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

Original Airdate: March 12, 1988

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

We start with a review of the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant angle from The Main Event

Backstage, Greg Valentine promises to tenderize Brutus Beefcake tonight. Given that Beefcake wears see-through tights and hails from San Francisco, I'm going to go ahead and guess that's not the first time he's fielded that particular offer. Meanwhile, Beefcake wants to lather Valentine up. Let's give these two their privacy

Greg Valentine v Brutus Beefcake: Funny moment during the entrances, as Beefcake comes through the curtain with a rather blank expression on his face, then suddenly seems to remember where he is, and instantly becomes much more animated. You know what I miss? Those banners they used to hang over the ring with the event name or the company logo. They went out of style around the turn of the century, though I'm not sure why. Like, if there WAS a time to do away with them, it was when they were running high school gymnasiums, and those things looked like blimps. The odd thing was they got rid of them right around the period when they started exclusively running larger venues. Valentine unloads on him at the bell, but runs into a high knee during a criss cross, and Beefcake bodyslams him. Big boot and a pair of atomic drops follow - complete with Greg's hilarious selling of both spots. Beefcake with a somersault cradle for two, and a ten-punch count flops the Hammer. Greg begs off before throwing a cheap shot to turn the tide, and a flying overhead elbowsmash sets up a forearmdrop for two. He slaps on the Figure Four in the ropes (blatantly, in order to use them for leverage until the five count), and that's enough to do the desired damage. He dumps Beefcake to the floor for the countout, as Honky Tonk Man makes his way down to taunt the battered Barber. That distracts the referee from his count, however, and Beefcake is able to make it in while the official is busy dealing with Honky. Valentine stays on him with a bodyslam, and he hammers the knee for a bit. Figure Four, but Beefcake pulls down his tights to block. Guess the tenderizing is going in the other direction tonight after all. Beefcake makes a comeback and slaps on the Sleeper, but Greg falls into the ropes, and both men go tumbling out. A distraction from Jimmy Hart out there allows Valentine to stomp him on the way back in, but a side suplex backfires when Greg forgets to lift his shoulder, and effectively pins himself at 9:00. I should note that the Network's time stamp for this match (both the start and finish) refers to Beefcake as 'The Butcher.' Given how many gimmicks the guys had, you really can't blame them for that gaffe though. As for the match, it was decent enough, though the Honky Tonk interlude kind of messed with the flow. * ¼ (Original rating: *)

Backstage, Bobby Heenan and Harley Race want to humble Hulk Hogan - though, not in the same manner in which the Iron Sheik would like to, one would hope. Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan does not wish to be humbled, and will consider any attempts at said humbling an act of war

Hulk Hogan v Harley Race: Funny continuity gaffe here, as Hogan tears his shirt half off during the aforementioned pre-match interview, and when he comes through the curtain, the shirt is torn in the same manner... only he's wearing a completely different head band! D'oh! So close! Weird seeing him do his entrance sans title belt, after so long as champion. And Jesse notes the same thing! Race Pearl Harbors him, but Hogan is in no mood, and doesn't sell. Harley responds with some headbutts, but doesn't gain any traction. Hulk unloads with rights (complete with a taped fist!), and blasts Harley with a few clotheslines to knock him over the top. I want to take a moment to note how much I hate Race's tights here. Nothing wrong with the concept, but I really hate any gear that lacks symmetry, and Race's right aligned ass-crown has to be one of the worst. Hulk follows him out for a ram into the post, but gets distracted going after Bobby Heenan, and Harley attacks. Piledriver on the floor, but Hogan manages a backdrop to escape, and adds an atomic drop out there. We've been through about ten countouts by this point, and finally Hulk remembers to roll in and out to break the count. What is this, the Attitude Era? He rams Race into the post again, then bodyslams him out there before bringing it back in for some more taped fist abuse. And speaking of the tape, Hulk unrolls it, and uses it to choke Harley with. Seriously, did we time travel ahead ten years? Heenan lends another distraction to allow Race to put the Hulkster down with a headbutt, and a falling version follows. Harley with a nice belly-to-belly suplex to setup a kneedrop, and he successfully executes the piledriver. No cover through all this, as Harley wants to punish the man. He dumps him to the outside and lays him out on a table, then comes off the apron with a flying headbutt - Hulk moving, and Harley going through the table (in what would turn out to be a career ending bump)! Back in, Race manages to keep control, and delivers a flying headbutt - only to trigger the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Cross Corner Clothesline! Clothesline! Legdrop! 6:37! This was pretty wild stuff for 1988 - looking more like 1998 at times - with lots of aggression from the babyface, brawling on the floor, and guys going through tables. Fun stuff! ** ½ (Original rating: * ¼)

Backstage, Ted DiBiase, too, feels that Hulk Hogan looks like a complete tool without the title belt. Randy Savage responds by threatening to bankrupt DiBiase. That's kinda harsh. I mean, that was just Ted's, like, opinion, man.

Randy Savage v Ted DiBiase: Virgil goes after Elizabeth on the floor, and DiBiase is able to Pearl Harbor Savage as he deals with it. Ted goes to work, as I notice how 'wrong' the dollar signs on his gear were in the early days of the character, before he switched to gold colored trim. Looked much better later on. 2^nd rope axehandle puts Macho down for some choking, and Andre the Giant gets his licks in too. Who assigned Dave Hebner as the referee for this? I mean, I know he's the 'good Hebner,' but after the shenanigans at The Main Event, why even take a chance? Especially in a DiBiase match! How Tunney ever survived without impeachment I'll never know. He let Danny Davis referee again, too! Randy manages to take control with a high knee, and a flying axehandle is sold with zeal by DiBiase. Hangman's clothesline gets two, and Randy snaps his throat across the top rope - again nicely oversold by Ted. Overhead elbowsmash puts the Million Dollar Man on the outside, but he manages to nail Randy on the way back in, and he unloads a series of three fistdrops. Cross corner charge misses, however, and Randy drops an elbow for two. Kneedrop misses, and DiBiase capitalizes with a spinning-toehold, but Randy uses the free leg to shove him clear out of the ring! DiBiase is selling like a madman here, and it's great. Brawl on the floor goes Macho's way, but he quickly gets outnumbered when Andre and Virgil make their presence felt. Dear lord, Andre is sweating a lot. Like, he wasn't even gotten physically involved, and his dress shirt if completely soaked through. Back in, DiBiase delivers a 2^nd rope axehandle to setup an elbowdrop for two, and he works a chinlock. Savage fights out and starts making a comeback, but the referee gets bumped in the process during a criss cross. Randy keeps focused with a flying axehandle on the outside, but here's Andre to rain on his parade - tossing Macho into the post. He continues the beat down in brutal fashion, and by the time the referee comes to, Savage can't beat the countout at 11:39. They continue to beat Randy down after the bell, but Elizabeth summons Hulk Hogan to make the save! We complain a lot about them running the same matches over and over again ad nauseam today, but here they outright gave the main event for WrestleMania away a couple of weeks before the show! Better match than they had at WrestleMania too - though they had the advantage of not being on their third or fourth match of the night for this one. Though, unlike today, this was a nice bit of setup for how things paid off at WrestleMania, when DiBiase tried the same tricks, but the Mega Powers had him scouted, and beat him at his own game. * ¾ (Original rating: ** ¾)

Backstage, Bobby Heenan and The Islanders practice the outro for 'Hey Bulldog'

The Islanders v The Killer Bees: This is actually a 2/3 Falls Match, though they're presenting this as a single fall bout (only showing the first fall here), likely for time reasons. The Bees jump Tama, and immediately cut the ring in half on him, until Jim Brunzell misses a dropkick, and gets vertical suplexed for two. Tag to Haku with a dropkick of his own for two, and the Islanders cut the ring in half on Brunzell. Jim manages an inverted atomic drop, and a double knockout spot allows him to tag. B. Brian Blair is a hive of fire, but runs into a cheap shot from Haku, and gets pinned at 3:38. About as good as a third of a match can be, I guess. ½* (Original rating: ¼*)

Backstage, Slick and the One Man Gang think the US Olympic Team are nothing but 'a bunch of losers.’ Is he running for president now? Did I miss a segue?

One Man Gang v Ken Patera: Gang blitzes him at the bell, and rips his pants off. Hopefully that didn't trigger any jailhouse flashbacks for Ken there. Gang chokes him with said pants, but runs into a bearhug - an interesting hold choice to try on a guy the size of Gang. Especially considering Patera was also sporting an arm brace here. Not surprisingly, it fails, so Ken tries a full-nelson next, but that doesn't really go anywhere either, since he's giving up quite a bit of height to Gang as well. This Patera fella, I tell ya. He's tenacious though, you've gotta give him that. He keeps coming at Gang - throwing a high knee and a ten-punch at him, but Gang just kinds casually clotheslines him out of nowhere for the pin at 3:00. This was like an old school video game, where you'd see Eddie Guerrero trying press-slams on Big Show, or something. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Backstage, Hulk Hogan wants someone to start passing the cash out. Kinda rude to count your paydays in front of everyone like that, especially when your paydays are the biggest. Maybe he could use a little humbling after all

BUExperience: Good episode, with a lot to cover coming off of the big Main Event special, and with WrestleMania IV just around the corner. Like, even though I’ve seen WrestleMania IV enough times to know that it sucks, this show still succeeded in making me want to see it again. Add the really great Hogan/Race match into the mix, and you’ve got a big winner