Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Main Event III 02.23.90

-Next up for WWF is the 3rd installment of The Main Event. This was the yearly special done on Friday Night to what was typically their largest audience. The Main Event I with Hogan and Andre did 33 million viewers (still a record for wrestling in North America). This show actually had more viewers that the Main Event II which featured the explosion of The Mega Powers. Speaking of which, it’s Hogan/Savage for the final time on WWF television and even with Savage being shunted down the card it was enough to draw viewers. The intrigue is this was hyped for Mike Tyson to be the special ref, but fate stepped in and he got KNOCKED OUT by Buster Douglas just 12 days before this show. Vince and company had to scramble and Buster Douglas is now the special ref. I assume if Tyson had won, and made this show, the audience would have been even larger. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
-Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI
-Feb. 23, 1990
-Attendance: 21,000
-NBC Rating: 12.8 (20.9 Million)

-Here is the rundown of all the matches the crowd in Detroit got to see that didn’t air on NBC.

-Earthquake over Ronnie Garvin (5:12), Dusty Rhodes over Mr. Perfect (11:26), Ted Dibiase over Jake Roberts (10:28), WWF Tag Titles: The Colossal Connection (c) over. Demolition (10:04), Bad News Brown over Tito Santana (5:31), Rick Martel over Brutus Beefcake (12:15), Lumberjack Match: Rick Rude vs. Roddy Pipe (Double DQ 13:00).



-That is a rather star powered run of dark matches and when you have Hogan/Savage and Warrior in a match, it’s no wonder they drew 21,000.

-They brought back the opening promos! Savage makes boxing references and even rhymes his promo like Ali. Cool!



-Buster Douglas gets instructions from Jack Tunney and his manager, who looks like Terry Taylor.

-Hulk Hogan cuts a Hogan promo as he combines all the ingredients and promises something will explode.

-Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura welcome us to the show and tonight we get a WWF Title Match with Hogan/Savage and Warrior defending The IC Title against Dino Bravo. McMahon says Tyson’s management pulled Tyson out at the last moment and Ventura gets to bury Tyson on commentary as they put over Douglas. Vince can put on a brave face, but he had to be PISSED when he saw Tyson crawling on the canvas looking for his mouthpiece.

-No curtains for this show as Gene Oklerlund is backstage in the locker room with Macho King and Queen Sherri. Macho accuses Tyson’s grandma of being a Hulk-A-Maniac, so he is cool with him not being here. He then takes shots at Buster Douglas and makes sure to note he was the man that knocked out Mike Tyson. Sherri just screams along as Macho’s hype man. Again, they are great together!

-Gene is backstage with Hulk Hogan, who hopes Douglas has the heart and is not a flash in the pan. Well, about that! No matter as he will always be known as the man that KNOCKED OUT MIKE TYSON! Hogan notes this is the last time he faces Randy Savage. Then WCW threw a bunch of money at both of them. Not judging either as make all the money you can, and obviously they both still had a lot of juice left.

-To Gene one more time as he is with Buster Douglas. I wonder how much money Vince threw at him to take Tyson’s spot on short notice? Buster takes more shots at Tyson as I assume Vince told everyone to get in any digs they could.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. “Macho King” Randy Savage (w/ Queen Sherri)

-As I have mentioned countless times, these are my two favorite wrestlers of all time and I could watch them wrestle each other every day of the week. I was ready for a match between them in TNA if it ever happened. Douglas is actually the ref on the outside and we have Hebnar as the ref inside. After 13 minutes of interviews, and entrances, we finally have a bell. Hogan shoves Savage across the ring to start, so Savage bails to the floor. He takes off his shirt and throws it at Hogan. Back in Hogan gets a shoulder block and Savage bails to the floor again. He tries to follow, but Buster Douglas keeps him back. He tells Savage to get back in the ring and we have another go. Savage with a knee to the gut and then goes to the eyes. He drapes Hogan throat first over the top rope and then hits a knee to the back that sends Hogan to the floor. Savage up top, but Douglas steps in the way again. Back in the ring Hogan grabs Sherri and Savage accidentally knees her as she takes her normal crazy bump. To the corner where Hogan fires off chops and hitting the running back elbow. Hogan gets the mounted punches in the corner and stop at seven. Probably afraid to go any higher and piss off seven, because seven ate nine. Yes, I made that joke! Hogan threatens to throw Hebnar out of the ring. Man, who would Bret cheer for in that fight? Actually, I assume Hebnar. Sherri grabs the leg and that lets Savage regain the advantage. He drops an elbow to the back of the head and gets a hooking clothesline for two. Knee gets two, so Savage goes to a choke. He uses his boot to choke as Jesse notes Savage has a five count to break. Sherri chokes Hogan and Douglas yells at her and then ejects her from ringside. Jesse is pissed, but I mean, she was choking Hogan right in front of him. Douglas follows her to the back as we take a commercial break at 5:50.

-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!

-Back at 6:53 with Douglas heading back to the ring and for whatever reason we get a bell. In the ring Savage has a sleeper on Hogan. The arm is up before it drops a third time and Hogan elbows his way out to escape. Running shoulder tackle, but Savage gets another hooking clothesline. He tries to pin Hogan with one foot, but no dice. Hogan outside and this time Savage hits the double axe to the floor. Savage up top and hits another double ax back inside the ring for two. Hogan gets choked on the top rope as Jesse is raging against the cadence Hebnar has with his count. Savage fires off some rights and that sends Hogan to the floor. Savage tries to come off top again, but Douglas blocks. Savage gets an elbow on the apron and slams Hogan. He comes off top with The Flying Elbow, but it’s WrestleMania V all over again as Hogan kicks out and starts to Hulk Up. You can faintly hear some boos. Three punches and a big foot, but Savage rolls to the floor. They fight out there and Savage rakes the face, but Hogan shakes it off. A right hand knocks Savage into the ref. Hogan drops the leg and Douglas is in with what appeared to be a fast count at 10:55 and it also looked like Savage kicked out, but I guess it counts.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan via pin at 10:55
-As mentioned, it’s Hogan/Savage so I will always enjoy it. The ending was wonky as I don’t know what was up with the count or Savage kicking out at two. This wasn’t their best match, but the crowd loved it and they never had a bigger audience for one of their matches. **3/4

-Savage is rightly pissed, but wanting to box the man who just knocked out Mike Tyson seems to be kind of dumb. Jesse notes Savage needs to wrestle him and not box. Savage asks Buster what the five fingers said to the face. SLAP! Savage struts around the ring and the crowd is going crazy. Hogan just wants to see something happen so he shoves Savage and Buster kind of lands a right hand that Savage doesn’t sell, so Buster throws a second one to drop Savage.

-To the back where Warrior talks about Saturn and Mercury and how he can feel something happening tonight.

-Hogan continues to pose and shakes hands and then hugs Buster Douglas.

-Jesse is backstage with Dino Bravo, Jimmy Hart, and Earthquake. Jimmy notes Earthquake is a better policy than Lloyds of London. Not sure about that one based on all the wrestlers that made BANK off them.

-Gene is backstage as Warrior notes he doesn’t need health insurance. Well, I guess he wasn’t in favor of a union. His blood is a different consistency and the waves in his mind speak to an unknown frequency. Again, a Warrior promo, but it works for him. I don’t know how Gene kept a straight face through all these Hogan and Warrior promos, but that’s why he is a pro. These Warrior promos would have killed The Usos if they were standing there.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. Dino Bravo (w/ Jimmy Hart and Earthquake)

-Warrior rushes to the ring and gets a power slam as the bell rings. He looks to go up, but Earthquake grabs the leg. Have to do something as this match should already be over based on who Warrior is facing here. Earthquake grabs the leg again, so Warrior decides to roll under the ring. He pulls Jimmy Hart under on the opposite side as he is using his smarts. Earthquake bellows, “Where did he go?” I found that hilarious for some reason. Speaking of hilarity, Jimmy Hart comes out from under the ring with no pants. Hart runs to the back as Earthquake attacks Warrior’s back. Back inside Bravo gets a bear hug as they use smoke, mirrors, and rest holds to get this match over three minutes. Warrior breaks and gets his own bear hug, but Bravo breaks easily. Sidewalk slam gets two for Bravo as Jesse notes that is the closest he has ever seen to Warrior being pinned. I mean, Rude did beat Warrior at Mania last year, and Jesse has always been a Rude fan so he should have been all over that. Warrior starts his comeback and Bravo gets SMOKED as expected. Big Splash gets the win at 4:10.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior
-This was barely a match and the winner was never in doubt. Basically an angle designed as a “match” to give us Hogan and Warrior facing off to build WrestleMania. So on that end it worked, but the match was nothing. 1/2*

-Earthquake and Bravo attack after the match as the crowd keeps looking up the aisle. They know what’s coming! Earthquake drops a series of elbows, but Hogan is out for the save and he knocks Quake off the middle rope. Warrior is pissed at Hogan for saving his life. Talk about ungrateful! They get face to face and shove refs away who are trying to separate them. Warrior yells “bullshit” as the crowd is losing their mind. This is how you sell WRESTLEMANIA!

-Vince McMahon is backstage and throws to video of Hogan/Warrior breaking The Universe at The Royal Rumble. My review is here! Still just so awesome and mind blowing!

-We continue to sell the shit of of Hogan vs. Warrior as we go back to Saturday Night’s Main Event where Warrior “accidentally” hit Hogan with a clothesline. My review for that one is here!

-Now Hulk Hogan has joined Vince and is asked how it felt to feel Warrior’s power. Hogan swears by his God that was the strongest force to ever attack Hulk-a-mania. Hogan believes the clothesline at SNME was an accident. Vince stirs the pot as he throws Jesse under the bus by saying he accused Hogan of trying to steal Warrior’s spotlight. Hogan wants Warrior at his best and will do everything he can to make sure he gets to WrestleMania healthy.

-Gene is in Warrior’s locker room as they really, really want to make sure everyone is buying WrestleMania. Warrior needed no partner at Royal Rumble, but Hogan still has mistrust and he doesn’t need Hogan to watch his back. He has the Warriors that ride off his back and seep into the walls of the arena. I have no real clue what Warrior is saying but I can’t take my eyes off of him. Fuck Jeff Jarret as Warrior calls himself The Chosen One. Yeah, I am doing a new review of WrestleMania VI when we get there!

-Douglas is with Mean Gene and he says he and Hogan are going out drinking. Gene is shocked, but Douglas notes they will be drinking milk. Sure!

-Vince and Jesse wrap things up and we get a final shot of Savage in the back holding his jaw and selling the right hand from Douglas.

-Thanks for reading!

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Much like Saturday Night's Main Event, this special was also starting to lose steam. They still drew an audience that HHH, TK, or any promoter would kill for today. It's a two match show with both winners being foregone conclusions. The whole point of the show was to hype WrestleMania VI and it obviously worked. I enjoyed Hogan/Savage more than most, but I admitted to being biased when it comes to them wrestling each other. An easy show to digest, but nothing I would call must see.