-10/28/89
-From the Civic Center in Philadelphia, PA
-Hosts are JR & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: Mike Rotunda VS The Z Man
-Zenk controls the early going with a couple shoulderblocks. Match is clipped to Rotunda giving Zenk a suplex for two. Rotunda locks in an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes for leverage. Rotunda flying clothesline gets a big pop. Match is clipped again to Rotunda getting whipped into the corner. Rotunda tries a flying crossbody, but Zenk rolls through for the pin to a mixed reaction. Match was pretty slow and dull from what was shown.
-Match 2: The Midnight Express & Steve Williams (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Samoan Swat Team & The Samoan Savage (w/Sir Oliver Humperdink)
-Savage is Tama. SST do a fire dance. Halloween theme is of course perfect for this show. Match is clipped to Fatu working over Eaton. Eaton tries a double noggin knocker on the SST, which they naturally no-sell. Eaton blocks a Tama splash by using his knees. Dr. Death gets in to clean house. Match turns into a pier six brawl. Lane gets knocked into Cornette and pinned by Tama. Weak finish. What was shown is too short to really comment on.
-Match 3: The Cuban Assassin VS Tommy Rich
-JR puts over how great Rich was in 1981. Match is clipped after Rich starts to turn the tide to Assassin dishing out more punishment. JR chides Assassin's lack of amateur wrestling skills as he uses brawling tactics to maintain control. Crowd gets really restless. Assassin misses a splash and Rich hits the Thesz Press to finish. And you though the F-U/Attitude Adjustment is a weak finisher. Crowd is happy that the match is over.
-Match 4: NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds [c] VS The Dynamic Dudes (w/Jim Cornette)
-Philly crowd despises the Dudes, even with the Cornette association. Freebirds get pyro and a huge babyface reaction to their entrance. Match is clipped to Ace controlling Garvin with a side headlock. Ace kicks Hayes' hand away when he tries to make a tag in a nice touch. Ace takes both men down with a headlock/headscissors combo, and gets booed for it. Ace locks in another side headlock, and the crowd just gets to the point, chanting "you suck" at Ace. Anything the Freebirds do draws a big pop. Crowd chants for the DDT. Hayes tries to ablidge, but Ace blocks it. Ace makes the hot tag. Dudes get Garvin in position for the Wipeout (double team slingshot belly-to-back suplex), but Hayes helps him break it up, and Garvin pins Ace to retain. Match was interesting in that it was total tag formula that looked to be done well, but the crowd's reaction was the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be.
-Match 5: The Steiner Brothers VS Doom (w/Woman)
-Doom, for those who may not know, are Butch Reed and Ron Simmons, and at this point, they are under masks. Robin Green has turned against the Steiners and formed her new tag team. Match breaks down right away. Steiners pound away on Doom, whip them into each other, then toss them with stereo German suplexes. Rick is a ornery tonight, putting a little extra mustard into his strikes and clothesline. JR mentions that Scott was going to be a school teacher until Rick talked him into wrestling. Great, now I want to see Big Poppa Pump teach kindergardeners. Make it happen TNA. Match is a pedestrian brawl, and the crowd seems to tune out while Doom are on offense. They do wake up when the Steiner finally regain control, but Woman puts an object into Simmons' mask, and he KO's Rick for the pin.
-Match 6: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Brian Pillman
-Pillman has the cheerleaders again. Philly loves them some Lex Luger, starting a big "Luger" chant before his music kicks in. Pretty good power vs speed match. Luger tries to heel it up, but it doesn't work at all. Luger knocks Pillman for a flip with a running clothesline to the back of his head. Luger drops his elbows different from everyone else, opting to simply raise his arm and fall down, instead of jumping or doing anything to try to add impact to the move. Pillman gets a sunset flip for two, causing Luger to take a wild swing with a clothesline, sending himself out over the top. Air Pillman (springboard clothesline) connects, but Lex gets his foot on the bottom rope. Pillman misses a dropkick from the top, then leaps into a hot shot, allowing Luger to get the pin to retain. Best match of the show so far.
-Match 7: The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Irresistable force vs immovable object. Something you don't see everyday: Hawk taking Sid over with a monkey flip. Sid responds by later kipping up and dropping Hawk with a cothesline. Sid gets the helicopter toss on Hawk, effectively making him the face-in-peril. Sid drops Hawk neck-first across the guardrail. Match breaks down, and Teddy hands the Skyscrapers a giant golden key, which they use to draw a DQ. Weak sauce. If you like big heavyweight slugfests, you'll probably like this one more than I did.
-Match 8: Thunderdome Cage Match: NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Sting VS Terry Funk & NWA World Television Champion The Great Muta
-Bruno Sammartino is the guest referee. Only way to win is for the other team's cornerman (deemed the "designated terminator" in this case) to throw in the towel. Faces have Ole Anderson, heels have Gary Hart. JR actually makes note of Bruno's first WWF title win (although he refers to it as a "world title"). The cage is similar to the one used for Hell in a Cell, in that it has a roof (supposedly electrified), and it extends to cover portions of the floor. Something catches fire on the cage, so Muta sprays mist to put it out. Awesome. The match, for some unknown reason, starts out like a regular tag match. They eventually decide to brawl all over the place, before settling back into a regular tag match again, with Sting as the face-in-peril. Funk & Muta try to climb the cage (especially Funk). Funk gets caught in the cage, so Flair chops him. The distraction caused by Funk climbing the cage allows Muta to hide under the ring, then surprise Flair with the green mist. Sting gets caught up in the cage, allowing Muta & Funk to double team Flair. The faces come back. Flair gets the figure 4 on Funk while Sting splashes him. Ole nails Gary Hart, causing the towel to fly into the ring, giving Sting & Flair the win. This was terrible. The psychology was all over the place, and never got into a second gear that these four are capable of.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Nothing to go out of your way to see here, and that main event it TURRBILE, in the words of Charles Barkley. Only interesting matches were the tag title match (for the crowd reactions) and the U.S. title match.
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