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Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF The Main Event IV 11.23.90
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-So, this was supposed to be a Saturday Night’s Main Event, but was changed at the last minute to a Main Event and aired at 10 PM Eastern the Friday after Thanksgiving (Survivor Series 1990). This was the show where The Rockers had their infamous WWF Tag Title win over The Hart Foundation that never happened as the ring rope broke and Bret felt the match was an abomination and asked for it to never make air. That match is on one of Shawn’s DVD releases in full. For the comparison, The Main Event III that aired earlier in the year did 20.9 million viewers and famously, the first Main Event did 33 million. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper
-Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, IN
-Nov 23, 1990 (Taped: Oct 30, 1990)
-Attendance:
-NBC Rating: 8.6 (15 Million Viewers)
-We go right to Gene Okerlund backstage with Ted Dibiase and they cover some of his most infamous schemes including TWIN HEBNARS!
-Over to Sean Mooney with The Ultimate Warrior and he cuts a Warrior promo. This was actually a more grounded Warrior promo than normal and worked well.
-Now we get the music and show opening.
-Vince and Piper are in front of a green screen and Piper is eating turkey to make sure we understand this show is the day after Thanksgiving and not taped a month earlier.
WWF Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil)
-Lockup to start and Warrior shoves Dibiase across the ring. No surprise there! Another go and again Dibiase goes flying back into the corner. Dibiase tries to target the arm, but gets shoved on his ass. The banners hanging above the ring all read, “Saturday Night’s Main Event,” to again, show how last minute the decision was to change the show. Warrior sends Dibiase to the floor and then rams Virgil and Dibiase into each other. Warrior heads up top and comes off with a double axe back in the ring. Ted begs off in the corner, but Warrior fires away with chops. Warrior with a whip and charges, but Dibiase gets a boot up. He hits a clothesline and comes off the middle ropes with a double axe for two. Piledriver gets two! Warrior backdrops out of a second attempt. Warrior with a pair of running tackles, but Virgil grabs the leg. Dibiase follows with a clothesline to send Warrior to the floor as we take a break at 4:18.
-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!
-Back with Dibiase dropping elbows to the back of the head. He drops a fist for a two count. He takes Warrior to the mat with a side headlock. Warrior gets to his feet and punches his way out. Warrior misses a clothesline and Dibiase lands one. Dibiase sets too early on a backdrop and Warrior breaks out a backslide for a two count. Cool! Dibiase goes to the eyes and hits a suplex for two. He tries for another, but Warrior breaks and gets a sunset flip for two. Warrior breaking out the move set here! Ted lands another cheap shot and sends Warrior to the floor. He sends Warrior into the steps and lands a clubbing blow to the chest. Back in the ring Ted starts firing off right hands and Warrior WARRIORS UP! He blocks a suplex and gets one of his own. Both get to their feet and they end up colliding to knock them both down. Dibiase gets to his feet first and tries the double ax again, but Warrior lands a punch to the gut. He starts to WARRIOR UP for real this time as he starts shaking the ropes. Right hand followed by a clothesline and then another. Shoulder tackle and Virgil is in to break the pin and draw a DQ at 11:08.
Winner and Still WWF Champion via DQ at 11:08: The Ultimate Warrior
-Wonderful match as Dibiase knew how to work with Warrior and get the most out of him. Credit to Warrior for breaking out some new offense and for making Ted look like a threat to his Championship. The ending was weird as there was no reason Ted couldn’t take a pin loss to the WWF Champion. ***1/4
-Warrior goes after Virgil, but a crazed Randy Savage is here and he is pissed at Warrior flip flopping on giving him a Title Match. Savage off the top with the scepter and he poses with The WWF Title as Sherri lays the boots into Warrior. She chokes as Savage heads up and comes off a double ax to a grounded Warrior, who is clutching the WWF Title. Great heel beat down here, and you would think Savage was next for Warrior, but they had other plans.
-Macho King Randy Savage and Queen Sherri are backstage with Gene. Savage is just a little intense here as he says being WWF Champion again is a feeling he can’t describe.
Nikolai Volkoff vs. Sgt. Slaughter (w/ General Adnan)
-We go to Gene in the back with Sgt. Slaughter who is still bashing American and supporting Iraq.
-Slaughter attacks before the match starts and beats on Volkoff with riding crop. Camel Clutch and then some more whipping. Jim Duggan runs out to save with his 2X4 and we have no match.
-To the back where Gene is with The Big Boss Man. He is rather annoyed at all the jokes Bobby Heenan has been making about his mom. Nearly a decade later and Boss Man goes a step above Heenan with his dead dad jokes in the feud with Big Show.
The Big Boss Man vs. Mr. Perfect
-nWo explodes! Boss Man chases around the ring. Back in Perfect does a cartwheel to avoid a backdrop, but Boss Man just clotheslines him instead. Cute! Whip to the corner and Perfect bounces out and does a complete flip to sell it. That’s our Perfect! Boss Man drags Perfect around the ring by his hair and then fires him across the canvas. Perfect slides balls first into the ring post in a classic Perfect spot. Backbreaker and Boss Man heads up top, but Perfect is able to move out of the way. Neck snap from Perfect and that move was also so cool no matter what direction he went with it. It gets a one count here. Small package gets a two count. Boss Man fires back with some uppercuts but Perfect cuts off that comeback. Perfect removes the buckle cover, but Boss Man blocks. He then sends Perfect into the exposed buckle and Perfect takes a crazy bump off that as you would expect. Perfect reverses a whip and Boss Man goes back first into the exposed corner. Bobby Heenan is here as Perfect goes for a Perfect-plex, but Boss Man counters with a small package for two. They start exchanging right hands and now we get The Perfect-plex, but Boss Man is out at two. Heenan goes to pull the rope down, but Boss Man reverses and Perfect goes flying to the floor. Boss Man goes after Heenan and chases him to the back. We cut to Heenan sliding across the floor in the back. Boss Man remembers there is a match, but can’t get back in time and Perfect gets the count-out win at 8:14.
Winner: Mr. Perfect via count-out at 8:14
-Perfect bumped like a super ball and Boss Man brough the intensity. Kind of a crappy finish though. **1/4
-To Gene in the back and Heenan comes rushing in, scared to death. Heenan is FANTASTIC here as he is begging Gene to help him and wants someone to go to Jack Tunney. He notes he has apologized for his off-color remarks and doesn’t deserve to have his head taken off. Heenan is always great though we are getting closer to where he could no longer be a manager and got moved into the announce booth.
-Buddy Rose introduces his Blow Away Diet. I have no clue why, but I remember seeing this “commercial” as a kid and it has stuck with me ever since. I don’t understand the point and not sure what they were thinking, but I think we all realize Vince has a weird sense of what he finds entertaining. I guess it worked to a degree because I never forgot about it. Call 1-500-LAR-DASS! I get that joke now!
”The Model” Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana
-STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES! This probably should have been a WrestleMania Match or SummerSlam match at worst at some point. Martel jumps Tito before the bell and tosses him to the floor. Model tries a clothesline, but hits post. Tito goes right for the arm as he rams it off the apron a couple times and takes things back into the ring. Double ax off the middle ropes and then an armbar. Martel tries a monkey flip, but Tito just puts on the brakes and stomps him in the face. Cool! Martel escapes another armbar, but sets too early on a backdrop and Tito gets a small package for two. Tito goes back to the arm, and this time Martel just lands a chop to the throat to break. Tito back with a reversal into a hammerlock and Martel has to crawl to the ropes to force a break. Martel with a leverage move as he pulls Tito by the tights and sends him face first into the top buckle. Martel stomps away and lands a thumb to the throat while hiding it from the ref. Piper approves of the cheating! Now, Solo just hits a Samoan Spike and the ref doesn’t bat an eye. Martel teases heading up top, but changes his mind and gets a backbreaker. Now he opts to go up top, but Tito lands a right hand. Another knocks Martel off the top and Tito goes crazy with right hands in the corner. Heavy right hand from Tito followed by a dropkick. Now he gets a backbreaker, but no cover. He comes off the middle ropes with a clothesline for two. He misses with a right hand, and Martel goes for an atomic drop, but Tito counters by grabbing the leg and going for the Figure Four. Martel counters with a small package for two. Martel then ends up getting Tito off his feet and hooks the Boston Crab for the submission at 6:48.
Winner: Rick Martel via submission at 6:48
-This was an enjoyable match, though I wish they would have gotten the chance on a PPV to really let loose and have a proper blow-off. Martel winning was not shocking as he was getting a push with the new character and Tito was on his way down the card until he got his own repackage. **3/4
-Gene is backstage with Jake Roberts, who has been blinded by Martel’s arrogance. We know what match this is leading to and I am kind of excited to get there. Jake removes the glasses to show off his damaged eye and they did a heck of a job making it look like he was blind in that eye.
-Warrior cuts a pissed off promo on Savage. Another good promo from Warrior here as he showed some real emotion.
-Thanks for reading!
