By Mr. Mal Occhio

Ah, Cobo Hall, a venue quite unlike any other in which Mr. Mal has ever had the pleasure of seeing a card. The walls just wreak of wrestling lore. Bobo Brazil, The Original Sheik, Dick the Bruiser – so many ol’time greats had worked inside its walls that the place just epitomizes wrasslin’ for many, me included. This night’s card held no exception, held Sunday night, May 3rd, 1987, with legends Ricky “The Dragon� Steamboat headlining against Randy “Macho Man� Savage for Steamer’s newly-won Intercontinental Championship. We pick it up early in the card, with Outlaw Ron Bass taking on former World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion Pedro Morales – but first? A visual sample of what was to come, later on in the evening . . .

Seeing Pedro Morales was always bittersweet for Mr. Mal Occhio. On the one had, I always maintained a healthy respect for this ring warrior, given his stint as the company’s flag-bearer. No matter what people may say, being a World Champion in any league is nothing to sneeze at. Then again, by the time I got into wrestling, Morales was more or less a high-profile jobber. And on this night? No exception. On a clothesline, he laid down for Bass, who was going nowhere fast in the WWF (although I did kinda like him, nonetheless). He really couldn’t work all that well – Bass, that is – but there’s just somethin’ about an ornery cowpoke that always struck a nerve with Mr. Mal.

Demolition came out next, and by this time, we well-established as far-more than just another Road Warriors rip-off. They were always very cool to see live, but in a much-different way than the L.O.D. Calmly, coolly – they would walk to the ring (far from the sprint often used by Animal and Hawk) and slowly, methodically, take care of business. Even a little of Jim Brunzell and Brian Blair’s “Bee Action� (where they would each don masks and apparently fool the referee into thinking Brunzell’s pot belly looked exactly the same as Blair’s flat stomach, thereby allowing a double-switch) proved little resistance. Sure, the Bees got the duke by DQ – but who cares? They also got a good beat-down for their troubles, and Mr. Mal loved it.

Up next, Montreal’s Rougeau Brothers (still faces at this point) jobbed to Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo – fine wrestlers all the way around, and a real throwback to my days watching International Wrestling from the Rougeau’s hometown. It was a sad day when that league bowed out, thanks to the WWF juggernaut (not to mention having McMahon sign away all their talent, including Rick Martel as well).

Receiving a huge pop – as he always did – Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Iron Sheik did their routine for probably the 500th time.

The Iron Sheik worked the crowd into a frenzy, Hacksaw came in and beat the crap out of him, and eventually won by his football-stance clothesline. Then they probably went out a smoked a joint – wait, did Mr. Mal actually type those words, or just think it to himself? Well . . . they probably did, you know, at least Hacksaw.

As the buffer before the main event, out came the true heat-seeker of that WWF-era, and a man many forget just how hated he truly was: former referee, Danny Davis. Having “screwed� the Bulldogs out of the tag titles, Davis was relieved of his duties and took up as a ring combatant with Jimmy Hart as his manager. People hated Danny Davis. In fact, even my Dad (who would be familiar to any faithful reader of this blog) would even comment to young Mal how much he loathed this guy. That’s how hated he was – even people who didn’t like wrestling liked Davis even less! Now that’s heat! Here, he compounded that heat by using the ropes for leverage to pin the popular Koko B. Ware. Little known fact about Davis? He worked under a red hood as Mr. X for the WWF long before the whole crooked-ref angle. Truly a man (and gimmick) that I have gained great respect for since the time it originally ran. I’ll be honest – I was too busy booing him to realize how good the program really was.

Finally, it was time for Steamboat and Savage. Mal was rooting hard for Savage, but realized the chances of him regaining his title were a real long-shot. To no one’s surprise, Steamboat would eventually walk out of the cage first, but not before a classic battle befitting Cobo. If memory serves, only Savage got color (but I could be wrong) but the match did not disappoint. Not to mention that the lovely Elizabeth looked, well, lovely – as per usual. What a shame she has already left this world. She will always remain a true Queen of the squared circle.

Savage was still raring to go after the bout, as seen here in yet-another classic pic of mine. What a performer – and check out those iconic purple trunks in that first pic! Now there was a real wrestler, boy. Too bad he couldn’t learn to play ball with the higher-ups later in his career. The fans deserve to see the Macho Man one more time.

Wouldn’t it be great to see these two restage their legendary Wrestlemania III battle in Detroit some 20-years-ago, this time next year at Wrestlemania XXIII, also in Detroit? You never know, especially given the rumors that Steamboat wanted to hook-it-up with Ric Flair at this past Mania. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire (no doubting Savage’s still burns bright) and where there’s fire, there’s . . . a Dragon? Stay tuned. And thanks for stopping by! Tell your friends about Wrestler’s Ramblings! There’s no blog like it anywhere else on the ‘net!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Wrestling History, Musings from Mal Occhio, Time Travelin' with Mr. Mal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.