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Random Network Reviews: Saturday Night’s Main Event 4/28/90
Loading...Saturday Night’s Main Event
April 28th, 1990 – Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas
Coming off of the successful WrestleMania VI, the WWF was in full Ultimate Warrior as WWF Champion mode. This would be the first Saturday Night’s Main Event to feature him at the top of company, but Hulk Hogan was still technically the main event guy. Theses Saturday Night’s Main Events are usually easy watches since they only run just over an hour.
We open with a montage of Superstars cutting short promos. Ultimate Warrior screams about reaching the outer limits or something. Bobby Heenan and Haku then talk about his title shot tonight. Mr. Perfect and Hulk Hogan trade insults as well since they also have a match. Down to ringside, where Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura welcome everyone on horses because they’re in Texas.
Mr. Perfect and the Genius are interviewed backstage, where Perfect claims that Hulk Hogan is a perfect loser. Hulk Hogan is also interviewed and rambles a bunch/
Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Perfect w/ The Genius
Jesse Ventura calls Hulk Hogan hard of hearing since he has to listen to the fans four times. God, I love heel commentators when done right. After some early stalling, Hogan hip tosses Perfect a few times, causing him to regroup outside. It seems like this will be a trend as when Hogan goes for the big boot, Perfect exits, only for Hogan to catch him outside. Ventura is just going on and on about how much of a cheater Hogan is. Inside, Hogan continues to pound away as this has been pretty one-sided so far. Perfect is bumping like a madman and a distraction from the Genius allows him to hit Hogan with a metal scroll. They go to commercial but it seems like we didn’t miss much. Perfect works Hogan over outside for a bit. However, when they go inside, Perfect misses an elbow, which leads to Hogan taking over until his back body drop attempt is stopped. Perfectplex hits but Hogan kicks out. HOW DARE HE? Ventura claims that Hogan grabbed the tights to kick out. Hogan is hulking up and you know what’s next. Big boot and leg drop seals the deal.
Winner: Hulk Hogan in 8:02
Pretty basic match. Hulk Hogan controlled, Mr. Perfect used heel tactics to turn the tide but Hogan was resilient. Standard Hogan stuff though fans seemed to buy the Perfectplex false finish. **½
A Rick Martel vignette airs about Arrogance before we go to Jesse Ventura interviewing Earthquake and Jimmy Hart. They say that Hillbilly Jim will squeal like a pig.
Earthquake w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Hillbilly Jim
Hillbilly Jim starts with a flurry on Earthquake that gets the crowd excited. He does the classic “clap your hands behind your opponent’s ears” move, which seems to always work. Jimmy Hart steals Jim’s “lucky horseshoe”, which distracts him and allows Earthquake to squash him. He drops an elbow on him before doing the Earthquake avalanche or whatever it’s called.
Winner: Earthquake in 1:58
Hillbilly Jim got in more offense than I expected. Thanks to the distraction he didn’t look too bad in defeated. *
After the match, Earthquake sits on Hillbilly Jim twice more and drops another elbow on him. He has to do the stretcher job out of the arena. We get another Rick Martel Arrogance video. “It’s arrogance for men, until we meet again.”
The Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers
In the pre-match interview, Jesse Ventura calls the Rockers some “somersaulting sissies.” Bret Hart opens with Mart Jannetty and they do some quick offense until Shawn gets tagged and dives in on Bret. The Rockers hit a double Russian leg sweep but once Jim Neidhart gets the tag, he uses his power. Shawn tries to slam him and fails, so he goes over him and dropkicks him. Anvil ends up powerslamming him before tagging his superior partner. Bret nails an inverted atomic drop and clothesline. When Anvil comes back in, he back body drops Shawn to the ceiling almost. Yea, I’m exaggerating, so what? Shawn continues to play the face in trouble as he is just taking a beating from the Hart Foundation. A big assisted shoulder thrust earns Neidhart two. Shawn utilizes a sunset flip for two as Demolition walks down to scout their potential challengers. Bret makes the mistake of getting distracted by the Tag Team Champions, allowing Shawn to dropkick him to the outside. Somehow, Shawn didn’t make the tag after that, as we return from commercial and Bret is still working him over. Bret misses a second rope elbow and Shawn makes the hot tag. Marty comes in rocking, pun intended. A nice powerslam an superkick on Bret gets a near fall as does a sunset flip. Bret tags Anvil and tries to catapult him in, but he misses Marty. Tag back to Shawn who COMPLETELY OVERSELLS an Anvil shoulder block. Shawn covers Anvil but the kick out is so hard that it sends him outside. Demolition tries to put him back inside, but Marty goes after them. This leads to everything breaking down and all three teams going at it.
Double disqualification in 9:31
Well, that was the best thing on the show so far. Both the Hart Foundation and the Rockers are great tag teams and it showed here. I really liked this and while the finish wasn’t ideal, it made sense in the crowded tag team title scene. ***¼
Another interview with Earthquake, who threatens to send Hulkamania into a crumbling heap of debris. Mean Gene then talks to Hulk Hogan who says he’s like a Texas Tornado (no, not the Von Erich kind) and that he will sweep through the Earthquake. After a recap of the Ultimate Challenge at WrestleMania, we get more pre-match interviews. Bobby Heenan absolutely destroys Texas in his promo while Ultimate Warrior’s is weird as fuck.
WWF Championship
The Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. Haku w/ Bobby Heenan
This is the first televised title defense for the Ultimate Warrior since he won it from Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania. Haku attacks before the bell but ends up being taken out before Warrior even removes his belt. Warrior does an arm wringer for longer than I expected before throwing Haku outside. Once he gets back in, he starts to gain the upper hand. Commentary does a good job of pointing out how much Heenan has studied the Warrior, which is why Haku know what to do here. You just don’t get that anymore. From out of nowhere, Warrior does his version of “hulking up” with some clotheslines. A big shoulder block and splash is enough to retain.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: The Ultimate Warrior in 4:49
Standard Ultimate Warrior stuff. It was done to get him a little defense on television and it was fine for what it was. **
Slick and Akeem are interviewed before our final match, and Akeem constantly moving around is fantastic. Big Boss Man’s stuff is standard stuff too.
Akeem w/ Slick vs. Big Boss Man
The former tag team partners, in the Twin Towers, go at it right at the bell. Boss Man slams down Akeem and hip tosses the African Dream. You know, Boss Man was a fairly agile big man. Akeem turns things around with a big clothesline in the corner and then rams his ass into Boss Man’s face in a bit of a precursor to Rikishi’s stink face. Akeem drops an elbow and splash but Boss Man kicks out. His piledriver attempt is reversed, sending Akeem over and out. He is brought in the hard way, and rammed into the turnbuckle a bunch before a weak Boss Man Slam hits. Instead of covering, he clearly stalls, which brings out Ted Dibiase and Virgil to attack.
Winner via disqualification: The Big Boss Man in 3:19
Nothing much here. Both guys looked strong and, even though the finish was a bit botched, it made sense. *½
Ted Dibiase handcuffs Boss Man to the ropes, while he and Virgil continues to pound on him. They get his nightstick, but Boss Man has keys because it’s HIS OWN DAMN HANDCUFFS. He gets free and clears the ring with his nightstick, chasing the heels to the back.
After another Arrogance promo, Bobby Heenan is interviewed and he says that he found some weaknesses in Ultimate Warrior. He brings up how Rick Rude is the only man to ever beat him for a title and that he’s going to be the one to take the WWF Title from him, setting the stage for their SummerSlam match. Mean Gene talks to the Warrior for his response and he shouts a lot
