WWE Tagged Classics: WrestleFest 88 & 90 review (DVD) ★★

Bad News Brown vs. Bret Hart ??
Prior to Hart's heyday in the 'early 90s, the Hitman was working midcard matches against the likes of this man, Bad News Brown, whom he had a short feud with. It was a relatively decent bout with Hart controlling things and getting his signature moves in, from the standing leg drop to his second rope elbow. Brown managed to reverse a roll-up and grabbed a handful of pink tights to secure the victory, which prompted Jim Neidhart to come on down to the ring to teach his cousin's rival a lesson about in-ring competition.

Intercontinental Championship: The Honky Tonk Man (c) vs. Jim Duggan ?
This was a short and disposable four-minute encounter that mostly consisted of Hacksaw nailing lefts and rights and driving the champion's head into the turnbuckles to rally the fans. More appealing that the contest itself however was after Duggan's win via disqualification thanks to The Honky Tonk Man's manager Jimmy Hart, when he proceeded to destroy his “priceless” guitar with his famed 2x4.

The Bolshiveks vs. The Powers of Pain ??
The team of Warlord and The Barbarian (created in the likeness of the Road Warriors, just like Demolition) took on Boris Zuhkoff and Nikolai Volkoff at WrestleFest in what was essentially a glorified squash. Well, it was after the Russians sang their national anthem, at least. The powerhouses spent the first few minutes of the match feeling their opponents out with victories in tests of strength, before applying the wear and tear of closed fists and bodyslams, leading up to their running Powerslam/flying headbutt double team maneuver for the relatively easy win.

Jim Neidhart vs. Lanny Poffo ?
Whereas The Bolshiveks got a little offense in during the previous match, this bout was a complete and utter squash. Getting underway after Poffo, the brother of Randy Savage in his pre-The Genius days, read aloud a poem and threw frisbees into the crowd, it went quickly downhill following an unsuccessful attempt at a Moonsault. The Anvil immediately took advantage and beat Poffo senseless for just over two minutes, before countering a flying crossbody into a Powerslam for the victory.

Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts ??
This match was contested during their infamous rivalry where Rude had said some harsh words to Roberts' wife, oblivious to who she was. The “Ravishing” one had an equally as insulting spiel for the fans in attendance at WrestleFest, but was cut short just before he took off his robe by Roberts, who had clearly seen and heard quite enough. These two went 15 minutes, but didn't deliver much of an exciting match. The pace was slow, but not in a good way like the event's opening bout, instead being almost sloppy to watch. It was just too slow. Still, Rude did a great job at generating heat like he was always able to, and the master of the DDT hit all of his trademark maneuvers, from the running knee strike to his legendary finisher, except it didn't do much damage to his opponent thanks to Rude pulling the referee down, forcing him to absorb most of the impact. Even more detrimental to the match other than the action was the weak double count out ending, but at least we got to see a short brawl before Damien made an appearance and began wrapping himself around Rude like a leathery necktie.

Weasel Suit Match: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Bobby Heenan ?
This must have been one of the very first matches in the WWE involving Heenan's weasel suit that he brought over with him from the AWA. The Brain took a few bumps in this five-minute contest and only managed to capitalise on The Ultimate Warrior for a minute or two when he was jabbing him in the throat with some kind of foreign object that he had hidden in his leotard. This wasn't about the match but the subsequent segment: Heenan flopping about like a fish in the middle of the ring trying to get out of the furry suit. 100% classic Heenan.

Tag Team Championship: Demolition (c) vs. The British Bulldogs ??
Ax and Smash retained the gold in a forgettable match-up after the illegal use of Mr. Fuji's cane while the man himself was taking a beating at the hands (and feet) of The British Bulldog, despite the referee trying to break it up. The distraction allowed Demolition to take advantage and smash the cane over The Dynamite Kid's back. This bout didn't do a lot of good for Kid, who was at the receiving end of his opponents' punishment for most of its seven-minute run time. When Davey Boy Smith was tagged in, he cleaned house, but his partner unfortunately wasn't booked to work the same way.

Dino Bravo vs. Ken Patera ?
Patera sprinted to the ring before Bravo even had a chance to take off his ring jacket. Engrossed in their rivalry, Patera quickly struck with a back body drop and a bodyslam, before taking the fight to the outside and delivering a number of punches to the face. It wasn't until the action returned to the ring that Bravo managed to extract some retribution. Bravo took the win with a Sidewalk Slam after a brief exchange in this very short contest.

Steel Cage Match: Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan ??
Andre nearly escaped through the cage door just a couple of minutes into the match after tying Hogan's neck to the blue bars of the steel structure by his own t-shirt. The Hulkster just managed to free himself and stop the man-mountain from winning the match, but by doing so put him back in the position of danger that was being locked in a proverbial lion's den with Andre the Giant. The Frenchman decided to rip a turnbuckle pad off to reveal the metal underneath with malicious intent, apparently not realising that he was caged inside four walls of steel, but okay. This wasn't the most grueling of bouts contested in a steel cage, but the finish was quite good. Hogan knocked Andre down to the canvas for the very first time in the match after a series of strikes, then followed up with his signature leg drop, only for a weasel suit-free Bobby Heenan to open the door and climb into the ring wielding brass knucks. His shots to Hogan had absolutely no effect, but for some reason the Hulkster's one and only punch with the dusters to Andre sent him slipping down off the cage in mid-climb and into the entanglement of the ropes, allowing for Hogan to escape the cage by climbing up and over, bypassing the open door.

Intercontinental Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. Dino Bravo ???
Things started quickly in the champion's favour in this fans' choice match when he ran into the ring and nailed a big Powerslam, before jumping off the top with a double Axe Handle, but the momentum didn't stay for more than a couple of minutes due to the interference of Earthquake, who was in Bravo's corner along with Jimmy Hart. After he distracted Warrior and allowed Bravo to Clothesline him over the top rope and to the outside, the former member of the UWF Blade Runners crawled underneath the ring and pulled down Hart's trousers when he came out the other side! He then press slammed the Mouth of the South into Earthquake. Funny spot. The Natural Disaster's sly offense sporadically continued as the match progressed, even at one point taking the Warrior down with a bodyslam outside of the ring and then feeding him back into the squared circle for Bravo's Sidewalk Slam finisher, although only for a two count.

This wasn't your usual Ultimate Warrior squash match and actually enjoyable up to the rubbish finish, which saw the second DQ of the presentation. Earthquake broke up an inevitably winning pinfall attempt by Warrior after his signature splash, causing the referee to throw the match out. Earthquake proceeded to drop two big elbows to the sternum, both of which Warrior didn't sell them an inch, before Hulk Hogan came out for the save.

Brutus Beefcake vs. Rick Martel ??
A pretty lackluster and slow, slow-paced match that looked like your run-of-the-mill house show bout. Martel got the victory by pinning his opponent's shoulders to the mat with the assistance of the ropes, but Beefcake got his revenge by putting The Model to sleep with the Barber's Chair and very nearly making good on his promise to cut off some of the narcissist's brown locks, but Bobby Heenan just about prevented it by whisking his client away from ringside.

Dino Bravo & The Honky Tonk Man vs. The Hart Foundation ??
Yet another disqualification finish! There was some good back-and-forth action in this one as the Hitman started off well against Bravo, but things went slightly sour as Neidhart was tagged in and hastily grounded by the smart strategy of his opponents as they worked him over, making frequent tags to remain fresh. The bout broke down however and The Anvil ended up smashing Bravo and Honky with Jimmy Hart's megaphone, causing the referee to award the victory to the bad guys. Since the Harts lost, I'm not entirely sure why this was included in their feature.