WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XXX (February 1992)

Original Airdate: February 8, 1992

With NBC decision not to bring Saturday Night’s Main Event back for the bulk of 1991, the WWF made a deal with still distant fourth place network FOX to air the show in early 1992, with this being the first of two one-hour SNME’s before cancelation.

From Lubbock, Texas; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Roddy Piper v The Mountie: Mountie tries to jump Piper at the bell, but that goes about as well as you'd expect. Piper goes characteristically ballistic on Mountie, but a quick bit of interference from manager Jimmy Hart turns the tide. Mountie hangs him a tree of woe, and hits a jumping backelbow for two. Splash hits the knees, however, and Piper tries a bulldog - but the referee gets bumped. Mountie takes the opportunity to piledrive him, and tase him with his shockstick. It doesn't work, however, as Piper no-sells, and then blasts him with the taser to retain at 3:30. Afterwards Piper rips off his t-shirt to reveal a 'shock proof' vest. Match was just angle, but much like the similar bit Bret Hart would pull with Goldberg later in WCW - this was fun. ¼*

Ric Flair and The Undertaker v Hulk Hogan and Sid: Hogan and Sid were friends, but were having issues after Hogan cost him the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble, which were then were further aggravated when WWF President Jack Tunney announced Hogan as #1 Contender to Flair's title at WrestleMania - to the dismay of Sid. This was also during the period when Hogan's hair was becoming alarmingly thin, but he still wore what he had of it super long - possibly in envy of Ric Flair's golden locks. Anyway, Flair starts with Sid, and gets slammed around. The crowd demands Hogan, and Sid obliges, so the Hulkster unloads. Both guys tag, but 'Taker fails to slam Sid, so Hogan tags back, and clotheslines both heels out of the ring. Sid doesn't do as well with his turn, however, and gets caught with a double-backelbow, and a double-atomic drop. The faces respond with double big boots to clean house, but Sid gets caught up in all the Hulkamania – allowing 'Taker to jump him. They try to cut the ring in half, but it quickly breaks down into a four-way brawl, which allows Flair to clip Hogan's knee, and lock the figure four. Hogan desperately reaches for the tag, but suddenly Sid turns his back. 'Taker with the jumping clothesline for two, and Flair heads to the top - but Hogan manages to slam him off, and heads back for the tag. Sid doesn't reach out, however, allowing 'Taker to continue to punishment. HULK UP!! takes both 'Taker and Flair out, but again Sid won't tag, this time jumping off of the apron as Hogan desperately crawls to the corner, and Brutus Beefcake (Hogan’s ‘friend to the end!’) protests. He decides to head for the back, and Flair/UT destroy Hogan, but make the mistake of shoving the referee, to give Hogan the disqualification victory at 11:42. Unfortunately, this set up Hogan/Sid for WrestleMania, forever robbing us of a proper Hogan/Flair showdown in the WWF. Match wasn't the greatest wrestling exhibition, but was good, angle-driven fun - which worked well. ¾*

The Beverly Brothers v Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Duggan: Blake Beverly starts with Jim Duggan, but gets dominated with Duggan's punchy-kicky stuff. A cheap shot from Beau Beverly turns the tide, but they don't properly cut the ring in half, and Duggan gets the tag to Slaughter. He's a barrack of arson,  and a 3-Point Stance from Duggan during the four-way brawl finishes at 2:39. Pretty much the fastest I've ever seen the tag formula worked. DUD

Jake Roberts v Randy Savage: This was the final blowoff for the snake-bite angle from the fall of 1991, which also included Jake decking Miss Elizabeth during their first meeting at This Tuesday in Texas. Savage predictably goes ballistic on Jake, spilling right to the outside to post him, so Jake starts a'running. That doesn't stop Savage, and he grabs a chair before the referee gets hold of it. Savage settles for just plain choking in his efforts to murder Jake, but Jake goes to the eyes, and dumps Macho. That only briefly slows him down, so Jake posts him a couple of times to drive his point home. Inside, Randy throws a backelbow, and tries a flying axehandle, but gets nailed on the way down, and DDT'd. Jake doesn't cover, however, instead sitting in the corner and waiting for Savage to get up so he can toy with him some more. Short-clothesline, and he goes for another DDT, but Savage backdrops him to the floor to stop the effort. He follows with a flying axehandle, and the Flying Elbow finishes at 5:25. Too short, but great stuff from bell-to-bell, with Savage out for revenge, and Jake playing mind games with him. I still think they should have gone all the way to WrestleMania with this - with Hogan/Flair on top, and Sid squashing Brutus Beefcake - and then moved on to the Flair/Savage program over summer, with Sid getting his shot at Hogan. Unfortunately, steroids would have derailed that plan, much as they did a lot of others around this period. *

BUExperience: Steroid and Sex scandals were killing the WWF around this period (there was a 20/20 special on steroids and Hulk Hogan, a Phil Donahue special on wrestling sex scandals, multiple newspaper articles, and even locker room drug raids) – which really hurt the booking for WrestleMania, and derailed the Hogan/Flair dream match.

Still, as for this show, it was a nice return to form – not any classic matches, sure, but a fun program, with angles used to set up future blowoffs – as it had been during the heyday of the show.