WWE – The Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event – Disc Three
Released: 2/10/2009

Your host is Gene Okerlund.

And we have come to 1990. Well, almost. On the last episode of SNME of the ’80s, The Genius beats the WWF champion Hulk Hogan by countout. To make things worse, Mr. Perfect and the Genius stole Hogan’s title and smashed it into smithereens. Perfect suggests that the WWF title belt can only be perfect when its around *his* waist. Until he gets a title shot, he’s going to keep breaking up Hogan’s belts. I still love it! After a commercial break, Mean Gene gets a hold of what remains of the WWF title belt and hands it to Hulk Hogan. Hulk says he could not love a human baby more than the WWF title. Well, so to speak. Seeing the title in this shape causes his soul to die. EMO HULK~!

• Mr. Perfect & The Genius vs. Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior – Saturday Night’s Main Event #25 (01.27.90)

Before the match backstage, Jesse talks it up with Perfect and Genius about how the Hogan/Warrior team is too consumed with their own ego to make for a good team. They show some clips of the Hogan/Warrior Perfect bumps around like crazy for Hogan to start, then bumps around like crazy for Warrior. Genius gets tired of it and grabs his slate and begins to write down something while he’s on the apron. Hogan puts Perfect out on the floor with a Big Boot, so Genius slips him the metal slate. Hogan goes out after Perfect and gets waffled with the face! Jesse ~ “That’s poetry in motion!” I bet Jeff Hardy would beg to differ. Perfect tries to take his head off with a chair, but Hogan ducks out of the way. Back in, Perfect stomps away and then delivers the neck snap. Genius tags in for more stomping before tagging in Perfect for an assisted double-sledge. Genius prances around the ring to piss off Warrior. I don’t think I can imagine what would be going through his head at that moment. Perfect delivers some more stomps on Hogan and then looks to finish off Hogan with the PERFECTPLEX for 1-2-NO! What? Perfect stopped the count and tags in Genius for a top-rope moonsault, but Hogan gets the knees up. Perfect tries something off the top, but Hogan gets up his foot up. Hot tag to Warrior! He goes nuts on Perfect and then gives Genius a GORILLA PRESS SLAM to set up the Hogan LEG DROP for 1-2-3. (7:51) Total one-sided affair. Genius and Perfect attack after the match. Warrior starts swinging at everything that moves, including Hulk Hogan. Warrior tries to help Hogan up and apologize, but Hogan shoves him away. Warrior shoves back and they get in each other’s faces for the flash bulb moment. *

At the next SNME show in April, Vince and Jesse riding around INSIDE the arena on some horses. Jerry Lawler thought it was great because it epitomized showmanship. Joey Styles thought it was hysterical. Santino thinks they just wanted attention.

• Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Perfect (w/The Genius) – Saturday Night’s Main Event #28 (04.28.90)

Will Hogan’s loss at WrestleMania hold him back, or is he more motivated than ever? Can he wrap up this feud with Perfect, or will Perfect prevail against the battered Hulkster? We’re about to find out all those answers in just one match! Perfect won the IC title in a tournament finals match earlier in the day by defeating Tito Santana during a Superstars taping even though that match would not air until mid-May. Hogan overpowers Perfect to start. Perfect bails and comes back in to take over. That is, until Hogan reverses a whip and goes for the Big Boot. Perfect puts the brakes on just in time and heads out to the floor again. Hogan goes out and brings Perfect away from Genius and tosses him into the ringpost. Back in, Hogan hits the running clothesline followed by the running corner clothesline. A couple more clotheslines puts Perfect back out on the floor, which leads to Genius sneaking Perfect his scroll to clobber Hogan. Perfect takes Hulk to the guardrail and brings him back in for the running neck snap. Hogan looks to mount a comeback, but he ducks low off a whip and gets kicked in the teeth. It’s PERFECTPLEX time! He gets 1-2-NO! HULK UP, Big Boot, LEG DROP! It’s over. (7:57) It’s back to business as usual. Not as good as I remembered it, but not too shabby either. **

The Rick Martel ‘Arrogance’ ad airs.

• The Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers – Saturday Night’s Main Event #28 (04.28.90)

Both teams want tag title shots, so it only makes sense they would be facing each other. Back and forth stuff to start with Bret nearly pinning Shawn after rolling through a flying crossbody. The Rockers deliver a double-team Russian legsweep, but then kip up into a double-clothesline from Neidhart! Neidhart tags in and shoulderblocks the Rockers all over the ring. He tries a slam on Shawn, but Shawn slips away and catches him with a dropkick for two. Shawn tries a crossbody, but Neidhart catches him for a slam. Shawn comes off the ropes for Bret to stick in that knee off the apron. Neidhart follows up with a SICK backdrop and then tags in Bret. He whips Shawn from corner to corner and tags in Neidhart for a double-whip shoulder-ram in the corner for 1-2-NO! Shawn tries to come back with a sunset flip on Bret for two as Demolition makes their way down to ringside. Bret hits a backbreaker and spots the champs, so Shawn dropkicks Bret out in front of them. Back in, Bret continues to control Shawn. Bret tries an elbow drop from the middle rope, but he misses to set up the HOT TAG TO JANNETTY! Jannetty hits a powerslam and then delivers a Jack Brisco rollup out of the corner for 1-2-NO! He ducks low off a whip though and Bret catches him with a swinging neckbreaker. Neidhart tags for a slingshot splash, but Jannetty rolls out of the way and tags in Shawn. Anvil puts a stop to Shawn’s momentum with a shoulderblock, which Shawn sells like he just got hit by a school bus going 90 mph downhill for 1-2-NO! Shawn surprises Neidhart with a back elbow for two, but then gets caught by Neidhart coming out of the corner. Michaels powers Neidhart down for 1-2-NO! Anvil presses Michaels out to the floor in front of Demolition. They toss him back in, but Jannetty doesn’t like that one bit and starts fighting with Smash. Now Ax gets in the ring and we’ve got a six-man brawl going down now as the ref throws the match out. (9:17) Great match that should’ve had a finish. ***½

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Tito Santana – Saturday Night’s Main Event #27 (07.28.90)
  

Santana starts off by delivering a pair of hiptosses and then dropkicks Perfect out to the floor. Santana brings him back in, but ducks low off a whip and gets dropped with a clothesline. Perfect hits a knee-lift and Santana starts to punch back, but Perfect puts him down with a slam. Santana punches out of a neck vice and brings his foot up off a corner charge from Perfect. Tito catches Perfect with a clothesline for the crazy flip sell. Perfect begs away, but gets nailed and falls on the ref’s ankle. Santana starts kicking Perfect up against the ropes to do more insane flipping to set up the FIGURE-FOUR! The ref is nowhere near to check on Perfect, so Tito releases the hold to check on Hebner. Santana spots Perfect getting back to his feet and clobbers him with the FLYING JALAPENO! He covers as the ref crawls over for 1-2-NO! Santana comes off the middle rope with a clothesline and covers again for 1-2-NO! Since Hebner could be costing Tito the title, he calls out another ref to replace Hebner. Santana drills Perfect with a crossbody block for 1-2-NO! Perfect gets up and nails Tito to set up the rolling neck snap. Santana fights back and slings Perfect by the hair and gets split on the ringpost. A pair of atomic drops and a clothesline later, Tito covers and gets 1-2-NO! Tito whips Perfect into the ropes, but he ducks low into the PERFECTPLEX! No! Tito counters with an inside cradle for 1-2-NO! Perfect shifts his weight and reverses the cradle for 1-2-3! (10:15) A very good match that made you believe Santana had a REAL chance at winning this thing. Especially since now Beefcake was out, they needed a new credible challenger for SummerSlam. ***½

Onto the 10/90 Oktoberfest edition of SNME. Where sausage stuffing contests test how flagrantly gay you are, and beer drinking contests test how manly you are. Joey Styles hopes there will be an Oktoberfest themed show some time while he works for WWE. Have you lost your mind, man?

• 20-Man Battle Royal – Saturday Night’s Main Event #29 (04.27.91)

Because of the declining ratings, this is from the final SNME episode to air on NBC until the reboot in 2006 as SNME would switch over to FOX for the final two episodes. The entrants are Barbarian, Big Bossman, Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Haku, Hercules, Hulk Hogan, Kato, Tanaka, Jake Roberts, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Mr. Perfect, Paul Roma, Davey Boy Smith, Jimmy Snuka, Tugboat, Greg Valentine, Warlord and Kerry Von Erich. Earthquake’s already squashed Damien and made Jake real sad, so that’s one of the big meetings going down here. Everybody goes CRAZY on each other to start. Hogan and Jake double-team Earthquake a little bit here and there. Marty skins-the-cat and headscissors Roma to the floor just to show off. Before he can get back in, Roma beats him down onto the floor. Hogan pulls off some wrist tape and chokes on Earthquake with it. That’s just what a good babyface would do, right? Perfect nearly gets thrown out by Hogan and Davey Boy in dramatic fashion, but Earthquake saves him. Crowd wants a DDT on Earthquake, but Jake can’t deliver and gets backed into a corner. Shawn nearly gets tossed out by like SIX guys, but he still manages to fight them off. Much like Perfect at the ’90 Rumble, he continues on with more great near-eliminations. Warlord sends Davey Boy out to the floor. Moments later, Haku eliminates Tanaka and Snuka. While Roberts is trying to throw out Hercules, Earthquake runs by and sledges Roberts out to the floor. Earthquake fights off Hulk and Valentine, but then turns around and sees Lucifer (Jake’s new snake), which gets him all freaked out. Hogan and Tugboat get into it a bit to signal an eventual heel turn. Warlord comes by to put a stop to that, so Hogan quickly tosses him out to the floor. Kerry Von Erich jumps on Barbarian’s back for a sleeper and gets dumped for it. Duggan HOOOS once too often and gets thrown out to the floor by Earthquake. Hogan grabs Earthquake though and tosses him out to the floor without much of a problem. Hogan lifts up Kato to throw him out, but then Tugboat comes by and scoops out Hogan along with him, but then Shawn Michaels runs by and knocks Tugboat out too. What? Bossman whips Hercules into the ropes and he falls out to the floor. We’re down to six now. Bossman looks to clothesline Barbarian out, but Perfect dropkicks him from the back into a backdrop from Barbarian to put him away. Heel miscommunication between Perfect and Haku gets Haku dropkicked by Shawn out to the floor.

Final Four: Perfect, Shawn, Barbarian, and Valentine. Shawn goes right after Perfect while Valentine chops away on Barbarian. Perfect nearly gets thrown out, but falls on the apron and slides back in the ring. Like an idiot though, Shawn tries a Flair corner flip and gets nailed off the apron by Perfect. I mean, duh Shawn. Valentine looks to be sacrificing Barbarian over in the corner. Valentine does okay against them both, but only for a moment as the numbers game takes over. I think we all know where this is going though if you’ve ever seen a battle royal. More heel miscommunication gets Barbarian kicked out to the floor. Valentine wins a chopfest and atomic drops Perfect all over the ring. Valentine attempts to toss out Perfect, but Perfect slides under the bottom rope again. So Valentine tries to power him over, but Perfect pulls Valentine out with him and doesn’t let both of his feet touch the floor to win the whole thing. (12:55) What a hot finish that was. It reminded me of the Angle/Guerrero finish to the Smackdown Royal Rumble from ’04 that rocked the hizzouse. Sure, it was a mid-card battle royal with Hogan stuck in there, but it was good fun. ***

• Ted DiBiase (w/Sensational Sherri) vs. Bret Hart – Saturday Night’s Main Event #29 (04.27.91)

I am excited. Roddy Piper has joined Vince and Randy on commentary for this one. DiBiase starts off punching away, but Bret comes back with a hiptoss and clotheslines as he gets tossed out to the floor. Bret follows him out with a pescado and continues with punches! Back in, Bret grabs a headlock. DiBiase shoves him off into the ropes, but Sherri trips him up. She gets pulled up on the apron, but Bret avoids a running knee from DiBiase and lets Sherri take the blow. Bret rolls him up for 1-2-NO! DiBiase catches Bret coming off the ropes and drops him for a hotshot to take over. Piledriver gets 1-2-NO! Bret slips out of a slam though and goes for a rollup off the ropes, but DiBiase ducks and lets Bret fly out to the floor. DiBiase slams Bret’s face into the steps to make it easy for Sherri before tossing Bret back in the ring. The heels choke the crap out of Bret for a while. DiBiase whips Bret into the corner for his chest-first bump to set up the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM, but Bret backs DiBiase into the corner for the break. DiBiase comes off the top and gets nailed on the way down. Bret wins a slugfest and hits the Russian legsweep for 1-2-NO! Backbreaker/flying vertical elbow drop follows for 1-2-NO! Sherri trips up Bret again, so he goes out after her. DiBiase nails Bret and brings him back in as Piper leaves the announcers table and heads to ringside. He starts to chase Sherri away and then pulls out a broom from underneath the ring. Piper beats her with it and chases her back to the dressing room. DiBiase goes out to the floor too and Bret follows him out for the big double-countout. (9:56) Great match with a rather silly finish. Not must-see, but still great. ***¼

Okerlund makes the switch over to FOX sound like it was in a bidding war between the networks. That’s a laugh.

• Ric Flair & The Undertaker (w/Mr. Perfect & Paul Bearer) vs. Hulk Hogan & Sid Justice (w/Brutus Beefcake) – Saturday Night’s Main Event #30 (02.08.92)

Sid was such a better heel than a face, regardless of how many people cheered him. Brutus is Hogan’s best friend with benefits, which is why he’s out here. Sid starts off hot and heavy on Flair until he bails and Hogan gets a tag. Hogan hiptosses Flair and then hiptosses Undertaker. Taker and Sid tag in and we get an early preview to the main event at WrestleMania 13. WHO KNEW? Hogan tags back in and clotheslines the heels out. Sid comes in, but ducks low off a whip. Hogan tries to save him, but that just causes Sid to be double-teamed with a double-atomic drop for 1-2-NO! Hogan saves and a big brawl erupts, but then Taker regains control and puts Sid in his own corner and tags Flair. Sid becomes face-in-peril for a bit until he counters a double-teamed slam into a double-noggin knocker. Hogan gets the tag and cleans house until Perfect grabs his leg from the floor, which gives Flair an open kick on Hogan’s knee. Flair does a little work on the knee and then quickly applies the FIGURE-FOUR. Surely Sid will help Hogan out, right? Nope, not this time. Hogan reverses the Figure-Four, but the tag to Sid is cut off by Taker. He hits the Jumping Lariat and tags in Flair. He heads up top, and naturally gets slammed down. Hogan starts to crawl towards his corner, but Sid ain’t reaching for no tag. Nuh uh. Hogan gets stuck in the heel corner, but HULKS UP and out with a double-clothesline on the heels. Hogan pleads for a tag, but Sid won’t do it and starts heading for the locker room. Beefcake tries to persuade Sid to turn around and help out the Hulkster, but he screams that “Hogan needs to help himself.” Meanwhile, the double-team beatdown gets out of hand as Flair throws Earl Hebner aside for the DQ. (10:57) Beefcake’s in the ring now, but he can’t help out. His face has screws in it! He doesn’t physically help out, but he baits Taker and Flair in for clotheslines from Hogan to send them out of here. The following interview explains Sid’s actions and sets up the new WrestleMania 8 main event. Well, one of the main events. **½

We see clips of the Piper/Mountie rematch from the Royal Rumble on the 2/92 SNME show.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Davey Boy Smith vs. Shawn Michaels – Saturday Night’s Main Event #31 (11.14.92)

It’s put up or shut up for Shawn, as he’s been chasing the IC belt for nearly six months now. DBS overpowers Shawn early using his steroid power to withstand tie-ups and shoulderblocks. Shawn outsmarts Bulldog because let’s face it; steroids don’t do much for your brains. Shawn slides underneath him and then pops Bulldog in the face. Bulldog puts on the brakes off a hiptoss, so Shawn flips off his head and gets that hiptoss anyway to set up a short-arm scissors. Davey Boy tries to lift HBK out of it and hurts his back on the first try, but lifts and slams him down on the second try. Press slam follows and Shawn is out on the floor because man does his back hurt. Back in, Shawn cheapshots Davey Boy in the corner. Davey spins out of a couple catapult attempts and then hooks an armbar. Shawn goes to the eyes to escape that, but then gets run down with a shoulderblock. He’s still able to sidestep a charge to send DBS crashing out on the floor. While the ref is counting, Shawn goes over and unties a top turnbuckle pad. Once Bulldog’s back in, Shawn stomps on the back and then hooks an abdominal stretch. DBS hiptosses out, but misses an elbow drop for two. Shawn goes back to the ab stretch, but Davey hiptosses out AGAIN and this time, connects with the elbow drop. He whips Shawn into the corner for his patented corner flip. DBS delivers a catapult and then drills him with a clothesline, but hesitates the pin and only gets two. Delayed suplex gets another two. DBS goes for a cross-corner whip into the exposed turnbuckle, but Shawn reverses it and sends Davey Boy into it instead. Both men are down. Now Shawn goes for a cross-corner whip, but Bulldog reverses and sends Shawn in all the way up to the top rope. DBS wants a superplex, but his back gives out and Shawn falls on top for the 1-2-3! (10:25) Like a gentleman, Shawn puts the turnbuckle pad back where it belongs. History is made, and Shawn earns his first televised title win. Of course I’m alluding to the crazy Rockers tag title win two years earlier. Great match, by the way, and Davey Boy Smith’s last match in the WWF for two years. He would debut in WCW at Superbrawl. ***½

Thirteen years earlier, WWE returns again to NBC.

• Shawn Michaels vs. Shane McMahon – Street Fight (Saturday Night’s Main Event #32 – 03.18.06)

Shawn interrupts Shane’s entrance and beats him down to ringside. HBK nails Shane with a chair and then sets up a table out on the floor. Shane reverses a whip into the steel ringpost. Meanwhile, Vince comes down to cheer on his son. Vince sets another table up beside the other one while Shane brings a ladder into the ring. Shane takes HBK and drives him spine-first into the ringpost a couple times. Shane slides in to set up the ladder in near the ropes. Vince lays HBK on the table as Shane ascends the ladder. Shawn thumbs Vince in the eye and then catches Shane up on the top of the ladder in order to SUPERPLEX Shane from the TOP OF THE LADDER thru the TABLES! INCREDIBLE! We got to go to a break after that one. We come back to Shawn holding Shane down in a front facelock in the middle of the ring. Shawn’s back looks to be killing him from that bump, but he goes for a slam anyways to set up the elbow drop. Shawn climbs the ladder that’s still in the ring, but Vince knocks him off the ladder from behind with a kendo stick. Shane folds the ladder up and drives it into Shawn’s back not once, but twice. For the third time, Shane wants to run and ram HBK with it. He connects with it right across his forehead! Shane covers for a near-fall! Shane applies a modified surfboard on HBK. Shawn fights up after a minute or so and reverses the hold. Vince gets up on the apron, so Shawn releases the hold to go swing at him. Shawn turns around into a hurricane-DDT from Shane! Shane covers again, but it only gets two! Shane grabs a chair and waits for Shawn to get up and turn around to take it in the face! Shane nails him good! He drags HBK over to a corner to set him up for the VAN-TERMINATOR while Vince holds a trash can in front of Shawn’s face! Shawn slips away just in time and slides the trash can in between the middle and bottom ropes to catch Vince in the face! Vince is out cold! Shawn hits his usual, including SWEET CHIN MUSIC to put Shane away. HBK covers, but Vince pulls the ref out at two! HBK goes out and throws Vince into the ring, but Shane stops that with a low-blow. Shane slaps on a SHARPSHOOTER so that Vince can screw Michaels by telling the timekeeper to ring the bell and having Lillian Garcia announce Shane the winner by submission. (16:42) It had some good spots, but by the end of it, it just felt like a weekly Raw main event screwjob. **½

They show Randy Orton giving Hulk Hogan an RKO on the trunk lid of his own car from the 7/06 SNME show, leading to their match at SummerSlam.

• DeGeneration-X vs. Spirit Squad – 5-on-2 Handicap Elimination Match (Saturday Night’s Main Event #33 – 07.15.06)

Shawn gets outnumbered and beat down in the corner until the megaphone comes into play where he avoids a shot and then clears the ring of the SS with it. The SS huddle out on the floor to rethink their strategy, so Hunter comes over and blows an air horn to break it up. Where did he get an air horn? Mitch’s sneak attack on Shawn fails and he takes a superkick to be the first eliminated. Commercial time! We come back to the Squad getting PWNED by dX. Johnny takes a Triple H spinebuster to get eliminated. Kenny hooks up with Michaels and then decides to take a walk. Shawn goes out after him, but it was all a trap as Vince comes out of nowhere and delivers a chairshot to Shawn’s back! Vince directs Kenny to take Shawn back down to the ring, so he does. Kenny tags in Mickey to take over. Shawn fights out of a sleeper with a back suplex. Kenny tags in but misses his GUILLOTINE LEG DROP. HOT TAG TO TRIPLE H! He throws out Mickey and tries a PEDIGREE on Kenny, but Mikey breaks it up. Triple H ducks a double-clothesline and delivers one of his own. PEDIGREE for Mickey and now he’s eliminated. Now it’s even at 2-on-2. Mikey eats a superkick out of nowhere as Triple H covers for the easy elimination. Triple H sets up Kenny for the HBK flying elbow and it connects. Shawn hits SWEET CHIN MUSIC on Kenny right into the PEDIGREE from Triple H for the win. (8:58) They made the Spirit Squad look like the single smallest threat the wrestling world has ever seen. Vince knocks out the referee and tries to unleash the SS on dX, but then Shawn superkicks him into the cage with them. ½*

• WWE Champion Edge (w/Lita) vs. John Cena – Saturday Night’s Main Event #33 (07.15.06)

Edge fakes a walk-out immediately and baits Cena out to the floor to beat him down. Back in, Cena charges at Edge on the apron and gets low-bridged out to the floor as we go to a break. Man, what’s with all the infomercials during this show? I feel like I’m watching TV at 3am or something. We return to Edge taking Cena down with a clothesline. Edge sets up Cena for a superplex and then botches it by slipping on the top rope! OUCH! Both men are down. They’re up at six trading blows. Edge delivers a clothesline and a yakuza kick to the face for 1, 2, NO! They’re trading blows again to “YAY!” and “BOO!” reactions from Dallas. Cena wins that and hits a pair of clotheslines. Next up, Cena delivers a shoulderblock and the Protobomb, followed by the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. He hits the FU, but Lita pulls the ref out of the ring. While Cena admonishes Lita, Edge sets up the SPEAR. Cena avoids it and applies the STFU! As the ref tries to get back in the ring, Lita pulls him out and pops him in the face. Even though Edge is tapping out, ref Mike Chioda calls for the bell anyway and DQ’s Edge. (7:55) Cena thinks he’s won until he hears the official word from the ring announcer and he cannot BELIEVE it. Cena may have won but he still takes a SPEAR before it’s all over. As Edge and Lita pose with the belt, Cena leaps out on top of Edge and beats the ever-living crap out of him. We close with Cena delivering an FU to Edge from the STEEL STEPS through an announce table! That was the moment of the night right there. **¼

Extras

Alfred Hayes & Gene Okerlund Go On Safari – This is from the 7/90 SNME show. It is what it is.
Shawn Michaels Talks About Winning His First Intercontinental Title
Matt Hardy Talks About Boxing Evander Holyfield

Final Thoughts: Maybe there’s not enough SNME skits and such (no Blow Away?), but the match selection is incredibly good. All the commentary is in place, so thank God there’s no Ventura edits. Everybody knows this show would not have been the same without him. If you were a fan of SNME or even the era, you HAVE to get this DVD set. You will not be disappointed as I do believe they put the best of the best on this set. Thumbs WAY up for the three-disc Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event DVD set.