WWF Wrestling Challenge – June 19th, 1988

June 19, 1988

From the Fresno Convention Center in Fresno, CA

Your hosts are Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon

In action this week are the Ultimate Warrior, The Rockers, One Man Gang, George Steele, and Rick Rude. Plus, the debut of Brother Love and more

Ultimate Warrior vs. Barry Horowitz

Warrior overpowers Horowitz as Heenan talks about Harley Race and how he went abdominal surgery and has vacated his robe and crown as we see a photo of his head in the clouds. Back to the match as the Warrior remains in control. Horowitz thumbs Warrior in the eye and hits a dropkick but Warrior catches him with a clothesline. Warrior dumps Horowitz on the top rope then hits a press slam before finishing Horowitz off with a splash (2:21).

Thoughts:The crowds are jacked for the Warrior. Also, whenever Harley Race was named, the photo with his head in the clouds immediately flashed on the screen. It was quite odd.

WWF Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes. We are shown clips of Strike Force winning the Tag Titles back in November then Demolition winning them at WrestleMania IV as Hayes lets us know that Martel suffered a severe concussion and we will be updated about that in the coming weeks. We then see Ron Bass choke out JYD with Miss Betsy on the 4/2/88 edition of Wrestling Challenge.

“Ravishing” Rick Rude w/ Bobby Heenan vs. “Leaping” Lanny Poffo

Poffo’s poem is about Cheryl Roberts as Rude immediately beats him down. Rude no-sells a punch to the abs but ends up getting decked in the face. Rude fights back and works a neck vise as we hear an insert promo from Cheryl, who tells Rude he is not ravishing but just plain rude. Back to the match as Rude hits a suplex then shortly after that gets the win with a Rude Awakening (2:12). After the match, Rude gives some lady the Rude Awakening.

Thoughts: The Rude/Roberts feud was one of the top TV programs and it was excellent. Cheryl, however, was not too strong on the mic.

Sean Mooney is at the Event Center. We hear from Bam Bam Bigelow and Oliver Humperdink as they hype up the house show match against the One Man Gang. The Bulldogs hype themselves up as the camera zooms in on Matilda.

The Rockers vs. Steve Lombardi & Tom Stone

The Rockers work over Stone to start the match. The announcers talk about the injury to Rick Martel as the Rockers now work over Lombardi until they put him away with the Rockerplex (3:11).

Thoughts: They put over the Rockers a bit on commentary but nothing else of note happened. The team has been good reactions from the crowds.

Mooney is back in the Event Center. We hear Hercules run down the Ultimate Warrior and Brutus Beefcake do the same to the Honky Tonk Man to hype up their matches.

Ken Patera vs. Iron Mike Sharpe

They work a test-of-strength as we see Dino Bravo in an insert promo calling Patera soft and weak. Patera overpowers Sharpe then beats him down. He hits a slam and an atomic drop then puts Sharpe away with a full nelson as Heenan leaves (2:54).

Thoughts: Short match to further the Bravo/Patera storyline.

Heenan is now at a white podium with a purple curtain in the background. He tells us all that we are in for a treat as he brings out a man who helped him and that is his personal friend, Brother Love. He comes out with a book and wearing a white suit with a pink shirt as he wants to thank his friend “Brother Brain” for the opportunity to bring us a message. That message is that he loves us as this ends with a freeze-frae closeup on his face. This segment bombed. The crowd did not seem to know what to make of it and when this segment ended, I had no desire to see Brother Love again. They could have done a better job introducing him to the crowd.

One Man Gang w/ Slick vs. Louis Spicolli

Gang beats on Spicolli as we hear an insert promo from Slick, who tells us the Gang’s opponents run like a cheap pair of pantyhose. Gang continues to beat on Spicoll until he puts him away with the front suplex (1:48).

Thoughts: They are back to making Gang a threat again but his feud against Bigelow has been inconsistently pushed and as a result, never got over.

Randy Neverman vs. George “The Animal” Steele

Steele places his Mine doll in the corner. He tosses Neverman to the floor then chops him down when he comes back inside. Steele then quickly puts him away with the flying hammerlock (1:24). After the match, Steele refuses to let the ref raise his hand as he is clutching his Mine doll.

Thoughts: Steele was still over with the TV audiences and he is getting a small push again as they want to try and sell the Mine dolls.

We see the clip from “Saturday Night’s Main Event” where Race went through the table in his match against Hogan as that is the reason behind his surgery.

Brady Boone & S.D. Jones vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

The Rougeaus are shown in an insert promo saying that if people will stop confusing them with Dino Bravo, they will be loved more than ever. Jacques offers a handshake to S.D. then pats him on the head. Raymond and Brady tag in and they end up in a stalemate after a brief sequence. S.D. tags back in but Jacques makes a blind tag and attacks S.D. from behind before putting him away with a splash (4:05).

Thoughts: The Rougeaus are furthering their insincere gimmick and becoming even more heelish. Even Gorilla on commentary became disgusted by their actions.

Back in the Event Center, Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan talk about beating everyone he has faced and if we thinks he looks awesome on television we should see him in person. Randy Savage is with Elizabeth and tells Ted DiBiase he cannot buy heart or his WWF World Heavyweight Championship before warning him what will happen if he touches Elizabeth again.

In action next week will be the Big Bossman, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Demolition.

Final Thoughts: The Brother Love debut bombed and the rest of the show was just maintaining status quo. Not much else to say other than that.

Here is my schedule for the next several days:

Tuesday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 6/25/88

Wednesday: RoH Supercard of Honor X, Night One

Thursday: RF Video Shoot Interview with Shawn Michaels

Friday: WWF Madison Square Garden 6/25/88