Written in July 2015
We open with “Macho Man” talking over some video of his feud with George “The Animal” Steele before announcing the final confrontation between the two will take place in a lumberjack match. Ricky Steamboat comes in to talk about his Intercontinental Championship title defence against Hercules. The Hart Foundation predicts victory in their Tag Team Title rematch against the British Bulldog. Relative WWE newcomer at the time Hacksaw Jim Duggan says he won’t allow Nikolai Volkoff to sing the Russian National anthem. Bobby Heenan is up next and says he’ll be showing footage of how Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III. Andre says he’s the champion, which is enough to make Heenan wince (okay, he’s really selling a neck injury suffered at the hands of Ken Patera). Hulk Hogan says everyone knows who really won at Wrestlemania and he’ll show you how later on.
This is the post “Obsession” by Animotion theme song era so we get the original theme from 1987, which is good because I remember seeing an earlier SNME on the Network (back when we got a free preview in February) and the theme they dubbed in was horrible! Seriously, no energy to it at all.
Vince McMahon welcomes us to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana and the show took place on May 2, 1987. Since I like looking this s*&^ up, I’ll be able to tell you that the NASCAR race the next day came from Talladega (sweet!) and was won by Davey Allison. Wait? Davey Allison won a race at Talladega in 1987…could that be? (Checks a couple of things!) Holy crap!!! That was the race where Bobby Allison went sailing into the catch fence and prompted the era of restrictor plate racing at superspeedways. I always thought that happened at the 2nd Talladega race in 1987 – which took place in July but was won by Bill Elliott. (The May Talladega race was Davey Allison’s first ever Cup win!) So I’m learning stuff already!
Vince is joined by Jesse Ventura who runs down the card (maybe HE should be the host of Wrestlemania some time!) before Vince throws it to footage of Bobby Heenan getting injured by Ken Patera during a debate that aired on Superstars of Wrestling earlier in the day. In watching Heenan getting Irish-whipped across the ring by Patera using a belt and then the sudden stop in mid-ring, I have to think Heenan was legit injured here. (Wasn’t there something about Brian Pillman grabbing Heenan by the back of the neck that caused Heenan to swear on an episode of Nitro? I think in his book, Heenan says that people knew the neck was off-limits for him.)
Mean Gene is in the back with Kamala, Kim Chee and Mr. Fuji who talk about their match against Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Isn’t Kamala a truck driver until he lost a leg due to diabetes? Now Gene is now with Jake Roberts and everyone seems more interested in talking about his feud against the Honky Tonk Man. (I think Jake ALSO got legit injured when he got nailed by Honky Tonk’s guitar.)
In the ring, Jake scares Kamala with Damian (Vince with the Carl Lewis reference) but as Jake puts the bag in the corner, Kamala attacks. Throughout the match, Roberts is able to overcome the size and weight advantage that Kamala has.
In the end, it looks like Roberts is about to DDT Kamala but Fuji distracts the referee while Kim Chee attacks Jake the Snake. This allows Kamala to hit the splash on Jake for the victory. As Roberts suffers, Kim Chee starts to disrobe revealing himself to be the Honky Tonk Man. Honky Tonk adds insult to injury by hitting the Shake, Rattle and Roll on Jake.
Pretty gutsy move to have Jake lose but with Kamala just arriving back on the scene, you didn’t want him to job right off the bat. This way, having Honky Tonk interfere keeps Jake strong even after taking the pinfall. In most cases, you expect Honky Tonk’s interference to lead to a disqualification so having a pin end the match was some original booking.
We now get some clips of Wrestlemania III as Vince and Jesse talk about what’s upcoming on the show, including Andre and Hogan talking about their match and the lumberjack match.
Thankfully, the Network clips the commercials and so we’re back as the show gets set up for the lumberjack match. Mean Gene is with George Steele who gives one of the best promos in the history of WWE. “Uhh…Uhh…” This does Okerlund a chance to explain the rules of such a match. “Ru…Ru….Right!” Man, this is pretty much up there with “Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?” Gene takes pity on Animal.
We see Kim Chee and the Honky Tonk Man coming to ringside which confuses Jesse who was working that he thought they were the same person. When they ask Mean Gene for his opinion, he gets interrupted by Ricky Steamboat and George Steele. Steamboat says he’ll watch out for George.
After Steamboat leads Steele to the ring, Okerlund accidentally insults Randy Savage by referring to him as the “former Intercontinental Champion.” Savage declares vengeance on Steele and promises to regain the title. As he leaves he announces he’s going to “do the thing!”
Savage attacks first but is soon tossed around by Steele. He’s outside but Hercules and Kim Chee are a little slow to toss him back in so the British Bulldogs and Tito Santana toss him back. Back inside, it’s all George Steele for the early portion of the match. Savage finally does get some offence in and tosses Steele outside where the Harts and Sheik and Volkoff start “a’clubbering” on the Animal.
You know it’s weird that, while Savage took on Hogan (and Tito Santana) at a lot of house shows, it was the Animal that was his first real TV feud. And looking back, I don’t think anyone really expected that George Steele was going to win the I-C title from Savage and head off into the sunset with Elizabeth…yet, they still made it work.
There’s a lot of chaos on the outside to the point where Hacksaw Jim Duggan arrives on the scene with his 2×4. When the referees finally get control, Duggan is sent to the back. In the ring, Steele gets some offense in until he becomes enchanted with the turnbuckles. That gives Savage the opening. However, that’s short-lived and George Steele sends the Macho Man to the outside.
As Steamboat attempts to toss Savage back in, Savage attacks the Dragon and suddenly everyone is battling everyone around the ring. That allows Danny Davis to sneak into the ring to hit Steele with the ring bell. Savage is off the top rope with the elbow for the win. The battle continues inside the ring with the matches from later in the show starting early. Suddenly the lumberjack match turns into a battle royale.
Hey, it’s Jake the Snake to clear the ring and get some revenge on Kim Chee! This was another great piece of booking. It gives some closure to the Steele/Savage feud since Macho was about to become a face, plus I think Steele had a short feud with Davis. Plus, it helped to build to pretty much every other match on the show.
Mean Gene Okerlund is sitting down with Andre the Giant and Bobby the Brain Heenan in what looks like a corporate waiting room to discuss Wrestlemania III. Heenan says Andre should have won but the refs and officials are always in Hogan’s corner. Heenan talks his way through clips from Wrestlemania up until the “controversial two count”. Heenan says that it should have been a three count and demands Hogan be stripped of the belt. I still like Andre’s “I know I’m the world champion” spoken as if he’s got a mouth full of marbles.
As Jesse and Vince talk about Heenan’s footage, the British Bulldogs with Tito Santana and Matilda head to the ring for their title match against the Hart Foundation. Mean Gene is obviously pretty upset, accusing the Harts of “stealing” the tag title belts. He gets under Danny Davis’s skin to the point that Davis goes after Okerlund.
Out in the ring, Matilda gets herself over by taking after Jimmy Hart, driving the Mouth of the South out of the ring. (I think Hart might have almost landed on the dog as he stumbled out of the ring.)
Funny moment as we start with Jesse saying that Vince has never felt what it’s like to be in the ring. The irony of watching this in 2014 is knowing that Vince was in the Royal Rumble, two Wrestlemania matches and won the WWE Championship.
Davey Boy Smith has a lengthy “face in peril” stint to start off the match. Once Dynamite gets tagged in he gets some offence before getting double-teamed by the Harts. Tito and Davis make their presence known as Tito chases Davis around the ring. The bell rings and its announced that the Hart Foundation has been disqualified. (This becomes important later!)
Dynamite seems to be in trouble as he has to start the second fall. He basically takes over from his partner as the face in peril. I don’t think it’s a blade job but Kid is bleeding from what Jimmy Hart and the commentators are calling a broken nose. He does tag in Davey who takes over on the offence. Neidhart accidentally knocks Bret off the apron, distracting Jimmy Hart. Santana takes care of Davis and Smith tosses Kid onto the Anvil. The Kid gets the pinfall on Neidhart and everyone assumes we have new champions…. …until Jesse Ventura announces there was a disqualification in the first fall so the Bulldogs may win the match but you can’t win the titles on a disqualification (or at least until the Brainbusters do in 1989).
Before you get all up in Vince’s face about not knowing the rules, it they had booked a dq in the first fall and then Vince or Jesse had pointed it out then, no one would have cared about the second fall. This way you had fans enjoying the rest of the match, assuming there was still a chance for the faces to regain the belts.
Now it’s time for Hulk to give his take on what happened at Wrestlemania III. Hogan’s enthusiasm about his win is tempered a little bit when he hears that Andre claims he won. Hogan does his own take on the footage we saw earlier and says he’s up for a rematch with Andre. Man, this was Hogan was at his best at the height of Hulkamania.
The Intercontinental Championship match is up next. Ricky Steamboat tells Mean Gene Okerlund he has come too far to lose the title to Hercules. As Steamboat comes to the ring (with new dubbed-in music in place of the Alan Parsons Project music he used to have – that was also used by Roger Clemens when he pitched for the Blue Jays – little known fact!), Okerlund is now with Randy Savage (even Jesse is like “How does he do that?”) who shocks everyone by saying he wants Steamboat to retain so he can beat the Dragon for the title.
Back and forth action starts us off with Herc using his power and Steamboat using aerial tactics. Steamboat has the advantage outside the ring but Hercules switches momentum once they’re back in the ring.
A screen-in-screen vantage point shows the Macho Man cheering on the Dragon. Hercules continues to take it to Steamboat, finally slapping on the full nelson. In the back, Savage is going nuts, finally rushing out of the room, leaving a stunned Elizabeth and Mean Gene. Savage rushes to the ring and grabs the ankle of Hercules, breaking up the submission move on the Dragon.
After a commercial break (not shown here), the title match continues with the Macho Man at ringside. Steamboat, with a second chance, takes over on Hercules. Heenan gets frustrated and tosses in the chain. Hercules starts to choke out the Dragon, drawing a disqualification.
As Hercules and Heenan leave, Savage goes to check on Steamboat. We think we’re seeing a face turn for Savage but instead Savage goes to the top rope to hit the elbow.
Speaking of original booking, whoever booked this match and the storyline surrounding it was a genius. I remember one match where the Rougeaus cost the Hart Foundation a tag team title match against Demoliton…while the Rougeaus were feuding with the Harts. Why would you NOT want the team you’re feuding with (and therefore wrestling a lot) to win the titles, since your future matches would now be title matches? In this situation, Savage wants the Dragon to retain the title so he can continue to wrestle Steamboat with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. Once the match is over and Steamboat has retained, he figures he might as well get a shot or two in.
Of course, a month or so later, Savage was among the first to congratulate the Honky Tonk Man after he beat Steamboat for the title. (I still remember watching that match figuring Honky had NO F’N’ CHANCE to beat the Dragon and then being shocked when the title change happened.) I always thought, once Savage and Honky Tonk started feuding that maybe, in addition to being upset at Honky’s “Greatest Intercontinental Champion” claim, Savage figured that he could beat Honky Tonk Man where he couldn’t beat Steamboat.
Savage gloats as we go to Gene Okerlund who shows up at ringside to interview Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Apparently Duggan bought a ringside seat (wait? He was coming out of the locker room before. How did he manage to get a ringside seat in the middle of the show????) to make sure Nikolai Volkoff doesn’t sing the Russian National Anthem during the upcoming Sheik & Volkoff vs. the Can Am Connection match. Volkoff does attempt to sing the anthem, drawing Duggan into the ring. Duggan announces that “This is the land of the free and the home of the brave” to which Jesse, rightfully so, says “well, then how come he isn’t allowed to sing his anthem.” (Ironically, I think this entire segment sums up the reality of the whole “Freedom of Speech” argument in the U.S. to this day. It’s practiced more as “Freedom of Speech…Except When I Don’t Agree With What You’re Saying”!)
Duggan goes back to his seat as the match begins. Vince apparently doesn’t know which is which between Zenk and Martel, which probably didn’t bode well for the Can-Ams back in the day. Of course, this is really just filler for the Volkoff-Duggan feud.
To start off, Sheik takes over on Zenk for a lengthy period of time. (I was always hoping that Legends House would end up being one long shoot interview by the Sheik. Seriously, I’d tune in for an hour of Sheik just shouting expletives at whatever crossed his mind.)
The action spills to the outside and Volkoff and Duggan get into a verbal exchange. Duggan, 2×4 in hand, springs out of his seat and into the ring. (Does that mean that anyone who has “bought and paid for” a ringside seat can storm the ring? Damn! I just did not play my cards right when I went to WWE shows back in the day.)
This leads to Zenk getting a roll-up on the Sheik out of nowhere for the victory. (Seriously the Can-Ams hadn’t had an offensive move since the first moments of the bout and both had been left laying outside the ring just moments before.)
The Sheik and Volkoff and Slick do a mini-beat down on Duggan to show their belligerence about the situation. Duggan falls out of the ring, regroups with the Can-Ams and the trio runs off the bad guys.
Vince and Jesse go before the cameras to wrap up the show. They talk about a possible upcoming Savage-Steamboat match, the Bulldogs heading back to the title picture. Vince throws it to a commercial only to come back and close out the show. I know Saturday Night’s Main Event got a lot of heat when WWE brought it back in the 2000s but this one from 1987 was pretty awesome. Some great original booking and everything seemed to help further a feud. Sure, there was no “Match of the Year” candidates but every match did its job.
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