WWF Saturday Night Main Event #20 (3.11.89) 

 

March 11, 1989  

 

Heeeey, we’re back! I took a hiatus from this 80s project when WWE announced they were going over to Netflix and there’s a strong chance I won’t be able to access this content when that happens. I thought the project was dead because of that, but I’m going to crack on and get some more of it done while the mood takes me. Who knows how long this will last, let’s make hay while the sun shines.  

 

Sidenote: I am remarkably flaky and if anyone reading this is thinking ‘hey, this dude was supposed to be doing some collaboration with me on somethin’ then you’re bang on right and I apologise. I am what I am, and I cannot be tamed. Let’s watch some vintage WWF action where all the people are horrible human beings but a lot of them are dead, so it’s ok.  

 

Speaking of ‘being dead’, here’s our first dead person and if there was ever someone who didn’t deserve an early grave it’s Liz. A genuinely lovely person, who got chewed up and spat out by pro-wrestling. Her death, at the age of just 42, still stings and it’s magical to see her in this archive footage. She was so different to anyone in the biz.  

 

The gimmick here is that Liz was the manager of the Megapowers after Savage and Hogan palled up, but Savage got sick of Hogan’s porange ass and turned on him. Now, Liz has to decide who she’s cornering at Wrestlemania V. Spoiler: she doesn’t decide.  

 

We’re in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where they make the chocolate. Hosts are the rapist Vince McMahon and former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura. Jess is wearing a Yale sweatshirt and looks decidedly unfashionable.  

 

Rick Rude vs. Brutus Beefcake 

Comms have had to re-record their audio from ‘live’. Presumably because one of them said something libellous. Or Vince sneezed. How motivated do you think Rude is for a TV match against Brutus? He gets even less motivated after Brutus makes a mess of a backdrop.  

Ventura calls this a “wear down hold”. It’s a rest hold Jess, don’t bullshit me. Nobody cares so down comes Andre, followed by Jake Roberts, as they build to their Wrestlemania match. Jake gets beaten up and big John Dudd has to make the real save. Keep in mind, he’s not even on the Mania card. He’s not working Andre. What the fuck is Studd even doing here? Jake eventually unleashes his snake and Andre ‘runs’ off. Odd booking here. Studd would referee the Wrestlemania match, something I’d completely forgotten about until Keith reminded me on Twitter. 

 

Backstage: Hulk Hogan rants about Savage turning on him and wrecking the Megapowers. He’s going to take it out on Bad News Brown, because Bad News is a midcarder but he rarely loses on TV.  

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Bad News Brown 

Brown kicks Hogan’s ass like he knows about Hogan’s future racism. I’m tired of people bringing up Hogan’s racism though. He’s from an ethnic minority; the tanned. All us pasty white folks, coming down on him, is outrageous. Bad News has a habit of doing weird, delayed bumps. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. They are HORRIBLE. Brown’s insanity continues as he goes looking for a weapon and fails to find one.  

He returns to the ring with…whatever the fuck this is. Is that a snow shovel? Possibly a brickie’s hod? Vince doesn’t know what it is, so it’s obviously something used in manual labour. They get lost on the floor and Hogan applies a headlock. What’s happening? Someone has forgotten a spot.  

 

Bad News stops off to cut a mid-match promo but that serves to revive the Hulkster. I can only assume Brown refused to let Hogan kick out of the Ghettoblaster. Big boot, legdrop etc. This was fine but I can’t enjoy a Bad News match because of his bumps. They are so weird. 

This is sure to boil Randy Savage’s piss.  

 

Backstage: Ted DiBiase unveils the Million Dollar belt. A title belt he claims cost a million dollars to make. He claims money is more important than Tunney. Ha, that rhymes! He’s a poet.  

 

Ted DiBiase vs. Blue Blazer 

DiBiase has been shunted down the card now he’s not feuding with Randy Savage. Now Vince is ragging on him for buying a belt because he couldn’t win one. DiBiase has Brutus Beefcake at Wrestlemania, which sounds like a punishment match. Owen mentions “coming from the rafters if he has to”. I’m grimacing.  

 

This is a great little match but it’s only four minutes long. Most of it is Ted kicking Owen’s ass but peppered with various hope spots, most of which are roll ups. Just as I’m thinking it’s peaked, Owen hits a sick tope. I’m screaming! They should have had Owen feud with Savage. I’m not even kidding. Push him to the moon. He’s so good here. I guess the crowd don’t really react to him, which is probably why it never happened. DiBiase finishes with a powerslam. This fucking ruled. Like, go and watch it, now. It’s four minutes. ***¼ 

 

That is legitimately the WWF’s MOTY at this point. Owen’s reward would be a spiffy squash to Mr Perfect at Wrestlemania. Which is also quite good.  

 

Promo Time: Miss Elizabeth 

Gene Okerlund brings Liz out to tell us who she’s cornering at Wrestlemania V.  

Gene asks her who she’s cornering and she’s all, “oh, golly gosh, I just don’t know”. She says she’s not going to be in Hogan’s corner, which brings out a triumphant Randy Savage. Only, she’s not cornering him either. She’s going to remain neutral. Like Switzerland in World War II* only with less Nazi gold and cuckoo clocks. This is basically the end of the Savage-Liz act until they reunited two years later in one of the all-time great emotional angles in pro-wrestling. 

 

*Not to be confused with terrible WCW concept “World War III” where the entire roster has a battle royal across like three rings and nothing happens.  

 

Backstage: Mean Gene gets a word with the Brainbusters, the “greatest tag team in professional wrestling history”. You know, that might not be hyperbole this time. They’re in the conversation.  

 

Brainbusters vs. Rockers 

Ohhh, boy howdy. One of the great all-time heel teams versus one of the great all-time face teams. The timing on this thing is elite. There’s no waiting around. Everyone is where they’re supposed to be. They struggle to keep it within the rules of wrestling, and it feels like a match from 2016 or something, not 1989. The match bangs along so quickly that Bobby Heenan is the one who gets caught out and misses his spot!  

 

The mat work is good, the sequences land and they get in the Rockers’ offence without it looking odd that they don’t win quickly. The double superkick sends the Busters to the floor, for example. They work in a mini-heat segment on Jannetty and the hot tag to Shawn is molten. I get the feeling the pop is a little high pitched, if you catch my drift, but the fans are invested in it. They head outside for a brawl and it’s a DCO. This was great but there’s no finish, so we’ll go ***½  

 

Hey, two good matches on the same show! Is this really WWF?  

 

Video Control shows us Bobby Heenan’s breakup angle with Red Rooster. Brooklyn Brawler is the guy who assaults Rooster. He also plants a stool in Gorilla Monsoon’s back, which is a rarity. Gorilla rarely got touched in these things. 

 

 

Brooklyn Brawler vs. Red Rooster 

They’ve got Terry Taylor making cockerel noises. Hahaha. Oh, they sure saw you coming buddy. What a shitty gimmick. “He’s gonna be doing some scratching in there” – Vince McMahon, analysing a chicken’s strong points in a fight. It’s telling they’re having Taylor go over Brawler here and saving the money match; Taylor vs. Heenan for Wrestlemania. Rooster wins with an inside cradle. They kept Taylor under this gimmick for another 15 months! Hahaha.  

 

Video Control takes us backstage, where Savage gets angry and has a hell of a match with the fittings in his locker room. I’m pretty sure he didn’t intend to take a bump for his chest of drawers.  

 

The 411: 

Two good matches and a fun segment to build to Hogan vs. Savage? Hey, I’ll take it. Arguably a better show than Wrestlemania V.