WWF Wrestling Challenge – March 12th, 1989

March 12, 1989

From the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, PA

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

In action this week will be the Ultimate Warrior, Bad News Brown, Tito Santana, and the Twin Towers.

Tito Santana vs. “Dangerous” Danny Davis

Davis shoves Tito after a break but ends up getting slapped down. Tito works the arm as we hear from the Brainbusters, who tell Strike Force they are the best at tag team wrestling. Davis backs Tito into the corner and lands a few shots but gets caught with a punch coming off of the top then shortly after that Tito puts him away with the flying forearm (3:24).

Thoughts: They hyped up the Brainbusters vs. Strike Force match at WrestleMania. Davis would be finished as a wrestler very shortly and return to being a referee.

WWF Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes. This week’s focus is on Elizabeth and whose corner she will be in at WrestleMania V. We are then shown footage from the Prime Time Wrestling “Face to Face” special where Rockin’ Robin and Sensational Sherri debated on that subject. It was to help hype the decision from “Saturday Night’s Main Event” that they were going to show next week.

Twin Towers w/ Slick vs. Gary Wolfe & Tony Durante

We hear from the Rockers as they talk about their WrestleMania match against the Twin Towers. The match starts with the Towers beating on Durante. Wolfe tags and suffers the same fate then Akeem puts him away with a splash (2:59). After the match, Bossman cuffs Durante and beats him with the night stick.

Thoughts: This is the first promotion of the Rockers vs. Twin Towers match. The Towers looked strong in destroying the future Pitbulls.

Sean Mooney is in the Event Center to talk about the 3/18/89 Boston Garden Show. The Red Rooster runs down the Brooklyn Brawler to hype up their match then the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, Dino Bravo, Jimmy Hart, and Frenchy Martin run down the Bushwhackers & Jim Duggan for their match. I have that show but they also wrestled in MSG that day and I’ll review that one instead.

Dave Lanning vs. Bad News Brown

Bad News beats on Lanning before the bell. The crowd goes nuts as we see Hacksaw Jim Duggan head down the aisle. Duggan leads the crowd on as they are going insane then leaves as a pissed of Bad News finishes Lanning off with the Ghetto Blaster (1:41). After the match, Bad News beats on Lanning then tosses him to the floor.

Thoughts: You have to see how rabid the crowd was for Duggan here. This is also the first real mention of this match on TV.

The same Randy Savage promo from the 3/11/89 episode of “Superstars of Wrestling” airs.

Ultimate Warrior vs. John Zeigler

Warrior no-sells some chops then beats Zeigler down. We hear from Rick Rude in an insert promo as he talks about beating Warrior for the Intercontinental Title. Back to the match as Warrior stays in control until putting Zeigler away with the press slam/splash combo (2:19).

Thoughts: At one point on commentary, Heenan promised in 1989 he would manage both the Intercontinental and the Tag Team Champions.

Gene Okerlund welcomes Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan to the interview platform. Gene asks Andre if he is afraid of snakes as Andre gets pissed then talks about being undefeated and will stay that away at WrestleMania. He also tells guest referee Big John Studd to stay out of his way.

The same WrestleMania V report from Superstars airs.

Fabulous Rougeau Brothers w/ Jimmy Hart vs. David Stoudemire & George Evans

The Rougeaus stall for a bit until they chop Evans down. We hear from the Rougeaus and Jimmy Hart as they tell the Bushwhackers to call them by their correct name and they are foreigners who are ruining their country. The Rougeaus stay in control until putting Stoudemire away with the Rougeau Bomb (2:30).

Thoughts: Basic hype for the Rougeaus vs. Bushwhackers match at WrestleMania V. And what a match it was.

Mooney is back in the Event Center to hype up the 3/18 Boston Garden show. Hulk Hogan talks about the Big Bossman to hype up their steel cage match. Good promo as he also talked about the Twin Towers helping break up the Mega Powers.

In action next week will be Demolition, Rick Rude, and Jake Roberts. They also hype up the 3/11/89 “Saturday Night’s Main Event” as we get comments from the Brainbusters and the Rockers to promote their match.

Final Thoughts: These shows are all just WrestleMania V advertisements at this point. We get a match and then an insert promo from that person’s opponent or a promo from the wrestler themselves and that is the hype. The only match with a good build is Hogan vs. Savage. Besides that, practically the rest of the card was slapped together without rhyme or reason.

Here is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Monday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 3/18/89

Tuesday: WWF Madison Square Garden 3/18/89

Wednesday: EVOLVE 68

Thursday: Kayfabe Commentaries Presents: Breaking Kayfabe with Marty Jannetty

Friday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 3/19/89

Saturday: Mid-South Wrestling 4/29/82

Sunday: WWF Prime Time Wrestling 3/20/89