Wednesday, September 21, 2016

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



Original Airdate: April 28, 1990

From Austin, Texas; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura – both on horseback

Hulk Hogan v Mr. Perfect: Hulk overpowers him to start, with Perfect taking his patented pinball bumps all around ringside. People complain about Shawn Michaels' selling at SummerSlam in 2005, but really, he wasn't doing anything smaller guys didn't always do against the Hulkster. For those keeping track, the ring post has been downgraded from 'steel' to 'iron' tonight, according to McMahon. Guess that Warrior reign started bombing even quicker than we'd known! Perfect finally manages to take over when Hogan gets distracted by the Genius on the outside, and Perfect clobbers him with the metal scroll. The scroll is neither iron nor steel, for those keeping track. Just nondescript metal. Back in, Perfect goes to work, and a snapmare sets up a somersault necksnap. Perfectplex looks to finish, but only ends up triggering the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! 8:03! Very energetic, and great bumping from Perfect (as usual). ** ¼ (Original rating: ¼*)

Rick Martel 'Arrogance' promo

Earthquake v Hillbilly Jim: Earthquake tries jumping him with an avalanche at the bell, but Jim dodges, and slugs at him. Series of turnbuckle smashes follow, and he unloads in the corner, but Jimmy Hart gets involved, and Earthquake capitalizes with the avalanche. Elbowdrop and the Earthquake Splash finish at 1:58. And that was pretty much the end of the line for Hillbilly Jim as an active wrestler. Kinda surprised he got as much offense as he did here. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Another Arrogance promo. These are just so wonderfully over the top 90s cheesy

The Hart Foundation v The Rockers: Bret Hart starts with Marty Jannetty, and a quick criss cross ends in Hart taking him down with a hiptoss, but getting kicked in the face. Tag right to Shawn Michaels for a flying bodypress, but Hart rolls through for two, so the Rockers gang up with a tandem-Russian legsweep - only for Jim Neidhart to blast them both with a double-clothesline. Dust settles on Neidhart and Jannetty, and Jim throws him around, but runs right into a drop-toehold. Marty holds him in a front-facelock before passing out to Shawn, and Michaels uses his speed advantage to nail the Anvil with a beautiful standing dropkick for two. Back to Bret for a criss cross with Shawn, and Hart hits an inverted atomic drop to setup a clothesline. A cheap shot makes sure Shawn gets the message, and the Foundation cut the ring in half on him. Meanwhile, Demolition join us at ringside, as Hart hits Michaels with a backbreaker. He gets distracted, allowing Shawn to dropkick him over the top, but the Foundation manage to keep control of the match. 2nd rope elbowdrop from Hart misses, however, and that's enough to finally allow the tag to Marty! He's a crack house of fire, putting Bret through the wringer with near falls, but the Hitman catches him with a swinging neckbreaker during a criss cross. Tag to Jim, and Bret tries to send the Anvil in with a slingshot splash, but Marty dodges, and tags. Shawn comes in hot, but gets pressed to the outside, where he gets into a confrontation with the Demos. That leads to the Harts getting involved, and we've got a wild brawl between all three teams for the double disqualification at 9:30. Fun match, with the Hart's easily playing the heels, but not going overboard with the act. *** (Original rating: *)

Backstage, Earthquake challenges Hulk Hogan to a dance-off. Hogan responds by dubbing himself the 'Texas Tornado.' No, but he is coming!

We take a look back at WrestleMania VI, and the Ultimate Warrior's clean victory over Hulk Hogan in the main event

WWF Title Match: Ultimate Warrior v Haku: The white strap was never a particularly good look for the winged eagle belt. Haku attacks before Warrior even has the chance to get the belt off, but Warrior quickly no-sells him, and hits a backdrop. Clothesline sends Haku to the outside (though he botches the over the top bump), but Warrior stalks him back in, and unloads. He actually works a wristlock, of all things, then sends Haku back to the outside - over the top this time. The building has darkened significantly since the start of the show (to the point where you can barely make out the banners over the ring), as the crowd has thinned out once Hogan was done for the night. Haku fires back with a sloppy dropkick for two, and a backbreaker is worth two. Side suplex gets two, and a bodyslam sets up a splash for two - Warrior BLOWING UP!! Series of Clotheslines! Jumping Shoulderblock! Splash! 4:49! I can totally see why fans didn't connect with Warrior as a babyface champion as well as they did Hogan (or even Savage) - he doesn't have that basic vulnerability. This was energetic enough, but fairly sloppy, and uninspired. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

Our third Arrogance promo, this time with a tennis theme

Big Boss Man v Akeem: It's kind of weird that they're selling this as a rematch from WrestleMania that won't feature Boss Man getting attacked beforehand, even though Boss Man easily won at WrestleMania anyway. Like, he beat him in under two minutes WHEN he got jumped, so what chance are we supposed to believe Akeem has here? Boss Man slugs him down right away, and a hiptoss sets up a straddling ropechoke. Avalanche misses, however, and Akeem hits one of his own - putting Boss Man down in the corner for a stinkface. Of course, it didn't have quite the same connotation back then. Akeem quickly follows up with the Air Africa, but it only gets two. Piledriver, but Boss Man counters by backdropping the blimp over the top, then bringing him back in hard way by using the top rope as a slingshot! Whoa! Facebuster and a series of turnbuckle smashes stagger Akeem, and the Boss Man Slam looks to finish - only for DiBiase and Virgil to run in for the DQ at 3:18. Boss Man was energetic as hell here, with Akeem game to hang with him. ¾* (Original rating: ¼*)

A fourth Arrogance spot. They couldn't even be bothered to rent a high end car? Seriously, how fast was Warrior bombing?!

BUExperience: A focused, if fairly breezy, episode. Worth checking out

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