WWF Saturday Night's Main Event II Review

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event II Review
April 25, 2012 (edited October 30, 2021)
By Ryan Porzl

Event: Saturday Night's Main Event II
Tagline: None
Date: October 5, 1985
Location: East Rutherford, New Jersey
Live or Tape: Taped (October 3, 1985)
Arena: The Meadowlands Arena
Attendance: 8,000
Announcers: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Interviewers: “Mean” Gene Okerlund
Broadcast: NBC

"Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews Nikolai Volkoff and "Classy" Freddie Blassie as the fans chant “USA”. Okerlund says we may be on the brink of an international crisis before bringing up that earlier, Hogan told him that after this match, the Soviet flag will never flag in arenas across the United States. Volkoff says tonight, he'll beat Hogan for the title and bring the title back to Russia. He says if war comes, he won't feel guilty pushing the missile button. Blassie tells his fellow Americans beware because Volkoff always means what he says. Short and to the point.

Hulk Hogan says he wants his fellow Americans to rest easy because the Hulkster is here. He says Volkoff is no threat to him or America. Hogan says he gets hot at Volkoff waving the Russian flag across the country in front of young Americans but says after tonight when Hulkamania runs wild that only one flag will wave and that's the red, white, and blue for you. Ok promo.

Okerlund interviews Hillbilly Jim and Uncle Elmer about Elmer's wedding. Okerlund asks Jim if everything is taken care of and Jim says he hopes so because Elmer first has to wrestle then get married and then have a big reception. Okerlund asks Elmer if he's nervous but Elmer says he's a man on a mission of love. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper interrupts saying to Elmer if he was on a mission, he be the landing pad. He then asks who will marry him and says he saw a pig run through here as we go to intro. Didn't care for this.

Vince McMahon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura welcome us to the show.

Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan with Hogan saying Volkoff's singing is too much but the Russian flag is the limit as he can't stand our enemies flag in the ring and why he's carrying the red, white, and blue before promising the only flag at the end of the match with be the stars and stripes. A solid “USA!USA!USA!/Commies are bad” promo.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Nikolai Volkoff (w/"Classy" Freddie Blassie)- Volkoff jumps Hogan to start and rams him to the turnbuckles. Volkoff tears Hogan's shirt off and chokes him with it. Hogan continues to get worked on until he blocks a ram into the turnbuckles and rams Volkoff into the turnbuckles. Hogan whips Volkoff into the corner and follows with a clothesline to a pop. Hogan whips Volkoff to the ropes and comes off the other side with an ax bomber and drops an elbow to a pop. Headbutts follow, whips Volkoff to the ropes, and catches him a big boot sends Volkoff out of the ring and onto the timekeepers table. Hogan follows and rams Volkoff into the apron. Hogan grabs a headlock but Volkoff reverses by pushing Hogan into the ring post. Back in the ring, Volkoff works over the back with a forearm and stomp. Volkoff comes off with a double ax handle from the second turnbuckle onto the back. Big Backbreaker but Volkoff wastes time by yelling at fans to boos and only gets 2. Hogan gets whipped into the corner and falls to the canvas. Volkoff attempts a Canadian Backbreaker but Hogan back body drops out. Hogan tries to fight back but gets bodyslammed for 2. Hulk Up as Hogan no sells Volkoff's offense. Volkoff reverses an irish whip but misses an avalanche and falls to the canvas. Hogan finishes by coming of the ropes with the leg drop to retain at 5:17. Because Hogan is a Real American he takes Blassie's Soviet Flag and proceeds to spit on it and shine his boots with it while Ventura complains about America being a free country and it being disrespectful and I can't complain.

Thoughts: **1/2 Solid five minute TV match with the Hogan formula being used good. The action was solid and I liked Volkoff targeting the back to set up for the canadian backbreaker. The finish was also a little different than the usual “three punches, big boot, leg drop” sequence so that's cool. My only complaint was the aftermath as I hate watching babyface wrestlers trashing foreign countries flags as they come off like disrespectful, ignorant, scumbags. I'm fine with heels doing it because they're supposed to be assholes but babyfaces should act better than that and shouldn't sink to the heels level. I'm not saying the Soviet Union was a great place but I'm sure there were good people over there who don't deserve that.

Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan following his victory. Look, I love Hogan but do we need a third promo in 20 minutes? Anyway, Hogan says if you live this thing day and night, you can believe it just like his Hulkamaniacs but as for Volkoff, he tells him if he doesn't get the red, white, and blue will live forever, he'll explain it next time. Okerlund brings up the wedding. Hogan says after his victory, it's nice for the fans to see wrestlers are nice people, he can't wait, and heard Okerlund will play the keyboards. Ok promo.

Okerlund interviews Uncle Elmer, Hillbilly Jim, and Cousin Junior with Okerlund asking Elmer if he's more worried about the romance or the wrestling but Elmer says he's not worried at all. Jim asks what's the best wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation have to worry about? Not a thing. Okerlund asks Junior about dancing at the wedding and he says he will. Nothing special.

Uncle Elmer (w/Hillbilly Jim & Cousin Junior) vs. Jerry Valiant- This was during the peak of Vince's hillbilly fetish as he brought in several wrestlers and gave them hillbilly gimmicks. Jim was solid but everyone else for the most part were not needed and were 86'd by 1986 while Jim lived on. Anyway, outside his awful WWF run, Elmer is best known for working in the south as “Plowboy Frazier” mostly in the Tennessee area. Junior would mostly become known in the early 90s as Moondog Cujo in a version of the Moondogs tag team mostly competing in USWA where he had what Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Wrestling Observer Newsletter considered the Feud of the Year for 1992 as he teamed with Moondog Spot against Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Lawler. Valiant, meanwhile, was a former WWF Tag Team Champion with "brother" "Luscious" Johnny Valiant in 1979 but was a jobber by this point.

Valiant charges at Elmer but Elmer catches him with a bodyslam and gets the pin at 14 seconds. After the match ring announcer Howard Finkel announces a bullshit record of 6 seconds. What, 14 seconds wasn't good enough?

Thoughts: DUD Not much to say as it was a bodyslam and pin but the faster, the better.

We then get clips of the previous bullshit record King Kong Bundy set by defeating SD Jones from Wrestlemania in "9 Seconds" (the match was really 22 seconds).

Okerlund interviews the Hillbillies. Elmer says Valiant shouldn't have never taken his coat off. Pretty short and useless.

We get NBC President Brandon Tartikoff and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the crowd.

Ventura host his Body Shop Talk Show with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Ventura brings up Paul Orndorff being a former Heenan Family member which Heenan admits and how he took everything Orndorff had to the surface. Ventura asks if it's true that Orndorff fired Heenan to which Heenan said on national TV but only because he found out 30 seconds before that Heenan was going to dump him. Ventura brings up Heenan's bounty to which Heenan said Orndorff wanted him out of managing and wrestling so now, he wants Orndorff out of wrestling. Ventura asks why Heenan raised it from $25,000 to $50,000 with Heenan saying it's hard to get someone to do something in life for just $25,000. Ventura asks about Orndorff/Piper with Heenan saying he would gladly give the money to Piper. Heenan finishes by saying Orndorff isn't a bright guy and that he should retire. Short but good segment as Heenan and Ventura are usually entertaining and it never dragged which is good. The only thing was the bounty stuff never amounted to much since, as far as I know and read, I don't think anyone ever collected and it was eventually dropped.

Okerlund interviews "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff with Orndorff saying he saw and heard the Body Shop and tells Heenan he was the one who caused all this and was no good from the start. He then says that was all Heenan putting the bounty up and that Piper isn't man enough to do it as anybody with a dress ain't man enough to collect that bounty. Okerlund says Piper sounds like he's spending that money and Orndorff asks on what, more dresses? Okerlund suggests plumbing in Piper Manor to which Orndorff said the only thing Piper knows about plumbing is when he would skin dive for router rooter. An ok promo.

Okerlund then interviews "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and says Heenan doesn't always pay but Piper says if he doesn't then he'll rip Heenan's throat out. He's come here to get paid and get rid of some guy with baby oil on. He says he doesn't need to tell you how tough he is cause Orndorff knows how tough he is. Okerlund brings up the wedding and Piper says if Elmer gets married then we may get in twelve years five more Elmers and who the hell wants that? An entertaining promo which you would expect from Ho Rod.

Paul Orndorff vs. Roddy Piper- Story here is Orndorff and Piper were allies during much of 1984 and into 1985 all the while main eventing the first Wrestlemania against Hogan and T but botched interference from Orton cost them the match and afterwards, Piper and Orton abandoned Orndorff in the ring resulting in dissension and Orndorff turning babyface. Piper gets a special entrance with a bagpipe band.

Brawling to start which Orndorff wins. Piper gets whipped into the corner but rebounds with a clothesline. Running kick follows and Piper proceeds to slam Orndorff's head onto the canvas. The two start brawling again until Orndorff takes Piper down and hammers away. Piper comes back with a tackle and they rolls around fighting. Piper responds by raking the eyes and hits a DDT. Piper works over Orndorff until Orndorff rolls to the outside and Piper follows. Piper rams Orndorff on a table but misses a chair shot and Orndorff slams Piper's head into the table. Piper heads back to the ring as Orndorff throws a chair in, climbs the top turnbuckle, hits a bionic bionic elbow to a pop. Belly to back suplex follows and Orndorff continues to hammer on Piper until Piper comes back with an eyepoke and a running knee lift. Piper gets a side headlock but Orndorff whips him to the ropes with both colliding and falling to the canvas. Piper recovers first and goes for a splash but Orndorff gets his knees up. Orndorff hits a punch and comes off with a high crossbody and both fall out of the ring. Brawling resumes with Piper missing a chair shot and both are counted out at 4:01. Afterwards, the two continue to brawl to the back until Piper locks himself in a dressing room.

Thoughts: ***1/2 Fun and crazy match that left me wanting more. I really loved how these two just went at it and didn't care about using chairs and tables while keeping wrestling holds to a minimum as you really believe these two hate each other. The double count out makes sense as it wasn't about winning so much as inflicting damage on the opponent. The selling was good as these two staggered and bumped around like they were in a fight. Even though they got a lot in 4 minutes, I wish it went a little longer but I can understand as they couldn't keep that pace going. This match begged for a rematch on another SNME or PPV but sadly none would occur. If 80s wrestling was a little like 90s/00s wrestling, I could've seen this eventually lead to an amazing, bloody last man standing type match.

We now have the infamous Uncle Elmer wedding. This is dull but Ventura does help as he's funny with his peanut gallery commentary. Eventually Roddy Piper comes out and as Ventura puts it best, saves the day until Hogan tells him to leave and they are married. Not much to say outside of Ventura's commentary as it's a wedding without most of the wrestling tropes besides Piper briefly interrupting. Apparently, the wedding was legit and on a plus side, they remained married until Elmer's death in 1992.

Okerlund interviews Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Big" John Studd, and King Kong Bundy with Okerlund saying you couldn't help but be moved by that wedding but Heenan asks what Okerlund was doing beating on that organ. Okerlund asks what they have against Andre to which Studd says he's the giant of wrestling and Bundy is the other giant of wrestling while Andre is #3. Bundy says it's been a long time that Andre The Giant has run roughshod over everybody and they're putting a stop to it. Studd bullshits himself by saying he can't be slammed and tells Andre to remember that he cut Andre's hair. Heenan says NBC has a giant peacock but we're going to see a 500 pound turkey go down. Good promo from all around.

Prior to the match, we get clips from the August 18, 1985 Maple Leaf Gardens show where following an Andre/Studd match, Bundy lays out Andre with multiple splashes while Studd holds Andre's legs.

Andre The Giant & Tony Atlas (w/”Captain” Lou Albano) vs. John Studd & King Kong Bundy (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan)- The managers accompany the wrestlers but leave before the match. Andre and Bundy start with Andre choking Bundy with his singlet. Bundy gets trapped in the corner and Andre rams his ass into Bundy. More choking and Andre rams Bundy's head into Atlas. Tag to Atlas who ties up with Bundy but Bundy muscles Atlas to the ropes, whips him to the ropes and catches him with a back elbow. Bundy comes off but misses an elbow drop and Atlas hits a jumping headbutt. Tag to Studd who gets a side headlock. Atlas whips Studd to the ropes and Studd comes off with a shoulder block on Atlas. Studd tries for another but Atlas leapfrogs and catches Studd coming off with a jumping headbutt. Atlas works over Studd and hits another jumping headbutt. Bodyslam attempt gets blocked by Studd. Studd works over Atlas in the corner. Atlas reverses an irish whip but misses a dropkick as Studd grabs the ropes to stop himself and Atlas crashes and burns on the canvas. Studd drops an elbow and goes for Andre but gets caught and headbutted. Bundy comes in the ring illegally and comes off with a splash on Atlas. Studd hits a double ax handle but Atlas still tags Andre. Studd gets worked on with forearms and headbutts. Big Boot sends Studd to the floor. Bundy sneaks in and starts working over Andre while Studd rams Atlas back first into the steel post. Bundy and Studd start illegally double teaming Andre with Bundy hitting an avalanche in the corner and both get disqualified at 4:26. Afterwards, Studd and Bundy continue to work over Andre until Hogan makes the save and they fight off the heels.

Thoughts: 1/2* Not much of a match as Andre didn't do much while everyone else was fine. This was clearly to set up the aftermath to set up a big match for the next SNME. Sad to write this but surprised to see Studd and Bundy run around since they, especially Studd, can be lummoxes.

Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan who asks Hogan what brought him to the ring. Hogan says Andre and Atlas were rocking and rolling but Studd and Bundy were taking short cuts on Atlas and that Andre and Atlas are the winners. Okerlund hints at more as does Hogan but they don't reveal what right now.
We get a segment with Okerlund and George "The Animal" Steele at the zoo. Apparently, Steele fled here after undergoing electroshock therapy. Steele calls a camel “Sheik” and they visit the animals with Steele calling a weasel “Heenan” and a hippo “Bundy”. It's as lame as it sounds.

Okerlund interviews "Luscious" Johnny V and The Dream Team and tells them tonight, it's an unknown quantity in regards to “Leaping” Lenny Poffo and Tony Garea. Valentine says they're the world tag team champions of the World Wrestling Federation, they'll take on anybody, and they may take on Okerlund. Okerlund then brings up the US Express and we get clips from the Dream Team's title win at the Spectrum. Ok promo from Valentine while it did a good job continuing the Dream Team/US Express feud.

WWF World Tag Team Championship: The Dream Team (w/"Luscious" Johnny V) (c) vs. Tony Garea and Lanny Poffo- The Dream Team are Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Brutus Beefcake who began teaming only a few months before. They won the titles on August 24th at the Philadelphia Spectrum against the US Express after Beefcake smothered Johnny's lit cigar in Windham's eye. To add to the rivalry, the Express are at ringside with Windham wearing an eye patch but it didn't matter as Windham left the WWF a few weeks after this so the feud was dropped. The Dream Team have the classic 1985-2002 version of the WWF World Tag Team Championships that most identify the titles with. Poffo is better known as the Genius and is the younger brother of "Macho Man" Randy Savage while Garea is a former 5 time WWF World Tag Team Champion and longtime road agent.

Valentine starts by nailing Poffo with forearms and hits a snapmare. Valentine drops a bionic elbow. Poffo gets up but Valentine gets a side headlock takedown. Poffo beautifully bridges, floats over, and gets a hammerlock but Valentine reaches the ropes. Valentine comes back with a knee to the stomach and a bodyslam. Tag to Beefcake but Poffo fights both off and hits a hip toss on Beefcake. Poffo hits a dropkick then follows with a bodyslam. Poffo climbs the top turnbuckle and hits a moonsault but Valentine breaks the pin at 2. Beefcake comes back with a throat thrust and works Poffo over in the corner. Tag to Valentine as the Dream Team whip Poffo backfirst in the corner. Poffo tries to tag but Valentine stops him. Tag to Beefcake who hits a bodyslam but gets 1 and Poffo makes the hot tag. Garea cleans house, whips Beefcake to the corner, and catches him coming out with a hip toss. Garea hits Beefcake with a dropkick then Valentine after he comes in. Garea comes off the ropes and gets a bodypress for 2. Beefcake gets whipped into the corner but rebounds by catching a charging Garea with a back elbow and tags Valentine who comes off with an elbow drop and the figure four leglock finishes at 3:30. Heel beatdown takes place afterward.

Thoughts: *1/2 An ok TV match. Though Poffo had some moves and Garea had the house of fire moment, this was mostly to showcase the tag team champions.

We go to the Wedding reception with Vince talking to Hogan and Orndorff while Ventura is complaining. Okerlund interviews "Captain" Lou Albano, "Leapin" Lanny Poffo reads a poem, Hillbilly Jim proposes a toast, Tiny Tim is interviewed, Uncle Elmer sings, Jesse Ventura reads a poem, and the cake rule goes into effect as Jim rams Ventura into the wedding cake. I don't really care.
Vince interviews Hogan about the tag match between himself and Andre vs. Studd and Bundy on the next SMNE. Oh for fucks sakes. I like Hogan but this is the fifth promo he's done in an hour. Talk about overexposure. Hogan says for the wrestling fans, this will be a dream match while for Bundy, Studd, and Heenan, it will be a nightmare as with Andre in his corner, Hulkamania will run wild like never before. A good promo.

Vince closes and we go to credits

Final Thoughts and Verdict
SNME II is a much better outing compared to the first one with 2 pretty good to really good matches and the tag title match was ok for a TV match while the wedding stuff and the Andre/Atlas/Studd/Bundy tag being the only things to miss. Perhaps the only real problem with this show was besides Ventura and Piper picking a fight with the Hillbillies, there's not much that ages well as Orndorff/Piper was fun but didn't follow up on another big match as far as I know and the Tag Title match was supposed to continue the Dream Team/US Express stuff only for Windham to bail shortly after this which canceled that feud. Still two good matches on TV and decent action for the most part, I say SNME II is worth a watch.

Recommended

SNME II Facts-
First SNME to feature a WWF Tag Team Championship match.

The only SNME to feature a Body Shop talk show segment.

Uncle Elmer/Jerry Valiant is the fastest match in SMNE history.

First WWF appearance of entertainer Tiny Tim. He would return eight years later on the June 14, 1993 episode of Monday Night RAW