Mike Reviews WWF In Milan (8th April 1989)

Buon venerdì a tutti!

I discovered this WWF event from Milan whilst looking on Cage Match for something else, and I thought it looked interesting. Thanks to a certain video streaming website, I will now bring you a review of it!

The really interesting match for most of you might be Andre The Giant battling Bret Hart, but we’ve also got Rick Rude and Ultimate Warrior tangling as well, and that’s normally good.

This event is emanating from Milan (home of both AC Milan and Internazionale) in Italy on the 8th April 1989

Calling the action is Dan Peterson (although he does it in Italian so I’m probably not going to be able to relay much of it to you)

Opening Match
Mr. Perfect Vs The Blue Blazer

This is a rematch from WrestleMania V, where Perfect picked up the win. Blazer is Owen Hart in a super hero themed outfit. The ring here in Milan is LOUD tonight, which either means they’ve mic’d it exceedingly well or it’s hard as frig to bump in. It’s a WWF show from the 1980’s, so both options are very much on the table. Interestingly Peterson actually seems to be mentioning AWA on commentary, which is something I don’t think you’d get from a standard WWF broadcast as they liked to basically pretend that no other wrestling companies existed during this time period. As they have more time to work with here than they did back at Mania V, we actually get an extended babyface shine for Blazer, where he’s able to bump Perfect around and out wrestle him a bit.

Perfect takes us to Larry Z school with some stalling, which succeeds in riling up the Milanese crowd and gets them to boo Perfect, meaning this one has a decent atmosphere to go along with the solid wrestling on display. Perfect does the classic Heel move of turning things into more of a fight by throwing punches, essentially conceding the wrestling match portion of the bout, which just makes him look like a jerk who couldn’t handle that he was being out wrestled. Blazer bumps and sells well in the heat, with Perfect mostly sticking to strikes and cheap tactics like gouging the eyes and tugging on Blazer’s mask. It’s a solid heat segment, although it takes the Milan crowd a moment to realise that they should be clapping when Blazer is stuck in a neck vice, although they eventually catch on.

Blazer eventually starts fighting back, giving Hennig a chance to do some signature big bumps, including the one where someone kicks him in the thigh and he takes a big tumble from it. We even get the “shove your opponent’s head into the turnbuckle ten times” spot, which is always guaranteed fun. Blazer heads up top for a big crossbody, but Perfect manages to roll through and grabs handful of tights, which is enough for Perfect to hold Blazer down for a three count after 16 Minutes.

WINNER: MR. PERFECT
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Good opener, with Blazer getting his shine, Perfect working some heat, and Perfect then taking some signature big bumps until it was time to pull off the last gasp win. A solid start to the show, with any newer fans in the Milan crowd getting an idea of what Pro Wrestling is in order to prime them for the night ahead

Match Two
“The Eighth Wonder of the World” Andre The Giant Vs Bret “Hitman” Hart

I believe Andre actually requested this one in real-life, which must have been a big honour for Bret. Andre was struggling to get around by this stage in his career, with most of his matches being pretty awful, which was a shame as Andre was actually quite entertaining to watch in his younger days when he could still move properly. Bret is a good opponent for Andre given the circumstances, as he’s able to bump and move around enough in order to cover for some of Andre’s physical deficiencies. The crowd spends most of the match chanting “Hogan” in order to rile Andre up, and Andre looks to be having fun out there jawing with the fans and working with someone who is willing to make him look good. Andre’s offence mostly consists of choking Bret and throwing in some submission attempts with moves such as a Sleeper and a Bear Hug. Bret does get to hit Andre with a dropkick at one stage, which leads to Andre getting tied up in the ropes in his signature manner. All Bret can really do with Andre is punch and kick him, which means the offence on display isn’t exactly thrilling. Andre eventually knocks Bret down and drops an elbow for three after 7 Minutes.

WINNER: ANDRE THE GIANT
RATING: **

Thoughts: Not a technical wrestling classic, with it mostly being Andre lumbering around whilst Bret was occasionally able to throw some punches, but it was watchable by 1989 Andre standards and a fun historical curio as well

Koko B. Ware does his best to get through a promo when the interviewer keeps alternating between English and Italian. Koko getting in “ciao” like he’s Dom Joly in Trigger Happy TV at the end of it was fun though

Match Three
King Haku Vs Rick Martel

This is a bit of an odd pairing as Martel had only just turned Heel back at WrestleMania V, but Haku is also a Heel, so Martel is still kind of wrestling like a babyface here. There are some scattered shouts of “Tito” from some of the Milan crowd, but the crowd mostly goes along with Martel being the babyface for the night. Martel works over Haku’s leg in the early going, which I guess kind of sets up the Quebec Crab, although you’d think going after the lower back would be a more effective strategy if you wanted to defeat your opponent with a Crab?

Martel’s leg focused offence does look good at least, and he even throws the leg into the ring post a few times, with Haku selling it all well. It’s funny as I don’t normally tend to think of Haku as a good seller, as by the mid-1990’s he was usually booked like a tank that didn’t really have to sell, but he’s quite good at it here. Martel eventually misses a charge in the corner and that leads to Haku taking over. Sadly all of the work on Haku’s leg seems to have been shrugged off now, as he’s moving around just fine without the leg really seeming to bother him that much.

Martel sells the shoulder well in the heat, showing some good babyface fire actually. It’s interesting seeing Martel going in there and working hard like this, as by the 1990’s he had it very much in neutral and was mostly just leaning on character work until he went to WCW in 1998 and re-found his working boots. Martel mounts a little bit of a comeback, but when he tries a Sunset Flip Haku sits down to block it and grabs the ropes for a dirty three count after 12 Minutes.

WINNER: KING HAKU
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: Standard mid-card stuff here. The wrestling itself was decent, with both wrestlers working hard. Haku ignoring all the work to his leg knocked it down a bit for me, but aside from that this was a solid enough contest

Match Four
The Big Boss Man Vs “The Birdman” Koko B. Ware w/ Franky

These two wrestled previously at SummerSlam 1988. Milan LOVES Koko, showing that, despite all the snark surrounding his HOF induction, Koko was a popular member of the roster during one of the WWF/E’s hottest periods. I would put Too Cool in the WWF HOF for the same reasons in all honesty, and it’s a shame they haven’t been inducted yet. Koko sticks and moves to start, with it being an effective strategy against the massive Boss Man, who had to be around 350+ during this period of his career based on how poorly his ring outfit is fitting him.

Koko confounding Boss Man with his speed and agility is possibly the loudest the crowd has been all night up to this point, as Koko is apparently the John Cena of Milan. Koko even manages to knock Boss Man down with some strikes at one stage, but Boss Man sends Koko to the floor with the force of his kickout and then starts working Koko over, with Koko selling it all well. Koko looks to be shoot trapped in the ropes at one stage, meaning Boss Man has to help him out under the guise of inflicting more pain.

Boss Man ends up missing a splash from the top rope, leading to Koko firing up the crowd and attempting a comeback. The crowd continues to love Koko, cheering whenever he does anything. Koko’s offence looks decent and Boss Man is very generous with his selling and bumping for it all. Koko misses a Bronco Buster styled move in the corner however, leading to Boss Man dragging the crotched Koko out of the corner and pinning him for three after 9 Minutes.

WINNER: BOSS MAN
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: A standard match elevated by how much the crowd in Milan liked Koko. It was interesting to see them protect Koko in the finish, as he didn’t take Boss Man’s finisher but rather was on the front foot and accidentally hurt himself, leading to Boss Man getting the win that way and essentially scoring a lucky win. Considering that Boss Man was feuding with Hulk Hogan at the time, they could have justifiably had Boss Man crush Koko in short order here but they actually made it seem like it was a genuine challenge for Boss Man, which gave the crowd something to actually cheer about when Koko was on top of things

Match Five
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champion: Rick Rude Vs The Ultimate Warrior

Rude cheated to beat Warrior back at WrestleMania V, so Warrior has a chance at revenge here. This is the usual Rude Vs Warrior match, in that Warrior clobbers Rude from pillar to post for most of it, with Rude bumping, selling and stooging for his opponent until he’s able to find some sort of window in order to get a bit of offence of his own. In this bout; that involves Rude giving Warrior an “accidental” low blow. The crowd seems a bit subdued for this one actually, as I think Koko might have been more popular with the folks in Milan than Warrior is.

Rude works some heat with submission holds, including a Camel Clutch and a Sleeper, but Warrior survives those and starts making the comeback, with the crowd starting to come alive when Warrior does his own version of the “Hulk Up” routine. Warrior delivers the Gorilla Press and Splash to Rude, but Big Boss Man runs down to drag out the referee for the DQ before attacking Warrior with his nightstick. I was expecting Andre The Giant to interfere rather than Boss Man, seeing as Andre and Rude are both part of The Heenan Family. Boss Man doing the run in felt a bit random. Match went 10 Minutes.

WINNER BY DQ: ULTIMATE WARRIOR (RUDE RETAINS)
RATING: **1/4

Thoughts: Weak finish, but these two could usually do something watchable, and this fit into that category. The crowd was a bit flat at points actually, although they woke up for Warrior running wild at the end

In Conclusion:

This was a decent enough use of around 70 Minutes. There were no Stinkers and it was a rare occurrence where Koko B. Ware was arguably the most popular guy on a WWF show, so it was fun from that perspective. Not a show you need to go out of your way to see, but it’s an inoffensive use of your time if you do decide to watch it