Written By: Matt Peddycord
WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #11
May 2, 1987
South Bend, IN
Joyce Center
(Taped on 4/28/1987)
The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (1/23/1984)
Intercontinental Champion: Ricky Steamboat (3/29/1987)
World Tag Team Champions: The Hart Foundation (1/26/1987)
Women’s Champion: The Fabulous Moolah (7/9/1986)
The Macho Man will survive! Ricky Steamboat can melt chains! The Hart Foundation is still giggling! Hacksaw Jim Duggan is xenophobic! ANDRE CHAMPION? It’s time for Saturday Night’s Main Event!
If you’re wondering why Bobby Heenan has a neck brace, Vince and Jesse show us a clip from the following morning’s Superstars episode where Ken Patera wraps a belt around Heenan’s neck and SLINGS him around! OUCH!
Mean Gene is in the back with Kamala, Kim Chee and their new manager Mr. Fuji as their spokesperson. Kamala’s scared of snakes, which baffles Gene as to why they would sign a match with him against Jake Roberts. Fuji says he’s there to help Kamala overcome his fear. Fuji starts motioning his arm around like a snake and Kamala runs away! Oh man, that is a problem!
Kamala (w/Kim Chee & Mr. Fuji) vs. Jake Roberts (w/Damien)
Let’s not forget that the Honky Tonk Man KABONGED Jake Roberts back in February. Roberts whips out Damien immediately, sending Kamala clear out of the ring! While Roberts puts Damien back in his bag, Kamala nails him from behind! Kamala runs into a boot out of the corner, but then catches Roberts with a throat thrust. Kamala punishes Roberts with forearms and then hooks on a bearhug. Roberts punches out and then starts stomping on Kamala’s bare feet! Ugh, too much jiggling. Kamala delivers a chop to the head to end that and starts choking Roberts on the mat. Once Kamala starts slapping his belly, Roberts starts punching him in the belly! Kamala fights back with headbutts until Roberts falls out to the floor. He baits Kamala out to the floor and then catches him with a knee lift coming in. SMART. Roberts comes off the middle rope and gives Kamala another knee lift. Can’t say I’ve seen that before. As Roberts calls for the DDT, Fuji jumps up on the apron so that Kim Chee can run in and nail Roberts from behind. Kamala hits the SPLASH and it’s over. (4:18) Kim Chee comes in to celebrate and then starts to UNMASK! Wait a minute, that’s the Honky Tonk Man! He gives Roberts the SHAKE RATTLE ROLL and the crowd HATES it! “Thank you very much! You’ve been a beautiful audience!” Haha, great post-match segment. ½*
George “The Animal” Steele needs Ricky Steamboat to explain to him the rules of the lumberjack match, while Randy Savage gets all up in Gene’s face when he calls him the former Intercontinental champion.
George “The Animal” Steele vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) – 15-Man Lumberjack Match
This is the end of the 16 month-long feud between the two. The lumberjacks are Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Danny Davis, Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, Hercules, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Nikolai Volkoff, Iron Sheik, Tom Zenk, Rick Martel, the Honky Tonk Man and the REAL Kim Chee! At least we think it’s the real one. Steele starts caressing Elizabeth (or as Jesse would call it, molesting Elizabeth) so Savage runs over and nails him to start the match. Steele punches back and sends Savage out to the heels on the floor. Hercules and Kim Chee don’t do their job of keeping Savage in the ring, so the Bulldogs have to come over and throw him in. Steele controls until Savage runs Steele’s head into the top turnbuckle. Savage elbows Steele out to the floor, but he fell out on Steamboat’s side, so all Steamboat does is place Steele back in the ring. Savage connects with a top-rope double-axe handle and tosses Steele on the Hart Foundation’s side. Instead of putting him back in, they stomp him until the faces come around to stop it. Duggan has his 2×4 back and chases Volkoff and Sheik around with it. Dave Hebner has had enough of him, so he sends Duggan to the back. Finally, Steele punches Danny Davis down so he can get back in the ring. He gives Savage a chokelift and then goes over and chews up a turnbuckle pad. Savage kicks back and gives Steele a suplex. Steele gets dumped out beside Steamboat, but then he runs back in the ring and throws Savage out beside Steamboat! He throws Savage back in immediately because he’s a great guy! Steele throws Savage out again to Steamboat. Once Steamboat picks him up, Savage nails him in the face and Hercules comes over to get him some. Now all the lumberjacks start fighting each other, except for Danny Davis who runs in and nails Steele with the ring bell. Savage climbs up top and delivers the MACHO ELBOW for the three-count. (6:43) All sixteen men are now in the ring and it’s BREAKIN’ LOOSE! Jake Roberts with taped ribs runs down to attack the REAL Kim Chee with Damien! ½*
Bobby Heenan and Andre say that when Hogan went for the slam the first time in their match at WrestleMania III, the ref counted three and Andre should’ve won the belt. Since Joey Marella “lied” and said it was just a two-count, Andre feels he was cheated and either demands that Hogan be stripped of the belt and it be given to him, or that Andre is given a rematch.
WWF World Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis) vs. The British Bulldogs (w/Tito Santana) – 2/3 Falls
Bret starts off with Davey Boy Smith for a nice armlock sequence. Bret hooks on a headlock, which DBS shrugs off and follows up with a monkey flip. Davey Boy Smith delivers a crucifix for two, but then Bret buries a knee to the gut. Neidhart tags in and hammers away and then leaves DBS in his corner for Bret to do a little cheating. Bret tags in and gives DBS a backbreaker for two. Bret connects with a legdrop, but then corner charges into a boot. HOT TAG TO DYNAMITE! He sends Bret into the corner for his patented chest bump and connects with a clothesline for two. SNAP SUPLEX! It gets only two. Dynamite delivers the Diving Headbutt, but then Neidhart runs in and nails him from behind. Davey Boy Smith runs in, but he gets dumped by Neidhart for Davis to put the boots to him. Santana chases him while the Harts double-team the crap out of Dynamite in the ring to cause a DQ win for the Bulldogs in the first fall. (4:44) The Harts control Dynamite at the start of the second fall. They deliver the backbreaker/elbow drop combo that would later be the finishing move of Demolition for 1, 2, NO! Dynamite tries to come back and go for a tag, but Bret grabs his foot and tags in Neidhart, who cuts off the tag. Just when Dynamite gets within inches of his partner, Bret runs in and nails DBS. Davey Boy chases Bret around the ring while Neidhart chokes Dynamite down on the canvas. Dynamite’s nose is severely bleeding! Bret tags in and ties Dynamite up in the ropes. He charges, but Dynamite gets unhooked and lets Bret horizontally crotch himself. HOT TAG TO DAVEY BOY! Davey Boy destroys Neidhart with a pair of dropkicks and gives him a running clothesline for 1, 2, NO! Stalling suplex from Davey Boy gets two! Davey Boy’s offense ends as he ducks low off a whip. Bret holds Davey Boy up against the ropes and Anvil charges, but Davey Boy moves and Bret gets nailed. Danny Davis hops up on the apron, so Tito runs in and knocks him off with a sick running forearm! Davey Boy presses Dynamite onto Neidhart for the three-count! (9:49) The crowd goes INSANE thinking that the Bulldogs have just regained the tag gold, but the truth is that the belt can’t change hands on a DQ win even in a 2/3 falls match. That is the dumbest rule I have ever heard. Very good match, otherwise. ***
In response to Bobby Heenan’s comments, Hulk Hogan doesn’t really seem to care what they do, because they can’t handle Hulkamania! *SNAP SNAP*
WWF Intercontinental Champion Ricky Steamboat vs. Hercules (w/Bobby Heenan)
Randy Savage is watching on in the back with Gene and Elizabeth. He says he wants Steamboat to win so only he can beat him for his title. Hercules wins a slugfest, but it’s Steamboat who comes back with dropkicks and chops. They go to the floor where Steamboat gives him an atomic drop. Back in, Steamboat gets rammed into the corner. Hercules puts the boots to him and then delivers a clothesline for two. Hercules ducks low off a whip and Steamboat comes back with chops. Steamboat delivers a swinging neckbreaker, but then Herc goes to the eyes and hooks on the FULL NELSON! Savage doesn’t want to see Steamboat give up, so he runs down and grabs Hercules by his foot. Hercules releases the hold and goes out to confront Savage. Hercules heads up top for a splash, but Steamboat gets his knees up. Hercules misses an elbow drop and then misses a charge in the corner. Steamboat comes back with more chops and attempts the ten-count corner punch, but Hercules counters with an inverted atomic drop. Heenan tosses in the chain to Hercules to choke out Steamboat for the DQ. (6:21) Once Hercules and Heenan leave, it appeared as though as Savage was concerned for Steamboat. Actually, he just wanted to give him a MACHO ELBOW to throw us all off of a face turn happening. *½
Next up, the casual SNME crowd gets introduced to Hacksaw Jim Duggan who is at ringside to make sure Volkoff doesn’t sing the Soviet national anthem. Thanks, Gene.
The Can-Am Connection vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/Slick)
Volkoff sings the Soviet national anthem anyway, so Duggan jumps the rail and clears the ring of the commies. Jesse points out the non-logic of Duggan’s comments by saying that this is the land of the free, but yet Volkoff isn’t allowed to sing his country’s anthem. Martel gets hammered by Volkoff to start, but then flips out of the corner and gives him a pair of dropkicks. He tags in Zenk for a double-hiptoss on Sheik. Zenk immediately makes a mistake by telegraphing a backdrop and gets nailed. Sheik hits a gutwrench suplex for two. Sheik delivers a vertical suplex for two, then tags in Volkoff. He stomps on Zenk before tagging out to Sheik. Belly-to-belly suplex by Sheik is followed by an abdominal stretch. Zenk is able to hiptoss out, but then he gets caught with a clothesline. The commies dump the Can-Ams to beat them down on the floor in front of Duggan. He jumps the rail AGAIN and hops in the ring while Martel rolls up Sheik for a quick win. (3:56) Duggan should’ve been escorted out a LONG time ago. That was a fun match up until the Duggan-involved finish. **
Final Thoughts: Overall, an entertaining post-WrestleMania show! Wrestling wise, the Bulldogs/Harts match is the only redeemable quality and Hogan’s not wrestling the heel of the month! Check this one out if you can find it.