WWE Recap: Saturday Night Main Event (October 1986)

We're greeted by Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who had taken a leave of absence to work on a movie for a few months. Welcome back. We get a series of looks at tonight's competitors, and apparently Jake Roberts showers with his wrestling trunks on. Weird.


"Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs Hulk Hogan

Orndorff enters the ring to Hulk Hogan's music. Once Hogan gets in the ring, things start right away. Hogan no-sells a few right hands from Orndorff, then hits him with one of his own and follows with a clothesline. Heenan climbs up on the apron and distracts Hogan long enough for Orndorff to attack the champ from behind, taking him out of the ring. He kicks Hogan outside the ring, but Hogan blocks an attempt to slam him into the apron. Momentum swings back to Hogan. He headbutts Mr Wonderful, then clotheslines him in the corner. The Brain gets back up on the apron, but this time Hogan nails him with a big punch. The distraction works again, though, as Orndorff tags Hogan from behind, and regains control. He takes Hogan outside the ring and chokes him with a cord. Back inside, he continues his attack, using his knees to the champ's head and neck. He goes for the pin, but only gets two. Orndorff his a suplex and tries another pin, but no luck. Now it's Hogan's turn again. He reverses a whip to the ropes and knees Orndorff in the face, then it's a bodyslam. Hogan bounces off the rope, but Heenan grabs onto his ankle. Orndorff runs at Hogan, who moves and Mr Wonderful goes over the top, landing on his manager. Suddenly security shows up, and carries Heenan away from ringside, under orders from the referee. The crowd goes nuts. After a commercial, Hogan chases Orndorff outside the ring, but makes a mistake, and Orndorff beats him back into the ring, and attacks as Hogan enters. He chokes Hogan, then hits a backbreaker. The pin only gets him two, though. Orndorff sets up for the pile driver to end it, but Hogan reverses it and back drops him instead. Now it's time to Hulk up. He takes a few punches to no effect. He hits Orndorff with a few punches, then an elbow off the ropes. A clothesline follows. He sets up to give Orndorff a pile driver, but Adrian Adonis runs into the ring from the crowd. The bell rings. Winner: Hulk Hogan via disqualification

Hogan begins to pound on Adonis, but Orndorff attacks from behind. It's two-on-one, but here comes Rowdy Roddy Piper down the aisle on a crutch. He climbs in and blasts Adonis with the crutch. He swings at Orndorff, but misses. Mr Wonderful leaves the ring. He swings at Hogan, but misses again. Hogan grabs him, but holds off on punching him. Piper throws down the crutch and leaves the ring while Hogan celebrates. The match wasn't terrible, and the ending was logical. The crowd loved it, of course.




Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

These two have had a rivalry going for most of 1986, originating when Roberts DDT'd Steamboat on the concrete. Steamboat comes to the ring with a bag of his own, which apparently contains a "dragon". It's actually a small alligator (No komodos available?). Steamboat lands a couple of chops to start us out. Then he slams Roberts to the mat. He uses his own bag to try and intimidate Roberts in a reversal of situations. He chops Roberts again, and drops him on his face in the middle of the ring. Roberts scoots to Steamboat's bag and give it a nudge, and something inside moves, and Roberts hurries away from it. Steamboat locks in an armbar, then slingshots The Snake into the turnbuckle. The Dragon climbs the ropes and leaps, but Roberts gets his knees up for the block. Roberts goes towards Damien, but Steamboat moves towards his bag, and Roberts goes over to stop him. He goes back on the attack. He hits a clothesline, and some knees to the ribs. A couple of pin attempts get just two counts. Roberts hits an atomic drop, then whips Steamboat to the ropes. The Dragon ducks a swing by Roberts and locks onto his arms to roll him up for the three count. Winner: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

After the match, Roberts attacks Steamboat from behind. He drives him in the the ringpost multiple times, then goes to get Damien. He turns around, but now Steamboat has the dragongator out of the bag. Roberts makes his move, but Steamboat shoves the dragongator into his face, and he flees the ring. I'm not sure what to make of this. The match was pretty good, but this battle of the pets is somewhat corny, despite the crowd loving it.




The Iron Sheik w/ Slick vs Rowdy Roddy Piper

Pedro Morales was scheduled to take the place of an injured Piper, but here comes Rowdy down the aisle with his crutch. He sends Morales away, then hits the Sheik with the crutch. The match starts officially and the Sheik starts kicking at Piper's injured leg. He goes for a suplex, but Piper reverses it into a small package for the win. Winner: Rowdy Roddy Piper

The Sheik would have a legitimate complaint here. Piper hit him with the crutch right away. This was just a way for the WWF to get Piper over even more, and it seemingly worked. The fans ate it up.




Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake w/ Johnny Valiant vs The British Bulldogs (Tag Team Championship)

It's once again, two out of three falls for the belts. This starts off with Dynamite Kid immediately hitting an atomic drop on Valentine. The Hammer takes control, though, and kicks the Kid in the corner. Beefcake tags in and hits a suplex, but Dynamite is able to tag out. Davey Boy shows off his strength in lifting Beefcake up in the air a couple of times by his arm. Beefcake turns the tide, however, by dropping Smith on his back. Valentine comes back in with an elbow to the head. The heels make a couple of quick tags to stay fresh, but the let Davey Boy make a tag as well. Dynamite gets in some offense, but Valentine hits an atomic drop to regain the advantage. He and Beefcake take turns working on the Kid now. Dynamite tries to fight back, but Valentine winds up locking in the Figure Four and wins the first round.


We come back from commercial and round two has started. Valentine is working on the injured leg of the Dynamite Kid. He goes for another Figure Four, but is blocked. Beefcake tags in and continues the abuse. He hits a backbreaker, though he doesn't get the three count. More quick tags. Valentine climbs the turnbuckle, but misses an elbow drop. This allows Dynamite to make the tag. Davey Boy comes in on fire. He drops Valentine, drop kicks Beefcake, then hits a huge suplex on The Hammer. Now it's time for the running power slam on Valentine. He goes for the pin, but Beefcake comes in. Davey Boy hoists him up on his shoulders and tags Dynamite. The Kid climbs the ropes, then jumps off of Beefcakes back and hits the diving headbutt on Valentine. One-two-three.

Valentine and Dynamite start the third and deciding round. They trade blows, then Dynamite hits a snap suplex. He goes for the headbutt and misses. This gives the advantage to Valentine, who goes on the offensive. Beefcake enters the ring, but the referee sends him back out. Dynamite makes a tag, but the ref misses it, and sends Davey Boy back out as well. Valentine goes back to work on the Kid's leg. The Hammer goes for the Figure Four, but Dynamite blocks it. Beefcake tags in, and so does Dynamite. Brutus gets control, and hits a series of moves, each one followed by a pin attempt, but only gets two on each of them. Davey Boy nearly gets a three count after a sunset flip, but it's Beefcake's turn to kick out. Valentine comes back in and tries for a pin after a suplex, but no luck for him either. Beefcake hits a high knee and tries to get the pin, but Dynamite breaks it up. Now all four men are in. Beefcake tries to knee Davey Boy in the corner, but Smith moves, then he hits a cradle suplex and gets the pin. Winners: The British Bulldogs

This was pretty well done. With the two out of three stipulation, they got plenty of time, and they all got a chance to shine. The Bulldogs were exciting, as always, and hit some nice spots. The heels looked strong, even in defeat.




Leaping Lanny Poffo vs Kamala w/ The Wizard and Kim Chee

Poffo manages to avoid Kamala's first attack, but not the second. He corners Poffo, and nails him with several right hands. He chokes Poffo as well, then chops him in the neck. Poffo gets in a little bit of offense, but is eventually buried under a splash on the mat, and Kamala gets the win. Winner: Kamala

This was a simple squash match to make establish Kamala as a monster. It was an odd choice to close the show, though.




Overall Impressions

Overall, it was a solid show. The highlight was the Bulldogs and Dream Team matchup, but Steamboat and Roberts did a nice job as well.. The storylines were advanced with Hogan and Orndorff, as well as with Piper and Adonis. Adonis was diagnosed with a broken elbow. This show was much better than the supercard featured a few months prior.

Winners: 
Roddy Piper: The crowd got plenty of excitement from Rowdy. He saved Hulk Hogan, and won a match on one leg.

Losers:
Showers: Who takes a shower in their trunks? Really?
Animals at ringside: Damien is cool. An alligator is just weird.




Things I Would Have Done Differently

I keep saying this, but Hogan should have lost. He needs to drop the belt and then have a program where he's chasing it.

The ordering of the matches on these shows is suspect at times. One of the championship matches should have closed the show.

Randy Savage hasn't wrestled on an important show in quite some time. Fix this now.