The SmarK Rant for WWF WrestleFest 88 – 07.31.88

The SmarK Rant for WWF WrestleFest 88 – 07.31.88

Originally written 03.17.22, and then the WWE Vault added the entire uncut show so it’s the SNYDER CUT here on 08.17.25! Really it’s just a few more matches but finally it’s the complete show in one place. I bet the Big Event is the next one they put up.

TO BE FAIR, I know that the show was also sliced up and aired on Prime Time Wrestling at the time but I enjoy having the complete thing in one place.

https://youtu.be/wOlPBv96JVM?si=pnTiBBsJmaIOrvrm

Taped from Milwaukee, WI, a stadium show drawing 25,000 as a sort-of sequel to Wrestlemania IV. There are people reading this who weren’t born when I reviewed it for the first time and debuted match times in my rants, so it’s well overdue for another look. This is of course the Coliseum Video version of the show, which omits some of the card to make it 2 hours.

Your hosts are Sean Mooney, Superstar Billy Graham & Lord Alfred Hayes. Good lord. Mooney notes that the stadium is “filled to capacity”, which is pretty strange definition of the word “capacity”. Especially since the entire field is empty except for a few seats around the ring! It does look pretty full on the camera side, at least. Not that any of them would know, because they’re so obviously in front of a green screen that they might as well have a weather report behind them instead of the “stadium”.

Big Bossman v. Scott Casey

Oh man it’s our first bonus match already! The tape originally opened with Killer Bees v. Rougeau Brothers. Very early in the WWF career for the Bossman as Vince spent the early part of 1988 picking off talent from Crockett and Verne like a salad bar. Casey manages to work the arm to start, but he walks into a backbreaker that was almost the Bossman Slam before it changed in mid-move. Bossman puts the boots to him while the announcers talk about how it’s “only a week away” before Bossman meets Koko B. Ware at Summerslam 88, so that gives you an airdate for this match. Bossman with a bearhug and Casey tries the ear claps to break free and then just bites his nose instead before jumping on his back with a sleeper as the crowd is surprisingly hot for his comebacks. Bossman misses a blind charge, but Casey walks into the Bossman Slam and it’s over at 4:17. Just a basic squash for the Boss, but he gave Casey a bit. *1/2

The Mighty Hercules v. Brutus Beefcake

Another bonus match! The announcers have now changed, with Gorilla and Bobby taking over from Sean Mooney & Lord Alfred Hayes, so this was probably aired somewhere else entirely. They fight for the lockup and now we’re “two weeks away” from Summerslam 88 according to Gorilla, so wherever this aired, it was a week before the opener. Beefcake works on a headlock and they slug it out, with Beefcake sending him out of the ring with an elbow. Back in, Beefcake works the headlock again and runs him into the turnbuckles for the 10 count, but Herc sends him to the floor. So now I feel like they wasted a huge opportunity by not repackaging Hercules as The Mighty Samson and having Beefcake be his mortal enemy. Biggest haircut match of all time! Then they could give someone the gimmick of Achilles and put him in there with Kurt Angle. THEY’LL MAKE MILLIONS. Herc goes to a chinlock as they cleverly edit out a commercial break from the Prime Time airing, but Beefcake slugs out of that, so Herc takes him down with another one while I try to think up more “heroes of classical literature vs. modern pro wrestlers” battles. Beefcake makes a comeback with a back elbow in the corner and slugs away, but Hercules leverages him into the corner and gets the full nelson. Sadly it’s only a partial nelson and Beefcake easily escapes and counters to the sleeper before rolling him up for the pin at 9:35 instead. Surprised to get a clean finish there actually. Nothing to the match but the crowd was really hot. **

The Killer Bees v. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

We’re into the weird endtimes of the Bees, as they’re wearing long pants with horizontal stripes and look like complete dorks. Brunzell chases Raymond to the floor while Hayes basically calls the Bees fat, noting that “they put on a little body weight”. He’s not even sure if Brunzell can still throw a dropkick! Brunzell takes Raymond down with a flying headscissors, which I’m pretty sure indicates he can throw a damn DROPKICK. Over to Jacques and he trades hammerlocks with B. Brian Blair (the “B” stands for “Big Fat Fattie” I’m assuming) and Jacques offers up a left-handed handshake in sportsmanship. Mooney thinks this is suspicious, but clearly he doesn’t know that we secretly shake hands with our left hands here in Canada and just haven’t told anyone in the US about it. Oh shit, I’ve said too much now. Disregard that last sentence. Brunzell comes in and the Rougeaus double-team him while Alfred STILL won’t shut the fuck up about the “extra body weight”, but it’s back to Blair, who goes to work on Raymond’s leg. Both sides regroup and Blair grabs a headlock on Jacques, but Jacques takes him down with a drop toehold, so Blair gets his own and the Bees double-team him in the corner. Blair with a Boston crab, but he’s clearly too fat to get full extension on the hold, so Jacques makes the ropes and brings Raymond back in. Ray gets his own crab, although I’m surprised that Blair’s bulbous frame can even bend backwards like that, and Blair reverses to a cradle for two. Shocked that Raymond could kick out with the equivalent of Keith Lee eating Rikishi sitting on top of him like that. Blair gets trapped in the French corner and worked over, and Jacques goes to the abdominal stretch. Raymond of course adds the superkick to the gut for two. And that’s a big target, if you know what I’m saying. Because he’s FAT. Raymond with a chinlock and he tries a monkey flip out of the corner, but Blair is obviously too heavy to flip over and blocks the move, hitting an atomic drop instead. Hot tag Brunzell and he rams them together and gets the figure-four, but the ref is distracted with Blair and Raymond saves. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and Brunzell goes to slam Jacques, but Raymond punches him in the face and Jacques falls on top for the pin at 14:00. Well the Bees certainly looked like big fat losers there. No wonder they were eating their feelings. Match was OK. **1/4

Bad News Brown v. Bret Hart

First attempt at a Bret singles push here, and he’s very concerned about no one being around to take his sunglasses before the match as he quips “Hey, does anyone work here?” before finally tossing them out to the crowd instead. And that’s the origin of that, I guess. Bad News attacks to start, but Bret slugs away in the corner and takes him down for the gut stomp. Hayes: “As our colleague Gorilla Monsoon says, his excellence is absolute perfection”. I’m not sure that Gorilla says that. Bad News blocks a blind charge with a boot, but he goes up and Bret reveals that he was faking and slams him off. Middle rope elbow gets two. Snap suplex and legdrop get two. He goes for the backbreaker and Bad News pokes him in the eye to escape and then hits him with a clothesline out of the corner. But then he walks around the ring yelling “GHETTO BLASTER” over and over, which Bret SOMEHOW manages to duck. Almost like he knew it was coming! He really is the excellence of perfection! Bret backdrops him to the floor and follows with a pescado, and back in for a bodypress that gets two. Sunset flip gets two. Backbreaker gets two. Rollup gets two. Brown rolls him over for the pin, however, grabbing the tights at 6:30. As we know, this first attempt didn’t stick, but Bret would have his day and there was a lot of little stuff that he would get over bigger later. Anyway I really enjoyed this one. ***

Intercontinental title: The Honky Tonk Man v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Well this is certainly a combination you don’t see often. Unsurprisingly, Honky runs away to start, but he tries to sneak attack Duggan and gets beat up. Duggan slugs away in the corner and yells at Hebner to “get off my ass”, then runs Honky into the corner 10 times and clotheslines him to the floor. But this time Honky is successful in his sneak attack, somehow outsmarting Duggan. Perhaps Duggan was tired out from his last MENSA meeting. Honky rakes the eyes and works him over in the corner while Hayes notes that Honky has been champion “close to two years” at that point. Maybe math works different in Britain. Duggan comes back with a clothesline out of the corner and sets up the three point stance, but Jimmy Hart trips him up for the DQ at 4:39. A complete nothing of a match. DUD And then afterwards Duggan smashes up Honky’s guitar with his board and the morons in Milwaukee actually cheer for this destruction of musical history and private property. But then they love polka, so what do they know?

The Bolsheviks v. The Powers of Pain

The Powers, fresh off jumping from Crockett, attack at the bell and chase the Russians to the floor. Back in, Volkoff tries and fails to lock up with Barbarian, who overpowers Boris in turn. Powerslam gets two. Over to Warlord, who does the test of strength with Volkoff while Superstar earns his pay by nothing that Warlord’s back is “as wide as a drive movie theater” and that the Powers walk around the streets dressed like this, complete with makeup. Barbarian comes in and misses a blind charge on Zhukov, as the Bolsheviks take over on the Wish.com Warriors and work him over in the corner. Barbarian sells nothing while the crowd is distracted by a fight or something, and it’s hot tag Warlord as they finish Boris with the powerslam and diving headbutt at 6:48. Koloffs v. Road Warriors this was definitely not, and the Powers had ZERO charisma. I mean, I can see why Vince would give them a chance, but WOOF. -*

Jim Neidhart v. Leaping Lanny Poffo

This is a weird matchup to say the least. Poffo doesn’t even have any funny lines in his poem, just putting over the city. Poffo quickly slams him and tries a moonsault, but Anvil gets the knees up to block and beats him down to take over. Superstar: “You know, he’s played for 4 or 5 different pro football teams!” I learned something new today. Poffo tries a sunset flip and Anvil clubs him down to block before choking away in the corner, but he misses the blind charge and Poffo makes the comeback. And Anvil powerslams him to end that at 2:38. Total squash for the aimless Anvil. DUD

WWF World title: Randy Savage v. Ted Dibiase

Previously this was available on the Macho Madness videotape for those keeping track. I believe this is actually out of sequence from the original show but I’ll take what I can get. Granted I wasn’t actually in Milwaukee in 1988 to verify myself, but I feel like I was practically there thanks to the WWE Vault folks. Dibiase attacks on the floor and hits Savage with a back elbow in the ring, but Macho clotheslines him and puts him on the floor with a kneelift. Sadly Virgil prevents any diving, showing why he made the big bucks as a bodyguard and probably should have stuck with that gig. Back in the ring, Macho with an atomic drop to send him over the top rope as Dibiase takes a typically nice bump off that. Back in the ring, Dibiase slugs away and tries a sunset flip, but Macho blocks him and then takes too long showboating, allowing Dibiase to throw him out of the ring again. I have to say, Dibiase had a LOT of injuries and health issues over the years, and he did admittedly did a shitload of drugs, and yet he’s apparently totally fine and cruising right along in old age. I guess it’s like they say: Ripping off charities IS the best medicine! Back in the ring, Dibiase with a clothesline for two, but Savage whips him into the corner and then runs into a boot on the charge. Dibiase continues beating on Macho with elbows and goes up with the middle rope elbow, and that’s actually a rarity because usually it’s a setup for the babyface to hit him on the way down. Backbreaker gets two. Savage comes back with a suplex and they slug it out. Savage with a bodypress for two, but Dibiase clotheslines him down again for two and goes to a chinlock as this has been a surprisingly hard hitting match for 1988. He works the chinlock while telling off Dave Hebner, but Savage rams him into the top turnbuckle to break free. Savage misses ANOTHER blind charge and hits the turnbuckle knee-first, allowing Dibiase to bust out the spinning toehold for the first time in a while, but Savage quickly escapes that. Dibiase tries it again and Savage kicks him out of the ring this time. Back in, Dibiase goes up and Savage catches him coming down this time and makes the comeback. He runs Dibiase into the turnbuckles for two and necks him on the top rope for a classic Dibiase bump, and then back in with a double axehandle. Virgil gets involved and Savage takes care of him, and then rolls up Dibiase for two. Savage puts his head down and gets nailed, which sets up the Million Dollar Dream. Savage quickly the makes the ropes, but Virgil hits him with a chair behind the ref’s back, and that gets two for Dibiase. So Dibiase gets frustrated and drops fists on Savage, but then walks into a small package and Savage gets the pin to retain at 14:54. This was GREAT. ****

Curt Hennig v. Terry Taylor

OK, so we’ve got Michael Cole and Mick Foley on commentary, as Mick repeats the story about Hennig and Taylor both being in consideration for the Mr. Perfect gimmick, but again, NOT TRUE. Hennig was always going to be Mr. Perfect and they had marketing and gimmick stuff done months in advance for him, which was released on WWE.com years ago. The confusion comes because Dave Meltzer talked about the match in the Observer and made a joke about how things would have been different if they had switched gimmicks on the way into the promotion and it turned into a telephone game from there. Anyway, Terry works the arm while Foley goes into a fascinating story about Hennig’s famous ribs and the differences in territorial styles and such. Hennig beats on Taylor in the corner and goes to a sleeper while the crowd is distracted by a fight in the stands. Taylor with a bodypress for two and he slugs away in the corner, but Hennig hits him with the Axe Attack clothesline and pins him at 4:47. I BELIEVE this version with Cole & Foley was from the Mr. Perfect DVD but I never did a proper review of that one. I mean, obviously I own it because I own everything pretty much, but I don’t think I ever watched much past the documentary. Also this match was terrible and I can see why they cut it. DUD

Ravishing Rick Rude v. Jake Roberts

Rude calls out the “dirtball dairy farmers” and dedicates the match to Jake’s wife, so of course the Snake attacks and chases him to the floor with an atomic drop. Back in, Jake slugs away and Rude runs away again. Back in the ring, Rude gets a cheapshot and beats on him with forearms to take over, but Jake tries the DDT and Rude escapes to the floor again. Back in, Rude goes after the snake to distract Jake and then puts him down to set up a chinlock. Rude drops an elbow for two but Jake is in the ropes, so Rude stomps on the leg that’s in the ropes. Rude drops elbows and goes to another chinlock to really sell their bitter blood feud. “The wiggles don’t get the job done” notes Hayes as the chinlock continues for more minutes. It goes on for so long that the announcers recap the entire storyline thus far, until Jake finally fights out after something like 3:00 in the hold. But then he charges and hits Rude’s boot in the corner, and it’s a double down. Rude recovers first and necks Jake, then he goes up with the fistdrop and stops to pose. That gets two, but Jake reverses for two. Rude beats him down further and goes up to the top, but Jake crotches him and you don’t have to ask Rude twice to sell that. Rude comes back with the kneelift, but Rude uses the ropes to escape the DDT. So Jake pulls him back by the tights, giving the crowd a full moon, but Rude bumps the ref to escape the DDT. So Jake clotheslines him to the floor and they fight to a double countout at 15:46. I just don’t understand why they didn’t have chemistry together. **

Sam Houston v. King Haku

This seems pretty deep in the card for this one, but it’s another one that’s new to me! Houston works the arm as we’ve miraculously gained daylight since the past few matches, so I’m thinking this was actually first or second in the lineup as originally presented. Haku presses him and drops him on the top rope to escape the armbar and puts the (metaphorical) boots to him. Haku chops away on the ropes, but Houston slams out of trouble and makes a comeback. Houston with a clothesline for two, but he walks into the thrust kick and Haku puts him away at 5:00. Just a squash. *

Weasel Suit Match: Ultimate Warrior v. Bobby Heenan

Warrior chases Bobby around the ring and finally catches him at 1:30, running him into the corner and beating on him until Bobby finally locates a foreign object in his boot and gets some shots with that. Warrior randomly makes the comeback and tosses Bobby around with no care paid to his well-being in real life, and he finishes with the sleeper at 4:55. Bobby of course was not particularly complimentary of Warrior’s work with him in these matches. And of course Bobby gets stuffed into the weasel suit and flails around for the kids. DUD

WWF tag team title: Demolition v. The British Bulldogs

Kind of weird that the Bulldogs lost at Wrestlemania but still get a title shot here. Smash beats on Davey in the corner to start, but Smith gets a sunset flip for two and goes to an armbar. Dynamite continues with that, but he gets caught by Ax and beat down in the corner. Kid fights back with a headbutt for two and goes back to the arm, but Ax slams out of that and drops an elbow on him. The Demos double-team Kid with the beatdown in the corner and Ax goes to a chinlock, but Kid fights out of that and Ax tosses him. At this point Superstars questions why Lord Alfred doesn’t manage his countrymen, but Alfred notes that he’d want them to be more devious if he did so. Like what, messing with someone’s gear in the locker room or something? I don’t think they’d have it in them, to be honest. Back in, Smash goes to a bearhug and Davey breaks it up, but that allows the Demos to double-him Kid further behind the ref’s back. Davey gets the hot tag and fights them both off, backdropping Ax for two. But Ax cuts him off with a knee to the gut, so it’s back to Dyno. Snap suplex on Smash gets two. Davey presses Kid into a flying headbutt on Smash for two and it’s a PIER SIX BRAWL. Kid with an Octopus on Smash, but Ax uses the cane to knock him out and puts Smash on top for the pin at 7:12. Way too short but really fun while it lasted. **1/2

Dino Bravo v. Ken Patera

OH JOY. I haven’t seen this match in 25 years and I can call the finish right now. Patera attacks Bravo and chokes him out with his own jacket before slugging him out to the apron. Back in with a slam and elbow for two. They fight to the floor, but Bravo catches him with an atomic drop and drops an elbow for two. Patera bails to the floor and Bravo puts the boots to him from the apron, but Patera fights back in and hits a clothesline. Small package gets two. But then Ken SHOCKINGLY misses a blind charge and hits the corner, and Bravo finishes with the side slam at 3:30. My god, I should tell fortunes at the fair or something with my prognosticative powers. Negative one billion stars.

Steel Cage: Andre the Giant v. Hulk Hogan

Hopefully they can follow that last classic here. This cage match, complete with stadium setting, was rumored to be the main event of Wrestlemania IV before they pivoted to the tournament idea early in 88 instead. Andre chokes out Hulk with his own shirt while Mooney has to explain the rules of a cage match to Alfred and sounds like a complete moron doing so, as apparently someone HAS to go over the top of the cage and to the floor. Unless they use the door. But either way, someone has to go over the top. “What a great explanation of the rules, Sean Mooney!” notes Superstar. Well, they’re trying I guess. They really couldn’t convince Gorilla to take two hours and hold this nonsense together? Andre finishes choking him out and goes for the door, but Hulk stops him and stomps him down. “Oh, this is a gruesome fight!” notes Superstar while Andre does a bearhug from his knees and gets nowhere with it. So Andre drops an elbow on him, but Hulk does some kind of a headlock in the corner as this is just awful and getting worse. Andre pulls off a turnbuckle and runs Hulk into that before headbutting him down to bust him open. Don’t worry, it’s not shoot blood like Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar. Andre tries to walk out and Hulk clings pathetically to his boot. So then Hogan decides to make the comeback with a clothesline, which somehow puts Andre down long enough for the legdrop. At this point Heenan runs in and Hulk beats on him while Andre teases climbing out of the cage. Andre could barely take the bump from the clothesline at this point, who’s he kidding? And then Hulk brings him down, beats up Bobby one more time, and climbs out of the cage to win at 9:52. This made their WM4 match look like Omega v. Okada. -*

And then the announcers wrap it up from their green screen. I will say, this had more of a big show feel than even Wrestlemania did that year, at least. And with the addition of the Savage-Dibiase match, finally, this one has been restored to the glory it should have had from the start, and now makes for an easy thumbs up.