Saturday Night's Main Event XXIV

Legacy Review

Saturday Night's Main Event XXIV

November 25, 1989 (taped October 31) from the Sunflower State Expocentre in Topeka, KS

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

For the third straight year we have a SNME in a fall pretape hole- being taped before Survivor Series but airing the Saturday after.

Recap of Andre attacking Warrior on weekly TV.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) def Andre the Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) by DQ in 7:46- Tonight's Warrior belt strap color is classic black. Cautious start. Warrior, mental genius, gets up to play to the crowd and Andre hits him from behind. The usual Andre chokes follow, but with Warrior strongly fighting back and the two of them roughly throwing each other around a bit. A headbutt sends Warrior crashing outside to the floor. Back in Warrior goes reverse sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) and uses Andre's singlet to choke him! The ref is letting literally everything go. Andre dodges and Warrior flies outside again. Andre hooks in a chikenwingish type hold. Again Warrior shows some serious effort in trying to get out. A Warrior clothesline sends Andre out. Andre hits Mongolian-ish chops. Warrior responds with a bear hug. Andre nerve pinches out. Another headbutt. Now it's Andre's turn for a bear hug. Warrior tries to pound out with helicopter punches. Andre cuts it off with a headbutt to the gut. Warrior comes back with a stiff gut punch and big chops. Another Warrior clothesline sends Andre to get tied in the ropes, but he still manages to get a boot in Warrior's face on a charge. Heenan comes in and tries to whack Warrior with the belt but Warrior dodges. Warrior press slams Heenan into Andre and the ref calls for the bell. Based on what it looks like the ref saw it looks to me like Andre should be the winner by DQ but whatever. Weak finish to an otherwise shockingly not awful match. There was a lot of effort in there from both guys. Warrior was clearly trying to show he was ready to move up to the main event and Andre gave him all of what little he had left. **

 

WWF Championship: The Genius def Hulk Hogan (c) by countout in 7:34- Genius offers an insincere handshake and Hogan mocks it. Genius goes to warm up in the corner, frustrating Hogan, followed by the *ahem* effeminate strutting around. They finally lock up and Hogan throws him so hard he goes all the way to the floor. Another lockup, another Hogan throw down, but this time Genius kips back up! Hogan hits some power moves. He goes for the big boot but Genius grabs the top rope and slides out. Genius gets his scroll and does some quick calculations. If he has a 8 1/3% chance of winning and subtracts Hogan's 66 2/3 chance........no, no, that math is beyond any mortal man. Moving on. Back in, Genius hits an armdrag! And celebrates with a....fairy dance. Sorry, there's no other way to describe it. After a clean corner break Genius slaps Hogan! Hogan gets upset but calms down and chills in the corner while Genius does a mini gymnastics routine. I can hear Jim Cornette's blood pressure spiking. Finally Hogan has enough and charges out with a clothesline! Pillar to post beating. Hogan's having fun and mocks Genius' dance. Mr. Perfect comes to ringside and takes the title belt. He sticks his gum on it! How dare you sir! That's the Winged Eagle! Hogan goes out to have a word. Genius comes around and dropkicks Hogan from behind. Hogan gets posted. Genius with a moonsault! Hulk Up! Genius is terrified. Punches, big boot. Hogan picks Genius back up and they have an eye rake and back rake exchange. Hogan completely loses it and body slams Genius all the way to the floor! He chases Perfect off, but as he's getting back in Perfect nails him with the belt! Hogan gets counted out! The Genius beat Hulk Hogan! That's not going to ping anyone's workrate meter, but that was a hell of a fun match, and all the better for Hogan actually taking a loss. **1/2

 

"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes def The Big Boss Man (w/Slick) in 4:47- This has been an ongoing feud since just after Dusty arrived in WWF. They both have nightsticks, Dusty's stolen from Boss Man. Dusty wants Slick thrown out. Slick gets his manager's license out for Hebner. Dusty punches away on Boss Man. Boss Man gets him down and hits a series of knees on the mat. Slick gets a choke in. Boss Man and Slick argue with "some lady" at ringside. That lady happens to be the currently unnamed Sapphire. Dusty goes after Slick and Boss Man hits him from behind. Dusty gets posted. Boss Man works the arm. Dusty stops selling and punches out. Boss Man cuts it off with a kneelift and goes back to the arm. Dusty elbows out of a hammerlock. Boss Man dodges an elbow drop. He tells Slick to get his nightstick. Before Slick can give it to him he gets distracted by Sapphire again. Dusty rolls Boss Man up and gets the pin. After the bell Boss Man and Slick argue, the first hint of Boss Man's coming face turn. Dusty invites Sapphire into the ring to dance with him and I believe there are therapy groups that still exist today to help anyone that's seen them dance. Bleh match. Boss Man's quality meter was pointing way up, but Dusty's was going way down as he was trying to get by on reputation and charisma with a body that couldn't go full time anymore. 1/2*

 

Mr. Perfect (w/The Genius) def The Red Rooster in 4:13- This is a rematch of a potentially great Summerslam match that got cut short when Taylor got legitimately injured a few minutes in and they had to improv a quick finish. Perfect opens with a stiff slap. Rooster gets a kneelift on a backdrop attempt and hits a Japanese style armdrag. Perfect with a drop toe hold, but Rooster counters into a hammerlock. Rooster tries for the chicken wing but Perfect gets to the ropes. Perfect with a back suplex. He hits the snap mare/neck snap combo. Rooster sunset flip for 2 and a headbutt. Perfect pounds away in the corner. Rooster gets a boot up in the opposite corner and hits a bulldog. Perfect blocks a hiptoss and hits a clothesline. The perfectplex finishes it. Pretty much these guys' floor. They didn't get time to do much else but there was a little sleepwalking going on too. I think Taylor had already mentally checked out from WWF. **1/4

Brain Busters promo where they show a ton of dissension in the ranks after dropping the tag titles back to Demolition. Ironically, by the time this match aired Tully had already been fired by the WWF and had his return offer revoked by WCW for failing a drug test, and Arn was literally on the road back to Turnerland.

 

2 Out Of 3 Falls: The Rockers def The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan) in 7:32- FIRST FALL: Heenan walks out well ahead of the Busters and Tully and he argue again before the match starts. Janetty flips out of a hiptoss and slams Tully. Armdrag. Tully tries to hair pull but Janetty keeps kiping up. Tully fights to his corner. Janetty takes both heels out. Janetty sunset flip. Arn tries to help, but Shawn breaks that up and Janetty gets the pin. Afterward Heenan jumps in the ring and reads the riot act to the Busters.

SECOND FALL: While the heels are still arguing the Rockers roll them both up for 2. Double superkick! Heenan has enough and leaves. Arn and Shawn slugfest. Shawn does the climb up flip in the corner and hits a hiptoss. Shawn with a hurricanrana! Double dropkicks! Arn gets a headbutt and tags. Janetty flips out of an atomic drop. More double teams. Shawn tries a flying headscissors on Tully, but Arn grabs him, hot shots him, and Tully covers for the pin.

THIRD FALL: We cut to the back with Ventura and Heenan. Heenan gives an awesome promo running the Busters down. Back to the ring. Shawn is still hurt. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Janetty makes the save. A test of strength on the mat ends with Shawn getting a bodyscissors on Arn. Arn uses it to slinghsot Shawn into the corner! Shawn comes back with a crossbody off the top rope for 2. Arn and Shawn bang heads. Shawn ducks under Arn's legs and tags. Donnybrook! The Busters set up for the spike piledriver, but Shawn knocks Tully off the top rope, hits Arn with a crossbody off the top, and gets the win! Between all the angle work and the 2/3 falls format being a hindrance instead of a help (like the Busters' tag title win over Demolition) there was too much to overcome to raise this to the level of their previous matches, but they were still able to get flashes of their old magic in. ***1/4

Quick cut to Mean Gene. He's with Perfect, who's hammering and destroying Hogan's belt! He says it's "not a perfect belt". I beg to differ sir, that's the Winged Eagle! Perfect says he'll destroy all of Hogan's belts until he gets a title shot. And that's how a Hardcore title belt is born. After commercial Mean Gene is holding the broken remains of the title belt. Hogan comes in full of fury, vowing revenge.