Sage Cortez
It’s time for yet another review of a Saturday Night’s Main Event! This one is #11, as you can see by reading the title of this article. For whatever reason, the TV portion of this card didn’t have a Hulk Hogan match. Instead he and Ken Patera faced Andre the Giant and Hercules on the un-televised portion. Obviously, that match drew in a sell-out crowd for the whole taping. Despite not having Hogan on NBC, the WWF still did a good rating for the episode. After a lot of positive WM III press, the WWF was just getting back in gear with their taping and road schedule. Obviously the goal was to keep momentum going, and looking at the card beforehand, they certainly came up with something good. Now that these are on WWE Network, they’re much easier to watch. Let’s get to it!
– Taped to air May 2nd, 1987, from Joyce Athletic & Convocation Center in South Bend, Indiana
Opening vignette starts with Randy Savage being very angry at George Steele. Amazing promo. He’s facing Steele in a lumberjack match! Ricky Steamboat talks about his title defense against Hercules! The Hart Foundation talks about their match against the British Bulldogs! YES! HACKSAW! HACKSAW’S GONNA TAKE OUT SOME COMMIES! Heenan says something on Andre the Giant’s behalf, and Hulk Hogan responds, but who cares! HACKSAW! COMMIES! IT’S TIME!
Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon then have a few comments, leading us into…a video highlight of something from a different taping. Bobby Heenan and Ken Patera were having a debate. Patera has gotten out of jail after the McDonalds incident with the rock, so he’s back. At this debate, Bobby Heenan took off his belt and tried to whip Patera with it. So of course, Patera kicked his ass. And now Heenan’s wearing THE NECKBRACE. YES! Patera’s claim is that Heenan sold him down the river, which is really stupid, but we’ll roll with it. Fans of Prime Time Wrestling know what I’m talking about when I reference the neckbrace.
Kamala (w/Mr. Fuji & Kimchee) vs. Jake Roberts
Pre-Match Thoughts: WHERE THE HELL DID CURTIS IAUKEA GO? This is terrible! Instead of him being there, Mr. Fuji cuts a promo on Kamala’s behalf. It’s actually kind of funny, but Kamala’s gimmick is so detestable that it’s hard to enjoy anything with him in it. After his entrance, the video of Honky destroying Jake with a guitar is shown. Jake is also interviewed by Gene Mean, then he makes his entrance and we’re underway.
Match Review: Jake tosses his snake at Kamala once he gets in the ring, and after Kamala bails out of the ring, it goes back in the bag. Kamala tries to attack Jake from behind, and does so with some hard chops. Jake comes back with some stiff punches, but gets chopped in the throat by the fat guy. Kamala puts Roberts in a bear hug, but Jake stomps on Kamala’s bare feet to break it. Ventura noticed that Kamala’s bare feet are potentially a problem in the ring. I like that kind of commentary. Kamala chops Jake in the head to knock him down, and chokes his much beloved foe. Kamala also gives him a headbutt, and another crappy chop. His offense is brutal. Kamala follows Jake to the outside, then comes back in and Jake attacks him. Good psychology there. Jake goes up to the second turnbuckle and hits Kamala with a great looking high knee, causing the crowd to go insane. Jake signals for the DDT, and Fuji distracts the referee. So Kimchee runs in, clotheslines Jake from behind, and leaves. Kamala follows with a splash, and gets the victory at 4:18. My snap reaction to that was…
Awful booking. In the eyes of the fans, Jake just lost to a guy who wasn’t even on the WrestleMania card. In actuality, Jake lost because he had a messed up shoulder and needed surgery. Necessary booking, but they had him lose to a guy who wasn’t going to be around very long. Don’t know what the plan was. Then I watched what happened after the match…
Kimchee takes off his jacket, mask, and it’s…THE HONKY TONK MAN. VINNIE MAC IS OUTRAGED. HTM drops a few elbows on Jake, and gives him the SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL. HOW EVIL.
My Thoughts: BRILLIANT BOOKING. They suckered me in bad. It’s so rare that I get surprised by anything in old school wrestling, but that did it. 1/4* for the match. It was poor, but the post-match was one of the best executed in the history of this NBC program. They got me good. Essentially Kamala got absolutely no rub from beating Jake, it all fell on HTM and his push was on.
Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. George Steele in a LUMBERJACK MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is their last match. For real this time. Vince McMahon says so. Before the match, George Steele is asked what a lumberjack match is. He doesn’t know. So corny. After more lumberjacks are introduced, Ricky Steamboat meets up with Gene Mean and tells him that he’ll teach Steele what a lumberjack match is. Savage is interviewed as well, and he’s pissed about WrestleMania III. The way he treats Elizabeth is cold. The lumberjacks tonight are the Hart Foundation, Danny Davis, Tito Santana, the British Bulldogs, Honky Tonk Man, KIMCHEE (the real one!), HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN, the Can-Am Connection, the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Hercules, and Ricky Steamboat. As we now know, Kimchee and Honky Tonk Man weren’t the same wrestler.
Before the match, Hercules and Steamboat nearly start fighting. Vince sounds like he’s going to jerk off to Elizabeth. Standard stuff. Ventura then accuses Steele of molesting Elizabeth, and we’re off.
Match Review: Savage attacks Steele from behind, while Steele is “molesting Elizabeth.” Steele hip tosses him, and sends him to the outside, then Savage gets thrown back in by the Bulldogs. Steele launches Savage into the turnbuckle, he tries to leave again, and the Bulldogs get in the way. Steele bites Savage, and tries to rip Macho Man’s nose off. Cool. Hilarious how the Bulldogs are the only people shoving Savage back into the ring. Steele then gets thrown into the corner, and tied up in the ropes. Eventually the Animal falls out of the ring, and gets pushed back in by Steamboat & Duggan. What a tag team that would have been. Savage heads up to the top rope now, and back down with a double axehandle. Steele goes to the outside again, and this time all of the heels beat him up. Until HACKSAW RESCUES STEELE, THAT IS. He chases the Iranian and the Commie around the ring, into the ring, and then out of the ring, getting himself kicked out from ringside. That’s too bad.
We come back from commercial with Steele on the outside, and he punches Danny Davis! He comes back inside, slams Savage, and gives him a choke-lift. Steele then tears apart a turnbuckle, and shoves the stuffing in Savage’s face. Savage comes back with a suplex and a knee drop, then pushes Steele to the outside again. Steele gets chucked back in, and then Savage goes out. Steamboat rushes over, and tosses Savage right back in. No dirty stuff from that guy. Steele bites Savage, and tosses him over the top rope. This time, Savage punches Steamboat in the face. Hercules attacks Steamboat from behind, and now everyone’s fighting. During the mayhem, Danny Davis rushes into the ring with the bell, and clocks Steele in the head with it. Of course the referee was trying to make the lumberjacks stop fighting. Savage heads up top, DOWN WITH THE FLYING ELBOW, and covers for the victory at 6:44.
Steamboat then enters the ring, punches Savage, and is once again attacked by Hercules. There’s a gigantic fight in the ring, and BAH GAWD HERE’S JAKE THE SNAKE ROBERTS. He rushes in with Damien, and chokes Kimchee with the snake. YES! IT’S KILLING HIM! Sadly, Kimchee leaves, and that’s it.
My Thoughts: A super long feud is finally over. Hopefully they can find something else for Savage to do. I’d hate to watch him do nothing for the few months before his babyface turn. This wasn’t great, but had quite a bit of action. *3/4. I really liked the bit with Roberts after the match. I don’t know where Steele goes from this point. There’s no chance of him having another program with a worker this good, so he will be one to avoid for a while.
The program then cuts over to Gene Mean, Andre the Giant, and Bobby Heenan talking about WrestleMania III. Andre claims that he was cheated. The referees favor Hogan, and Jack Tunney favors Hogan. Heenan claims that the blocked bodyslam at the beginning of the match should have led to Andre getting a pinfall and title victory. Fair claim.
There’s a commercial before the match, but prior to that, Jim Duggan has a promo inserted in where he reiterates that Volkoff will not be singing that Soviet anthem in his country. The match related to that storyline is later on.
The British Bulldogs (w/Tito Santana) vs. The Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis) in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the WWF Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: Of course, the Hart Foundation are interviewed. They’re hilariously evil, even though Jimmy Hart does all the talking for them. Funny how Danny Davis was going to attack Okerlund. Feel slightly bad for Tito being a bit part in this angle. He’s there to even the odds. Before everything starts, Matilda the bulldog chases Jimmy Hart out of the ring. Well done.
Fall #1: The match begins with Bret and Davey in the ring. Davey and Bret do some great wrestling, fighting over a wristlock. Bret grabs Davey’s hair to reverse that into a headlock, but when they get back on their feet, Davey gives him a monkey flip. Davey also gives Bret a crucifix, and it gets 2. He follows that with a shoulderblock, and Bret hits him with a hard knee to the gut. Neidhart tags in, pulls some hair, and distracts the referee so that Bret can choke Davey Boy. Bret tags in legally, and gives Smith a backbreaker. After a leg drop, he tries a charge to the corner and gets kneed in the face. A very slight looking Dynamite Kid tags in, as I wonder how he could possibly do any work in this. He tosses Bret into the buckle, and lands a strong clothesline for a near fall. Dynamite gives Bret a snap suplex for 2, and the falling headbutt. Shouldn’t be doing that. Afterwards, Neidhart rushes to the ring, and the Foundation double teams Dynamite like crazy. Santana chases Davis and Jimmy Hart around the ring, as the bell rings due to a disqualification at 4:34. Loving this evil Hart Foundation act.
Fall #2: We come back from commercial with Dynamite taking a pounding from the champions. Neidhart’s in the ring with him, and has bloodied his nose. Neidhart tags in Bret, and gives Dynamite a backbreaker, setting Bret up for an elbow drop from the second rope. That double team gets 2, and Dynamite tries fighting back to his corner. He can’t make it, but Bret’s able to tag in Neidhart. Neidhart persists with a front face-lock, and Bret draws Davey into the ring by attacking him. That allows Neidhart to choke Dynamite. Then Bret leaves the ring, and Davey chases Davis & Bret around the ring. Hell yeah, these chase spots. They’re AWESOME, and the crowd gets crazy into them. Joey Marella eventually restores order, at which point Neidhart bites Dynamite. That is disgusting. Bret tags in, and sets Dynamite up for his awesome bodypress into the ropes spot. It goes off as planned, with Dynamite ducking and Bret catapulting himself into the two upper ropes. I LOVE THAT. It looks super dangerous, but it isn’t at all. Dynamite finally makes the tag, and Davey flies in with a dropkick to Neidhart. He hits Neidhart with another, and follows with a massive clothesline. Davey also gives Neidhart that delayed vertical suplex, showing crazy strength to do that to somebody so big. Neidhart then blocks a backdrop, and Bret locks Davey up for a double team. Neidhart charges over towards them, clocks his partner, and Danny Davis gets on the apron next. Santana rushes through the ring, and CLOBBERS DAVIS. FUCK YES. This is pure fan service right here. Then Davey picks Dynamite up, gorilla presses him onto Neidhart and BAH GAWD WE GOT NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS HOLY SHIT I CAN’T BELIEVE IT.
Time of that was 9:48, and the pop was one of the loudest I’ve heard. If only the fans knew what I knew. When they saw the Foundation leave with the titles, they didn’t get it. Don’t know if they had Finkel explain it in the arena, but because the Bulldogs won one fall via disqualification, they couldn’t win the titles. Same as applies to a one fall match.
My Thoughts: That’s one of the best finishes ever devised for a wrestling match, in terms of Davis getting his, the Bulldogs “winning” the tag team titles back, and all of that. The technicality wasn’t a technicality, it was a perfect explanation for them not winning the titles. This was a good match. There were a lot of distractions to keep people from noticing that Dynamite could hardly move, and when he was on offense he did enough that you couldn’t really tell unless you knew of his back injury. Bret and Davey worked particularly hard, and the guys on the outside played a great part. ***. Before this taping took place, Neidhart’s trial on charges of hitting a stewardess happened. He was acquitted, and according to the WON, one witness favored his accuser, and 17 did not. I guess that means the WWF was ready to run with the Hart Foundation.
In the back, Hulk Hogan is oiled up, tanned, wearing his championship belt and ready to be interviewed by Gene Okerlund. He talks about what it was like to face Andre, in the way that only Hogan can talk about it. Talks about Mt. Vesuvius and shit. How can you even recap that? Lastly, Hogan responds to Andre’s comments from earlier. Andre can have another title match whenever he wants one. I’ve gotta assume that they thought Andre was going to be back in the ring soon. These sound like promos that are selling something, and in hindsight they’re selling something that never happened.
Hercules (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Ricky Steamboat for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Belt looks good on Steamboat, but it’s a weird visual because he rarely defended it. These two had a very good match at WrestleMania 2, and hopefully they can do the same having less time to work with. In the back, Randy Savage is watching the match on a monitor. He wants Steamboat to remain champion tonight so that he can face Steamboat again! That’s a great touch.
Match Review: The two gladiators lock up, but I can’t figure out why considering that they started to punch each other relentlessly. Hercules got the better of it, but Steamboat responds with a couple of dropkicks and chops Hercules to the outside. Steamboat follows, and gives Hercules an atomic drop. Back inside, Hercules grabs Steamboat’s tights and knocks him into the turnbuckle. Then we get an AWESOME insert of Savage watching this match. Hercules puts the boots to Steamboat, and gives him a clothesline. Savage is getting more and more upset, as Hercules covers for 2. Steamboat then comes off the ropes, and lands some chops, only for Hercules to knock him down again. Steamboat comes back from that by giving Hercules a swinging neckbreaker, but gets scratched in the face. Hercules applies the FULL NELSON, as Savage complains about what’s happening. THIS IS AMAZING. Here comes Savage, and he grabs Hercules foot to force him to release the hold. HA! Hercules argues with him, and he leaves, but Savage has already done enough damage to Hercules chances of winning this title.
After a commercial, Hercules heads up top, comes down with a big splash, and it gets blocked. Savage is still standing at ringside, and he sees Hercules slam Steamboat. Hercules misses an elbow drop, then misses a charge to the corner as well. Steamboat comes back with more chops, and lands a big one after whipping Hercules into the corner. Steamboat tries to give Hercules 10 punches in the corner, but Hercules gives him an inverted atomic drop. Hercules now grabs his chain, puts it around Steamboat’s neck, and that gets him disqualified at 6:42.
The crowd really wants Savage to save Steamboat, but why the hell would that happen? He doesn’t, of course. After Finkel announces that Steamboat is still the champion, Savage climbs into the ring, goes to the top rope, and comes down with the ELBOW DROP!
My Thoughts: I don’t understand what the logic was there. Hercules getting disqualified didn’t help him in any way, it only helped the guy who ruined his best chance of winning the title. They also made Steamboat look like a very weak champion. Considering he didn’t defend his belt for very long, that’s hardly surprising. **1/4.
Before this match, HACKSAW is interviewed by Gene Mean, and he has bought a ticket to sit at ringside. They’re trying really hard to get this guy over.
The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/Slick) vs. The Can-Am Connection
Pre-Match Thoughts: The Connection is one of the most babyface looking teams that I’ve ever seen. Women must like them. I don’t think very many men would. Slick has a promo before his team is introduced, and he pretty much says that he’s a communist. Awesome. Volkoff is going to sing that commie anthem again. And because of that, Duggan hops the railing and hits him with the 2×4. HAHA. USA USA USA USA.
Match Review: We start after the commercial, and it’s Martel and Volkoff in there. Martel evades a charge to the corner, lands two dropkicks to make the ladies happy, and then both guys tag out. The Connection gives Sheik a double hip toss, but Zenk gets kicked afterward. Sheik gives Zenk a gutwrench suplex for 2, as Duggan tries to cheer on Zenk from his ringside seat. Sheik follows with a suplex, getting 2 again. Volkoff tags in, and gives out his super crappy offense. Sheik re-enters, and gives Zenk a belly to belly suplex for 2. Now he puts an abdominal stretch on Zenk, until Zenk breaks free with a hip toss reversal. Sheik then lands a clothesline, and spits on Zenk. What an ass. Zenk is then thrown to the outside, right in front of Duggan. Martel also gets thrown out, and Zenk gets double teamed by the heels. Zenk gets chucked back into the ring, and eventually Duggan gets in the ring too. For some reason the referee does nothing about that. Martel rolls up Sheik from behind, and gets a 3 count at 4:45.
What a strange finish. Jesse went crazy over it. The heels then triple up on Duggan, knocking him out of the ring. Duggan and the Can-Am Connection come in, chase them to the back, and I guess that’s the show.
My Thoughts: Match was nothing special, was mostly used to get Hacksaw over…and then for some bizarre reason he got attacked at the end. Didn’t get that. It’s hard to rate this based on wrestling action, but my best guess is *1/2.
So, that’s another SNME in the books, and it’s one that turned out to be completely wasted from a long term perspective. In the short term, I thought it was a good episode with some enjoyable matches and angles. From the long term perspective, it did a nice rating, but it built to angles that never happened. Duggan and Sheik got busted with drugs. Andre didn’t come back until the end of the summer. Dynamite’s back was destroyed, so the Bulldogs couldn’t be programmed with the Hart Foundation for very long. Steamboat took off. It’s hard to have a good show for the summer when the work to put one together all falls apart. Considering that, SummerSlam could never have come together a year earlier than it did. Although it was done purely out of spite, Survivor Series coming together as it did was remarkable. So was the Royal Rumble. Let’s see how the summer of 1987 turns out, but I’m not eagerly anticipating it. We’ll be going back to April and May of that month with my next article!
Wrestling Time: 32:17. That’s half the show, a solid number.
Best: The British Bulldogs vs. The Hart Foundation. Despite Dynamite’s limitations, this was really good.
Worst: Kamala vs. Jake Roberts. Strictly as a match. Kamala’s performance was awful.
Card Rating: 7/10. Every segment was entertaining in some way, and I enjoyed the show overall.
