WWF Saturday Night's Main Event X (March 1987)

Original Airdate: March 14, 1987

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura. A testament to the WWF’s drawing power at this point: they pack over fifteen thousand people into an arena for a TV taping a month before running essentially the same town (Pontiac – about a half hour away) for WrestleMania III – and still drawing enough to fill the Silverdome.


Opening WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Randy Savage v George Steele: Winner gets the managerial services of Miss Elizabeth, and, also, her vagina. Steele gets distracted by Elizabeth's ass before things get going, so Savage drops an axehandle to the floor, and tries to usher her back to the dressing room. He runs into Ricky Steamboat (his opponent for WrestleMania) on the way, however, and he railroads Savage back to inside. That allows Steele to jump him, but he gets distracted again (this time with the turnbuckle pad - which he practices cunnilingus on), and Savage drives a knee to the neck. Flying axehandle, but Steele goes to the eyes, and starts biting at the champ. He practices cunnilingus some more (dude's really counting those vaginas before they hatch...), and then heads out for Elizabeth to try the real thing. Savage objects (no shit!), jumps him again, this time throwing a chair at him to get the countout victory at 4:30. DUD - but entertaining enough due to gratuitous close-ups of Elizabeth.

20-Man Battle Royal: We've got: André the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Ron Bass, Demolition, Billy Jack Haynes, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules, The Honky Tonk Man, The Islanders, The Killer Bees, Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Orndorff, Lanny Poffo, Butch Reed, Sika, Nikolai Volkoff, and Koko B. Ware - though, really, only the first two matter. Hogan is last to come out, and pretty much everyone gets out of the way while he stares down with Andre - but the tension breaks when Paul Orndorff dives after Hogan. Big brawl, with Hogan quickly tossing Honky Tonk Man, and getting into it with Hercules and Orndorff. Meanwhile, Andre dumps Sika, and then the Islanders for good measure. Poffo's gone at the Giant's hands (doing a blade and stretcherjob on the way, to really sell it), as the remaining heels gang up to try to dump the Hulkster. They can't quite get it done, however, and he tosses Ron Bass. The focus remains on Hogan and Andre's dominance - doing a good job of keeping them apart - until Orndorff and Hercules accidentally Irish whip Hogan right into the Giant. The sea separates again for them to face off, but when Hogan shows dominance, the other heels jump him. Hogan manages to slam Orndorff out, so Andre steps in to toss him out like a child. Andre continues to swat everyone away - fighting off some eight men at once - but eventually everyone gangs up (face and heel alike) to eliminate him. With Hogan and Andre out, the intrigue is sort of gone (and they know it) so bodies start flying out in an expedited manner. We get down to Ax, Hercules, Koko, and Billy Jack Haynes - and they pair off (Herc and Koko, Haynes and Ax), and Herc tosses the Birdman. The two remaining heels work over Haynes, but he manages to clotheslines Ax out on a fluke. He doesn't have as much luck with Hercules, however, and Herc wins it at 11:16. Fun stuff - especially the super hot Hogan/Andre angle, and good booking to make Andre look strong against Hogan before ‘Mania – though he probably should have just won the damn thing. *

Jake Roberts v King Kong Bundy: Jake evades Bundy's clubbering in the early going, frustrating the fat man, so Bundy calls for a test-of-strength. Jake stupidly accepts, allowing Bundy a series of two counts, and control. He hooks him in a front-facelock next, but when Jake won't submit, Bundy tries to throw him around. Jake responds with a series of jabs, and he goes for the snake, but Bundy manager Bobby Heenan steals it - causing a chase with Jake. That allows Bundy to jump him – tossing Jake around with shoulderblocks - but he goes to the well once too often, and Jake jabs away. He goes for the snake again, but the referee won't have it (we all remember Heroes of Wrestling), so Jake decks him - getting disqualified at 6:14. Jake using speed against Bundy's size worked well, and the DQ ending was appropriate booking, considering the proximity of this show and WrestleMania III - where both men were booked. ¼*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Hart Foundation v Tito Santana and Dan Spivey: Jim Neidhart and Dan Spivey start, and Dan quickly catches him with a bodypress for two. Atomic drop sends Neidhart into his home corner, where he tags Bret Hart, and the faces catch him with a double back elbow. Tito slams him, but Spivey misses an elbowdrop, and Neidhart tags back in. The Harts cut the ring in half, working Spivey over with a backbreaker and their always impressive spot where Bret uses the Anvil as the stone in his slingshot, splashing him into the ring. Bret 2^nd rope elbow gets two, but a miscommunication spot allows the tag to Santana. He's a house of arson, firing Bret into the corner chest first, and dropkicking Neidhart. Diving forearm on Hart, and he hooks a figure four, leading to a four-way brawl. In the chaos Danny Davis (doing a crooked referee gimmick, and in the Hart's corner) runs in, and allows Bret the pinfall at 5:31. They actually managed to work the tag-formula well for such a short match, though they didn't have enough time to actually go anywhere particularly interesting with it. ½*

Ricky Steamboat v The Iron Sheik: Savage comes out before the bell to yell at Steamboat, allowing Sheik to jump him. Happy with his mischief, Savage heads to the broadcast booth to detail to the world the many ways he's going to kill Steamboat at WrestleMania. Meanwhile, in the ring, Sheik gets caught with a side suplex, and hooked in a front-facelock. They spill outside - with Steamboat eating steps – and Sheik suplexes him back in. Abdominal stretch, but Steamboat wrestles out, and finishes with a flying tomahawk at 3:29. Standard Saturday Night Squash, as most of the target audience was already in bed by this point (SNME aired in SNL's slot, instead of reruns), but well worked, with Savage's presence engaging. ¼*

Everyone offers some closing thoughts with Mean Gene Okerlund. They discuss Felix Adler, Percy Bridgman, and, you know, other shit.

BUExperience: No particularly good wrestling, but an entertaining show to push WrestleMania III – the WWF at the height of the Golden Age.