Early years Premiering on January 1, 1985, the original hosts of
Prime Time Wrestling were
Jesse Ventura and
Jack Reynolds. Reynolds would co-host his final edition of
Prime Time on July 9, 1985, with
Gorilla Monsoon replacing him as Ventura's co-host the week after.
Bobby Heenan made his first appearance as Monsoon's co-host on April 28, 1986, and officially replaced Ventura on June 30 of that same year. The best-remembered
Prime Time format featured Heenan and Monsoon introducing
taped matches and analyzing them afterward, with Monsoon taking a
babyface and sometimes neutral position and Heenan unashamedly cheering on the
heels, especially members of
The Heenan Family. The chemistry between Monsoon and Heenan made this show popular with fans for many years, despite the fact it was not considered one of the WWF's "primary" shows for most of its history. Many other wrestling programs—both produced by the WWF and by other companies—would attempt to copy this formula, with varying degrees of success. Although primarily a studio-based program,
Prime Time would occasionally go on the road and tape its segments from various outside locations. Examples included
Busch Gardens,
Trump Plaza, the
CN Tower, and
Churchill Downs, among others. These segments rarely had much to do with the actual wrestling content of the program, and were played primarily for the comic interaction between Monsoon and Heenan. Heenan and Monsoon co-hosted
Prime Time from
1986–
1991.
Roddy Piper replaced Heenan briefly in the summer of
1989, during the period Heenan "took over" the last half-hour of the
Prime Time program for his own
talk show; after Heenan returned to the main program, Piper was retained for the remainder of 1989 as a second co-host. Piper's final episode was the Christmas 1989 episode, where he attacked Heenan for dressing like Santa and badmouthing the Christmas season and insulting kids. The Rosati Sisters, a group of overweight sisters who were fans of the WWF, were frequent guests on the show from 1989 to 1990, also serving as assistants to Heenan on his show. At times, guests have appeared on the studio set for cameo appearances or to sub-host for someone.
Gene Okerlund was the most frequent guest, sometimes stopping by on the set for no reason other than to antagonize Heenan. Okerlund also was a substitute host for the series whenever Monsoon or Heenan were away;
Vince McMahon was also a substitute host when Monsoon fell ill in early 1988.
Tony Schiavone also guest hosted an episode of the series along with
Sean Mooney, with the explanation being that Monsoon and Heenan were at the Trump Plaza for Wrestlemania V. Also notably,
Freddie Blassie made an appearance in late 1989, antagonizing Heenan for owing him money and turning face in the process. For the rest of the episode, he remained as a special guest co-host alongside Piper in Piper's studio.
The Red Rooster and
The Brooklyn Brawler also appeared as guests in 1989 for the purpose of an angle where Lombardi knocked out Monsoon with a chair and beat up The Rooster, who had just fired Heenan as his manager.
Rick Rude also guested in the summer of 1989 mostly to further his feud with Piper.
Arnold Skaaland,
Hillbilly Jim,
Ted DiBiase,
Koko B. Ware,
Mr. Fuji,
Demolition,
Lord Alfred Hayes and
Harley Race also stopped in the studio as guests during the run of the series.
Format changes February 18, 1991–November 4, 1991 On February 18, 1991,
Prime Time changed formats to something vaguely resembling a talk/variety show, with an in-studio audience. This format appears to have been inspired by the
PBS series
The McLaughlin Group, which was growing in popularity at this time. The final episode of
Prime Time Wrestling aired on January 4, 1993.
Monday Night Raw replaced the show in its timeslot the following week. ==Hosts==