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History of the Intercontinental Championship
WWEClassics.com Legacy Edition
Part Eight

by Samoa Rowe

-We kick things off with Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura, circa April 1990, talking about the newly vacated Intercontinental Championship. The war for the title begins, as they will be holding a tournament to crown a new champion.

-Jack Korpela is our host for the festivities. We are skipping a couple of years from last time to April 1990. This edition is all about the IC tournament.

First Round:
Tito Santana vs. Akeem (with Slick)
Superstars - April 28th 1990

Santana easily dodges the sluggish Akeem in the early going, but gets caught in the corner. Santana escapes and unloads, sending Akeem to ringside to regroup. Akeem is moaning that Santana thumbed his eye. Akeem looks for a test of strength, but Santana grabs the wrist when the big man isn’t looking and goes to work on the arm. Akeem hammers out but soon gets knocked off his feet by a drop-kick. Akeem is knocked out of the ring and gets counted out at 4:02. Santana advances! Too short to lead to anything special, but that’s okay with me, *.
Winner: Tito Santana First Round:
Mr. Perfect vs. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka
Superstars - May 5th 1990

Snuka takes the upper hand in the early going, knocking Perfect to ringside and dragging him in by the hair. They trade body slams and shots. Snuka knocks Perfect back to the floor. They exchange pinning predicaments. Snuka hits a cross body but Perfect reverses into a rollup. Snuka targets the midsection and gets a rollup for 2.5. Perfect attacks the chest. Snuka no-sells some head shots to the turnbuckle and chases Perfect to ringside. Back to the ring, Perfect asks for mercy, inspiring Snuka to thumb him in the throat. Series of chops by Snuka, but Perfect takes him down and uses the ropes to gain the pin at 3:47. Short, yet sweet, *¼.
Winner: Mr. Perfect

-Snuka is irate and continues to attack Mr. Perfect.

First Round:
“The Model” Rick Martel vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
Wrestling Challenge - May 11th 1990

Piper is complaining about Martel’s air spray and gets blindsided. Piper thumbs the eyes and takes control. Martel head butts the midsection to turn the momentum. Piper retreats to ringside for a breather, but sneaks up to attack Martel while he poses on the turnbuckles. Martel gets dumped to the floor and driven into the barricades and ring post. Back to the ring, Martel finds an opening to unload. Martel grabs his spray can, but the item is removed. Martel misses an elbow drop and eats some shots from Piper. Martel misses a cross body and begs for mercy. Piper chokes and drops The Model gut-first onto the ropes. Martel goes for the eyes again but gets driven into the turnbuckle. They fight over the can with Martel coming out on top. Piper blocks the spray with a chair and attacks with it. The bell is called at 5:25 as Piper chases Martel away with the chair. The official decision is a double DQ. This was quite a bit of fun, but was rather short, *¾.
No contest

-We are treated to an update of the tournament brackets. Mr. Perfect is already heading to the finals, due to Piper and Martel being considerate enough to get themselves disqualified. Santana will be facing the winner of Brutus Beefcake vs. Dino Bravo.

First Round:
Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart) vs. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake
Superstars - May 12th 1990

As much as I love this feature, I feel as if I’ve seen way more Beefcake matches than I ever desired to in the process. Some sacrifices must be made, I suppose. Beefcake chases Bravo out of the ring with his clippers as the match is interrupted by a Mr. Perfect promo. Back to the match, Bravo walks into a hip toss and body slam. Beefcake misses an elbow drop by dodges one by Bravo. Beefcake sends Bravo to ringside with a clothesline and pursues. Hart thinks twice about attacking Beefcake with the mega phone, but the distraction allows Bravo to make an ambush. Back to the ring, Bravo takes control. Beefcake eventually blocks a double axe handle and makes a comeback. Beefcake applies the sleeper, but Hart distracts the referee. Mr. Perfect runs in and attacks Beefcake. Bravo joins the fray as the referee counts both men out at 4:50. Quite the tournament we’ve got here, eh? The match was good enough, *½.
No contest

-Beefcake wants revenge and chases Jimmy Hart around with the clippers.

-Korpela recaps the tournament happenings.

Intercontinental Championship:
Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana
Superstars- May 19th 1990

Thanks to all the craziness of the first round, we get to skip straight to the finals! Perfect targets the back but gets elbowed off. Headlock by Santana, but Perfect wrestles out. Nice series of arm reversals. Hip toss and armdrag by Santana, followed by a drop-kick that sends Perfect to ringside. Santana pursues his prey, nailing a springboard clothesline for 2. Santana works the arm. Perfect escapes, eats some shoulder blocks, and trips Santana to the floor. Perfect takes control, focusing on the head. Sunset flip by Santana gets 2, but Perfect reverses. Santana is dumped again, but he pulls Perfect into the turnbuckles. Santana continues the assault on the legs. Bobby Heenan appears at ringside to protest. Santana takes a swing at Heenan and ends up getting rolled up by Perfect, who pins him at 7:00. We have a new champion! Solid work from both men, but nothing special, **.
Winner and new Intercontinental Champion: Mr. Perfect

-Perfect takes the microphone and puts himself over as a perfect IC Champion and Bobby Heenan as his perfect manager! The crowd is displeased.

-Korpela speculates over how long the perfect title reign will last. Find out next time!

Final Thoughts:
There’s something awesome about having an entire tournament put together in one convenient program and that’s what this offered. Granted, it wasn’t much of a tournament, but all the matches were at least enjoyable. This was a really easy episode to sit through and the brisk pace actually added to my enjoyment.

Thumbs up!

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