wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 10.03.87
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-News broke earlier today that WWE Hall of Famer, Sika, passed away. Sika was one of the Wild Samoans and is a part of the Samoan Dynasty. As we know, he is also the father of Roman Reigns. Next up in my Retro Series was to be Halloween Havoc 1989, but I felt it was appropriate to go back to this show and it featured Sika challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWF Title. It can be argued this match was likely the most high profile match of Sika’s career. Rest In Peace, Sir!
-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
-Taped: Hershey Park Arena, Hershey, PA
-Air Date: 10.03.87 (Taped: 09.23.87)
-Attendance: 9000
-NBC Rating: 9.7
-Opening Interviews: Honky Tonk Man is going to steal Liz, Randy Savage is ready to shut his mouth, King Kong Bundy is ready to take out Mr. Blunderful, Mr. Fuji talks while Sika takes bites out a chicken, and Hulk Hogan tells Sika he can’t take a bite out of his 24 inch pythons.
-It’s so cool seeing The Hershey Park Arena though I have mixed feelings as I have only been in that building twice and both times I watched my high school lose a State Basketball Championship.
-Mean Gene Okerlund is at the pink curtain with The Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. Honky wants to enter first because his fans can’t wait to see him. He is also going to steal Liz because she likes the way he walks.
-Back to Gene as he is at a different set of pink curtains with Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. The pink curtains were for the heels, but Savage was turning so I guess that’s why he gets a different set of curtains. Savage has been in the Danger Zone which is “east of the Pacific Ocean, west of London, south of Mars, and north of Hell.” He also notes that HTM doesn’t know the difference between a guitar string and G String. Gene laughs and Macho tells him it’s not funny. How can you not love this man?
WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Honky Tonk Man (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth)
-Lockup to start and they jockey for position all around the ring. HTM gets in a cheap shot and drops an elbow to the back of the head. He sets too early on backdrop and Savage kicks him in the chest. Macho snaps Honky throat first off the top rope and HTM starts to beg off. Macho says screw that and chokes away. He sends HTM into the buckle and then drops a high knee. More begging from HTM, but Savage boots him in the chest. To the corner where Savage goes to the eyes and then whips HTM to the corner and catches him with an elbow on the way out. Hart goes after Liz, which brings Savage to the floor. That buys Honky time and he blasts Savage from behind. Savage shrugs it off back in the ring and lands a right hand. Jabs from Savage, but he misses another high knee drop. HT drops a double axe to the back and then shakes his hips for Liz. Snapmare and Honky comes off the middle ropes with a fist drop. Honky goes after Liz, which is stupid, and Savage is there to greet him. Savage drops the double axe from the top to the floor. HTM gets bounced from corner to corner and Savage gets a roll-up for two as Hart breaks up the fall. Savage with a suplex and Jimmy rakes his eyes to break that pin. Savage comes off the top rope with a double axe and Hart puts Honky’s foot on the bottom rope. The crowd is pissed! Savage drags Jimmy into the ring and decks him. Jimmy is out cold on the floor as a result! HTM tries a sunset flip, but Savage punches him in the face to block. HTM goes to the floor to check on Jimmy and here come The Hat Foundation to check on Jimmy. Savage has no time for this and drags Honky back into the ring. Savage chokes with his boot and lands another right hand. A jab sends Honky to the floor, so he checks on Jimmy again. He actually heads to the back as The Hart Foundation carry Jimmy to the back. We head to a break at 7:15.
-60 seconds of Peacock commercials (again, the break was likely longer on NBC at the time).
-Back with Honky heading back to the ring and The Hart Foundation is coming back with him. Savage punches Honky in the face and then another. This is fun as Savage is just destroying HTM. Every time HTM lands a shot, Savage hits him with 3-4 other shots. Savage misses a charge in the corner and Honky gets his first real sustained offense as he hits a backdrop. More hip shaking! Savage gets a tackle for a one count, but Honky face plants him on the mat. To the corner where Honky delivers some mounted punches! Snapmare, but the middle rope first drop misses this time. Elbow from Savage and then two more! Backdrop and Honky is back to begging for mercy. Savage continues with the elbows and chokes in the corner! Back elbow gets a two count! Suplex from Savage gets two! Honky gets a desperation leverage move as he dumps Savage to the floor. The Hart Foundation beat the piss out of Savage before rolling him back into the ring. Honky drops an elbow, but Savage is out at two. Shake Rattle and Roll is countered with a back drop! Savage with a slam and he heads up top and drops The Flying Elbow. Bret Hart hits the ring and that draws a DQ at 13:15.
Winner: Randy Savage via DQ at 13:15
-Fun match as everyone played their part perfectly! Honky was no match for Savage, but knew what to do to keep himself in the match and had the backup to save his Title. The post match is one of the most memorable moments in pro-wrestling history. ***
-Honky and The Hart Foundation continue to beat the dog piss out of Savage as the crowd is booing like crazy. Honky preps the guitar as the crowd freaks out but Liz steps in the way. We’re not done yet! Honky tells her to move and when she doesn’t HE PUSHES HER OUT OF THE WAY. The gasp from the crowd is audible and Honky is the most hated man in the building. Liz runs to the back and you know where is going and nearly forty years later it’s still AWESOME! Savage eats the guitar shot to make sure we really, really know Honky is a DICK. Oh, hey, Liz is back and SHE HAS HULK HOGAN. He isn’t sure what to do, but sees a 3 on 1 beatdown and has to make the save. Hogan fights to his feet as Savage has time to regroup. Hogan starts firing right hands and Savage joins in as this place is going CRAZY. Hogan and Savage clear the ring and then back into each other. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! Savage offers his hand and THE MEGA POWERS ARE BORN! Vince watching this had to know he was about to be making all the money and it would only get more amazing as this story played out over the next 18 months. It’s stuff like this that makes me so happy and proud to save I LOVE PRO WRESTLING!
-Gene is at the pink curtains with Mr. Fuji and Sika. He has been feeding Sika chicken necks and he is ready!
-Gene is at the silver columns with Hulk Hogan. He talks about The Madness and Mania getting together and how it was unbelievable. Even that is an understatement! Hogan is ready for Sika as it is survival of the fittest. He is ready to tear the whole tribe apart! The Bloodline didn’t run as deep back then.
WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Sika (w/ Mr. Fuji and Kimchee)
-I know I read that this was supposed to be Kamala, but he didn’t want to job on national TV. Not sure if that is true, but Sika gets the shot instead and good on him. Obviously he had no issues about eating the pin. Sorry, SPOILERS! Sika throws heavy blows to start and stomps away. Fuji chokes Hogan with his cane on the floor and then back to Sika with some chops to the head. Fuji with another cane shot, but Sika misses a head butt. Hogan fires off some right hands and sends Sika to the floor. He is annoyed and starts banging his head off the mat. Back in the ring, Hogan ducks a clothesline and lands a big boot. He drops a series of elbows and fires off some right hands. Heenan questions of Hogan can slam Sika, which is kind of weird as we just saw Hogan slam Andre six months ago. Hogan gets distracted by Kimchee, which lets Sika land some punches. They brawl on the floor and Sika gets sent into the post. Fuji tries to hit Hogan with the cane, but Hogan stops that and grabs the cane. Another ref (Hebnar) stops Hogan for using the cane. Probably the EVIL HEBNAR TWIN! We head to a break at 3:10 as the refs try to get the cane away from Hogan.
-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!
-Back with the refs getting the cane from Hogan. Sika charges, but hits buckle. Hogan tries a splash (huh), but Sika gets the knees up to block. Don’t see that from Hogan. Sika with a headbutt and the crowd is rocking to get Hogan back into the match. Sika stomps away and chokes until the count of four. Fuji chokes with the cane again. Another headbutt gets a two count. Heenan goes off about the lousy count and has flashbacks to Mania III. Sika with a nerve hold as the crowd continues to cheer on Hogan. He starts his comeback, but gets knocked back down with a shoulder tackle. Sika drops a series of headbutts for two. HULK-UP! Sika throws blows, but no dice! Now the crowd is popping like crazy as Hogan no sells everything and fires off right hands. A slam followed by the leg and that finishes at 8:58.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan via pin at 8:58
-Just a basic Hogan match which is fine and what the crowd wanted to see. Sika had no chance, but the fans bought him as enough of a threat with his wild man antics. **
-Gene is at the silver curtains with Paul Orndorff and his new manager, Oliver Humperdink. Man, that’s a downgrade from Heenan and no wonder his WWF career cratered.
-Gene is back at the pink curtain with King Kong Bundy. He is fine with Heenan staying on commentary as The Heenan Family sticks together.
”Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff (w/ Oliver Humperdink) vs. King Kong Bundy
-Wonderful starts fast with right hands and bounces Bundy into the top buckle. A dropkick misses as Bundy grabs the top rope. Orndorff gets bounced in the corner and then choked on the middle rope. Bundy slugs him down in the corner and buries a knee to the back. Bundy chokes with his boot. Orndorff fights to get a sunset flip, but Bundy is out at two. Heavy elbow to the back from Bundy and then another to the chest. Slam from Bundy, but the elbow misses! Orndorff goes to the eyes as Heenan loses it on commentary and tells McMahon shut up. Orndorff gets a two count as Heenan leaves the announce desk. Apparently he had Andre in the bullpen and sends him down to the ring before going back to commentary. Sucks to be Paul right now! Bundy regroups on the floor with Andre as we head to a break at 4:03.
-60 Seconds of Peacock commercials!
-Back with the cool camera shot looking over Andre’s shoulder. Wonderful throws punches in the corner, but one shot from Bundy turns the tide. This crowd is still jacked as Orndorff starts to fire up with right hands and he drops Bundy. Elbow drop and then another, but a third one misses. Bundy hooks a chinlock which lets the crowd go crazy cheering on Wonderful again. It’s crazy how they got him back to being that over as a face after the Hogan feud. Bundy misses The Avalanche in the corner and now Orndorff starts firing off right hands. Bundy reverses a whip and Andre is there to hold Orndorff in the corner and this time The Avalanche connects. Orndorff is toast and the pin is academic at 8:43.
Winner: King Kong Bundy via pin at 8:43
-Orndorff had his run on top with Hogan and now it was back down the ladder. **
-Gene is at the pink curtains with The Hart Foundation to express his displeasure with what they did to Savage. They note it was justified as their manager was knocked out cold by Savage. They mock The Young Stallions, which causes Gene to throw down the mic and leave.
-Heenan gets in a funny exchange with McMahon as he notes Gene would be fired if he was his boss. Vince: “Good thing you’re not his boss.”
WWF Tag Team Titles: The Hart Foundation vs. The Young Stallions
-Not often you got all three titles defended on the same show. Quick tags early in this one as neither team gains an early advantage. Powers gets a sunset flip on Bret for two. He goes to the arm and then gets a crossbody for two as Bret misses a double ax. Bret ducks down and gets a knee to the gut. Backbreaker from Bret and then a tag to The Anvil. Neidhart distracts the ref which lets Bret come in with a shot to the back of the head. Bret gets a blind tag and buries a knee on the apron. Off the middle ropes with a double axe. Bret goes to a blatant choke, but does have to the count of five. Anvil back in and he drops Powers throat first on the top rope. Bret back as Powers continues to get destroyed. Powers avoids a backdrop and makes the tag to Roma. All four men start brawling in the ring and The Foundation get run into each other. Double dropkick to The Anvil. Powerslam on Bret, but Anvil makes the save. Hart Attack on Roma gets the pin at 4:34.
Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The Hart Foundation via pin at 4:34
-Basically a SQUASH with the hot tag being the only hope spot before The Hart Foundation finished without breaking too much of a sweat. Good on them for going through with the match after having to deal with the UNIVERSE SHATTERING UNION OF THE MEGAPOWERS!
-Back to the columns as Gene is with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. They are combining Universes and are worried how anyone will be able to survive. This combining of Universes worked out much better here than what happened in The Flash, though I enjoyed that movie more than nearly every other DCEU movie. Oh, Hogan and Savage together is AWESOME and leads to DOUBLE AWESOME down the line.
-We close with the world premiere of Piledriver. I will have the song stuck in my head for the next few days now. This video is awesome with the pure cheese and the wrestlers all trying to eat up the camera.
-Thanks for reading!
