Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 11.25.89

-It’s the final review on the WWF side for 1989. This show was taped before Survivor Series, but was aired after the show. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
-Taped (10.31.89): Sunflower State Expocentre, Topeka KS
-NBC Rating: 8.7

-We flashback to Superstars where The Ultimate Warrior gets attacked from behind by Andre The Giant.

-To the pink curtains as Jesse is with Andre and The Brain. Andre has his terrifying smile and I can see why people believed the man had two rows of teeth. Heenan quotes Charles Manson and Archie Bunker and Andre is the man to break Warrior’s neck.

-Mean Gene is at the silver curtains with a pacing Ultimate Warrior. He grunts and yells about fear and feasting on the fruit of victory. Again, it’s Warrior so it works for him.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. Andre The Giant (w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan)

-Poor Andre can barely move out there, so we get some stalling to start. Warrior bounces on the ropes as he turns his back on Andre. That seems dumb! Andre mauls him in the corner and then chokes away on the ropes. Headbutt from Andre sends Warrior to the floor. Warrior hits a fist in the corner and uses Andre’s singlet to choke him. Warrior charges, but Andre avoids a clothesline and Warrior crashes to the floor. Andre lands a few shots to the abdomen and starts bending Warrior’s arms behind his back. He throws in a headbutt to the back for good measure. Warrior breaks by throwing his ass at Andre and hits a clothesline that sends Andre to the floor. Warrior follows and hits a few clubbing blows before heading back inside. We take a commercial break at 3:39.

-60 seconds of Peacock commercials. Again, this will throw off the match time as the commercial break on NBC was probably longer than 60 seconds.

-Back at 4:43 with Andre still on the floor. He throws some punches and uses the bottom rope to choke Warrior. Lot of choking in this match! Double chop from Andre and somehow that ends up with Warrior get a bear-hug. That seems backwards as you would think Andre putting Warrior in the hold would make more sense. Andre goes to a nerve hold which causes Warrior to break the bear-hug. Headbutt rocks both men. Warrior charges, but gets caught with a shoulder. Now Andre goes to the bear-hug! Andre has to drop to a knee as he is gassed. Warrior with a hard punch to the gut and then fires off some loud chops in the corner. Andre pulls the hair and lands a headbutt. Andre misses a clothesline and Warrior gets one of his own. That knocks Andre into the ropes, where he gets tied up in a spot he loved to do. Warrior charges and kind of gets hit with a boot. That was ugly. Heenan in and he tries to hit Warrior with the IC Belt, but Warrior avoids and press slams Heenan onto Andre. I guess that counts as a DQ as the bell rings at 8:53.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior via DQ at 8:53
-Not good as you could tell they weren’t on the same page at times and there were interviews over the years that Andre didn’t like working with Warrior and I would assume Warrior wasn’t a fan either. DUD

-Back to the pink curtains where Jesse is with The Genius. He cuts a promo in rhyme. Cool!

-Mean Gene is at the silver curtains with Hulk Hogan. We get HOGAN MATH as he talks about the 3 Demandments + 24 inch pythons x all the Hulk-A-Maniacs = Victory. Not Steiner Math, but still cool. Hogan then spits his own verse.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. The Genius

-Physically this is one of the biggest mismatches in a WWF Title defense in history. The story though is The Genius knows he can’t match strength with Hogan, so has a different strategy. Genius offers a handshake and Hogan clowns around by offering the wrong hand and then won’t shake. Genius stretches his legs in the corner and starts prancing around the ring. He makes Hogan chase as he tries to frustrate. They lock-up and Hogan shoves Genius across the ring, through ropes and to the floor. Cool sell by Genius! He flips back into the ring and Hogan applauds him. Lock-up and another shove, but Genius kips and is proud of himself. Hogan gets a hip-toss followed by a slam. Genius grabs the ropes and slides to the floor to avoid the big boot. Genius takes the time to write down some math equations on his scroll. He flips back into the ring, gets a take down, and celebrates. Fantastic! Genius slaps Hogan in the face and prances away from him. Hogan looks pissed, but calms down and watches as Genius dances around the ring. Cartwheels from The Genius and then Hogan runs him down with a clothesline. He rams Genius from one buckle to another and then hits the running elbow in the corner. Now Hogan prances to mock Genius. Atomic Drop and Genius gives a sell that Rick Rude would appreciate. Suplex from Hogan and then he drops a series of elbows. Mr. Perfect is at ringside now as Hogan pounds away with right hands in the corner. Perfect puts his chewed gum on the WWF Title. Hogan goes out to confront Perfect and Genius hits a dropkick that sends Hogan into the post. He runs Hogan into the post again! Back in the ring The Genius rocks Hogan with some right hands and hits a moonsault from the middle ropes. SWEET! Hogan kicks out at two and starts to Hulk-up! Hogan with the three right hands and then the big boot. Genius rakes the eyes and then rakes the back. Hogan returns favor as he rakes the back. Hogan slams Genius over the top to the floor in a rather impressive bump. Good stuff here! Hogan shoves Perfect to the side and then fires Genius back into the ring. Perfect clocks Hogan with the WWF Title Belt and Genius gets the win by count-out in a MASSIVE upset at 8:36.

Winner: The Genius via count-out at 8:36
-One of the most famous upsets of all time. This was not your typical Hogan match as Genius didn’t try to use size, or strength to beat Hogan. That flustered Hogan at times and Perfect was there to help Genius get the upset. ***

-Mean Gene is at the pink curtains with The Big Boss Man and Slick. Boss Man faces Dusty Rhodes next!

-To the white curtains as Gene is with Dusty Rhodes. He is here to show America that justice does prevail. He is the common man to lead the people.

Dusty Rhodes vs. The Big Boss Man (w/ Slick)

-This is a case where Boss Man attacked Rhodes after their Elimination Match at Survivor Series, but this show was taped before that show, so they don’t mention it. Boss Man starts fast and immediately Slick chokes from the apron. Dusty’s fan (Sapphire) is shown at ringside. Dusty goes after Slick, but gets dropped by Boss Man and then run into the post. Back in the ring Boss Man slaps Dusty and then goes after the arm. He lands a straight kick to the arm and hooks a submission. Dusty fires back with right hands, but gets caught with a knee-lift. Back to the arm and he makes sure to use the top rope for leverage. An elbow drops Dusty, but he throws his own elbows to break a hammerlock. Dusty avoids a splash in the corner and he starts to flip, flop, and fly! He misses the big elbow and Boss Man drops his weight across Dusty while he is leaning on the ropes. Slick grabs the club, but Sapphire stops him and Dusty gets a roll-up for the pin at 4:46.

Winner: Dusty Rhodes via pin at 4:46
-Boss Man dominated and lost on what amounted to a fluke. The crowd loved Dusty though! 1/2*

-Boss Man yells at Slick as the soon to be named Sapphire gets in the ring to dance with Dusty.

-Gene is at the silver curtains with The Red Rooster. He makes Rooster noises and that’s about all.

-To the pink curtains where Jesse is with Mr. Perfect. He won’t discuss what plans he has with Hogan and will reveal after his match with Rooster. He is going to prove he is the #1 contender for the WWF Title.

The Red Rooster vs. Mr. Perfect

-The Genius, fresh off the biggest win of his career, reads us a poem and then introduces Mr. Perfect. There is a wrestling urban legend out there that these men were brought in at the same time and one was going to get The Rooster gimmick and one the Mr. Perfect gimmick. I believe that has been debunked at this point, but it was out there. Perfect with a slap as that is three straight matches with the heel slapping the face. Perfect eats a slap, so comes out swinging with right hands. He sets too early on a backdrop and Rooster gets a knee-lift. He takes Perfect down and hooks a hammerlock. He goes for a chicken wing, so Perfect grabs the ropes to break. Perfect back with a suplex followed by a sweet right hand. Snap-mare from Perfect as he rolls through his patented offense. He sets too early on a backdrop again and Rooster gets a sunset flip for two. A right hand from Perfect regains the momentum. Perfect lays in the bad mouth for fun. Rooster hits a head-butt as he starts his comeback. Backdrop gets two! Perfect blocks a hip-toss and hits a forearm to the face. Perfect-plex finishes at 4:12.

Winner: Mr. Perfect via pin at 4:12
-Just an extended SQUASH with Rooster getting in some token offense. *

-Gene is at the silver curtains with The Rockers. One last match with The Brain Busters!

-Gene is at the pink curtains with Heenan and The Brain Busters. They are caught arguing with each other to continue the issues within The Heenan Family. This is great!

Best of 3 Falls: The Rockers vs. The Brain Busters (w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan)

-As noted, Blanchard was fired before Survivor Series and Heenan had to replace him. This was taped before that show and is the last appearance of Blanchard in the WWF. Arn would be back in the NWA in Flair’s corner at Starrcade the next month as well. We will get there shortly! The Busters and Heenan continue to argue with each other. Marty and Tully start us off. Marty counters a hip-toss and gets a slam followed by an arm-drag into an arm-bar. Tully pulls the hair, but Marty keeps getting back up. Elbow to the sternum from Marty as we see Arn and Heenan arguing. Marty ends up on the floor and punches Arn. Marty goes for a sunset flip, but Arn blocks so Shawn comes in to hit him and Marty finishes the sunset flip for the first fall at 1:48.

-Heenan yells at The Busters and they seemingly have had enough, so Heenan walks away from them. The Rockets get stereo roll-ups and the ref counts even though the bell didn’t ring to start the second fall. Now we get the bell as Heenan yells that he is finished with them and heads to the back. Shawn and Arn have a go and it quickly breaks down into all four men in the ring. Double dropkick from The Rockers to both Busters. Double hip-toss to Arn as we see Heenan take one last peak through the curtain. Marty avoids a suplex from Tully and brings Shawn back into the match. I am sure Shawn was beaming with pride being able to face The Horsemen. Shawn gets caught by Tully and Arn drops him throat first on the top rope to get the pin and second fall at 3:25 (5:13 overall).

-We head to commercial!

-Back with the third fall, but they go to Jesse in the back with Heenan, who has sweat pouring off his face. He notes The Busters disgraced themselves and they will be calling him back after they are on the streets bumming for dimes. Yes, this was Heenan burying them on their way out of the company.

-The bells sounds for the deciding fall and Shawn is getting his ass handed to him. SPINEBUSTER from Arn! Marty makes the save as Shawn was likely toast there. Marty rallies the fans from the apron as Shawn makes a brief rally, but gets catapulted into the wrong corner and Tully lands a right hand. Tully pulls Marty into the ring, so he can dump Shawn to the floor. Shawn fights back from the apron and sends Tully into the buckle. He comes off the top with a cross-body for two, but can’t get the tag as Arn does get the tag and cuts him off. They end up colliding heads and Shawn is able to get the hot tag. He runs wild on both Busters with slams and dropkicks. Tully lands a knee to the back and things break down with Shawn and Tully fighting on the floor. Tully tries to go up for the Spike Piledriver, but Shawn knocks him off. He then comes off the top with a cross-body on to Arn for the pin at 3:43 (8:56 total).

Winners: The Rockers Two Falls to One at 8:56
-Solid little match as you would expect from these teams, but sadly, it was kept short. These teams were perfect for each other. The Heenan story was there to explain The Busters leaving and it worked as he got to run them down and they put over The Rockers. Probably should have lost two straight falls to really drive the point home, but that’s a minor quibble. ***

-To back as Mr. Perfect is destroying Hulk Hogan’s WWF Championship Belt with a hammer in an angle that is still remembered to this day. Perfect claims he will destroy every belt until Hogan gives him a Title shot. Genius says they are desecrating Hulk-A-Mania and references Thomas Jefferson rolling over in his grave.

-After a commercial break we are back to the silver curtains and Gene is talking in hushed tones as he is holding the remains of the WWF Championship Belt. Hogan comes in and is crushed! He is annoyed by the loss to Genius, but Perfect is burning his soul. He spit in the face of Hulk-a-mania and tried to destroy a symbol of what they believe in. They will turn a negative into a positive and there will be an ultimate encounter with Hulk Hogan and it will equal the Perfect Defeat. Call back to HOGAN MATH! This was a heavy angle which didn’t translate to box-office as the Hogan/Perfect feud never caught on with the paying fans.

-Jesse and Vince wrap things up as the next show will be kicking off a new decade. The 90s are nearly upon us!

-Thanks for reading!

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

-This is a rather famous episode, but it was a step down from what they were doing. Hogan/Genius is worth a look to see a different kind of Hogan match and the tag match was solid with the added history of it being the last of The Brain Busters. The rest was not good, but they threw out some star power and a heavy angle to carry things.