By popular demand, we’re adding the always fun Saturday Night’s Main Event shows into the mix, starting with this Saturday Night’s Main Event 1/27/90 review.
And this was one of the best years ever for the series, as shown by this particular show.
Let’s rock and roll.
Date: January 27, 1990
Location: UTC Arena in Chattanooga, TN
VIDEO: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura hype the upcoming matches.
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene Okerlund with Hacksaw Jim Duggan. They recap the current feud between Hacksaw and Randy Savage. Hacksaw makes a few Europe references and heads to the ring.
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene with Savage and Sherri. Savage says he rules the peasants and Duggan is a peasant. Sherri says anything she has is Savage’s to own. Well, that escalated quickly.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. ‘Macho King’ Randy Savage (w/Sherri)
Savage’s entrance here is just fantastic as he’s carried out on his sedan. Hacksaw gets impatient and goes out to flip it over. They make their way inside and go back and forth until Hacksaw hits a big clothesline for a two count. Sherri gets on the apron and Hacksaw goes after her, which leads to Savage hitting him from behind and sending him through the ropes. Savage goes up top and hits the big move outside, then does the same thing inside for a near fall.
More back and forth before Hacksaw gives Savage a huge back body drop over the top. Sherri back on the apron, which leads Hacksaw to go after her. She ducks and Hacksaw clotheslines Savage. Back inside and Hacksaw hits a huge bodyslam, but Sherri jumps back on the apron to prevent the referee from counting the pin. Another pin attempt and Sherri puts Savage’s foot on the ropes. More clotheslines from Hacksaw and he gets fed up with Sherri. She rolls in the ring but Hacksaw grabs her and puts her in the corner. That allows Savage to go up top and both men hit each at the same time.
Sherri slips the loaded purse into the ring and the ref gets distracted with her again. Of course, Savage takes advantage and nails Hacksaw with the purse as Jesse says ‘I can’t believe how dumb that Hacksaw is.’ You said it, Jess. Savage rolls over for the pin but it only gets a two count. Small package from Hacksaw for a near fall. Atomic drop from Hacksaw and he clotheslines Savage to the outside. Then Hacksaw tries to suplex Savage back in but Sherri pulls Hacksaw’s legs to allow Savage to fall on top and use the ropes to get the pin at 9:14. This was a ton of fun.
• Rating: ***
BACKSTAGE: Jesse with Mr. Perfect and The Genius. Jesse points out the egos of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Perfect then adds his touch to it and mentions Genius’ countout win over Hogan. Genius then reads off YET ANOTHER MASTERPIECE.
VIDEO: We recap the Hogan/Warrior showdown at the Rumble.
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene with Hogan and Warrior. Hogan says he’s gonna turn Warrior loose on Perfect and Genius. Then Warrior points out the meaning of turbulence while also discussing the mixing of chemicals. Fascinating stuff.
Mr. Perfect and The Genius vs. Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior
Jesse rips Hogan and Warrior for not coming out together and that is has to do with their huge egos. Hogan and Perfect start things off, with Hogan body slamming Perfect and Genius like crazy. Warrior gets the tag and now he’s going after both men. Warrior with a big clothesline to send Perfect outside and then we get a tag to Hogan. Perfect gets a tiny bit of offense before Hogan throws him over and then heaves him into the ring post. Meanwhile, Genius goes over and grabs his scroll so that he can WRITE A POEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATCH. That’s dedication to your craft. Bravo, Genius. Bravo.
Hogan keeps kicking Perfect’s ass for a while and eventually gets thrown outside again. Genius sneaks over and hands Perfect the scroll, with Hogan coming out to keep working on Perfect. Naturally, Perfect uses the scroll to nail Hogan right in the head while the ref’s back is turned. Perfect then grabs a chair but misses Hogan and hits the ring post. Both men inside and Hogan gets a small package for two. Perfect in complete control and he tags in Genius for about 30 seconds before another tag is made.
Perfect hits the Perfect Plex on Hogan and goes for the pin. However, instead of letting the ref count the three, Perfect stops the count at two and decides he wants to let Genius get another win on the champ. Genius gets the tag and figures he’ll go for a moonsault, but Hogan gets the knees up. Perfect then goes up top for his own move but Hogan puts the foot up before making the hot tag to Warrior. Pure craziness from Warrior and that leads to weird sequence where Hogan comes in and hits the leg drop to pin Genius at 8:02. All four men start to brawl after the match and Warrior starts clotheslining everyone in sight, and yes, that includes accidentally giving Hogan a clothesline. Warrior tries to apologize but Hogan pushes him and they go head to head. Another fun match with a hot crowd, and the angle obviously helped set up the big match.
• Rating: ***1/4
VIDEO: We recap Jake Roberts stealing Ted DiBiase’s million dollar belt.
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene with Roberts. Gene wants to know where the belt is, but Roberts isn’t having it.
BACKSTAGE: Jesse with Greg Valentine and Jimmy Hart. They hype the upcoming match.
Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts vs. Greg Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)
Roberts reveals that the belt is indeed in the bag with Damien. Valentine retreats outside rather quickly before going back in to go to work on Roberts. Valentine drops the elbow but it only gets a two count. Some groundwork from Valentine before another near fall. Roberts starts fighting back and hits the short-arm clothesline. He calls for the DDT but Valentine reverses it and then calls for the Figure Four. Hart jumps on the apron to offer some encouragement, and that leads to Roberts kicking Valentine to send him into Hart. Jake then hits the DDT but here comes DiBiase and Virgil to make it a DQ at 5:16. DiBiase attacks as Virgil goes after the bag, but Roberts bounces back and brings Damien out to play. This match was there simply to set up the angle, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Jesse with Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan. It doesn’t take Heenan long before he’s making fat jokes about Sapphire, and this was clearly 1990. Rude says he’s the man the women want, and Sapphire will come to him. Jesse says he wouldn’t put his hands on her, and Rude replies ‘who said anything about hands?’ RICK IS REFERRING TO HIS PENIS, FOLKS.
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire. She says Rude can’t compare to Dusty. She’s not wrong there. Dusty brags a bit after that.
Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Dusty Rhodes (w/Sapphire)
Rude attacks right off the bat but Dusty quickly reverses the momentum. Dusty in complete control until he misses an elbow drop. Rude goes for the headlock as Heenan goes over to yell at Sapphire. Dusty goes back on offense with a back body drop and some punches before he goes out to make the save. Rude then gets up and nails Dusty. The ref decides he’s had enough of Heenan’s shenanigans, so he sends both him and Sapphire to the back. But while Rude is on offense, we see Sapphire make her way to the front row as she apparently bought a ticket after being thrown out by the ref.
Arm lock from Rude until he notices Sapphire. We work to both men running into each other, and then Rude goes up top but gets nailed in the midsection by Dusty. Rude with the rake to the face as he delivers a few punches. Sapphire taunts Rude and he goes out and grabs her. That leads Dusty out to start brawling up the aisle and we get the double countout at 9:04. Not much to this one.
• Rating: **
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene with Earthquake, Dino Bravo, and Jimmy Hart. They verbally abuse Ronnie Garvin.
Ronnie Garvin vs. Dino Bravo (w/Earthquake and Jimmy Hart)
This isn’t a submission match, so Garvin can go for as many pins as he wants. Bravo with some early knees and he sends Garvin outside where Earthquake gets a few shots in. Big elbow drop from Bravo for a two count. Another set of elbow drops by Bravo misses three in a row as Garvin moves out of the way. Rugged right hands from Garvin and a back body drop. Hart gets on the apron and Garvin brings him in and throws him out onto Earthquake. Bravo slings Garvin out but he gets back in and goes up top. Garvin off the top rope, but Bravo reverses it for the pin at 3:19. Earthquake completely destroys Garvin after the match and the stretcher comes out for him. Squash.
• Rating: *
BACKSTAGE: Jesse with Savage. They hype the upcoming title match against Hogan, with Mike Tyson slated as the guest referee. Of course, this match would still happen, but it would be with Buster Douglas as the replacement ref after he knocked out Tyson in their classic boxing match. Savage basically says he’s gonna obliterate Hogan.
BACKSTAGE: Mean Gene with Hogan. He talks about how Tyson will be a great ref. Hogan then says he’s gonna beat Savage.
VIDEO: Jesse tells Vince that Tyson better call it down the middle.
SHOW SUMMARY
Fun show that set the stage for the mega main event at WrestleMania VI while also advancing some other feuds.
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