Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF The Main Event II – 02.03.89

-It’s go time now! This is the show I have been waiting for since I decided to work my way through this year. We are fresh off The Royal Rumble where The Mega Powers got into a little spat, but cooler heads prevailed. You can find my review of that show here. This is the second Main Event special that aired live on NBC. How do you top the craziness of Hulk Hogan losing the WWF Title after a 4 year run due to twin referees? Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
-Date: Feb 3, 1989
-Location: Bradley Center, Milwaukee WI
-Attendance: 20,000
-Rating: 11.6 and 19.9 million viewers

-Vince narrates the video that sums up everything leading to tonight’s Mega Powers vs. Twin Towers tag match. Just an amazing sell job by Vince and you can’t help but be pumped for this one after that.

-As mentioned, this show was live on a Friday Night and was in the Bradley Center when it was still basically a brand new arena. Vince and Jess have a funny exchange where they trade poker insults.

-Mean Gene Okerlund is backstage at the pink curtains with The Twin Towers and Slick. Slick notes they are three men and three will always beat two. Akeem notes he is hungry and the law of the jungle is killed or be killed. Boss Man tells us the law of the land as he reads the Mega Powers their rights.

-The Twin Towers make their entrance and we get a lot of dancing from Slick and Akeem!

-We head to a special video package that covers the friendship The Mega Powers share. They sure liked to shake hands a lot! So much nostalgia and it makes my heart swell with happiness!

-The Mega Powers and Liz are backstage with Gene and they are also in front of the pink curtains. The Mega Powers share love and Savage’s bugged eye take when Hogan says there is a love between him and Elizabeth is fantastic. Hogan does say it is a love like a brother and sister. I love this so much! Savages notes the Twin Towers have to come crumbling down and yeah, that sounds terrible now.

The Mega Powers (w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. The Twin Towers (w/ Slick)

-Liz looks fantastic and every one of my friends, who watched wrestling, in elementary school had a crush on her. It goes without saying but the crowd is jacked for this one. Savage and Hogan have a conference with Liz which has Jesse losing his mind as he goes on a rant about Liz not being a wrestler and not being able to provide any kind of advice. It seems Savage will start first, but Boss Man wants Hogan. Savage relents and Hogan cleans house on both men to a thunderous reaction from the crowd. Savage rushes in to give Hogan a hug he is so excited. Again, I can’t see anything coming between these two. The crowd is so engaged they count with the ref as he applies the 10 count. Boss Man gets back in and gets in a few punches on Hogan. They head to the corner and Hogan bounces Boss Man off the buckles and preps a big right hand, but Boss Man bails to the floor. Savage runs him down with a double axe and The Towers regroup with Slick as the crowd starts counting with the ref again. Akeem gets the tag and gets suckered into the corner where he gets pinballed back and forth by Savage and Hogan. Savage gets the tag and comes off the top with a double axe. Savage goes to the eyes and then rams Akeem into Hogan’s boot. Hogan comes off the middle ropes with a double axe, but Akeem goes to the eyes to break. Boss Man back in and he drops Hogan with a clothesline. PILEDRIVER PLANTS HOGAN! No cover though which Jesse calls out. Instead, Boss Man opts to tag Akeem back into the match. He gets in a few shots before Boss Man gets tagged back in the match. Hogan dumps Boss Man to the floor and they fight out there. Hogan sends Boss Man into the post and then Slick gets involved as he grabs Hogan’s leg. Savage kicks Slick, but the damage was done as Hogan gets caught with a spinebuster for two. Akeem back in as the crowd is trying to rally Hogan. Boss Man back in and he accidentally decks Akeem as Hogan ducked out of the way. Hot tag to Savage to send the crowd into a frenzy and he drapes Akeem throat first over the top and then lands the double axe for two as Boss Man makes the save. Slick uses the nightstick to blast Savage as he runs the ropes and now Savage is our face in peril. The Towers hit a double back elbow and Akeem sends Savage over the top to the floor where he crashes at Liz’s feet. Akeem then chucks Savage back through the ropes and Liz gets plastered in a crazy, heavy bump. The fans are stunned as Liz was off limits and seeing her get physically touched was crazy. Hogan checks on Liz while Savage is wondering what is going on and he looks like he is ready to deck Hogan, but Akeem pulls Savage back into the ring. Man, that bump by Liz was nuts! Savage takes control and Hogan decides to take Liz to the back for medical attention. I am sure Hogan saw that Savage was in control and could handle things for a few minutes. It also gives Savage a chance to fight off both members of the Twin Towers like Hogan had to do a few weeks ago. Boss Man kicks Savage in the back of the head and now he is left by himself starting at 11:18. We follow Hogan and the medics wheeling Liz back to the first aid station. Hogan: “Come on, somebody help us. Jesus! Doctor! My God she is hurt bad.” THIS IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING! Hogan has tears as he asks the doctor to save her and if she is breathing. I LOVE THIS ALL SO MUCH! We head to commercial and no clue how long the break was back then, but we get 60 seconds of Peacock commercials here.

-Peacock commercials!

-We come back to Savage getting his ass handed to him by Akeem. He rolls to the corner to make a tag and drive home the point that Hogan isn’t there. Liz comes to in the back as Hogan tells Liz that Randy didn’t mean it. She then tells Hogan to go help Randy and he sprints out of the medical area. I mean, Savage watched from the back with Gene as Hogan fought off both Twin Towers, so he should be fine here while Hogan makes sure their manager is okay. Also, the second Liz comes to and tell Hogan to help Randy, he did. All Savage did when Liz came back was say he had faith Hogan would be fine. Hogan gets back to his corner at 15:30 and the crowd is begging for a tag. I assume it was a big longer with the commercial break back in 1989. Akeem slugs away on Savage and makes the tag to Boss Man. They pick Savage up and hit a sore of double backbreaker. They go for a double splash and Akeem FALLS THROUGH THE ROPES AND ON HIS ASS IN A BUMP THAT DEFIES PHYSICS! That was great! The timing was off and Boss Man hit the ropes first causing a gap and poor Akeem just disappeared out of frame. That’s up there with Titus’ slide! Savage clears the ring and now Hogan wants the tag. SAVAGE SLAPS THE TASTE OUT OF HOGAN’S MOUTH! The crowd is shocked with a small minority cheering! Savage gets booed as he starts walking up the aisle and you can hear little kids telling him to go back and help. Savage heads back down and he basically tells Hogan to shove it up his ass as he grabs his Title and leaves. Akeem catches Hogan with a splash in the corner as Vince and Jesse argue over who is right and who is wrong. Another splash from Akeem and Hogan kicks out and starts to Hulk up. Akeem catches the big boot to the face and Hogan drops the leg after decking Boss Man, to get the pin on Akeem at 19:39 (I think we missed around 2 or so minutes of commercials in the original broadcast).

Winner: The Mega Powers via pin at 19:39
-Match was fine with crazy heat, but it just served as the vehicle to set up the AWESOMENESS OF THE MEGA POWERS EXPLODING! The match and angle were designed to sell us on wanting to see Hogan vs. Savage and they hit the mother of all Grand Slams with this one. **1/2

-Slick produces handcuffs, but Hogan is able to get out the way and Slick ends up cuffed to Boss Man.

-Hogan bails and starts yelling for Savage as he heads to the back.

-We cut to the back where Savage tells Liz he is #1 and not #3 in the Mega Powers. HERE WE GO! Randy tells Liz she wouldn’t be in this spot if it wasn’t for Hogan. Hogan then barges in and Savage goes off on an epic rant of everything that has been festering inside of his paranoid head for the last 10 months.

Randy: Let me tell you something about Hulk Hogan. Let me tell you something about Hulk-A-Mania. Yeah! Macho Madness is talking to you (points his finger in Hogan’s face).

Hogan: (slapping away Randy’s finger) You’re wrong! You are out of line.

Randy: NO, YOU’RE OUT OF LINE! And let me tell you why you are out of line. You got jealous eyes right there. Right there. You are looking at me with jealous eyes. Cause you are a former Champion. Hulk-A-Mania is just uh, in the wind. I was carrying you! I’m not number three in The Mega Powers. I’m number one! You guys got me in the backseat.

-They argue back and forth about who is out of line as Liz moans on the gurney trying to make peace between then.

Randy: Man to man, you never asked me for a Title shot. You know why? You know why Elizabeth? Because you can’t beat me. You didn’t come at me like a man and your jealous because I am the World Wrestling Federation Champion now. (Liz: Stop it Randy). And I will be for a long time from now.

Hogan: You’re wrong. You’re wrong. You’re wrong!

Randy: I’m going to tell you what you are wrong about more than anything else. I can take anything but I am going to tell you something right now. THOSE EYES RIGHT THERE. THOSE EYES LUST ELIZABETH! You understand that!

Hogan: (slaps Randy’s finger away again). Get you hand out of my face!

Randy: YOU GOT LUST FOR ELIZABETH! Right there, and I’m going to tell you it makes me sick. I can’t even stand to look at you. You turn my guts in two. If you wanted to come at me man to man for the belt, I would beat you one, two, three. That would be okay.

Hogan: Elizabeth try to talk some sense into this guy, man.

-Savage fakes like he is going to leave and he DESTROYS HOGAN WITH A BELT SHOT! “You want to be a Champion? You want to feel what the Madness is all about?” Liz then covers Hogan and Savage threatens to splatter her all over him. Savage fires Liz across the room and I assume someone caught her off camera, because that was crazy! Brutus Beefcake comes in to stop Savage and he gets punched in the face for not minding his own business. Other officials pile in and Savage decks one of them for fun. “I’ll get out of here because I want to get out of here.” Savage tips over the gurney as Hogan tries to get to his feet and mutters that Savage is wrong.

-TAKE ALL MY MONEY AGAIN! I was only 7 and didn’t have money, but even now I feel like I owe them all my money just to watch this and WrestleMania V. Speaking of money, Vince had to be grinning ear from ear watching that and counting in his head all the dollars that would be rolling in off this angle.

-Peacock commercials!

-Hercules heads down for his match, but nobody cares as we cut to the back where Gene promises he will get an interview from Hogan before the show closes.

Hercules vs. Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil)

-Dibiase being announced from his Winter Residence is such a great character touch! Hercules attacks Dibiase before he gets in the ring and it should be noted, Dibiase is rocking the green tuxedo tonight. Hercules attacks Virgil as well and sends him into Dibiase and then clotheslines Virgil to the floor. For those not in the know, Dibiase bought Hercules contract from Heenan and basically wanted to make Hercules his slave. Hercules had a problem with that and thus it’s fighting time. An atomic drop sends Hercules to the floor and credit to the crowd as they are into this one after all the Mega Powers’ drama. Dibiase hands Hercules on the top rope to gain control. Back in the ring Dibiase gets a clothesline and drops the fist. He drops another and gets a two count as Hercules kicks out with authority. Dibiase buries a knee to the midsection and comes off the middle rope with a double axe. Another big kick-out from Hercules as Ventura notes that Ted needs to try a move where he can tie up the arms and legs. Hercules blocks a suplex and gets one of his own. Dibiase goes to the eyes, which Jesse sadly misses. Chops in the corner, but Hercules gets a whip into the corner. He charges, but Dibiase gets a boot up to block. Herc kicks out with power for a third time as Dibiase is getting frustrated. Herc sends Dibiase into the buckle and the crowd counts along as he gets all the way up to ten. Powerslam from Hercules! Solid one too! Herc charges and gets ran into the corner. Virgil ties Hercules chain around the top buckle and distracts the ref. Hercules puts on the breaks and runs Dibiase’s head into the chain. That only gets two! Virgil distracts the ref as Hercules gets The Torture Rack. The ref removes the chain which allows Virgil l to distract Hercules and Dibiase gets a roll-up for the pin at 7:10.

Winner: Ted Dibiase via pin at 7:10
-This was fine and held the crowd’s attention pretty well considering what it followed. **1/4

-Mean Gene is still hanging out in the medical area as the doctor checks on Hogan, who has an icepack above his eye. Brutus Beefcake is there as well to check on his friend. I wouldn’t truth him! I give it five or so years before he stabs Hogan in the back like a Butcher. Hogan grunts and sells the belt shot and starts screaming “Randy.” He then says “he doesn’t love her.” He also seems annoyed that Randy called him jealous. He walks out screaming Randy as head to another break.

-Peacock commercials!

-Jesse and Vince talk about The Mega Powers and Jesse seems thrilled to be back to fully cheering for Randy Savage again. I mean, he was also team Macho, but now he can go full steam ahead again.

-To the back where Hogan is walking through the halls looking for Savage. He is PISSED as he starts throwing chairs and he runs into Jim Neidhart. Hogan bounces him off a table and then runs into Shawn Michaels. He doesn’t know where Randy is, so Hogan pushes him aside and Shawn bumps like a mad man as he flops around. Can’t blame him as he is making the most of his time and is working with HULK HOGAN in front of millions. Bret Hart next and he hasn’t seen Savage either and just looks shocked Hogan put his hands on him. Jannetty just backs away and we close with Hogan kicking a double door open. Have I mentioned how much I love this story?



-Thanks for reading!

10.0

The final score: review Virtually Perfect

The 411

One of the greatest hours of wrestling in television history right here. No matter how many times I watch it, it still gets me fired up and I can't stop smiling. I had this one a few weeks ago as I just let Peacock run all day with a SNME Marathon and when the confrontation in the back happened I made by six year old watch with me. It's my two favorite wrestlers of all time chewing up the scenery as they sell WrestleMania V to us and it did a monster number for the time. The in ring wrestling was just there for both matches, but that is not the point of this show. It was to finally get to where we all knew The Mega Powers story was going and they delivered. If you have never seen it, so watch and if you have, watch it again. I love wrestling!