[1988-03-12-WWF-Saturday Night's Main Event] Greg Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake

[Superstar Sleeze]

Greg Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake - WWF 3/12/88

 

Beefcake was really on point with his barber puns. "On point" get it, yeah, barber puns suck. Beefer was cuttin' and struttin' into heart of Vince, who was ogling him in his risqué tights. Jimmy Hart was actually a great foil for Beefcake because of his ridiculous mullet so the threat of cutting his hair is fun. Valentine clearly goes to the same hairdresser as Judy Martin also makes for a great foil for the Barber. This is the blowoff to their year long feud as Beefcake is transitioning into a feud with The Hammer's stablemate, the Honky Tonk Man (another ridiculous quaff for Beefcake to cut) over the Intercontinental Championship. In fact, Honky makes his way to ringside while Brutus is selling his leg on the outside to berate and add some heat to their Mania IV match.

 

Pretty damn good SNME match here. Beefcake is over and showed a lot of energy. Nice high knee and a pair of atomic drops. Valentine bumped and stooged like a million bucks for him. The stooging off the atomic drop was Rick Rude levels of awesome. The ref tries to get a clean break in the corner and the Hammer blasts Beefcake. That's the Hammer I know and love. I agree with Jesse that it was awesome that Valentine put the figure-4 on in the ropes and just when all out using the ropes to really ramp up the pressure to do some serious damage. This is when Honky lays the verbal smackdown. Back from break, Valentine tries to get the figure-4 back on, but Beefcake keeps pushing off. Brutus makes his comeback and calls for the sleeper, but Valentine collapses to the outside. Beefcake gets distracted by the Mouth of the South and a fun chase ensues. The finish is a back suplex with both men pinned, but Beefcake gets his shoulder up. Lame finish. With Beefcake going into a title match and it being the blowoff, you would figure he would be put over stronger. Beefcake des get to cut a lock of Valentine's golden hair. Fun little match with Valentine stooging and showing some great offense. Beefcake was energetic. Good stuff. ***

[Kronos]

Beefcake's gimmick is silly, and his tights are slutty. (And yet it's The Hammer who flashes the moon!) I often find that when I watch Barber in the 1980s, I enjoy his work a lot more than I expect to. This match is no exception. Valentine does a lot of good selling, and the pace is pretty fast while not losing control - considering that you've got the Honky Tonk run-in as well as the Jimmy Hart interference.

 

Also, it's interesting to watch this match right after some current WWE product, as I have just done this evening. The ropes here are so much more loose. But then, none of these guys is in danger of doing a springboard missile dropkick, so the ropes don't need to be super tight.

 

Is this indeed the blow-off match to the Beefcake/Valentine feud? Because if so, I absolutely agree with you that it's a bit meh from that standpoint. But as a match on its own and as a lead-in to WrestleMania 4, it works for me very well .