Saturday Night's Main Event III

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event III

November 2, 1985 (taped October 31) from Herseypark Arena in Hershey, PA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

 

This is a special Halloween edition of SNME. We get the usual run of promos to open up. Lots of fans in the arena are in costume. During the whole intro there's a bad ripoff of the main theme from Halloween playing.

 

Some clips are shown of Terry Funk abusing a ring attendant (who looks like Slick but I can't tell for sure) and attacking JYD with his branding iron during a summer MSG show.

Terry Funk (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Junkyard Dog in 5:16- JYD jumps from behind while Funk's jawing with the crowd. Funk gets crotched and JYD bounces him up and down. Funk sells like a maniac and goes outside to recover. Back in, Funk hits a slam but misses the follow up elbow drop. JYD slams him from the ring to the floor! Crawling headbutts. More mega selling from Funk. Hart grabs JYD's foot and JYD goes after him. Funk tries to ambush but JYD backdrops him on the floor! Funk gets a sleeper but JYD gets to the ropes. JYD puts on a sleeper of his own. Hart gets on the apron. JYD flips him in. Funk grabs the megaphone, whacks JYD with it while the ref's back is turned, and gets the win. JYD fights off the branding iron shot and gets his heat back by pulling Hart's pants off and "branding" Hart's ass over his tightie reddies. Terry Funk was Mick Foley before Mick Foley, someone who can make any match watchable through crazed bumping alone. **1/4

Next up is the first of the 3 part Halloween contest, pitting teams captained by Lou Albano (faces) and Bobby Heenan (heels) in Halloweeney competitions. First up: pie eating. It's Albano vs King Kong Bundy. Albano wins. Very little pie actually entered anyone's mouth.

Back to the arena for an edition of Piper's Pit featuring the Hillbilly family, following up on Piper's interruption of Elmer's wedding. He "mistakes" Hillbilly Jim for Mrs. Uncle Elmer. He asks Elmer how the wedding night was and if there's any family planning plans and gets a "none of your business" to both. The Hillbillys get to their feet and Piper claims it wasn't him that said all those awful things at the wedding, it was Ventura! Ventura comes in from commentary and owns every word he said. Bob Orton ducks down and Piper pushes Cousin Junior over him. The Hillbillys knock Piper out and corner Ventura. Ventura bails.

Halloween competition part 2: the pumpkin dunk. It's like bobbing for apples, except it's tiny pumpkins and they're all in chocolate syrup. This time it's Heenan vs Cousin Junior. Heenan uses heel tactics (picking up pumpkins with his hand when Okerlund's not looking) to win.

WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant (w/Capt Lou Albano) def King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd (w/Bobby Heenan) by DQ in 8:00- Hogan and Andre are billed as the "dream team". Not to be confused with the current WWF tag champs The, er, Dream Team. Hogan is in all white again, and the new pre-Winged Eagle WWF title belt is making its first major appearance here. Hogan and Bundy start. A shoulderblock standoff is followed up by a Hogan high knee. Hogan tries to slam Bundy but his back gives out. Andre goes into choking with the singlet straps mode again. Hogan hits a double ax handle from the second rope but the momentum sends him into the heel corner. Studd gives him a shot, traps him and tags in. Hogan hits a sloppy atomic drop. Andre beats Studd down, but is swinging so wildly he knocks the ref down. All four guys brawl in the corner! The faces stand tall and the heels regroup outside. Commercial. Cut back to Andre with Studd in a bear hug. Andre whips Studd into a big boot from Hogan. Andre with a big boot. Bundy runs in and Andre gets tied in the ropes. Studd holds Hogan down for a Bundy big splash. The ref calls for the DQ. Hogan fights the heels off and saves Andre. Not too shabby considering who all was in there. **

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Tito Santana (c) and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) go to a double countout in 4:08- Santana comes out hot so Savage hides in the ropes. A rough hair pulling lockup ends with a Savage cheap shot. Kneedrop. Santana ducks an elbow, blocks a hiptoss and hits his own hiptoss. Savage dodges an elbow drop. Double ax handle off the second rope for 2. Savage pulls hair to keep Santana in a chinlock. Santana tries to elbow out Savage counters with a bionic elbow and slam. He tries to come off the top again but Santana counters with a shot in the gut. Santana hits the ropes, possibly loading up the flying pico de gallo, but Savage sees it coming and rolls out. Brawl on the floor. Savage makes Santana chase in and out of the ring and pops him when he's transitioning. He loads Santana up for a piledriver on the floor but Santana blocks it. Savage gives him a kneelift instead as the ref calls for the bell. Double countout. Savage would end up beating Santana for the title at a Boston Garden house show in February. **3/4

Vince McMahon joins Roddy Piper for Halloween at Piper's "rented" American home. This is indescribable classic ranting Piper insanity and I won't even try to do it justice because I can't. Just watch it.

Kung Fu Challenge: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def Mr. Fuji (w/The Magnificent Muraco) in 3:16- Twice Vince says "The rules are" and then gets conveniently interrupted or sidetracked. Steamboat hits a couple of karate chops and works an arm wringer. Fuji counters with that well known move of karate masters, the Low Blow of Torturous Agony +3. The Karate Kid was just too scrupulous to use it. Steamboat hits Fuji with kicks in the leg to bring him down, but Fuji gets another borderline blow. Fuji hits some throat shots. Steamboat reverses a suplex. A Steamboat missile dropkick off the top gets the 3. Muraco comes in and sprays red mist in Steamboat's face! A heel beatdown ensues. Fuji looked good for an 87 year old or however old he was here. 1/2*

We are at the finals of the Halloween competition: the pumpkin pass. This game has since been banned in all workplaces in 37 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia. I won't bother with the details. The faces win. Savage blames Elizabeth for losing.

Ventura closes the show saying he wants to team with Piper against the Hillbilly family at the next SNME.