Saturday Night's Main Event XVIII

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XVIII

November 26, 1988 (taped November 16) from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, CA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

Like last year this show is in a pretape hole, being recorded before Survivor Series but aired the Saturday after (remember Survivor Series was still on Thanksgiving night then).

 

AHHHH! The first shot of the show is an extreme close up of the Ultimate Warrior screaming. That'll wake the kids up. I almost prefer the "Jake and Cheryl Roberts on the on ramp to getting vertical" opening. Mr. Fuji really butters the debuting Super Ninja up, keeping a veil of secrecy for this "deadly weapon" that's learned 7 martial arts across 7 continents. I didn't know Antarctica was known for its martial arts but OK.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) def Super Ninja (w/Mr. Fuji) in 2:11- Super Ninja is a masked Rip Oliver, who never did much in major companies but held a lot of regional titles, including the NWA Pacific Northwest title a record 12 times. Ninja tries chopping Warrior while he still has the belt on. Warrior no sells, and that's the last offense the "deadly weapon" will have the whole match. Warrior grabs an attempted kick and flips Ninja backwards on his head. There's an ugly clothesline duck and a Warrior big boot sends Ninja out. Warrior follows and press slams him back in. Pillar to post beating. Gorilla press, big splash, and thanks for coming, son. Ventura: "It's a good thing the guy wore a mask". Complete squash. 1/2*

Footage of Bobby Heenan selling Hercules' contract to Ted DiBiase. Herc had no say in the matter, and DiBiase says he just bought a slave. Herc turns on Heenan to turn face. Funny bit at the end as Heenan, in classic Heenan fashion, takes advantage of the melee to run off with the money he was supposed to pay DiBiase.

 

Hercules def Virgil (w/Ted DiBiase) in 3:20- The match is JIP'd with the heels double teaming. Herc fights them off with a double clothesline. A punch sends DiBiase out. A clothesline sends Virgil out. Herc chases DiBiase. Virgil uses the distraction to hit what should be a sunset flip, but Herc says "nah", acts like it never happened and goes back on offense. DiBiase distracts Herc and Virgil tries to attack from behind, but Herc no sells that too and continues the beatdown. Virgil tries an eye rake, see earlier and continue. Herc hits a running powerslam for the win. He press slams Virgil out of the ring onto DiBiase and swings his chain around to keep DiBiase out of the ring. Another complete squash with Herc seemingly refusing to cooperate with Virgil in working the match, but at least this one set up a match for the house show loop. 1/4*

Recap from the last SNME of Andre collapsing in terror after Roberts sicced Damien on him.

 

WWF Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) (w/Elizabeth) and Andre the Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) go to a double DQ in 8:51- Savage jumps at the bell but Andre quickly shrugs it off. Back and forth until Andre squashes Savage in the corner. But he goes for it one too many times, Savage puts a knee up into Andre's back. Andre cuts the comeback off and does the sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) singlet choke. On the comeback Savage tries to slam Andre but he backs into the corner and starts choking again. Andre hooks up both of Savage's arms. Savage jawbreakers out. More Andre chokes. Savage hits a running double ax handle. A double ax off the second rope puts Andre down to one knee. Roberts comes out to ringside and hides Damien under the ring. Andre sees him and wants him gone. The match stops as everyone argues. Savage convinces Roberts to leave. Roberts whispers to Savage where Damien is. Back from commercial, Savage hits Andre from behind with a double ax handle. As Andre gets control back Heenan tears the ringside area apart looking for Damien. The guys in the ring do stuff while that's going on. At this point it's secondary. Finally Heenan finds Damien in the last place he could have looked despite Savage's attempt to cut him off. Roberts comes back out and forces Heenan into the ring. The bell rings for the sportz entertainment finish. Savage whips Heenan into Andre and Andre gets tied in the ropes. Roberts gets Damien out, but Heenan gets Andre free and they escape. The first half wasn't too bad, as good as Savage was going to get out of Andre. But after Roberts came out it became an angle circus instead of a match. *

Flag Match: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def Boris Zhukov in 2:27- The winner of this match will have their flag raised Olympics style. Nose to nose slugfest. Duggan hits an atomic drop and Zhukov rolls out. They roll around in a lockup and seem to get lost for a second until Zhukov hits a punch. Zhukov counters a backdrop and bites Duggan. Duggan hits a clothesline coming out of a corner bump and nails the 3 point stance clothesline to win. Fugly as hell. 1/4*

Recap of the Big Boss Man beating Hulk Hogan down on the Brother Love Show. This leads into the first SNME edition of the Brother Love Show. Love brings out both Slick and Hogan. It's the usual Brother Love shtick of not letting Hogan answer questions while Slick and Love run him down. Hogan finally grabs the mic and threatens them both. Love grabs the mic back. Hogan throws Slick out. Love hits him from behind. Hogan slams Love, takes out a pair of handcuffs and cuffs him to the rope, then clothelines him over the top (and miraculously Pritchard didn't break his wrist doing that).

Ventura and Jimmy Hart have a big scoop: The Rougeau Brothers have moved to America! They're All-American Boys! Sadly the entrance music hasn't been made yet.

The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart) def The Young Stallions in 3:05- Jacques and Powers start with the basics. Jacques flips over a crossbody attempt and hits a dropkick. Powers goes for mounted punches until Hart hits him in the knee with the megaphone. Rougeau double team backbreaker. Powers dodges a Jacques reverse crossbody and both sides tag. Roma hits a powerslam and missile dropkick. Jacques break the pin up. Donnybrook. The Rougeaus hit their finisher for the pin. Way too short to get anything going. 3/4*

 

The show closes with Andre, Roberts and Hogan all getting one last word in about their respective feuds.