9/20/86 - GCW Superstars

9/20/86 - GCW Superstars (TAPED: 8/26/86)
LOCATION: Providence Civic Center - Providence, RI

AN ALTERCATION IN THE PARKING LOT BEFORE THE SHOW

Before we even got to the opening credits, we got to some footage from earlier today where World champion Hulk Hogan & Ted DiBiase were in a loud argument with The Four Horsemen in the parking lot. Many security guards and officials were on hand to out to keep everyone separated so nothing got too out of hand but it is clear that the tensions are running high in this feud. The main event of today's program is combustible at the very least.

We then got the intro to Superstars, where Gorilla Monsoon & Mark Niemiller discussed what we just saw. Niemiller, of course, thought Hogan & DiBiase were to blame for the confrontation and Hogan should be stripped of the World Title, which Monsoon of course thought was ridiculous. They then went over the card for today, which will feature two semi-final matches in the Intercontinental Title Tournament with Koko B. Ware taking on Lex Luger and Kerry Von Erich meets Honky Tonk Man! Junkyard Dog is here, as well as Sgt. Slaughter & Stan Hansen in action! And of course, our huge main event where World champion Hulk Hogan & Ted DiBiase takes on The Brain Busters! But first up, to the ring and Howard Finkel for our opening contest, Ric Flair vs. Raymond Rougeau!

MATCH #1
Raymond Rougeau (w/ Jacques Rougeau) vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan)

Ric Flair wouldn't be so irritating if he couldn't back up what he says. He's cocky, he's brass, he's arrogant, but he flat out brings it. The former World champion has looked great since returning to GCW, getting a strong victory over Raymond Rougeau to kick off the show. After the match, Flair & Bobby Heenan cut a quick promo essentially saying that the Nature Boy was going to beat Kerry Von Erich in Detroit and then engage in sexual intercourse with Von Erich's woman after (he was a little more creative than this).

Ric Flair pinned Raymond Rougeau with the Figure-Four Leglock in 0:05:31.
Rating: *** 1/4

MATCH #2
Junkyard Dog vs. Rick Hunter

Before the match began, DANNY DAVIS came out with Jimmy Hart. Davis was wearing a referee's shirt and tried to usher the assigned referee Joey Marella away, saying he was fully capable of still refereeing. Junkyard Dog had no patience for this and told him he could leave now or he wouldn't be able to leave under his own power. Davis said that JYD needs to respect his authority as a GCW official, to which JYD said, "Respect this!" and clocked him with a headbutt. After Davis and Hart were escorted to the back, JYD had little trouble picking up the win.

Junkyard Dog pinned Rick Hunter with the Thump Powerslam in 0:03:31.

THE POWER COMPANY ARE NOT IMPRESSED WITH TED ARCIDI

We cut back to the locker room area where we see Dino Bravo & Hercules watching the tape from last week showcasing Ted Arcidi's immense strength. They were opening scoffing at everything, commenting that he wasn't lifting THAT much weight and they were way stronger. Bravo was so convinced he was stronger that he went ahead and challenged Arcidi for Detroit - not to a match, but a bench press challenge! We'll see if Arcidi answers the challenge before we go off the air today.

MATCH #3
INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT - SEMI-FINALS
Koko B. Ware vs. "The Total Package" Lex Luger (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan)

Lex Luger's doing everything he can to stay in the good graces of Bobby Heenan, and making it to the finals of the Intercontinental Title Tournament would go a long way in doing that. His opponent though is wanting to taste championship gold as well in the form of Koko B. Ware. Like has been happening to Luger recently, he seemed a little distracted by wanting to impress Heenan instead of focusing all his energy on Koko, which is a mistake. Koko almost made him pay for it several times, but the Total Package kept escaping by the skin of his teeth. In the end, Koko went up to the top rope, but Luger caught him, carried him out of the corner to the center of the ring where he dropped him with a Gorilla Press, and picked up a hard fought trip to the finals.

[INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT - SEMI-FINALS]:
Lex Luger pinned Koko B. Ware after a Gorilla Press in 0:14:10.
Rating: *** 1/2

After the match, Luger almost looked to Heenan like he was a puppy wanting approval. The Brain patted him on the back and kept saying, "One more!" Looks like Luger's attempts to impress Heenan are going well thus far.

MR. PERFECT CONTINUES TO IMPRESS

We have seen newcomer Mr. Perfect showing off his skills in a variety of athletic endeavors such as basketball and golf, and we now learned we would be seeing him in the wrestling ring soon. But first, Perfect showed off something else he excelled at, and that's football. We got to see Perfect's skills as a quarterback as he was throwing perfect passes to receivers with pinpoint accuracy. The topper though was on the last throw when he waived the receivers off, threw a long bomb, sprinted under it and caught it himself. Niemiller was over the moon with excitement about what we just saw as Monsoon let us know that Perfect will officially be making his in-ring debut on October 4 on Saturday Night Slam Masters.

MATCH #4
Sgt. Slaughter/Stan "The Lariat" Hansen vs. JJ Jackson/Al Navarro

JJ Jackson & Al Navarro were the victims of a beating so bad that it should have been a crime. Slaughter & Hansen are in such a foul mood since losing the Boot Camp match to The Road Warriors at The Big Event, and they're taking it out on opponents. The Rougeau Brothers will try to slow them down this Friday in Detroit.

Sgt. Slaughter and Stan Hansen defeated JJ Jackson and Al Jackson when Hansen pinned Navarro with the Lariat in 0:02:36.

MATCH #5
The Road Warriors (w/ Paul Ellering) vs. Les Thornton/Jack Foley

Speaking of The Road Warriors, they went nuts on Les Thornton & Jack Foley to get an easy win. At this rate, it's hard not to imagine Hawk & Animal getting a World Tag Team Title shot soon.

The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) defeated Les Thornton and Jack Foley when Animal pinned Foley after a power bomb in 0:01:32.

ANDRE THE GIANT HAS SOME STRONG WORDS FOR HONKY TONK MAN

Lord Alfred Hayes interviewed Andre the Giant next, and Andre was strangely quite joyous considering everything that has gone on with Honky Tonk Man, namely Honky destroying a guitar over Andre's head last week. We found out why Andre was in such a good mood - he has a match with HTM at Saturday Night Slam Masters October 4. It was hard to understand him, but the interview ended with the Giant saying that he was going to eat Honky on October 4.

MATCH #6
INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT - SEMI-FINALS
"The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich vs. Honky Tonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Our next match was the last semi-final match to determine who would wrestle Lex Luger for the vacant Intercontinental Title next week. Honky Tonk Man clearly had heard what Andre just said, because he looked very distracted. Well when you're wrestling Kerry Von Erich, you better be focused. HTMs willingness to cheat as well as the presence of Jimmy Hart at ringside kept him in it, but there was no stopping Von Erich. The Modern Day Warrior wins with the clawhold, and now has a date with his rival Lex Luger to determine the new IC champ!

[INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT - SEMI-FINALS]:
Kerry Von Erich made Honky Tonk Man submit to a clawhold in 0:09:10.
Rating: **

Luger came down to ring to get in Von Erich's face after the match. No blows were exchanged as there were plenty of officials down to keep them apart, but the tension was clear here. Next week, we're going to see a brand new champion!

LIVE EVENT REPORT W/ GENE OKERLUND

"Mean" Gene Okerlund was absolutely beaming as we had the Live Event Report! Okerlund first went over the card for this coming Friday in Detroit, MI, first mentioning a couple of brand new additions to the event. For starters, we got a brief pretape from TED ARCIDI, who formally accepted Dino Bravo's bench press challenge. Also, since Kerry Von Erich will be wrestling Ric Flair ahead of the finals of the Intercontinental Title tournament next week on Superstars, President Jack Tunney has declared the other man in the finals, Lex Luger, will also be in competition in Detroit when he takes on Koko B. Ware. We then cut to an interview with The Four Horsemen. The main beats - Barry Windham vows whoever wins the IC Title next week is just a placeholder who will have to answer to him when he's back from injury, Arn Anderson is going to embarrass Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair will show Kerry Von Erich why he is the best wrestler in the world today, and come this time next week, Tully Blanchard will be holding the World Title when he outclasses Hulk Hogan.

Now onto the other huge event coming up, Saturday Night Slam Masters on October 4 on NBC. We of course will see a massive 6-man tag team match between the Horsemen and Hogan/DiBiase/Von Erich and the Rock 'N Roll Express getting their rematch after having the World Tag Team Titles stolen from them by The Hart Foundation, but we also now know two more matches are signed and ready to deliver. As announced earlier, the slimy Honky Tonk Man will have nowhere to run when he is in the ring against Andre the Giant, and Mr. Perfect will make his official in-ring debut taking on Koko B. Ware. We ended the Live Event Report with an interview with Koko B. Ware. Koko said Perfect talks a big game, but nobody is truly perfect. He doesn't like braggards, and he will shut Mr. Perfect up on NBC.

MATCH #7
"The Immortal" Hulk Hogan (World champion)/Ted DiBiase vs. The Brain Busters (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan)

This match might not be the best match in Superstars history, it may be the Match of the Year! A preview of two of the matches for Detroit, the crowd was hot from the word go. There was no question that The Brain Busters had way more tag team experience, and they used that to great effectiveness during a large portion of this great contest. Ted DiBiase and World champion Hulk Hogan came out hot, using the momentum of the crowd to push them, but Anderson & Blanchard weathered that storm and isolated DiBiase. It was DiBiase's turn to weather a storm, and even though he took quite a beating, he refused to stay down which served to frustrate Bobby Heenan's charges. Once DiBiase got some separation and made the hot tag to the Hulkster, the complexion of the contest changed greatly, leading to Hogan eventually hitting the Big Leg Drop on the Enforcer to put this one away.

Hulk Hogan and Ted DiBiase defeated The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) when Hogan pinned Anderson with the Big Leg Drop in 0:26:40.
Rating: **** 1/2
[Bobby Heenan interfered against Ted DiBiase.]
[Bobby Heenan interfered against Hulk Hogan.]

Join us next week where we'll have all of the fallout from the big show in Detroit, as well as the finals of the Intercontinental Title tournament! So long, everybody!

UPCOMING EVENTS

9/26/86 - Joe Louis Arena - Detroit, MI

WORLD TITLE - Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Tully Blanchard
Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair
Ted DiBiase vs. Arn Anderson
The Rock 'N Roll Express/Junkyard Dog vs. The Hart Foundation/Danny Davis
Bob Backlund vs. Hector Guerrero
The Rougeau Brothers vs. Sgt. Slaughter/Stan Hansen
The Powers of Pain vs. King Kong Bundy/Big John Studd
Koko B. Ware vs. Lex Luger
Bench Press Challenge - Ted Arcidi vs. Dino Bravo

9/27/86 - GCW Superstars

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT - FINALS - Kerry Von Erich vs. Lex Luger

10/4/86 - SATURDAY NIGHT SLAM MASTERS - Richfield Coliseum - Richfield, OH

Hulk Hogan/Ted DiBiase/Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES - The Hart Foundation (c) vs. The Rock 'N Roll Express
Andre the Giant vs. Honky Tonk Man
Koko B. Ware vs. Mr. Perfect

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License