WWF Superstars of Wrestling February 13th, 1988

February 13, 1988

From the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, PA

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and Vince McMahon

The show starts with a clip of Andre the Giant beating Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship on the “Main Event” show. After that, Andre hands the belt over to Ted DiBiase as Hogan looks over at both referees and launches the “evil” Dave Hebner at his opponents. We then cut to a promo as DiBiase, with the World Title around his waist, has Andre and Virgil in the background as he accuses Hogan of trying to confuse things by bringing in a Dave Hebner look-a-like.

WWF President Jack Tunney now comments about what happened. He says that while Hogan is not the champion, the only way a wrestler can become champion is by pinning the reigning title holder or make him submit. Tunney then states that DiBiase is also not the champion. Also, the rulebook states that the champion may end his reign at any point by surrendering the title, which is what Andre did as he is also not the champion. So, Tunney said to be fair to Hogan, Andre, and all of the title contenders, the title will be vacant and that a new champion will be crowned on March 27th at WrestleMania IV in a 14-man tournament as that graphic flashes on the screen. Andre and Hogan receive a first-round bye as they will face each other in the second round. The rest of the bracket reads like this:

Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude

Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo

Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine

Randy Savage vs. Butch Reed

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. One Man Gang

Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase

I have to say that I thought they did a great job explaining why the title was stripped and how it would remain vacant. Tunney’s delivery as an authoritative figure was great as well.

Young Stallions vs. Terry Gibbs & Joe Mirto

This match is joined-in-progress. The heels work over Powers in the corner as Vince tells us how the real Dave Hebner is refereeing this match because they fingerprinted him before the show. Powers tags out and Roma catches Mirto with a powerslam for the win (1:35 shown).

Thoughts: The match was just a backdrop for the announcers to talk about the decision made by Tunney to vacate the title and crown a champion at WrestleMania IV with the tournament.

Gene Okerlund is with Jake Roberts, who will be facing Dino Bravo at the February 22nd show at Madison Square Garden. Roberts tells Bravo he will respects what he does when Bravo respects him.

“The Natural” Butch Reed w/ Slick vs. Rex King

Reed tosses King as Jesse accuses Tunney of creating the WWF World Heavyweight Title Tournament as a way to avoid making a decision on the issue. Reed toys with King as he is shown in an insert promo telling Randy Savage what a real man is all about. Reed then climbs up top and gets the win with a clothesline (1:45).

Thoughts: I liked how they were building up the first round matches via insert promo. Other than that, Reed was not really impressing anyone and just about at the end of his WWF run.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Dave Wagner

Jesse wants to know what kind of person travels around with a 2×4 and challenges Vince about that. Duggan hits Wagner with an atomic drop as we see him in an insert promo telling DiBiase that he will not win when they face in the 1st Round of the WWF Heavyweight Title Tournament and shortly after that Duggan gets the win with his Three Point Stance (1:46).

Thoughts: Jesse was somewhat humorous here in making fun of Duggan. Other than that, they built up another first round tournament match.

Okerlund is with Virgil, Andre the Giant, and Ted DiBiase, who is livid about being stripped of the title. He calls it “beauracratic crap” and they are having a tournament for a belt he paid a lot of money for and promises to pin, submit, or do whatever it takes to beat Duggan in the first round of the tournament. DiBiase and Virgil leave as Okerlund asks Andre about meeting in the 2nd Round against Hogan. Andre said it will be easy as he beat Hogan twice already and promises that the belt will be around DiBiase’s waist. DiBiase cut a great promo here and Andre is still hinting that he will do whatever it takes to assure DiBiase will leave the show as the champion.

Van Van Horne & Red Demon vs. British Bulldogs

Davey and the Demon run into each other a few times until Davey catches him with a press slam. Dynamite tags and hits a snap suplex. Van Horne is in as the Bulldogs beat on him as Vince tells us that Matilda’s appetite has returned and she is now “happy and spunky.” Jesse questions how a dog can get better from people sending in letters as Davey powerslams Van Horne then launches Dynamite for a headbutt as that gets the win (2:11).

Thoughts: This was mostly done to tell us that Matilda was improving as they build toward the dog’s return.

Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Eric Cooper & Dave Stoudemire

Smash immediately beats down Stoudemire to start. Ax then slams Stoudemire a few times and kicks his ass as we get an insert promo from Demolition, demanding Strike Force for a title shot. Cooper is in as he gets destroyed until Demolition puts him away with the Decapitation (1:46).

Thoughts: Dominating performance by Demolition, who were being put over strong on commentary as the #1 contenders to Strike Force.

Okerlund is with Slick, calling him “brother.” Butch Reed and the One Man Gang then come out and stand in front of them as Slick tells us all his men took care of Superstar Billy Graham as Reed said that Graham cannot rejuvenate what has already aged. Reed then calls out their opponents in Madison Square Garden, the Ultimate Warrior and Don Muraco. Reed referred to Warrior as a “little kid running around with lipstick on his face.” That was a bit funny.

Next week , we will see Sika vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and the Ultimate Warrior vs. King Harley Race. Plus, more updates on WrestleMania IV and an exclusive interview with Andre the Giant.

Final Thoughts: Huge show this week. The major news of DiBiase being stripped of the WWF World Heavyweight and a tournament to crown a new champion at WrestleMania IV made this one of the most action-packed editions of “Superstars of Wrestling” of all-time. Also, if you look at the brackets, you can see that they ultimately ended up flip-flopping the positions of the Rude/Roberts and DiBiase/Duggan first round matches. Besides the tournament, they also clearly made it a point to show that Demolition were the #1 contenders for the Tag Team titles. So, great show this week and