WWE.com Legacy on Demand Showcase
The History of the Intercontinental Title: Part Six

Your host is Jack “Hey man, the Nintendo DS is cool” Korpela.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Ricky Steamboat vs. Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) – (Superstars, 6/13/87)
  

Vince and Jesse are on commentary. Since family became more important to Steamboat than McMahon’s plans, he was forced to drop the title to somebody and it ended up being the completely random Honky Tonk Man who hadn’t beaten anybody that was a top IC title contender. HTM blindsides Steamboat to start and throws him out so he can skin-the-cat. Jimmy Hart tries to whack him in the gut with his megaphone, but Steamboat kicks him away. Steamboat flips back in and backdrops Honky to the floor. A back suplex from the apron brings him back in for a jumping chop. Steamboat proceeds to break HTM down like it’s a typical Steamboat squash match. Steamboat delivers an O’Connor Roll out of the corner and gets shot off into the turnbuckle to allow Honky Tonk to take over. He hits a neck snap on the top rope, but misses an elbow drop off the middle rope. Steamboat chops back, but telegraphs a backdrop to set him up for the SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL. Steamboat backdrops out of that and avoids a charge in the corner. He hits the Flying Judo Chop for the eventual win, but Jimmy Hart is on the apron. Steamboat grabs Hart and avoids a charge from Honky so he can dropkick him into Jimmy Hart. From there, Honky Tonk blocks an inside cradle by hooking the ropes. With Steamboat’s shoulders pinned to the mat, Honky Tonk Man gets the three-count for the MEGA HUGE upset. (3:54) And thus begins the most long and frustrating IC title reign ever. *½

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) – Cage Match (Philadelphia Spectrum, 1/9/88)
  

Now I’ve heard a lot of commentators, but I have no idea who these two talking are. Savage nearly scares HTM out of the cage to start, so Savage brings him down and beats him senseless with standard roughhousing. Honky Tonk goes to the eyes and double sledges Savage. He makes a lunge for the door and Savage grabs him at the last second. HTM shoves off a toss into the cage and Savage eats the steel. Honky Tonk beats on Savage with elbow drops and turnbuckle smashes in between trying to walk out the cage door. Savage gets a hold of HTM and tries to go around him, but Honky Tonk brings him back inside for more of a beating. Now Honky Tonk eats the cage, allowing Savage to climb up to the top. Savage elbows and kicks Honky Tonk down and gives him a FLYING DOUBLE AX HANDLE off the cage! Wild stuff. Savage crawls over to the door, but Jimmy Hart slams it back in his face. That allows Honky Tonk to fall out the door and retain his title. (9:03) And Honky Tonk Man escapes again. Nothing much to it aside from Savage’s big spot. **

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Ricky Steamboat – Lumberjack Match (Prime Time Wrestling, 2/1/88)
  

From August 1987 MSG, says Graham Cawthon over at The History of WWE.com. The lumberjacks are the Islanders, Tito Santana, George “The Animal” Steele, Junkyard Dog, Scott Casey, Lanny Poffo, “Cowboy” Ron Bass, and Jose Estrada. HTM attacks early and dumps Steamboat out to fellow heels, but Steamboat skins-the-cat to get away from them and dropkicks Honky Tonk out to his fellow babyfaces. In a rare occasion, Steamboat turns this into a brawl down on the floor and he doesn’t care who is standing around him. Back in, Honky Tonk begs off and tries to take a powder, but JYD and Steele send him right back inside the ring. Turnbuckle smashes abound, and I mean Steamboat takes him to two different turnbuckles for 1-2-NO! HTM goes low and hits an elbow drop, but that’s no good. The Islanders trip up Steamboat, but then George Steele trips up HTM. O’Connor roll from Steamboat gets two. He delivers a stalling back suplex for another nearfall, but HTM shoves off a monkey flip. Flying fist drop from HTM gets two. Commercial break? Editing, perhaps? We come back and Steamboat stops a ten-count corner punch with an atomic drop. Steamboat takes a nasty spill to the floor out among friends. Back in, Steamboat escapes a neck vice and connects with a crossbody block for two. Back up, Honky Tonk runs Steamboat down, but gets caught coming off the second rope. HERE COMES STEAMBOAT! He catapults Honky Tonk and slams him to set up the Flying Judo Chop. Jimmy Hart has the ref’s attention, so George Steele crawls in and counts the three for Steamboat. Uhh, you’re not a ref. Jimmy comes in to attack Steamboat, but HTM gets the megaphone and catches Steamboat in the face. Cover, 1-2-3. (10:00 shown) All the lumberjacks brawl it out in the ring as the faces clean house. Leave it to Steamboat to walk Honky Tonk through a half decent match. **½

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart & Peggy Sue) vs. Brutus Beefcake – (WrestleMania IV, 3/27/88)
  

Gorilla ~ “Those shears are so sharp, they’ll cut paper!” Backstage politics aside, some people hate the fact that Honky Tonk Man was Intercontinental Champion for so long because he wasn’t that great a worker, but the crowds HATED this guy! Looking back, it’s not so bad seeing someone luck their way to a 14-month long title reign. Slow start with Beefcake eventually connecting with an atomic drop to send Honky out to the floor for more stalling. Back in, Beefcake delivers ten head-to-the-buckles and then hits a High Knee to send Honky out again. Beefcake flips him back in off the apron, but then he misses an elbow drop. Honky takes advantage and hits some fist drops and such. Jimmy Hart cheats a little bit when the ref has his back turned to it. Honky goes for the SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL, but knees Beefcake in the face instead. He tries for it again this time near the ropes, but Beefcake hooks the top rope to block it. Beefcake hits a clothesline or two and grabs a SLEEPER. Honky starts to fade away, so Jimmy Hart hits the ref in the back of the head with his megaphone. Once Honky is KO’ed, Beefcake realizes what happened and goes out after Jimmy for a clip-job. Some other refs run down to revive the original referee while Peggy Sue (Sherri Martel in a poodle skirt and sunglasses) pours a pitcher of water on Honky to wake him up so that they can LEAVE. No bell, but Finkel announces Beefcake the winner by DQ. (6:47) Maybe three wrestling moves in the whole wrestling match. You add on the horrible DQ finish, and you’ve got a completely worthless match. CRAP

Final Thoughts: Certainly not one of my favorite episodes. Honky Tonk Man is the kind of guy where you may can appreciate the character (or not – it’s all subjective), but his matches stink more often than not. Feel free to skip this one.