My girlfriend and I took in a Smackdown house show tonight in Louisville, Kentucky.  Naturally I took some notes.The place was very empty for the most part.  The KFC Yum! Center (what a horrendous name) holds roughly 22,000 but the entire upper deck was tarped off, there were LARGE sections in the lower arena sectioned off, and large portions of quality seats were just empty.  I’m bad at guessing crowd sizes but if there were 8,000 people there I would be stunned.

The new (well old now) house show set does help things a lot.  it’s nothing great or flashy but it makes things feel a lot more special than just walking through a black curtain.  There are two mini trons and a big X which has the theme of the wrestler (i.e. Sheamus’ is green, Del Rio is red, white and green etc) and a mini ramp.  It’s a BIG upgrade and makes things look a lot better.

We were told to tweet our pick of the stipulation for the main event: No DQ or 2/3 falls.  No DQ was up about 80 to 20 when they stopped showing the results.

We got the standard videos from WWE: Wrestlemania Reading Challenge, Saturday Morning Slam, WWE App etc.

The main shirts I saw were Cena and Rock with a few Rybacks throughout the arena.  Mainly Cena though.

Kofi Kingston vs. Heath Slater

The crowd was white hot all night and this was no exception.  My theory of Kofi as the modern day Tito Santana continues to grow.  Kofi was INSANELY over and looked great all match.  The crowd booed Slater but it was nothing compared to the pop for Kingston.  It was a pretty basic match with Kofi working on the arm until the other 3MB members distracted him.  There was a funny spot where Kofi did the air guitar and hip shake which got a good reaction from the crowd.  In a very impressive move, Kofi hit a dropkick and from where we were sitting, Kofi’s entire body was above the ropes.  That’s INSANE when you think about it.

The big spot of the match was Kofi kicking Slater down and using him as a stepping stone to hit a big dive onto 3MB.  Mahal and McIntyre were thrown out after about five minutes and Slater started taking over.  Slater beat on Kofi with some basic stuff and hit a pretty sweet neckbreaker for two.  Kofi made his comeback and hit the Boom Drop but Trouble in Paradise missed.  Slater went up and jumped into Trouble in Paradise for the pin at about 12:00.

Rating: C+. The ratings will be shorter than usual here.  This was a great choice for an opener and the fans loved Kofi.  The main thing here was that the match was kind of slow at times, but that’s more than forgivable.  This was probably the second or third best match of the night.

Aksana vs. Alicia Fox

This ran about NINE minutes and the crowd started filing in.  My entire notes about the match: Aksana sucks, Alicia isn’t bad, ax kick hits back for pin (for Fox).

Rating: D-. The match sucks and it’s ALL on Aksana, who looked lost doing anything of note.

Chimmel was plugging the Twitter thing again when Shield interrupted him.  They talked about Orton and Sheamus being brought to justice tonight and get in a great line: “It’s Evolution or Extinction.”  That line is ten years too late and it’s awesome.

Fandango vs. Yoshi Tatsu

Yep, I got to see Fandango, and he’s still Johnny Curtis.  No one cared about Fandango, like at all.  he had some chick that was dancing with him during his entrance but she went to the back for the match.  Both guys danced a bit with Tatsu doing the Rick Rude hip swivel.  Fandango was very generic with his stuff and came off like any guy from NXT.  That’s the problem with the gimmick: it has nothing interesting at all to it and there’s zero reason whatsoever to boo him.  He’s just a guy who dances.  We have no idea if he’s a good guy, a bad guy, or anything about him at all.  Anyway the generic heel (assuming that’s what he was) broke up a springboard attempt by Tatsu and hit a spinning downward spiral for the pin at about 6:40.

Rating:  D. If this is any indication of what’s coming, Fandango isn’t going to last long.  There’s no reason to care about him and while it was clear he’s a heel, there’s no reason to know that other than he’s fighting Yoshi Tatsu.  I don’t remember him cheating, I don’t remember him acting arrogant, I don’t remember him doing anything evil.  He just dances, and I guess that makes him bad?

Wade Barrett says he’ll win the main event and the world title.

Randy Orton/Sheamus vs. Shield

Handicap match here.  Orton and Sheamus got by far the biggest pops of the night respectively.  This was a brawl to start after Shield came through the curtain instead.  It was about what you would expect from this kind of a match.  In one funny bit, Rollins was in trouble and Orton stopped the other two before they came in.  During the distraction, Sheamus choked Rollins in the corner and shrugged at the fans as if to say “it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.”  Rollins got beaten down to start, Sheamus got beaten down for a bit, and Orton got the hot tag.  Orton hit his usual stuff and loaded up the RKO but the other Shield guys came in for the DQ at about 11:00.

Rating: C+. This was a fun match but a clean ending would have been nice.  it wouldn’t have been smart, but it would have been nice.  You certainly can’t have Shield losing in a 3-2 match and expect them to beat Ryback, Cena and Sheamus at the same time.  Anyway, fun match and the fans were going nuts for Orton.  Sheamus had his fans too and was very over, but Orton’s pop for the hot tag was insane.

Post match Sheamus Brogue Kicked a chair into I think Rollins’ face and it was RKO’s and Brogue Kicks all around.  The heroes went around high fiving everyone and signing a bunch of stuff.  THat went on for probably close to ten minutes.

15 minute intermission.

Sin Cara/Great Khali vs. 3MB

That’s a pretty odd tag team on the face side.  This was about what you would expect: Khali started and cleaned house, Cara got tagged in and got beaten down, Horny beat up Heath Slater, hot tag to Khali and the Plunge ends Mahal at a time that I forgot to check.  It was less than ten minutes for sure though.

Rating: C-. This was fine.  The main thing to note was how Sin Cara botched the one main high flying move he has still: the spinning armdrag out of the corner.  Basically he didn’t rotate enough and McIntyre wound up on top of him instead of falling over.

Cara seemed to be favoring his shoulder post match but it didn’t seem that bad.

Conor O’Brien vs. Brodus Clay

Conor is from NXT and is the only member left of Ascension.  He got to do his full entrnace minus the lights and with the big coat.  It didn’t do much for the crowd but for NXT fans it was awesome.  he needs a partner though. O’Brian cut a promo about not being happy and says he’ll destroy our hero and then rise.  This would prove to be incorrect as Conor did next to nothing significant and Brodus came back with his usual to win with the splash at 5:40.

Rating: D+. This was short but decent all thigns considered.  O’Brian needs the full entrance for the character to work and it looks stupid in the light.  Clay and the Funkadactyls (who now have pom poms) danced a lot.

Tony CHimmel dances with Brodus and company post match, holding his heart after the fact.  Funny stuff.

The fans vote for No DQ.

Smackdown World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs. Wade Barrett

BIG pop for Del Rio after Barrett said he hated Louisville and said the crowd clearly wanted barbarism by picking a No DQ match. Barrett stalls for a long time to start which suckers Del Rio in.  He pounds on Alberto for a bit and then gets kicked a few times.  Barrett goes to the floor and tries to walk out with the belts, only to be stopped by Ricardo.  Wade chased him around and Del Rio hit a sweet baseball slide to stop Barrett cold.

Barrett brought in a kendo stick and accidentally tapped the referee int he head with it before laying out Del Rio.  That got two and Del Rio came back again, only to get beaten down by a chair.  He went shoulder first into the psot to give Wade two but Del Rio came back with some LAME kendo stick shots.  The Winds of Change got a two count as did the Backstabber out of the corner.  Del Rio brought in a table but got sent into a chair int he corner.  Ricardo distracted Del Rio and a bulldog put Barrett through the table to retain the title at about 17:30.

Rating: B. Definitely the match of the night here with the fans being WAY into Del Rio’s comebacks.  Barrett looekd good in a match he had no chance of winning here which is a good sign for him.  The match worked quite well and Del Rio continues to be on a roll.  The table was a nice touch and something you don’t see much anymore.  Good stuff here.

Del Rio signed some autographs to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. As you can see, the biggest problem with this show was the lack of star power.  After Orton, Sheamus and Del Rio, things drop WAY off.  The show was definitely fun and entertaining enough for the price ($15 each) and we had a great time, but it was nothing I’ll remember in a week or so.  Raw had a show at the same time in Missouri which had Punk, Ryback, Jericho, Ziggler and every other major star I’m forgetting.  Anyway, good stuff here and it was a fun, although forgettable experience.

Due out April 30.Disc 1

Simplistic Yet Brilliant

Bret Hart vs. Hakushi
In Your House • May 14, 1995

Intercontinental Championship Match
Jeff Jarrett vs. Shawn Michaels
In Your House • July 23, 1995

Hey Yo

Intercontinental Championship Match
Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas
In Your House • October 22, 1995

Arkansas Hog Pen Match
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Henry O. Godwinn
In Your House • December 17, 1995

A Sloppy Masterpiece?

WWE Championship Match
Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog
In Your House • December 17, 1995

Disc 2

Memories Flooding Back

No Holds Barred Match for the WWE Championship
Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel
In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies • April 28, 1996

WWE Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind
In Your House: Mind Games • September 22, 1996

That’s Why They Play The Game

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
In Your House: Buried Alive • October 20, 1996

Buried Alive Match
The Undertaker vs. Mankind
In Your House: Buried Alive • October 20, 1996

Crowning a New Champion

Four Corners Match for the Vacant WWE Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart vs. Vader vs. The Undertaker
In Your House: Final Four • February 16, 1997

Disc 3

Back in the Saddle

10-Man Tag Team Match
The Hart Foundation vs. Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust & The Legion of Doom
In Your House: Canadian Stampede • July 6, 1997

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
Ground Zero: In Your House • September 7, 1997

A Slobberknocker

Non-Sanctioned 8-Man Tag Team Match
Stone Cold Steven Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie vs. HHH, The New Age Outlaws & Savio Vega
No Way Out of Texas: In Your House • February 15, 1998

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Stone Cold Steve Austin & The Undertaker vs. Mankind & Kane
Fully Loaded: In Your House • July 26, 1998

Intercontinental Championship Match
Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind
Judgment Day: In Your House • October 18, 1998

Victory at All Costs

Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship
The Rock vs. Mankind
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre • February 14, 1999

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Blu-ray Exclusives

Todd Pettengill Outtakes

In Your House Sweepstakes Winner

#1 Contenders Match
Bret Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
In Your House: Revenge of the ‘Taker • April 20, 1997

Match to crown first WWE Light Heavyweight Champion
Taka Michinoku vs. Brian Christopher
D-Generation X: In Your House • December 7, 1997

WWE Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Ken Shamrock
D-Generation X: In Your House • December 7, 1997

D’Lo Brown vs. X-Pac
Fully Loaded: In Your House • July 26, 1998

Credit: WWEDVDNews.com

There are some GEMS on here, including Michaels vs. Mankind (released before), Shawn vs. Diesel (might have been released before), the 10 man tag (I’m almost sure that’s been out before) and the Four Way from Final Four which is a forgotten classic.  I’m very happy with this one.

That’s very true in this last week.The Divas have been absent from Raw and Smackdown and I’ve grown much fonder for WWE TV.

Saturday Night’s Main Event 30
Date: February 8, 1992
Location: Lubbock Municipal Coliseum, Lubbock, Texas
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan

We’re on FOX now so the show is about as dead as you could ask for. This is the followup to the 92 Rumble where Flair won the world title and Hogan actually teased a heel attitude at the end and got booed almost out of the building for it. This was a good time for the company as you had Flair, Hogan, Savage, Undertaker and Roberts crossing paths to an extent and the results rocked. Let’s get to it.

Intercontinental Title: Mountie vs. Roddy Piper

This is the rematch from the Rumble where Mountie was given the title for two days since Bret was hurt. Piper wouldn’t win another WWF title for about 15 years. He’s staggering around a bit so he might be a bit intoxicated. Piper is wrestling with a t-shirt on. Keep that in mind for a bit later. Apparently the winner gets Bret at Mania.

An interview with Bret says he hopes it’s Piper but is happy either way. Piper changes control when he gets his knees up to block a splash. The referee gets bumped and Mountie pours water on Piper and gives him the shock stick that he was using. Naturally it has no effect and Mountie gets it, complete with ridiculous sound effects. Piper pulls off his shirt to reveal a vest saying Shock Proof in a rather infamous moment for some reason.

Rating: C. It was about the ending and to give Mountie his rematch. It worked fine so I can’t complain. There’s not much here but since the ending was effective I’m all fine and good with it.

We get a replay of the ending of the end of the Rumble with Sid getting robbed by Hogan and Gorilla having no issue with it of course. Heenan’s near orgasm is great. We see the Mania 8 “Press Conference” with Hogan being named the #1 contender for ZERO reason. I mean seriously, he came in third and got dumped fairly. What sense does that make even in kayfabe? Sid turns heel more or less in an interview there.

Sid Justice/Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair/Undertaker

The “faces” say that they’re united. Can you see it coming? If not you’re an idiot. Hogan comes out with Brutus Beefcake instead of his partner which makes him look even more heelish. Sid and Flair start us off. We get Hogan vs. Flair and since this isn’t WCW, Flair has a chance. Hogan is of course dominating because he has to by some law.

There have been about 5 tags inside of two minutes. The idea here is Hogan is trying to do everything and Sid is getting annoyed with it. He’s jumped in twice now already. The big guys are in there now. We’ve had all four in there more often than we’ve had just two. Hogan does the four sides ear thing and Sid isn’t happy as we go to commercial. Back with Taker beating up Sid.

Sid manages to fight the heels off and get the….hot I guess tag to Hogan. Flair shows intelligence by going for the knee. You can’t question Flair’s psychology 90% of the time. Figure Four is on and it’s called a submission hold. The name is never used which is odd. Sid won’t make a tag. Taker gets a SWEET leaping clothesline to take down Hogan.

Sid gets booed and of course Vince sucks on Hogan a bit for old time’s sake. They edit out a whole line about the WWF Champion (this was aired on 24/7) and Sid drops to the floor instead of tagging and walks out. There goes the referee for the DQ and Brutus gets in. This was around the time when his face had been messed up. Hogan makes the save.

Rating: B-. It was a main event tag match and was all about the angle. That’s all well and good and it came off fine. The Hogan vs. Sid match would of course happen at Mania in what was potentially Hogan’s last match. That’s just amusing.

Sid says he rules the world, completely turning heel.

After a commercial Hogan questions Sid’s morals and says he’s not a good person. That’s just amusing.

Sgt. Slaughter/Jim Duggan vs. Beverly Brothers

Anyone think this might be a squash? They’re a new team here and it’s an attempt to make Sarge a face again that loved America. The announcers argue over the logic of giving Hogan Flair at Mania and Heenan keeps picking Vince’s arguments apart. This doesn’t even last three minutes and of course the proud Americans win.

Rating: N/A. This was quick and nothing of note. Yep that’s about it.

We recap Savage vs. Roberts from the past few months, which more importantly about Roberts being heel of the millennium by punching Liz. Roberts says he’ll do it again.

Jake Roberts vs. Randy Savage

Savage says a lot of things in a big rant that must have been fueled by cocaine if I know anything about wrestling. Naturally this is a big freaking brawl in every sense of the words. They fight all over the ringside area with both guys beating on each other for a few minutes each. Savage takes a DDT but Jake lets him get up. The second doesn’t connect though and Savage goes airborne.

And there’s the big elbow to end it in like 5 minutes. Ok then. Savage beats him up ever more until the suits come down to break it up. Liz runs out for the big celebration. We see Jake waiting behind the curtain as the show ends. Later we would find out that he was going to hit Liz with a chair but Taker turned face and grabbed it away instead.

Rating: C+. This was too fast to really get much out of. It’s ok but nothing special at all. These two never got the big match that they needed and I think it hurt the feud in the end. Not terrible at all but far from great.

Overall Rating: C-. Total storybuilding show here as nothing is really settled in the ring, although that’s true for just about every SNME. There are some well known moments here so it’s worth a look I guess and at 45 minutes factoring out commercials it’s not like it’s going to take forever to watch. Check it out, why not.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up  my ebook of 1998 Monday Night Raw Reviews on Amazon at:

I’m a bit late to this one but it’s a major story from earlier in the week.  Basically Bret Hart said that HHH has never had a great match and isn’t even in the top 1000 wrestlers of all time.  Now there are a few possible explanations to this.First and foremost, Bret is incorrect.  I greatly respect Bret Hart, but I don’t know if I could come up with 1000 wrestlers if I tried all day.  To say all of them are better than HHH is impossible to believe.  Now of course Bret doesn’t mean that literally, but the idea still makes sense.

The second possibility is that Bret has incredibly high standards.  There is definitely something to this as I’ve heard of Bret watching his own matches and being disgusted by his lack of psychology because the three moves he used should have set up an armbar and he used a wristlock instead.  That’s stuff probably 95% of pro wrestlers aren’t going to pick up on but to Bret it’s terrible.

Now for the theory that makes the most sense: HHH knew about Montreal in advance and allegedly was the guy who said go ahead and do it.  Since Shawn and Bret have made amends and Bret has talked about how great Shawn is, who else is he supposed to go after with his latest Montreal rage?

It’s not like Bret is in need of publicity as he could probably be on Raw or Smackdown a few times a month with one phone call.  My money would be on Montreal, but maybe Bret just isn’t a fan of HHH.  I may have watched a lot of wrestling, but I certainly don’t know a fraction of what Bret knows.  It was a very odd statement though.

The Main Event I
Date: February 5, 1988
Location: Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura

So this is by far and away the most famous of these shows with one of the most famous endings in company history. This is live and as usual there was a full card before this part started. That being said, the two or three matches we get here are to put it mildly pretty bad.

The main focus here is Hogan vs. Andre the rematch. The main idea here is that Hogan might have gotten pinned at Mania and there might have been a slow count. This is still the highest rated wrestling program in the history of televised wrestling, drawing a 15.2 rating and 33 MILLION viewers on national television on a Friday night. In other words, over 10% of the entire country was watching this. Let that sink in for a bit. It was only an hour long but this was epic. Let’s get to it.

Jesse has some leopard skin crown on or something like that. He’s here from Hollywood or something apparently. He predicts Hogan loses, which is what he’s predicted about a thousand times. He also says Honky and the Harts will win. Jesse’s rant about Hogan is funny stuff as always.

We get a training montage of Hogan set to what would become Jake Roberts’ music. He looks extra roidy here.

Honky says this isn’t about fighting but romance as Liz wants him apparently. Elvis lyrics are added.

Intercontinental Title: Randy Savage vs. Honky Tonk Man

This was supposed to be the big other match at Mania but instead Savage got the world title due to Honky being a jerk. Savage cuts Liz off and says he’ll win. DAng I love late 80s WWF. Massive pop for Savage as it’s clear he’s going to be a huge deal. This is an old stomping ground for Savage’s indy company so he’s a huge fan favorite. Honky dances for Liz while Randy has his attention on Jimmy.

Basically Honky has been the biggest jerk in the world to Savage and Liz lately so Randy wants to kill him, literally. Jimmy’s interference gives Honky the early advantage but Savage remembers he’s Randy Savage and it’s 1988 so he takes over for a bit. He misses a charge though and Savage might be in trouble now.

Jimmy chokes Randy while Honky shakes his hips for Liz. Savage makes the superhero comeback but can’t keep anything going for more than a few seconds at a time. The evildoers go after Liz while he’s down but he wakes up and isn’t very happy about this. He gets the double axe to Honky from the top to the outside and Honky is in trouble.

Another hits in the ring and it’s all Savage now. Hart is brought in the hard way as Gorilla would say and Honky accidentally drills him so Savage can get….a sleeper hold? Peggy Sue goes after Liz for no apparent reason and Honky still can’t get anything when Savage goes to save her. And Honky just takes the count out loss like a true heel.

Rating: C. Weak match here but the atmosphere and crowd were off the charts. This was a big feud and everyone wanted nothing more than to see Savage take Honky apart. This wasn’t a great match and it’s a shame that we never got a big blowoff match from these two as it would have drawn serious money on PPV as it did on house shows. The atmosphere carried this though.

Honky goes after Savage with the guitar after the match. I don’t see why Savage doesn’t charge as he could get there in time to avoid the shot. Jimmy hits him with the Megaphone and yet he avoids the shot anyway. Kind of odd but he clears the heels away and breaks the guitar.

We get a recap of Hogan vs. Andre which helps a lot as a lot of things I’ve read says that the three count was really confusing as was them saying the controversial count as we didn’t know which they were talking about. We also see Andre attacking Hogan and the contract signing at the first Royal Rumble. Oh and DiBiase owns Andre’s contract now.

DiBiase says money works for everything and that the Hulkamaniacs are nickels and dimes. Andre says he’ll never stop once he gets his hands on Hogan. The idea is simple: Andre gets the title from Hogan and DiBiase buys it from Andre for a ton of money.

WWF Title: Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan

So yeah, this is the biggest match ever on television and still is to this day. Again: it got a FIFTEEN in ratings. To put that in perspective, Jay Leno gets about a three. Hogan says there was no controversy in the count and that he’s beaten Andre once and can again. He also says that he’s invested into his fans. Good promo as you can tell Hogan thrives in this kind of environment. Now if only they had noticed something: Hogan has the OLD design for the title in the interview but as he walks out you see the famous winged eagle title debut. Nice job guys. That interview was probably taped in late 87.

The pop for Hogan is just absurd as he’s almost at the height of his powers here. Ok so 87 was bigger but close enough. Hogan wants to start immediately but Hebner stops him. I’ve seen this match multiple times and this has me fired up very well. Andre stalls forever on the apron as Hogan is all kinds of fired up. Hogan gives the sign for slamming him and Andre’s face says nothing but “Boy please.”

The crowd is electric as they do a masterful job of letting the tension build. Hogan has finally waited long enough and drills into the heels and cleans house. He hammers away early as you can definitely see a faster pace here than they had last time. Granted that might be due to Hogan needing to do more here as Andre is getting very bad very fast.

ALL Hogan here but Hogan can’t do much here other than strike. DiBiase is counting money so Hogan stomps on his hand for the fun of it. Big wind up punch and Andre WILL NOT GO DOWN. Hogan like an idiot tries to go up and gets the Flair treatment for his luck. Andre tries a diving headbutt and just misses completely. He chokes away and other than that and basic strikes he has nothing.

The idea here is that Andre’s offense is very limited but his size and power plus great selling by Hogan makes him seem like a killer. Andre gets a big boot to Hogan’s chest and falls down too. He chokes with the strap on his singlet and Hogan is in trouble. Hogan breaks a choke and it’s on all over again. A middle rope clothesline finally drops the Giant.

Hogan gets the legdrop but Virgil grabs the referee. Andre gets up and drills some headbutts and hits a suplex kind of move which was his finisher. Hogan clearly gets his shoulder well off the mat at about one and a half and the referee keeps counting anyway, getting to three and declaring Andre as the winner. And let the controversy begin.

Rating: C-. The match itself was just ok but obviously the biggest angle of all time happening here is the real story. The 9 minute match was a backdrop for that as Andre couldn’t do a thing but choke for the most part which is fine given his physical condition at the time. Not bad at all, all things considered.

The referee says it was three and Hogan says he got his shoulder up which is absolutely true. Hebner gets the belt and hands it to Andre. This is the end of Hogan’s over four year title reign. Gene is at ringside and talks to Andre who calls it the world tag title for some reason and then surrenders it to DiBiase. The image of DiBiase with the belt around his waist is downright terrifying.

Hogan turns his attention to Hebner and here comes….Dave Hebner. There are TWO Dave Hebners as the fans are STUNNED. Hogan figures out what is going on as the guy that refereed the match was an impostor and we actually have an evil twin storyline. The evil one beats up the good one but Hogan gets his hands on him anyway to throw him to DiBiase and Andre.

We come back to the start of the tag title match but throw it to Hogan and Gene in the back and wonders how much the plastic surgery cost. He rants and raves about getting ripped off which for once is absolutely true. We see a replay of the count and Hogan’s arm is clearly up before two.

We see literally 25 seconds of the tag title match and go off the air before it ends. It was Strike Force defending against the Hart Foundation. Strike Force got a pin to retain.

Overall Rating: A+. A show that draws over ten percent of the entire country can be described as nothing else but a massive success. The ending is iconic and one of the most brilliant ideas of all time. This show worked like a charm and set up the tournament at Mania.

DiBiase would appear at some house shows over the weekend as champion and would defend against Bigelow as well as having some tag matches with Andre against Hogan and Bigelow. Great match and the biggest ratings draw in American wrestling history. Just an insane rating and some incredibly dramatic television makes this an undeniable success.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

According to both ESPN and WWE.com.  This is a BIG surprise as Bruno has long since distanced himself from WWE and hates the current product.  He’s definitely the new headliner for the class.

The Main Event II
Date: February 3, 1989
Location: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura

First and foremost, this was on my first birthday, meaning the day I was born, a year prior to this, as in the day of my birth, isn’t my birthday. I’ve never understood that. Anyway, this is more or less the big moment for the Mega Powers Exploding as we have the Mega Powers vs. the Twin Towers and one other televised match.

This is live by the way. It’s one of those cards where you have the full card and then two matches or so on TV. Let’s get to it.

We open with a graphic about the tag match complete with a fake newspaper talking about how big and awesome this match is. That’s so corny that it’s awesome. A recap video follows it as basically the Twin Towers are always going after Hogan, Savage and Liz. This is complete with the newspaper thing every time. This is so over the top that it’s great.

I miss the SNME theme song and since this is a spin off it’s the same song. Rock on.

The Twin Towers and Slick cut pure 80s heel promos which are still awesome. I love this era so I’m probably overblowing it but you get the idea. Dang Boss Man is huge. The thing they keep pushing this as is three against two which two can’t win.

Twin Towers vs. Mega Powers

This is an hour long show and the match is over twenty minutes long so if you didn’t get the idea, this is the only reason to watch this show. After the Towers get to the ring, we get a video about Hogan and Savage. This isn’t your typical video however. This is set to a WAY too upbeat song called You’re A Friend Of Mine by Clarence Clemens Jackson Browne. Look it up and picture a highlight package of Hogan and Savage. It looks like the intro to a REALLY bad sitcom. I can’t make this stuff up people.

Hogan and Savage say there is no issue with these three. The underlying theme here is that Hogan allegedly loves Liz but Hogan insists it’s just like a brother and sister. In short, this became about Hogan which Savage didn’t like which has to be at least half legitimate. Everyone talks a lot here and hey now let’s have a match.

Boss Man starts and Savage and Hogan both want to start for their team. Boss Man wants Hogan so Savage can’t get his way again. Hogan looks especially orange tonight. The heels are cleared out by Super Hogan alone and the fans are WAY into it. The little things in this match like Savage wearing Hogan’s colors with the words Mega Powers written on them but Hogan wearing his usual gear is very well done.

Akeem comes in and here’s Savage to meet him. Oh wait never mind Hogan needs to come back in. He even comes off the second rope to work on the arm a bit. Boss Man hits a Piledriver and Hogan does his fish out of water dance on the mat. I’m not sure if it looks more like that or a steak being grilled. One or the other. Jesse points out that Hogan is hogging the ring time and he’s absolutely right at this point.

Slick gets involved so Savage drills him in the face. Spinebuster which is unnamed at this point gets two. Savage finally comes in this has been ALL Mega Powers. Top rope cross body puts Akeem down but Slick gets a shot in to take down the Macho Man and momentum shifts. Savage is still world champion here if I didn’t mention that and you’re not familiar with this era.

And now we get to the meat of this show. Akeem throws Savage to the floor and he wipes Elizabeth out, landing right on top of her (lucky). She’s GONE and Hogan goes to try to help her which ticks Savage off for some reason. “Oh no the woman I love is getting helped after I was incapacitated! NOT MY PROBLEM!” Hogan carries Liz to the back in as dramatic a fashion as possible. He leaves with her as they check her out.

We get the other fun part of this as Hogan’s acting is at its peak here. Keep in mind we stay on Hogan and Liz for like 3 minutes with ZERO talk of what’s going on in the ring. Back from a break we get a bumper of the match and now back to General Wrestling Hospital. Hogan keeps saying thank God and making weird noises. I don’t have the video up as I’m typing here and the sounds are just disturbing. Leaving out the word God it’s God Elizabeth God Elizabeth and random moaning and groaning and breathing sounds.

FINALLY he realizes he’s left his partner for like ten minutes against two monsters so he comes back for the save and the glory. Oh but instead of like, I don’t know, GETTING IN THE RING and beating the tar out of one of the guys and helping Savage, he gets on the apron and grabs the tag rope. Savage continues to do all of the work and beats up Boss Man but won’t tag Hogan.

Savage slaps Hogan nice and hard and leaves him. Serves the bald moron right too. Macho stands on the floor and then leaves with his belt. For once Hogan has absolutely no one to blame but himself here. More on that later though. Air Africa (Akeem’s splash) hits Hogan, he Hulks Up, Boss Man apparently asks Slick if he knows where he can find a good turkey on rye as he pays NO attention to what’s going on and Hogan gets the pin.

Rating: C. Total angle here with a match as the backdrop but this was a big deal to put it mildly. This would be like Orton turning on Cena when they had been best friends for like a year. The match is just ok but that’s all it needed to be. Hogan’s hammy acting aside, this was perfectly fine for what it was.

Hogan goes to the back where Savage is losing his mind, talking about how the champion is supposed to be #1 to Liz who is laying on the table with apparently NO ONE checking on her at all. We now get the greatest promo of Savage’s career as he just goes off on Hogan, ranting and raving about how Hogan has stolen the spotlight from him since day one and how if Hogan wanted a title shot all Hogan had to do was ask and he would have beaten him 1-2-3.

He talks about how Hogan is jealous and lusting after Liz before DRILLING with the belt and beating the living heck out of Hogan in probably the biggest heel turn in company history at the time. I’d put it ahead of Andre as it was on a bigger stage and Savage’s promo was better.

Beefcake comes in for the save and Savage just ends him with like two shots, showing how worthless he was at the time. Savage leaves Hogan laying. Totally AWESOME segment and one of the best promos that I can ever remember anywhere with Savage letting out a year of frustration and paranoia all on Hogan with everything he said making perfect sense for once. Great segment and well worth checking out.

Hercules vs. Ted DiBiase

In short, DiBiase bought Hercules and referred to him as a slave, causing Hercules to rebel and turn face in the process. Obviously no one cares at this point after their minds have been blown to Mars at this point by what they just saw. The announcers rightfully talk about almost nothing but the Mega Powers which for once I’m fine with.

We cut to an interview with Hogan which isn’t going to happen. Instead we’re told he’s in no condition to talk. No music for DiBiase yet. Hercules jumps him before he can take the fake suit off and beats up Virgil for fun. All Herc so far as DiBiase’s movement in the ring is still impressive over twenty years later. Ted finally sends Herc to the floor.

The crowd is staying in this one which is kind of surprising. Herc keeps having those power kick outs which are always kind of cool. Very basic match here but fairly well done. Then again I like both guys out there so that might have something to do with it. Powerslam by the power dude means it’s time for…Hercules to charge and have no apparent move in mind.

Virgil wraps Herc’s chain around the buckle but DiBiase goes into it for two. Hercules gets his backbreaker (torture rack) but Virgil grabs the leg, allowing Ted to get a quick rollup with the tights to end it. DiBiase gets beaten up a bit post match but it’s nothing special at all.

Rating: C-. Just a match to fill in some time after the huge angle earlier on. It’s not bad or anything but there was nothing that would separate this from a house show match or something like that. It’s ok enough though and more or less blew off this mini feud which is a plus I guess.

Hogan literally grunts and grumbles about Savage. There are no sentences or anything like that but just random words. He sounds like the Incredible Hulk or George Steele before running off and screaming RANDY in a funny moment.

Slam of the Night is about Jake Roberts who has nothing to do with this show at all.

Vince and Jesse talk a bit.

More of Hogan who can now say Macho as well. He randomly beats up Jim Neidhart, grabbing him by the beard and slamming him into a wall. Dang man ticked off Hogan is awesome! He shoves various other people including Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. He keeps looking as we go off the air. This was kind of awesome actually in a weird way.

Overall Rating: B+. This was all about setting up Mania and the huge heel turn and to say it worked was an understatement. All of a sudden Savage is this mega heel after being unbeatable for the past year and you have Hogan who never lost the title clean to challenge him. Naturally this happened on PPV and drew MILLIONS.

The wrestling here is just ok but this did exactly what it was supposed to and more so it’s definitely a win. I doubt you can find a complete show without looking for a long time but DEFINITELY check out Savage’s promo and the match if you can as it sets it up. Both are available on the Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event DVD which I highly recommend as well. Good show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @Kbreviews

I was watching Wrestlemania V (for the Wrestlemania Redo Series starting March 10) and during a match I saw a guy that came off as the Kofi Kingston of the 80s.This man would be Tito Santana.  He was a multiple time tag team champion, a multiple time Intercontinental Champion, and very popular in his own right.  Tito also got the occasional world title match but was never a serious contender for the world title.  This is the exact same kind of character that Kofi is now and it got Tito into the Hall of Fame and made him a legend.  There’s nothing wrong with staying at the same level that Kofi is at now and if he stays there for another few years he’ll be just fine.

The Main Event V
Date: February 1, 1991
Location: Macon Coliseum, Macon, Georgia
Attendance: 7,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper

This is The Main Event, which is a spinoff from Saturday Night’s Main Event but rather than considering it a continuation, I’ve always considered it to be its own show. This was aired on Fridays and the first three were live. I only have copies of three and five at the moment so there won’t be much to say. This is the last one so I need the other three. Anyway, this is during the build to Mania 7 and the main event will be announced tonight. Hmm, I wonder who will stand up to face the evil foreign sympathizer. Let’s get to it.

It’s only an hour long counting commercials so don’t expect much.

We open with Hogan doing his own USO tour since the real USO wouldn’t let him go. I guess wrestling isn’t considered real Americana?

The theme song is the same as SNME. This is I think twelve days after the Rumble so there might even be some fallout from it. Vince and Piper run down the card and it sounds weak to put it nicely.

Hulk Hogan/Tugboat vs. Dino Bravo/Earthquake

Hogan gets a very solid pop and is the only one of the four to get a reaction at all. According to Vince, Quake and Bravo weigh about 1,300 pounds between them. Think Vince is a bit shaky here for some reason? That’s not rhetorical actually as he’s normally more composed than this. Hogan cleans house on Bravo to start. Bravo and Tugboat are in now and this isn’t going to be pretty.

Bravo actually gets an atomic drop and a very good one all things considered. Hogan vs. Quake now, which is a somewhat big feud still at this point. The slam hits on the first try which is something different for the bald one. Quake gets a nice jump kick that looked pretty good for a man his size. The boating enthusiast gets beaten down as we wait on Hogan to get the tag.

Megaphone to the head ends any momentum he had and we take a break. Warrior is still the symbol on the graphic despite having lost the title and not even being on the card here. The referee misses the tag after the break and Tugboat takes a double slam. Hogan blocks the flying fat drop and we get the hot tag finally. Oddly enough Hogan hits the boot on Bravo and rolls him up for the pin instead of the standard finish.

Rating: D+. Totally standard house show main event here. This wasn’t supposed to be anything epic at all and it definitely wasn’t. These shows were designed to get the top feuds on TV and on occasions like this one, ending the feuds once and for all since Hogan had nothing else to do with any of these guys after this. Nothing great at all but fine for what it was.

Savage says he should be champion.

We get a clip from the Rumble where Sherri tries to seduce a title match out of the Warrior for Savage and then he cost Warrior the title, setting up the classic at Mania 7 and Warrior’s best match ever.

Slaughter talks about playing by new rules, which was this weird thing he talked about for a long while but nothing really ever came from it.

WWF Title: Jim Duggan vs. Sgt. Slaughter

Pretty clear what we’ve got here but the story makes sense at least. Duggan brings Hogan with him which is about as simple of a pairing as you could ever ask for anywhere. Hogan gets thrown out during a break which is kind of odd. Ah apparently he isn’t a legal manager. Standard punch/kick stuff here as we all know Duggan isn’t going to do anything here.

Three Point Clothesline sends Slaughter to the floor. The General gets involved and then gets punched. Iron Sheik in case you didn’t know that. Duggan can’t do much other than punch here but that sums up a lot of his career in WWF. Board to the jaw of Duggan and Slaughter takes over even more. Duggan goes after the Sheik and Slaughter pops him with a chair for the DQ. Hogan runs out for the save and gets beaten down with the chair too.

Rating: D. Again nothing special at all here as Duggan just did nothing but throw punches and kicks. It was all setting up the DQ and the Hogan beatdown afterwards which is fine I guess but I would have liked a more entertaining match. At least the characters match up very well. This wasn’t very good but I’ve seen far worse.

The LOD say they’ll crush the Orient Express, which is very true. They go with the xenophobic angle here which is as basic as you could ask for. The LOD was called American Originals back in the late 90s which never went anywhere.

Legion of Doom vs. Orient Express

Did the Express ever win a major match? If they did I certainly don’t remember it. Animal and Kato start us off. Kato was Paul Diamond from the AWA that was very good in his time. LOD is MOVING out there for once. This is a very fast paced match and a nice change of pace for the usually dominant faces. Fuji throws salt at Animal and takes him down. Hawk comes in and beats everyone up badly and the squash is on. Doomsday Device ENDS Kato for the win.

Rating: B-. VERY energetic match here the whole five minutes which isn’t something you often hear about the LOD. The Express bumped like crazy pinballs on speed for Animal and Hawk and the result was a rather entertaining match. It’s not very good, but it’s one of those matches where it’s about the insanity and that worked well here.

Gene talks to Jack Tunney about who gets the shot at Mania and runs down a bunch of candidates. The nominees for lack of a better term are the main three and Duggan due to earlier. Of course it’s Hogan.

Slaughter doesn’t seem to care and says he’ll keep the title.

Hogan comes out and talks about the USO tour he went on and calls all the military people little Hulkamaniacs. There’s something hilarious about that. Apparently Slaughter shouldn’t be protected by the troops. He pledges to God that he’ll win the title. He leads the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance which is weird for some reason.

Overall Rating: D+. This was all about the last 8 minutes with nothing else being notable at all. An interesting thing is as I was watching this I found copies of the other three so expect me to blaze through these soon enough, especially the first one which is the Hogan vs. Andre II match that drew a 15 in the ratings. This show isn’t that good though and clearly didn’t mean much at the end of the day. Not bad, but really just setting up Mania’s main event. Not worth watching.

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