Through the Years: Saturday Night’s Main Event #21

 

Hello once again, as here’s another review of some big time action. I do believe on this episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event, that we have another cage match between Hulk Hogan and the Big Boss Man. This time, it’s for the WWF Championship! For some reason, they taped this one a month beforehand. Did they want to have a good match on hand right before the release of No Holds Barred? Possibly. I’m also hoping for a strong tag team match to be paired with Hogan vs. Boss Man. Stack this show up some, please.

 

– Taped to air May 27th, 1989, from Veterans Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa

 

We open with Hogan cutting a promo with a cage fence in front of him, he’s gonna throw the book at the Big Boss Man, BROTHER. I guess that was the only opening promo. Darn. Judging by the introduction, we have King Duggan facing Rick Rude! The Macho Man against Jim Neidhart! Some other guys on the show!

Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon are still our hosts, and they say that there are three title matches tonight. Ventura talks about No Holds Barred, and Vince announces that Demolition will be defending their titles against the Brain Busters. Sounds great!

 

King Duggan vs. Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Pre-Match Thoughts: Before the match, the footage where Rude won his title was replayed. Rude and Heenan also have a promo, and Rude busts out my favorite line. JUST WIN BABY. THAT’S RIGHT, CLOSET RAIDERS FAN RICK RUDE. This strikes me as a strange clash of wrestlers and I don’t expect the match to be any good. This will be Hacksaw’s first match with this new gimmick. Seeing as the episode of Superstars where Duggan won the crown hadn’t aired when this was taped, I bet they did a match earlier on the card where Duggan stole the garb for this gimmick. He even gets carried out to the ring!

Match Review: These two lock up, and Rude tries a sunset flip after some rope running. Hacksaw hits him to block it, then clotheslines him over the top. Rude winds up on the apron, where Hacksaw suplexes him back in for 2. He follows with some clotheslines, and Rude falls down on his own. Rude is then bodyslammed, and Hacksaw drops a knee for 2. Hacksaw misses a charge to the corner, so Rude heads up top for a big right hand on the way down. Hacksaw gives him an inverted atomic drop, then picks Rude up for a piledriver. Such a crazy looking move. Rude gets his foot on the rope during the cover, and Hacksaw doesn’t win the match as a result. Haku runs out there to try to steal the crown back, and we go to a commercial as officials remove Haku from ringside.

Back from that commercial, we have Rude hitting Duggan with a dropkick. He drops a few elbows on him, they get a 2 count. He puts a chinlock on Hacksaw now, and Hacksaw gets out of it only to take a knee to the gut. Rude heads up top for a second time, and comes down with a fist drop. Rude tries ramming Hacksaw into the buckle, but it doesn’t do anything at all. Hacksaw backdrops Rude, and gets in 3 POINT STANCE…and clotheslines Rude out of the ring. The referee counts away, and counts Rude out at 7:15. Damn.

My Thoughts: I don’t know what the purpose of some of that was, but I guess Duggan had to go over in some way. At least they didn’t put the IC Title on him. Despite my saying that, this match was good. Both guys went really hard trying to put on an important match. I think they did a decent job of doing that. Surprisingly, that was fun too. I’ll give this **1/2 and I took some off because I didn’t like the finish. This aired on Memorial Day weekend, so I guess they wanted to have Hacksaw marching around the ring with the flag. There you go.

 

Randy Savage (w/Sensational Sherri) vs. Jim Neidhart

Pre-Match Thoughts: This matchup is so strange. It seems like yesterday that I was watching the SNME match between Bret Hart and Randy Savage. The roles were completely reversed, and in this match here, we have Savage facing the worse of the two Hart Foundation guys. Neidhart cut a great promo on Savage before the match, detailing why he hates the Macho Man. Random matches like these work for me. There is a big difference in crowd reaction for the Anvil and Bret Hart, you can notice it in comparing his reaction here to any of Bret’s from the same time period. Macho’s promo about regaining his belt was really good, too.

Match Review: Savage stalls for time early on, then the two men lock up and Sherri involves herself early by holding onto the Anvil. Neidhart blocks a sunset flip, then puts Savage in a bear hug. Savage rakes the eyes, knees Neidhart into the corner, and gives him a clothesline. Sherri chokes Neidhart, she’s getting a lot of heat for doing it. Savage heads up top now, and comes down with a double axehandle for 2. Neidhart falls on top during a failed bodyslam attempt for his own near fall, then heads to the apron. He flies in with a slingshot shoulderblock from the apron, and takes him down with a few more shoulderblocks. The Anvil follows with a clothesline, it gets 2. After a standing dropkick, he turns his attention to Sherri and scares her away. Savage gets hit with another dropkick, and the Anvil dishes out a powerslam for 2. Macho gets tied in the ropes now, and pounds away until Sherri unties him. Neidhart misses a charge and flops out of the ring, then Savage follows him to the outside with BOMBS AWAY! Savage sends him back in, hits him with the FLYING ELBOW, and picks up the pin at 5:54.

My Thoughts: This was another solid match, with another good finish. It was weird to see Neidhart in the role of a singles wrestler, but I thought he did fine. He didn’t have many of his own spots, so it was a bit strange for him I’m sure. **. Savage being paired with Sherri was an interesting twist, of course. Ultimately, I believe it detracted from what he was capable of doing. I need to go through his matches from the period, though.

 

The Big Boss Man (w/Slick) vs. Hulk Hogan in a STEEL CAGE MATCH for the WWF Championship

Pre-Match Thoughts: I can only hope this was as good as the match from MSG. The people need to see a repeat of the superplex spot. By the people, I mean myself, of course. The heel promo before the match puts over Slick for putting Boss Man into Hogan’s first title defense on national TV. Well, the first defense of his second title reign, that is. Slick claims that there’s some sort of surprise tonight. Please be Zeus. Slick grabs the microphone, and he introduces…ZEUS! YES! I can’t believe they went all-in on putting Zeus on their programming for as long as they did. Hogan walks out for his entrance, and Zeus is blocking the door. Haha. He boots Hogan, then starts hammering him into submission. Amazing pre-match.

Match Review: Hogan gets thrown into the ring, and the match will finally start. Boss Man chokes Hogan with his own tanktop, and throws him into the corner for good measure. Hogan comes back with a clothesline, and a big boot too. He goes to climb out for the first time, but Boss Man pulls him back in. He slams Hogan, hits him with a big splash, and goes for the door. Of course, Hogan clutches to his leg, but is given a spinebuster by Boss Man. Boss Man tries to climb over the top, and I believe we’re headed towards my favorite spot. Hogan pulls Boss Man back up to the top of the cage, and SUPERPLEXES HIM BACK IN. Wasn’t as good as the first time as the crowd didn’t react the same way, not that they ever saw it the first time. Hebner does the count to make sure they’re awake, and of course, Hogan is. He crawls toward the door, and Boss Man pulls him away from it. Boss Man has a chain that Slick threw to him, and starts choking Hogan with it. They then ram each other into the cage, and Hogan gets up to ram Boss Man’s head into the buckle. He now has the steel chain, and clocks Boss Man with it. Boss Man pops a blood capsule as a result, gets thrown across the cage, and Hogan leg drops him too. Time for him to go out now. Slick attacks the referee from behind and walks into the cage, to grab Hogan’s foot. Hogan kicks him away, and Boss Man tries to climb over the top. He gets crotched, Hogan gets handcuffs, and hits Slick with them. He cuffs Boss Man to the top rope, and tries to leave the cage, but that’s kind of impossible. Hogan reaches the floor at 10:01, and that’s a victory for him!

After the match, Hogan pulls Boss Man out of the cage and rams him into it, then turns his attention to Slick. He keeps Slick from leaving the cage, throws him into the fence, and that’s it. Glad that tired post-match routine is over.

My Thoughts: The match at MSG was much better to me in that it was the first time I saw it. This was simply very predictable because it was the second time I watched the same match. The crowd also cared more and they had better spots and more energy in doing those spots. I gave the previous one ***1/2, I’ll give this one ***. It just didn’t do it for me in the same way the house show match did. I’ll keep that in mind for the future when selecting which house show matches to watch. Great superplex spot, though!

 

The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Demolition for the WWF Tag Team Championships

Pre-Match Thoughts: I hope the Busters can get a good match out of Demolition. It’s about time that Demolition moves on to a better feud, and the Busters constantly bring good stuff to the table. Heenan talks on behalf of the Busters, it’s a waste of Tully and Arn’s ability with the microphone to barely be allowed to speak. Demolition is interviewed as well, they don’t say a hell of a lot, but that’s their thing. Unlike many other SNME tag team matches, this is only one fall.

Match Review: Smash shoves Tully down, and clotheslines him shortly after. Smash picks him up for a bear hug, then Arn attacks him from behind. He clotheslines both Brain Busters, then in comes Ax. He hits Arn with a back elbow, a bodyslam, and clotheslines Arn into his team’s corner. Smash tags in and pounds away, before putting a headlock on Arn. Tully knees Smash from behind, which allows his partner to take over. Arn suplexes Smash, who doesn’t sell the move and gives Arn a bodyslam. Tully heads in and is given an atomic drop and bodyslam, which clears the Busters from the ring. Tully blocks a charge by Ax with his knees, but is driven back into the corner and thrown to the outside where he gets elbowed off the apron. Smash puts Tully back in the ring, and Tully is clotheslined over the top onto Heenan. Weird spot. These shows put Bobby Heenan in far too strong a position.

After the commercial, it’s Ax and Tully in the ring. Ax puts Tully in a neck vice, then Smash tags in for a choke lift. Arn breaks it by kicking at Smash’s knee, then tags in officially. He holds Smash down and Tully tags in for a double axehandle, then he takes Smash out with a hotshot. Arn tags in for a SPINEBUSTER, and it gets 2. Tully tags in and struts around the ring, as he and Arn choke Smash in the corner. He did a good job drawing Ax in for the distraction. Arn tags in, drops the knee, and it gets 2. Arn uses a chinlock as a rest hold, but Smash powers out with a great reversal. Arn prevents a tag, then Tully tags in to dump Smash to the outside. When he gets back in, he and Arn knock each other out with right hands. They crawl to their corners, and Tully decides to knock Ax off the apron for some reason. Good way to prevent a tag. Of course, that brings Ax into the ring anway, and these guys fight with Ax eventually throwing down the referee. While Demolition gets the better of the fighting, they lost via disqualification at 9:15. They fought the Busters all the way to the back, which is a different wrinkle than other things that have happened on these SNME events.

My Thoughts: This was a solid match, but given the finish it lacked the finality that I would have preferred. It was interesting to see this match following a Tully & Arn vs. Road Warriors formula. Of course it wasn’t as good, but you know, it was still good. **3/4, no doubt they have more to come. As I said earlier, I really don’t like the way these shows position Heenan as being so strong, that isn’t a manager’s job.

 

Before the last match, it appears we have an interview with Randy Savage. This is pure house show promotion. Savage is the #1 contender, so Hogan better be ready!

 

Boris Zhukov (w/Slick) vs. Jimmy Snuka

Pre-Match Thoughts: Superfly is back as an active wrestler, and they gave him the absolute worst opponent that they could. Good job Vince. Snuka looks quite old and bloated, I have no idea why they brought him in. He didn’t even have name value anymore.

Match Review: Zhukov tries to ram Snuka’s head into the buckle to start the match, but of course it doesn’t do anything. Snuka returns the favor, and hits Zhukov with a flying forearm. After a backbreaker, Snuka heads up top for the SUPERFLY SPLASH. He lands it, and pins Zhukov at 1:11.

My Thoughts: The crowd popped big for the finish, so I suppose that’s why they brought him in. Snuka still looked like shit, and the match was a DUD.

 

Hulk Hogan is with Gene Mean, and Hogan talks about his encounter with Zeus. That’s the next thing. He promotes his movie, which they didn’t even show any clips of. Maybe they were cut out. Anyway, that’s the end of the show!

 

I wish they had went through with running Zeus vs. Hogan as a WrestleMania main event. If No Holds Barred had been profitable, they probably would have. Seeing as it wasn’t, they didn’t. This was a pretty good show, I thought. We had four nice matches, and a squash with a returning guy at the end. Good stuff, all things considered. I do find the locations of some of these shows very strange. Most of the TV tapings are kicked out to middle America, not the big markets you’d think that the WWF would look to hit. I guess that’s part of the formula though. Doing TV in the midwest probably drew in a lot more fans than the house shows did. Clash 7 is next!

Wrestling Time: 32:36. All of it was spent well.

Best: Hulk Hogan vs. Big Boss Man CAGE MATCH. Was neat to see a match with blood on NBC.

Worst: No Holds Barred promotion. Zeus. Take your pick.

Card Rating: 8/10. Fun way to spend an hour, and the wrestling was really good. It’s arguably the best wrestling show that the WWF put on NBC.