WWE Recap: Saturday Night Main Event (October 1987)

We're in Hershey, Pennsylvania for this episode of Saturday Night Main Event. Vince McMahon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan are at the announce table. Heenan is fired up.


Randy "Macho Man" Savage w/ Elizabeth vs Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart (Intercontinental Championship)

The crowd is firmly behind The Macho Man in this one. Before the match starts, a quick WWE history lesson. After Wrestlemania III, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat was the Intercontinental champion, having won a classic match with Savage. The plan was for Steamboat to carry the title for a while, and, presumably, have Savage chase him as the heel. That seemed to be the case in The Dragon's first few defenses of the belt, with Macho watching and acting nuts. However, Steamboat's wife was due to have a baby, and Steamboat asked the WWE for some time off to be with her. Vince McMahon was angry about that, and he randomly had Steamboat drop the title to the Honky Tonk Man. Since Honky Tonk Man was a heel, it makes sense that Savage quickly became the chasing babyface, especially since the fans already liked him anyway. So, there you go.

Honky Tonk Man takes a cheap shot early, but Savage catches him with a kick to the chest off the ropes. Macho drives a knee into his throat on the mat as he presses his advantage. Jimmy Hart moves toward Elizabeth on the outside, and Savage comes to her defense, but is hit by Honky Tonk Man from behind. The champion lands some fists back in the ring, but Savage fights back again. They go back and forth a bit, but slowly, Honky Tonk Man takes control. He lands an elbow from the middle rope, then he goes toward Elizabeth. Now it's Savage's turn to attack from behind. He elbows the heel wrestler in the head, then climbs to the top rope and nails him again. Back in the ring, he goes for the pin, but Jimmy Hart puts Honky Tonk's foot on the rope. Hart interfere's multiple times, before being grabbed by Savage, who punches him right out of the ring. Honky Tonk Man flees to the outside for a breather. The Hart Foundation comes to ringside and begin to check on Jimmy Hart. They carry Hart to the back, and Honky Tonk Man walks with them. After the commercial, all three heels return to the ring area, with no count-out happening, somehow. Back in the ring, Honky Tonk Man gets the momentum and hits a back drop on Savage. He lands a series of right hands in the corner, but goes for another punch from the middle rope and misses. Now Honky Tonk Man gets the back drop. He tosses the champ to the ropes and hits a high elbow, but gets just a two count. A suplex gets another two count. Honky Tonk rakes Macho's eyes and tosses him out of the ring to a waiting Hart Foundation, who stomps on him. The referee, of course, is a moron and just stands and yells at Honky Tonk Man. They roll Savage back in, but he kicks out of a pin. He goes for Shake, Rattle, and Roll, but it's reversed into a back drop. Savage bodyslams the champ, then climbs the ropes. He nails the big elbow from the top. Bret Hart runs into the ring and the ref calls for the bell. Winner: Randy "Macho Man" Savage via disqualification

The Harts begin to beat down Macho Man in the ring. Then the hold him so Honky Tonk Man can slam his guitar over his head. Elizabeth gets in front of Macho to beg Honky Tonk not to hit him. The champ shoves her to the ground. She runs to the back crying. Honky Tonk Man gets his guitar again, and slams it over the head of Savage. Now the crowd explodes. Elizabeth is coming to ringside and she has Hulk Hogan with her. All three heels attack Hogan, but he fights back. Now Savage is back up and he joins the battle. The ring is cleared. Hogan and Savage bump into each other, and now they face off. Savage extends a hand. Hogan is unsure, but the crowd is screaming. They shake hands slowly, Macho Man's music plays, and the crowd is out of their minds. Holy shit, the Mega Powers have united!!!!




Sika w/ Mr Fuji vs Hulk Hogan (World Heavyweight Championship)

Sika pounds on Hogan to start, and when he knocks him to the ground, Mr Fuji uses his cane to choke him. The challenger lands some more punches, and Fuji gets in a shot to the neck with the cane. Sika misses a diving headbutt, though, and Hogan is able to get up. Now the champ lands some right hands of his own, and knocks Sika from the ring. Sika comes back in and runs right into Hogan's boot. He drops a couple of elbows, and knocks Sika into the ropes. Kim Chee gets on the apron, but Hogan knocks him off. The distraction, though, allows Sika to hit the Hulkster from behind and knock him to the floor. He tries to drive Hogan's head into the ringpost, but it's Sika who gets rammed into it. Hogan gets Mr Fuji's cane, and as we go to commercial, the refs are trying to get it away from him. When we return, the cane is gone, and Sika slams into a turnbuckle. Hogan goes for a splash, but Sika gets his knees up. The Samoan takes control, and chokes the champ. Fuji also gets him with the cane some more. Sika puts on what I suppose is supposed to be a nerve hold of some kind, but all it looks like is a titty lock. Seriously. He has both hands cupped on Hogan's chest. It's weird, but Hogan is nearly out. The ref raises his hand twice and it drops. On the third try, Hogan keeps the hand up. Hulk fights to his feet. Now he's fired up. They collide off the ropes, and both men go down. Sika is up first, and hits three straight headbutts. Hogan kicks out of a pin, and starts to hulk up. He no-sells a few punches, then lands a few of his own. He bodyslams Sika, then drops the leg for the three count. Winner: Hulk Hogan

It's hard to believe how popular Hogan was at this time. The crowd goes nuts for him, even as he does the exact same routine every single match. This wasn't that great. Standard fare.




Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff w/ Oliver Humperdink vs King Kong Bundy

Bobby Heenan doesn't go to ringside with Bundy, but says he has a surprise. Orndorff attacks first with a series of right hands. He misses a dropkick, though, and Bundy capitalizes. He knocks Mr Wonderful to the mat, then uses his knee to crush him. He tosses Orndorff to the ropes, but nearly falls victim to a sunset flip. Bundy gets up and uses his elbows to regain control. He bodyslams Orndorff and attempts an elbow drop, but misses. Mr Wonderful rakes Bundy's eyes along the ropes, then hits him with an elbow to the head from the middle turnbuckle. Bundy goes down, but kicks out of a pin. At this point, Heenan throws down his headset and runs toward the back. Orndorff hits a dropkick, but again, just gets two. Now here comes Andre the Giant down the aisle. Bundy is knocked from the ring, and we go to commercial. Back from break, Bundy gets a two count. Orndorff fights back again, and again takes Bundy to the mat. He tries to drop an elbow, but Bundy moves. The big man drops a knee on Orndorff's chest, but can't get a three count. He grabs Orndorff in a headlock, then tosses him to the corner. He goes for an avalanche, but Orndorff moves. He gets Orndorff into the corner again, but this time Andre grabs Mr Wonderful's tights and keeps him there for Bundy to crush, then pin. Winner: King Kong Bundy

This was very back and forth, but with no real wrestling, which makes it somewhat boring. The ending was well done for a change, with Andre having almost been forgotten, then cheating in a subtle way, instead of the ridiculous ways the managers do it.




Young Stallions vs The Hart Foundation (Tag Team Championship)

A tradition like no other: Main Event closing with a match that nobody cares about. I couldn't tell you which of the Young Stallions is Paul Roma and which is Jim Powers. At the end, all four men wind up in the ring. The Stallions double-team Bret Hart, and get a pin, but Jim Neidhart breaks it up. The referee inexplicably turns his back on the Hart Foundation to run the other Stallion out, and the Harts hit a double-team move of their own for the win. Winners: The Hart Foundation

Utter stupidity. A referee would never react the way he did in this match.

We close the show with the world premiere of the song "Piledriver" from the WWE album of the same name. The video is of various WWE stars doing construction work and Koko B Ware singing at various spots on the job site. There are girls walking around, and some random hi-jinks from the wrestlers. There is an abrupt cut to Koko in the ring, and naturally he's putting his opponent in a...suplex? D'oh!




Overall Impressions

In terms of wrestling, this was pretty rough. Savage vs Honky Tonk man was solid, but the other matches were duds in terms of in-ring action. The storylines that were advanced were much more important were well done, and of course, the joining of the Mega Powers was one of the biggest happenings of the decade.

Winners: 
Ten-Year Old Me: I got goosebumps even now, seeing Savage and Hogan unite.
Sika: The dude got a World Championship match. Had to be cool for him.

Losers:
Piledrivers: They get a song named after them, but in the video the only wrestling move shown is a suplex. What?




Things I Would Have Changed

If they had closed with a better matchup, this card would have looked much better overall.