What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – April 23, 1991

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are in the studio for this evening’s show. McMahon’s workout gear makes it look like he is about to enter a dojo. They recap Randy Savage coming after Heenan last week after Heenan said he had a date scheduled with Elizabeth.

Opening Contest: The Texas Tornado (w/Bobby Heenan) (13-0) defeats Haku (w/Bobby Heenan) (0-3) when Heenan interferes at 4:26:

This match took place at the last Superstars taping in Las Vegas. It also aired on the Wrestling Spotlight program ten days earlier. The biggest action of the match happens over a sleeper holds as Haku puts the Tornado in a long one, the Tornado fights out, and then puts his own sleeper on Haku. Haku gets to the ropes and the Tornado refuses to give a break, prompting Heenan to hop on the apron and punch the Tornado in view of the referee. What a waste of time this was. Rating: DUD

Gene Okerlund’s Update segment recaps the Ultimate Warrior getting shoved into a casket by the Undertaker on Superstars two weeks ago. In the studio, Heenan argues that the experience will make the Warrior fear the Undertaker from this point forward.

The Berzerker’s squash from Superstars two weeks ago is shown.

Tugboat comes onto the set to do a segment entitled “Tugboat’s Cabin” with Heenan. Tugboat quizzes Heenan’s knowledge of nautical affairs and sings “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.” As Tugboat goes on with the song, maritime objects pop through a porthole window and antagonize Heenan like a lobster and marlin. The object bit was unexpected and Heenan’s reactions salvaged the segment.

The Dragon’s squash from Superstars airs.

Promo time with Sean Mooney! Sergeant Slaughter and General Adnan allege that Hulk Hogan stole the WWF Championship from them and they are going to get it back.

Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect joins McMahon and Heenan in the studio. A video package of Perfect highlights is shown to the tune of Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does it Better.” When McMahon asks about the British Bulldog, Heenan says that the Bulldog and Winston will appear later in the show.

The Orient Express (w/Mr. Fuji) (5-3) defeat Jim Evans & Dale Wolfe when Tanaka pins Evans after a superkick-German suplex combination at 2:16:

In the split screen, the Rockers say that the Express will fail to drive them out of the WWF. The Express dominate the jobbers in turn to win their third straight match.

Instead of the British Bulldog appearing in the next segment, Heenan and Perfect reappear with leashes with invisible dogs on them. After messing with McMahon, Perfect says that he has to appreciate the Bulldog’s power but it will not be enough to defeat him.

The British Bulldog (13-0) pins the Brooklyn Brawler after the running powerslam at 1:52:

Perfect and Heenan do an insert promo, arguing that the Bulldog will never take the Intercontinental Championship. This is a formulaic squash for the Bulldog, who remains undefeated since returning to the company last year.

Lord Alfred Hayes tells Heenan and Perfect that they have made a big mistake messing with the Bulldog in the last studio segment. Perfect tells Hayes that all that will be left of the Bulldog after he is done with him will be a fleabag.

Power & Glory (w/Slick) (5-1) defeat the Rockers (6-0) via count out at 9:02 shown:

This bout, which took place at the most recent Superstars taping in Omaha Nebraska, is joined in progress to the heels putting Marty Jannetty in peril. These two teams feuded the previous year, with Power & Glory winning to position them as contenders to the Hart Foundation’s tag team titles. A blind charge from Roma helps Jannetty get to his corner to make the hot tag to Michaels and the crowd goes wild when all hell breaks loose. Slick grabs Michaels’ foot to break up a double fist drop effort and when the Rockers give chase to Slick around the ring, they get counted out. That makes two terrible finishes to feature matches so far this evening. The outcome is an upset because the Rockers have been booked strongly throughout the year so far. Rating: **

After the bell, the Rockers drive Power & Glory from the ring and give Slick a double clothesline and double dropkick.

Heenan shows McMahon some invisible puppies in a box before having Brutus Beefcake come into the studio. Beefcake discusses his parasailing accident as an x-ray shows the reconstruction of his face. A replay of Beefcake’s Barbershop segment with Earthquake two weeks ago is shown. Then, as a barbershop quartet sings, Beefcake gives a man an awful haircut after spraying shaving cream into the man’s mouth. The haircut bit keeps going and going as the WWF must have been trying to get a jump on the growing ASMR market.

Greg Valentine (6-2-1) beats Barry O via submission to the figure-four leg lock at 3:19:

Barry O makes the fatal error of going knee-first into the buckles on a blind charge, allowing Valentine to destroy both of his legs and lock in the figure-four. Seeing Valentine brutalize people as a babyface is oddly satisfying but, as Ronnie Garvin proved the last few years, that kind of character is one that was ahead of its time in the WWF.

Barbarian (w/Bobby Heenan) (2-2-1) pins Rob Allen after a Mafia kick at 1:34:

In the split screen, Bret Hart promises to have the wrestling ability to turn the Barbarian’s strength into a weakness when they meet in the ring. The Barbarian handles Allen with ease, preferring to use the Mafia kick to win a match for the second time in a row.

Watch the WBF on June 15 so you can see Mike Christian!

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (13-0) pins Stephen DeLeon with the Tombstone at 2:36:

An underrated move in the Undertaker’s arsenal at this time was a backdrop suplex as he gets a good snap on it. The ropewalk spot captivates the crowd and sets up DeLeon for the Tombstone. After the bell, the Undertaker debuts a new post-match ritual of stuffing DeLeon in a body bag. That gets the crowd talking around ringside and is a significant improvement over the Undertaker dumping dirt on an opponent.

More promos with Mooney! Jake Roberts says he looks forward to seeing what Earthquake is all about.

A replay of Irwin R. Schyster’s vignette from Superstarsis shown.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan (10-0) beats the Genius (0-3) with the three-point stance clothesline at 1:06:

This match also came from the Las Vegas Superstars taping. Colonel Mustafa pops up in the split screen and says that he will prevent Duggan from getting to Sergeant Slaughter. This match comes off as a waste of Duggan’s time as all he has to do is slam the Genius once and mow him down with the three-point stance clothesline.

The barbershop quartet is back to sing “Goodnight, Ladies” until switching over to “Let Me Call You Weasel,” angering Heehan, who storms out.

Tune in next week to see the Ultimate Warrior! Also, gets news about Hulk Hogan’s new hotline!

The Last Word: The feature matches were marred by bad finishes, or in the case of the last bout it was a simple squash for Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Although there have been some good episodes of Prime Time, especially leading up to WrestleMania VII, it is becoming painfully obvious that this show exists to satisfy Vince McMahon’s whims. On this show he was the only person that was getting into Brutus Beefcake’s silly haircut and all the barbershop quartet songs, taken aback when the audience did not start cranking out “Goodnight, Ladies” in unison with the singers. On the bright side, at least the squash matches were entertaining on this show.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for April 27!