February 13, 2007
Frank Koenen

WWF Saturday Night Main Event
November 28, 1987

-This looks like a pretty good show. This aired just two days after the initial Survivor Series. So let’s go and take a look at it. This is the WWE 24/7 version.

Taped November 11, 1987 in the Coliseum in Seattle, WA
Hosted by Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

-We start with the usual quick interview opening with only King King Bundy and Hulk Hogan getting words. Then into the opening which is not “Obsession” by Animotion.

1) George “The Animal” Steele vs. Danny Davis
This was set up by Davis hitting George Steele with a ringbell at the April Saturday Night’s Main Event. Mean Gene interviews Steele in a nothing interview. Earlier Jesse Ventura talked to Danny Davis. Davis had potential to be a good midcarder, maybe even in the Honky Tonk Man’s position, as he always got a ton of heat, but he never really got the push. Steele goes right after Davis right away and starts biting him. He slams Davis. Davis bails outside. Steele plays to the crowd, and Davis jumps him. Steele comes back though with some right hands and Davis goes back outside. Where’s Jimmy Hart tonight? Steele again plays to the crowd, but he catches Davis trying to attack him. Davis bails to the outside again. Davis goes to the Animal, and Animal gets a DROP TOE HOLD! Ventura acts like he’s Frank Gotch. I remember they did they same thing with The Undertaker when he came back at the 1996 Survivor Series and used that same move. Davis goes outside again, and Steele chases him. Back in the ring, Davis starts to use a foreign object on Steele without the referee knowing. He works him over on the ropes and in the corner by choking him with it. Steele puts Davis in a hammerlock where he lifts Davis in the air and Davis accidentally kicks the referee down. However he did submit to Steele’s hammerlock giving him the match. After the match Steele has his turnbuckle lunch, and Davis jumps him. Steele catches him though, and Davis hightails it with Steele in tow. Not much of a match at all, but that’s kind of expected. DUD
WINNER: George “The Animal” Steele at 4:47 by submission

-Gene Okerlund interviews the Hart Foundation. Bret Hart says one line, Jim Neidhart laughs a lot, and Jimmy Hart does most of the talking.

-Mean Gene interviews Randy Savage. Savage promises vengeance on the Hart Foundation.

2) “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) vs. Bret Hart (w/Jimmy Hart & Jim Neidhart)
This stems from the previous Saturday Night’s Main Event where Randy Savage dropped a big elbow on the Honky Tonk Man and was only three seconds away from winning his Intercontinental title back. Bret Hart jumped in the ring to give Savage the DQ win but not the title. The Hart Foundation and HTM then started beating down Savage. Then to add more heat to the fire, Elizabeth pleaded with them to stop and HTM shoved her down. She eventually got Hulk Hogan and that’s how the Mega-Powers were formed. It’s funny, they call Honky tapping Elizabeth down a savage attack and acting as if he took a chainsaw to her. Elizabeth says she is still feeling pain from getting a small tap from Elizabeth. Is she made of glass? This happened a month ago. The babys come out, and McMahon gives his usual leering comments. I wonder how Randy felt about McMahon always leering at his wife in commentary. Maybe that’s why he nailed his 14-year-old daughter years later. Just kidding, who knows if that’s true. Before the match, Savage is hot as the referee holds him back from Hart, but on the outside Jimmy Hart & Neidhart move towards Elizabeth. Savage jumps over the ropes to protect his manager and we go to a break. Back from the break, we see the Seattle Seahawk’s Brian Bosworth in the crowd. Then we get comments from the Honky Tonk Man saying he wants Bret to leave a piece of Savage for him. Savage chases after the Hart Foundation to start the match. He catches up to Bret and attacks him ramming his head on the corner post. Hart gets in the ring and Savage works him over in the corner. A nice reversal sees Savage go into the turnbuckle. Hart starts to kick at Savage in the corner and then choking him. The crowd boos that. This crowd turns out to be pretty hot actually. Hart gets a snapmare followed by an elbow drop. Hart telegraphs a move and Savage catches him with a kick. Savage with elbow to the head, sends Hart to the mat. Hart ends up on the apron, and Savage comes from behind, and shoves him off the apron to the guard railing. Hart is on the floor selling it like a champ. Neidhart and Hart jump on the apron, and Savage conks their heads together. The referee starts looking/talking/being distracted at the fallen members of the Hart Foundation. Savage goes to the top rope and goes for a double sledge to the floor, but Hart catches him with a megaphone. Hart reenters the ring. Neidhart gets in a few stomps and sends Savage to Bret. Bret legdrops Savage. Hart slams Savage into the turnbuckle then puts him in the Tree of Woe and gets a few shots in. Savage is able to free him, but Bret is on top of him. Hart piledrives Savage for a near fall. Hart with an elbow to the head. Hart whips Savage into the corner, but he moves and his shoulder goes into the post. Savage sends Hart into the other corner post. Then Savage delivered a double sledge from the top on Bret for a near fall. Hart gets back in control and hits a backbreaker. He goes to the second rope but misses the elbow. I guess the BRETBACK had yet to be perfected. Savage yanks Hart’s throat over the top rope for a nearfall. Savage works over Hart in the ropes. Savage runs to Hart, but Hart back body drops him over the top to the floor. Savage sells the ankle and he acts as if he can barely stand. Elizabeth comes over as she takes the boot off of Savage as he lies in pain on the floor. The Hart Foundation start making their way towards them, but the referee steps in and tells them to back off as we go to break. Back from the break, Savage struggles getting himself into the ring. Savage in the corner grabbing his ankle. The referee asks if Savage can go, he of course says yes. Hart goes after the ankle right away. He starts stomping at the ankle. Hart rams Savage’s ankle into the corner post. Hart continues dragging him by the leg, and rams a knee into his ankle. Bret puts on a spinning toe hold and the crowd is booing. Another one, but Savage kicks out sending Bret into the corner post again. Savage snaps Hart off the ropes for a near fall. Hart continues working the ankle. Savage has yet to stand up and is grimacing continually. Hart locks on a half Boston Crab, but Savage gets into the ropes. Savage goes outside, and Hart snapmares him back in with Savage landing on his ankle. Savage is desperately grabbing Hart to try anything. He rakes his face and goes to the apron again. Hart tries to bodyslam him again, but Savage gets a rolling cradle. The referee counts to three and Savage wins the match on one leg. After the match the Foundation tries an attack, but Jimmy Hart misses Savage and hits Bret. Ventura mentions the incredible luck of Savage. This match really was about getting Savage over as a babyface who would valiantly fight back even in injury and putting a little more fire on the Savage-HTM feud. It did a good job at that, it was a very good exciting contest between two legends. They would later fight again, when Bret was a bigger star, at WCW Slamboree 1998 but since it was WCW a battle between two legends is now forgotten and only a footnote for geeks like me who happen to know. ***½
WINNER: Randy “Macho Man” Savage at 15:00

-Mean Gene is with King Kong Bundy and Bobby Heenan. Heenan insults the fans and Mean Gene as he promises that BundyMania will run wild. Heenan says he has a HUGE, BIG surprise for the match.

-Mean Gene is with Hulk Hogan. Hogan says it’s 3 against the 24 inch salute. He gives his usual good energetic interview from the time.

3) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby Heenan & Andre the Giant)
Heenan’s BIG surprise was of course Andre. This was only two days after the Survivor Series when Andre was the sole survivor in a match against Hogan’s team, and months after WrestleMania III. We see Bundy walking from behind and ICP is right, he looks like a giant penis in a broken black condom. The two competitors circle each other to begin. Hogan and Bundy get in each others faces and a lockup leads to Hogan headlocking the big man. Bundy shoves Hogan into the ropes, and both try shoulder blocks which don’t work. Hogan tries another one and goes down. Hogan then gets a flying knee to the face of Bundy and gets a nearfall. Hogan tries a bodyslam, but of course since it’s the opening minutes it doesn’t work and Bundy gets a two count after Hogan falls back. Bundy stomps at Hogan and overpowers him. Bundy slams Hogan with ease. Bundy then tries a splash, but Hogan no sells the previous beating and goes back to offense. Hogan clotheslines Bundy then drops three elbows for a neafall. Hogan telegraphs a move and Bundy gives him a massive forearm. Bundy follows with a clothesline. We then go into the chinlock with Bundy locking it on Hogan. Hogan is struggling in the hold, he’s selling it pretty decently actually. Man they’re just resting in this hold after they’ve been in it for a minute. Hogan starts to make a comeback and delivers a few elbows to get out. Hogan gives Bundy a couple of fists to the face. Hogan with the big boot. Goes for a legdrop but Andre trips him. Bundy tries to attack Hogan, but he sends him outside. The referee makes the decision that if Andre doesn’t go to the back, Bundy will forfeit the match to Hogan. Bundy & Heenan want him to go to the back, but Andre is pissed and doesn’t want to hear it from them. Finally he starts to go towards the back. Heenan is pleading with Andre to go to the back. Hogan wants Andre as much as Andre wants him. On the way to the back, Andre attacks a camera man. Looks like Shawn ripped off Andre for the HITC spot. Andre finally goes backstage as we go to break. The match restarts after the end of the break. Bundy is all over Hogan right away and rams his head into the turnbuckle a couple of times. Bundy gets a chop. Hogan however no sells it and rams Bundy’s face into all four turnbuckles. Hogan again gets a high knee to Bundy. Hogan misses an elbow and Bundy takes over. Hogan is on all fours crawling after taking it from Bundy. Bundy whips Hogan into the corner and he ends up face first on the mat. Bundy simply walks on Hogan’s back. Bundy bearhugs Hogan. Hogan elbows Bundy to the face to get out. Bundy with an elbow to Hogan’s face gets the match back in his control. Bundy whips Hogan into the corner and Hogan is only staying up with the help from the ropes. Bundy gets an avalanche followed by a splash. It only gets a two count and it’s UP CHUCK time. Hogan slams Bundy, and Bundy goes outside. Bundy drags him out, they continue brawling on the outside. Hogan sends him in. Bundy blocks referee Joey Marella’s view of Hogan. Heenan holds Hogan’s leg, and Hogan is counted out. Hogan then attacks Bundy proving to be a sore loser. Hogan gets his hands on Heenan and slams him down a couple of times. Poor Bobby. Hogan of course poses after the match. This match was very similar to old WWF style main events with three minutes of hot action and then three minutes of resting. It was pretty action packed at time, but we got a couple of extended rest periods. They’d sell like crazy when they were being beat on, but that would all be thrown out the window once they went back on the offense. Not a terrible match, but it seemed to have potential and didn’t meet it. *1/2
WINNER: King Kong Bundy at 9:00 at count-out; Hulk Hogan is still WWF World Champion

-Mean Gene is with Hercules. Mean Gene says Heenan is injured and Hercules will go it alone. Hercules says he will lock on his full nelson on Bam Bam.

-Mean Gene is with Sir Oliver Humperdink and Bam Bam Bigelow. Bam Bam is going to win according to Hump.

4) Hercules vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Sir Oliver Humperdink)
Hercules shows off to start, but Bam Bam shoves him back. They circle one another and then lock up with no man getting the advantage. Another lockup and Hercules gets back in the corner. Referee calls for the break. Hercules tries a shoulder block, but it doesn’t work. Hercules tries another one, which doesn’t work. Hercules gets a couple of knee lifts. Hercules tries an elbow in the corner on Bam Bam but it misses. Bam Bam gets a couple of shots, but Hercules gets a couple of elbows and a forearm. Hercules clotheslines Bam Bam over the top rope. Bam Bam gets back on the apron, as Hercules works on him on the ropes. The crowd is hot at Hercules. Bam Bam snapmares Hercules all the way to the floor. They start brawling with each other with no man getting the immediate advantage. We see Brian Bosworth marking out at the action. Both men are counted out. However Bam Bam takes the mic from Fink and says he didn’t come to Seattle to have a draw. He punks out Hercules telling him to come back in the ring. We got a break. Back in we start the match again. Restarting a match twice in the same show is pretty lame and dumb. Hercules goes into a three-point stance tries to knock down Bam Bam a couple of time. Hercules eventually tries a cut block, but Bam Bam cartwheels over him. Hercules ends up on the mat, and Bam Bam starts throwing right fists at him. Bam Bam sends Hercules into the ropes, and misses a dropkick as Hercules holds onto the ropes. Hercules is now in control getting a couple of elbows and knees. Bam Bam starts getting up as Hercules goes to the top. Ventura notes he’s wasting a lot of time. Bam Bam catches Hercules coming off the top and Gorilla slams him. Bam Bam slingshots himself over the top rope and splashes Hercules for the win. Brian Bosworth from the crowd says the Seahawks want Ventura. Ventura acts like he wants his autograph. It was kind of short, but it was alright. *
WINNER: Bam Bam Bigelow at 5:30

-Backstage Mean Gene is with Andre & Bundy. Mean Gene says Heenan suffered a neck injury. Bundy demands a rematch with Andre in his corner. Jesse Ventura enters the dressing room and shakes Bundy’s hand.

-After another break, Mean Gene is with Hogan. Hogan accepts the rematch with Andre in the corner. It would happen on the next Saturday Night’s Main Event in early January for their annual New Year’s Weekend show.

-Vince, Jesse, and Mean Gene close the show backstage. Ventura cares about Bobby Heenan, while Mean Gene doesn’t. Must be jealous of the hair or brain.

Comments: A damn good show. We had a little bit of everything. Even the first match was short and inoffensive. Some good booking setting up the next SNME and making Savage look like a good babyface. However doing the false finish twice in the show was dumb. The crowd was hot throughout the night. I would recommend it if you ever saw it and I say it had good booking.