Mike Reviews WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #12

Happy Saturday Everyone!

It’s the one with The Mega Powers forming;

What more do you need?

The event is emanating from Hershey, PA on the 23^rd of September 1987 (aired on 3^rd October 1987)

Calling the action are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

We get the usual slew of interviews, complimented by terrible green screen. Honky Tonk Man, Randy Savage, King Kong Bundy, Mr. Fuji and Hulk Hogan all take part. Sika bites the head off a chicken in impressive fashion, as they switched the real chicken for a fake one at just the right moment.

Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart are backstage with Mean Gene Okerlund. Honky demands to enter first for his Title match and then decrees that he will steal Elizabeth later.

Randy Savage and Elizabeth retort, where Savage states that he is in the Danger Zone and that he’s been listening to the real Elvis to soothe his soul, as tonight he’s only thinking of the glory of victory. Macho Madness into the Danger Zone, YEAH!!

Match One
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champ: Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart Vs Randy Savage w/ Elizabeth

Honky had been Champ since June and had been very successful in the role as fans hated him so much that they were prepared to pay through the nose to see him get beat. However, Savage had momentum on his side and most thought he would pick up the victory and the Title here. Vince’s drooling over Elizabeth on commentary has taken on a whole new level of discomfort these days considering how his WWE run was eventually brought to its end.

This is an enjoyable match, as Savage runs wild in the early going and Honky takes some fabulous big bumps for him. Jimmy Hart provides a distraction by advancing on Liz though and that leads to Honky cutting Savage off briefly. Savage is soon back in control though and throws some fantastic punches at Honky, which Honky sells brilliantly. Savage does miss a knee drop following that though and Honky finally gets some sustained offence, with Savage also selling well.

Honky makes the mistake of putting the moves on Elizabeth though, which leads to Savage going full Randy Savage on the Champ by clobbering inside and outside of the ring. Savage has the match won a couple of times following that but Hart intervenes to protect his man’s belt without the ref seeing. Savage keeps coming though, which leads to Hart getting dragged in for a big punch. Hart sold that great, thus giving us great selling from all three competitors thus far.

Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart join us following that to check on their manager and carry him to the back as we take an advert break. That was a pretty good cliff-hanger to keep people invested though the break actually. When we come back from the ads, Savage is still controlling things and doing quite well for himself. However, one missed charge in the corner later and Honky now regains control, with Hart and Neidhart now working his corner in place of his injured manager.

Savage manages to dodge a second rope fist drop though and makes the comeback, with Honky continuing to bump around nicely for him. This is one of those matches where I bet it wasn’t seen as being that much at the time, but it’s so rare to get two such experienced wrestlers in there who know how to work like this these days and thus seeing it instantly raises the quality for me. I appreciate that they’re working and telling a good story, with lots of good bumps and selling going on.

Honky distracts the referee following Savage’s comeback so that The Hart Foundation can work him over outside the ring, but Savage kicks out back inside and then counters Honky’s spinning neck breaker finishing move. Body Slam and Elbow Drop from the top would appear to be enough for the Savage win, but Honky’s buddies run in for the DQ to give us a cheap finish, but at least the finish had a purpose to it.

WINNER BY DQ: RANDY SAVAGE (HONKY RETAINS)
RATING: ***

This was a good match and I enjoyed it. Originally Savage was supposed to win here, with Honky then being phased out, but Honky refused to do the job in such a manner and they had to re-book it to the DQ finish we got instead. The rumour goes that Savage’s WWF Title win at WrestleMania IV was a way of making this up to him

Post-Match we get the three on one Heel beat down on Savage. Elizabeth tries to talk the Heels down but Honky shoves her down to the mat, which was a big Heel heat angle at the time as no one ever got physically involved with the women in the WWF. Liz decides she’ll need to get the big guns, so she heads backstage and brings Hulk Hogan with her. Hogan does a great acting job here actually, as he at first doesn’t realise why Liz has brought him out, but when he sees Savage getting beaten up he knows immediately what he has to do and runs in to rescue him. Considering Hogan was often a pretty lousy babyface, this was a properly heroic moment where he bravely did the right thing at the right time. Savage is grateful for the help and the two shake hands to form The Mega Powers team. This is a pretty darn great moment and it laid the table for some incredible business when the two inevitably broke up and feuded.

Mr. Fuji and Sika are happy about the previous angle as it means Hogan will now be tired for his match.

Hogan says this is his jungle though and he will not be defeated.

Match Two
WWF Title
Champ: Hulk Hogan Vs Sika w/ Mr. Fuji and Kim Chee

This is the usual Hogan match, with Hogan getting a babyface shine until the big nasty Heel is able to cut him off and work some heat for a bit. If you like the Hogan Formula then you’ll enjoy this, as it’s a good example of it, with even the managers getting involved for some bumps at certain points. Sika is fine in the role of Heel of the Week, as he’s believably big enough that you could buy him as being able to hurt Hogan, but he can also bump and sell well enough to make Hogan’s offence look good.

Hogan actually tries an Ultimate Warrior-like big splash at one stage, but Sika gets his knees up to block it and that allows him to take over with things like chokes and whatnot. The crowd gets into it and chants for Hogan to fight back, with Hogan doing a good job selling for Sika’s offence. Sika doesn’t really do much in the way of exciting offence, focusing on strikes and rest holds, but he doesn’t really need to do any more than that and he plays his role well.

Hogan eventually does the Hulk Up routine and the crowd loves it, leading to the usual punches. Hogan assuages the big boot off the ropes though and decides to go for a body slam instead before following up with the Leg Drop of DOOM. That gets Hogan a three, as he pins Sika almost in the 69 position pin that you can do on the THQ/AKI games on the N64.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: HULK HOGAN
RATING: **

This was a Hogan match mostly done well. If you like that then you’ll like this. If you don’t, then you won’t

Hogan does the celebration following that.

Paul Orndorff and Sir Oliver Humperdink have promo time with Mean Gene. Mr. Wonderful says that previous manager Bobby Heenan tried to make him take a backseat in The Heenan Family stable, so he’s now dedicated to destroying that faction.

King Kong Bundy retorts, by saying that he doesn’t need Bobby Heenan in his corner tonight, as The Heenan Family is a big family.

Match Three
King Kong Bundy Vs Paul Orndorff w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink

This one is an all-action slugfest, with Orndorff starting hot but then missing a dropkick, which allows Bundy to take over. We get an Aloha-Bundy at one stage, with Orndorff eventually getting the sunset flip for two, but Bundy quickly cuts him off and continues to work him over. Orndorff sells that well and eventually dodges an elbow drop so that he can make the comeback. Orndorff looks to have it won, which leads to Heenan leaving commentary in order to get Andre The Giant to come down and help out Bundy, seeing as Andre was also a Heenan client.

This kills Orndorff’s momentum somewhat, with Bundy using the window as an opportunity to regain control for a bit. Orndorff makes another comeback though and the crowd is HOSS for him, but he misses an elbow drop and that allows Bundy back in. Bundy has been working a pretty quick clip here for a dude his size and he is DRENCHED in sweat as a result. I appreciate the effort on display from both men actually, as they’ve had a relatively fast-paced match when you take their size into consideration.

Orndorff makes his third or fourth comeback with punches, which leads to Andre finally getting involved as he pulls Orndorff into the corner and that allows Bundy to hit the Avalanche Splash in the corner for the three count. I like how Andre only got involved once and that was all he needed to do, as it made him look really effective.

WINNER: KING KONG BUNDY
RATING: **

This was a solid effort from both men, and Bundy in particular was WORKING here

Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart have promo time backstage with Mean Gene. They feel justified for attacking Savage due to Savage clocking Jimmy Hart.

Match Four
WWF Tag Team Titles
Champs: The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) Vs The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers)

Roma and Powers apparently stole Jimmy Hart’s song for their entrance music, hence a feud with Hart’s main tag team. This has some good action, although they get less than 5 minutes to work with and it’s difficult to have a decent tag team match in that time just because it really limits the story you can tell. It’s still an enjoyable enough watch though, with the challengers getting a brief shine before the Champs cut off Powers and work him over. Roma eventually gets the hot tag, although his hot tag segment is a little bit sloppy. The challengers look to have Bret beat, but Neidhart breaks up the pin and Hart Attack follows on Roma for three.

WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: THE HART FOUNDATION
RATING: *1/2

This was fine, just too short

Hogan and Savage do the big promo together backstage with Mean Gene to establish themselves as a unit going forward. And thus much money was made.

We close with the WORLD PREMIERE of the Piledriver music video, which is a catchy tune sung by Koko B. Ware. Koko’s finisher was of course a Brain Buster and not a Piledriver, but I guess Piledriver fits the melody better.

In Conclusion

This comes in at around 65 minutes and it was a very easy watch, with all The Mega Powers stuff being as good as you remember.

Recommended show!