It’s the 23rd episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event! Our last episode of SNME was just a month before Summerslam 1989. It’s 3 months later, and a few things have changed. At Summerslam, Rick Rude lost the Intercontinental Title back to the Ultimate Warrior due to the interference of Roddy Piper. Rude and Piper immediately launched into an incredibly hot feud that would continue through November of 1989 and showcase some great bouts, including one of the best steel cage matches in WWF history. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, now called The Brain Busters are still the tag team champions, having refused to make their Summerslam match against the Hart Foundation a title match. The Busters won the match anyway, so it was a moot point. In the Main Event of Summerslam, Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake defeated Zeus and Randy Savage. Speaking of Savage, he’s no longer the “Macho Man”. He’s now the “Macho KING”, having beaten King Hacksaw Jim Duggan in September.
We’re now 1 month before the final WWF PPV of 1989, the Survivor Series. Let’s see if any of the action in tonight’s episode will be relevant to the upcoming PPV.
The "Macho King" Randy Savage - vs - Jimmy " Superfly " Snuka
Savage and his “Queen” Sensational Sherri are carried to the ring on a large throne. Meanwhile, Snuka is interviewed by Gene Okerlund. The only unusual thing about the interview, is that you can understand everything that Snuka is actually saying. And if that last sentence went over your head, you really missed the Superfly back in the early 80s when he was at his unintelligible best, as far as his interviews were concerned.
As with most matches with Savage as a heel, Snuka starts out in control of the match, and is out maneuvering everything that both Savage and Sherri’s can throw at him. Eventually Sherri manages to tip the scales in Savage’s favor and the King takes control. Snuka eventually gets the advantage back, and Savage does a great job of selling Snuka’s offense. Eventually though, it’s Sherri who again tips the scales, as she distracts Snuka long enough for Savage to roll him up from behind for the 3 count. Afterward, Savage attempts to drop the flying elbow onto the fallen Snuka, but misses. Snuka then goes for his patented Superfly leap, but Sherri blocks Snuka from doing it, before helping her man escape and make their way to the back to celebrate their victory.
Not bad, but I was hoping for a better match between these two. No doubt, if this match took place between the Randy Savage of 1987 and the Jimmy Snuka of 1983, it would have probably brought the house down. This match was mainly used to get the new King of the WWF out in the spotlight before the Survivor Series, where he’ll be captaining his own team against a team led by Hacksaw Jim Duggan. No storyline development here.
Hulk Hogan - vs - Ted " Million Dollar Man " Dibiase with Zeus
At the upcoming Survivor Series, Hogan would be leading his team of Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Demolition against DiBiase’s Million $$$ Team of Zeus and the Powers of Pain.
Those of you familiar with Hulk Hogan’s matches, know that it doesn’t take much to review one of them, as so many of them start and end in the exact same manner. How good a Hogan match is, always depends on who he’s facing. DiBiase has always been one of Hogan’s best opponents, because DiBiase could carry just about anyone to a great match. Tonight, Ted also has “The Human Wrecking Machine” Zeus in his corner.
Hogan starts the match with the advantage, but his momentum keeps being broken up by Zeus and Virgil’s constant interference. As a result, DiBiase is able to enjoy a bit more advantage than usual. That is, until Jake Roberts comes down to run Virgil off. DiBiase is still controlling things for the most part, but Even Zeus can’t stop Hogan from his customary “Hulk Up” routine. Zeus sees it though, and comes in the ring to double team Hogan with DiBiase. It backfires though, as Ted accidentally clotheslines Zeus instead of the Hulkster. Ted is shocked, and trying to placate Zeus when Hogan rolls up Ted in a small package for the 3 count. Afterward, Hogan and Zeus square off, but Hogan comes out the worst for wear. DiBiase then slaps the Million$$$ Dream on Hogan until Jake Roberts runs in to make the save.
While Hogan and DiBiase had much better matches in late 87 and early 1988, this one was at least not the same “Hogan by the Numbers” match that we always seem to get. It’s probably the first time I’ve ever seen Hogan use a small package. Not too bad here, as we got to see a preview of Hogan and DiBiase’s teams for the Survivor Series. Though I don’t have any idea as to why neither Demolition or the Powers of Pain were involved in the match.
Haku - vs - " Rowdy " Roddy Piper
Prior to the match, we see video footage of Piper mooning Rick Rude at Summerslam, as well as Rude viciously attacking Piper on the set of the Brother Love show. Tonight Piper has to face Rude’s fellow Heenan Family member, Haku
The start of the match itself is prettymuch a brawl fest, as Piper beats the hell out of Haku at the start. Piper then goes after Bobby Heenan before being attacked from behind by Haku. From there Haku methodically works Piper over with his customary martial arts style attacks. Haku misses a top rope splash though, and It’s Piper again with more kicking, and punching. He then surprises the hell out of Haku (and everyone else in the arena) with a belly-to-belly suplex for the 3 count. Haku is apparently so shocked that Piper used a wrestling move, that he didn’t get up in time.
This match wasn’t much better than the Hogan match before it. Like the Savage match though, the main purpose was to put Piper on TV before the PPV. Piper will be leading his own team against a team led by Rick Rude.
Tito Santana - vs - Rick Martel
Formerly known as Strike Force, the WWF’s most popular team in 1987 and co-holders of the WWF Tag Team Titles, Santana and Martel are now bitter enemies. A Strike Force reunion match at Wrestlemania 5 against the Brainbusters went badly when Santana accidentally hit Martel. Martel walked off in disgust, leaving Santana to face the Brainbusters by himself (he lost of course). From there, Santana and Martel (now known as “The Model”) proceeded to feud throughout the summer.
Martel doesn’t come to the ring alone, as he’s accompanied by his Survivor Series Teammates, Honkytonk Man, Akeem & The Big Bossman. Santana decides to even the odds by bringing out his own Survivor Series team of the Red Rooster, Dusty Rhodes & Brutus Beefcake, making this one on one match look more like a lumberjack match. Santana & Martel worked real well in the ring together as they were very evenly matched. Both men traded off the advantage numerous times with little interference by their teammates who were still at ringside. It couldn’t last forever though, as Santana eventually attacked Slick, causing the Big Bossman to run in, causing Dusty Rhodes to run in, causing EVERYONE ELSE to run in for a massive no contest finish.
This was probably the best match of the night. That’s not saying a whole lot considering the other matches on the card, but it was still pretty good. Like the other matches, we have the principle players in a specific Survivor Series match going at it, but unlike the others, we got to see both teams get in on the action.
Rougeau Brothers - vs - The Bushwackers
I loved watching Jacques and Raymond Rougeau wrestle. They were the perfect foil for the Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Janetty) at the time. The Rougeaus combined classic rulebreaking with great tag team cohesion and double teaming to make a great heel team. Why the WWF put them in the ring tonight against the Bushwhackers instead of the Rockers is beyond me. I guess since none of the other matches were outstanding, the WWF didn’t want to spoil the pattern.
Anyway, it looks like the Rougeaus do their best to make this match work, but there was only so much you could do with the Bushwhackers. In the end, the Rougeaus still looked good doing what they did best. To their credit, they still managed to carry the Bushwhackers to a match that I’d only classify as “bad”. Which is about as much as you can expect here. And to make matters worse, the Rougeaus despite working rings around the Bushwhackers, still lost the match with a clean pinfall.
Like I said earlier, I’d have loved to see the Rougeaus against the Rockers, who have never met on TV in a full 2 on 2 match that didn’t end in a no contest or a disqualification. Even better, I’d have been even happier to see the Rougeaus in a heel v. heel tag match against the Brain Busters for the WWF Tag Team Titles. Tell me that match wouldn’t have ruled! I’ll never know why they went with the Bushwhackers. It sure as hell didn’t help the show any. Too bad, as it was the last match on the card.
I have to say, I was disappointed in this show. The WWF had been running a pretty good string of great SNMEs up to this point. This episode didn’t live up to expectations. They still managed to do a decent buildup to the Survivor Series, but they could have put on a much better show than this. This was also the only episode of SNME during the Brainbuster’s tenure that they didn’t actually appear on the show. The WWF could definitely have used them tonight.
My Score: 6.5
Feel free to drop me a line at gnagus@comcast.net or post some feedback on the Oratory’s message board and let me know what you thought. Thanks again for reading.
-Corey
