Saturday Night's Main Event II

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event II

October 5, 1985 (taped October 3) from the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, NJ

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

 

Volkoff and Hogan open with dueling promos for their title match. Volkoff says he's going home with the belt and and will have "no hesitation to push the button and fire all the missiles at stupid Americans". Mean Gene is with the Hillbilly family as they prepare for the big wedding later in the show. Roddy Piper interrupts and rants right through the cut to the opening titles. During Vince and Ventura's stand up open Ventura complains (in his awesome pure '80s triangular shades) that weddings have no place on a wrestling show.

Flag Match for the WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def Nikolai Volkoff (w/Freddie Blassie) in 5:17- This isn't "capture the flag" rules, it's a normal match and the winner can fly their nation's colors. Which they were going to do anyway. Hogan's wearing his "American Made" shirt, is in all white gear, and comes out to Stars and Stripes Forever. Volkoff jumps Hogan from behind while he's placing the flag. He rips Hogan's shirt off and chokes him with it. Hogan counters a buckle shot. Corner clothesline. Running clothesline. The big boot (well, more like medium boot as Hogan only gets it about waist high) sends Volkoff out onto the timeskeeper's table. Hogan follows him out and gets posted. Volkoff works the back and gets a trunks assisted gorilla press into a backbreaker for 2. Volkoff tries a piledriver. Hogan backdrops out. Volkoff with a slam for 2. Hogan hulks up. He dodges a charge and Volkoff goes face first into the post. Legdrop and good night. Hogan desecrates the Soviet flag and waves Old Glory. For Volkoff that was a high end match. Hogan was an underrated worker in this period, but he was no miracle worker. *

 

Uncle Elmer (w/Hillbilly Jim and Cousin Junior) def "Gentleman" Jerry Valiant in :12- One body slam and it's over. It's announced as a WWF record 6 second win, beating King Kong Bundy's 9 second record from Wrestlemania. Both are exaggerated, but this one was definitely shorter. NR

Jesse Ventura hosts Bobby Heenan on his Body Shop talk show. Heenan says he's upping the bounty to take Paul Orndorff out of wrestling from $25,000 to $50,000.

 

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper go to a double countout in 4:01- Full bagpipe corps entrance for Piper. Orndorff is so fired up the ref has to hold him back as Piper gets in. Heenan is at ringside with the bounty money. Slugfest start. Piper pounds Orndorff's head on the mat. Orndorff gets a takedown and does some ground and pound. With biting. They brawl on the mat. Piper hits a modified DDT with a weird sell from Orndorff and kicks him outside. Both guys take table shots and a chair gets involved. Back in, Orndorff hits an elbow off the top rope. Piper gets his casual two finger eye poke to get some space. Midring collision and both guys go down. An Orndorff crossbody near the ropes sends both guys over and out and they brawl on the floor. The ref counts them both out. Neither guy notices. The fight under the raised platform for commentary and all the way to the back. The cameras follow as Piper locks himself in a locker room to hide. Short and energetic, and has the traditional non-finish on TV to set up one of the big matches for the house show loop. **1/2

Next up is Uncle Elmer's legitimate in-ring wedding. Okerlund is on the organ. Some jackhole throws trash into the bride's face as she's speaking. Pure New Jersey. To her credit she barely flinches. Elmer keeps mishearing the judge and getting his lines wrong, amusing Ventura no end. At the "speak now or hold your peace" part Piper comes out, rants about weddings having no business in wrestling, and leaves. As the wedding party leaves we cut to the reception area with live pigs running around. Ventura: "The family's there already."

 

Andre the Giant and Tony Atlas (w/Capt. Lou Albano) def King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd (w/Bobby Heenan) by DQ in 4:26- This is part of the longrunning "who's the true giant in wrestling" feud. Andre and Bundy start. Andre goozles and uses Bundy's strap to choke him. Corner squash. More choking. Who's the heel here? Andre knocks Bundy's and Atlas' heads together. Studd runs Atlas over with a shoulderblock. Atlas counters with headbutts but misses a dropkick. While Studd and Andre fight in the face corner Bundy comes in and splashes Atlas. Atlas still manages to tag out. Andre big boot on Studd. Bundy jumps Andre from behind. Studd posts Atlas' back outside, then comes in and the heels double team Andre. The ref calls for the DQ. Hogan runs in to help. Why did Hogan help? Well, there's big plans in store but he'll tell you about it later. 3/4*

Up next is a skit with Mean Gene searching for George "The Animal" Steele at the Detroit Zoo. They check out some animals and Steele compares them to wrestlers (Heenan for weasels of course, Bundy for a hippo). At the end Steele runs back home into the jungle.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Dream Team (c) (w/Johnny Valiant) def Lanny Poffo and Tony Garea in 3:30- Before the match we get a clip from the house show in Philadelphia in August when the Dream Team beat the US Express for the tag titles via heel shenanigans. The Express are in the crowd. Valentine and Poffo start. The Hammer hammers away. Poffo handstands out of a headlock and fights out of a double team. He hits a moonsault on Beefcake! That move is so new and out of place in 1985 no one knows how to react to it. Poffo gets caught in the heel corner again. He dives out trying to tag but is cut off. Beefcake gets a slam for 2. Poffo dives again and gets the tag. Garea knocks Beefcake around and gets a crossbody for 2. The heels work him down. Valentine drops an elbow, locks in the figure four, and Garea gives it up. That was maximizing your minutes. The Express never got their rematch as Barry Windham soon left the company for a pit stop in Florida before heading toward stardom in Mid-Atlantic. **3/4

The show closing skit is the wedding reception. Vince and Ventura are there in person. Ventura is working on a poem. We get tips on eating etiquette from Lou Albano. Lanny Poffo gives the couple a babyface poem. Ventura gives them the heel poem. Okerlund pushes him into the wedding cake (I'm noticing a trend here). At the end we get the big announcement Hogan was teasing: on the next SNME he's going to team with Andre against Studd and Bundy.