WWF Wrestling Challenge – November 20th, 1988

November 20, 1988

From the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center in Salisbury, MD

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

This week’s featured match is Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Nikolai Volkoff. Also in action is Mr. Perfect and the Big Bossman plus an interview with Brutus Beefcake and the Ultimate Warrior.

Nikolai Volkoff w/ Slick & Boris Zhukov vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Zhukov tries to cut off Duggan in the aisle but ends up getting run over. The crowd is chanting along with Duggan but Volkoff headbutts him in the corner. We hear from Duggan in an insert promo as he tells Volkoff he is not intimidated as Volkoff stays in control. Duggan fights back as Heenan makes fun of how Duggan looks. Duggan hits a clothesline then hits the Three Point Stance for the win (3:04). After the match, Duggan parades around the ring with his flag and 2×4.

Thoughts: The crowd loved Duggan here but this match was terrible. Volkoff had a rep of not wanting to take bumps and he had a few pathetic ones here. Anyway, this was just to give Duggan a key win heading into Survivor Series.

Gene Okerlund welcomes Brutus Beefcake and the Ultimate Warrior to the interview platform. They talk about the team they will be co-captaining at the Survivor Series and their opponents, such as Ron Bass and the Honky Tonk Man. Really just a basic interview here and these two were not as crazy as usual.

Dave Paradise vs. Bad News Brown

Bad News immediately destroys Paradise. He tosses him to the floor as we see an insert of the Bad News article in “WWF Magazine.” Back to the match as Bad News chokes Paradise on the mat and continues to rough him up as Heenan states that Bad News has been demanding WWF President Jack Tunney for a title match. Bad News stays on the attack until he puts Paradise out of his misery with the Ghetto Blaster (3:20).

Thoughts: Long squash match but the announcers put over Bad News as a top contender for the WWF World Heavyweight Title. Bad News had a great character but quite past his prime in the ring.

Big Bossman w/ Slick vs. Bob Emery

Bossman tosses Emery to the floor as the match begins. Slick is taunting Emery as Bossman stays on the attack. The announcers hype up the Survivor Series main event as we hear from Slick in an insert promo as he tells us the Big Bossman is coming to Thanksgiving Dinner to get his hands on Hulk Hogan. Back to the match as Bossman catches Emery with a sidewalk slam for the win (2:32). After the match, Bossman cuffs Emery to the ropes and beats him with the nightstick as Heenan leaves to do “important stuff.”

Thoughts: A dominating performance to keep the Bossman as a major threat heading into Survivor Series.

Sean Mooney is in the Event Center. We hear the same promo from the team co-captained by Andre the Giant & Dino Bravo that we did from this past edition of”Superstars of Wrestling.”

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. Steve Lombardi

Lombardi works a side headlock as Gorilla is alone on commentary. We hear from Jake in an insert promo where he tells Damien that he will get “one giant of a meal.” Back to the match as Jake is now in control as he works the leg. Lombardi fights back but Jake reverses an Irish whip in the corner then Jake catches him with a DDT for the win (2:37). After the match, Jake dumps on top of Lombardi

Thoughts: I liked the sequence that led to the DDT. This match was to put Jake over and his feud against Andre.

Survivor Series Report with Gene Okerlund. Its the same report from this week’s episode of “Superstars of Wrestling” as we get a promo from the Mega Powers team.

“Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig vs. Scott Casey

Oddly enough, these two would be on opposing teams at the Survivor Series as Casey replaced Brian Blair. Hennig yells at Casey but gets slammed. Hennig dodges an elbow smash and hits one of his own before applying a chinlock. Hennig then ducks a clothesline and knocks Casey down with a forearm smash to the face and gets the win (2:51).

Thoughts: The infancy of the Mr. Perfect character was rocky as the fans did not respond to him at all.

Mooney is back in the Event Center to run down the Survivor Series card and make sure we know how to order it on PPV.

Next week in action we will see the Red Rooster, Tito Santana, Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, Brutus Beefcake, and the Ken Patera vs. Dino Bravo match from “Saturday Night’s Main Event.”

Final Thoughts: This was the final show before Survivor Series and it was basically an infomercial for the show. And it should have been that to be honest. However, it just not that exciting of a card and lacks the star power from the year prior. Truthfully, I’m glad the Survivor Series hype is over now so they can concentrate on actual feuds, which make the TV shows more compelling.

Here is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Saturday: Mid-South Wrestling 2/18/82

Sunday: WWF Survivor Series 11/24/88

Monday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 11/26/88

Tuesday: WWF Madison Square Garden 11/26/88

Wednesday: RevPro UK High Stakes 1/16/16

Thursday: Shoot Interview TBD

Friday: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 11/26/88