Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan host tonight’s episode, coming from a Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, California. McMahon is in his element, discussing all of the “beautiful bodies” are on display.
Opening Contest: The Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart) (9-0) beats Koko B. Ware (1-4) with the carotid control technique at 4:43:
This rematch from The Royal Rumble took place at Madison Square Garden on March 15. It is an extended squash for the Mountie, who never lets Ware get in a big move. He catches Ware with a double handed chokeslam off the ropes and finishes with the carotid control technique. Rating: ¼*
After the match, the Mountie handcuffs Ware to the ring ropes and shocks him several times with a cattle prod.
McMahon and Heenan get on workout bikes. Heenan struggles to hang on.
The Dragon’s squash from Superstars is shown.
WWF Tag Team Champions the Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart come into the gym, helping Heenan off another piece of workout equipment. They remind “the Legion of Dummies” that they are the tag team champions.
Greg Valentine (4-2-1) beats Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart) (0-3) with a small package at 8:50:
This is another Madison Square Garden match, taken from the show on January 21, and the bout took place a few days after The Royal Rumble where Valentine turned babyface by tossing Bravo out of the match. Bravo was substituting for the Honky Tonk Man, who quit the company several weeks prior. After a slow start, things pick up after Bravo suplexes Valentine into the ring. Valentine makes a comeback and has Bravo primed for the figure-four but Hart provides a timely distraction that allows Bravo to regain the advantage. However, Bravo tries to do his own figure-four and remains winless for the year. Rating: *½
Back in the gym, the Nasties bully a customer by pressing a weightlifting bar on his chest. They put a lot of weight on the bar and Brian Knobbs psyches himself up to lift it but we cut to the next match before seeing the attempt.
Ted DiBiase’s squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown.
“Iron Warrior” Mike Christian of the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) drops by. This provides hype for the June 15 WBF show at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The Bushwhackers squash from Wrestling Challenge on January 20 airs.
Christian shows off his physique lifting some dumbbells, leading Heenan to challenge him to a posedown at the end of the telecast.
The Big Bossman’s squash from Wrestling Challenge is airs.
WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, who is wearing a bandage on the left side of his face, comes to the gym for a sit down interview with McMahon. He says he won at WrestleMania VII because of his fans, with McMahon arguing that Hulkamania was reborn in Los Angeles like it was 1985 again.
Marty Jannetty beats Tanaka (w/Mr. Fuji) with an inverted piledriver at 10:53:
Like the opener, this match took place on March 15 in Madison Square Garden. Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes wonder why Shawn Michaels is not backing up Jannetty, but in fairness, Kato is not with Tanaka either. After a seven-minute feeling out period, the bout picks up and turns into something fun. Jannetty drives Tanaka’s face into the canvas from the second rope for a near-fall and Tanaka scores a near-fall from a Flair pin, broken only when the referee sees it. When Tanaka argues, Jannetty rolls him up for another near-fall. After Jannetty puts his head down too early on a whip, Tanaka goes for a tombstone piledriver but Jannetty reverses and hits an inverted piledriver for the win. Rating: **¾
Hogan says that Sergeant Slaughter plays by no rules, something he is going to adapt to when he faces him again.
Mr. Perfect’s squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown, along with Andre the Giant’s encounter with Heenan after the match.
The Barbarian (1-2-1) defeats Jim Brunzell after a Mafia kick at 7:34:
Brunzell was a WWF alumni, competing for the promotion since 1985, most notably as a member of the Killer Bees tag team with B. Brian Blair. In 1990, Brunzell showed up in May and lost all of his matches through November to stars like Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Dino Bravo, Haku, and the Warlord. His lone victory was over Black Bart on a July 16 episode of Prime Time Wrestling.
This match also took place at Madison Square Garden on March 15. Since Brunzell is a jobber, the crowd does not react to anything he does. Moves just happen to happen and the Barbarian easily kicks out of Brunzell’s patented dropkick. When Brunzell comes off the ropes moments later, the Barbarian catches him with a vicious Mafia kick and that’s enough to bring him back to .500 in singles competition. Rating: ½*
The Texas Tornado (9-0) pins Scott Allen after the discus punch at 2:40:
Allen fails to go over the top rope with a clothesline, so the Tornado has to repeat the spot to deposit him on the floor. A zillion punches set up the discus punch, giving the Tornado double digit wins for the year.
For the show ending posedown, Heenan begs off because he is not prepared. McMahon prompts him to participate and obviously, Christian’s physique is far better than Heenan. McMahon gushes over what he sees out of Christian.
Tune in next week to see Roddy Piper, the Warlord, and Sensational Sherri!
The Last Word: This show came off as a desperate attempt by Vince McMahon to make WWF fans love and appreciate bodybuilding. He wanted his WBF project to succeed so this began a series of crossovers between his two properties. If one was not into that, this show was tedious but at least it had an above average Marty Jannetty-Tanaka match in the middle.
Up Next: WWF Superstars for April 6!