After watching the 1988 JCP earlier today, I figured I’d watch the WWF from the same time. I went to the Retro Wrestling Archive’s WWF house show playlist to see what they had.
WWF @ Philadelphia, PA – Spectrum – March 12, 1988 (Attendance: 10,731)
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: March 12, 1988
Announcers: Dick Graham and Craig DeGeorge
The Results
SD Jones def. Johnny V in 6:09. A comedy match that served its purpose, didn’t try to be anything it wasn’t, and entertained the crowd for the most part. SD won with a headbutt. *1/4
WWF Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: The Jumping Bomb Angels (C) def. The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai & Judy Martin) in 12:38. Both of these teams played their roles so well – The Angels, the young, quick babyfaces against the old school bruisers in the Glams. The crowd erupted during the hot tag, and the cradle finish worked so well because they created a believable spot where the Amgels miscommunicated and looked like they might lose the match. I enjoyed the hell out of this. ***1/4
Dino Bravo def. Koko B. Ware in 8:34. Bravo was such a fucking clod in this era of WWE anytime he had to bump or sell. There was a spot where he had a headlock on forever, spontaneously gave Koko a standing bulldog that looked fucking devastating, and he put the headlock back on for over a minute. WTF? Dino won with the side slam. *
Bam Bam Bigelow & Don Muraco def. One Man Gang & Butch Reed in 14:11. I like a majority of the guys in this match, but this was awful. I’m all for safety, but there were way too many times when things were executed so poorly that it looked like men doing fake pro wrestling, trying not to hurt each other, even to the unsavviest of wrestling fans. Muraco won when Reed hit the top rope on a mistimed shoulder block, and Muraco got the cover. There was way too much stalling in this one. DUD
Killer Bees def. Bolshiveks in 10:42. Just a shitty match that didn’t get remotely exciting until the Bees put their masks on and did a little more than the (poorly-executed) holds that dragged the bout down. 3/4*
Brutus Beefcake def. Greg Valentine by DQ in 10:25. Even by 1988 Beefcake standards, this was pretty rough. Greg Valentine had some tremendous matches in 1988 and beyond, so let’s blame this on the former Dizzy Hogan. The lame DQ megaphone finish didn’t help. The guy going for the IC title at Mania in a couple of weeks couldn’t beat Greg Valentine in 1988? 1/2*
Lumberjack Match: Hulk Hogan def. Ted DiBiase in 6:09. DiBiase worked his ass off, but this was also very paint-by-numbers and way too short for a main event, especially one where one guy paid to end the Ktner’s four-year title run. Some fake Killer Bees played loggers going after Hogan with the masks during the match. One was beaten up after and stripped down to another mask. Hogan won with the legdrop. **
Rating: 2.5
The main event was decent, and the Bomb Angels easily had the best match on the show, but 1998 WWF could be rough, and this was a prime example. I had five of the seven matches in the” bad” range. There’s a reason Vince cycled so many of these guys out before the end of the year.
The Video
