WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #17

WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #17 – 10/29/88
Baltimore, MD
Arena
(taped on October 25, 1988)

I forgot to mention a fun fact in my last SNME report. Beginning in Spring 88, the WWF started taping extra matches and full episodes of shows like Challenge. Previous SNME tapings saw mainly dark matches, with the odd match taped for Prime Time. Watching Challenge as a kid and seeing all the SNME banners up confused the hell out of me. I didn’t understand that the WWF taped weeks of shows in one night (something that when I found out, bothered me way more than knowing wrestling was “fake”) and would be concerned that I somehow missed extra matches on SNME after I went to bed.

Anyway, on to the New Fall Season of Saturday Night’s Main Event! Vince really hyped that it was a whole new season of SNME and him and Jesse were in great form. The opening interviews were insanely awesome, as always, especially Jake and Cheryl Roberts. The fans in Baltimore were hot for the big matches, and there were some stellar feuds in fall 1988, an era that I love.

I definitely remember staying up and watching this show live! It happened in the early months of grade 2, and I remember talking to kids at school about it (Matt most likely). Some kids speculated that Andre the Giant died on this show, because the insane snake angle, and I recall checking the Winnipeg Free Press to see if it was true.

1) Jake Roberts (w/ Cheryl Roberts) defeated Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification at 7:22 when Heenan climbed in the ring and kicked Roberts as Roberts began ripping off Rude’s tights, which featured Cheryl’s face, after hitting the DDT; after the bout, Andre the Giant came to the ring and threw Roberts to the floor before going over to check on Rude with Heenan; moments later, Roberts took Damien out of his snake bag and scared Andre with it before throwing it on Andre, with Andre then falling down and clutching his chest; after Andre passed out, Jake held Damien in the air as he stood over Andre’s body

Before the match, we got some amazing interviews from Jake and Rude. The intensity of this rivalry was off the charts, and it’s such a shame that SummerSlam 88 wasn’t booked like a Wrestlemania, as this would have been a marquee battle. It was the most adult storyline the WWF did up until the more tame Flair-Savage-Elizabeth one for Mania 8. Man, Cheryl Roberts was a total 80s babe btw. The match itself was a great battle, you could totally feel the hatred. Jake and Rude were absolute masters of the ring, and Rude is definitely one of the most underrated heels and workers of all time. This was near the end of the feud, so I think Jake should have just won clean here. A victory wouldn’t have hurt Rude one bit. The after match stuff involving Andre the Giant and Damian has stuck with me since I was a seven-year-old kid. I was absolutely frightened watching this live, thinking that Andre actually suffered a heart attack, it really disturbed me. Seeing it now, it’s still a little disturbing. Andre did an amazing job selling the angle, given his own fragile health, it wasn’t that far fetched.

2) WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jimmy Hart) defeated Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart at 5:58 when Smash pinned Neidhart by hitting him with Jimmy Hart’s megaphone when Neidhart grabbed for Raymond Rougeau on the ring apron moments after Jacques & Raymond Rougeau came ringside

From the Andre heart attack, we jump into a Hart Foundation match. The Harts reunited as a team, after cutting short a Bret singles push, shortly before SummerSlam to challenge Demolition. The match at SummerSlam was a classic, one of the best at the event, as these two teams had tremendous chemistry in the ring. Unfortunately this SNME rematch is given no time. It’s more of an angle to advance the feud between Jimmy Hart and the Harts, that actually started months back after Mania 4, and was kind of forgotten about. It also kick starts a feud featuring Jimmy’s new team, the freshly turned Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, who were really starting to take off as heels. Really, we should have got a Harts-Rougeaus Wrestlemania 5 classic. This SNME match was fun while it lasted and it was cool to see Demolition pick up a cheating pinfall victory, with many in the crowd cheering for the Demos, a sign of things to come a month later.

3) Hulk Hogan (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned King Haku (w/ Bobby Heenan) at 6:16 with the legdrop; Heenan was helped backstage during the bout after Hogan had pulled him in front of him when Haku was jumping from the apron

Here’s another match I remember very well from this show. I was a HUGE Megapowers mark at the time, and loved seeing Elizabeth manage both Hogan and Savage. Now I loved the subtle jokes from Jesse about Hogan stealing Macho’s woman and being an egomaniac. Hogan truly looks like a heel, more so than Savage. I’ve always loved the King Haku era, and Haku was a damn good worker during this period, putting on great matches with the likes of Hogan and Savage. This match was a lot of fun, and minus a long nerve pinch, was nothing but action. They kept putting over the idea that the crown was on the line, but once Hogan pinned Haku clean, which was kind of stupid, it wasn’t mentioned again. Fun match!

4) Dino Bravo (w/ Frenchy Martin) pinned Ken Patera at 3:03 with the side suplex

Oh dear lord, why??? Why do we need another Bravo-Patera suckfest? Thankfully that curly haired jobber Patera would be gone after Survivor Series, along with other relics like JYD and Don Muraco. At least Bravo won in the end.

5) The Big Bossman pinned Jim Powers with the sidewalk slam at 2:34

I’m not sure why the Young Stallions failed as a team. It’s really too bad, as they were both great workers, yet couldn’t quite rise above lower card status. Jim Powers especially had a great physique and was excellent in the ring. I watched a shoot with Powers once where he talked about being under contract longer than most performers, so he didn’t really have too many complaints. Still, I think he would have made for a solid mid-card babyface had he been packaged properly. Here, he’s used to put over the new monster heel, the Big Bossman, who was getting a mega push, heading into a feud with Hulk Hogan. The Bossman was damn great, as he was so fast and agile for a huge man. Powers was the perfect opponent, and made the Bossman look like a true monster. After the match, Bossman handcuffed Powers and beat him with his nightstick, which sickened McMahon. The WWF really did a great job of getting characters over in this era, as this small touch legitimized the Bossman and made fans hate him all that more.