3/1/86 - Saturday Night Slam Masters - Phoenix, AZ

3/1/86 - Saturday Night Slam Masters (taped 2/15/86)
LOCATION - Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Phoenix, AZ

"Obsession" by Animotion rang in the hottest show on MTV, the hottest program on all of television, Saturday Night Slam Masters! Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby "The Brain" Heenan were at the announce position, and before Monsoon could even start running down the card for the night, the Brain said he had a big surprise for him. Heenan let Monsoon know that he would not be doing commentary with him. Monsoon was dumbfounded, asking if it was his birthday. Heenan said not to be too sad, because he found a replacement for the night. Monsoon got a look of worry on his face as Heenan said the man was a good friend of mine, and is the only man he would trust to fill his shoes in the announce booth. With that, he introduced JESSE "THE BODY" VENTURA! Ventura joined the booth, dressed as garishly as you could imagine, and shook Heenan's hand, wishing him luck tonight. Ventura then said, "Hi, Gino" before telling the fans watching at home that we finally had someone else besides the Brain who would tell it like it is in the broadcast booth. Monsoon was just staring at Ventura, who told him to stop gawking and get to the card. Monsoon regained his composure and said we did have a huge night ahead of us as we marched toward Super Cade II. He mentioned we'd have Chavo Guerrero taking on The Barbarian. Ventura said Barbarian was one scary dude, and he didn't envy Chavo tonight. We'll also see the Road Warriors taking on the Hart Foundation. Ventura said that Hawk & Animal were mean and tough, but Paul Ellering wasn't the manager Jimmy Hart was and that would be the difference. They talked about the main event, which would be Robert Gibson taking on Sgt. Slaughter with the right for the Rock 'N Roll Express to challenge the Unholy Alliance for the World Tag Team Titles at Super Cade. Ventura said the return of Gibson was inspiring, but this fairytale wouldn't have a happy ending. And then of course, the big contract signing for the World Title match between champion King Kong Bundy and challenger Rick Martel. Monsoon speculated about what stipulation Bundy & Heenan would choose. Ventura said he talked to Heenan about it and boy, Martel was in trouble! But now they cut to the ring for our opening contest!

MATCH #1
Wahoo McDaniel/Barry Windham vs. Tully Blanchard (Television champion)/"The Enforcer" Arn Anderson (w/ Bobby Heenan)

Tag team action kicked off the program as Wahoo McDaniel teamed with Barry Windham to take on Television champion Tully Blanchard & "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson. Wahoo has been unable to get the TV Title off of Blanchard's waist, despite coming painfully close to doing so. He was had problems with the numbers game, but he got a little help in the form of an old friend and Heenan Family foe, Barry Windham. Wahoo & Windham came out a house of fire, but Blanchard & Anderson have been together for years now. Say what you want about them, but they work as a well-oiled machine. That was shining through in this one and it looked like Wahoo & Windham would fall a little short. Blanchard got a little too cocky when he had Wahoo down though, taking way too much time to play to the crowd instead of putting the veteran away. Wahoo reversed the Slingshot Suplex with a vertical suplex and made the hot tag to Windham. Windham came in a bundle of energy, taking out both Blanchard & Anderson to Heenan's dismay. The numbers got to him, but Wahoo recovered enough to tackle Anderson and take him to the floor. While Wahoo & the Enforcer brawled at ringside, Windham caught Blanchard on the top rope trying to jump on him. Windham hit the Superplex and pinned the TV champion clean in the middle of the ring!

Barry Windham and Wahoo McDaniel defeated The Heenan Family (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) when Windham pinned Blanchard with the Superplex in 0:11:27.
Rating: *** 3/4

Bobby Heenan couldn't believe that Windham just pinned the TV champion. Heenan grabbed the Television Title and gave it to Blanchard, who clutched it tight muttering, "I'm still the champ… I'm still the champ." Monsoon looks like we might just have our next challenger for Tully Blanchard.

MATCH #2
Chavo Guerrero vs. The Barbarian

The Barbarian has dominated everyone he's been in the ring against so far in GCW, but it has admittedly been a small sample size. Going up against a former Intercontinental champion would be a good measuring stick. Taking on The Barbarian was going to be tough enough for Chavo, but it wasn't long into the match that he had to deal with ADRIAN ADONIS too. Chavo takes on Adonis tomorrow night in Toronto, and the Adorable One was apparently doing a little scouting. That's what Jimmy Hart was claiming anyway, but the scouting became blatant interference when he grabbed Guerrero's leg as he hit the ropes. Chavo turned back to The Barbarian where he was met with a Mafia kick. The Diving Headbutt was next and that was all she wrote.

The Barbarian pinned Chavo Guerrero with the Diving Headbutt in 0:03:53.
Rating: * 1/4
[Adrian Adonis interfered against Chavo Guerrero.]

Adonis got in the ring and stood over the unconscious Chavo Guerrero. Adonis pulled out a tube of lipstick and put it on Chavo, the ultimate insult to injury. Before any further damage could be done, DOS CARAS ran down to run Adonis off. Monsoon was sickened by what just happened, but Ventura commented that he thought it was a good look for Chavo.

CONTRACT SIGNING BETWEEN KING KONG BUNDY & RICK MARTEL

Back from a commercial, "Mean" Gene Okerlund was in the ring to moderate the contract signing between World champion King Kong Bundy and #1 contender Rick Martel. Martel was allowed to speak first and talked about how he didn't trust Bundy and Bobby Heenan at all. He knew being in this ring alone right now was a dangerous prospect. He knew that the rest of the Heenan Family wasn't far away, so he brought a little backup. He introduced BOB BACKLUND, who came out, making Heenan about lose his mind. Once Backlund was behind him, Martel said he knew he was the underdog. He knew he had the fight of his life ahead of him at Super Cade, but with all of the support he has gotten from the fans, how hard he has worked to come back from a neck injury that nearly paralyzed him to get to this point, there was no way he was going to walk out of Los Angeles without the World Title. Heenan interrupted and said the whole story was very inspirational and moving, but it was going to take a lot more than a dream to dethrone Bundy. He reminded everyone that Bundy is 468 pounds, not just some small obstacle in his way. He told Martel he was in danger, not only because he has a bad neck, but because Bundy was looking to hurt him. Heenan looked at Backlund and told Martel to ask him what it's like to be injured by Bundy. He gave Martel one last chance to back out now before he gets put on the shelf permanently. Martel, as predicted, declined. Heenan laughed and said that's fine, because that's exactly what Bundy wanted. The Brain announced that the main event of Super Cade II will be a STEEL CAGE MATCH! To close the segment, Heenan told all of the fans to enjoy seeing Martel while they could, because after April 7, we would never see him again.

MATCH #3
The Road Warriors (w/ Paul Ellering) vs. The Hart Foundation (w/ Jimmy Hart)

The Hart Foundation are annoyed that the Road Warriors have come in with such fanfare, feeling that they're getting overlooked in the tag team division. They wanted to fix that by challenging Hawk & Animal to a match. Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart wanted to avoid getting in a huge brawl with the Road Warriors, but it wasn't working too well. Hawk & Animal just come at you in high gear from bell to bell. They're relentless. Jimmy Hart saw his team was in big trouble, so he jumped up on the apron to distract the referee Joey Marella. In doing so, he tossed his megaphone in the ring to Neidhart. Unfortunately for him, the Anvil didn't get a hold of it - Hawk did. Paul Ellering came around and pulled Jimmy Hart to the floor before knocking his block off with a right hand. Meanwhile in the ring, Hawk blasted Neidhart between the eyes with the megaphone. The crowd cheered loudly, but then Marella turned around and saw Neidhart unconscious and Hawk holding the weapon. He had no choice but to call for the disqualification.

The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) when Neidhart defeated Hawk by disqualification in 0:08:13.
Rating: *

Hawk & Animal nearly lost their minds when Howard Finkel announced that the Hart Foundation the winners. Ellering pleaded with Marella to reverse the decision but to no avail. Ventura said that the Road Warriors are out of control and they got what was coming to them. Monsoon said this was a miscarriage of justice, and Jimmy Hart should be careful about who he makes angry.

BAD NEWS BROWN HAS SOME STRONG WORDS FOR TED DIBIASE

We cut to a previously recorded interview conducted by Lord Alfred Hayes with Bad News Brown. Brown had one man on his mind, and that was Ted DiBiase. Brown said the fight he had with DiBiase on February 15 on Superstars is some of the most fun he'd had in awhile. He gave DiBiase a little credit for not backing down, but he also said that was going to be "that cracker's biggest mistake." Brown wanted another shot at the Intercontinental Title, and he wanted it at Super Cade.

MATCH #4
Robert Gibson (w/ Ricky Morton) vs. Sgt. Slaughter (World Tag Team champion) (w/ Stan Hansen)

The crowd was buzzing for our main event, but even with the crowd's support, Robert Gibson was going to need a miracle. Not only is he coming back from an injury, but he's going against Sgt. Slaughter, one of the most dangerous men in all of wrestling and the man who put him on the shelf to begin with. This match went about how you would expect it to for the majority. Gibson did everything he could to stay alive, but he was getting the stuffing beat out of him by Slaughter. It looked the dream of the Rock 'N Roll Express wrestling for the tag team titles was fading fast. The World Tag Team champions weren't content on just beating Gibson - they wanted to see him humiliated. Late in the match, Stan Hansen got up on the apron and held Gibson open for Slaughter. Slaughter hit the ropes, but Gibson got loose and Slaughter nailed Hansen! Hansen fell to the floor as Gibson caught Slaughter with a crucifix, but he couldn't get him over. Hansen jumped back on the apron throwing a fit as referee Tommy Young cut him off and told him to get on the floor. While Young had his back turned, Ricky Morton slid in the ring and dropkicked Slaughter in the chest! This let Gibson bring Slaughter over in the crucifix. Young saw it, made the count, and this one was over!

Robert Gibson pinned Sgt. Slaughter after a crucifix in 0:14:10.
Rating: *** 1/4

The Rock 'N Roll Express will now officially get to challenge the Unholy Alliance for the World Tag Team Titles at Super Cade! Will lightning be able to strike twice when the titles are on the line?

BOBBY HEENAN IS LIVID

To close the show, "Mean" Gene Okerlund got a word with Bobby Heenan, who was standing with the entire Heenan Family. Heenan was beside himself over how the contract signing went down. Okerlund said that Heenan should be ashamed of himself for what they tried to perpetrate against Rick Martel, and thank goodness that Bob Backlund was there to prevent anything worse from happening. Heenan yelled for Okerlund to shut up. He said that Backlund should know better than to keep sticking his nose in the Family's business, reminding him what happened last time he messed with King Kong Bundy. Heenan said he was tired of this and wanted to teach Martel & Backlund a lesson. He proposed the two team up to take on Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson tomorrow night in Toronto. Blanchard promised Backlund he was going to wish he had just stayed on the shelf after tomorrow, while the Enforcer promised that Martel wouldn't even make it to the cage at Super Cade.

Card rating: ** 1/4

UPCOMING EVENTS

3/2/86 - Maple Leaf Gardens - Toronto, ON, CA

WORLD TITLE - If Rhodes doesn't win the title, he leaves GCW - King Kong Bundy (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes
INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE - Ted DiBiase (c) vs. Shiro Koshinaka
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES - Sgt. Slaughter/Stan Hansen (c) vs. The Rougeau Brothers
Rick Martel/Bob Backlund vs. Tully Blanchard/Arn Anderson
Koko B. Ware vs. The Barbarian
Chavo Guerrero vs. Adrian Adonis
The Road Warriors vs. The Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff

4/7/86 - SUPER CADE II - Los Angeles Sports Arena - Los Angeles, CA

STEEL CAGE MATCH FOR THE WORLD TITLE - King Kong Bundy (c) vs. Rick Martel
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES - Sgt. Slaughter/Stan Hansen (c) vs. The Rock 'N Roll Express
FLAG MATCH - Corporal Kirchner/Junkyard Dog/Koko B. Ware vs. The Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff/Shiro Koshinaka
Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd

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