WWF Saturday Night's Main Event I Review

Saturday Night's Main Event I Review
March 17, 2012 (edited October 7, 2021)
By Ryan Porzl

Event: Saturday Night's Main Event I
Tagline: None
Date: May 11, 1985
Location: Uniondale, New York
Live or Tape: Taped (May 10, 1985)
Arena: Nassau Coliseum
Attendance: 8,300
Announcers: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Interviewers: “Mean” Gene Okerlund
Broadcast: NBC

For those who don't know, Saturday Night's Main Event was a special that aired on NBC several times a year replacing Saturday Night Live. Unlike most TV from this era, SNME featured main event quality matches and storyline advancement instead of "Wrestler squashes Prelim guy" though there would be some of those.

We start with promos from Wendi Richter & Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi tells Wendi to not let Moolah grab her hair because she loves to do that and cheat before offering her words of encouragement. Then we get Hulk Hogan & Mr. T with Hogan introducing himself and then says T will be in his corner against Bob Orton while T says if Piper sticks his nose in the ring, he'll answer to him.

We cut to intro with the theme being Animotion's "Obsession" which is a great choice

Vince and Ventura (bringing back his Wrestlemania pink suit) open the show

"Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews "Captain" Lou Albano, Ricky Steamboat, and the US Express. Okerlund brings up Wrestlemania to Windham with Windham saying he's got the best team and the Cap and if he can get it taken care of, it's tonight but says it's a shame it's not a tag team championship match. Okerlund brings up Blassie to Albano with Albano saying if Blassie gets involved then he'll cream him and split him open. He tells Blassie he's here and Blassie will pay. Short and ok promos.

The US Express & Ricky Steamboat (w/"Captain" Lou Albano) vs. The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, & George Steele (w/"Classy" Freddie Blassie)- The main story here is Sheik and Volkoff cheated to beat The Express to win the WWF World Tag Team Titles at Wrestlemania a few weeks before. Windham and Sheik start off. Windham starts with a side headlock, Sheik gets him to the ropes and goes for a cheapshot but Windham blocks and works over Sheik. Back to the headlock but Sheik whips him off, only for Windham to get a shoulder block. Windham comes off the ropes, jumps over Shiek, comes off the ropes, Sheik leapfrogs, Windham comes off the ropes, Sheik tries for a hip toss but Windham reverses into his own to a pop. Steamboat gets a shot in, Windham hits a bodyslam and applies an arm wringer. Tag to Rotundo, who comes off the top turnbuckle and hits the arm. Tag to Steamboat who jumps off the top turnbuckle and chops the arm. Steamboat works the arm with arm wringers, jerks the arm, and applies an armbar. Tag to Rotundo with Rotundo and Steamboat double team whipping Sheik to the ropes and catching him with a double team elbow. Bodyslam and an elbow drop get 2. Tag to Steamboat who chops Sheik and applies an arm wringer. Sheik whips Steamboat off and gets an abdominal stretch but Steamboat hip tosses out. Both Steele and Volkoff come in only to get hip tossed. The heels bail out and we go to commercial. We're back to a loud “USA” chant. Back in the ring, Steamboat gets an arm wringer, whips Sheik to the ropes, and catches him with a powerslam. Steamboat climbs the top turnbuckle and comes off with a missile dropkick on Sheik. Steamboat climbs again and comes off with a high crossbody but Volkoff breaks the pin at 2.

 
Tag to Volkoff who gets whipped into Rotundo's boot. Tag to Windham as they whip Volkoff to the ropes and catch him with a double dropkick but gets 2. Tag to Rotundo as the US Express double team whip Volkoff to the ropes and hit double team elbow. Rotundo follows with two leg drops but Steele breaks the pin. Rotundo gets distracted by Steele allowing Volkoff to work him over. Volkoff goes for a bodyslam but Rotunda escapes and gets an O'Connor roll for 2. Volkoff misses a punch and Rotundo gets a backslide for 2. Rotundo attempts a sunset flip but Volkoff's in the ropes. Tag to Windham who gets a side headlock but Volkoff whips him to the ropes, misses the punch, Windham comes off the ropes, Volkoff drops his head too early, and Windham gets sunset flip but once again Volkoff's in the ropes. Tag to Steele and slugfest erupts. Steele tries to tag out but no one wants to. Windham gets an O'Connor roll on a confused Steele for the win at 6:30 to a big pop. After the match, Sheik and Volkoff try to jump Steele but he runs them off. Albano comes in to calm him down and Steele leaves with Albano resulting in him turning babyface.

Thoughts: ** Decent match but mostly one sided which is kind of strange given Sheik and Volkoff were the tag champions at the time. It had some fun moments and I guess Sheik and Volkoff abandoning Steele made sense as it furthers their feud with the US Express. The crowd was also into it. The aftermath was whatever as Steele turning babyface led to three shitty, awful years of rivalries and matches.

Okerlund interviews Blassie, Sheik, and Volkoff with Blassie saying Steele is as crazy as a fruitcake. Steele and Sheik briefly fight and everyone is arguing. Not much to say but it wasn't anything really special.

Piper's Pit is next with Paul Orndorff as the special guest. This is billed as Piper and Orndorff's first meeting since their Wrestlemania loss. Piper gets Orndorff to sit down and says he wants to talk man to man about Wrestlemania but Orndorff gets up as Orton gets near him. Orndorff tells Orton to get in Piper's corner before calling him a “dunce”. He tells Orton to make his day but Piper encourages Orton to go to the corner and asks Orndorff if he's a happy person now with Orndorff saying he's not. Piper tells him to sit down but Orndorff says ladies first. Piper sits down and says he feels sorry for Orndorff as he wouldn't know personally but Orndorff is a loser which angers Orndorff. Orndorff tells an approaching Orton to stay and Piper to sit but Piper gets out of the way. Piper then tries to calm him down and sits down before yelling at Orndorff to do the same which he eventually does. Piper then says he's not a loser cause it wasn't his shoulders that were pinned at Wrestlemania but Orndorff's. He accuses Orndorff of being a big shot but his shoulders were pinned at Wrestlemania. Orndorff asks where Piper was after the match. Piper says he was doing his job but Orndorff says he hightailed it back to the dressing room and left him flat. Piper yells baloney and that he was fighting T and Hogan and everybody else. He says he took Orndorff as his partner and under his wing but that Orndorff lost his guts. Orndorff says Piper has drunk too much of his bath water. Piper calls Orndorff a piece of garbage and says he embarrassed him, Orton, and his (Orndorff's) family. Orndorff tells Piper to keep his family out of this. A fight break out with Orndorff holding his own against Piper and Orton until he goes for the piledriver on Piper which is prevented when Orton clotheslines Orndorff with his cast that sends Orndorff to the outside. Mr. T eventually comes to Orndorff's aid with a flex bar. Good segment to solidify Orndorff's face turn.

Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan with Hogan saying he saw what happened in the pit and says these are the kind of dudes they need to get out of the WWF. He says he's glad Mother's Day is coming up and he's got a special surprise. Hogan says he can't think of a better match than “Cowboy” Bob Orton and says we're going to see how bad his arm is. Okerlund then asks about Hogan's thoughts about Orndorff's change in recent weeks. Hogan says Orndorff had been busting people up for so long and now he got to feel it inside and says he sees a change of heart and wishes him well. Okerlund brings up Orton and the cast and says he doesn't know what Hogan will do but Hogan asks what's Orton going to do. Another ok promo.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (w/Mr. T) vs. Bob Orton (w/"Rowdy" Roddy Piper)- Orton tries to jump Hogan but Hogan catches him and the two trade fists until Orton bails. Hogan chases him back in the ring where Orton comes off the ropes, Hogan drops down to the canvas, Orton jumps over, comes off the ropes, and Hogan catches him with a back body drop. Three bodyslams follow and Orton bails to regroup. Back in the ring, Orton gets a knee and irish whips Hogan into the corner but misses the charge. Hogan starts working over the injured arm of Orton including ramming it into the ropes and the ring post. Back in, Hogan gets an arm wringer but Orton comes back by whipping him to the ropes and catching him with a high knee. Orton works over Hogan and hits an atomic drop but gets 2. Orton hits a few fist drops but gets 2. Knee drop and Orton slams Hogan's face into the canvas. Orton continues working over Hogan as the fans chant “Hogan”. Hogan starts to hulks up, hits some punches, whips Orton to the ropes and comes off the other side with the ax bomber followed by coming out of the corner with an elbow drop for 2. Hogan hits a headbutt, whips Orton to the corner, and attempts mounted punches in the corner but Orton reverses into an inverted atomic drop. Fans chant “Hogan” as Orton sets up the superplex but Hogan knocks him off the turnbuckles and hits a second turnbuckle bionic elbow. Hogan comes off the ropes with the Leg Drop but Piper punches Hogan at 2 from the outside, disqualifying Orton at 6:54. Geez, it's Bob Orton, your telling me he can't take a pinfall for Hulk fucking Hogan? Afterwards, Piper comes in to attack Hogan but T comes to Hogan's aid until Orton recovers and briefly double teams T. Piper and Orton then attempt to surround Hogan until Orndorff comes in and the three chase Piper and Orton off.

Thoughts: **1/2 Decent little TV match which is what I was expecting. Hogan and Orton are good competitors and you can count on them to deliver a decent to solid TV match which they did. Crowd was into it which was good. I did like Hogan targeting the arm as it made sense as Orton's cast is a bullseye. The only thing I didn't get was the finish as I feel Orton probably could've taken the pinfall as he was basically Piper's bodyguard and sidekick. The aftermath is good as it continues Piper's stuff with Hogan, T, and Orndorff which that, along with Hogan and Orndorff forming a friendship, would be important stuff for the remainder of 1985 and early 1986.

Okerlund interviews The Fabulous Moolah with Moolah saying she's going into the ring with intentions of regaining the championship. She then complains of Cyndi Lauper's participation as we get clips from Wendi's win over Moolah in the Brawl To End It All in July 1984 so she claims she went to the higher ups in the WWF to get Cyndi barred from ringside. She then says if Cyndi comes out she will give this piece of paper she's holding to her so she's ejected. Okerlund then interviews Wendi Richter and Cyndi Lauper with Cyndi saying there's no way she'll be banned because she's Wendi's manager and she stands by her girl before bringing up Moolah choking her at Wrestlemania. Wendi says they have proof Moolah interfered in the past. Neither interview was anything special.

WWF Woman's Title: Wendi Richter (w/Cyndi Lauper) (c) vs. The Fabulous Moolah- Richter is now using Lauper's "She Bop" as her theme. These two had history as Wendi ended Moolah's bullshit 28 year reign as Women's Champion the year before at the Brawl To End It All in July 1984 so Moolah then managed Lelani Kai to the title at the War To Settle The Score in February 1985 only for Wendi to regain the title at Wrestlemania. Moolah has a proclamation that forces Cyndi to leave the ringside area.

 
Cyndi watches from gorilla position via a monitor as Wendi gets a kick but Moolah dominates to start with I think some shitty eye rakes but I can't tell. Moolah chokes Wendi on the top rope and snaps her off it. Wendi gets thrown to the outside in a weak throw. Wendi tries to get back in but Moolah hits some weak offense. Moolah taunts the fans to boos which allows Wendi to sneak up and dropkick her out of the ring which is a nice bump to take at her age. Wendi follows and forearms Moolah and throws her back in. Moolah comes back with a whip to the ropes and catches Wendi with a back body drop for 1. They go back and forth with terrible offense and selling until Wendi wins the exchange. Moolah grabs the ropes but Wendi does a bad choke with the knee, grabs her legs, and drops her face first on the canvas. Moolah grabs the ropes, Wendi grabs the legs, and drops her back first on the canvas for 1. Moolah's comes back with some more weak offense. Bodyslam is reversed by Wendi into a small package at 4:00.

 
Thoughts: -*** Horrific match and a candidate, if not, the worst match of the year for 1985. The offense and pace was atrocious, the selling wasn't good, the crowd was dead for most of it and I couldn't tell some of the moves early on but I'm pretty sure they were eye rakes. Wendi was never good to begin with while Moolah is an embarrassment. I don't care if she is a legend she had no business wrestling at 62 though I guess I give her a little credit for doing and over and out bump to the concrete floor at her age. I'm not sure why Cyndi wasn't at ringside since it felt like her absence hurt the match. Moolah would win the title on the November 25, 1985 MSG show which was the Original Screwjob (think Montreal Screwjob only 12 years earlier and Wendi getting screwed instead of Bret Hart) as WWF double crossed Wendi and changed the finish of the match without Wendi's knowledge due to her not signing a contract immediately. This led to Wendi leaving and not returning until she went into the Hall of Fame 25 years later.

Okerlund interviews Junkyard Dog and his mother Bertha Ritter. JYD says his mother never been to New York so he brought her up for Mother's Day and wishes all the mothers a happy Mother's Day. Bertha is proud of JYD and hopes he comes home soon. An ok promo

Junkyard Dog (w/Bertha Ritter) vs. Pete Doherty- Doherty was a longtime WWF jobber nicknamed "The Duke of Dorchester" as he was from Dorchester, Massachusetts. He also worked as an announcer for some of WWF's arena shows like the Boston Garden and was atrocious. JYD gets a headbutt on the apron to start. A forearm follows. JYD whips Doherty to the ropes and catches him with a clothesline. Doherty bails to regroup. JYD pulls him by his hair on the apron before going out punch and throw Doherty back in. Back in the ring, Doherty gets some punches but JYD no-sells and knocks Doherty down. Snapmare and the four legged headbutts follow. Doherty bails but tries to comeback by climbing the turnbuckles but gets caught and thrown off. JYD hits three headbutts and an atomic drop. Thump finishes at 3:15.

 
Thoughts: DUD A squash and a boring one at that. JYD may not get payed by the hour but he's no Sycho Sid as far as fun squash matches.

We go to a Mother's day party thrown by Cyndi Lauper which feature Cyndi & her mom, Wendi, Hogan & his mom, JYD & his mom, Albano, Sheik, Volkoff, Blassie & his "mom". Sheik and Volkoff bitch about Cyndi throwing the party despite the fact they couldn't fly their mothers in. Albano reads a poem. Blassie's "mother" is a woman who's old enough to be his granddaughter, a idea that would be recycled ten years later at the first In Your House with Jerry Lawler. Moolah comes in to crash the party and the cake rule happens as Cyndi and her mother put Moolah and (accidentally) Okerlund through it. An ok segment with Blassie's moment being funny.

Vince and Ventura wrap thing up

Final Thoughts and Verdict
Saturday Night's Main Event 1 is like Wrestlemania in that there's nothing here that will set the world on fire but it's kind of recommended for historical purposes. I suppose there is plenty of history as you get Steele and Orndorff's face turns, the only Women's Championship match on SNME, and some angles like US Express/Sheik/Volkoff and Orndorff/Piper are advanced. The matches are a mixed bag as the first two are pretty solid TV matches while the latter two are lousy. I only advise watching the first two matches, the Piper's Pit, and skip everything else.

Mild Recommendation

Saturday Night's Main Event I Facts:
First SNME to feature a WWF Championship match.

Only SNME to feature a WWF Women's Championship match.

First SNME to feature a Piper's Pit segment.