Saturday Night's Main Event XVI

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XVI

April 30, 1988 (taped April 22) from the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, MA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

 

Wrestlemania 4 is in the rear view mirror. There's a new graphics package for the intro, featuring new champ Randy Savage instead of Hulk Hogan. In fact, Hogan's not even mentioned during the show as he's taking some time off.

 

We get footage of Duggan hitting Andre with his 2x4 during a match between them on weekly TV. Bobby Heenan and the rest of the Heenan Family are furious, as if Duggan hadn't done that to everyone he's come across.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def Hercules (w/Bobby Heenan and Andre the Giant) by DQ in 8:47- Ventura: Duggan's "HOOOOOOOO" sounds like "a wounded water buffalo in heat". Yowzers. Ventura really didn't like Duggan, and I'm not sure if it was all storyline or if there was legit hatred there. I'm sure there's a shoot interview somewhere that would shed some light. Anyway, back and forth start. Herc ducks in the corner to get advice from Andre. Duggan dodges a punch and hits an atomic drop. Bad advice. Duggan barely gets Herc up for a backdrop. The follow up kneedrop is dodged and Herc works the knee a bit. Herc dodges a charge and Duggan rams his shoulder into the top buckle. Now it's pick your body part. Herc, being Herc, chooses neither and instead sticks with his punchy punchy chokey basic offense. Neither body part is sold the rest of the match. Herc pulls Duggan out with his tights. Heenan gets a shot in. Duggan gets pissed and grabs his 2x4 from the timekeeper's table and chases everyone out. While the ref is getting the 2x4 out Herc hits Duggan from behind. Slugfest. Herc bear hug. Duggan punches out but Herc stops the comeback with a high knee. Duggan counters a backdrop and goes into full comeback mode. 3 point stance clothesline! Heenan runs in to draw the cheap DQ. Andre beats Duggan down a bit until the Ultimate Warrior runs in and chases the heels off. 1/2*

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def "Dangerous" Danny Davis (w/Jimmy Hart) in 3:10- Hart is wearing a beret after Beefcake cut his hair at WM. Hart also has his own hedge clipping shears to counter Beefcake's. Beefcake and Hart compare Schwartz sizes before the match. Beefcake no sells a punch and Davis hides in the ropes. Buckle shots, hip toss, and Davis begs off. Davis gets a cheap shot in over the ref and goes into his own punchy chokey offense. Beefcake gets away from Hart's shears. He catches Davis with a knee in the jaw that looked like a legit shot. Davis looks out of it. He rolls out to recover, and when he gets back in Beefcake locks in the sleeper. Davis goes out and the ref calls it. Hair cutting and spray painting hijinks ensue. That was 3 minutes that felt like 15. 1/4*

WWF Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) (w/Elizabeth) def The One Man Gang (w/Slick) in 6:03- This is a rematch of the semifinals of the WM 4 tournament, won by Savage by DQ after OMG used Slick's cane. It's also Savage's first TV title defense. They roll around the ring in the initial lockup. Savage tries some stick and move. Savage leaps up and OMG catches him, but Savage uses his momentum to drop him down into a pin! OMG's kickout sends Savage to the floor. He bounces right back up, jumps to the top rope, and hits a crossbody for 2! Top rope snap clothesline for 2. OMG takes over with big man offense. Slick chokes Savage with his cane. Savage ducks a clothesline, slides out of the ring (that's his baseball days showing) and chases Slick around. OMG hits him as he's getting back in the ring. More slow big man beatdown. Elbow drop for 2. Savage dodges a corner charge, hits elbows to the head, and clotheslines OMG 360 and out! Double ax handle off the top to the floor. He goes up again in the ring but OMG pops him in the gut coming down. Savage dodges the 747 off the second rope. Slick moves in on Elizabeth. Savage goes to stop him and OMG gets him from behind again. While the ref's jawing with Elizabeth the heels double team, but Savage dodges and OMG eats Slick's cane. Top rope Savage elbow, and good night. Savage tried his damndest to make this watchable. *3/4

WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (w/Mr. Fuji) def The British Bulldogs by DQ in 5:05- Apparently Demolition has threatened to "dip Matilda in chrome and make her a hood ornament". I am a 100% dog lover, but that's hilarious. Smash and DBS start. Smash smashes. Ring Gearhead note: for some reason Smash is wearing his elbow pad over his upper arm. DBS gets a sneaky tag on a rope run and Dynamite ambushes Smash with a clothesline. Smash blocks a roll up but misses an elbow drop. Well, that would probably hurt less if he put his elbow pad on right. The faces work Ax's arm. Dynamite loads up a suplex but Smash comes in and breaks it up, putting Dynamite bulldog in peril. Smash with a bear hug. Dynamite headbutts out but can't get the tag. Ax axes. Dynamite gets a boot up in the corner and tags. Bodyslam party by DBS. But Dynamite tags right back in and Smash kills him with a shoulderblock, then throws him outside. Fuji gets kicks in. DBS chases him off with Matilda. Fuji runs all the way to the back and the Bulldogs chase him. After a minute (and conveniently timed commercial break) they come back with each holding half of Fuji's cane. They beat the Demos down with them and get DQ'd. Who's the heels here? Clusterfrell booking, and they didn't get enough time to get going to begin with. *

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) def "The Rock" Don Muraco (w/Billy Graham) in 4:12- Another WM 4 tournament rematch, this time from the quarterfinals. Fast DiBiase start with punches and chops. Muraco counters with a backdrop. Ring Gearhead note: for some reason DiBiase isn't wearing wrist tape. That's one of those things that you only notice when it's not there. Muraco slightly nudges DiBiase with a shoulderblock. He hits a powerslam, but Virgil puts DiBiase's foot on the rope. DiBiase hits a clothesline for 2 and rolls through his basic moveset. Muraco counters a backdrop attempt with a Russian leg sweep. Another powerslam for 2. DiBiase begs off to sucker him in, punches him in the gut and bodyslams him. DiBiase covers, and even though Muraco's foot is on the rope the ref doesn't see it (or was paid off) and counts 3. Like Savage, DiBiase did his best to get something decent out of it. *1/2

"Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) def Koko B Ware in 3:44- We JIP from commercial with Rude attacking Ware on the apron and the bell ringing. Rude thinks he backdropped Ware and does the hip swivel, but Ware leapfrogged over and hits a dropkick. Slugfest. Rude drops forearms. Fist drop off the top rope. Dropkick and lots of Rude posing. Ware dodges a second dropkick. Huge backdrop. Rude dodges a charge and Ware flies into the ropes. Rude Awakening and we're done here. Squashy. Yet another TV loss for Hall of Famer Koko B Ware. Rude was going places but still honing his craft. 3/4*

On the plus side, this was a heavily wrestling focused show with a SNME high 6 matches. On the bad side, none of them hit 2 stars and there were no major angles. Definitely a skippable bottom of the barrel SNME.

Clash of the Champions III

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions III: Fall Brawl

September 7, 1988 from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Ric Flair doesn't have a match scheduled, so he's joining Tony Schiavone in the hosting booth. Flair's playing it less in character and more straight down the middle, even putting the guy he's currently feuding with, Lex Luger, over as a "great talent".

NWA World Television Championship: Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan) and Brad Armstrong go to a 20:00 time limit draw- Usual mix of amateur takedowns and stalling at the start from Rotunda. He pops Armstrong with a chop and uppercuts in the corner. Springboard reverse crossbody from Rotunda, but Armstrong reverses it for 2. Rotunda powders. More uppercuts that Armstrong's doing some nice spit selling for. Shawn Michaels-esque. The first two rows will get wet. Armstrong gets a hiptoss and dropkick, and covers for 2. Rotunda slides out to think again. While both guys run the ropes Armstrong grabs a crazy armdrag. Rotunda kips up out of an armbar and uses tights to get Armstrong in the corner. He catches Armstrong with a knee in the gut while running the ropes, drops him over the top rope and throws him out. Sullivan gets shots in. Rotunda suplexes him back in for a 2 count. To the chinlocks! Ref Tommy Young catches Rotunda getting rope leverage. He pounds on Armstrong a bit while Armstrong tries to fight and stay on his feet. A diving clothesline kills the comeback attempt. Rotunda drops an elbow and covers for 2. Armstrong's thrown out again and Sullivan gets a couple more shots in. Armstrong sunset flips back in and gets a 2 count. Steve Williams comes out to ringside and tries to pump Armstrong up. Rotunda gets distracted by him and Armstrong wraps up a small package for 2. 3 minutes left. Rotunda does an airplane spin, but spins himself too much and can't follow up. 2 minutes left. Gutwrench suplex from Rotunda for 2. Small package for 2. 1 minute left. Rotunda half nelsons Armstrong on the mat and tries to get a pin with his foot on the ropes. Finally he covers Armstrong over and over again, with Armstrong kicking out every time until time runs out. Williams helps an exhausted Armstrong out of the ring. Solid stuff. Armstrong showed great babyface fire by refusing to be beat, but it would have been nice if he'd gotten some offense in the second half of the match. **3/4

JR says Jimmy Garvin will be out indefinitely with a broken leg and cues up footage from weekly TV of the attack from Sullivan and Rotunda that did the damage.

 

Nikita Koloff and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams def The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan) in 17:07- Fast start with the Herders immediately getting Williams into their corner and they pound on him until Williams fights out. Williams runs Luke over with a shoulderblock. Football tackles for everyone. Morgan gets in the ring, sees Williams in the 3 point stance pointed straight at him, sees his life flash before his eyes and bails out again. Butch dodges a Koloff corner charge and celebrates. Koloff, king of no selling, hits Butch from behind and has a bodyslam party on the heels. Koloff no sells a double team. A Williams clothesline sends Luke out. Williams suplexes him back in. Williams goes up top and hits a crossbody! Big guy flying alert. Butch breaks the pin up. Luke and Koloff have a moment while Young is jawing with Morgan where they look like they get lost and don't know what to do next. Luke does an eye rake to get going again. Koloff shrugs that off quickly and hits an armdrag and dropkick. Williams goes for another big football tackle, but Luke dodges and he posts his shoulder. The heels commence the beat down. Williams starts hulking up and no selling. An eye rake puts him back in peril. He dodges a double team, Butch hits Luke off the apron, and Williams gets the tag. Morgan hits Koloff with his flagpole. Fistdrop off the second rope by Luke for 2. Butch taunts and spits at Williams to bait him in and the heels double team. Luke locks on a sleeper. Koloff gets out but can't get the tag. He ducks under a clothesline and punches Luke 360 and out. Morgan hits Williams in the back with the flagpole to keep him from tagging. Luke tries coming off the top rope. Koloff dodges and tags out. Williams picks Luke up to press slam him. Butch clips him. Williams manages to tag out. Koloff comes in, immediately decapitates Luke with the Sickle, and gets the pin. Again, solid stuff. **1/2

 

No DQ Match: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes def Kevin Sullivan (w/Gary Hart) in 6:59- This is billed as a grudge match even though there hasn't been much of a feud, even though these guys had crossed paths in Florida before. Why Hart's managing Sullivan when Sullivan is already a manager himself, you've got me. Probably a "I hate Dusty" thing. Dusty no sells Sullivan offense, hits a bionic elbow and Sullivan goes out. Dusty smashes him into the announce table again and again and again then throws him into Hart. He pounds Sullivan with elbows in the corner over Young until Sullivan pops him with a karate thrust to the throat. They go outside again and Dusty takes a guardrail shot. Hart hits Dusty with his shoe. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Hart passes a spike to Sullivan. He jams it into Dusty's throat. Dusty gets out of a chinlock with a blatant low blow. Stick and move jabs. Another elbow makes Sullivan drop the spike. Dusty scoops it up and nails him with it. Cover, but Hart pulls him off. Dusty chases. Al Perez comes to ringside with the dog collars and chain to be used in a future Dusty/Sullivan dog collar match commentary has been hyping up and hits Dusty in the back with the chain. Perez and Sullivan beat Dusty down with the chain in the ring. They stretch it out to clothesline him, but Dusty dives on it to pull them into each other. Then Dusty grabs Hart, small packages him, and Young counts 3? The great googly left eyeball of the Great Mowjowl hell was that? Dusty celebrates in the crowd after. What a stupid finish. Not much of a match either. 3/4*

Former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman and former UWF commissioner John Ayers is in the hosting box with Tony and Flair. Ayers will be the special ref for a future Flair/Luger rematch. He tries to talk about it but Flair realizes Ayers is getting run over by Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor and Too Tall Jones simultaneously and jumps in to save him. That was bad. Like worst promos of all time bad.

The ring announcer Lillian Botches the intro for the next match and calls it a "Russian Chainsaw Match."

Russian Chain Match: Ricky Morton def Ivan Koloff (w/Paul Jones and Russian Assassin #1) in 9:52- Robert Gibson left the promotion again after the Bash tour due to a pay dispute. Morton was playing nice and working out the rest of his contract, but would also leave later this month. All Koloff to start with throat shots and chokes with the chain. Morton slides under Koloff and crotches him with the chain. Koloff recovers and hits two corners before Morton flips him out of it. JR covers for Ayers saying, "He's a big guy that doesn't do a lot of talking. Public speaking isn't his forte". Morton tries to work Koloff's leg, which is sound strategery. He tries to drag him and hit corners but Koloff quickly stops him. Koloff goes up top. Morton yanks the chain to pull him off. Koloff hangs Morton across his back with the chain. Koloff gets to 3 corners before Morton wraps up his legs and drags him down. Koloff tries the top rope again. When he comes down both guys and the chain collide. Morton recovers first. He gets to 3 corners. Koloff grapevines the rope and grabs Jones' riding crop to hold himself back. After a bit Koloff loses his grip on the crop and Morton falls into the last corner to win. Decent finish to a terrible match. This was not the kind of match Morton should be trying to work and it showed. 1/2*

After the match RA1 beats Morton down while Koloff and Jones argue in the ring, bringing long simmering tensions to a boil. Koloff punches Jones. RA1 hits Koloff from behind, and a brand new RA2 runs into the ring. The heels beat Koloff down. The plan for this was to turn Koloff face to team him back up with comrade nephew Nikita, leading to a Starrcade match against the Russian Assassins. But as luck would have it, Nikita took a leave of absence soon after this show to deal with a family emergency. The Starrcade match would still go on, but with the Junkyard Dog randomly teaming with Ivan.

JR has Ayers at ringside to give him a second chance to cut a coherent promo. Thankfully they keep it short. Ayers stays at ringside for the next match which I'm sure is not a setup in any way whatsoever.

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Sting def Barry Windham (c) (w/JJ Dillon) by DQ in 21:14- Huge yell from Sting and we're off. He hits a couple of armdrags and Windham's hot. Speed sequence. Sting lands on Windham's shoulders during a leapfrog and the way they shrug it off I'm not sure it was planned. A dropkick sends Windham outside. Big Windham back suplex out of a headlock. Sting pops right back up and hits more dropkicks. Sting offers Windham a free shot, but Windham wants a test of strength instead. It's a RUSE, as Windham uses it to give Sting a kick in the gut. Mounted punches from Windham. Sting counters it into an inverted atomic drop. Mounted punches from Sting and Windham does a wonderful super delayed flop out of the corner. He's learned from the best. Sting yells in Dillon's ear to annoy him. Windham dodges an elbow drop, takes it outside and beats Sting down on the floor. Slam on the floor. Big Windham suplex back in. Sting gets a sunset flip for 2. Windham powerslam. Desperation small package from Sting for 2. He dodges a corner charge and Windham files over the corner, across the top rope, and eventually to the floor. Sting posts Windham and he's bleeding. More great dazed selling from Windham, wildly punching the air and walking over the rail into the crowd. Back in, Sting bites the cut and does a couple of back rakes. Sleeper. Windham goes down, fights it, and tries to run Sting into the corner. Sting anticipates it, pushes Windham into the corner, then locks the sleeper back on off the ricochet. Windham finally uses a kneebreaker to get out. He works Sting's knee a bit and hooks on a figure four. Young breaks it up when he sees Dillon helping. Sting punches back and hits a suplex. Windham rolls through it and locks in that little known variant of the Claw, the Black Gloved Titty Twister of Extreme Torque +2. Sting runs Windham around and uses momentum to send him outside. Backdrop and elbow drops from Sting back in. They lose their spot for a second and have to maneuver around in a very obvious way, ending with Young taking a clothesline. Stinger Splash! Sting hooks the Scorpion in but there's no ref. Dillon comes in with a chair and Windham whacks Sting in the head with it. He covers and Young is back in to count, but Ayers comes in, pulls Windham off, and raises Sting's hand as winner by DQ. OK, did he have that authority for this match? What's his position anyway? Damn good show saving main event marred by another shitty finish. ***1/2

The show closes with Flair, fully back in character, cutting a killer promo on Ayers and Luger. "To be the man you've got to beat the man, and I'm THE MAN! Wooooooooooooooooooooooo". Tony runs down the NWA shows coming up on TBS this weekend and for every one Flair says "I'll be the star of that one too". Hilarious.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Windham and Sting is worth a look despite the finish, but that's about it. Dusty's creative juice was at a low ebb here and the promotion as a whole was in rough shape despite a pretty good Bash tour. It would turn out this would be the last major show under the Jim Crockett Promotions banner. The next Clash in December takes place just after the sell to Turner.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Saturday Night's Main Event XV

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XV

March 12, 1988 (taped March 7) from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

 

We're on the road to Wrestlemania 4 as the show opens with a recap of the WWF title change(s) on The Main Event, but surprisingly no details on the title tournament already set up for WM.

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) in 9:02- The Dream Team explodes! Valentine with fairly stiff forearms. Beefcake counters with a running high knee. A big boot gives us the first Valentine flop of the match. Beefcake dodges a punch and hits two atomic drops with A+ Valentine sells. Beefcake with a rollover cover for 2. Mounted punches and another Valentine flop out of the corner. Valentine gets a cheap shot in the corner to take control. Elbow off the top rope. Valentine hooks the figure four in while near the ropes, and blatantly uses them for leverage to try to damage Beefcake's knee as much as possible before the 5 count. As Beefcake slides out we get a good shot of an oddly placed table at ringside. I'm sure that won't be used later in the show in any way whatsoever. While Beefcake's recovering on the floor the Honky Tonk Man, who Beefcake is scheduled to challenge for the IC title at WM, comes to ringside and grabs a mic to run Beefcake down. The refs get rid of him. Back in to the Hammer dropping hammers. He goes for the figure four again but Beefcake pulls his tights down to get out. Another try, and Beefcake pushes Valentine into the corner. Slugfest. Beefcake locks the sleeper in. Valentine gets to the ropes and both guys fall to the floor. Hart gets involved and Beefcake chases. Valentine ambushes, back suplexes Beefcake back in the ring and bridges, and the ref counts 3. But, Beefcake got a shoulder up and is declared the winner. Hair cutting hijinks follow. Your usual solid Greg Valentine match. **

 

Hulk Hogan def "King" Harley Race (w/Bobby Heenan) in 6:37- Bit of a dream match here, with WWF's current top guy taking on the NWA's biggest star of the '70s. Hogan goes right for Heenan, who took credit for orchestrating the events of The Main Event before selling Andre's contract to DiBiase. Hogan slides in the ring, which is always the cue for his opponent to jump him. Hogan no sells it. Race headbutts. More Hogan no sells as his music is still playing. Hogan punches Race down, tears his shirt off and finally the music stops and the bell rings. Race floppy sells Hogan clotheslines before going 360 and out, landing knees first on the table. Hogan follows and posts Race's shoulder before going after Heenan again. Race with the ambush. He goes for a piledriver on the floor but Hogan backdrops out. Atomic drop on the floor and Race gets posted again. Race is slammed on the floor. Finally they get back in with Hogan continuing the beatdown. He chokes Race with his wrist tape! Heenan grabs Hogan's foot and Race gets him from behind again. Belly to belly suplex. Piledriver! Race throws Hogan out, adjusts the table, and sets Hogan on it. He goes for a falling headbutt off the apron, but Hogan dodges! Race falls right through the table face first, breaking it! This is no modern thin designed to break easy table, this is a thick, reinforced one. Gimmicked I'm sure, but still broken in half. That is one HELL of a spot for 1988. And Race gets back up before Hogan! He pushes the table away in disgust and goes right back on the attack. He hits a diving headbutt off the top rope! Cover. Hulk Up. Corner clothesline, legdrop, done. Damn, where did that come from? Between Race turning back the clock a bit, Hogan showing a more vicious and aggressive side (almost Hollywood-like minus the coward heel) after losing the title, and all the work on the floor which was a bit out of the WWF style at the time, this was a damn fine piece of business. Unfortunately the table spot would cause a long term injury for Race that would be the catalyst for his eventual retirement. ***1/4

 

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil and Andre the Giant) def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) by countout in 11:39- Unbeknownst to anyone at the time but knownst to us now, this is a preview of the upcoming WM main event. Andre is revealed as DiBiase's surprise in the corner. Virgil gets in Elizabeth's bubble and Savage jumps outside to get him out, allowing DiBiase to jump him from behind. All DiBiase to start with his usual well calculated mix of hitting moves and taunting the crowd. He hits an elbow off the second rope. Andre pokes Savage as he's laying near the apron. Savage reverses a whip and hits a back elbow. A high knee in the back sends DiBiase outside. Double ax handle off the top. DiBiase slides out. Savage opens the ropes to invite him back in. When he does DiBiase gets control back and hits fistdrops. Savage with a boot up on a corner charge. DiBiase dodges the kneedrop and hooks in a stepover toe hold. Savage pushes out, sending DiBiase flying over the top and out again! Slugfest on the floor. Andre steps forward. Virgil hits Savage from behind and gets booted by Hebner. DiBiase with a double ax handle off the second rope. He works a chinlock for a bit until Savage comes back. Ref bump! Savage throws DiBiase out. Double ax handle off the top to the floor! Andre grabs Savage from behind and headbutts him. Elizabeth runs to the back as Andre continues to work Savage over. DiBiase revives Hebner and Savage is counted out. The heels continue to beat him down until Hogan runs in with a chair and runs them off. Rock solid back and forth match. I said it in my WM 4 review, but I'll say again- it's a real shame they had to work the whole tournament to get there instead of having a normal main event PPV match. It would have rocked. **3/4

The Islanders (w/Bobby Heenan) def The Killer Bees in 4:00ish (shown)- Heenan's in his "I hate all animals" phase and is wearing a beekeeper's mask. In the arena this was a 2 out of 3 falls match, but because of time constraints we get a truncated version with an edit from the first to third fall in here at some point. The Bees jump as soon as the Islanders hit the ring. Brunzell hits a legdrop for a 2 count. Blair with a roll up for 2. Tama dodges a Brunzell dropkick. Suplex for 2. Haku dropkick for 2. Tama and Brunzell slugfest. Brunzell hits an inverted atomic drop but in the heel corner. Double clothesline. Tags on both sides. Blair rolls Tama up and the ref starts counting, then suddenly decides he needs to get Brunzell out instead. Haku kills Blair with a clothesline, and Tama covers to win. Call it *1/4 for what was shown.

 

One Man Gang (w/Slick) def Ken Patera in 3:47- OMG jumps Patera as he's taking his pants off (has he never heard of tear offs?) and chokes him with them. Patera comes back with punches and locks in a bear hug! OMG sells the hell out of it and eye rakes out. Patera dodges a punch and tries a full nelson! OMG gets to the ropes. He squashes Patera in the corner. Patera counters with shoulders in the corner and a running knee. Coming off the ropes OMG kind of pushes Patera down with a clothesline and falls on top of him for the pin. Bit of an ugly finish, but the match was shockingly spunky considering who was in there. Patera trying to take the large monster down with power wrestling holds was amusing. *

The Main Event I

Legacy Review

The Main Event I

February 5, 1988 from the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

The Main Event is Saturday Night's Main Event, except on a Friday, and it's live. This show, headlined by Hogan/Andre II, still holds the record for the highest rated wrestling program in history.

Ahhhhh, real crowd noise. None of that canned stuff that's been used for all the taped SNMEs up to now. I've been saying for months the Thunderdome is Vince's greatest wish finally realized: the crowd will do whatever he tells it to do. We start the show with a Hulk Hogan workout video set to, oddly, an early version of what would become Jake Roberts' music.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def The Honky Tonk Man (c) (w/Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue) by countout in 8:20- Peggy Sue is future Savage manager Sherri Martel. Honky woos Elizabeth while Savage threatens Hart. Savage chases him off and around the ring as the bell rings. After they get back in a back elbow sends Honky back out again. Savage gives Honky and Hart a double noggin knocker. Honky dodges a charge and Savage goes shoulder first into the top turnbuckle. Hart distracts again and Savage chases him around and through the ring. Hart drops the megaphone, and Honky whacks Savage in the gut with it. A Savage comeback is cut off with a knee to the gut. Usual slow Honky offense. Hart chokes Savage while Honky dances for Elizabeth again. He goes outside and he and Hart corner Elizabeth. Savage tears out and hits Honky from behind. Double ax handle off the top to the floor. Double ax handle in the ring for 2. Savage dodges and Honky takes out Hart while he's on the apron and Savage locks a sleeper in. Now Peggy Sue threatens to slap Elizabeth. Savage goes out to stop her. Honky tries to get the jump but Savage is a step ahead and Honky gets posted. Savage gets back in while Honky is counted out. Honky gets the guitar. Hart hits Savage from behind with the megaphone. Honky loads up a guitar shot but Elizabeth stops him. Savage grabs the guitar, runs the heels off, and smashes it. Unlike their SNME match, this one was almost completely controlled by Honky and is worse as a result. *3/4

 

WWF Championship: Andre the Giant (w/Ted DiBiase and Virgil) def Hulk Hogan (c) in 9:05- Hogan has the old belt on in his prematch promo, but in the arena it's the brand new greatest wrestling belt of all the times, the debuting Winged Eagle. Andre slow walks getting in the ring after the bell, then stops to confer with DiBiase and Virgil. Hogan has enough and jumps the group. Virgil and DiBiase eat big boots. Hogan punches and chops away and Andre absorbs it all. A running elbow and clothesline still can't get Andre down. Corner clothesline. Hogan goes up top and shockingly it's a mistake as Andre slams him off. Hogan dodges a falling headbutt and Andre's finally down. When Hogan gets close Andre grabs a choke. And chokes. And chokes. He stomps on Hogan's hand and slams him. Andre falls down giving Hogan a big boot. Sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) singlet choke. Hogan fights out of a choke and turns on the comeback. A clothesline off the second rope gets Andre down. Virgil grabs Hogan's foot. Hogan shrugs it off and hits the legdrop, but Hebner's arguing with Virgil and doesn't count. Hogan argues with Hebner. Andre grabs Hogan from behind and hits headbutts, then does that grabby half suplex thing and covers. Hogan's shoulder clearly goes up, but Hebner counts 3 anyway! New champion? Hogan is furious, but Hebner awards the belt to Andre. New champion! Andre takes the mic and says he's surrendering the title to DiBiase. Bought and paid for. He puts the belt around DiBiase's waist. As the heels go to leave, a Hebner look alike comes in! It's twin magic! In fact the run in was the "real" Dave Hebner. The match was reffed by his twin brother Earl, who had just jumped over from the NWA a couple of months prior. A confused Hogan grabs both Hebners and tries to conduct an in-ring interrogation. Neither one gives, so an even more confused Hogan gives up. One Hebner punches and kicks the other out of the ring. Hogan supposes by advanced wrestling logic that the aggressive Hebner is the evil one, scoops him up, and press slams him onto DiBiase and Virgil. Well, Hogan throws Hebner so far he damn near clears them and almost splats straight to the floor but DiBiase and Virgil manage to save him. Really good and historically significant angle, all the more effective because they would resist the temptation to ever use the Hebner twins this way again. Horrible match. 1/2*

Soon after this show on weekly TV WWF President Jack Tunney will uphold the "referee's decision is final" rule and cement Andre as the official winner and WWF Champion. However, he will also say that no one named Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo or Kevin Nash is booking this show and you can't just surrender a title to someone else. As far as he's concerned Andre vacated the title, and he sets up the 16 man tournament for the belt at WM 4.

This show, and review, is super short, so allow me to go stathead on you for a bit. This match ended Hogan's almost four year long first title reign, the last of the old school multi-year WWF title reigns. After this they'd start to modernize and move the belt around more often. In fact, from this show through the end of 2020 there have only been five other wrestlers that have had a single WWF/E world title reign of a full year or longer:

Randy Savage (371 days, '88-'89)

John Cena (380 days, '06-'07)

CM Punk (434 days, '10-'12)

AJ Styles (371 days, '17-'18)

Brock Lesnar (Universal Title, 504 days, '17-'18)

Also just missing a full year:

Hulk Hogan's second reign (364 days, '89-'90)

Diesel (358 days, '94-'95)

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: Strike Force (c) def The Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart)- After this match's intros we cut back to the locker room where Mean Gene is with a distraught Hogan. "HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY FOR THE PLASTIC SURGERY?" Well, that was more complex than Tom's Rhinoplasty could do that's for sure. Hebner didn't get the David Hasslehoff. Hogan keeps ranting as we go to commercial. Coming back in, the match is going on with Martel in peril and Bret hitting a piledriver. Vince says they're out of time and have to go. The Network copy stays on long enough to see Martel cradle Bret during a backdrop attempt and get the pin. NR

Clash of the Champions II

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem

June 8, 1988 from the James L Knight Center in Miami

Commentary: Tony Shiavone and Bob Caudle

JR's off commentary tonight. Instead, he's hanging out in the parking lot doing the red carpet report as the grandees arrive in their limos. I smell a potential parking lot beatdown.

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Barry Windham (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def Brad Armstrong in 13:35- Dusty Rhodes was stripped of the title soon after the first Clash for attacking Jim Crockett during a brawl and Windham won the tournament for the vacant title, giving all of the Four Horsemen gold. The first real move of the match after lockups is missed because the camera was on a sign in the crowd. Windham hits an armdrag and locks in hold #473: ARMBAR. Or is that 474? Anyway, Armstrong slams out of it. Armstrong slides between Windham's legs to avoid a punch and rolls him over with a flying headlock. Windham counters into a headscissors before rolling out to have a strategery word with Dillon. Back in the headlock, Windham pulls hair to get Armstrong in a headscissors. Windham argues with ref Teddy Long (who refs every match on this show) and stalls some more. Sucker punch by Windham on a corner break. Armstrong dodges a fistdrop and Windham rolls out again. Armstrong grabs another headlock and walks up the corner to flip Windham over. He does it a second time and gets a 2 count. They crank the pace up a bit. Armstrong catches a leapfrogging Windham and slams him. He tries the walking up the corner move a third time, but this time Windham counters it into a back suplex. Powerslam for 2. Figure four! Dillon provides a leverage assist and they play cat and mouse with Long for a good 5 minutes. Armstrong tries to reverse it a one point but Windham fights it off with Dillon's help. Finally, Long catches Windham using the ropes and forces a break. Windham throws Armstrong out and drops him on the guardrail. Windham goes for an elbow off the top rope but Armstrong dodges and goes into comeback mode. Dropkick, gut punch and kneelift. Armstrong crossbody off the top for 2. He goes for a second one, but this time Windham rolls through it, and as he's doing it locks on the claw! The claw gets the pin. Cool finish. Perfectly solid free TV title defense. **3/4

The Rock N Roll Express come in and announce their NWA return after being gone nearly six months.

Next up is footage of the contract signing on a luxury yacht for the Ric Flair/Lex Luger world title match to be held at the Great American Bash PPV. Jim Crockett calls it "the biggest world title match in NWA history". I'm dubious. Back live to JR as the rest of the Horsemen arrive at the show. Back to the ring, the cameraman clearly gives the ring announcer a cue to start announcements for the next match. But before it starts, we go back to JR in the parking lot because Luger's limo is arriving. As soon as he steps out of the door the Horsemen jump him! They tear his tux off, slam his head against the trunk and leave him bleeding in the parking lot.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics (c) def The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan) in 19:29- I'm pretty sure the match started during the Luger beatdown and is JIPped. Rogers hits a crossbody on Butch for 2. Dropkick from Fulton, and he follows Luke out to the floor. Morgan hits him from behind, but Fulton dodges the follow up and Morton hits Luke. The faces take them both out. Fulton slips out of a slam and locks in a sleeper. Butch breaks it up. Luke screws up what looks like what should have been a Rogers crucifix, but still lays there for the 2 count. Rogers slides under the legs, flips out of a backdrop and hits a slam! The heels go out again to regroup. Butch attacks Rogers' throat. Luke locks in a abdominal stretch. Rogers hiptosses out. Heel double team to prevent a tag. Rogers dodges a double team and gets the tag. Fulton ends up in the heel corner and gets popped. Midring collision. Fulton crossbodys both Herders! Crazy sequence where both Fantastics take turns covering both the Herders at once for 2 counts. When things calm down the faces work Luke's arm. Butch pulls the top rope down and Rogers crashes to the floor. While he's laying on the floor a fan nudges him in the back with their foot and gets told off by security. Rogers stays on the floor for a while and takes shots in the back from both one of the title belts and a chair. Back in, the heels work the back some more. Butch gets a knee in the gut and fistdrop for 2. The heels try to run Rogers into the chair again, but Rogers dodges and Luke take the shot! Hot tag! Fulton rolls Luke up, and despite Butch's attempt to break it up gets the 3 count! Man, the Fantastics were pretty damn good. The match was too long, but at the same time they used the length well to turn a mediocre match into a fairly good one by the end. ***

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams joins commentary for the next match. After the announcements for the next match we again go back to JR, who says Luger has been taken to a local hospital. We also get the full replay of the entire Luger attack, then go to commercial before getting back to the next match. What is this, the third hour of Raw?

 

"Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and Ronnie Garvin (w/Precious) def The Varsity Club in 13:11- It's NWA TV champ Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner wrestling for the VC, while Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage at ringside. Precious has the key. Pretty sure this is another JIP as all four guys are fighting in the ring when they come back from commercial. Stereo sleepers on the heels by the Garvins. Reset with Ron and Steiner. I'm not sure what they intended to do there, but Steiner did a huge 360 sell of it so cool. He ends up in the face corner and takes shots from both Garvins. Sullivan keeps trying to get Precious' attention. Rotunda breaks out the epic stalling. He and Jimmy exchange amateur takedowns. Sullivan's got a piece of paper he's trying to get Precious over to look at. The heels work Ron's arm while Jimmy keeps jumping down to calm Precious down. He eventually goes over and gets in Sullivan's face. The heels double team as Jimmy gets back on the apron. They do the phantom tag spot before Ron punches out and gets the real tag. Long Jimmy front facelock on Steiner while Sullivan continues to entice Precious over. Ron rolls Steiner up for 2. After a shot from Rotunda he goes Garvin in peril again. Rotunda chokes him with a rope. They drag Ron to the cage and Sullivan gets a shot in. Finally he headbutts Steiner and tags. Donnybrook. Ron and Rotunda have a chopfest on the floor while Jimmy and Steiner wrestle in the ring. With all that going on Precious finally gets close enough to the cage for Sullivan to reach out and grab the key from her. Jimmy pins Steiner off camera because who cared about the match anyway right? It's like Russo's booking this thing. Sullivan unlocks the cage and immediately chokes Precious. Williams comes out of commentary to fight Sullivan off. Precious gets mad at Jimmy, shoves him and walks off. Decent action, but it was all second fiddle to the Precious angle. *3/4

Commentary hypes up the Tower of Doom match coming up at GAB that will be the final blowoff of the Varsity Club/Garvin and Precious angle. They even have a blueprint for the cage structure. Spoiler: it sucked. They even laughably have a parchment "discovered by Kevin Sullivan" of the "very first Tower of Doom". Looks more like one of the huts from the cannibal village in Secret of Monkey Island to me.

Nikita Koloff def Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) by DQ in 11:51- Rough lockups. Finger pointing and shoving. Sloppy slugfest. Arm wringer exchange. Perez tries a corner whip. Koloff reverses it and flips him over. Perez gets in a few shots in the corner and dodges a charge. Koloff's shoulder rams into the top turnbuckle and he rolls out. Hart gives him a table shot. After another Hart shot Koloff goes out again and stalks him, allowing Perez to hit him from behind. Slam on the floor. Perez tries to suplex Koloff back in, but he twists in midair and falls on top of Perez for 2. Perez with a double chinlock. Koloff lifts him up into an electric chair and drops him. Koloff runs the ropes and looks like he ducks a clothesline, but goes for some kind of move at the same time and they fumble something around until Perez recovers to put him on the mat and drop a knee. I don't know what that was, other than freaking ugly. Koloff gets thrown out and sunset flips back in. Perez backs up to the ropes. Koloff reverses a suplex and pounds Perez around. A back elbow sends Perez over and out. Larry Zbyszko runs in with a chain. Koloff punches first, but it still gets a DQ. The heels choke and beat down Koloff after. Blech. Terrible sloppy showing by Koloff. He was lucky Perez is as solid a pro as he is to save that to being almost watchable. *1/2

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) (w/JJ Dillon) and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & Sting go to a double DQ in 10:58- Sting and Arn start. Sting shrugs off Arn's hair pulling. Arn gets a cheap shot in over Long on a corner break. Sting's pushed outside. He dodges a charge and Arn posts his arm. Sting wraps it around the post and goes to work on it in the ring. Tully tags in and runs into an armdrag. Sting with a flying headscissors! Dusty gives Tully a classic Dusty Rhodes funky beatdown. Figure four from Dusty. Dillon gets on the apron and Tully eye pokes out of it. Arn tries to suplex Dusty. I don't think that's going to work. Dusty reverses, but Arn slips out and tags. Tully walks into a flying clothesline. Sting hits a press slam. Stinger Splash! Arn runs in as Sting looks to hook the Scorpion Death Lock in and Tully knocks him outside. Rail shot. Arn goes for a Vader bomb but Sting gets his knees up. Tully cuts the tag off. Arn hooks Sting up for a suplex and sneaky tags Tully. While Sting's trying to reverse the suplex Tully gets him with a sunset flip off the top rope! While he's fighting that Arn kills him with a clothesline! That was awesome. Tully covers for a 2 count. They go out again and Arn DDTs Sting on the bare concrete floor! Dillon rolls Sting back in, but Dusty has Long tied up and by the time he gets free Sting kicks out at 1. Sting then immediately goes into comeback mode. I haven't seen such an egregious no sell of a DDT on the floor since Summerslam '10. Sting hot shots Tully and gets over to tag Dusty. Bionic elbows for everyone. Donnybrook! Both Sting and Dusty throw Long out of the way to keep fighting. Windham runs in and the bell rings while he's putting the claw on Dusty. Flair also comes in and beats down Sting, but the focus is on Windham and Dusty as they're feuding over the US title. Windham still has the claw on Dusty on the floor as we go to commercial. They got what they could in for the short time and crappy non-finish. **3/4

To wrap up, JR says Luger is still at the hospital and he'll have an update on Saturday night's weekly show. Tony says the Braves are on next. The 1988 Braves? I'd rather watch the Tower of Doom match for three straight hours.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: As middle of the road as middle of the road gets. Pretty good build for the Bash, though.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Saturday Night's Main Event XIV

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XIV

January 2, 1988 (taped December 7, 1987) from the Capital Centre in Landover, MD

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

 

The green screen work is much better this time around. It helps that it's plain black instead of a starfield. Bobby Heenan (in a neck brace) says he's stepping aside for Bundy's title match and Andre will be in his corner instead.

2 Out Of 3 Falls Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: Strike Force (c) def The Bolsheviks (w/Slick) in 7:55- Santana teamed up with Martel during the summer of '87 to replace Tom Zenk, and they pulled the upset title win over the Hart Foundation on weekly TV in November.

FIRST FALL- Santana and Zhukov start. Solid Santana led back and forth. Quick face tags and arm work on Zhukov. Volkoff tries a press slam but Martel squirts out and gets a roll up for 2. Small package for 2. Santana hits a cross body on Zhukov. Volkoff breaks up the pin. Heel double team. Volkoff straight misses a couple of kicks or stomps on a prone Santana. Santana sells them anyway. Zhukov with a back suplex for 2. Santana dodges an elbow, dodges Zhukov and tags. Hot tag sequence from Martel. The Boston Crab gets a submission and the first fall.

SECOND FALL- Santana dropkicks Volkoff over and out. Double dropkick on Zhukov. Martel loads the Crab up again but Volkoff breaks it up. More heel double teams as the ref gets Santana out and Martel is forcer (striker?) in peril. Volkoff gut wrench suplex for 2. Santana runs in, allowing more heel double teams. Knee drop from Volkoff for 2. Martel tries a sunset flip. Midring collision. Tags on both sides. Santana has dropkicks for everyone. Flying flauta! The pin's broken up and we have a donnybrook. Volkoff gets Slick's cane. Santana dodges and Zhukov eats it. Santana rolls him up for a pin and it's over. Eh. About as good as you'll get with the Bolsheviks. *3/4

Fuji and Sika have a giant loaf of bread and giant jar of mustard to make a Damien sandwich with. Well, it's a nice change of pace from the usual "heel is scared to death" of Damien story.

 

Jake "The Snake" Roberts def Sika (w/Mr. Fuji) in 3:35- Deep Roberts armdrags. He ducks a couple of Sika punches and hits a clothesline. Shoulderblocks in the corner. Sika blocks a corner whip, hits a backdrop and rakes Roberts' back. Fuji gets a couple of cane shots in. Sika locks in the Nerve Pinch of Tormentable Agony +1. Roberts counters a backdrop with a kneelift. Short punches. Fuji grabs his foot to break the momentum. Roberts dodges a Sika corner charge, Sika Bret bumps, and Roberts rolls him up on the bounceback to win. Afterward Fuji eats a DDT and gets to play with Damien for a bit. Fuji almost completely no sells the DDT walking out, but his hat stayed glued on the whole time so who knows how much padding was in that thing? Strategery. 3/4*

 

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def King Kong Bundy (w/Andre the Giant) in 12:09- Hogan and Andre stare down on Hogan's entrance again. Hogan wins the lockup, dodges a charge and goes around the world with buckle shots. Big chops. The big boot sends Bundy outside. Still all Hogan after Bundy gets back in so he powders to confer with Andre. Bundy powers out of an arm wringer and pulls Hogan's hair to get control. Shoulderblocks stagger Bundy, but he ducks a clothesline and pops Hogan with a back elbow. More work on Hogan's arm. Eventually Hogan punches out and successfully slams Bundy, but the elbow follow up is dodged. They trade places with Bundy getting a slam but Hogan dodging elbows until he does a mini hulk up. Corner clothesline. Bundy goes for an avalanche, but the ref is in the way and he gets squashed between Hogan and Bundy! Hogan dodges a big splash and punches Bundy out of the ring. The match pauses as a replacement ref takes over, and the clinically dead original ref does a stretcher job to the morgue. Reset with Bundy getting control. Knee drop for 2. A chop sends Hogan over and out! Avalanche! A second one! Bundy gets arrogant, takes his time and demands his usual five count. Big splash. Hulk Up! Bundy does a Bret bump, Hogan hits the legdrop and good night. Perfectly serviceable. **1/4

Now for the real money for the night. Hogan calls Andre into the ring. Andre teases stepping in, then decides not to...until Hogan turns his back. Andre chokes Hogan down. The British Bulldogs run in and try to stop him. Andre throws them out and starts choking Hogan again. More faces run in from the locker room and try to get Andre off Hogan. Finally, Jim Duggan gets in and whacks Andre with his 2x4. That gets Andre's attention in a "if you shoot Mongo you'll only make him mad" way, but it allows the faces to get Hogan out of the ring. There's a funny unplanned moment where a frustrated Duggan slams the 2x4 on the ring apron and it breaks in half.

 

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) def Koko B Ware in 7:30- Ware's just a proxy here as Valentine has been feuding with his former tag partner Brutus Beefcake. Valentine hits a quick hot shot and drops some hammers for some near falls. He goes for an early figure four but Ware fights out. Valentine slowly and deliberately climbs up the ropes and hits a double ax handle. Beefcake comes to ringside. Ware uses the distraction to get a roll up and small package for 2. Valentine slides out and jaws at Beefcake. The match stops as the ref goes out and orders Beefcake back to the locker room, which Beefcake takes forever to do. When it gets going again Valentine is right back on offense. He gets sloppy and crotches himself on Ware's knees, but Ware STILL can't get any offense in. Finally Valentine goes up top again and Ware slams him off. Slugfest. A dropkick puts Valentine down. Valentine flop off a Ware headbutt. Ware gets a fistdrop off the second rope for 2. Valentine hits a kneebreaker, locks in the figure four, and that's it. Yet another TV loss for Hall of Famer Koko B Ware, and a damn near squash at that. *1/2

After the match Beefcake comes back in and runs Valentine off. Ware holds Jimmy Hart in the ring. Beefcake comes back in and takes a bit of hair off the top with the TITATNIUN STEEL BLADES until Valentine returns to save his manager.

In the back with Mean Gene, Andre gloats about how good it felt to choke the life out of Hogan, says he's going to squeeze the title right off him, and gives Okerlund a taste as well. The show closes with a medical update on Hogan: windpipe damage, but no tracheotomy required. Also, thankfully no anal bleeding. Hogan and Andre go on to sign rematch contracts at the first Royal Rumble, and the match will take place at the next Main Event.

Saturday Night's Main Event XIII

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XIII

November 28, 1987 (taped November 11) from the Seattle Center Coliseum in Seattle, WA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

This show is in one of those classic pretape holes, taping before Survivor Series but airing two days after it. The show opens with Savage giving another "Danger Zone" promo over the Twilight Zone music and some really awful green screen work. I've seen better CSO (as the BBC called it) in early '70s Doctor Who.

We get a short piece of footage of Danny Davis attacking George Steele with the ring bell on weekly TV. Steele is clearly not over Elizabeth, as he's now carrying an action figure (well, in this case doll would probably be more accurate) of her with him.

George "The Animal" Steele def "Dangerous" Danny Davis by DQ in 3:49- Steele charges right in and bites Davis in the corner. The first half of the match is Davis powders, gets back in, tries to ambush Steele, Steele somehow outsmarts him (yikes), Davis powders again, rinse and repeat. Finally Davis gets an international spike out of his tights and works Steele over with it for the second half of the match, keeping it out of the ref's view. He was a ref so he should know all the tricks. After a bit Steele lifts Davis up in a hammerlock, Davis accidentally kicks the ref, and we have a cheap DQ. Steele hunts down, kills and eats a turnbuckle pad after. DUD

Clips from the last SNME of the Hart Foundation costing Savage an IC title match against the Honky Tonk Man.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Bret "Hitman" Hart (w/Jimmy Hart and Jim Neidhart) in 12:03- Savage signals he's fired up by flinging his robe and sunglasses away. Jimmy Hart and Anvil try to corner Elizabeth. Savage jumps out to shoo them off and chases them around the ring. He drags Bret out and posts him. Bret favors his arm and slowly gets back in. Savage beat down in the corner. A corner whip is reversed and reversed and reversed and finally Bret takes the buckles, but dodges a Savage charge. Bret lays in the beatdown in the corner. As you'd expect with these two every single move and moment is being done with 100% snap and intensity. Savage counters a backdrop. Bret recovers on the apron. Savage charges, pushes the ropes, and Bret gets sprung off the apron and into the guardrail! The Hart entourage helps him recover while Savage teases coming off the top rope. Anvil gets on the apron. Savage gives him and Hart a double noggin knocker. With the decks cleared Savage dives off the top rope to the floor, but Bret was waiting for him with the megaphone and Savage takes it in the gut! Elizabeth tries to help but Anvil chases her off and rolls Savage back in. Bret slams Savage upside down in the corner and he gets in the tree of woe. Bret piledriver for 2. Savage dodges a corner charge and Bret posts his shoulder. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Bret comes back with a gut punch and backbreaker. Savage dodges the elbow off the second rope. Snap clothesline over the top rope for 2. Bret backdrops Savage over the top rope to the floor! Savage hurts his ankle on the landing. He tries to recover on the floor and Elizabeth takes his boot off. Savage works the rest of the match in one sock foot. He gets back in and uses the ropes to try to stand up. He can't put any weight on the hurt leg. Bret goes right for it. He posts the ankle! With no boot on! Stepover toe hold. Savage pushes out and Bret posts his shoulder again. Savage is trying to hobble around on one leg. Bret quickly gets back on the ankle. Single leg crab. Savage gets under the ropes. Bret snap mares him over the top rope back into the ring. Savage gets a desperation eye poke and slides to the apron. Bret picks him up to slam him, but Savage rolls through it into a Paul Smackage and the win! Holy crap what a match. Savage gave an absolute masterclass in selling a leg injury. The only thing I can criticize, other than it being too short, is the arm/shoulder shots on Bret didn't end up going anywhere, but it doesn't matter a whole lot. Want to see the best match ever on a SNME, at least the original incarnation? This is it. This Bret Hart guy, he might be someone someday. ****1/4

Bobby Heenan teases a huge surprise for the title match. Everyone should have figured out what that's code for by now, but of course Vince and Ventura don't have a clue.

 

WWF Championship: King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan) def Hulk Hogan (c) by countout in 13:45- Heenan takes the mic and calls his huge surprise down to ringside. If you hadn't figured out well before now it's Andre the Giant, I can't help you. Hogan jaws with Andre on his entrance. Bundy and Hogan go face to face and shove before locking up. Shoulderblock standoff. Hogan goes down on the second one. They hit the ropes again, but Hogan flips the script with a high knee. He tries to slam Bundy but can't. Bundy falls on top of him for a 2 count then works Hogan's back a bit. Hogan dodges a big splash. Huge clothesline! Hogan's feeling it tonight. He telegraphs a backdrop and Bundy whacks him with a clubbing blow. Long chinlock spot with the arm drops. When Hogan comes back he hits the big boot. He hits the ropes again but Andre trips him. The bell rings and the refs separate everyone. The match ref orders Andre to return to the back, and he'll waive the DQ and let the match continue. Andre is predictably reluctant but Heenan begs him to go, saying it's Bundy's match and he'll mess everything up. Andre eventually does, taking out a cameraman (that we see POV from the camera) on his way out. The match restarts with a Bundy beatdown. Hogan reverses a whip and hits the corner clothesline. Around the world buckle shots on Bundy. Chops. Another high knee. Bundy dodges an elbow. He stands on Hogan's back and slaps on a bear hug. Hogan elbows out, but Bundy catches him running with a back elbow. .5 avalanche. Bundy hits a big splash on Hogan's back and covers. Hulk Up. 3 punches, big man slam. Bundy rolls out and drags Hogan with him. Hogan gets some more shots in and rolls Bundy back in, but as he's getting back in Heenan sneaks up and grabs his boot! Hogan's counted out! Sore loser Hogan knocks Bundy out with a punch and beats Heenan up after. Surprisingly not bad at all. For whatever reason Hogan was really going max effort out there, and the overall package was good setup for a rematch on the next SNME, and slow burn to the eventual Hogan/Andre rematch in February. **3/4

 

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink) def Hercules in 7:00- Heenan's not out with Herc because he suffered a neck injury from the Hogan beatdown. Staredown and Herc posing before a very rough lockup. Shoulderblock standoffs. A back elbow from Herc staggers Bigelow. Clothesline over the top and out! Bigelow snap mares Herc down to the floor! Brawl on floor. As Bigelow slams Herc on the floor the bell rings for a double countout. Bigelow grabs the mic and demands the match be restarted. Herc agrees. They do football charges that end in standoffs. Herc tries a trip but Bigelow carwheels over him. Herc dodges a dropkick, drops elbows and a knee. Herc tries to come off the top. Bigelow catches him! Press slam. Bigelow hits the slingshot big splash and gets the 3. Shockingly stiff and much better than expected. **1/2

Bundy demands a rematch with Hogan at the next SNME, and he wants Andre in his corner officially. Hogan accepts his terms.

Clash of the Champions I

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions I

March 27, 1988 from Crockett home base, the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

 

The creation of Clash of the Champions was a direct result of the scheduling wars between the NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions and the WWF. WWF put the first Survivor Series on at the same time as Starrcade '87 (and strongarmed cable companies into carrying it), then aired the first Royal Rumble on USA opposite Crockett's first ever non-Starrcade PPV, the disastrous Bunkhouse Stampede, in January '88. The Clash was the first shot to be fired back at Vince, airing on TBS at the same time as Wrestlemania 4.

The original Clash intro is still one of the best, with all the NWA title belts panning across the screen accompanied by a thunderstorm motif. Just fantastic. They even use the appropriate belt graphic for each title match.

College Rules Match for the NWA World Television Championship: Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan) def "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) in 6:10- We're in the early days of the Varsity Club vs Garvin/Kevin Sullivan vs Precious feud that would end in the awful Tower of Doom cage match at Great American Bash '88. College rules means it's three 5 minute rounds, and a pin only takes a one count. Round one opens with Rotunda immediately stalling. Shocker. Garvin gets fired up and shoves ref Teddy Long out of the way. Rotunda hits an armdrag and celebrates. Garvin strings a few moves together and Rotunda powders. Garvin reverses a headlock and hits a back elbow for a quick near fall. Rotunda gets a cheap shot on a corner break and drops Garvin's throat on the top rope. He amateur rides Garvin trying to get a pin before time expires. Between rounds Rotunda takes a cheap shot. Round two starts all Rotunda. He goes up top but Garvin slams him off. Garvin loads up the brain buster but Sullivan gets on the apron. Precious tries to get him off but Sullivan grabs her by the throat and pulls her up to the ring. Rotunda uses the distraction to roll Garvin up and gets the one count pin. After the bell Rick Steiner comes out but Precious fights all of them off with Hacksaw Jim Duggan's Sullivan's own 2x4 and chokes Sullivan with his own coat hanger (being able to use a coat hanger as a weapon means she's fully prepared for any Birdemic that may happen). Eh. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. **

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams is making his NWA return after a tour in Japan, and lives up to his name by brutally murdering a promo. He challenges the winner of the world title match.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Midnight Express (c) (w/Jim Cornette) def The Fantastics by DQ in 10:15- This is the start of a longrunning feud between these two teams over the US tag titles that will last through the summer and include several title changes. The Fantastics recently pulled a shock upset win over the Midnights in a non-title match on weekly TV in their territory debut. Cornette has his own fan section at ringside. The Express pull the Suzuki-Gun as soon as the Fantastics hit the ring and we're brawling all over. Eaton takes a chairshot on the floor. The Fantastics double team Lane in the ring. All four guys brawl on the floor again. Rogers takes a chairshot. Eaton's out here dropping tables on top of people. Finally the ref gets some control with Eaton and Rogers in the ring....for about 10 seconds and they're all donnybrooking again. Eventually the Express hit Rogers with a high/low double team and things settle in a bit. Lane breaks out the karate kicks. Cornette holds up a table and Eaton rams Rogers into it. Rogers fires up and tries to come back. An Eaton powerslam cuts it off. Eaton hits an elbow off the top rope. Express Decapitation Device-like double team. Fulton keeps trying to run in. Rogers gets a sunset flip but the ref is distracted. Lane breaks it up. And they're back on the floor. Eaton bodyslams Rogers on the table. Bulldog on the table! Fulton goes out to try to help Rogers recover. More Express double teams. Rogers fires up in the heel corner, dives over Eaton and tags, but the ref didn't see it. Cornette comes in and we're donnybrooking again. He loads up a racket shot but Rogers dodges and Eaton gets it. The Fantastics hit a rocket launcher, and get a 3 count! The crowd goes nuts. But, the count was made by Tommy Young. The ref's original ref, Randy Anderson, was thrown over the top rope during the last melee. He waves the finish off and declares the Express winners by DQ. The fight continues. Cornette takes out both refs and the Express lash Fulton's back with a belt. Rogers chases them off with a chair. The first of many classics these two teams will put on during the course of the year, but I've gotta knock it down a tad for the Dusty Finish. ****

Jim Cornette helps out with promoting sister TBS show The New Leave it to Beaver, acting with one of the show's stars in character. The seeds are also announced for the 3rd (and last until its 2019 revival) Crockett Cup.

Barbed Wire Match: The Road Warriors and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes  (w/Paul Ellering) def The Powers of Pain and Ivan Koloff (w/Paul Jones) in 3:39- The heels attacked Dusty and the Roadies "last night" on weekly TV and dropped a barbell on Animal's face, injuring his eye. Animal's in a very pseudo-Retribution mask for protection. The POP have belts on but no one on TV mentions them. My crack research staff (well, me) say it's the rarely seen and seldom heard of NWA World Six Man tag belts, which the POP and Koloff had taken from Dusty and LOD about a month before. Barbed wire is loosely wrapped around all the ring ropes for this match. It's one of those pure chaos, all six guys fighting the whole time deals and hard to recap. The heels take some wire grazing first and Koloff is bleeding. Hawk press slams Koloff. Dusty gets busted open on the wire because no way in hell was Dusty getting through this match without bleeding. Animal hits headbutts with the mask. He hits Warlord with a powerslam, and dodges Barbarian's headbutt off the top rope, to win. Afterward the heels beat Animal down, take the mask off and work the injured eye some more before they're chased off. 3/4*

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Lex Luger and Barry Windham def Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard (c) (w/JJ Dillon) in 9:35- Luger had just left the Horsemen, a slot that was still vacant. More on that later. Tully and Luger start. Luger shockingly wins the lockup. Arn tries to jump him from behind but Luger fights them both off. Powerslam on Tully! Torture Rack! Arn clips Luger's knee, tags in, and goes to work on it. Luger pushes both Horsemen into each other and gets a tag. Windham hits a flying lariat and powerslam on Tully but doesn't try for any covers. Sleeper! Tully goes through the ropes, but Windham hangs on all the way to the floor! He lets go to prevent a countout and Arn comes over to revive Tully. Tully goes up top and gets slammed off. Abdominal stretch. Dillon distracts the ref, and Arn comes in to break it up. Arn with a DDT. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Windham kicks out! Windham gets a crossbody on Tully for 2. Midring collision. They do the bridge up spot, but Windham flips the script and turns it into a gutwrench suplex. Arn prevents a tag. Tully hits the slingshot suplex, and Windham *just* kicks out of it! Windham recovers, flops down, and uses his super long arms to get the tag! Luger cleans house. Powerslam on Arn. Donnybrook! Dillon sets up a chair, but Arn is run into it! Luger covers, and gets the pin and the titles! HUGE pop. Fantastic sprint of a tag match. Luger and Windham would only hold the titles for a few weeks, dropping them back to Arn and Tully on weekly TV when Windham turned on Luger and joined the Horsemen. ***3/4

In case there's a draw in the world title match we've got the not uncommon NWA gimmick of judges at ringside, a mix of actual wrestling business folks and celebrities.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) and Sting go to a 45:00 time limit draw- JJ Dillon is suspended above the ring in a cage for this match. Flair gives us a WOOOOOO and we're off. Sting throws out his own yell. Flair tries a hair pull. Sting kips up and has none of it. Arm counters end in a test of strength that Sting wins despite Flair's attempts at mind games. Chop no sell. Sting gets a hiptoss/dropkick combo and Flair goes out to have a think. Back in Flair gets a cheap shot on a rope break. A speed sequence ends with a Sting press slam. Sting with a flying headscissors! Headlock work. Flair does the usual tights pulling to try to roll Sting into a pin. He gets up and gets Sting to the corner and chops again. Another Sting hiptoss. Flair grabs the top rope to keep from walking into the dropkick, but then Flair Flops! He throws Sting out but he pops right back in. Sting with mounted punches. Back to the headlock. Sting's bleeding on his chest from one of the early chops. Back in the corner, Flair gets a hard punch in Sting's gut and more chops. Sting counters with press slam 2. Bear hug! Flair fights it and tries to reach out for the ropes, but Sting cranks it and Flair falls down. Near fall! Flair's selling this thing out to the cheap seats and maybe even to the buildings next door. Finally Sting lets go and tries an elbow drop. Flair dodges but Sting no sells again. Flair dodges a corner charge and Sting elbows the top turnbuckle. Flair Flop 2! More mounted punches. Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop. He drags Sting out and whips him into the barricade. Big chops. Sting collapses after a corner whip and Flair starts to get rolling and get cocky. Kneedrops. More chops. He throws Sting out again and grabs a chair but Tommy Young takes it away. Back in Flair hits chops and clubbing blows, but Sting starts hulking up. A Sting punch sends Flair 360 over and out. Sting follows. Flair dodges and Sting clotheslines the post! Flair starts working the arm. Sting tries to hulk up again. Hiptoss and clothesline for 2. Suplex. Scorpion Death Lock! Flair quickly gets to the ropes. Another chop, another no sell. Flair Flop 3! Sting covers but Flair gets a foot on the rope. Flair dodges a corner charge and Sting flies over the top and to the floor. He recovers, goes up top, and hits a crossbody off the top rope that Flair just kicks out of. He grabs another headlock but Flair counters with a kneebreaker. Sharpen your pencils kids, we're going to school. Flair picks the knee apart, hits a back suplex for variety and hooks in the figure four. Cat and mouse rope leverage game with Young. Sting slowly pulls together, drags Flair away from the ropes, and reverses it. It takes Flair a bit of time to get out of the hold. He goes back to the knee. Flair rolls to the apron, hooks Sting up and teases suplexing him to the floor! Sting reverses it. He goes for a big splash but Flair gets his knees up. Off a whip Sting reverses a Flair move and hooks in an abdominal stretch. 10 minutes left. Flair hiptosses out but misses the follow up elbow. Flair goes up top and gets slammed off. Sting drags him to the corner and crotches him on the post. Sting hooks in a figure four! Flair fights it a while and finally gets to the ropes. Sting stays on the knee. Flair jaws with Young and sells a Young shove. Flair Flip! The knee gives out on the apron and he falls to the floor. Sting gives him a guardrail shot and a table shot. Flair's posted and he falls over the guardrail. He's also bleeding. Not normal Flair bleeding, just a little bit. 5 minutes left. Flair sunset flips back in. Sting says screw you, then blocks another inverted atomic drop attempt. 4 minutes left. Big Sting clothesline and cover, but Flair has a foot on the rope. Flair dodges the Stinger Splash! Sting flies out to the floor again. 3 minutes left. Flair hooks in a sleeper. Sting rams him into the top turnbuckle. Flair Flop 4! Sting with a sunset flip. 2 minutes left. Flair drops down, covers Sting's shoulders with his knees, and grabs the rope for leverage. Young sees it and kicks his hands off. Sting reverses into a cover! Long 2 count! The crowd bit that one. Flair Flip 2! He gets across the apron. goes up top, and gets off with a crossbody! Sting reverses it! Flair JUST kicks out! More Sting no sells and he goes into full crazy ass Sting hulk up mode. 1 minute left. Sting mounted punches. Stinger Splash! Flair Flop 5! Scorpion! 30 seconds left. Flair manages to fight it, not give up, and the bell rings for the time limit. Sting is officially a made man. His inexperience showed as this was by far his biggest and longest singles match to date, but that closing stretch was absolutely tremendous. ***1/2

Somehow despite there being an odd number of judges, they still manage to score the match a draw. I think the only point of this was to hold viewers through the last commercial break.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: After the disaster that was Bunkhouse Stampede, this was an absolute triumph for the NWA that was 100% worthy of standing toe to toe with Wrestlemania (aided by the fact it was a pretty weak WM). Sting getting put on the national map is a match every fan should see at least once, and both tag title matches are must sees as well.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A