WWF SNME #8 11/29/1986

Written By: Matt Peddycord

WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #8
November 29, 1986
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Sports Arena
(Taped on 11/15/1986)

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (1/23/1984)
Intercontinental Champion: Randy Savage (2/8/1986)
World Tag Team Champions: The British Bulldogs (4/7/1986)
Women’s Champion: The Fabulous Moolah (7/9/1986)

Jesse Ventura introduces the show! I would be CRAZY to not tell you that he’s wearing a silly toupee! He lets me know that the pleasure of his presence is all mine! HOT DIGGITY! It’s Jake Roberts and tonight, he and his snake Damien are going to SQUEEZE the IC title off Randy Savage! Macho Man screams at Elizabeth to polish his belt better because if he loses tonight, it’s HER fault! Koko B. Ware has come to drop some bombs on Nikolai Volkoff! That match is MONEY! Plus, the Hart Foundation makes their SNME debut against the Killer Bees, and the Hulkster faces the ultimate challenge! And what you gonna do brother, when the 24-inch pythons challenge you?! What does that mean? FIND OUT NEXT ON SNME!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura!

Mean Gene gets a quick word from the competitors in the IC title match. While Jake “The Snake” Roberts is the one your mom always warned you about, Randy Savage wants to make a belt out of human flesh! Yikes! Moms, don’t forget to warn your children about Randy Savage too!

WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) vs. Jake Roberts (w/Damien the SNAKE!)

Wow, you think evil Vince makes sexist comments towards the Divas of today? Straight-laced Vince makes the classy Elizabeth seem like a street hooker within twenty seconds. Even Ventura thinks it’s too much! Before the bell even sounds, the crowd is screaming DDT. When Ventura is asked who he thinks is going to be the fan favorites, he replies by saying that both men are the most hated men in wrestling so he calls it a toss-up. Hey, the crowd wasn’t chanting TOP ROPE ELBOW a couple moments ago! After a short lockup, Macho stalls around the ring near Damien’s bag and freaks out! Roberts slaps on a headlock and Savage fights out by pulling on the hair. He avoids an elbow drop and tries for the DDT, but Savage avoids and slides out of the ring. Roberts chases Savage back into the ring and goes for another DDT attempt, but gets backed into the corner. Roberts runs into a knee out of the corner off a whip-reversal charge for two. Savage gets a couple more quick near-falls before Snake attempts a comeback. Savage cuts him off with an elbow and then ties him up in the ropes before he goes over and puts Damien WAY under the ring so that he will not factor in on the match! Smart man. I say that and then Savage poses on the apron as Roberts breaks free. He catches Savage with a knee lift as he comes back in the ring. Roberts goes out and pulls Damien out and puts his bag back in the corner. Back in, Roberts delivers the Short-Arm Clothesline for 1, 2, NO! Savage gets his foot on the bottom rope. Roberts follows that up with a front suplex for another two as Savage gets his foot on the bottom rope. Both McMahon and Ventura have NO idea what to call that move. They go back and forth before Roberts attempts the DDT again, but Savage hooks the ropes and goes out to the floor. Roberts comes out after him, but then Savage puts Elizabeth in front of him. Roberts goes over to pull Damien out of his bag, so Savage seizes the moment and knees Roberts face-first into the ringpost. Savage heads up top and delivers the double-ax out to the floor. Back in, Savage hits another double-ax off the top for 1, 2, NO! Savage goes up once more and Roberts catches him in the chops coming down. They begin to get TOO rough with each other with the back and forth punch and stomp as ref Dave Hebner gets tossed aside by Savage. Then as Roberts starts up the jabs once more, Hebner comes over to admonish him and gets shoved out of the ring onto the timekeeper’s table! That’s enough for Hebner to throw out the match and rule it as a double-disqualification. (9:24) Post-match, Damien comes out of his bag and Savage runs away in fear! Great little fast-paced match to get Roberts over as a face. ***

Next up, they show a clip of Heenan buying Hercules’ contract from Slick as his latest commodity to END Hulkamania.

Mean Gene speaks with both Hercules and Hulk before their big match. Hercules says to his himself over and over again that he is the champion! Hey, positive thinking never hurt anyone. But then the Hulkster makes his infamous speech about hanging out in the Garden of Eden with his main squeeze, Eve! Plus you can’t forget the line, “This is where the power lies!”

WWF Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Hercules Hernandez (w/Bobby Heenan)

This would be Hercules’ apex of his wrestling career. Hercules wants a test of strength as soon as the match starts and Hogan accepts the challenge. They go back and forth with it until Hercules headbutts Hulk in the chest and drives him back into the corner. Hercules delivers some forearms, but it’s Hogan who reverses a whip into the corner and follows in with a clothesline. Hogan puts him down with a high knee off a whip and then goes out after Heenan. He runs Heenan in and out of the ring and is still able to put Herc down with a big boot. Hogan slams him but then Hercules rolls away from an elbow drop. Now Hercules begins to damage the back (with mediocre power moves) to set up the BACKBREAKER (or the Torture Rack as it’s more commonly known). Hercules lets go of the hold too soon and thinks he’s won it, but the ref thinks otherwise. So Hercules covers Hogan instead for 1, 2, NO! It’s Hulk-Up Time! Big Boot, LEG DROP, and its OVER! (6:23) It’s a “Hogan formula with a musclehead” match. It’s not going to be that great. ½*

Earlier today, Jesse Ventura had lunch with Bob Orton Jr and Jimmy Hart! Wait a minute, why doesn’t Orton have a shirt on? No wonder we never saw a waiter come to their table! Orton totally denies all friendship with Piper saying that he was used by Piper to do his dirty work and got all the credit.

Gene stops Piper for a second to get his response and Piper replies by mentioning several different moments where they were definitely friends like when he tried to get “Lovely Lucy” to go out with Bob for FOURTEEN MONTHS! How about that time Piper gave you a hat, Bob? Now Muraco gets brought into this and gets called the Fat Albert of professional wrestling. I see it, Rod! You are GENIUS.

Roddy Piper vs. Bob Orton Jr. (w/Jimmy Hart & Don Muraco)

Orton backs Piper into Hart and Muraco’s corner to try and get Muraco to trip up Piper, but Roddy is one step ahead. Muraco gets up on the apron, so ref Dave Hebner sends him to the back! Piper waves goodbye and turns around and gets in a slugfest with Orton. Piper wins and puts Orton down with a bulldog. Orton cowers away in the corner so Piper bites him! Piper whips into the farside corner and then does his Smackdown vs. Raw front grapple finisher with the poke to the eye. Piper gets a BIG knee lift for 1, 2, NO! Orton catches Piper low off a whip and uppercuts him in the jaw. Orton delivers a gutbuster for two as the crowd begins to chant “Roddy”. Orton misses an elbow out of the corner and runs into Jimmy Hart on the apron. Piper rolls him up for the three-count. (3:47) This was cut real short due to the previous matches being longer than usual, but this was still good for what it was. Piper would still have to contend with Adrian Adonis, which led to his first retirement match at Wrestlemania 3. *

The Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Killer Bees

Apparently, the winners get a tag title shot against the Bulldogs. It goes without mentioning that the Harts are the heels at this point. The Bees control early working on Bret’s arm. Bret comes back with a rollup for two and tags in Neidhart. The Bees put him down with a double-back elbow and try to wear down Neidhart’s arm. Bret sneaks in a knee to the back to change the pace of the match in favor of his team. The Harts give Brunzell a version of the Demolition Decapitation (which is just a horizontal Hart Attack) for two. After a continuing beatdown, Brunzell gets caught and double-teamed in the corner by the Harts. Neidhart delivers a hotshot to Brunzell and tags in Bret. He comes in and nails the backbreaker, but misses the elbow drop. To prevent Brunzell from making the tag, Bret throws him hard out to the floor. Brunzell comes back in with a sunset flip for 1, 2, NO! Bret doesn’t like that and stomps Brunzell below the belt. Neidhart tags in and grounds and pounds Brunzell to the mat while still keeping him in their corner. He tags in Bret who comes in and takes a backslide for 1, 2, NO! Brunzell shoves Bret off a headlock into the ropes and catches him with a dropkick. Bret quickly tags in Neidhart as its false-tag spot time! Both Bees get nailed out to the floor. While the Harts gloat and pose in the ring, the Bees slip on their masks! Blair (or at least that’s what makes sense) hops in the ring and OWNS the Hart Foundation. Once Bret gets dumped, Blair hooks on the sleeper to Neidhart. Bret is still able to climb up top and nail Blair from behind to break up the hold. The Bees switch again and Bret gets rolled up for the three-count! (8:39) Of course, Ventura calls it a travesty. If you think about it though, Brunzell was the legal man before the first switch. Hey, the WWE tag division rocked back then. ***½

Kanye West’s crazy bird-loving uncle, Koko B. Ware wants to take Frankie with him to Russia so they can spit on people!

Koko B. Ware (w/Frankie the PARROT~!) vs. Nikolai Volkoff (w/Slick)

Slick hangs around in the ring so that Nikolai can get a pre-match beatdown on Koko. Nikolai misses a charge and Koko gets in some offense. Nikolai kicks out at two after a pair of dropkicks and comes back with a hotshot. The running kneedrop by Volkoff misses and Koko delivers a missile dropkick for one. Nikolai hits a backbreaker and while he’s being consulted by his new manager Slick, Koko comes up from behind with a rollup for three. (2:25) I’ve got to say, Koko does deliver a mean missile dropkick. ¼*

We get a quick word from the champ who says no matter what the Heenan family puts in his way, Hulkamania will live FOREVER! Oh yeah, and something about wheels that keep on turning.

“The Rebel” Dick Slater vs. “Magnificent” Don Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji)

Haha, Dick Slater as a lower-mid card face. No wonder it didn’t last very long. I mean, c’mon guys, his name has “dick” right in it! Muraco controls to start, but Slater slips out of an airplane spin and rolls up Muraco for 1, 2, NO! Slater pounds him down and then comes off the top with a single-elbow for 1, 2, NO! Fuji put Muraco’s foot on the bottom rope. Slater gets tripped up by Fuji, allowing Muraco to hit a clothesline for the three-count. (2:18) Just a quick squash to kill time. CRAP

Final Thoughts: There’s some good stuff here with the Savage/Roberts and the Harts/Bees matches. While Piper/Orton was cut real short, it maintained an entertaining-enough five minutes to make it worth your while. Nothing is must-see but two ***+ matches on a SNME is rare, so I’ll go ahead and give this a thumbs up. My next review will be SNME #9 in January, 1987, that features the final encounter between Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff in a CAGE!