WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI (April 1990)

Original Airdate: April 28, 1990

With WrestleMania VI wrapped, we officially enter the beginning of the end for the Golden Era, as the audiences general apathy towards The Ultimate Warrior’s WWF Title win, coupled with a general slump in the wrestling business would lead to a sharp decline in ratings for Saturday Night’s Main Event (as well as business across the board, forcing Vince McMahon to run fewer house shows (at this point they were still running an astonishing three simultaneously, in different towns), and in smaller venues) before finally being ousted from NBC in 1991.

From Austin, Texas; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura – both on horses, since they’re in Texas.


Opening Match: Hulk Hogan v Mr. Perfect: Hogan throws him clear across the ring during the initial tie-up, so Perfect bails to regroup. Back in, Perfect wins the next tie-up with a hiptoss (impressing himself), so Hogan responds in kind, and a pair of bodyslams puts Perfect back on the floor. He clears the cobwebs again, and dodges the big boot by diving to the floor - only to get posted for his troubles. Inside, Hogan with a cross corner clothesline, and a backelbow allows Perfect to oversell by flying over-the-top. Hogan chases, but The Genius gets involved, and Perfect clocks The Hulkster with his metal scroll. Inside, Perfect unloads, and hits the Hennig-necksnap. Perfect-plex, but Hogan kicks out, and HULKS UP!! Fists of Fury! Big boot! Legdrop! 8:03! This was paint-by-numbers. Someone should really get a copy of it to Bret Hart (along with Survivor Series '90), though, to let him know he wasn't at all the first to kick out of the Perfect-plex. ¼*

Hillbilly Jim v Earthquake: Earthquake tries to jump him, but gets dodged, and Jim rams him into the corner a bunch of times. Earthquake quickly turns the tide by being fat, and the Earthquake-splash finishes at 1:58. The most interesting part was the crowd, as with Hogan done for the night, you can suddenly see bunches of empty seats. DUD

The Hart Foundation v The Rockers: Bret Hart and Marty Jannetty start, but Marty can't build momentum, so he tags to Shawn Michaels for a flying bodypress - though Hart rolls through for two. Both men tag, and  Jim Neidhart overpowers Jannetty, but gets caught in a front-facelock. Shawn tags, but stupidly tries a bodyslam, and when it predictably fails, regroups with a dropkick. Tag to Bret with an inverted atomic drop, and a clothesline as the Harts cut the ring in half. A Neidhart avalanche gets two, and Bret tries a backdrop, but gets sunset flipped for two. That draws WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition out to observe, as Bret drops Shawn with a backbreaker. He gets distracted by the Demos' presence, and dropkicked to the floor, but Michaels can't get to Jannetty before Bret can get back to him. 2^nd rope sailing elbow misses, however, finally allowing the tag to Marty - and he's a house of arson. Superkick gets two on Hart, and a sunset flip for two. Backdrop, but Hart counters with a swinging neckbreaker, and tags Neidhart. He misses a slingshot splash, however, and Shawn tags back in – only to get clobbered with a shoulderblock off of a criss cross. Shawn spills to the outside, so the Demo's casually try to help him back in, but Marty misreads it, and a big brawl breaks out between all three teams - leaving it a no-contest at 9:30. Fun back-and-forth tag match - well paced, and filled with well executed offense. *

WWF Title Match: The Ultimate Warrior v Haku: Haku jumps Warrior on the way in, but gets no-sold, and backdropped. They botch a clothesline to the floor, but recover with Warrior unloading chops. Haku suckers him into a chase - clobbering him on the way back in - but Warrior no-sells that, too. Series of clotheslines no-sold, so Haku tries backscratches, and, interestingly, that finally works. Well, it takes all kinds, and that. Backbreaker gets two, and a side suplex for two. Splash, but Warrior CRACKS UP!! Series of Clotheslines! Diving Shoulderblock! Splash! 4:49! Match was a total squash, but again interesting to watch the crowd (or lack thereof, in this case), as so many people had left by this point that the building is almost entirely darkened. If you go back and watch the opener, it's almost hard to believe it's from the same show. DUD

Akeem v The Big Bossman: Bossman goes right for his former partner, throwing him around the ring, and unloads body shots in the corner. Blind charge misses, however, and Akeem hits an avalanche. He gives Bossman a close-up of his ass (that's certainly an offensive maneuver), and a splash gets two, as Bossman COPS UP!! Backdrop to the Floor! Bossman Slam! but Ted DiBiase runs in, causing a disqualification at 3:18. More angle than match. ¼*

BUExperience: Not the best SNME, but interesting if only to see the Golden Age crumbling before your eyes. What’s most shocking is how quickly business fell – as this is less than a month after WrestleMania, and the crowds had already given up on WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior. The WWF would continue to pipe in recorded cheers, and pass out Warrior masks to kids at TV tapings to make it look otherwise, but the message was clear: We Want Hulk! Of course, it wasn’t entirely Warrior’s ‘fault,’ as the wrestling business in general (which is very cyclical) was losing popularity – though it didn’t help that they decided to take the title off of the only true, mainstream star they had – but then again, when you only have one big draw and don't build up any new ones, it can only come back to bite you in the ass sooner or Eric Bischoff.