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

Original Airdate: April 27, 1991

From Omaha, Nebraska; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Randy Savage

Sgt. Slaughter v Ultimate Warrior: Slaughter tries to go to the top right at the bell for a sneak attack, but gets slammed off, and hit with a backdrop. Big right hands sends Sarge over the top, and Warrior follows - hammering him into the aisle, then back inside. Slaughter goes to the eyes to slow the maniac down, and he dumps him to the outside for Col. Mustafa to abuse. Sarge follows to send Warrior into the post, then inside, and hammers on the back. Backbreaker and a bearhug look to wear the Warrior down, but he fires back with a bodyslam to escape. The back slows him down though, allowing Slaughter to retain control, and he goes back to the bearhug, as Paul Bearer wheels a casket down to ringside. Warrior fights out of the hold, but this time gets distracted by the casket, and Slaughter is able to knock him to the floor for some stompage. In, Slaughter keeps pounding, but Warrior is BLOWING UP!! Fists of Fury! Clotheslines! Jumping Shoulderblock! Press-Drop, but before he can execute it, Bearer opens the casket, and Undertaker sits up! That freaks Warrior out enough for Slaughter to attack, along with his entourage for the DQ at 8:00. Undertaker joins in on the beat down, but Hulk Hogan runs out of the save. He fights Slaughter's crew off, but Undertaker no-sells him! Even a shot with the title belt is no-sold! The match wasn't anything special, but all the overbooking kept things exciting. ¾* (Original rating: DUD)

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Nasty Boys v The Bushwhackers: Hey, the four most disgusting guys in wrestling! All this is missing is Stan Hansen as the special guest referee. Brian Knobbs starts with Luke, and hammers him in the corner, but Butch comes in, and the challengers clean house with double-teams. Dust settles on Jerry Sags with Butch, and Sags uses his street smarts to take control, but gets reversed into the ropes, and eats a knee. Butch follows up with a running kneelift before tagging, and the Battering Ram sends both Nasties to the floor again. A cheap shot from Knobbs puts Luke down long enough for the champs to cut the ring in half on, but Sags misses a charge, and Butch gets the hot tag. He's an outhouse of fire, and Roseanne Barr the door! Sags misses his mark during the brawl and the referee very nearly counts a pin on Knobbs, before everyone gets their shit together, and Brian pins Butch with a leveraged pin at 6:48. This is certainly one of those matches that makes you stop and smell the roses and appreciate life, because we just came dangerously close to living in a world were the Bushwhackers were world tag team champions. Shit match, but at least it was energetic, and (most importantly) short. Kind of a weird choice for the Nasties first major title defense, too. ¼* (Original rating: DUD)

Speaking of appreciating life, the Undertaker and Paul Bearer remind Warrior that they're going to bury him

20-Man Battle Royal: We've got: Barbarian, Big Boss Man, Davey Boy Smith, Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Haku, Hulk Hogan, Mr. Perfect, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Kerry Von Erich, Tugboat, Greg Valentine, Warlord, Tanaka, Kato, Hercules, Paul Roma, Shawn Michaels, and Marty Jannetty. Everyone waits for Hogan to do something before starting, and he goes right for Earthquake to kick things off. I guess that makes sense, Hulk's like royalty - no one touches their food before he does. Perfect actually decides to hang out on the ring steps for a while, wisely avoiding punishment early on, but eventually gets pulled in. Hey, he tried. Warlord dumps Davey Boy to continue their dull feud, and Earthquake gets rid of Jake Roberts to build theirs. Jake responds by whipping out his python, though really, that's quite rude. Hogan gets into a shove fest with friend Tugboat, who dumps The Hulkster, thus setting up his upcoming heel turn, and gimmick change - becoming Earthquake's new tag partner Typhoon. Down to Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, Greg Valentine, and Barbarian - with Shawn going right for Perfect. He nearly dumps him, but ends up getting flipped out. Meanwhile, Valentine is hammering Barbarian, but Perfect makes the save - forming an alliance. Unfortunately, a miscommunication puts Barbarian out, and that leaves him and Valentine to chop each other. Both guys go over the top, but Perfect manages to keep one foot in the air for the win at 12:30. Well booked, but nothing especially notable. ½* (Original rating: ¼*)

Ted DiBiase v Bret Hart: Roddy Piper joins the commentary team for this one. DiBiase hammers him into the corner to start, but Bret fights him off, and sends him over the top with a clothesline! Bret dives after him with a plancha, then rolls him in to work a headlock. Ted escapes for a criss cross, so Sensational Sherri trips the Hitman - only to get hit with a knee from DiBiase when Hart avoids the trap! Bret rolls DiBiase up for two, but runs into a hotshot as they criss cross, and Ted piledrives him for two. Hart tries another rollup, but this time DiBiase stops short, and sends the Hitman crashing out of the ring! Ted follows for a smash into the steps, and he leaves Hart out there for Sherri to abuse. Inside, DiBiase sends him chest-first into the turnbuckles, then slaps on the Million Dollar Dream, but Hart manages to railroad him into the corner to escape. Ted regroups with a 2^nd rope flying axehandle, but Bret slugs him out of the air, and delivers an inverted atomic drop. Running elbowsmash gets two, and a Russian legsweep is worth two. Bret with a backbreaker to setup a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, so Sherri trips him up again, and Hart goes to the outside to threaten her. That's one of the few times I can remember that Bret ever physically threatened a woman, and he'd never have gone for that once he got more creative control over his character. So, DiBiase capitalizes with an attack, but that brings Piper into things, and he stalks Sherri around the ring. He chases her to the dressing rooms, so DiBiase goes after him in the aisle - Bret following for a double countout at 9:56. After being bogged down with Rhodes, Virgil, and Piper for the bulk of the last year (in fun angles, but not necessarily ones that produced good matches), it was nice to see DiBiase cut loose with a worker for a bit. ** ½ (Original rating: * ½)

Mountie v Tito Santana: Tito sends him to the outside with a dropkick early on, but a monkeyflip gets blocked, and Mountie unloads some turnbuckles smashes. Splash, but Tito lifts his knees to block, and hits the jumping forearm for two when Jimmy Hart distracts the referee! Santana responds by taking Jimmy out with a jumping forearm of his own, but that allows Mountie to get the shock stick, and he blasts Tito with it for the pin at 4:29. Jacques Rougeau is not at all a bad wrestler, but Mountie has just been a total loser thus far. DUD (Original rating: ¼*)

Backstage, Sgt. Slaughter is stooping to depths, while Hulk Hogan wants a Band Aid sponsorship!

BUExperience: From a wrestling standpoint, this is undoubtedly one of the weaker entries, but it certainly felt more lively than the last couple of episodes