WWF The Main Event

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WWF The Main Event
Indianapolis, IN
Market Square Arena
February 5, 1988

In my ongoing viewing of Saturday Night’s Main Event, I came to this memorable and interesting point in WWF history. In early 1988, the WWF returned to live network television, which was a really huge deal. They had a few live cable specials, most recently Royal Rumble 1988, but not a live network event.

In a way, you can look at this show as being the final nail in the NWA’s coffin. The WWF drew a MASSIVE 15.2 rating for this special, 30+ million viewers, and given that it aired live on NBC, there was no way the NWA/WCW could have ever matched that level of viewership. Most casual mainstream fans and kids knew the WWF as the premiere wrestling organization and an event of this magnitude just sealed the deal. And of course, I was one of those kids.

I remember being so excited to see this show. It was hyped for several weeks on Superstars – especially the Hogan-Andre Wrestlemania 3 rematch. After what happened at the Survivor Series, Hogan looked somewhat vulnerable for the first time in years, so there was an air of suspense going into this match. Also, don’t forget to add in the x-factor of newcomer Million $ Man Ted Dibiase and his greedy quest to be champion.

I totally remember watching this show live, prime time no less, on a cold Friday night. I was so excited throughout the whole day of school to get home and see this show. It’s one of the first times in my life that I remember going to bed feeling so shocked and disappointed by what transpired on a wrestling show.

1) Macho Man Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth) defeated WWF IC Champion the Honkytonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart & Peggy Sue) via count-out at 8:39 after Savage threw the champion shoulder-first into the ringpost; after the bout, Hart hit Savage in the back of the head with the megaphone but Savage fought off Honky, cleared him from the ring, and destroyed the guitar

This match is the stuff of legend, but ultimately was more of a disappointing end to a really hot feud. The stories and rumors say that Honky was supposed to drop the belt clean to Savage, who would get revenge and the title, and Savage would go on to win the Mania 4 tournament and vacate the IC title after. On the day of the Main Event, Honky refused to do the job and threatened to walk out the door with the IC belt and show up on NWA TV with it. Backed into a corner, McMahon relented and changed the finish.

Another version states that the feud was supposed to continue after this match until Mania 4 with Savage destroying Honky to win the title, allowing Ted Dibiase to win the tournament and the heavyweight title. Savage would go on to defeat Dibiase in the main event of SummerSlam 1988 and win the heavyweight title, setting up the feud with Hogan.

So, is any of this actually true? Honky Tonk Man has had conflicting stories, and apparently the Million $ Man to this day has issues with Honky, since he supposedly screwed up the plans one way or another, costing Dibiase the title at Mania.

Despite all of these interesting stories and legends, the match itself isn’t anything special. It’s not as good as their SNME encounter, and is nothing more than an interference laden brawl. It’s full of bangin’ heads together and chasing Jimmy Hart around ringside, among other baloney. In the ring it’s a basic, kick and punch style match. All the shenanigans lead to an unsatisfying countout victory for Savage, and the feud comes to an abrupt and weak conclusion. The after match tease of Honky going after Elizabeth leads to Savage getting a small measure of revenge as he captures Honky’s guitar and smashes it to pieces.

From here Honky warps into a feud with Brutus the Barber Beefcake and Savage heads into Mania 4 and the stratosphere of the WWF.

2) Andre the Giant (w/ Ted Dibaise & Virgil) pinned WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan at 9:05 to win the title even though Hogan’s shoulder came up before the three count; Ted Dibiase paid off Earl Hebner to fill in for his twin brother Dave as the referee for the match; moments later, Gene Okerlund interviewed Andre from the ring apron in which Andre surrendered the title over to Dibiase; after the bout, Dibiase put the championship belt on as Dave Hebner ran into the ring and argued with the other referee, who looked exactly like him; the other referee then knocked Dave to the floor, with Hogan then tossing the other over the top rope and onto Dibiase and Virgil

One of the most famous matches in the history of the WWF: the long awaited, one-on-one rematch between Hulk and Andre, with the added twist of the Million $ Man and Virgil being in Andre’s corner. Objectively this match is a piece of garbage, and without the magnitude of Mania 3, really shows how limited Hulk and Andre were in the ring together. Hogan’s offence consists of punches, eye rakes, slam attempts, and back scratching, and Andre is sadly deteriorating badly at this point. I’m thinking this match really should have happened several months earlier, as Andre looked a little better back around the time of the Survivor Series.

Forgetting about workrate, as a story, this match is a masterpiece. Hogan, the ultimate good guy, is swerved by corruption and greed. The twin ref angle was expertly pulled off, but again, just like Honky and Savage, was frustratingly dropped after this show. They did nothing with the twin ref idea, other than casually mentioning that Dibiase has the money to pull something like this off, even suggesting the dumbass idea that Dibiase paid to have plastic surgery done to make Earl Hebner look like Dave Hebner. And the end of the match “mirroring” of the twin refs was really fucking dumb too.

Regardless of these flaws, this match historically is one of the most important to the history of the WWF and after 4 years, the Hulkamania era is temporarily over. The disgrace of Andre then selling the “world tag team championship” (as he said post match) belt to Dibiase, is one of the most heelish things a heel could ever do in wrestling. Taking the most prestigious prize one can attain and reducing it to a common object that can be bought and sold was simply brilliant.

The shocking conclusion and the even more shocking sale of the title will always make a mediocre match feel like way more of a big deal. As an almost 7 year old kid, I was horrified at Hogan losing. I remember going to bed confused and upset, hoping that on Superstars the next morning, things would be made right once again. How could Hulk Hogan lose the title?!? It was unfathomable.

3) WWF Tag Team Champions Rick Martel & Tito Santana defeated Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart); only the beginning of the match was televised due to time constraints

I was so confused when watching this show live as a kid. I didn’t understand why the show ended a minute into this match. I thought something was wrong with our TV station! It’s too bad the timing of the show didn’t allow this match to be shown, as a third title match would have been the icing on the cake. But all of the interviews and recaps for the last two matches were of big importance to the general viewing audience, so it makes sense. Rumor has it that this match was released in full on the WWE Network version of this show. I’ll have to check YouTube or download it, and finally see this mystery match that I’ve wondered about since I was little.

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After writing this review yesterday, I’ve been really curious about the history of the WWF from February 88 to Wrestlemania 4. It’s a highly interesting time period given all the controversy involving the WWF title.

Several really interesting finds:

The rumors were true! The WWE Network does include the finish of the Harts-Strike Force match. In my mind the match went on for several more minutes, but shockingly it wraps up 30 seconds after the show goes off the air. I guess they were trying desperately to fit in the finish for the network audience, but simply ran out of time. Still, it’s hugely cool to see this very rare piece of footage, and to see the complete end to the match, something I’ve wondered about since I was six years old!

I read a Superstars report from Saturday, Feb. 6, and interestingly the events of the Main Event are not discussed. Due to the controversy of the Hogan-Andre match, officials were not allowed to discuss the results until the match was reviewed. The following week on Superstars the Hogan-Andre match was shown in full, and Jack Tunney made the announcement that Dibiase would be stripped of the title and a tournament would be held at Mania 4.

Even more cool, on Saturday, Feb. 6 the WWF ran, not one, but TWO shows – a matinee and and evening show – featuring the Million $ Man as champion! I found both matches on YouTube, and it’s surreal to see Dibiase with the Heavyweight title around his waist being announced as champion. The first match and appearance of Ted Dibiase as WWF champion is from the Feb. 6 matinee show in Boston. It’s a tag match featuring Hogan and Bam Bam Bigelow against Dibiase and Andre. The action is great, Hogan is incensed at what happened the night before, and the crowd is going off the rails for this match. Later that night, they did this match a second time in Philadelphia! The finish is surprisingly a little different too. The crowd is even more insane, and again all four wrestlers bring it at a main event level. I can’t get over the visual of Dibiase with the belt around his waist.

If I find any more gems from this era I’ll pass them on. I’m going to dig deep into Google to find out more rumors from this era, especially the Wrestlemania 4 card itself. I never fully realized just how integral this transitional time period was in the history of the WWF.