Saturday Night's Main Event XXI

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XXI

May 27, 1989 (taped April 25) from the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, IA

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

Wrestlemania 5 is in the rear view mirror, with Hulk Hogan taking the WWF title back from Randy Savage and Rick Rude upsetting the Ultimate Warrior (with a massive assist from Bobby Heenan) for the IC title. In the interim, Jim Duggan also took the King crown from Haku on weekly TV.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: King "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def "Ravishing" Rick Rude (c) (w/Bobby Heenan) by countout in 7:15- Duggan comes out to the King entrance music on the jobber carried throne. If Duggan is as proud of an American as he says he is, he should have had a real long think about accepting the "king" title. The Constitution expressly forbids titles of nobility. Rude goes for an early sunset flip. Duggan punches out. A clothesline sends Rude 360 and out. Duggan suplexes him back in for a 2 count. After three more clotheslines Rude does a nice delayed flop. I'm such a sucker for those. Kneedrop for 2. Rude comes back with a headbutt to Duggan's gut and hits a standing fist off the top rope. During a show off hip swivel Duggan grabs him and hits an inverted atomic drop with the usual mega Rude sell. Duggan piledriver! He takes his time covering and Rude gets a foot on the rope. Haku comes out to ringside and the match stops as Heenan and the refs get him out. Rude jumps Duggan getting back in. Measured elbows. Rude cuts off a comeback attempt with a knee to the gut. Fistdrop off the top rope. Rude tries buckle shots but that just gets Duggan fired up. Nothing in there to hurt. Duggan hits a backdrop. The 3 point stance football tackle sends Rude flying to the floor. Heenan tries to get Rude back in but he's counted out. Duggan celebrates like he won something. Well, he did win the match, just not the title. No title changes on a countout. Ventura points out that Duggan likely doesn't even know that. Borderline decentish. *3/4

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Sensational Sherri) def Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart in 5:54- Savage's slow decent into midcard hell for the next two years is on, despite all the talk of him getting back into WWF title contention with a win here. Sherri jumps in right away, grabbing Anvil's ankle during the opening lockup. Savage hits a sunset flip. Anvil drops down on him for a 2 count. Anvil actually lifted up there, Savage didn't kick out. I think he realized he had him accidentally pinned for real. Anvil bear hug. Savage eye rakes out and hits a running knee to Anvil's back. Sherri gets a couple of chokes in. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Savage tries to slam Anvil, but Anvil leverages down on top of Savage for a 2 count. Anvil hits the slingshot over the top rope tackle! Clothesline for 2. An Anvil standing dropkick sends Savage out. Anvil scares Sherri off and hits another dropkick on the floor. Powerslam back in the ring for 2. Savage gets tied in the ropes. Anvil pounds away until Sherri gets him free. Savage dodges an Anvil charge and Anvil crashes down to the floor. Double ax handle off the top to the floor. Savage rolls Anvil back in, hits the elbow off the top, and gets the mostly clean win. Perfectly acceptable. **1/2

 

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def The Big Boss Man (w/Slick) in 10:01- During Boss Man's intro Slick introduces his big surprise- Zeus! Zeus is the bad guy in the upcoming Hogan movie No Holds Barred, played by Tiny Lister. What makes this so surreal (or just plain dumb depending on your point of view) is it's not the actor Tiny Lister coming out. It's not Tiny Lister playing Zeus. It's *the character* Zeus walking out of celluloid and into the arena. The fact that he's a recognizable known actor makes it even weirder. Zeus parks it on the ring steps and has a staredown with Hogan on his entrance. Zeus kicks Hogan, screams and gently nudges him on the back a few times, then leaves. Hogan sells it like death on the floor. Boss Man comes out and throws Hogan into the ring. It's the usual escape rules only WWF cage match. Boss Man chokes Hogan with Hogan's own shirt. Hogan comes back reversing a corner whip and hitting a clothesline. Boss Man blocks a cage shot. Big boot. Hogan starts climbing but Boss Man cuts him off. Boss Man hits a slam and a big splash. He goes for the door but Hogan grabs his leg. Off the ropes Hogan spinebusters himself, and Boss Man tries to get in and make it look like he did it. Slight mistiming there. Boss Man starts climbing. He gets all the way over and halfway down to the floor before Hogan reaches through the cage to stop him. Hogan drags him back up to the top of the cage, hooks him up.....SUPERPLEX FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE! HOLY SHIT! Both guys are down. Hebner comes in, checks them both, and outside any other options starts counting them both down. Hogan stirs at 8 and crawls for the door. Boss Man grabs him and hits a clothesline. Slick throws a chain in the ring. Boss Man chokes Hogan with it. Hogan blocks a chain punch. They block cage shots....then cage shot each other simultaneously! Both guys are down again. Hogan stops Boss Man from getting to the door. He gets the chain and punches Boss Man with it. Boss Man is bleeding. Barely, but bleeding. Hogan gives him cage shots and hits the legdrop. As he's climbing Slick comes in. While Hogan's dealing with him Boss Man starts climbing on the other side. Hogan stops him and crotches him on the top rope. He takes Boss Man's handcuffs and cuffs him to the top rope. Hogan starts to climb out, but Boss Man can still get to the door and he tries to get out. Slick gets the keys and starts unlocking the cuffs, but Hogan hits the floor first to win! That was way better than expected, especially after the Zeus stuff. They had good drama down the stretch when they could have just done the rote Hogan finish, it's a fantastic feud blowoff, and the superplex spot alone deserves a rating bump. ***

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan) def Demolition (c) by DQ in 9:15- Tully and Smash start. Tully tries a charge. Smash puts his boot up and Tully slams on the brakes. Smash uses the opening for a clothesline. That's vintage Tully Blanchard (no I'm not going Michael Cole on you). Smash hooks in a bear hug. Heenan gets on the apron and Arn sneaks behind to break it up. Demolition clotheslines take out both heels and they roll out to regroup. Go for plan B. Arn and Tully are working their Road Warriors match formula with Demolition and it fits perfectly. Arn hits the brakes on a corner whip to stop from ending up in the face corner and Ax nails him from behind with a clothesline. The Demos do a double team Demo beatdown. Tully gets a knee up in Smash's back on a rope run but Smash no sells Arn's follow up suplex. The Demos throw the heels around some more and they go out to restrategize again. Go for plan C. Tully tries some chops on Ax. Those don't go well. Tully gets knees up in the corner and tries coming off the second rope, but Ax catches him and squashes him in the corner. Tully does a .5 Flair flip and Ax elbows him off the apron. Smash press slams him back in. Ax 360 clotheslines Tully back out again, and he lands right on top of Heenan! The Busters hold Heenan back from getting in the ring. Arn suckers Ax in and clips Smash in the knee behind the ref's back. Finally they have the Demos on defense. Tully hits a hot shot. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Smash kicks out. Tully does a little strutting as the Busters hit more double teams. Tully does a basketball like block to keep Smash from tagging. Arn/Smash slugfest in the corner. They punch each other at the same time and both guys go down. Tully sneaks around the ring and pulls Ax down off the apron. Now Ax is pissed and he charges into the ring. Donnybrook! In the melee one of the Demos toss ref Joey Marella aside and he calls for the bell. Both teams continue fighting up the entrance aisle. Just another night at the office for one of the greatest teams of all time, and Demolition played their role well. ***1/2

Savage and Sherri are with Mean Gene. Savage declares himself #1 contender and promises to get his belt back from Hogan.

 

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka def Boris Zuhkov (w/Slick) in 1:11- Snuka no sells buckle shots and hits a flying double ax handle. Backbreaker. The Superfly Splash finishes it. Quick squash to reestablish Snuka after his return to the company. 1/2*

The show closes with Hogan telling Mean Gene that Zeus has been giving him problems "before, during, and after" the movie shoot and challenges him to get in the ring. Then they plug No Holds Barred some more. All in all, another really good '89 SNME. They're on a roll.