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.