WWE Vintage Collection Report: September 19th 2010
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund

Welcome aboard. Our “month of champions” theme concludes this week with a look back at an Intercontinental Title tournament in 1990. You could call it the “Perfect” tournament. Let’s begin.

On the April 14th 1990 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Mean Gene Okerlund notes Ultimate Warrior being in possession of two belts and sends it to an announcement from WWF President Jack Tunney.

“As of April 1st, World Wrestling Federation history was made with one man holding both the Intercontinental and World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight title. Since it is obvious that no one man can possibly fulfill the requirements of both title defences at the same time, the Ultimate Warrior has surrendered to me as of this date the Intercontinental championship. I have declared the title vacant and furthermore have ordered that a tournament be held to determine who will become the new Intercontinental champion. The pairings and participants in the tournament will be announced next week.”

Vince McMahon briefly hypes the pairings: Tito Santana vs Akeem: Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake vs Dino Bravo: Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs Mr Perfect: Rowdy Roddy Piper vs The Model Rick Martel.

April 28th 1990: WWF Superstars of Wrestling:
Tito Santana vs Akeem w/Slick
Tito avoids locking up with his larger foe to start, before punching the African Dream to the floor. Slick incinuates a closed fist was used and is incensed when Earl Hebner refuses to DQ Tito. Akeem mistakenly looks away during a test of strength, enabling Tito to work the arm. Akeem goes to the eyes and hammers away. Tito avoids a corner charge, dropping Akeem after two standing dropkicks. Akeem kicks off a figure four attempt planting Tito face first in the corner. Tito ducks a clothesline, and nails a flying forearm, taking Akeem to the floor and giving Tito a countout victory. A short but fun match. Tito advances while Akeem was gone by the fall. Winner: TITO SANTANA.

May 5th 1990: WWF Superstars of Wrestling:
Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs Mr Perfect
We join this match with both men slamming then kicking the other away. Snuka chops Perfect to the floor, then grabs a side headlock and nails a tackle. Both trade a series of rollup attempts. Perfect rolls through from a cross body and grabs the tights for a nearfall. Snuka goes downstairs with a gut punch, before schoolboying Perfect for two. Snuka absorbs kicks and turnbuckle smashes to chase Perfect around the ring. Perfect gets on his knees and begs off. Snuka works him over in the corner. The referee steps in, so Perfect scoops Snuka’s legs and pins him with his own feet on the ropes. Snuka calls foul, Perfect denies any wrongdoing, but takes a post-match beating, with a headbutt sending him packing. Hey Jimmy, a win’s a win bruddha! Winner: MR PERFECT.

May 11th 1990: WWF Wrestling Challenge:
Rowdy Roddy Piper vs The Model Rick Martel
The winner of this faces Mr Perfect. Piper sends Martel to the corner and delivers an atomic drop for a nearfall. Martel comes back with a slam, axehandles and a choke on the mat. Martel knocks Piper to the floor and poses, seemingly forgetting about the match. Piper comes from behind and sends the Model into the guardrail and ringpost. Martel catches Piper coming back in with a boot choke. Martel grabs his Arrogance canister, but the referee seizes it. Martel slams Piper, then misses an elbow drop. Both trade punches. Piper avoids a cross body, Martel begs off. Piper chokes and hotshots the Model across the top rope. Martel goes for the Arrogance again, but Piper avoids being sprayed by driving his head into Martel’s gut. Both make a play for the canister, with Martel kicking Piper to take control of it. Piper heads outside to grab a chair and use it as a shield. Piper pushes the chair into Martel’s head and both men are DQed for using weapons. Piper bashes Martel with the chair once more then runs the referee off as he stands alone in the ring. As a result, Mr Perfect goes straight to the finals. Winner: DOUBLE DQ.

May 12th 1990: WWF Superstars of Wrestling:
Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake vs Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart
Joined in progress. Bravo lands a flying sledge, tries another, but gets caught on his way down with a gut punch. Beefcake delivers a kneelift, backbodydrop and high knee. It’s nap time for Bravo as Beefcake cinches in the sleeper. Jimmy Hart climbs on the apron to distract Earl Hebner as Mr Perfect runs down to yank Beefcake to the floor. Bravo joins in to assist Perfect with the beatdown. The end result is a disappointing double countout. Bravo thinks he’s beat the count back in and is irate when he learns otherwise. Bravo threatens Hebner until Beefcake comes to the rescue, chasing Bravo and Hart off with his clippers, with Hart dropping his ring jacket in the process. Perfect has just given Tito Santana a free pass to the finals. Logic surely says he’d want Tito to fight again en route, while he rests up, but nevermind eh. Winner: DOUBLE COUNTOUT.

May 19th 1990: WWF Superstars of Wrestling:
Tito Santana vs Mr Perfect
We pick things up in the early going with Tito working over an arm and landing a couple of tackles. As Tito tries a stepover, Perfect lifts his body to trip Tito and send him to the floor. Perfect toys with Tito until Tito surprises with a sunset flip for two. Perfect slaps Tito and clotheslines him to the floor. Tito grabs Perfect, posts a leg twice and drops his weight onto it. Tito wraps Perfect’s leg in the corner, then kicks it from under him twice. Bobby Heenan comes running down. Tito calls for the figure four, ignores Heenan’s trash talk, but still gets caught in a cradle for two. Tito slams and calls for the flying forearm. Heenan gets on the apron and jumps down to avoid a Tito lunge. Tito turns back to catch Perfect with some kicks, but as Tito goes to lift, Perfect hooks another small package and this time picks up the 1-2-3. New Intercontinental Champion! Winner: MR PERFECT. The referee sends Tito away as we check the replay. Perfect grabs a mic, dubs himself the Perfect Intercontinental Champion before announcing his new perfect manager, Bobby Heenan. Both hug then celebrate with the belt.

Tito would invoke his rematch clause at the July 28th 1990 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Before the bout, backstage interviewer Sean Mooney asks Bobby Heenan to speculate on Perfect’s upcoming title defence. Heenan boasts that he’ll be feeling the effects from the champagne victory party before stating that Tito’s a former Intercontinental champion and promising that’s the way he’s going to stay. Perfect pours scorn on Tito’s likeness to a cheetah, stating he’s the only perfect animal in the world. The champ puts over his perfect mane, 20/20 vision and teeth (with no cavities) and we’re all looking at what champions are made of. Perfect declares that he’s at his best with Heenan in his corner and he sees nobody, nowhere stopping this force at this time.

July 28th 1990: Saturday Night’s Main Event:
Intercontinental Title: Mr Perfect w/Bobby Heenan vs Tito Santana
Tito starts off hot, hiptossing, armdragging and dropkicking a dazed Perfect to the floor. Tito chases Perfect around the ring, with the champ bailing once more. Perfect manages to counter a backbodydrop by kicking the shoulder. Perfect goes to work with a clothesline, running kneelift and standing dropkick. Perfect wins a slugfest, then uses a head vice as a way to choke Tito whilst Heenan distracts Earl Hebner. Tito hooks the hair, using an uppercut to escape. Perfect charges into a boot. Tito clotheslines and Perfect falls into Hebner who goes down clutching his knee. Tito applies the figure four, but Hebner is down and in pain. Tito connects with the flying forearm, Hebner slowly hobbles into a cover 1-2-no. A clothesline from the second rope gets Tito another slow nearfall. The crowd are hot for Tito and solidly behind him. Having had enough, Tito ushers a new referee to come down, and a substitute promptly sprints down.

Back from commercials and despite Perfect having had time to recuperate, Tito nearly wins it once more with a cross body. Perfect manages to regain control and work over the neck with a snapmare, and rolling neck snap. Tito fights back to send Perfect retreating. A hair biel crotches Perfect in the ringpost. The look on Perfect’s face is priceless. A couple of atomic drops send Perfect bouncing off the top turnbuckle. Perfect does a 360 in mid-air following a Tito clothesline. 1-2-no. Perfect goes to counter a backbodydrop with the Perfect-Plex, Tito reverses into a cradle, but Perfect rolls on top for the 1-2-3. Winner: MR PERFECT. An ecstatic Heenan hoists the title in the air, as Perfect’s momentum rolls on. This was a far better match than the tournament final. Both meshed really well with one another and the crowd really believed that Tito had a chance of winning. If you’re a fan of Mr Perfect then this week’s show has definitely captured some of his best WWF moments.

This brings to an end an excellent month’s worth of champion shows, with some great little gems being pulled out of the vault for our viewing pleasure. Long may the high standard keep up when we return to our mixed bag format next week. Shaun.

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