Category: Wrestling

-Today we look at the first Saturday Night’s Main Event for 1988.
-SNME XIV was broadcast on NBC on January 2, 1988. It was tapes December 7, 1987 from the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.
-I was 9 and 2 weeks away from turning 10 when this aired. As I record this, I just had my birthday this past week. It was birthdays and business as usual at my job. This is the third busiest time for my job and due to some personnel decisions, I have been doing more than usual.
-Birthdays.
-Jake Roberts says 1988 is a new year for him and Damien. He invites Sika and Mr. Fuji to a New Year’s party where he’s going to change their future.
-Greg Valentine and new/old manager Jimmy Hart say when you combine Koko B. Ware and Frankie you get one bird and one bird brain.
-Strike Force says Bolsheviks beware!
-Slick and The Bolsheviks say there’s going to be a new Russian Revolution.
-King Kong Bundy, Bobby Heenan, and Andre The Giant say that Andre will officially be in the corner of King Kong Bundy. Bundymania Lives!
-Hulk Hogan Says Bundymania makes him sick. Hulkamania lives forever!
-Opening Credits.
-Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura welcome us and Jesse has to say his own Happy New Year greeting. They then run down the card for the night.
-Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan who’s getting ready. Hogan says the only way his New Year gets any better is if he could get his hands on the big, stinky Giant.
-Mean Gene then interviews The Bolsheviks and Slick: Slick says he and The Bolsheviks had a meeting with Gorbachev and they have a game plan. He says The Bolsheviks are peaceful not capitalistic.
-Slick says Gordy and not Gorby and Vince calls him out on it.
-WWF Tag Team Championship Match 2/3 Falls: Strike Force Tito Santana and Rick Martel VS. The Bolsheviks Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov with Slick: Nikolai does the Russian National Anthem gimmick. They flashback to how Strike Force won the titles from The Hart Foundation.
-Mean Gene interviews Strike Force. They say this is the year of Strike Force.
-First Fall: Quick tags by Strike Force. The Bolsheviks slow it down and hit some power moves. Rick Martel makes Boris Zhukov submit to the Boston Crab.
-Second Fall: Volkoff and Zhukov hit power moves again. Back and forth. Slick then throws his cane to Volkoff to hit Santana, but he ducks and Zhukov gets hit instead and Santana pins him.
-Mean Gene interviews Mr. Fuji and Sika. They have a long bread roll and a jar of mustard. They say Damien is dinner.
-Mean Gen interviews Jake Roberts. He says he’s not worried because you have to respect Damien and the DDT.
-Sika with Mr. Fuji VS. Jake Roberts with Damien: Roberts is quick here, but Sika is too powerful to be moved. Fuji attacks Roberts with the cane. Sika gets Roberts in the corner and charges, but Jake moves then rolls Sika up for the pin. Jake then DDT’s Mr. Fuji and then puts Damien on him.
-Mean Gene interviews Bobby Heenan, King Kong Bundy, and Andre The Giant. Heenan says per doctors’ orders, he can’t be at ringside, but Andre will be at ringside. Bundymania lives! They flashback to the last SNME and the Bobby Heenan/Hulk Hogan confrontation and attack.
-Mean Gene then interviews Hulk Hogan. He says lightning struck once in 1987 when King Kong Bundy won, but he says Ronald Reagan is a Hulkamaniac, so he will win. A lot of political talk here since we are so close to Washington, D.C.
-WWF Heavyweight Championship Match: Hulk Hogan VS. King Kong Bundy with Andre The Giant: Hogan come out hot. They go back and forth. Bundy takes control. He subtly cheats. Hogan slams him, but he’s hurt. Hogan hulks up! Bundy charges, the ref gets in the way accidentally and gets knocked out. Bundy gets knocked outside. Other refs come down to check on the fallen ref. He gets taken away as the match continues. Hogan gets knocked outside of the ring. He does get back in as Bundy takes over again. He hits two avalanches. Hogan kicks out. He Hulks up, hits the leg drop, and pins Bundy. Andre come in. and Hogan taunts him. Andre backs down. Hogan must pose! Andre comes back in and head butts and chokes out Hogan. The British Bulldogs come out to help and get manhandled then Andre goes back to Hogan. More wrestlers come out and they struggle to get him off. Hacksaw Jim Duggan hits Andre with the 2×4. That does it. Hogan gets carried out.
-Jesse interviews Jimmy Hart and Greg Valentine. Valentine is happy being back with Jimmy Hart.
-Mean Gene interviews Koko B. Ware and Frankie. Koko says Valentine and Hart are featherweights.
-Koko B. Ware with Frankie VS. Greg Valentine with Jimmy Hart: Valentine attacks early. Koko tries to fight back. Brutus Beefcake comes down to ringside. Referee Joey Marella tells him that he has to leave. Greg Valentine Dominates again. Back and forth. Valentine gets the figure four on Koko and Koko submits. Beefcake comes back down and chases Valentine to the back. Beefcake then comes back and cuts some of Jimmy Hart’s hair.
-They replay the Andre attack on Hulk Hogan.
-Mean Gene interviews Bobby Heenan and Andre The Giant. Andre says he enjoyed himself. Heenan says Andre’s going to choke the belt away. He then says he is close to clinching a deal for Andre.
-Mean Gene is then back talking to Jesse Ventura, who loved the attack on Hogan. They say Hogan has a damaged windpipe.
-Vince, Jesse, and Mean Gene then close out the show.