wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 10.14.89
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Back to WWF for our run through 1989. We are still dealing with the fallout from SummerSlam which means Hulk Hogan vs. Zeus is still the main program. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
-Date Aired: Oct 14, 1989 (Taped Sept 21, 1989)
-Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
-Attendance: 14,000
-NBC TV Rating: 9.5
-Hype interviews to start: Roddy Piper (facing Haku), Macho King (facing Snuka), The Bushwhackers (facing The Rougea Brothers), Ted Diabiase w/ Zeus (facing Hogan). Final word goes to Hogan.
-Play the opening!
-Vince and Jesse welcome us to the show and pitch to Sept 30 where Randy Savage was coronated as The Macho King after taking the crown from Jim Duggan. Savage was all in on the gimmick and Sherri was right there with him.
-To the pink curtains where Jesse is with The Macho King and Queen Sherri. Savage is a fair King and notes Jesse is his friend and can refer to him as The Macho King. This was great as they were just having fun together. Again, Macho King was AWESOME and only Booker T took to the gimmick better.
-To the silver curtain as Gene Okerlund is with Jimmy Snuka who notes he is a free man. Yep!
”Macho King” Randy Savage (w/ Queen Sherri) vs. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
-Purple and Orange combo with the tights and kneepads for Savage tonight which is a combo I don’t remember seeing often. Kind of jarring actually! Snuka starts quick as he knocks Savage on his ass and then hits an atomic drop that sends Savage through the ropes and to the floor. Snuka follows and fires off some chops. Savage begs off in the ring which lets Sherri grab Snuka’s leg. That gives Savage an opening and he hits a slam. He drops a knee for a two count. Savage uses the tights to send Snuka to the floor and then comes off the top rope with the double axe. Snuka falls into the railing and Sherri lays the high heels into him. Oh man, I just realized everyone in this match including the ref (Marella) have passed. Snuka starts to fire up and lands a headbutt. He throws chops in the corner and hits a sweet clothesline. Another headbutt and then a whip to the corner sends Savage upside down. He gets tied in the ropes and Snuka moves the ref out of the way as Jesse screams for a DQ. The ref has to pull Snuka away which lets Sherri give Savage her purse. Snuka goes after Sherri which is shocking as he doesn’t seem like someone who would attack a woman. Savage decks him from behind and gets a roll-up for the pin at 5:37.
Winner: “Macho King” Randy Savage via pin at 5:37
-This needed to be a more dominant win by Savage as Snuka was well past his prime. Needing help from Sherri and a roll-up win didn’t help. Sherri helping him and Savage winning with the elbow would have worked better. The crowd was into the match just because of the men involved, but it was super basic. **
-Savage continues to attack after the match, but misses The Flying Elbow. Snuka gets a slam and heads up, but Sherri throws herself on Savage. Vince wants Snuka to leap on both of them. So Vince wants to see a three way? Checks out! Snuka leaps over her and decks Savage which sends them packing.
-Jesse is at the pink curtains with Ted Dibiase and Zeus. The Zeus feud was running on fumes after SummerSlam, but they needed to do what they could to keep it running and put Zeus with Dibiase.
-To the silver curtains where Gene is with WWF Champion, Hulk Hogan. He ties his promo into checks and balances and market shares and being a stock holder. It’s Hogan in the 80s and it works.
WWF Title: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Ted Dibiase (w/ Zeus)
-I always enjoyed the story Dibiase tells that he had Hogan’s first match at MSG and Hogan told him he owed him and would pay him back one day, and that’s why Ted was given so many matches with Hogan during this time period. Zeus grabs Hogan’s leg early to give him something to think about the rest of the match. Hogan hits a series of shoulder blocks and Zeus grabs the leg again. Zeus and Hogan choke each other with the ref seeing it, but no bell as Jesse notes the ref has no way to know who made first contact. Not sure I agree with that reasoning, but whatever. Hogan fires Dibiase into the corner and then goes to ground and pound. The ref actually pulls Hogan off Dibiase which has Jesse applauding. Dibiase attacks from behind and then distracts the ref so Zeus can choke Hogan again. The crowd is going crazy for all of this. Jake Roberts is here as back-up for Hogan which has Dibiase pissed. That lets Hogan get a roll-up for two. Dibiase misses a series of elbows and Hogan starts throwing right hands. Mounted punches in the corner as the crowd chants along. Virgil is here and steals Damian and that causes Jake to run after him. Dibiase blasts Hogan from behind and hits a clothesline that sends him to the floor. That sends us to a break.
-60 seconds of Peacock commercials (again, I assume NBC commercials ran longer, so the match time will be off).
-Back at 5:02 with Dibiase throwing punches and stomping our champion. Clothesline gets a two count. Suplex from Dibiase as he shows off some power. That gets a two count! To the middle rope and Dibiase comes off with an elbow to the top of the head for two. Dibiase goes to a chinlock which lets the crowd get into it even more as they rally Hogan. He starts a comeback, but a double clothesline leaves both men down. Hogan gets to his feet first and makes the mistake of hitting the ropes by Zeus and gets a double axe to the back. I mean, yeah’s it’s cheating, but it’s kind of dumb of Hogan to keep going to those ropes. Dibiase drops a knee off the top, but there’s the big kick-out. HULK-UP! The punches have no effect, but Hogan’s are on point. BIG BOOT! Zeus in the ring to hook Hogan, but Dibiase ends up hitting Zeus with a clothesline by mistake. HOGAN GETS THE PIN WITH A SMALL PACKAGE AT 9:07.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan via pin at 9:07
-Again, time is likely off due to commercial break variance. Fun match that hit all the Hogan in the 80s notes. The crowd was way into it as you would expect and Dibiase with Zeus was enough of a threat to have the crowd believing something could happen. Hogan winning with a small package was kind of cool as I guess they wanted to protect Ted from losing clean to the usual. ***
-Hogan and Zeus have a showdown after the match and the crowd is standing. Dibiase hits Hogan from behind which lets Zeus twist Hogan’s neck. Dibiase hooks the Million Dollar Dream for a bit until Jake comes back down for the save.
-Recap of the issues between Rick Rude and Roddy Piper. Sweet beat down by Rude of Piper on The Brother Love Show.
-Jesse Ventura is at the pink curtains with Haku and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. The whole Heenan Family is out for revenge. Haku smiling here is kind of terrifying.
-To the silver curtains where Gene is Roddy Piper who makes fun of Haku’s face and says he is here and is here to stay.
Haku (w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan) vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
-Haku attacks before the bell and they just start teeing off on each other. Piper wins the exchange and a clothesline sends Haku to the floor. Piper with a Thesz Press off the apron and throws more punches. Piper decides to go after Heenan, but Haku makes the save before Piper can kick him in the junk. Back in the ring Haku throws some right hands and hits a back elbow. Sweet shoulder breaker gets a two count! Legdrop from Haku and he heads up, but misses the flying headbutt. Piper rams Haku’s head off the mat and throws more punches. He tosses Haku in the air and lets him fall on his face. Belly to Belly suplex gets the win at 3:03.
Winner: Roddy Piper via pin at 3:03
-Well, that was abrupt but a fun fight with good heat. *1/2
-Gene is back at the pink curtains with Ted Dibiase and Zeus. Ted is rather pissed at Jake Roberts and tells him he will have to pay the price. Zeus tells Hogan he won’t have anything to be thankful for come Thanksgiving.
-Gene is at the pink curtains with Rick Martel and Slick. He claims he carried Strike Force and tonight he guarantees everyone will see that tonight.
Rick Martel (w/ Slick) vs. TIto Santana
-Martel and Slick are accompanied to the ring by his teammates at Survivor Series: The Twin Towers and The Honky Tonk Man. Santana brings down his teammates (Red Rooster, Brutus Beefcake, and Dusty Rhodes) to even the sides. STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES as this is the best we got as far as a blow-off for what went down at WrestleMania V. Martel attacks at the bell, but Tito catches a kick and gets an atomic drop. Clothesline sends Martel through the ropes and to the floor. Tito heads out and rams Martel into the apron. He breaks the count and goes back out to lay in another right hand. Inside the ring, Martel begs off long enough to get in a shot to the gut. Tito counters a backdrop attempt with a sunset flip for two. Tito works the arm as the crowd is rocking with them. Tito gets a crossbody for two! Martel begs off again and is able to grab the trunks and send Tito face first into the middle buckle. Martel stomps away as I just realized Tito is still wearing Strike Force tights and boots. It’s time to move on man! They start trading right hands and Santana wins the exchange. Sweet backdrop sends Martel flying across the ring. The Flying Forearm connects, but Slick jumps on the apron to break the count. Boss Man gets on the apron and Dusty does as well to shout him down. A ref comes down to keep order between the teams as we take at break at 4:04.
-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!
-Back with Martel in control with right hands. Whip is reversed and Tito gets a hip-toss. Martel side steps a charge and Santana goes flying though the ropes and to the floor. Back in the ring Martel goes for the back as he drops some knees and elbows. Martel hooks a chinlock as Vince notes that Martel wants to be called a Model now. TIto fights out and we get an epic fight over a backslide. Tito wins the battle and gets a two count. Martel goes to a choke and breaks before the five count. Boston Crab from Martel, but Tito immediately gets to the ropes. Tito uses leverage to get a pin for a two count. Vince thought it was over there! Backbreaker from Martel as he regains control. He heads up top but takes too long and that lets Tito shake the ropes. Martel falls on his balls and Tito climbs the ropes to punch him in the face repeatedly. The crowd counts along as Martel is run into the buckle. Heavy forearm from Tito and he calls for the Figure Four. Slick on the apron and here comes The Boss Man. That brings in everyone else. EVERYONE HIT EVERYONE! The ref calls for the bell at 9:14 as this is a no contest.
Double Disqualification at 9:14
-Fun stuff with great heat and two guys that fought like they hated each other. Finish was just a way to hype Survivor Series which sucks as it would have been nice to get a winner. ***1/4
-Gene is at the silver curtains with Piper, who cuts another crazed Piper interview.
The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs. The Bushwhackers
-You have to appreciate The Bushwwhackers going from killing themselves with hardcore brawls to opening comedy team in the WWF making all the money. Great deal if you can get it! The Whackers throw punches to start which causes The Rougeau Brothers to bail to the floor. Jimmy Hart gets caught in a tug-of-war and ends up getting his pants ripped off. Again, this is all for the comedy and it’s working with the crowd. Hart gets sent to the back and The Rougeaus are pissed! Double team clotheslines to Butch. Jacques with a back elbow and then he mocks Butch. Raymond in and he accidentally gets caught with a knee from Jacques. Tag to Luke and the crowd explodes! Popeye Punch! Jacques floats over a backdrop attempt but gets dropped with a clothesline. The Rougeau Brothers are rammed into each other Jacques gets dropped with a Battering Ram and the double team gut buster finishes at 3:18.
Winner: The Bushwhackers via pin at 3:18
-Just a match to end the show. *1/2
-To the silver curtain as Gene is with Hulk Hogan, who heard the snap, crackle, and pop when Zeus was working on his neck. Plug for Survivor Series team as Hogan will be joined by Demolition and Jake Roberts.
-Vince and Jesse plug the next Saturday Night’s Main Event in November.
-Thanks for reading!
