The Ultimate Warrior vs. Frenchy Martin
This would be Frenchy Martin's last match until May 88 as I'm sure he starts to transition into a more permanent managerial role for Dino Bravo but it's a fine performance in this capacity. He puts over Warrior's power, he sells Warrior's handshake squeeze like a vice and makes Warrior look levels above him. Warrior throws him on his shoulder for trouble, Likely dislocating the arm. Thanks Warrior. 3/4*
WWF World Women's Tag Team Title Match: The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai) (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno)
One of the more prolific MSG matches. Lord Alfred Hayes absolutely puts the JBA over as being a great tag team unit, surprisingly. He calls them extraordinary, just showing that Vince was clearly in on the women's division at the time and wanted to make it work. And within seconds into the match, the crowd goes from silence to going crazy at the initial shine spot by Tateno against Lelanai Kai. Judy Martin is able to slow things down a bit when she initially comes in but also gets overwhelmed by Yamazaki's speed. The Glamour Girls are able to gain the advantage and work over the Angels while the New York work rallies behind the challengers. The Glamour Girls absolutely do pull their weight in these matches with both great heel work and wrestling skills. They are able to grind down whichever one of the JBA are in the ring with stomps and other basic offence while being able to bump around just enough to accommodate the Jumping Bomb Angels. In this match, Yamazaki is the one who is being cut off, who does a great job at selling and being sympathetic. The crowd loved her traditional Joshi bridge out of a pinning position and every sunset flip made for an effective nearfall. Tateno's work on the apron is so good and adds a lot to the face work. Her reaction to the false tag was awesome and she was so desperate to get the tag, that she was practically falling over the ropes which the crowd bites on. The melee at the end with both times in the ring had the place rocking. Tremendous, smooth double team work leading to the Glamour Girls just getting the win after a powerbomb. Excellent tag team match. The first tag of the night and will undoubtedly be the best. ****1/4
Paul Orndorff (w/Oliver Humperdink) vs. Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan)
Orndorff is on his way down by this point and would be out of the WWF by the middle of January but one of his first duties is to put over Rick Rude who everyone would agree was a little raw in his younger days. Not that you could tell as Orndorff is a professional and knows what he's doing. Orndorff dominates early on and poses to a big pop, Rude take over and poses to boos. I love wrestling. Rude works at all solid level but the crowd responds to Orndorff's punch-clothesline comeback tease the most which transitions into the finish. Heenan interferes, distracting Orndorff, allowing Rude to schoolboy him for the shock win. Orndorff doesn't give Rude much time to celebrate though, attacking Rude and thwarting a Heenan sneak attack. Orndorff looks pissed at the result. **3/4
The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov & Nikolai Volkoff) (w/Slick) vs. The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell)
I don't know about anyone else but I stood up for Volkoff singing the Soviet Union National Anthem. The match comes to a standstill before it even starts as the Bolsheviks complain about the Killer Bees' masks, who don't want to take them off. It all goes on terribly too long. And so does the match. You could probably consider this the piss break match for the fans in attendance but this apparently was the very important match, being a pseudo #1 contender match. The Bolsheviks are very generic offensively. Zhukov is useless and Volkoff just isn't upto being the workhorse of the team. The Killer Bees are decent but bland and a bit dull. The crowd digs their masks gimmick and simply waits until that comes into play. Unfortunately it takes 15 minutes to get to that point before the rest of the match whimpers on for 5 more minutes. The Killer Bees win. *1/2
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) (c) vs. Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth)
Not a great match but it's a solid main event. Savage has recently turned face and there is no break in period to be seen. He bumps for Honky like a a face should, the crowd loves him like a face should be loved and his comebacks have a more shine. Honky Tonk Man is limited but he is good at getting heat and gets the best out of his chicken shit gimmick. The finish was pretty bad. Savage hits Honky Tonk Man with the megaphone to knock him in the ring - which should be a DQ btw - but this means Savage alone is counted out. The crowd chants “bullshit” and Savage attacking Jimmy Hart afterward isn't enough to salvage it. **3/4
Jake Roberts vs. Danny Davis (w/Jimmy Hart)
Similar to the opener, this was a squash match to liven the crow up after intermission. Robert's sole purpose in the match was to seemingly touture and play with Davis, who wasn't wise to it, getting confident with Roberts' passiveness only to get caught with DDT. **
WWF World Tag Team Title Match: Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana) (c) vs. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) (w/Jimmy Hart)
Nick Bockwinkel commentating his old rival's (Martel) match would've been cool if they acknowledged their history. But forget that, imagine if Bockwinkel and Bret Hart fought? That would've been magnificent. This was a really good tag team match in the tried and true formula. Except maybe the Strike force comeback was too short. The opening exchange was excellent. Martel outshines Bret technically which bruises Bret's ego which made him irrational and that made things worse. Then he calmly tags out. The whole idea of that was highly fascinating to me. Martel still continued to shine in the early parts, as did Tito when he tagged in, but a critical mistake sent Martel to the floor which the Hart Foundation capitalised on. Neidhart attacks Martel's ribs via the bear hug and a couple of back breakers. Martel fights two on one well enough but is always just off from getting the tag. Martel doesn't always connect with me as a fiery face but he truly did here. There was a great spot where he absolutely blasts Bret with a punch that Bret no-sells it immediately. Fuck sake Bret. Tito's hot tag is pretty fun but then the DQ finish comes quickly via the megaphone. The Hart Foundation thought they won the titles for a short bit but then the decision was announced much to their frustration. ****
Ivan Putski vs. Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil)
Ted Dibiase cuts a very cheap heat promo, putting down the Knicks and Rangers to not much heat. I don't think I've seen that type of promo this early. At least from Dibiase but that might explain why the fans didn't react. They don't know how to respond to this. This is a showcase match for Dibiase who beats a legendary figure for 70s WWF, Ivan Putski who still gets a warm reception in the Garden. It's a total mismatch ending with a great scoop slam. Dibiase is stone cold though. And looking at his results upto this point, he's don't very little except beat a washed JYD and a few shots at Hogan. All on house shows but nothing substantial. *
Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink) vs. King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan)
Curfew time must have been looming at this for only 3 minutes. Although Bundy is on his way down and Bigelow is getting a good push so perhaps was a deliberate booking choice. This was pretty uneventful except Bigelow doing a flip bump on a Bundy clothesline. Bundy misses a splash and loses when Bigelow hits his own. *1/4.
Um, watch the Tag Team Title Matches. They were terrific.
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