The Main Event IV

Legacy Review

The Main Event IV

November 23, 1990 (taped October 30) from the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper

Once again we're in the pretape hole of this show being recorded before Survivor Series but airing the Friday after Thanksgiving. All the in-arena signage for this show is Saturday Night's Main Event, but it ended up being moved to the Friday night Main Event spot for broadcast, becoming the first Main Event to not air live, and the only one in the original run not in February. Because of the shorter one hour timeslot no time is wasted, jumping right into DiBiase and Warrior promos.

WWF Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) def "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) by DQ in 9:47- Tonight's Warrior belt strap color is classic black. Not surprisingly Warrior opens up by tossing DiBiase around and clotheslining him 360 and out. He gives the heels a double noggin knocker. Back in, Warrior hits a double ax handle off the top rope. DiBiase gets a knee up in the corner and hits a clothesline. DiBiase double ax handle off the second rope for 2. Piledriver for 2. He tries another piledriver but Warrior backdrops out. Virgil grabs Warrior's foot on a rope run and DiBiase clotheslines him from behind. Warrior fights out of a headlock. DiBiase cuts the comeback off with a clothesline. Warrior counters a backdrop into a backslide for 2. DiBiase suplex for 2. Warrior blocks another suplex attempt and does a standing (!) sunset flip over DiBiase for 2. After a stair shot outside Warrior starts no selling punches, then blocks and hits a suplex. Speed run and midring collision. DiBiase comes off the second rope and Warrior gives him a punch in the gut everyone saw coming as soon as he climbed up. To the power of the ropes and Warrior up. Forever clotheslines. Flying tackle. Cover. Virgil runs in for the cheap DQ. As Warrior is trying to press slam Virgil Randy Savage runs in and whacks Warrior in the gut with his scepter, then drills Warrior in the throat with it off the top rope (doing a cool little spinny thing with it after). Savage and Sherri continue to work Warrior over until officials get them to leave. At this point I think they were still planning on a Warrior/Savage title match instead of the Rumble shenanigans that put the belt on Sgt. Slaughter. Match was encroaching on decentish. DiBiase passed on his usual stalling and went right for it, while Warrior actually whipped out some wrestling moves. *3/4

 

Sgt. Slaughter (w/Gen. Adnan) vs Nikolai Volkoff never officially starts- So we've got a former Soviet communist turned American patriot against a former American patriot and Army sergeant turned post-Kuwait invasion Iraqi sympathizer. They're both jumping sides more than Miami sports fans trying to figure out which team to bandwagon when the home team isn't in championship contention. Volkoff and Adnan wave their flags at each other. Slaughter takes advantage and hits Volkoff from behind, whips him with his riding crop, and slaps on the camel clutch to torque his back and make him compliant. Or something. Hacksaw Jim Duggan runs in and chases the heels off with the match a theoretical point of philosophical debate because the bell never rang.

 

Mr. Perfect def The Big Boss Man by countout in 8:15- This is right after Bobby Heenan started insulting Boss Man's mamma. He's a no show at the start of the match because he's scared. Perfect winning back the IC title aired on TV a couple of weeks after this. Perfect swerves the lockup and slaps Boss Man. Some more shots get Boss Man pissed so Perfect casually hops over the top rope to the floor to have a think. Boss Man chases him around the ring and decks him. Back in, Perfect channels his old manager the Genius by cartwheeling out of a backdrop. Boss Man acknowledges the reference by clotheslining him out of his boots. Perfect gets his double bump in the corner in. Boss Man drags Perfect around by the hair and Perfect slides crotch first into the ring post. Perfect dodges a Boss Man splash off the top rope. Reverse neck snap. Perfect small package for 2. Perfect takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Boss Man blocks and Perfect takes the shot with a 360 sell. Perfect reverses a corner whip and Boss Man's already damages back hits the exposed buckle. Heenan comes out to ringside. Perfect goes for the Perfectplex but Boss Man turns it into a small package for 2. Slugfest. Perfect gets an eye poke and hits the Perfectplex. Boss Man gets out at 2 and stands right back up. That was...awkward. Heenan holds down the top rope, but Boss Man reverses the whip and Perfect tumbles out to the floor. Boss Man tries to get Heenan in the ring. Heenan slaps him and runs. Boss Man chases, turns around and tries to get back to the ring, but not quickly enough and gets counted out. It's basically a condensed version of their future Wrestlemania 7 match with a different non-finish. A lot of the spots are exactly the same. **1/4

Heenan runs by Mean Gene in complete panic and begs for help. Meanwhile, all show Vince had been teasing showing something that would let you eat anything you want and not gain any weight, and it's time to unveil it. It's a commercial for "Playboy" Buddy Rose's "Blow Away Diet Plan". Eat whatever you want! No exercise! Just pour the special weight loss powder all over your body, then use a fan to BLOW IT ALL AWAY. Yeah, I saw this Doctor Who episode. People dissolving into little fat monsters is horrific and all, but the Adipose themselves were pretty damn cute. There are a couple of actually amusing bits at the end: the "before" and "after" photos are exactly the same, and the phone number to call and order is 1-500-LAR-DASS, a nice subtle stretching of the era's strict PG boundary.

 

"The Model" Rick Martel def Tito Santana in 6:46- A year and a half after their big tag team breakup the former Strike Force finally get a one on one match on a major(ish) show. And of course commentary doesn't bring it up once, because this is right after Martel "accidentally" sprayed some of his Arrogance cologne in Jake Roberts' eye and partially blinded him. Martel jumps before the bell and throws Santana out. Santana ducks a punch on the floor and Martel punches the ring post. They go back in and Santana works the arm and hand for a bit. Good intensity from both guys here on basic stuff. They worked so good together. Santana counters a backdrop into a small package for 2. Martel gets a thrust into Santana's throat. Santana turns a chinlock into a hammerlock. Martel uses Santana's tights to pull him face first into the top turnbuckle and goes back to work on the throat with chokes and more sneaky illegal shots. Martel backbreakers. He slowly goes up top, giving Santana time to get up and punch him, dropping Martel crotch first onto the turnbuckle. Hot Santana comeback. Like picante hot. Diving clothesline off the second rope for 2. Martel ducks a punch and tries for an atomic drop, but Santana blocks it and starts to put the figure four on. Martel rolls him up into a small package for 2. As they're getting up from that Martel headbutts Santana in the gut, does a double leg takedown, and turns over into the Boston crab! Santana has to submit. Great closing stretch. These two guys would always give you quality no matter how time or angle constrained. **3/4

Mean Gene is with Jake Roberts. There's a quick recap of the Arrogance attack and his recovery, then Roberts takes his sunglasses off to reveal one white eye. It got better. The show closes with Sean Mooney and Warrior, who gives a rare promo with no face paint on. He promises revenge on Savage for making all the little Warriors cry.

BONUS MATCH REVIEW

Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Rockers def The Hart Foundation (c) in about 25:00- This match and title change was supposed to air on this show, however there was....an incident. This is courtesy of WWE's pre-WWE Network DVD library. It might be up on Peacock now but I'm not digging around to find it. No commentary on this match because it was never recorded, but it's also a plus because the in-ring audio is mixed much louder.

FIRST FALL- Bret and Janetty start. Headlock/headscissors tradeoff and standoff. Bret back elbows out of a hammerlock and runs over Janetty. A speed run ends with a Rockers double team backbreaker and a double superkick on Anvil. Bret recovers to ram the Rockers' heads together, and Anvil absolutely murders them with a double clothesline that both Rockers 360 sell. The Rockers slide under another double team attempt and we have a standoff and reset. Anvil shows he's stronger than Shawn. Not a shock to anyone. Shawn rolls Anvil over with a headscissors and the Rockers work his arm. Janetty plays with Anvil by pulling out of rope runs. Finally Anvil clotheslines him, then sends him 360 and out. Shawn quickly falls beside him from a move that was off camera. Janetty slides under Anvil's legs coming back in and atomic drops him. Rockers double dropkick. Janetty sunset flips Anvil for 2. More double teams on Anvil. Both Rockers go up top. Bret pushes Shawn off, while Janetty hits Anvil with a fist drop for 2. Anvil catches Shawn leaping in the corner and powerslams him. Bret goes into an FMOD like run with near falls. Shawn just kicks out of a piledriver and Bret lays into the ref, probably telling him refs count quicker in Canada. Check the rule book, I'm sure Lance Storm has a copy. With Bret distracted Shawn just gets over to tag. Bret sunset flips Janetty, but Janetty stacks him up and gets a pin!

SECOND FALL- Slow reset and restart. Bret catches a Janetty leapfrog and hits an inverted atomic drop. Bret and Janetty keep trying to reverse each other's suplex, allowing Janetty to tag Shawn behind his back. Shawn catches Janetty as Bret's suplexing him and the Rockers hit a double clothesline. Anvil runs in and avalanches Shawn, but when he does the top rope on the other side of the ring (right side from the hard camera view) comes off. Well, crap. Someone shouts "Goddammit son of a bitch!", but it's hard to tell if it's a WWF employee or just a fan around ringside. The match continues with no stop with Shawn in peril. Bret puts him in a front facelock for a while, likely to try to figure out how best to proceed. Janetty keeps reaching in to tag, and with no top rope he's able to reach way more into the ring than usual. Anvil runs in to discourage him. As they're slugging it out Anvil shouts "Break us up!" and the ref does so. Shawn reverses a corner whip and Bret does a Bret bump, but being Bret he adjusted on the fly and went down and hit the middle turnbuckle only. Hot tag. Janetty whips Bret and Bret gingerly and reluctantly hits the ropes before taking a superkick. Bret cuts him off with a swinging neckbreaker and tags. Bret slams Anvil onto Janetty for 2. Hart Decapitation Device. Shawn breaks the pin up. The Harts try a rocket launcher. Shawn dropkicks Anvil and he drops Bret all the way down to the floor. Anvil goes down to check on him (possibly legitimately). Shawn tries to suplex Bret back in. Bret slips out and hits a back suplex. Shawn leapfrogs right into Anvil's waiting clutches and is right in position. Hart Attack! That gets the fall. Afterward the Harts have a discussion with the ref with Anvil looking over at the broken rope with disgust. Bret looks upset too. They pause and we have a tape edit while the rope is fixed.

THIRD FALL- Everything's repaired and in working order again. Anvil knees Shawn in the back on a rope run. Bret pummels him with nasty European uppercuts. Shawn dodges a dive and Bret goes flying into the ropes. Guess they're OK. Tag. Janetty powerslam on Bret for 2. He hits a bulldog-ish face plant off the second rope. Anvil breaks the pin up. Bret and Janetty do a criss cross that ends a little muddled with a Bret suplex. Slingshot double team shoulderblock on Janetty for 2. The Harts try the double team powerslam, but Janetty gets his knees up on Bret. Anvil flips Shawn to the floor. The Harts set up the Hart Attack again. Shawn leaps over the top rope from the apron and dropkicks Janetty in the back and onto Anvil. Shawn rolls Bret up, and Janetty pins Anvil for the win! Good size pop but not a massive one. That was probably wasted on the first fall pop because people don't listen to the rules. Everyone handshakes and hugs it out after. The Rockers were allowed to carry the tag belts around for a bit, and even defend them a couple of times on TV tapings for later airing, before Vince decided the match was too much of a mess to air on TV. Honestly, I don't see it. There was a lot of fumbling around during the second fall, sure, but the match was likely going to be cut down anyway to fit in the SNME or ME timeslot, and they could have easily edited around the offending portions and still gotten the match on air and made the Rockers official champions. Instead, it turned out to be probably the most famous phantom title change in WWF/E history as, officially, the Harts' title reign continued uninterrupted until they were upset by the Nasty Boys at WM 7. The match as it was is still pretty good. The first fall was excellent and clearly on the way to a classic until it was derailed by the broken rope. After that they did what they could, but there was way too much talent involved to keep it from falling down too far. ***