Castle Recreation Center - Alexandria Bay, NY
Attendance: 1,000
Commentary team: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan.
This episode is taped rather than live, and Randy Savage is absent from commentary as he will be involved in a match later in the show, as footage from last week recaps the issues between Savage and Doink.
Match #1: The Steiner Brothers vs. Barry Horowitz & Duane Gill.
The Steiners are tag champs and have signed an open contract to face any team at SummerSlam. The usual squash from the Steiners, as they suplex and stiff the opposition. Scott finishes off Gill with the Frankensteiner at 2:45.
Now we get the first of a five part series examining the inner working of Lex Luger. Apparently, his father stressed academics over sports and Luger was a shy kid in school who expressed himself through various athletic endeavors. The whole thing is edited like some college arty film project with dissolved and black & white close-ups. The whole thing is boring anyway and does nothing for Luger other than have us reconsider his face turn.
Match #2: Adam Bomb (w/ Johnny Polo) vs. Tony Roy.
Bomb finishes Roy with the Atom Smasher (power bomb) at 2:18. Bomb never got over in the WWF, which is surprising because he's the kind of guy that Vince would normally give the monster heel push. Perhaps Bomb's lack of personality was evident even to Vince.
We get a preview of next week's episode, which features Tatanka vs. Mr. Hughes.
Match #3: Randy Savage vs. Doink.
Main event time in the middle of the show. Very good match, as expected, between these two. Doink missed the Whoopee Cushion from the top but managed to recover and toss Savage to the floor. Savage goes under the ring and LO AND BEHOLD the Macho Midget comes out the other side. Doink is entertained by this turn of events, allowing Savage to sneak in for the distraction roll up for the pin. ***½ (11:22). To quote Bobby Heenan: "I don't like midgets." I mean, in the context of the characters, it was a move meant to counter Doink's use of multiple clowns to help him win but still....midgets were involved. Other than that, this match would have been even greater with a non-midget ending.
Gene Okerlund brings us the SummerSlam report as the card starts to fill up. Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna for the WWF Championship; Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler; The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez in a Rest In Peace Match; and now Mr. Perfect vs. Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship.
Vince and Bobby speak with Ted DiBiase over the phone to get his reaction to losing to The 1-2-3 Kid on WWF Wrestling Challenge over the weekend. DiBiase is rightfully pissed and angrily hangs up when Vince throws to the highlights of the match. Razor Ramon sauntered ringside during the match and DiBiase made an arrogant cover to show him up. However, the Kid countered into the pin to win the match.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, JIM CORNETTE makes his way to the ring. This was a legit surprise at the time, especially for those of us who weren't nerdy enough to read the Observer or even heard of the internet. Using your phone, which sits there on the wall, for something other than talking? That's crazy. Get out of here! Bobby Heenan gives Corny a big hug and after they pat each other on the back as the greatest minds of all time, Cornette lays out the challenge to The Steiner Brothers on behalf of his team from Smokey Mountain Wrestling, The Heavenly Bodies. The usual energetic promo from Cornette. It was still pretty surreal seeing Cornette in the WWF at the time.
Match #4: Mr. Perfect vs. Barry Hardy.
Cornette sticks around for commentary, much to the chagrin of Vince. Perfect strips Hardy of his singlet for some reason and hits the Perfect Plex for the pin at 2:40.
Vince promises us a video for Hacksaw Jim Duggan's "USA" from WrestleMania: The Album but the Network fails to deliver on that promise. Instead we throw to highlights of the Lex Express passing through Erie, PA as Lex delivers roundhouse kicks to the face while wearing his bad boys (USA zubaz).
THE FINAL WORD: Solid show here with a pretty good Savage/Doink match, midget sighting notwithstanding and a surprise appearance by Jim Cornette. The show breezed by in 45 minutes (one hour episode minus commercials) so it's worth a look.
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