WWF @ Milan, Italy
Palatrussardi
April 8, 1989
I’ve been stockpiling all these cool, weird ass international broadcasts that have been unearthed. I greatly love these televised special events that were never shown in North America. They are all an easy and fun watch with some really unique matches and locations. I’m really surprised at how many international house shows were televised in their local areas, but it certainly seemed like a big deal to have the WWF show up once every year or two.
The WWF embarked on a short tour of Italy right after Wrestlemania V and the crowd is so fired up for all these simple matches. It’s weird that they only did a five city Italian tour, not hitting up any other countries. I’d love to know more about these cards; who the local promoter was, why Italy was chosen, etc. These kinds of tours are of huge interest to me!
The Palatrussardi has a super cool and unique look. In the background is a flashing WWF sign, and much like the Spengler Cup, there’s advertising all over the ring, like the big Halls logo in the center. The commentary is of course all in Italian, with a single commentator calling the action. It’s the same guy on all of the Italian broadcasts that I’ve seen so far, and apparently he’s an American.
1) Mr. Perfect pinned the Blue Blazer at 15:42 when the momentum of a crossbody off the top by the Blazer put Perfect on top for the win
Great match to kick off the show! This was about a week after their Wrestlemania V match, and was given far more time here. Perfect and Blazer had a lot of matches in mid 89 and all that I’ve seen have been really enjoyable. Perfect kept Blazer on the mat for a lot of this, slowing down the pace, but Blazer was still able to wow the crowd with some high impact aerial offense. Perfect manages to roll through on the cross body to pick up the win in a really solid opening contest.
2) Andre the Giant pinned Bret Hart at around the 8-minute mark with an elbow drop after throwing Bret off the middle turnbuckle
I’ve watched this rare match a couple times before as it was included on the Bret Hart Dungeon Collection set. The quality was a lot different, as the WWF truly ripped it from YouTube, not having this broadcast in their archives. Seeing Andre and Bret wrestle is still so weird and unique; it’s their only WWF singles match. Andre dominates, as the crowd torments him with chants of Hogan and he literally squashes Bret with the elbow drop to win.
3) King Haku pinned Rick Martel at 12:12 after Haku blocked Martel’s sunset flip from the apron by sitting on him and then holding the ropes for leverage
Really strange to see Rick Martel still playing the babyface in this one. Had Wrestlemania V not aired in Italy by this point? Or were they short of faces to send over? Regardless, this was a good, solid match. Both guys worked hard as this went back and forth. Martel was still acting like a Strike Force fan favorite throughout. So confusing! Also, it was either in this match or the Perfect match that the commentator referenced the AWA in his commentary. So fucking weird to hear on a WWF broadcast – even if it was in Italian. Haku was on a pretty big roll at this point and scores a cheating pin to beat Martel.
4) The Big Bossman pinned Koko B. Ware at 9:04 after Koko struck into the corner when Bossman moved out of the way
Wow these guys were paired up a lot. Koko B Ware was hugely over in Italy! Just an enormous pop from the fans and everyone was doing the bird dance, even all these old Italian guys in the front row. This was far more competitive than the LA 88 squash I watched a couple weeks ago. Koko got in a lot more offense to the delight of the crowd, and had the Bossman sweating hard. Bossman won with a flukey pin after the Birdman missed a splash in the corner. This was a really fun match, as these guys had great chemistry together by this point.
5) The Ultimate Warrior defeated WWF IC Champion Rick Rude via disqualification at 9:30 when the Big Bossman interfered and pulled the referee out of the ring after Warrior hit the press slam / splash combo on the champion
Speaking of over, the Warrior received a massive pop, with the crowd just going crazy for him the whole time. Warrior and Rude always had good matches, and this was another fun power battle. The finish was beyond weird, with the Big Bossman randomly showing up at ringside and pulling the ref out of the ring and saving Rude’s title. Why??? Just because he was a bad guy? At least a fellow Heenan family member like Haku would have made sense. No explanation was given, and I had hoped to see a Warrior –Bossman brawl, but the Bossman simply left and Rude ran out of there soon after.
6) WWF Women’s Champion Rockin Robin defeated Judy Martin
This was cut from the broadcast for some reason.
7) WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition defeated the Powers of Pain (w/ Mr. Fuji) via disqualification at 9:50 when Fuji interfered with his cane
I’m not sure if this was the main event or not, as it seemed to be from a different recording. The picture was poor and there was no sound. It was your basic Demolition-Powers match, with a cheap DQ finish. All in all, this show was a really fun and breezy watch!
the RepoDan Wrestling Institution 