:
Lord Alfred Hayes hilariously remarks that Duffy, sporting some awful neon green ring gear, sports a great record going into this match. Duffy struggles to go over the top rope after a chop, so Snuka sends him out with a palm thrust to the gut. Snuka suplexes Duffy back in and wins a fifth straight singles match with the Superfly Splash.
Monsoon tells Heenan that the Rosati Sisters will be back on the show to urge fans to write letters to Hulk Hogan. Heenan is not happy about that, nor is he happy about Monsoon needling him about taking a week off the road.
Gene Okerlund’s Update segment relays previous information about Hulk Hogan’s condition. Afterward, Monsoon says that it might take a while for Hogan to recover psychologically from Earthquake’s attack.
Haku (1-2-1) pins Richard Charland after a thrust kick in 49 seconds:
Charland was a Canadian wrestler who began wrestling in 1972. He worked for Montreal’s Grand Prix Wrestling, Toronto’s Maple Leaf Wrestling, and the Sheik’s Big Time Wrestling in Detroit during the rest of that decade. In the 1980s he began working for Lutte International as a tag team wrestler, capturing the promotion’s tag team titles on five occasions. Charland started working for the WWF in 1988 as an enhancement talent when the company did house shows in the Northeast and Canada.
This bout does not last long as Charland works in a good number of strikes before Haku hits a thrust kick out of nowhere to win. Haku has occupied a directionless spot on the card since WrestleMania VI and there are still no clues where he is going as a character.
The Rosati Sisters appear, bringing more letters for Hulk Hogan. Heenan asks if he can read a letter later, but Monsoon refuses because the letters are private. He also claims that Heenan opening the letters is a federal offense, but Heenan has a witty comeback and notes that it only applies if he pulls it out of a mailbox. The Rosatis give Monsoon a lemon meringue pie. A bitter Heenan tells viewers that if they want to see the Rosatis again, viewers should write the show. That causes Monsoon to crack up. After the commercial break, Heenan says that Monsoon should be careful of eating the pie because it is always suspicious when the Rosatis give up food.
The Big Bossman (16-1) pins Barry Hardy after the Bossman Slam at 2:25:
The Bossman uses a never move, a reverse shoulderbreaker, as Ted DiBiase and Virgil pop up in the split screen and tell Sean Mooney that Cobb County is full of hicks and the Bossman is a level below that. Hardy sells all the Bossman’s moves like death and the Bossman keeps yelling at him to get up. This makes the Bossman look like a heel as people start feeling sorry for Hardy. Things do not get better for Hardy after the match as the Bossman handcuffs him to the top rope. The camera cuts away before Hardy is hit with the nightstick, though.
Gene Okerlund’s interview with Boris Zhukov on Wrestling Challenge is shown.
Shane Douglas (1-0) defeats Buddy Rose with a hurricanrana at 7:24:
Before the match, Monsoon puts over Douglas as a future star in the business. Rose also gets ring announcer Mike McGuirk to announce his weight as “A slim, trim 217 pounds,” a weight that is also billed on his t-shirt. Since Douglas is billed as a rookie, he struggles against the big jobber. Rose gets some heat during the match and the crowd gets behind Douglas’ comeback. The match should have earned Rose a better push into the lower midcard as well. No rating will be assigned because of Rose’s jobber status, but this was a perfectly acceptable TV match and would have been worth two stars.
Heenan argues that Monsoon wants him to check out the pie so Monsoon can put his face in it, which happened the last time Monsoon had a pie on Prime Time Wrestling.
Promo time with Sean Mooney! Akeem and Slick talk about how he is on the march to get the WWF Championship and Slick has promised Akeem the title by the end of the year. Jake Roberts does not like Bad News Brown threatening him, alleging that Brown has a deep-seated fear of snakes. Roberts argues that Brown’s biggest problem is not snakes and the DDT, though, it is him.
Rick Martel (13-1-1) beats Brady Boone via submission to the Boston Crab at 2:28:
After the match starts, Gene Okerlund talks at ringside about Arrogance and how it smells musty like a basement. Boone gets an equal amount of offense, a testament to how he was respected for his talents in the locker room despite his smaller size. Martel lands few moves, quickly locking in the Boston Crab after blocking a monkey flip effort by Boone out of the corner.
Heenan argues that American Airlines gate agents, male and female, were after him when he wore some Arrogance on his recent trip.
A replay of a prior Demolition promo airs where they put over how the group’s expansion to three members is good for them, rebutted by the Hart Foundation who questions whether it is fair for Demolition to have a numerical advantage.
Before the next match, Heenan insists that Tito Santana owns a record for “being able to pick eleven heads of lettuce in an hour.” Monsoon just shakes his head and sends the telecast to the next bout.
Akeem (w/Slick) (7-4) wrestles Tito Santana (11-5) to a double count out at 9:01:
This is a rematch from the Intercontinental Championship Tournament that Santana won. It took place at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Rochester, New York on June 5. Santana is out of sorts, tripping over himself when running the ropes and nearly doing it again moments later. The match drags due to Akeem’s deliberate work. Santana makes a comeback after Akeem’s dive off the second rope misses, only to end up on the floor when Akeem blocks a figure-four leg lock by pushing off. This leads to both men fighting on the floor for an inconclusive finish. One would think that when two lower midcarders faced off that someone would rise, but that is not how 1990 WWF worked. Rating: ¼*
Brother Love interviews Koko B. Ware. Frankie flies onto Love’s shoulder, terrifying Love as Ware does his own preacher gimmick, calling out Love’s hypocrisy and saying that no one loves him. Ware has a great deal of charisma, but the WWF is not keen on using it.
Tugboat (12-0) pins Pez Whatley after a splash at 3:25:
WWF bookers love airing this match as it is the third time fans have seen it over the last three months. Fans appear to be rallying around part of Tugboat’s gimmick, doing their own whistle toots when he calls for them. That is also a creative way to hide any boos by fans who hate it. Whatley knocks Tugboat down to one knee with a headbutt off the second rope but that is as close as he gets to winning as Tugboat avalanches him against the buckles and finishes him with a splash.
More promos with Mooney! The Genius says WWF stars are “bench pressing themselves into oblivion” while he is using psychokinesis to get ahead. Brutus Beefcake says he is ready to face anyone in the WWF who wants a piece of him.
Earthquake’s squash from WWF Superstars airs, along with Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s run-in after the bout.
A replay of Ted DiBiase and Virgil’s talk with the Big Bossman’s old football coach is shown.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Mr. Perfect (Champion w/Bobby Heenan) (18-2) beats Hercules (10-3) with the Perfectplex at 5:08 shown:
This bout took place at Maple Leaf Gardens on May 27, a few days after Perfect’s victory in the Intercontinental Championship Tournament Finals aired on television. It is also Perfect’s first televised defense of his title. A commercial break causes the match to be clipped to Perfect quickly working over his opponent until Hercules turns the tide with his fists. Perfect bumps wildly for some clotheslines and capitalizes when Hercules puts his head down too early on a whip, using his finisher to successfully defend his title. The clean finish continues the singles depush of Hercules, who made the Final Four of this year’s Royal Rumble. Rating: **
In the studio, Heenan is scared Monsoon is going to throw a pie at him. Then he tosses Monsoon a letter for Hogan “from a little kid,” a letter that Monsoon spots is in Heenan’s handwriting. After a commercial break, Monsoon opens the letter, and it spells out “QUIT” in large letters. It is also signed “EQ,” which Monsoon infers is Earthquake.
The Last Word: Most of the matches on this show were good television fare, even if they will mean little in the long run. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan were in top form on the telecast too, highlighted by the letter gag at the end. However, WWF Champion the Ultimate Warrior might as well be dead because he has only been seen twice since WrestleMania.
Up Next: WWF Superstars for July 7!