WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XI (Version II)

Original Airdate: May 2, 1987

From Notre Dame, Indiana; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

Earlier today, Ken Patera beat the crap out of Bobby Heenan, leaving him in a neck brace. What, did he deny him a late night snack, or something?

Backstage, Kamala ain't afraid of no ghosts, while Jake Roberts gives Gene Okerlund the shakes. Guess he still had some leftovers after partying with Alice Cooper at WrestleMania

Jake Roberts v Kamala: Jake scares Kamala to the floor with the python, but gets jumped while putting it back in his sack. Kamala unloads for a bit before trying a bearhug, but Jake takes advantage of the fact that the Ugandan giant wrestles barefoot, and stomps his bare feet to escape. Heh. Jake works a wristlock, but Kamala chops free, and chokes him down. Headbutt puts Roberts on the floor, so he wisely goads Kamala into a chase - winning easily, and leaving the big man winded. That allows Jake a 2^nd rope flying high knee on the way back in, so Kim Chee interferes, and Kamala splashes him for the pin at 4:18. Afterwards, Kim Chee unmasks as Honky Tonk Man, to further his feud with Jake. Like most Kamala matches, this was mostly punch/kick/choke (no wonder they paired him up with Undertaker in 1992), but it was really more about the angle, and that's just fine for TV. DUD (Original rating: ¼*)

WrestleMania III highlight package. Hey, if I'd just put on the biggest event in all of wrestling history, I'd probably want to talk about it a lot too

Backstage, George Steele wants to kiss a lumberjack, but Ricky Steamboat quickly clarifies that what he actually wants is to fuck the Macho Man like he did at WrestleMania. Meanwhile, Randy Savage doesn't go for that sort of thing

Lumberjack Match: Randy Savage v George Steele: Savage attacks him before even taking his robe off, but Steele fights him off, and hiptosses him out. The heel lumberjacks try to shield him, but the British Bulldogs force him back in, and Steele rams him hard into the corner. Randy tries to bail, but the lumberjacks keep him inside again, and George bites at him. Randy responds with an eyerake, and all the babyface lumberjacks hilariously flip out about it, but come in! Steele was biting him, what do you expect?! Savage hammers him in the corner, and delivers a flying axehandle before dumping him out for the heel lumberjacks to abuse. That leads to a confrontation between Jim Duggan and Nikolai Volkoff, and Duggan gets ejected over it. Meanwhile, Steele fights off the heels and bodyslams the Macho Man, then delivers a chokeslam before stopping to eat a turnbuckle. I just don't think George understands the finer points. Savage manages to reverse him into the corner and execute a vertical suplex to setup a kneedrop, and they take turns throwing each other out of the ring to the lumberjacks. That leads to a big brawl between the lumberjacks, and Danny Davis clobbers Steele with the ring bell in the chaos - allowing Savage to finish with the Flying Elbowdrop at 6:44. After getting to see Savage cut loose with Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania, it was almost depressing to see him have to go back to working with Steele again. This was like the Flowers for Algernon of matches. DUD (Original rating: ¼*)

Gene Okerlund catches up with Andre the Giant and Bobby Heenan to discuss WrestleMania III, with Heenan claiming Andre actually won the match, and showing footage of Hogan's failed bodyslam attempt in the opening seconds of the bout that gave Andre a near fall - though Hogan very obviously kicked out at two

Backstage, the Hart Foundation and Danny Davis have got a case of the giggles

WWF Tag Team Title 2/3 Falls Match: The Hart Foundation v The British Bulldogs: Bret Hart starts with Davey Boy Smith, and they trade wristlocks. Weird alternate color combo for the Bulldogs tonight, that make them look like Christmas elves. Criss cross goes Davey's way with a monkeyflip, and a crucifix gets him two. Another criss cross is won by Bret with a knee, and he tags out to Jim Neidhart. The champs cut the ring in half, but Bret runs into a knee on a cross corner charge, and Dynamite Kid gets the tag. He whips Bret chest-first into the corner and adds a short-clothesline for two. Snap suplex gets two and a falling headbutt follows, so Neidhart runs in to cut off the beating. The Harts double-up on Dynamite while Davey gets distracted chasing Danny Davis around ringside, but the referee is wise to it, and DQs the Foundation at 4:34. The damage is done, however, and the Harts go to work cutting the ring in half on Kid in classic form. Kid bleeds from the nose hardway as they work him over, but manages to dodge a bodypress from the Hitman (Bret crashing into the ropes off the miss in brutal fashion), and Smith gets the tag. He's a doghouse of fire, but gets caught in the wrong corner, and the Harts dismantle him. Miscommunication allows Davey to tag back out, and he press-slams Kid onto Neidhart for the pin at 9:48 - blowing the roof off the damned place! Like, holy shit! Unfortunately for them, because the first fall was won via disqualification, they do not win the title - which is certainly the first time I've heard that particular rule detail. If that's the case, why even continue after the first fall? * ¾ (Original rating: ***)

Hulk Hogan gives alternate commentary for the WrestleMania match against Andre, which they should totally add as a feature on the DVD, because it's fucking awesome. He blew Andre like Mount Vesuvius, don't ya know?

Ricky Steamboat is on fire

Randy Savage treats his television set like a bubbling cauldron

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Ricky Steamboat v Hercules: Slugfest to start, which goes Hercules' way, and he unloads a turnbuckle smash, but Ricky slides between his legs on a clothesline attempt, and throws a pair of dropkicks. They spill to the outside, and the Dragon unloads with chops, then delivers an atomic drop before they head back in. Hercules manages to drop him into the corner to take control, and a clothesline puts the champ down for two, as Randy Savage watches from backstage. Ricky snapmares his challenger over, then delivers a swinging neckbreaker, but Hercules rakes the eyes to thwart the effort. He goes right for the Full Nelson, but Randy Savage objects, and runs out to hook Hercules' ankle, as he doesn't want anyone to beat Steamboat but him. Naturally, Hercules doesn't appreciate that, and lets off the hold to go deal with Macho - making Steamboat look kinda like a chump in the process. I mean, first he needed George Steele's help to win the title, now this. Hercules tries to regroup with a flying splash, but the Dragon lifts his knees to block. Hercules desperately tries to keep control with a bodyslam, but misses an elbowdrop, then misses an elbowsmash in the corner - Steamboat able to capitalize with a few chops to the midsection. Ten-punch is countered with an inverted atomic drop, but Hercules uses his chain in full view of the official, and gets disqualified at 6:42. Well, he kinda deserved it. He didn't even TRY to disguise the cheating! Afterwards, Savage comes back and gives Steamboat a Flying Elbowdrop to make sure he knows who's boss. This was about on par with their WrestleMania 2 match the year before, though I didn't really care for the booking. * (Original rating: * ¼)

Jim Duggan is at ringside, and I'm pretty sure still wearing the same grimy t-shirt he had on at WrestleMania. And by the look on the faces of the fans in his general vicinity, I'm right

Slick stands up for free speech, and the right to party

The Can-Am Connection v Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff: Duggan chases Volkoff out of the ring to prevent his singing of the Russian national anthem, once again noting that he can't sing that anthem since this 'is the land of the free.' Jesse has a field day with that one, of course. The Connection dominate with quick double-teams early on, but Tom Zenk telegraphs a backdrop, and gets booted by Sheik. Sheik with a gutwrench suplex for two, and a vertical suplex for two. The heels cut the ring in half on Zenk, but make the mistake of beating him on the outside right in from on Duggan, and the distraction gets Sheik rolled up at 4:45. This was fine, though more about Duggan/Volkoff than putting over the Connection. ¾* (Original rating: *)

BUExperience: Even without a Hogan match (the first SNME to date without one) the crowd was still molten hot throughout this episode, though I found it to be pretty hit-or-miss. Also interesting to note that I downgraded almost every match rating from the V1 review, which is usually the opposite of what happens with these