Hiatus-ish

So I'm currently having a discrepancy about payment to the WWE Network (as in, they stopped giving it to me for free), so I'm exploring my options for finishing my Saturday Night's Main Event reviews. Between the best of sets they've released, SNMEs I have and some of the matches being available elsewhere, I'm reviewing the matches as I find them. I may just post a review of the Best of DVD set from about a decade ago, since I've done every show up to July 1989 and can get ones I still need to do from there. I'll keep you posted. Oh, and my second podcast (the one about NBC Main Event #1), is now available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imWp1oM8Qe0&t=2s .

Saturday Night's Main Event #22- Going for the Gold

Randy "Macho Man" Savage wants to invite Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake to a summer barbecue. He's going to give Savage his special summer short cut. Sherri can sweep up the hair with her broom. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and the Brainbusters are going to celebrate summer by winning the tag team championship. The Honky Tonk Man is ready for the fall- Hulk Hogan's fall. Hogan says a whole bunch of things, and ends by telling Honky to remember- he ain't nothin' but a hound dog.

From Worchester, Mass. We see the Honky Tonk Man's greatest hits, where he wallups all of his rivals with his guitar. Jake Roberts' is really bad now knowing it legitimately hurt him. "Mean" Gene Okerlund then talks to Honky. He's going to be the greatest WWF champion of all time. 

WWF championship match, The Honky Tonk Man vs. Hulk Hogan (c)- Gene works in "Suspicious Mind" in his interview with Hogan. It's laughable HTM is getting a title shot here; he had zero credibility once he lost the Intercontiental title to Warrior, even less than when he was champion. Honky swings the guitar and misses, and Hogan pulls him outside. He batters Honky in the aisle, and Hart jumps on his back. Hulk walks back into the ring carrying Hart, and rams him into the corner. He then evades a Honky guitar shot. He rams HTM from corner to corner, and hits a clothesline. Hulk punches him, Honky misses a punch and gets atomic dropped. Hulk finally rips off his shirt, and Hulk and Hart play tug of war with Honky's arms. Noggins are then knocked in the ring, and Honky bails. Hulk menaces Honky outside, and Hart hits Hogan in the back with the guitar (though doesn't break it). Honky hits an axehandle, and rolls Hogan back in. Honky works over the back, and gets a camel clutch. Hogan stands up and rams Honky head-first to a buckle. Honky then hits a clothesline, and tries for the shake rattle and roll. He gets it, but doesn't cover. When he finally covers Hogan kicks out with authority and begins Hulking Up. A big boot knocks Honky to the floor. Hart tries a guitar shot again, and Hogan hits Hart and Honky with it. Back in Hogan gets a big boot and legdrop for the win. * That should've been a disqualification. 

After a break Hogan is still posing. "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin wanders down and gets in the ring in his referee clothes. He raises Hogan's arm. We then see footage of the Garvin-Valetine retirement match, which Garvin lost. We then see Garvin getting provoked and then knocking out heels as a ref. After a brawl with Dino "The Worst" Bravo, WWF President Jack Tunney chides Garvin.

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine- Hammer attacks at the bell. He hits a running forearm, then chokes Snuka on the ropes. Snuka ducks a clothesline, leapfrogs Valentine, then hits a chop. He then hits a flying headbutt, but one off of the middle buckle eats knees (and shinguard). Valentine drops elbows for two. Valentine kicks Snuka in the chest, which knocks him to the floor. Valentine kicked him down when he tried to reenter the ring thrice. Garvin then shoves Valentine. As they argue Superfly goes to the top, Garvin hits Valentine, and Superfly hits a bodypress for the win. 1/2* Valentine went to clothesline Garvin, but got backdropped to the floor. I know the Valentine-Garvin blowoff wasn't until Royal Rumble '90, so I feel like this angle continues for awhile longer. Maybe Garvin becomes a ring announcer after this?

We see footage from the Brother Love Show, with Sherri berating Brutus Beefcake, and Savage jumps him from behind. They then cut Beefer's hair. 

Jesse Ventura interviews Savage, who is wearing like a kimono with his picture on the back. Sherri is proud of her man, but Savage decrees this match is for him tonight. He also has a surprise for Beefcake tonight.

Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake- Gene talks to Beefcake, who hams it up despite his recent haircut. He then disses Scary Sherri. "That woman could scare the Z right off of Zeus' head." Brutus' hair is saying he's a cut above the rest. Drugs. Brutus chases everyone out of the ring by swinging his barber bag. Beefcake chases, and hits Savage with a shoulderblock and then tosses him over the top. Brutus then chases Sherri, and gets clobbered by Savage. Back in, Beefcake fires back and drops Savage, and chokes Macho with his coat. Beefcake ducks, catches Savage's foot, and axehandles him in the face for two. Savage rams his head to the buckles, but misses a charge to the corner. Beefcake hits a flying bodypress for two. Sherri goes on the apron to distract Brutus, but he cuts off a Savage attack. Beefer hits the high knee for two. Savage goes for his butt splash (with Brutus laying on the bottom rope) but misses. Brutus knocks him to the floor with a high knee. Brutus heads out, and Savage puts Sherri between he and Beefcake. Brutus rolls Savage back in, and Sherri grabs his ankle for a Savage shot. Savage throws him to the floor, and hits an axehandle. Sherri then kicks him on the floor. Savage holds him for a kick. Sherri distracts the official while Brutus has Savage rolled up. After that a Brutus backslide gets a two count. Savage chokes Beefcake, and Sherri follows suit with her stocking. Points to her for then putting it back on. Savage jumps off with an axehandle, but Brutus hits him in the belly-welly. Savage evades a sleeper, but accidentally hits Sherri off of the apron. Beefcake misses a whatever and then Randy gets backdropped to the floor. On the outside he sends Sherri to the back. That seems familiar... 

After a break Savage misses a kneedrop, but hotshots Brutus for a two-count. Brutus sunset-flips Savage for two. He gets a sleeper but Zeus comes out and attacks Beefcake. (***, Beefcake by DQ). He puts Brutus in a bearhug, and Hogan hits Zeus in the back to break it. Zeus kind of no-sells the chairshot, in a clip that was used heavily to promote Summerslam '89. Hogan and Beefcake then wield chairs, and eventually the heels leave.

Savage says that was just a taste. Zeus tells Jesse that Hulk is nothing, and Brutus is less than nothing.

WWF tag team championship, 2 out of 3 falls, Brain Busters vs. Demolition- Ax begins with Blanchard, Tully rolls out but Smash throws him back. The Demos doubleteam Blanchard, and Ax battles both former Horsemen. After a Pier-6'er, the Busters bail to regroup. Arn headbutts Smash in the tummy, but Smash stomps him. The Demos doubleteam him, and then Tully gets the same. Arn then takes a beating, and Tully finally turns the tide. Arn gets two from a spinebuster. Ax comes in to even the sides, and Smash hits the Stun Gun on Blanchard to take the first fall.

Smash chokes AA to start Fall 2, and Ax lays in chops. Smash gets a neckvice on AA, and gets dropped on the top rope. AA finally gets free of the neck workin', and Tully chokes and catapaults Smash. Ax gets sent into AA's knee, and they doubleteam him into oblivacry. They switch in and out until Ax finally tags Smash. He bodyslams both Busters but the Demos won't heed warnings from the official and get disqualified. Keep that in mind. Andre the Giant also hobbles out.

Ax takes Blanchard down with elbows to start the third fall. Smash throws him out, and Tully gets more of the same when he returns to the ring. Blanchard then apparently thinks Arn's a Samoan wrestler, and he smashes Ax head-first into AA's noggin. Ax and AA collide, but Tully gets tagged and the Demos also switch off. Smash gets a clothesline on Blanchard, but Blanchard blocks a suplex attempt. Tully gets a chairshot (chair provided by Andre) on Smash for the fall, the win and the title. ***. 

Jesse, Haku and Rick Rude are waiting for Heenan, the Busters and Andre to return to celebrate.

Gene talks to Hogan and Beefcake.  

Jesse and Vince wrap things up, and promise the next episode will be in October. 

This was a good episode, with the Brain Busters becoming two-fed champions, and the Beefcake-Savage match was also quite good. There was also something fun about having the NWA World singles and tag team champions from Starrcade '87 here interracting with their WWF counterparts.