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

Your host is Jack Korpela. I got no jokes on him this time.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Kerry Von Erich – (Superstars, 2/2/91)
  

The Texas Tornado finally gets his rematch. He beats the crap out of Perfect to start, but then misses a corner charge and runs shoulder-first into the ringpost. Perfect takes off a turnbuckle pad, but Von Erich blocks the turnbuckle smash and gives one to Perfect instead. He does the awesome somersault oversell and everything. Heenan fears the worst could happen and runs to get reinforcements. However, the Big Bossman stops him on the way and puts some handcuffs on him. Once they get to ringside, Perfect steps out to reprimand the Bossman for messing with his manager. One thing leads to another and Perfect dropkicks Bossman face-first into the steps. Von Erich comes out to retrieve Perfect and runs him into the ringpost. He gets back inside the ring for the win via countout. (3:40) So now Perfect has his WrestleMania opponent. Wasn’t Bossman feuding with the Heenan family anyways when Bobby and Rude were talking about his mother or something? ¾*

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vs. Shawn Michaels – (Road to WrestleMania VII, 3/17/91)
  

They say this aired on the Monday night before WrestleMania VII, but this is actually a Sunday night special that aired on USA the week before WrestleMania VII. In other words, there WAS no episode of Prime Time Wrestling on March 18. They cut out around a minute of the feeling-out process. Perfect wants to box and now so does Shawn. Shawn gets a good shot and punches Perfect out to the floor. With Perfect ducking out, Shawn PLANCHAS out on Perfect (looks like he actually went straight into a ring crew guy), but then takes a hotshot on the guardrail. Here comes Marty Jannetty to encourage his tag partner. After a commercial break, Perfect delivers the standing dropkick in the ring for two. Shawn does the Flair Flip to the apron and eats a clothesline. Sleeper by Perfect, but Shawn fights out with a jawbreaker. Perfect gets distracted by Marty to the point Heenan has enough and comes down to bait Marty around the ring only to be ran face first into the ringpost thanks to Mr. Perfect. Nice! Back in, Shawn crotches Perfect on the ringpost and starts kicking his leg around the ring. You know the bit. A series of atomic drops gets 1-2-NO! The crowd is totally behind Shawn here. Superkick by Shawn gets 1-2-NO! A swinging neckbreaker gets another nearfall. Shawn goes up for the Flying Fist Drop, but Heenan gets up on the apron. Heenan gets grabbed, but Perfect makes the save and delivers the PERFECTPLEX. Uh oh, Big Bossman breaks up the pinfall for the DQ. (9:26 shown) Not sure why they bothered cutting off the first minute. Anyways, these two should have created some classics, but were never able to. Maybe our expectations were just too high for them or something. ***

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Big Bossman – (WrestleMania VII, 3/24/91)
  

Lord Alfred Hayes joins us for commentary. This is the final blowoff to the Bossman/Heenan feud. Heenan’s tired of talking about Bossman’s momma and he’s ready to just let it go. Bossman wipes his butt with Perfect’s towel and then throws it back in Perfect’s face. We have a spit-off! That leads to a slap from Perfect, who then runs for cover out on the floor. Bossman follows suit and slaps Perfect REAL good down on the floor. Back in, Bossman twirls Perfect around by his hair and then dumps Perfect out to the floor. Back in again, Bossman misses a corner splash but reverses a corner whip for a beautiful Perfect flip sell. That sets up the Bossman Straddle. Bossman pulls out his belt and starts whipping away at Perfect. Shouldn’t he be DQ’ed for that? They trade blows until Perfect whips Bossman hard into the corner. Perfect grabs a reverse chinlock and uses the ropes for a moment. Abdominal stretch follows, but Bossman won’t give it up. Perfect pounds on Bossman and then delivers a standing dropkick for 1-2-NO! Perfect catches Bossman with the running neck snap and wants the PERFECTPLEX, but Bossman’s too big! Bossman counters into an inside cradle for 1-2-NO! Bossman gets to his knees, so Perfect gives Bossman a REVERSE running neck snap. OUCH! That gets two. Perfect goes up top, but comes down on Bossman’s foot. Bossman drives Perfect’s face into the turnbuckle for another perfect flip sell. Some hair slinging gets Perfect crotched on the ringpost. Bossman punches Perfect into the corner and then a big right puts Perfect out on the floor. Bossman goes after Heenan, but that’s just so Perfect can run up behind and send Bossman into the steel steps for a nice bump. Heenan’s just minding his own business as Andre the Giant comes down to ringside to prevent any Heenanfoolery. Back in, Perfect exposes a turnbuckle and nails Bossman. For some reason, Andre has the IC belt? Perfect tells the ref Andre has his belt, but there’s not much the ref can do about it apparently. While the ref is busy with Heenan, Perfect sticks his head through the ropes to grab at Andre and gets popped in the face with the belt. Bossman, who’s been down for a long time, crawls over and covers for 1-2-NO! Here comes Haku and Barbarian out to attack Bossman for the DQ. (10:47) This was good stuff until Andre showed up. Andre and Bossman clean house on the Heenan family to end this feud for good. Not the best way to wrap it up, but this is what we got. **¼

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/Coach) vs. Bret Hart – (SummerSlam, 8/27/91)
  

The Coach is in no way related to Jonathan Coachman whatsoever. This coach is Canadian and well, white. John Tolos had been wrestling since the ’50s, but took over Heenan’s spot as a manager once Heenan went strictly into a broadcaster’s role. Coach is just a guy in sweats with a whistle and a clipboard. They lock up and immediately Perfect is bouncing out of the ring as only he can do. Back in, Bret delivers a crucifix for 1-2-NO! Then Bret goes to a headlock and both guys trade some hair pulling. Meanwhile, Heenan makes some funny jokes about Piper’s parents. Classic. Perfect buries a knee to escape, but Bret bounces off the ropes with a crossbody for two. The momentum from the kick-out puts Bret on the floor, but he comes back in with a sunset flip for 1-2-NO! Perfect gets out of another headlock with a cheapshot. Bret does that spot where he teases the Sharpshooter and instead just stomps Perfect in the stomach. They trade slams and then Hart clotheslines Perfect out to the Coach. The champ decides to leave and fight another day, so Bret brings Perfect back in and rips his singlet in the process. Perfect cowers away, but cheapshots Bret again and kicks him out to the floor. When Bret tries to get back in the ring, Perfect shoves him off into a cameraman who gets squashed up against the guardrail. Bret finally gets back in and rolls Perfect up for 1-2-NO! Perfect punches back and whips Bret from corner-to-corner for two. Perfect hits the Running Neck Snap and a jackknife cover gets 1-2-NO! Dropkick puts Bret back on the floor. Perfect follows him out and punches him away before he heads up top. Bret gets up on the apron and stops Perfect from coming down. They brawl on the middle rope until Bret falls to the mat for 1-2-NO! Perfect slings Bret across the ring by his hair and then hooks on the sleeper. Bret collapses, but his arm only falls twice! He elbows out and tries another crucifix, but Perfect remembered what happened last time and drops back on Bret. Cover, 1-2-NO! Perfect whips Bret in for the chest-first corner bump for 1-2-NO! It’s PERFECT-PLEX time! That gets 1-2-NO!! Perfect nearly decks Hebner for not counting to three. Here comes Bret with the comeback. He hits a pair of atomic drops and then slings Perfect by his hair straight into the ringpost. Suplex gets two. Small package gets two. Russian Legsweep gets two. Backbreaker/flying vertical elbow drop gets two. The crowd can’t believe it. While Bret is arguing with Hebner, Perfect rolls Bret up for 1-2-NO! The momentum from the kick-out puts Perfect on the floor, so Bret follows him out and sends him into the ringpost. Back in, Bret kicks Perfect’s leg out from under him as they walk halfway around the ring. Bret goes for the SHARPSHOOTER, but the Coach is up on the apron. Bret nails him, but gets low-blowed by Perfect. He then stomps Bret in the balls and nearly gets DQ’ed. Perfect starts giving Bret legdrops to the groin and does one too many, as Bret catches his foot and maneuvers Perfect over into the SHARPSHOOTER! (18:04) Fantastic match. While Shawn Michaels is the most consistently great performer at WrestleMania, Bret Hart is the most consistently great performer at SummerSlam, and it’s matches like this one that prove that fact. As for Perfect, he wouldn’t wrestle again until Survivor Series in 1992 due to all the back problems he was suffering through. ****¼

Final Thoughts: A much better episode this time around showcasing the end of the Perfect reign. Definitely a fun hour of wrestling topped with one of the most popular matches of the ’90s. Thumbs up for episode 10!