WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #29 (4.27.91) review 

 

April 27, 1991 

 

Taped: April 15, 1991 

 

We’re in Omaha, Nebraska at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. A building with a tonne of history including one of Elvis’ final performances, a race riot in the 1960s and IYH7. Of course, because America, they tore the building down in 2015 and built a new shiny venue someplace else. This is the only SNME of 1991 and there’s only two shows left after this before the venture is cancelled altogether in 1992, a decision which would inadvertently lead to the creation of the WWF’s flagship TV show; RAW in 1993. Commentary comes from Vince McMahon & Randy Savage. The latter is not good at commentating. The former isn’t either.  

 

Seeing as the Network doesn’t exist anymore, the only version I have of this is a VHS rip, and the VQ is so bad I can’t screenshot it.  

 

Anyway, we start backstage where Randy Savage has switched to an interviewer role. It doesn’t suit him at all. Your interviewer shouldn’t be more flamboyant than the person they’re interviewing. I’m not saying they should have stuck him in a pastel suit or anything. He’s just not right for the role. It shows, by comparison, what a great interviewer Gene Okerlund was. We get some background on our participants. Hogan got fireballed by Slaughter, Warrior got trapped in a casket by the Undertaker. Somehow the result is Slaughter vs. Warrior here. Huh. Surely, you want a tag team match here to set up both singles matches around the loop.  

 

Sgt Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior 

Sarge decides he’s going to do comedy bumps in this to fuck with Warrior. They have less chemistry here than at the Rumble when Sarge ended Warrior’s title run. Savage is all “oh yeaaaaaah, I remember the Rumble”. Sarge has gained Colonel Mustafa on top of General Adnan. It’s pretty wild they just brought Iron Sheik back and changed his name and thought no one would notice. I have to say; 14 year old me didn’t notice.  

 

Paul Bearer pushes the casket down to ringside, and Warrior has one of those “I AM THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING. LOOK AT ME, I AM THINKING” moments. Subtle. Obviously, Taker is in the casket. Mean Mark really had the character down pat from the start. The heels pile in, and Sarge is disqualified. There was a lot of bearhugging in this match. Hogan runs in for the save, but Taker no sells a belt shot. That’s how you create a monster, brother. Given that he was leaving anyway, I’d have had Taker beat Warrior clean at Summerslam. ½* 

 

WWF Tag Team Championship 

Nasty Boys (c) vs. Bushwhackers 

Oh, fucking hell. This could be ok if it was no holds barred, falls count anywhere, plunder heavy garbage wrestling. It’s not though. I can smell this match. They do a bunch of goofy shit but at least it’s over. The Nasties are really underrated when it comes to selling. Both of them take incredible bumps through the ropes off the Battering Ram. Any move can look great if you bump it right. They’re horrible on offence though, and the Bushwhackers can’t sell. Predictably the match goes to shit during the heat. Sags is so late on a save at one point that Knobbs is screaming his name. Knobbs then wins with a roll up, Sags with the assist. At least he was in the right place for that. *¾  

 

IT’S A NASTY SENSATION, BABY! Hear me out here, the Nasty Boys were great tag team champions. They bumped like crazy, put everyone over with their work and everyone comes away from their matches looking good. The Bushwhackers looked ok here. That’s basically a miracle. *¾ for Bushwhackers is basically ****½ for everyone else.  

 

Battle Royal 

20 guys here and almost none of them get introductions. It’s not for a title shot or anything, and Hogan is in it. It’s such a weird use of him. Some notable participants; Quake, Jake, Perfect, Bossman, Bulldog and Kerry von Erich. Marty Jannetty skins the cat during this, and Shawn Michaels is all “hmmmm”. Most of this match is a bunch of guys punching each other and nothing happening.  

 

Warlord throws Bulldog out. THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE! Quake dumps Roberts out continuing their issues, so Jake whips his snake out. It’s now Lucifer as Quake squashed Damian. Tugboat blindsides Hogan and they start brawling. No, they were such good pals. It’s like when the Megapowers exploded. Tugboat then throws Hogan out! HAHAHA. I’m in bits. As if Hogan, who just threw Quake out like he was nothing, is putting over Fred Ottman.  

 

FINAL FOUR: Mr Perfect, Shawn Michaels, Barbarian & Greg Valentine. Shawn and Perfect have a thing and Michaels is on fire. He’s certainly taken this opportunity to showcase himself. When Perfect throws him out, the crowd becomes less into the match. Hammer, the “sentimental favourite” is left 2 on 1 against the heels. Is this Greg’s John Studd winning the Royal Rumble moment? Perfect is such an effective heel with his crazy over the top bumps that Hammer gets massively over here. The biggest reactions he’s had in years. They both fall over the top, but Perfect does a sensational job of landing on the apron and rolling back in. Amazing work from Mr Perfect. This was surprisingly good! **¾  

 

Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase 

The Bret singles push is now ON. Bret’s keen to look exciting and dynamic, and they throw in a dive to pop the marks. Most of the match involves nice clean counter wrestling. DiBiase and Sherri play their roles well and bump around to get Bret’s work over. Bret also does fine work in taking a Hot Shot on the ropes. His selling is particularly convincing. Something people should watch and learn from. Everyone in this plays their role to perfection. DiBiase has learned how to incorporate Sherri into his work, and it’s made him more entertaining. The only part of this I don’t enjoy is when Bret runs into the generic Five Moves of Doom. Roddy Piper runs off Sherri to stop her interference only for the wrestlers to brawl outside for the DCO. ***½. Tag a finish on this and we are talking serious flakes. Great work from everyone involved here. A genuinely well put together match up.  

 

Tito Santana vs. Mountie 

This is a rematch from the pointless Wrestlemania VII match where Mountie won with his taser gimmick. Tito goes after a double noggin knocker, and it doesn’t happen. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that. To this day, I have no idea what Vince saw in Mountie both as a gimmick and as a worker. Jimmy Hart takes the best bump of the match when he flies in and eats a flying forearm. Mountie gives Tito the shock stick and the WWF helpfully add in a LOUD BUZZING NOISE to make it look less stupid. It doesn’t work. * 

 

Sgt Slaughter gets another interview and looking back, it’s stupid how much the WWF leaned on their mid 80s guys in 1991. Hogan, Slaughter, Sheik, Santana, Valentine etc. Vince was having trouble letting go of what worked in the past. Repackaging, retooling, trying to recapture the glory days. That would change after Summerslam and we start into an entirely different looking WWF for 1992.  

 

The 411: 

This was surprisingly good. WWF really benefits from the time constraints of an hour long show. Everything is peppy and flies by quickly. Compare this to the drivel that was the UK Rampage show where every match got 15 minutes. Everything dragged. It was so boring and lifeless. SNME is so superior by comparison. Even this one where Hogan wasn’t used particularly well, and both Savage and Piper are reduced to bystanders. It’s a chance for other talent to be showcased and perform well on TV. It’s a pity this is the only SNME of 1991 because it’s probably the best WWF show of the year.