Sage Cortez
Saturday Night’s Main Event #12 is here! There’s a whole lot of things that spiral out of it, but one thing announced heading into it was the Survivor Series main event. That main event is supposed to be Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Superstar Billy Graham, and Paul Orndorff vs. Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, and the One Man Gang. Pretty big match there. In addition to that, a lawsuit was filed against Hulk Hogan for choking Richard Belzer. Poor Munch. Time to get to the show!
– Taped to air October 3rd, 1987, from Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania
Our opening video starts with Honky Tonk Man running down his challenger, Randy Savage! He says he’s going to steal Savage’s woman. I doubt that. Savage has some things of his own to say, and he’s fuming. Heenan has comments on behalf of King Kong Bundy. Mr. Fuji has some on behalf of Sika, and Hulk Hogan has some on behalf of himself.
Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are our hosts, and Vince pisses the Brain off pretty quickly during a discussion about nonsense. That leads us straight into…
Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: It’s a bit weird watching a match when you know how big the angle after it is. The positioning of this as the first match indicates that this is considered to be the most important match. Honky Tonk Man wants to be the first guy to enter the ring for his match tonight, and tells Gene Mean exactly that. After he is introduced, Savage is interviewed as well. HE’S BEEN IN THE DANGER ZONE. AND HE’S GOING THERE AGAIN!
Match Review: Heenan bashing on Elizabeth’s appearance is lame. Savage and HTM lock up, and HTM punches Savage. Man, there’s some horrible fake heat added to this in editing. Savage gives HTM one of those rope assisted clothesline deals, and starts choking his corny opponent. He takes HTM down, drops a knee, and that causes HTM to beg for mercy. Savage hits HTM with a back elbow, and Jimmy Hart starts harassing Elizabeth in response to that, which pisses off the challenger. When Savage heads to the outside, HTM hits him with a knee to the back. Savage comes back with an elbow, and another knee drop attempt, which misses this time. HTM takes control, and gives Savage a fist drop from the second rope. Now HTM goes over to harass Elizabeth, getting him some real heat. Savage goes on the attack this time, and takes him out with a double axehandle to the back. Then he heads up top, and gives it to him, flying all the way down to the floor. Savage rolls up HTM, but Jimmy Hart breaks up the cover behind the official’s back. After a back suplex, Hart does that once again. Now Hart pulls Savage off of the top rope, but it doesn’t matter because Savage hits HTM with a double axehandle from the top. Yet again, Hart breaks up a cover, and this time Savage is extremely upset. Savage clocks Hart in the face, knocking him OUT. Savage dumps HTM down to the apron, then back inside, HTM tries a sunset flip. Savage blocks it, and here comes the Hart Foundation to help their sleeping manager. They take care of him, but obviously something’s up. Savage continues to work on HTM, but the angle has taken precedence. The Foundation now carries Hart to the back, and the match will continue after a commercial.
After the commercial, Savage continues to put a beating on HTM. After an elbow drop, he tosses HTM into a corner, but misses a charge to that corner. Well, damn. HTM backdrops Savage, then heads up for another fist drop…which misses this time. That bump had to be pretty hard on the knees. Savage backdrops HTM, and chokes him as a form of rest and communication between the two. Savage hits HTM with an elbow for 2, a really close 2 at that. Savage then suplexes the champion, and gets another 2 count. HTM tosses Savage over the top rope, and he falls right in front of the Foundation. They kick Savage relentlessly, drop him on the guardrail, and then deposit him back in the ring. HTM gives him an elbow drop, which gets 2. The sound editing for this match is pretty bad, to be honest. HTM sets Savage up for the SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL, but Macho reverses it, landing a backdrop. He slams HTM, and HEADS UP TOP FOR THE BIG ELBOW. Down he comes, and LANDS IT. Dave Hebner makes the count, and in comes the Hart Foundation to break it up, which gets Honky Tonk Man disqualified after about 13 minutes.
The Foundation destroys the crowd’s new hero, and let’s see what they have planned here… A GUITAR SHOT! The crowd is taking this super seriously. HTM winds up, and…Elizabeth gets in the ring. Bad idea. HTM pushes her down to the canvas, and she leaves to the dressing room. Wonder what’s going on there. HTM and the Hart Foundation line Savage up for a swing of the guitar, and BLAMMO. Elizabeth comes back from the dressing room, and she has…HULK HOGAN IN TOW. The look on his face when he checked out the ring was hilarious. The heels ofcus their efforts on triple-teaming Hogan, but YOU CAN’T TRIPLE-TEAM THE HULKSTER, BROTHER. He gets up, feeds them all punches, and then Savage atomic drops Bret to finish the job of clearing them all from the ring. Savage extends his hand in friendship, and Hogan shakes it. IT’S THE MEGA POWERS, BROTHER.
My Thoughts: Alright, so…there’s a lot to talk about there. First, HTM pushing Elizabeth. The WWF hadn’t crossed that boundary before to my knowledge. Second, that guitar shot looked like a completely legitimate, solid guitar shot to the head. Third, the commentary was awful. Heenan in place of Ventura nearly ruined the moment, and in my opinion he didn’t do a great job. However, the WWF knew how he’d play it, and put him out there anyway. As for the match, it was completely acceptable. I wasn’t a fan of the sound manipulation, and in some respects it nearly ruined the moment. That being said, the crowd was sitting on their hands until Hogan came out. For the most part, it may have been necessary to prevent some dead noise. Maybe people weren’t prepared to respond to Savage the way the WWF wanted them to. I don’t know. The guys worked hard, but it seemed as if there was some miscommunication. The match was also pretty long, and built well towards Savage regaining the title, but that didn’t happen. **1/2 and recommended for the post-match. It’s not that they did anything wrong, it’s simply that HTM’s work has a ceiling, and that ceiling is around the range of distinctly average. He wasn’t particularly good. That whole segment took up 27 minutes!
Sika (w/Mr. Fuji & Kimchee) vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Glad to see the back of Kamala, who I can’t stand watching. His gimmick is horribly racist and I consider him being booked as an evil heel to be an endorsement of that. Anyway, Sika takes his place in this match. Apparently Kamala didn’t want to job on national TV. At this point in time, before doing jobs on national or cable TV was an accepted practice, wrestlers couldn’t afford to damage their worth by losing matches that everyone would see for promoters who didn’t have the intention of keeping them around for years at a time. Kamala was one of those guys with a short shelf life and he decided to protect himself. Fuji’s promo before the match was amusing. Hogan’s is about survival of the fittest, and it’s even better.
Match Review: Sika and Hogan lock horns, and when Sika knocks Hogan down, Fuji chokes Hogan with his cane. This fake heat is so annoying, whoever came up with that idea, came up with a bad idea. Fuji also hits Hogan in the throat with the cane, but Sika misses a diving headbutt, blowing his chance to capitalize. Hogan knocks Sika out of the ring with a clothesline, then he comes back in and Hogan boots him. After landing a few elbow drops, Hogan punches Sika. Then, he goes to punch Kimchee, but Sika comes back over there and knocks Hogan over the top rope. Hogan rams Sika into the ring post, then goes to hit Fuji with his cane, only to be told no. Hogan rampages around the ring with the cane, to nice cheers, but he has to give it up as we head to a commercial.
Back from that commercial, the cane is gone and Sika charges into the ring. He misses a charge to the corner, and Hogan tries to give Sika a SPLASH. I have undoubtedly never seen him try that before. It misses, and Sika takes control with some headbutts. With Sika distracting the referee again, Fuji chokes Hogan with his cane…again. After a chop to the throat, Hogan barely kicks out at 2. Sika applies a NERVE HOLD, the first dead period of the match. It doesn’t last too long, as Hogan fights out of it. Sika clotheslines him anyway, and hits him with another trio of headbutts. Sika covers, and the HULKSTER IS HULKING UP, BROTHER. After he kicks out, he hits Sika with a few punches, a bodyslam, and DROPS THE LEG. And like he usually does, he pins his opponent for the win at 7:59.
After the match, Hogan pulls Fuji and Kimchee into the ring. He atomic drops Kimchee to knock him out of it, and that’s that for Hogan’s segment.
My Thoughts: This was better than you’d expect. He’s throwing new things into these matches, and while they all end the same way, at least there’s a little variety. Fortunately, we are getting to the business end of Hogan’s reign, and the heel of the month from another company thing is near to its end. *3/4, it’s not as good as the Gang match from the previous review, which is now the benchmark for ** Hogan matches.
King Kong Bundy vs. Paul Orndorff (w/Oliver Humperdink)
Pre-Match Thoughts: Really not a fan of Orndorff’s thing at this point. I don’t like him as a babyface. Nor do I like his association with Humperdink, and the WWF’s choice to pair them. I’m not a fan of Bundy either. In a preliminary sense, I don’t like very much about this at all. If I had the option, I wouldn’t watch this! After Bundy shouts at Okerlund and pushes him, we’re done with the interviews. Heenan has been talking about a surprise during this match. Wonder what it will be.
Match Review: The fake heat during Bundy’s entrance is hilarious. Orndorff attacks to start things off, and misses a dropkick shortly after his initial burst. Bundy chokes Orndorff, then Orndorff comes back with a sunset flip for 2. Orndorff’s atrophied arm is very noticeable by this point. After a bodyslam, Bundy tries an elbow drop which he misses. Orndorff heads up to the second rope, and lands an elbow from there, then follows with a fist drop. That gets a very close 2 count, which inspires Heenan to leave the commentary booth. Orndorff hits Bundy with a dropkick, and Heenan’s surprise is revealed…it’s ANDRE THE GIANT! Orndorff dropkicks Bundy to knock him out of the ring, and Bundy gets advice from Andre after that. Maybe Andre is a super manager or something like that.
Back from the commercial, the two combatants lock up again, and Orndorff gets the better of Bundy after some nice evasive tactics. Bundy regains control by ramming Orndorff’s head into the turnbuckle, then knee drops him for a 2 count. Orndorff blocks a backdrop attempt, knocks Bundy down with some punches, and drops a few elbows. The crowd is actually quite into Orndorff during this match. He misses an elbow drop, and Bundy comes back with a knee drop for another 2 count. Some variety, please. Bundy applies a chinlock on Mr. Wonderful, getting some apparently much needed rest, and Orndorff isn’t even able to fight his way out of it. Bundy sets him up for the AVALANCHE, misses, and Orndorff gets whipped into the corner again, only for Andre to grab him to stop him from leaving that corner. This time, Bundy lands the AVALANCHE, and wins the match via pinfall after about 8 minutes.
My Thoughts: Surprised Orndorff did any job there. I suppose Andre being involved can change things for people. So can good pay. This match wasn’t as good as either of the previous matches on the show, but it was nice to see a babyface who the crowd cares about do a job. Didn’t happen often then. *1/2 and I’ll be glad when Bundy’s gone. This version of Orndorff (without the Hogan momentum) was better in WCW as a tag team worker, so I’m looking forward to that.
The Young Stallions vs. The Hart Foundation for the WWF Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: Jimmy Hart won’t be out there due to his being attacked by Randy Savage. So, the Foundation will carry their own promo work! Neidhart did a particularly great job, and offended Okerlund so much that he walked off. Jim Powers is such a goofy looking guy, by the way.
Match Review: Neidhart and Roma lock up, and it’s clear to see that Roma is far too chiseled for that to be a natural look. He takes Neidhart down with an arm drag, and Powers tags in to be bodyslammed by Neidhart. Bret tags in, gets backdropped, and sunset flipped. That gets a 2 count for Powers. Powers lands a cross body for 2, which the crowd thought finished the match. Bret comes back with a hard knee, and gives Powers a backbreaker as well. In comes Neidhart, who then distracts the referee so that Bret can attack Powers. Evil stuff. Bret tags in legally, and knees Powers in the back as he runs the ropes. Up to the second rope, down with an elbow, and Bret also gives Powers a headbutt. Neidhart makes the legal switch, during which Powers genitals are nearly exposed. Yuck. Neidhart drops Powers throat-first on the top rope, tags out, and Powers tags out as well. Roma hits both Neidhart and Bret, and now all four guys are in. The Foundation is thrown into each other, then Neidhart is given a double dropkick. Roma gives Bret a great looking powerslam, but Neidhart breaks up the cover. While the referee ushers Powers out of the ring, the Foundation gives Roma a HART ATTACK, and that’s all for this match. Bret pins Roma, and wins at 4:35.
My Thoughts: This was a showcase match for the Hart Foundation, and a chance for the national audience to see the Young Stallions. Ultimately, the Stallions didn’t amount to anything, so in the greater scope of things, this match was a short, entertaining, yet meaningless match. **.
It should be mentioned that the show has transitioned straight from match to match so far. No dead time and no BS. Someone involved in WWE today should take a look at this show, it would help them to learn about timing out a PPV. Obviously this isn’t live, but regardless. So, Okerlund is now interviewing…THE MEGA POWERS! Savage gets this thing over to an amazing degree, then Hogan does his thing. This is, uh…big. More on that later.
Now, we have a world premiere of the “Piledriver” video! It’s the corniest shit you’ll ever see, but it just FEELS LIKE A PILEDRIVER….YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A PILEDRIVER!
And that’s the show! The Mega Powers were a blatant ripoff of Dusty and Nikita’s teaming up as the Super Powers, but obviously it turned out to be a lot better, and it made a hell of a lot more money. Ripoffs are a part of wrestling, that’s how it is. Sometimes they’re better, and sometimes they aren’t. This one was better because the team had the greatest draw in wrestling attached to it, and they had two great pitchmen as opposed to the Super Powers having one great pitchman. I don’t believe it was envisioned that this storyline would carry out all the way until 1989, but it did and that was a great achievement on the WWF’s part. It catapulted the company to the most comfortable financial position that they had up to that point. Obviously, the WWF and NWA’s direct competition with each other has just been ramped up. The build to Survivor Series will be interesting, and so will the other side’s build to Starrcade. They are taking place on the same night, and this rivalry is headed towards war. This was a short review, but that should be taken as a compliment towards the WWF. They managed their time so well that I couldn’t go on any tangents! My next article will be a somewhat light ‘NWA from August through November 1987’ piece. Not too much footage kicking around of that, but lots of backstage stories and panic. Check it out!
Wrestling Time: 33:34. That’s slightly more than the last SNME card. Considering that the Mega Powers angle was not part of this, that’s a ton of ring time for a show of 1 hour and 6 minutes, without commercials factoring into that time.
Best: THE MEGA POWERS, YEAH!
Worst: Bobby Heenan on commentary. He needed some work.
Card Rating: 8.5/10. Great show. It hit the marks that needed to be hit before Survivor Series, and there were no bad segments.
