Primetime Disscussion Thread

[MillenniumMan831 0]

As is Graham's 'A-OK' gesture towards one of the ladies.

[Darth Pipes 0]

Saw the new Primetime episode they had posted. They had the complete Pildriver music video and it might be the gayest thing I've ever seen. Found out that Arnold Skaaland was in it too. Gorilla shoots with a laugh that Arnold has found himself in a lot of compromising positions. Monsoon and Heenan throw in another shoot about Steve Lombardi being from the "Terry Garvin School of Self-Defense."

 

The Survivor Series is hyped throughout the entire show, which gets annoying. Heenan cracks at a picture of Hogan's team that the last time Ken Patera was in a room with that many guys, they were asking him to step forward and be identified.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The Piledriver video is just dripping with gay overtones. Some of the facial reactions to the women walking by the construction site inadvertently make some of the guys look like they're cringing because a woman is walking by and breaking up the homo male bonding session.

 

You know what? This show really sucks. You get the occasional good match, but were it not for the studio segments, I'd skip it almost every time. As it is, it's the one 24/7 staple I never miss.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

They also throw garbage at one of the girls that walks by.

 

That said, I still enjoy watching it everytime I see it. It's so hilariously bad (like Real American's music video).

[Darth Pipes 0]

You never watch Prime Time Wrestling for the matches. It was always for the Monsoon and Heenan segments. If it wasn't for them, I doubt the show would have lasted as long as it did.

 

You do get the occassional cool angle, like the build-up to Savage/Honkytonk.

[cabbageboy 0]

I must say that something on this new show shocked me. Barry Horowitz actually won a match vs. Lanny Poffo! I had no idea he won any WWF matches until 1995. That said I do recall his Global run in 1992 where he won some sort of belt.

[Darth Pipes 0]

Yes! I couldn't believe that either. I thought it was funny how Gorilla talked about Horowitz and how he was an up-and-comer, ignoring the fact that Horowitz had just done a job in a tag team match against Strike Force 15 minutes earlier on the show.

 

Horowitz won the Global Lt. Heavyweight Title (twice) from The Lightning Kid, aka The 1-2-3 Kid, aka Syxx, aka Sean Waltman.

[cabbageboy 0]

Ha! Horowitz beat The Kid for a title in Global. That makes him even more the man. I remember his gimmick there was Barry "The Winner" Horowitz, and yes it was meant to be sorta ironic.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

It's important to remember that the episodes they've been airing for the last year happened in the post-WM III funk where there was very little going on in the company. We've got some good times ahead of us on PTW. There's so much that goes done between now and mid-1988 that the in-studio segments and discussion on the happenings will make each week a must-watch. There's the Survivor Series, the first Royal Rumble, the first Main Event with the infamous Hulk/Andre II, and the build for Wrestlemania IV. Then you've got Strike Force winning the title (if I'm not mistaken, this should happen before the next PTW), the full-fledged face turn of Randy Savage, and the debut/development of Bad News Brown, Ted Dibiase, and The Ultimate Warrior.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

TNT comes to us this week with "Surprise Guest Host" Mean Gene Okerlund so it's almost dead. Actually I think it lasts until September or October 86 but I've heard it only aired sporadically once Gene took over.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

TNT also details the Steamboat / Roberts angle from SNME, so that's good stuff. This Paul Christie guy... not so much.

[Darth Pipes 0]

I don't know what was with that Paul Christie thing. Was he a wrestler or something?

 

The Jake/Steamboat stuff was good. Sheik always makes for interesting television. He called Mean Gene what he always seemed fond of calling him, an "intelligent Jew." Seriously, that's like the third time I've heard him say that about Gene. There's some talk of real-world affairs, with Gene asking Volkoff about Cherynobel. Just to show how dated the show is, Gene tells Sheik that a lot of Middle East countries aren't doing too good because oil is down to $8 or $10 a barrel. Ah, the good old days.

[JHawk 0]

I don't know what was with that Paul Christie thing. Was he a wrestler or something?

 

Paul Christy was acutally a pretty good wrestler in his prime but is nearing retirement here.

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Just to show how dated the show is, Gene tells Sheik that a lot of Middle East countries aren't doing too good because oil is down to $8 or $10 a barrel. Ah, the good old days.

 

Oh yeah, I heard that and was thinking "Wow, if only". I also posted the Paul Christie thing before seeing the entire segment with the other magician - that just made it even weirder. What did that have to do with ANYTHING? That said, the fake Indiana Jones music and the Swordsman / gunshot scene ripped from Raiders was pretty awesome.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

This week's episode is worth watching due to Randy Savage's face turn.

[Darth Pipes 0]

Seeing the Savage heel turn was cool. Seeing the Piledriver video cassesste reminded me that I once owned him. Was never a fan of the cookie part of the WWF ice cream bar.

 

This week's Prime Time was an excellent example of 80s wrestling. Every match involving mid-carders (save for one) ends in a disqualification. It was practically impossible to put someone over, clean or otherwise.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I'm surprised PTW cut out the actual guitar shot. That, not Honky tossing Liz aside or the Mega-Powers handshake, is the first thing I picture when thinking about the whole angle.

 

- Kim Chee wrestling? That's either Danny Davis or Lombardi. Muraco is looking disgustingly juiced, too.

- They were really pushing for the Stallions to be that next hot tag team. Along with the gradual push they've been getting on TV the last few months, they and the Bees are the survivors in that big tag match at Survivor Series.

- I didn't realize JYD was slated to be on Savage's team. That means he was originally scheduled to participate in the first two Survivor Series, but got replaced on both shows.

- That "Girls in Cars" video, like everything else related to that album, is uber cheesy. But it's a catchy little diddy.

- That Tito/Haku match is the opener on Coliseum's Best of the WWF Vol. 15.

[Darth Pipes 0]

- Kim Chee wrestling? That's either Danny Davis or Lombardi. Muraco is looking disgustingly juiced, too

 

I saw Kim Chee wrestle a couple of times. That didn't surprise me but you are right about Muraco. He looked absolutely disgusting with all those veins bulging out. Even the announcer acknowledged all those vains.

 

I did a bit of a double take when Gorilla said that up next was The Rock. Then I remembered that was Muraco's nickname.

[Diamonddust 0]

Seeing the Savage heel turn was cool. Seeing the Piledriver video cassesste reminded me that I once owned him. Was never a fan of the cookie part of the WWF ice cream bar.

 

This week's Prime Time was an excellent example of 80s wrestling. Every match involving mid-carders (save for one) ends in a disqualification. It was practically impossible to put someone over, clean or otherwise.

 

A clean loss on television back in the 80's could spell death for someone's career.

[Bix 0]

This week's Prime Time is pretty fun for various reasons:

 

- Orndorff and Hercules having a fun match with a ridiculous amount of crowd sweetening.

- Heenan calling Strike Force "La Bamba and Lucky Pierre."

- Tito-Haku is pretty solid.

- (Paraphrased) Heenan: Haku was ahead on points.

Gorilla: There are no points in professional wrestling.

Heenan: Santana doesn't know that!

- The crowd relentlessly making fun of Mike Sharpe's LOUD "Argh! Agh! Ah! Oh!" selling by yelling "Oohhhhhhhhhh!" each time hedoes it.

- The "Girls in Cars" video followed by Heenan's joke sort of bombing but still being awesome (something about Strike Force being late because Martel is Canadian and thus was looking for antifreeze while Santana being Mexican was looking for a metal dog hood ornament).

[Darth Pipes 0]

Speaking of Lucky Pierre and La Bomba, they should be showing the match where they win the titles on Prime Time (by way of Superstars) very, very soon.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

TNT features what appears to be Harley Race's debut. Bruno even gets to say he's a world famous wrestler who he wrestled on many occasions.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Yeah, I think that was a Scott Keith thing that no one acknowledged Race's past. In reality, all the announcers made note that he was a skilled veteran (can't remember if they referred to him as a former world champ . . . I doubt it). Once the King gimmick came into play, his past was trashed and he became just another character. Which for 1980s standards, being the King of wrestling is hardly a bad thing.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I like the Heenan / Bundy logic that the cage at Mania 2 was politically designed to make Bundy fail (he's too big to climb and the door was too small to escape), pointing out Hogan never even attempted the too small doorway.

[Darth Pipes 0]

The King gimmick was a way to acknowledge Race's success without having to mention he was a former 7-time NWA World Champion. I heard once on SNME, Terry Funk made some acknowledgement to his own past, maybe mentioning he was a former NWA World Champion. As far as gimmicks go, The King was certainly not a bad one.

 

Bruno did indeed wrestle Harley Race for the NWA World title in 1973. They split a fall apiece and wrestled to a one-hour draw.

[Scott Keith 0]

Yeah, I think that was a Scott Keith thing that no one acknowledged Race's past. In reality, all the announcers made note that he was a skilled veteran (can't remember if they referred to him as a former world champ . . . I doubt it). Once the King gimmick came into play, his past was trashed and he became just another character. Which for 1980s standards, being the King of wrestling is hardly a bad thing.

 

Just wanted to make a cameo appearance and note that my recollections of the announcers burying his past came from PWI, as it was one of their pet peeves around that time. Interesting how watching the original footage reveals that it was really based on nothing.

 

[Bruiser Chong 0]

There was also that Best of the WWF tape that had a segment of new stars or something to that effect and included Race with them. I'm pretty sure Keith mentioned that in his review of the video, too.

[Guest]

And before anyone asks, because I can see it coming, yes, that is the real Scott Keith.

 

The IP says so...

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Woah, Nick Bockwinkel calling the action in the Prime Time main event! I had no idea he was ever even in the Fed (and Monsoon noted Heenan brought him in). I had to go to wikipedia to get the scoop:

 

"Bockwinkel worked as a road agent for the World Wrestling Federation after he departed the AWA in 1987. It was rumored that the WWF initially wanted Bockwinkel to wrestle and manage under the "Million Dollar Man" gimmick, but given that Bockwinkel was in his early 50's, decided to go with the much younger Ted DiBiase in the role."

 

Bob Orton hits an RKO! And the kick out afterward is awesome (I don't expect that sort of leap out of a guy Orton's size).

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I remember seeing the MSG 10/87 show where Heenan promised a big surprise . . . that being Bockwinkle who then filled in for Heenan on commentary. He and Monsoon made a good team since Bockwinkle had a knack for keeping Gorilla on his toes. He also did the 11/87 show as well. He also commentated a couple matches from tv tapings that ended up on the Best of the WWF Volume 14 CV.