WWE Recap: Saturday Night Main Even (January 1987)

As has the become the norm on Saturday Night Main Event, we open with a series of clips of wrestlers talking about their matches tonight. Then we get to Vince McMahon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Behind them, a steel cage is set up and waiting.


Steel Cage Match: Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs Hulk Hogan (World Heavyweight Championship)

Orndorff is still using Hogan's music as his own upon entrance. Hogan comes down the aisle to a roar from the crowd and climbs over the cage to get inside. Orndorff attacks right away, and uses the championship belt on Hogan's back. He immediately goes for the door, but Hogan grabs his leg. I've always thought that to win, they should have to go over the top, not through the door. Orndorff pounds on the champ, then climbs the cage. He gets about halfway down the outside, when Hogan grabs him by the hair, and drags him back up. Hogan slams Mr Wonderful's face into the cage, then drags him back down to the mat. Using his headband, Hogan chokes Orndorff, and now it's his turn to try and climb out. He doesn't make it either. Momentum changes again, and Hogan gets hammered by knee drops. Hogan gets back up and they trade blows. After a punch off the ropes, Hogan goes for the door, but it's locked and the ref has trouble opening it. Now, to note, Danny Davis is at ringside, though not officially. Davis is a ref that had been showing clear favoritism to heel wrestlers for several months. Anyway, both men are struggling to stand at this point. Orndorff gets it together first, and drives Hogan's head into the mat. He tries to drive the champ's head into the cage, but both of them hit it, and both are down again. They get up and each starts to climb the cage on opposite sides of the ring. They're up and over, and down....at the same time. Each referee holds up a different hand. The referees start to talk about it, but Davis shoves the other official. Hogan threatens Davis, but now Orndorff sneaks around the ring and attacks Hogan from behind. The assigned official finally gets control and declares a tie, and sends both men back into the cage. Back inside, Orndorff continues to beat on Hogan. He hits a clothesline, but now Hogan goes into routine, and begins to hulk up. He fights back with repeated blows to Orndorff's head, then tosses the challenger into the cage. After that, he hits a backbreaker and then the big leg drop. Now, Heenan shoves the referee and climbs into the cage. He grabs Hogan's leg to keep him from climbing out, but is kicked to the floor. Hogan climbs down and gives Orndorff an atomic drop, then throws Heenan into the cage. He climbs the cage again, and Ordnorff crawls towards the door. Hogan gets over the top and drops just before Orndorff can get to the exit for the win. Winner: Hulk Hogan

Cage matches are always fun, because actual wrestling isn't really expected. This was a lot of brawling, and more about the rivalry. It would be a better rivalry if Orndorff won every now and then.




George "The Animal" Steele vs Randy "Macho Man" Savage w/ Elizabeth (Intercontinental Championship)

The Animal brought a doll of himself to ringside and gave it to Elizabeth. Then he attacks before the bell, knocking Savage down, the bodyslamming him. He stops to wave toward the back as if signaling someone, but Savage makes use of his distraction and nails him from behind. He climbs the ropes, but suddenly music hits and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is coming to ringside. We're a few months removed from Savage beating Steamboat with a ring bell that injured his neck so badly he couldn't breathe for a time. He swore revenge. With Savage distracted, Steele throws him from the top rope, then up and out of the ring. Savage is down, and Steele picks up Elizabeth and carries her down the aisle to the back. Savage gets up and prepares to go after them, but Ricky Steamboat stands in his way. After a commercial break, multiple referees are trying to keep Steamboat back, but aren't having much success. Now, Steele makes his way back to the ring, sans Elizabeth, and goes to work on Savage. He tears apart the turnbuckle and shoves the filling into Macho Man's face. He tries to throw Macho into the turnbuckle, but Savage reverses it and Steele is down. Savage goes on the attack. He gets Steele into a corner and delivers several punches, but then Steele fights back and bites Savage on the face. Savage responds with a kick to the mid-section. Steele goes out of the ring, but reaches into his tights and pulls out something. He climbs back in and hits Savage with it. Savage is now the one out of the ring. The referee is trying to search Steele to find the object, but Steele shoves the ref. Savage grabs the ring bell and sneaks up behind The Animal and hits him in the back of the head. He covers for the pin. Winner: Randy "Macho Man" Savage

After the match, Savage gets the bell, and prepares to assault Steele the way he did Steamboat, but the crowd begins to cheer as The Dragon comes back down to stop him. This was fun, with lots of storyline implications, despite there not being much in the way of wrestling going on. Steele is always fun.




"King" Harley Race w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs Junkyard Dog

Danny Davis is the referee and immediately distracts JYD. Race takes advantage and punches JYD's face. Then he drops the knee. A pin attempt proves premature. JYD begins to fight back with a series of right hands. He also delivers a headbutt, but Danny Davis continues to interfere, giving Race time to recover and poke JYD in the eyes. He follows with a Belly-to-Belly suplex. He then tries to headbutt the Dog, but only hurts himself. JYD hits a few headbutts of his own, then throws Race over the ropes, and out of the ring. As Heenan checks on his wrestler, JYD retrieves Race's crown and cape and puts them on. Davis just stops counting Race at all, and Heenan comes into the ring and strikes JYD, with no effect. For his trouble, he gets a fist to the face. However, Race has recovered and hits JYD with an elbow from the top rope. Now he and Heenan begin to kick the Dog while he's down, with Davis just watching. The bell finally does ring, but the heels continue to work JYD over. Winner: Junkyard Dog

After the winner is declared, Heenan and Race try to make JYD bow to "The King", but JYD fights them off. He goes after Race, but Davis grabs him, only to earn himself a big headbutt. This wasn't very good, and the Davis stuff, which has been going on for quite a while at this point, is stale.




Adorable Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart vs Rowdy Roddy Piper

The crowd is firmly on Piper's side here. Adonis taunts Rowdy, so Piper throws his kilt in Adonis' face and begins to punch him. Adonis takes some impressive bumps over the ropes, and even gets tangled in them. Piper is in complete control early on. Adonis begins to land some punches of his own, and then claws Piper across his chest. Piper bounces back and knocks Adonis to the mat. The two men end up on the floor, and Jimmy Hart comes over. Piper drills Hart, but turns around to Adonis spraying him in the face with his perfume. Blinded, Piper can't find the ring, and gets counted out. Winner: Adorable Adrian Adonis

Piper looked ridiculous walking around trying to find the ring. It wouldn't be that hard. The fight was pretty generic as well, and even Adonis' skills at taking bumps didn't help this.




Jimmy Jack Funk vs Blackjack Mulligan

The referee makes Mulligan remove his spurs before the fight, which makes sense. Funk tries to attack while Mulligan is doing this, but it doesn't work out. The WWF doesn't even care about this one. They show interviews that take up half the screen while the match is going on. Jimmy Jack tries to bodyslam Mulligan, but can't and gets slammed himself. Mulligan hits a diving elbow for the win. Winner: Blackjack Mulligan

As always, a dud to close a show. Nobody cared...at all. Even Mulligan's family changed the channel.




Overall Impressions

With the exception of the final match, it was an ok show. The cage match was pretty well done, and the tie and restart added some drama. The Danny Davis stuff is old quickly, though. Harley Race isn't fun to watch, and JYD being paired with him was a bad idea.

Winners: 
Adrian Adonis: The match wasn't great, but Adonis has shined in selling for opponents, so a win over Piper here is earned.

Losers:
The Heavyweight Championship: That belt is so devalued at this point, that they might as well not have it. He needs to lose.
Every Cowboy in History: Self-explanatory if you watched the show.

 


Things I Would Have Changed

Certain guys just can't wrestle in an interesting way. Put those guys with somebody who can, like George Steele being paired with Randy Savage, and it'll much better.

The Hogan/Orndorff rivalry would be better served if Hogan would lose some. Hogan should have dropped the belt somewhere in this.