Written in March 2016
I remember, as a kid, I LOVED this show (Saturday Night’s Main Event) Didn’t matter what the card was going to be like, the promise of SNME was enough to get me through a Friday at GDHS or WESS knowing the show would be on Saturday Night.
See, back in the day, I never stayed up to watch Saturday Night Live. I just wasn’t interested in the show and the guests never really did much for me. (I think I did tape an episode where Eddie Murphy came back to guest-host, though, because my friends – YES, I had friends back in the day – don’t look so surprised! – used to quote his monologue and the Buckwheat segment. “Best Defence…now there’s a movie that sucked real bad!”)
As for this particular show, I do remember that I watched it. This was back in the days just after Randy “Macho Man” Savage did the face turn and formed the Mega Powers with Hulk Hogan and prior to the inaugural Survivor Series. By this point, Ron Garvin was the newly installed NWA World Champion, but I think was already being dubbed a “lame duck champion” as he was having to take a vacation since no one wanted to job to him before he dropped the title back to Ric Flair at Starrcade 87. (Looking back,how did I, even the mark I was, not see that coming.)
Anyways, WWE Network has to put up a disclaimer to say the WWE Superstars’ actions do not necessarily reflect them as individuals in real life, or something like that. As I may have stated in a previous review, if there are not similar disclaimers before other TV shows, does that mean that Sarah Michelle Gellar really was a vampire slayer, that Andrew Lincoln really is trapped in a zombie apocalypse, that Lauren Graham really did live in a small town and really is Alexis Beidel’s mother????
Okay, we get the intro as Randy Savage talks about the Danger Zone, King Kong Bundy talks Bundy-mania and Hulk Hogan has the weirdest headband ever.
Oh cool, we get the second intro music which was better than the replacement for Animotion’s Obsession (which was the best intro to any wrestling show ever!)
Saturday Night’s Main Event is coming from Seattle Washington with Vince “not yet Mr.” McMahon and the man who should be running for president, Jesse “the Body” Ventura. McMahon says it’s their traditional Thanksgiving weekend episode which means it’s close to Survivor Series.
The info for the episode says it aired November 28, 1987 so that would have been a couple of days AFTER Survivor Series/Starrcade. (Also a week after Bill Elliott won the Atlanta Journal 500 in Atlanta. Dale Earnhardt, finished 2nd and won the Championship.)
Mean Gene is back with George Steele who has an Elizabeth doll. (I always wanted one of them. I could get one at the flea market in Woodstock.) Steele will be taking on Danny Davis in a match stemming from Davis’s attack on Steele at a previous Saturday Night’s Main Event. (Great show of continuity.)
Steele chases Davis from the ring to start. Steele no-sells some Davis offence. (I saw a photo of Davis at a fan fest a few years ago and he looks like the pervy janitor that no one suspects when kids start missing. I’m sure he’s a nice guy but he just looks like he should be playing the villain in a horror movie. No offence to Danny in case he’s reading this…Of course, no one I know reads this, why should Davis be?)
Of yeah, this is the match where Davis uses a foreign object and Ventura breaks up trying to argue he’s “brushing his teeth.” Davis takes over and gets his shots in using the foreign object. However, Davis goes to the proverbial well once too often and Steele reverses the move into a flying hammerlock. Davis kicks the referee who calls for the DQ.
Afterwards, Steele tries to celebrate by eating a turnbuckle but Davis gets a shot or two in. Steele almost looks like he’s forgotten he’s supposed to sell and is like “What am I supposed to do here?” before throwing some turnbuckle foam at Davis and chases him back to the dressing room.
We get a flashback to the last Saturday Night’s Main Event where Randy Savage almost won the Intercontinental Championship from the Honky Tonk Man before the Hart Foundation interfered. Again, a throwback to October 1987 (I always thought it was September) but I totally figured Savage was winning the match and regaining the title. One of the best TV matches in history.
Backstage Mean Gene Okerlund is horribly outraged at the Hart Foundation’s actions, especially towards Elizabeth, before the Harts head to ringside. Even Jesse “can’t condone” the Honky Tonk Man shoving Elizabeth to the mat. Elizabeth tells Okerlund that she is still in pain but is fine. Randy Savage vows revenge (on the Harts not Okerlund).
This was, I think, the first real hint that Hart might one day get a major singles push. Meanwhile, yeah, Elizabeth was the most beautiful woman in wrestling back in 1987. Jim Neidhart and Jimmy Hart try to intimidate Elizabeth but Savage runs them off.
As the show comes back from break, there’s 80s football star Brian Bosworth. (Weren’t they supposed to have another football vs WWF battle royale at Wrestlemania IV starring him?) Wikipedia tells us he was out of football by the end of 1988 and had a short movie career, including in the film “Stone Cold” (which was not the biopic of Steve Austin). I think Bosworth was one of those guys whose off-field character and antics far out-weighed any career exploits. I think he wanted to be the next Jim McMahon but never had the Super Bowl ring to go with it.
Meanwhile, Bret Hart gets some offense in but the Macho Man turns it around and is in control until he gets backdropped over the ropes and lands badly on his ankle. Savage is badly injured and its unsure if the match will continue. But, of course, it does and Hart goes to work on the ankle.
The rest of the match is Hart working over the injured ankle but Savage reverses a body slam into a cradle for the pin. The Hart Foundation tries to attack after the bell but Savage, on one leg, runs them off. Great story-telling as it gets Savage more sympathy and furthers his face turn, while it gives Hart the first real major singles match of a long career.
In the back, Bobby Heenan yanks the mic from Okerlund and talks up King Kong Bundy and Bundy-mania. Okerlund defends Hulkamania but Heenan counters that he’s got a big surprise. Even the mark that I was in 1987 knew it was Andre the Giant, who looks pissed (upset, not drunk) as he comes to ringside.
Hogan, with that weird looking dew-rag, is back with Mean Gene, talking about the blue tinge that his 24 inch pythons have. I have no clue what the hell he’s talking about.
One thing I noticed: The entrance to the ring is not straight on. Hogan has to turn a corner to make it to the ring. Once there, he battles King Kong Bundy but goes for a slam and collapses under the weight. Hogan kicks out but Bundy remains in control.
Fun fact: Bundy did that exact move in match against Lex Luger in the final WWF bout ever held at the London Ice House/Gardens or whatever they called it back then, save Luger didn’t kick out Yeah, THAT was the finish.
Back in 1987, Hogan is basically following the same script he used for every match he had back in the 80s. Start off fast, get beaten down by the monster heel, Hulk up and…well, as he goes for the legdrop, Andre catches his foot and referee Joey Morella calls for the bell.
By the way, Jesse does a great job on the mic, bringing up the fact that Joey Morella was the ref at Wrestlemania III and is the referee here, wondering if there was a connection. Sadly, Jesse would later fail to revisit this storyline during any episode of Conspiracy Theory that I ever saw. (I’m sure it was just an oversight of Jesse’s part.)
Oh…turns out the match wasn’t over. Morella just wanted to get Andre to leave ringside before the match continues. Great moment as Heenan and Bundy both convince Andre to leave, so as to give Bundy an opportunity to win the championship. “It’s Bundy’s match,” Heenan says. Makes sense for the characters.
Andre does leave but not before tossing the cameraman aside. With Andre heading to the back, the match restarts with Bundy in control. (See, Heenan wanting Andre to leave still makes sense since the match restarting gave Bundy a fresh shot at the title, whereas it looked like Hogan was about to finish him off.)
Bundy remains in control for much of the …second(?)…match and even when Hogan looks like he’s about to turn the tide, Bundy retains the advantage. Hogan kicks out of a splash and pin attempt and it’s Hulk-up time.
However, the action spills out of the ring and the commentators start yelling about the count so you know what’s about to happen. Bundy gets tossed back in by the Hulkster but when Hogan attempts to get back in the ring, Heenan grabs his leg and prevents Hogan from beating the count. This gives Bundy the count-out victory and entitled him to a rematch later on, as I recall. I
t’s a pretty major upset although by 1987 I was smart enough to know that Bundy wasn’t going to win the title. Hogan may have lost the battle but gets some revenge by beating up on Bundy and the Brain.
Hercules is backstage with Okerlund to talk about his match against Bam Bam Bigelow. Hercules talks about the attack by Hogan on his manager and says that if someone in the Heenan family does something bad “Everyone thinks we’re henchman. Everyone calls us assassins.” Uh, I think you have to be trying to kill a VIP with a high-powered rifle to be called an assassin, but I get Herc’s point.
Jesse makes me laugh as he calls “Mean Gene, the Hot-Aired Machine” who is with Bam Bam Bigelow with Sir Oliver Humperdink, who I watched as Big Daddy Dink, the road manager for the Freebirds at the ’91 Bash. I wonder if that entitles him to be inducted in the Hall of Fame with the Freebirds.
Anyways, Hercules vs. Bam Bam Bigelow… This was back when everyone thought Bigelow was the next big thing before…you know…he wasn’t. (Actually, he was in NWA/WCW within a year because he took on Windham for the U.S. title at Starrcade 88.)
Bigelow takes over with some power moves. Hercules gets some offense but the match ends up on the floor and it’s a double-countout. Hmm…two matches in a row with a countout finish.
Nope, Bigelow wants the match to restart and so it does. So, two matches in a row with a false finish and a restart. Bigelow remains in control until he misses a dropkick. Hercules goes to the top rope and even Jesse thinks he’s taking too much time. Bigelow catches him with a slam and an over the top rope splash for the victory.
Coming back from break, Bosworth and the Seattle Seahawks are getting rowdy at ringside. Jesse tries to play it off as them wanting his autograph and McMahon says Bosworth probably wants a match against Jesse. Personally I think the footballers were probably drunk and figuring they were okay to be rowdy.
Back with Okerlund, Bundy and Andre claim victory over Hogan but want a title rematch. Ventura who said he was going to hang out with the Seahawks ends up coming in and congratulating Bundy. Hogan says he still has the title but wants Andre in Bundy’s corner next time and then says he’ll have ME (as in the fans) in his corner.
As we close the show, Vince, Gene and Jesse (who still hasn’t left to visit the Seahawks) are backstage. Vince asks for an update on Heenan’s condition and Okerlund says there is none “but really, who cares?” That’s awesome. Jesse almost gets into it with Okerlund saying he cares. Vince separates them and says the next Saturday Night’s Main Event will be on New Year’s weekend. (I think that was the Bundy-Hogan rematch.)
Wow! Four matches in an hour and a half. Two mid-card matches (Davis/Steele and Bigelow/Hercules) and a title match that really no one expected the title to change on (but did lead to Hogan-Andre II).
The real highlight was Savage-Hart with a good story and historical context.
Oh…and it made for some pop culture interest in that it makes you want to look up whatever happened to Brian Bosworth (or not)!
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