WWF Wrestling Challenge – March 19th, 1989

March 19, 1989

From the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, PA

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

This week, we will see the Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler match from “Saturday Night’s Main Event.” Also in action will be Jake Roberts and Demolition plus more!

Demolition vs. David Coleman & John Wise

Demolition beats on Coleman as we get an insert promo from the Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji, who says Demolition is lost without him and that they will win the Tag Team Titles. Wise tags and gets beaten down until Demolition puts him away with the Decapitation (1:41).

Thoughts: A quick win for Demolition as they mixed in some WrestleMania hype with the question of whether or not Demolition could retain the belts without Fuji as their manager.

WWF Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes. Its a replay of Elizabeth’s decision to remain in a neutral corner at WrestleMania V from “Saturday Night’s Main Event.”

The Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler match from “Saturday Night’s Main Event” is shown. Rooster won in a minute as they built up hype for his WrestleMania match against Heenan.

Sean Mooney is in the Event Center. We get comments from some of the participants at WrestleMania V.

Tim Sawyer vs. Dino Bravo w/ Frenchy Martin

Bravo backs Sawyer into the corner as the announcers put over his WrestleMania opponent, Ronnie Garvin. We then hear from Garvin in an insert promo as he says Bravo will find out how tough he is at WrestleMania. Bravo then boots Sawyer in the gut before putting him away with a side slam (1:35).

Thoughts: They tried to build up the Garvin/Bravo match at WrestleMania, which is one of the least hyped matches on the card.

Jake “The Snake”Roberts vs. Allen Kinsey

Roberts takes control as we hear him in an insert promo telling Andre the Giant he is ready for WrestleMania and says he should go ahead and roll the dice as they will come up as snake eyes. Roberts toys with Kinsey for a bit then puts him away with the DDT (2:25). After the match, Jake dumps Damien on top of Kinsey.

Thoughts: More hype for Jake vs. Andre at WrestleMania but again, Big John Studd as the special guest referee is getting more attention than Jake.

Sean Mooney is in the Event Center. He runs down the WrestleMania V card as we get graphics of the matches.

Terry Daniels vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude w/ Bobby Heenan

Gorilla is solo on commentary. We are shown clips of Rude attacking Warrior from the pose down at the Royal Rumble. Rude beats down Daniels as we get a weasel chant from the crowd. Daniels gets two with a sunset flip but Rude catches him with a powerslam then flexes and gyrates before hitting the Rude Awakening for the win (1:12). After the match, a woman comes to the ring for the Rude Awakening but Heenan said she is not the one he picked. She has really short hair and skinny. Rude says if she lost 50 lbs, fixed her teeth and the blemishes on her face she still would not be good enough to do his laundry. Heenan then yells at her for smelling like chocolate.

Thoughts: Rude looked good and the post-match stuff was pretty funny.

Gene Okerlund welcomes Brutus Beefcake to the interview platform. Beefcake accuses DiBiase of buying himself something he could not win. He then tells DiBiase he is not out for his belt but only to give him a new hairstyle. Basic promo to hype up Beefcake vs. DiBiase at WrestleMania

WrestleMania V Report with Gene Okerlund. The same from the 3/18/89 edition of Superstars of Wrestling. This featured the comments from Hogan and Savage.

The Conquistadores vs. The Bushwhackers

Heenan is back on commentary. The Conquistadores attack the Bushwhackers before the bell. The Bushwhackers fight back as the crowd is into their act as they end up hitting Conquistador #1 with the battering ram and get the win with a double gutbuster (1:34).

Thoughts: A way for the crowds and viewers to get familiar with the Bushwhackers gimmick.

Mooney is back in the Event Center. We hear from more people involved in WrestleMania V. I liked Bad News’ promo on Jim Duggan.

In action next week are the Hart Foundation, Greg Valentine & Honky Tonk Man, and Brutus Beefcake. Plus, comments from Hulk Hogan and an interview with Randy Savage.

Final Thoughts: If you haven’t seen Saturday Night’s Main Event or Superstars, then this was worth checking out but other than that there was no reason to see this show. Its the same tiresome WrestleMania hype over and over with no real storyline progression other than the Hogan/Savage match. The rest of WrestleMania V has been poorly built up.

Here is my schedule for the next several days:

Saturday: Mid-South Wrestling 4/29/82

Sunday: WWF Prime Time Wrestling 3/20/89

Monday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 3/25/89

Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 3/26/89

Wednesday: EVOLVE 68

Thursday: Shoot Interview TBD

Friday: WWF WrestleMania V