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

Original Airdate: February 8, 1992

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

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Roddy Piper v Mountie: Jimmy Hart distracts the champ to allow Mountie to attack from behind, but that quickly falls apart for him, and Piper chases him to the outside to bash Mountie's head together with Hart's! Jimmy manages to hook Roddy's ankle long enough for Mountie to put the boots to him on the way back in, and he ties him in a tree of woe, as Bret Hart appears to do cut an in-screen promo (he'd be facing the winner at WrestleMania). Mountie with a jumping backelbow for two, but a splash hits the knees, and Piper starts mounting a fiery comeback. Mountie blocks a bulldog by shoving Roddy into the referee, however, and he follows with a piledriver. With the official down, Jimmy Hart passes Mountie a cup of water to dump onto Piper to setup the shock stick, but it doesn't work! Piper no-sells! He grabs the stick away from a shocked Mountie (see what I did there?), and gives the challenger a taste of his own medicine to retain at 3:30. Afterwards, Piper reveals that he was wearing a shock proof vest underneath his t-shirt. The match was junk, but fun as an angle. ½* (Original rating: ¼*)

We take a look back at the closing moments of the Royal Rumble match (all the post production sound editing work in the world can't change the fact that people in the crowd were going nuts when Sid Justice dumped Hulk Hogan), then on to the WrestleMania VIII press conference, where Jack Tunney announced Hulk as the top contender for the WWF Title, and Sid thought it was... what's that word... oh yeah, 'spurious'

Ric Flair and Undertaker v Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice: Despite Sid's anger at the press conference, he and Hogan have made up - though Justice's plastered on smile and saccharine demeanor look like they're about to crack at any moment. He starts with Flair, and quickly hits a backdrop, so Ric bails. Tag to Hulk for a backdrop of his own, and a hiptoss follows. In comes Undertaker, but Hulk hiptosses him as well, then rams him into Sid's knee. Dust settles on Undertaker and Justice, and Sid reverses a bodyslam, then tags Hogan in for a bodyslam of his own. One for an incoming Flair as well, and Hulk cleans house. The babyfaces continue routinely destroying the heels, until Sid telegraphs a backdrop on Undertaker, and gets clobbered. Ric tags in with a tandem clothesline for two, and a tandem atomic drop follows for two. They try another awkward tandem move (zombie Undertaker just doesn't lend himself to double team moves), but Hulk comes in, and he and Sid hit Flair with a tandem big boot. That was much more natural. Sid gets distracted by Hogan's showboating, however, and Undertaker is able to attack from behind to allow Flair a shot in the corner. Ric throws some chops as they cut the ring in half on Sid, but Hulk gets the tag - only to have Ric clip the leg. Figure Four is applied, but Hogan escapes, so Undertaker comes in with a jumping clothesline, as Sid looks on with an annoyed look on his face. Sid's facial expressions here are just marvelous. Hulk fights the heels off long enough to finally reach the corner, but Sid isn't interested in tagging! He hops off the apron just as Hogan crawls the final inches, and walks out on the match - leaving Hulk alone two-on-one. You'd think that would be enough for Hogan to do a job (all alone with the best gimmick heel and the world champion, after all), but nope - Flair gets disqualified for shoving the referee at 11:42. Not great wrestling (Undertaker especially looked really awkward as a heel tag wrestler, which is probably why it almost never happened), but it got over what it needed to get over. * ¼ (Original rating: ¾*)

Backstage, Sid Justice clarifies his behavior for Sean Mooney. Say what you will about some of Sid's flubs over the years, but he could bring the intensity. After the break, Hogan retorts. He notes that Sid has 'stone cold eyes.' Now if that were the case, WrestleMania VIII wouldn't have had more paper than a ticker tape parade

The Beverly Brothers v Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Duggan: Blake Beverly starts with Duggan, and Jim clotheslines him down after Slaughter uses his body to prevent a cross corner whip. Beau Beverly quickly takes a cheap shot, however, the Brothers get right to cutting the ring in half on Hacksaw. That's almost as good as my Mountie shock joke from earlier. Almost. Duggan quickly fights them off and passes to Slaughter, so Genius passes his boys the metal scroll - only for Sarge to get it away to hit Blake with, and Duggan adds a 3-point stance to finish at 2:39. Squashtastic! DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Randy Savage v Jake Roberts: Savage charges down the aisle and chases Roberts out of the ring for a brawl on the floor to start, with Macho beating him from pillar to post - Jake bleeding hardway from the bridge of his nose. Macho with a high knee, so Jake goes to the eyes and tosses him over the top, but Randy charges right back in after him. Roberts reverses a turnbuckle smash and tosses Randy over the top again, and this time he gets the message a bit better. Jake heads out to send him into the post a few times just in case, but Randy hits a backelbow on the way back in. Flying axehandle follows, but Roberts gut-punches him out of the air, and quickly follows up with the DDT! No cover, however, as Roberts calmly sits in the corner and waits to Randy to recover so he can blast him with a short-clothesline. Another DDT, but this time Randy counters with a backdrop over the top, and he dives after the Snake with a flying axehandle. Jake's sell of that was really weird. He started grabbing at his throat like the move had driven it into the rail, but didn’t get around to doing it until several good seconds after it hit. It was funny. Back in, Macho puts it away with the Flying Elbowdrop at 5:25. As usual with these two, the match didn't live up to the buildup. * ½ (Original rating: *)

BUExperience: After a long hiatus (and a network change), this was a fun return for SNME. While there were no classic matches, and the WrestleMania buildup stuff paled in comparison to the heyday of the Twin Referee Scandal or the Mega Powers Breakup, it’s still worth giving a look to.