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Post by The Brain on Aug 30, 2016 19:04:38 GMT -5
Without question this is my favorite wrestling show of all time. The chemistry between Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan will forever be untouched in my eyes. The banter between those two were so entertaining and natural. You could tell they didn't need a script like they do with todays announcers. I really miss those days.
If any of you are fans of the show feel free to post your memories/favorite episodes.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Aug 30, 2016 21:39:34 GMT -5
I never saw one single episode of Prime Time Wrestling until 2011 when I got the WWE Classics On Demand channel. The stuff that they were showing at the time was from 1989, right after SummerSlam, so I saw that stuff up until Survivor Series 89 time frame for PTW shows.
I didn't really care for it to be honest. A lot of squash matches, or showing matches that you would have seen on a SNME show, or Superstars, or the matches they woulds how from house shows were kind of cool at times.
But I am sure if I watched it back then when it originally aired, I would have loved it.
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Post by ricflair4ever on Aug 30, 2016 22:14:13 GMT -5
Lots of great memories of that show. Especially during the 80s. Wasn't a big fan of the revamp it got in 1991, which saw a change in hosts (Gorilla left) and recycled Superstars and Challenge matches. Not too many exclusive bouts were broadcast from then until the end of the show. A few from MSG did get slotted in however. The most notable things from the latter days of the show were Ric Flairs debut, Jerry Lawlers debut ,and Mr Perfects baby face turn . But the show was must watch TV back then. Easily the best stuff was with Monsoon and Heenans run from 86-91. Those shows were great and featured more exclusive matches. Especially if ,like me,you ddidn't live in a market that had MSG network. They also featured matches from shows based out of Boston Garden, the Spectrum, and Paul Boschs Houston stronghold fairly often.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Aug 30, 2016 22:19:02 GMT -5
Didn't the full match of Ric Flair beating Randy Savage for the WWE Title get shown on Prime Time Wrestling as well??
I remember seeing just the ending on Superstars in 1992.
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Post by ricflair4ever on Aug 30, 2016 22:54:30 GMT -5
Didn't the full match of Ric Flair beating Randy Savage for the WWE Title get shown on Prime Time Wrestling as well?? I remember seeing just the ending on Superstars in 1992. Yes it did . The highlights were shown on Superstars and Wrestling Challenge that weekend, with the full match on Prime Time that Monday or the next. I don't remember if they showed the title switch from Flair to Bret on there in full though. Seems like that was a Coliseum Video exclusive. |
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Post by The Brain on Aug 31, 2016 1:04:49 GMT -5
I didn't like the format change in February 91 as I felt they had more gas left in the tank for Monsoon/Heenan in the studio imo.
The Christmas 89 episode if one of my favorites of all time. Heenan ripping Christmas and Piper was hilarious. They would never get away with doing that kind of stuff today.
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Post by BrIaNMeRcY on Aug 31, 2016 15:14:27 GMT -5
Didn't the full match of Ric Flair beating Randy Savage for the WWE Title get shown on Prime Time Wrestling as well?? I remember seeing just the ending on Superstars in 1992. WWF World Champion Randy Savage fought Ric Flair to a double disqualification; a rematch was scheduled for later in the evening; according to Bret Hart, the match had to be redone due to Ric Flair ignoring Vince's instructions as to what to do in the match Prime Time Wrestling - 9/14/92: Ric Flair (w/ Mr. Perfect) pinned WWF World Champion Randy Savage with the figure-4 to win the title after Razor Ramon attacked Savage on the floor; Razor returned to the ring after the match to attack Savage; the Ultimate Warrior carried Savage backstage after Razor left (1992 Year in Review) Source: www.thehistoryofwwe.com/92.htmTo my amazement, this match has never been put onto DVD. The WWE would hopefully let this match surface again if/when the upload Prime Time Wrestling episodes from 1992. The last really notable thing to ever happen on PTW was Mr. Perfect's sudden face turn leading into the 1992 Survivor Series. To all of the longtime Canadian and UK fans, did Prime Time Wrestling ever air in those countries? |
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Aug 31, 2016 15:31:05 GMT -5
Didn't the full match of Ric Flair beating Randy Savage for the WWE Title get shown on Prime Time Wrestling as well?? I remember seeing just the ending on Superstars in 1992. WWF World Champion Randy Savage fought Ric Flair to a double disqualification; a rematch was scheduled for later in the evening; according to Bret Hart, the match had to be redone due to Ric Flair ignoring Vince's instructions as to what to do in the match Prime Time Wrestling - 9/14/92: Ric Flair (w/ Mr. Perfect) pinned WWF World Champion Randy Savage with the figure-4 to win the title after Razor Ramon attacked Savage on the floor; Razor returned to the ring after the match to attack Savage; the Ultimate Warrior carried Savage backstage after Razor left (1992 Year in Review) Source: www.thehistoryofwwe.com/92.htmTo my amazement, this match has never been put onto DVD. The WWE would hopefully let this match surface again if/when the upload Prime Time Wrestling episodes from 1992. The last really notable thing to ever happen on PTW was Mr. Perfect's sudden face turn leading into the 1992 Survivor Series. To all of the longtime Canadian and UK fans, did Prime Time Wrestling ever air in those countries? That match did get put onto DVD just 2 years ago. Its on the second Randy Savage DVD set that came out. So it did finally make it on a video release. |
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Post by BrIaNMeRcY on Aug 31, 2016 15:37:32 GMT -5
WWF @ Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Arena - September 1, 1992 (7,000; papered)WWF World Champion Randy Savage fought Ric Flair to a double disqualification; a rematch was scheduled for later in the evening; according to Bret Hart, the match had to be redone due to Ric Flair ignoring Vince's instructions as to what to do in the match Prime Time Wrestling - 9/14/92: Ric Flair (w/ Mr. Perfect) pinned WWF World Champion Randy Savage with the figure-4 to win the title after Razor Ramon attacked Savage on the floor; Razor returned to the ring after the match to attack Savage; the Ultimate Warrior carried Savage backstage after Razor left (1992 Year in Review) Source: www.thehistoryofwwe.com/92.htmTo my amazement, this match has never been put onto DVD. The WWE would hopefully let this match surface again if/when the upload Prime Time Wrestling episodes from 1992. The last really notable thing to ever happen on PTW was Mr. Perfect's sudden face turn leading into the 1992 Survivor Series. To all of the longtime Canadian and UK fans, did Prime Time Wrestling ever air in those countries? That match did get put onto DVD just 2 years ago. Its on the second Randy Savage DVD set that came out. So it did finally make it on a video release. I was not aware of that. I typically don't keep track of WWE's home video offerings these days. It has been like that since about 2013. |
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Post by PJ on Aug 31, 2016 16:35:14 GMT -5
I loved Prime Time Wrestling. Heenan and Monsoon were fantastic on that show.
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Post by The Brain on Aug 31, 2016 16:38:39 GMT -5
I loved Prime Time Wrestling. Heenan and Monsoon were fantastic on that show. You ain't lying man. I can watch them two everyday of the week. I'm a proud humanoid. |
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Post by rowdy1971 on Aug 31, 2016 16:42:04 GMT -5
It was my favorite wrestling show next to TNT. I use to watch "Prime Time Wrestling" when it was Jack Reynolds and Jesse Ventura. But I do love me Gorilla and Bobby. I have hours of that show on VHS, I use to just tape Bobby and Gorilla. A couple of my favorites was when they were celebrating Prime Times anniversary and they had a cake and right when they were going to eat it Gorilla tells Bobby they can't because it was bad. Bobby didn't believe him and went to smell it, then Jack Tunney called on the banana phone and Gino reached over and smashed Bobbys face in the cake. Just the way Gorilla was laughing, you knew it was legit.
Also when they were on the boat and it hit rough water and Gorilla was slidding all over and again laughing so hard.
The Piper stuff, Red Rooster getting attacked by The Brooklyn Bralwer, you never saw anyone fight and Gorilla getting hit by the chair! The Halloween episodes. I could go on and on.
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Post by The Brain on Aug 31, 2016 16:45:42 GMT -5
I loved the banter between Piper and Heenan during the Summer/Fall of 89. Comedy gold at it's finest.
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Post by PJ on Aug 31, 2016 18:09:22 GMT -5
It was my favorite wrestling show next to TNT. I use to watch "Prime Time Wrestling" when it was Jack Reynolds and Jesse Ventura. But I do love me Gorilla and Bobby. I have hours of that show on VHS, I use to just tape Bobby and Gorilla. A couple of my favorites was when they were celebrating Prime Times anniversary and they had a cake and right when they were going to eat it Gorilla tells Bobby they can't because it was bad. Bobby didn't believe him and went to smell it, then Jack Tunney called on the banana phone and Gino reached over and smashed Bobbys face in the cake. Just the way Gorilla was laughing, you knew it was legit. Also when they were on the boat and it hit rough water and Gorilla was slidding all over and again laughing so hard. The Piper stuff, Red Rooster getting attacked by The Brooklyn Bralwer, you never saw anyone fight and Gorilla getting hit by the chair! The Halloween episodes. I could go on and on. That skit on the boat was hysterical. |
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Post by The Brain on Aug 31, 2016 18:24:28 GMT -5
Out of all the wrestlers who have passed away over the years I miss Gorilla Monsoon the most. When he passed in 99 it hit me really hard. He was the soundtrack to my childhood and a big reason why I became a wrestling fan. Nobody ever had anything bad to say about him and that speaks volumes in the world of wrestling.
Watching the old episodes of Prime Time is pure joy as it's my favorite time period in wrestling and as Gorilla would say ''Highly Unlikely'' will we see wrestling that good again.
For my money wrestling will never have an announcer or better yet a truly genuine human being like him again. Thanks for the memories Gorilla, 17 years later the wrestling world still misses you.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 1, 2016 1:06:47 GMT -5
I wonder what made Vince decide to pack in Prime Time Wrestling and create Monday Night Raw??
I believe PTW ran one show in January 1993, then the following week it was the premier of Monday Night Raw. Not that I am complaining about the change, just seemed weird at that time for Vince to put an end to the PTW weekly show.
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Post by The Brain on Sept 1, 2016 1:53:51 GMT -5
by 91 PTW was getting watered down and just lost a lot of it's magic so to speak. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed it during it's final years but it was nowhere near as good as the Monsoon/Heenan era from April 86 till January 91.
My guess is Vince wanted to try something different and I'm sure by 92 PTW was getting low ratings anyway so he decided to pull the plug on it.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 1, 2016 2:14:27 GMT -5
by 91 PTW was getting watered down and just lost a lot of it's magic so to speak. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed it during it's final years but it was nowhere near as good as the Monsoon/Heenan era from April 86 till January 91. My guess is Vince wanted to try something different and I'm sure by 92 PTW was getting low ratings anyway so he decided to pull the plug on it. I know they went from having Monsoon and Heenan, to having McMahon and Heenan with an audience behind them, kind of like a Tuesday Night Titans kind of look, and then they went to having Vince, Heenan, Hillbilly Jim, and Mr. Perfect sitting around a table. So it seemed the creative juices for it was dying out. I am shocked that before the WWE Network hit, that the WWE didn't put out a DVD release of Prime Time Wrestling. I am sure they could easily find enough footage with Gino and Heenan, with their skits they did, and talking, and of course just random matches that occurred on that show. |
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Post by The Brain on Sept 1, 2016 2:50:37 GMT -5
When the show debuted in January 85 the hosts were Jack Reynolds (man was he terrible) and Jesse Ventura. Monsoon took over for Reynolds later in the year and was with Ventura until he was replaced by Heenan in April 86.
As big a fan of Jesse Ventura as I am he just never fit in as a studio host imo. But when it came to the commentary booth he was a gold. Him and Heenan are in my book wrestling's 2 best heel announcers ever.
I'm lucky to have a ton of PTW shows in my personal collection that from time to time I pop in and watch. But yeah I'm shocked they never made a best of set as with the Monsoon/Heenan skits alone it would be a must buy.
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 1, 2016 5:06:47 GMT -5
I loved the early 90's Prime Time Wrestling. I would get out of karate class then come straight home to watch it. Has it been said if any of the 90's stuff is going to be on the Network?
One of my fondest memories was when Sean Mooney was on his honeymoon and Bobby Heenan sent a camera crew to pretty much stalk him, they found him in bed and he had WWF bed sheets just like I had when I was 9 lol.
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