WWF Superstars of Wrestling – May 20th, 1989

May 20, 1989

From the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, NE

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

This week’s featured match is the Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler. Also in action are Rick Rude, The Bushwhackers, and Mr. Perfect. Plus, the King Coronation ceremony for Jim Duggan and more!

“Ravishing” Rick Rude w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Jim Evans

This crowd is rabid tonight. Rude gyrates after a leapfrog but walks into an armdrag. We then hear from Rude in an insert promo as he tells the Ultimate Warrior to look at an Intercontinental champion with style and grace as he promises to stay champion for a long time. Evans stays on the arm but Rude overpowers him and hits a suplex before putting him away with the Rude Awakening (1:25). After the match, Rude tells the crowd there is no one who deserves a kiss so he is going home.

Thoughts: Rude had a ton of heel heat with this crowd as his feud against the Ultimate Warrior heats up.

WWF Update with Gene Okerlund. This is about Jimmy Snuka’s return to the WWF as we get a clip of him being introduced to the crowd at WrestleMania V.

The “No Holds Barred” trailer airs again. Vince calls it “biggest movie premiere…perhaps in world history.”

Barry Horowitz & Chris Curtis vs. The Bushwhackers

The Bushwhackers work over Horowitz and even mock is pat-on-the-back taunt. Curtis tags and gets hit with a double clothesline as the Brainbusters are shown in an insert promo as they are tired of the Bushwhackers antics. Back to the match as the Bushwhackers hit Curtis with the battering ram before putting him away with the double gutbuster (2:08).

Thoughts: The crowd ate up the Bushwhackers antics as they are feuding with the Brainbusters.

Sean Mooney is in the Event Center. Jimmy Hart & Greg Valentine talk about getting “gold” in 1989 then we get the same promo from Hillbilly Jim that we saw on “Wrestling Challenge.”

Demolition tells us to see “No Holds Barred” and to read all about it in “WWF Magazine.”

Gene Okerlund is in the ring along with a dozen or so other babyface wrestlers as he welcomes Jim Duggan to the ring for his coronation ceremony. We then go split-screen as Bobby Heenan & Andre the Giant console an angry Haku, promising he will regain his crown. Some truly awful acting there by Haku. Okerlund then begins to coronate Duggan, who is sitting on the throne giving a thumbs up while his tongue is sticking out of his mouth. Big John Studd then puts the crowd and robe on Duggan as we are once again in split-screen as Heenan has came up with some sort of plan as they are all laughing. Duggan is then carried away. It appears Duggan will be feuding with Haku now over the crown. The ceremony was dopey but the crowd just loved Duggan.

Mooney is back in the Event Center. Mr Fuji & The Warlord are backstage as Warlord talks about going above and beyond what Fuji asks from him. Randy Savage & Sensational Sherri then talk about Brutus Beefcake before promising to take the World Heavyweight Title away from Hulk Hogan.

Rick Martel w/ Slick vs. JT Thomas

Martel has finally ditched his Strike Force trunks as he is now wearing powder blue ones. Jesse talks about Tito Santana being jealous of Martel’s looks and ability as Martel beats on Thomas. We hear from Santana in an insert promo as he does not care about Martel looks as he promises to give him an “attitude adjustment” the next time they meet. Martel then hits Thomas with a slam before putting him away with a top rope knee drop (2:10).

Thoughts: They’ve really focused on Martel’s “looks” the past few weeks as his feud with Santana continues.

Brother Love Show with guest Jake Roberts. Before this, we were shown a replay of Ted DiBiase sneak attacking Roberts two weeks ago. Jake comes out with Damien and scares away Brother Love before telling DiBiase he is not like some kid you can scare before scaring Brother Love away for good. This feud was getting hot but Roberts needed time off for neck surgery and it got delayed.

Brooklyn Brawler w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Red Rooster

Rooster wins a slugfest to start then Brawler rakes his eyes. We hear from The Genius in an insert promo as he predicts the Brawler will win this match due to Heenan’s brains as Rooster hits a back suplex. Rooster stays in control as Heenan is screaming at the Brawler, who catches a charging Rooster with a boot. Heenan slaps Rooster across the face and walks away then Brawler hits a clothesline. Brawler slowly climbs up top as Rooster tosses him off as Heenan is worried. Rooster hits a corkscrew neckbreaker and a slam but Brawler pulls Rooster out to the floor by his trunks. Rooster slingshots in with a sunset flip as Brawler grabs the ropes but referee Ronnie Garvin kicks Brawler’s hand away as Rooster gets a two count. Brawler then yells at Garvin but that allows the Rooster to roll him up and get the win (4:51) *1/4. After the match, Jesse is outraged over what Garvin did as the Brawler starts attacking Garvin, who gets the upper hand then chases Heenan away.

Thoughts: The match itself was fine but the end did not look good and was executed way too slowly. Hopefully, it means this feud has ended because I’ve had about enough of these two fighting.

We are shown more scenes from “No Holds Barred.”

Mr. Perfect vs. Red Tyler

Perfect takes Tyler down a few times then we hear from Bret Hart in an insert promo as he promises to be the first to end Mr. Perfect’s undefeated streak as Jesse puts over that matchup as being incredible. Perfect stays in control then gets the win with a Perfect Plex (1:26).

Thoughts: A quick win for Mr. Perfect as his feud with Bret Hart continues.

Mooney is back in the Event Center. We get the same promos from Bobby Heenan & Andre the Giant about Big John Studd and Brutus Beefcake on Randy Savage & “Scary” Sherri as we did from “Wrestling Challenge.”

Next week in action will be Bret Hart, Dino Bravo, Demolition, and Ted DiBiase.

Final Thoughts: The show was alright I guess. We are getting more and more “No Holds Barred” hype with the premiere inching closer and we got a “featured match” even though it was on the low end of the spectrum. The Duggan Coronation ceremony was dumb overall and the rest was status quo.

Here is my schedule for the next several days:

Monday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 5/21/89

Tuesday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 5/27/89

Wednesday: EVOLVE 72

Thursday: Shoot Interview TBD

Friday: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 5/27/89

Saturday: Mid-South Wrestling 5/13/82

Sunday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 5/28/89