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

-This is the last SNME on NBC (this run at least) and this was to be a Main Event, but they turned it into a regular SNME as the relationship between NBC and the WWF had soured. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and “Macho Man” Randy Savage
-Taped: Omaha Civic Center, Omaha, NE
-Air Date: April 27, 1991 (Taped: April 15, 1991)
-Attendance: 9400
-NBC Rating: 7.7

-Vince and Macho welcome us to the show and then we get the show opening.

-Macho is backstage with Sgt. Slaughter and his crew, as he is no longer the WWF Champion. They show Sarge throwing a fireball at Hogan after Mania. Slaughter has Warrior tonight and mentions Warrior was recently on The Funeral Parlor and had his breath taken away.

-Over to Mean Gene, who is with The Ultimate Warrior. We see the footage from The Funeral Parlor where Warrior was locked in a casket by The Undertaker. That freaked me out watching as a kid. Warrior cuts a Warrior promo.

The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter (w/ General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa)

-This is a rematch from The Rumble where Slaughter ended Warrior’s Championship reign. Slaughter tries to come in over the top, but Warrior slams him down from there. He follows up with a clothesline and then a backdrop. They head to the floor where Warrior beats Slaughter up the aisle and brings him back to the ring. Slaughter begs off long enough to get a thumb to the eyes. He sends Warrior to the floor where Mustafa runs him into the apron and then Slaughter sends him into the ring post. Slaughter works the back as Macho notes he is cool with Warrior getting beat as he ended his career. Makes sense and glad they stuck with Macho resenting Warrior for ending his career. Slaughter sets for a backdrop, but Warrior just runs into him, so Slaughter just grabs a bear-hug to cover. No clue who messed up there, but they saved it. Warrior is able to break free and gets a slam, but falls over due to his back being worked over during the match. Slaughter goes back to the bear-hug. Paul Bearer pushes a custom Warrior casket down to the ring as Warrior is able to fight out of the bear-hug. He stares down at the casket while Paul Bearer makes faces. Slaughter blasts Warrior from behind and he spills to the floor by the casket. Slaughter stomps away as we take a break at 5:43.

-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!

-Back at 6:45 with Slaughter rolling Warrior back into the ring. Savage wonders if his match with Warrior took it out of him here or if it was the casket. Warrior starts his rally and knocks Sarge down with a series of clotheslines. Bearer lifts up the casket lid and The Undertaker sits up as Warrior gets a shoulder tackle. Taker snaps his head at Warrior and they stare at each other. Slaughter hits Warrior from behind and everyone hits the ring as we get a DQ at 8:22.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior via DQ at 8:22
-Not even close to their Rumble Match and a crappy ending as Warrior can’t even get revenge for that loss. I guess they needed to keep Sarge somewhat strong for the return matches with Hogan across the country. 1/2*

-Here’s Hulk Hogan to make the save as Macho is hoping to see Warrior and Hogan both stuffed in the casket. Warrior smashes Taker with the belt, but it doesn’t phase him and the crowd is shocked. FORESHADOWING! Hogan chases Sarge to the back. Warrior tries a series of clotheslines and nothing happening. He gets a shoulder tackle, but Taker calmly flips over the ropes and lands on his feet. He stares down Warrior again as officials are out to separate them.

-Gene gets to interview The Nasty Boys, who won The Tag Titles at Mania. Knobbs sounds sick as his voice is hoarse.

-Over to Piper who is with The Bushwhackers and they yell about getting nasty a lot.

WWF World Tag Team Titles: The Nasty Boys (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Bushwhackers

-First title defense for the Nasty Boys and they are already being set up for a feud with The Legion of Doom, so this defense shouldn’t be an issue. Knobbs pounds away on Luke in the corner. All four men in the ring and The Whackers get a double clothesline on Knobbs and then one on Sags. The Nasty Boys hit the floor to regroup. Sags attacks Butch from behind as Hart gives advice from the floor. Butch with a reversal and buries a knee to the ribs. Luke in with a clothesline for two as Knobbs makes the save. All four men in again and we get a Battering Ram to Knobbs and one to Sags as the crowd is going crazy for the Whackers. Another go with Butch and Sags. Knobbs gets in a shot from the apron to turn the tide. Knobbs in and drops a series of elbows for a two count. Nice bump from Luke as he gets whipped into the corner. Double elbow from The Nasty Boys, but Butch makes the save. Luke avoids a charge in the corner and we get the hot tag to Butch. He fires off right hands and then a clothesline to Knobbs and one to Sags. Pin is broken up again. The ref gets stuck putting Luke out as the Nasty Boys double team Butch. Now the ref gets Sags out and that lets Luke knock Knobbs down while going for a slam and Butch gets a two count that was probably three as Sags was late to break up the pin. The ref had to slow his count to cover for it. Knobbs gets a pin attempt and Sags adds his foot for leverage to get the three count at 6:46.

Winners and Still WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Nasty Boys via pin at 6:46
-The Bushwhackers looked much better than The Nasty Boys here as they seemed motivated being in a Title Match. No clue what The Nasty Boys were doing here. Bad first title defense, but it was more enjoyable and energetic than the opener. *

-The Undertaker and Paul Bearer cut a promo on The Ultimate Warrior.

20 Man Battle Royal

-During the introductions we go back to Gene who is with Earthquake and they recap Quake squashing Damian. Another piece of video burned into my memory as a child.

-Macho is with Jake and he talks about what he lost. Cool to see Savage and Jake here knowing what’s coming later in the year.

-Back to Gene with Hulk Hogan and this is an interesting way to use him on the show right after winning back the WWF Title. He is sporting a bandage on his face after the fireball from Sarge.

-Participants: Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Barbarian, Mr. Perfect, The Big Boss Man, Earthquake, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Warlord, Greg Valentine, Tugboat, Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Snuka, Tanaka, The Rockers, The British Bulldog, Kato, Texas Tornado, Hercules, Paul Roma, and Haku

-Hogan is the last one to enter and goes right after Quake. Savage rightly points out when Hogan jumps the bell it’s a quick start, but when anyone else does it, it’s viewed as illegal. My joy in battle royals is seeing people who rarely interact do so. Marty pulls Roman out at 1:25 with a head scissors. Vince says we are down to 18 men, so no clue who was dumped first. I think he is wrong on that one. Perfect is on the apron, but is trying to help get Bulldog out of the match. Hogan fires chops at Perfect who bounces around as you would expect. Hogan knows who can make him look good. Kato is laying the boots into Hogan in the corner and that’s what I mean about seeing weird pairings. Quake and Jake are having a battle in the corner, but Tornado saves Jake. Kerry and Jake is an interesting pairing. Perfect gets bounced back and forth between Hogan and Hammer as they tee off on him. Bulldog gets tossed at 4:40 by Warlord. Snuka is gone at 4:52. Quake puts Jake out at 5:18. He gloats too much, so Hogan attacks. Jake gets Lucifer out of the bag and Quake backs up in fear. The match stops as everyone waits for the snake to get out of the ring. We take a break at 6:03.

-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!

-Back with Tugboat decking Hogan and they get into it. That brings the crowd to life! Warlord goes after Hogan as well, but gets tossed at 8:14. I think Hogan eliminated him at the Rumble as well. Tornado gets tossed at 8:27. Duggan gone at 8:40 as Quake is just pitching people. Hogan ends Quake’s run by tossing him at 8:53. Kato gets dumped by Hogan at 9:08, but Hogan is dumped by Boat at 9:10. Warlord is gone right after and then Herclues as we just lost 4 men in about 8 seconds. Perfect dropkicks into The Barbarian who gets a backdrop to send him packing. Michaels with a dropkick and Haku is gone at 10:30. We are down to Hammer, Michaels, Perfect, and Barbarian. Perfect and Shawn had a fun sequence as they try to see who can bounce around the ring the most. They tease eliminations on the apron and Perfect lands an elbow to knock out at 11:20. The crowd is rallying behind The Hammer as he tries to get Barbarian out. Perfect makes the save as we have two Heenan Family members in there. Perfect accidentally dropkicks Barbarian and Valentine pushes him out at 12:30. Perfect and Valentine trade chops in the corner! This has gotten pretty good once they started the rapid fire eliminations after the break. Hammer drops a series of elbows and this crowd is going crazy. Perfect nearly gets dumped, but comes back in. Valentine tries again, but they both spill over the top and Perfect hangs on to the apron as Valentine hits the floor at 14:02.

Winner: Mr. Perfect
-I enjoyed this as things picked up a bunch after the commercial break. Shawn and Perfect were having a fun little series and then the ending with Valentine and Perfect was pretty fun as well. ***

-Roddy Piper joins Macho and Vince at the commentary desk.

-Mean Gene is backstage with Ted Dibiase and he is with Sherri now as she quickly jumped to a new client once Savage was retired. Apparently money makes Ted a better man than Bret Hart. He is still carrying around the crutch he attacked Piper with at WrestleMania. So, that’s why Piper is on commentary for this one.

Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase

-Lockup to start and Ted gets a knee to the gut instead of giving a clean break against the ropes. Bret back with a hip-toss and then a series of clotheslines. A third one sends Ted over the top and to the floor. Bret with a slingshot dive and he lays in a flurry of right hands. Back in the ring Bret gets a headlock into a pin for two. Dibiase rolls over for his own two count. Dibiase misses a clothesline, so Sherri grabs the knee. Bret goes after here which brings Dibiase over. Bret suckers him into a roll-up for two. Dibiase gets a stun-gun to counter a charge and lands a piledriver for two! Bret gets dumped to the floor as Sherri stalks him and lands a punch when the opportunity presents itself. Dibiase uses the bottom rope to choke and Sherri uses his jacket to choke Bret as well. Sherri with another shot to the throat as Macho notes that was the most vicious punch he has seen all night. Dibiase lays in some chops and Bret takes his chest first bump into the corner. Dibiase goes for the Million Dollar Dream, but Bret counters and sends Dibiase into the buckles. Ted tries to come off the middle ropes, but Bret lands a right hand. Bret with a right hand and another and another and another and another and another before Ted finally drops. Inverted Atomic Drop followed by a back elbow for two. Side Russian Leg Sweep gets two as Vince complains about the count. Perhaps he should go done and yell for someone to ring the bell. Back breaker followed by the middle rope elbow for two. Sherri grabs the leg again and Bret goes after her as Piper yells from him to not make that mistake. Sure enough Ted comes off the apron with a double axe. Piper leaves the booth and heads down to the ring to pop the crowd. He chases Sherri around the ring and then finds a broom under the ring. Apparently, that’s Sherri broom as she is a witch you see. Ted sees Sherri getting chased to the back and follows. Bret is out to follow Ted and we get a double count-out at 9:55.

Double Count-out at 9:55
-This was the start of Bret’s singles push and they didn’t want him to lose here, but also wanted to protect Dibiase as he was working with Piper. I guess that’s why God created double count-outs. Match was a lot of fun until that point. ***1/4

The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Tito Santana

-This is a rematch from Mania VII! Mountie yells in Tito’s face and gets punched in the face for it. Tito with an atomic drop and then a dropkick and another. Mountie bails to the floor and Tito follows. He tries to run Mountie into Jimmy, but that doesn’t happen. Tito stays on Mountie and runs him into the apron and then back into the ring where he fires off punches in the corner. Tito tries a monkey flip, but Mountie grabs the ropes to block. Mountie slams Tito face first into the mat and rams him repeatedly head first into the buckle, while trapping the arm. Cool! Mountie tries a splash, but Tito gets the knees up. Tito hits The Flying Forearm, but Jimmy Hart is in to break the count. Tito decks him with a Flying Forearm, but Mountie gets the cattle prod and we get electric sound effects as Mountie sticks Tito in the throat. That is enough for the pin at 4:30.

Winner: The Mountie via pin at 4:30
-It was fun when Tito was on offense. b>*1/4

-Gene is backstage with Slaughter and his charges. He promises it will be Hogan’s burial soon and brings up setting Hogan’s face on fire. He wants Hogan’s face in his hands as the war is not over.

-Piper is with Hogan, which is cool! Hogan says he will be in Slaughter’s face every week. Piper says Sarge will bring heavier artillery, but Hogan has his own ammunition to fight this to the end. It seems Slaughter doesn’t even rule his own destiny now. He brings up God, Family, and Country before closing.

-Vince and Macho close the show and we are down with the NBC era after 34 shows! Thanks for reading!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

This started out rough, but the Battle Royal and Bret/Dibiase turned things around and the initial NBC era ends with a good show. Nothing memorable, but just a solid hour of wrestling overall. We got some time, but The Fox Era is next for SNME.