I loved seeing the Hogan-Bossman cage match in clipped form on a Coliseum Video I had as a kid - so what the heck, let's see it in pristine quality in full. Hogan starts off with a coked-up promo behind a cage - simple and effective. Vince hypes up the WWF Title match tonight and says three titles will be on the line. Demolition faces the Brainbusters and Rude defends against Duggan. Heenan is shown helping Rude win the title leading to an amazing Gene, Bobby, and Rude promo. Gene is sarcastically irate and always brings up how the title win is tarnished and how he MIGHT JUST LOSE IT TO DUGGAN tonight.
Rude has a replacement theme and Gene cuts a promo with King Duggan. Gene says it's memorial day, so Duggan could win the title for America. Duggan is um...let's just say that Eugene's gimmick was definitely a bit more Duggan in '89 than I remember.Duggan says that the IC belt shouldn't be worn over fancy pants and he thinks he's a bit...pink, BUT BY GOLLY, DUGGAN IS A REAL MAN! He carries his wood in one hand and umm...yeah nothing odd about that at all.
Aloha Arn off a sunset flip leads to a GIANT punch. Duggan actually hits a sloppy piledriver for 2.5, but Rude gets the foot on the rope. Haku comes down to get revenge on Duggan, but gets stopped and it leads to a break. Rude lands some knees and punches, but the three point stance clothesline sends him out for a ten count - so Duggan wins on Memorial Day, but doesn't win the title. Well, if you're going to book yourself into a corner having a babyface promise victory for dead soldiers, but can't have him as champ - this is as good a way as any to do it.
Gene talks to Neidhart about facing Savage tonight. Jim says he hates Randy for how he treated Liz and he might be able to push some guys around - but he can't push The Anvil around. I love hims saying that if you want Hogan's belt, you have to go through him - it makes the babyfaces all seem like a united front and actually makes him come off like a somewhat top-level guy. Jim comes out and Vince says he doesn't think Randy can beat him. Jesse interviews Randy, who badmouths Liz. They go on and on about how this is a true test - so hey, if you're going to make a mid-card guy seem like a bigger deal, this is how you do it.
Randy is in green and yellow eyesore gear. Anvil dominates with power and hits the flattener for 2. Randy gets caught in the ropes and Jim attacks, so Sherri removes him and Jim misses a charge. Randy hits the double sledge off the top to the guardrail, tosses him in and wins with the elbow. Good stuff - Randy looked strong and that's the main goal. It's amazing how much better "have to earn a title shot" is compared to "HERE'S YOUR AUTOMATIC REMATCH".
Jesse interviews Slick about how he was able to get Bossman the first shot at Hogan and Bossman says Hogan's gonna serve hard time. Slick says he's a showman and they've got first-row seats for showtime. Bossman coming out to Slick's theme is never not weird - but you do have to enjoy the cop gimmick being paired with the pimp. Zeus comes out and they shoot him like he's five billion feet tall before showing the SNME graphic for the match.
Hogan comes down and slaps hands, possibly wearing the Winged Eagle for the first time on national TV before just happening to spot Zeus. They get this awesome shot of a staredown and for live TV, it's amazing how well they were able to shoot all of this. Zeus looks so much bigger than Hogan here - it's a great example of smoke and mirrors making the act work. Jesse says THIS AIN'T THE MOVIES, Zeus clubs him and kicks him before Bossman dominates.
Bossman punches away, but eats a lariat. Bossman sends him down and gets a splash. Bossman hits a light spinebuster and goes up top. Hogan grabs him through the bars and then hits the superplex off the top of "the cage", which is technically correct. Bossman was on the top of the cage, while Hogan was on the top rope - so it wasn't all that dangerous compared to a normal top rope superplex.
They milk this perfectly - with Hebner coming in because both guys are out. He gets to eight and HOGAN DOES THE TAKER SITUP! Hogan tries to get to the door, but Bossman uses a chain to choke him out. They punch away and then double bonk their heads into the cage. Hogan slams him into the cage and Slick comes in to prevent an escape. Slick gets beaten up and then crotches Bossman for a hilarious sell. Hogan beats up Slick and Jesse points out that he's a coward for beating up a small manager and now he's beating up Bossman after he's handcuffed. Hogan wins and Jeese is outraged.
The match ends and the brawl continues. Jesse is outraged over this for not being content to just win and then tosses Slick into the cage. Hogan plays around with Bossman's baton and puts on Slick's cap to pose. Vince happens to mention that the tag title match is up too. Oh yeah, that thing. Well, the show has definitely peaked with this.
I like that for the graphics, the Demos have hair missing from the chroma key. Heenan is interviewed with the Busters, who have a great logo. Arn says the belts are theirs - and all they have to do is pick 'em up. Demos yell about winning tonight, and Gene says this is what wrestling is all about. Arn acts the glue for this thankfully and the Demos stick to a power game before all Hell breaks loose and it's a double DQ.
Savage cuts an intense promo on Hogan before Snuka comes out to face Boris Zhukov. Snuka wins it with a superfly dive and Hogan cuts a promo with Gene. Hogan says that before the movie shoot, Zeus gave him issues, which continued throughout it and happened tonight too. Hogan says he can't wait for the little and big Hulkamaniacs to see him in No Holds Barred. And then Vince and Jesse drag things out more with rambling.
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