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Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives! |
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- Scott Keith · Live from Pontiac, Michigan. Original airdate: March 27, 1987. · Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura, with Bobby Heenan popping in now and then. · This would be the second most requested rant from my fans, next to Wrestlemania X. And a fine choice it is, too, because it's quite possibly the most historically significant show ever. The 93,000 people in the Silverdome is a record that went unmatched until the Pope broke it earlier this year. This show is a supercard in every sense of the term, and for those of us who were rabid WWF fans in elementary school and junior high at the time, it was like waiting for Christmas morning from the moment that Andre v. Hogan was signed months before the show. · Opening match: The Can-Am Connection v. Don Muraco & Bob Orton. Orton and Muraco were basically used as hired goons by Adrian Adonis to beat up Roddy Piper and they decided to stay a team. The Can-Ams are the recently retired Rick Martel, and Tom Zenk, who left shortly after this due to money issues with the WWF. The crowd is super-jacked, booing the heels and cheering the faces like nuts. The size of this crowd absolutely has to be seen to be believed. Can-Ams use some nice double-team stuff on Muraco to start. Zenk takes a knee in the back to become face in peril, however. Martel gets the hot tag quickly, and the Can-Ams clean house on the heels, leading to a Martel cross-body on Muraco for the pin. Good opener. **1/2 · Hercules v. Billy Jack Haynes. This would be your standard grudge match, as these two beat on each other over the "Who has the better full-nelson" question for weeks leading up to this. Hercules was a pretty interesting heel at this point, and I actually thought he was going over when back when. Of course, I was still a mark in 1987 so what did I know? Haynes delivers the "pissed off babyface" beating to Herc early, but Herc escapes the full-nelson and does his one good move: The blind clothesline. He proceeds to do his slow, plodding offense, but won't cover because he wants the full-nelson. He finally gets it, but doesn't have it hooked good and Haynes escapes. He hits a beautiful inverted atomic drop to take control. Both these guys are pretty limited in their offense, that's for sure. Haynes gets *his* full-nelson, but Hercules makes the ropes and they tumble out for a double countout. Nothing match, although the psychology of building to the full-nelson is worth a bit. * Herc destroys Haynes with his chain and Billy Jack blades for good measure. More...
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