WWF Saturday Night's Main Event III Review

Satruday Night's Main Event III Review
May 5, 2012 (edited November 23, 2021)
By Ryan Porzl

Event: Saturday Night's Main Event III
Tagline: None
Date: November 2, 1985
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Live or Tape: Taped (October 31, 1985)
Arena:The Hersheypark Arena
Attendance: 8,000
Announcers: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Interviewers: “Mean” Gene Okerlund
Broadcast: NBC

"Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews Bobby "The Brain" Heenan who's practicing bobbing for pumpkins. Okerlund jokes about Heenan's coon skin hat being weasel. Okerlund brings up the tag match to which Heenan responds by grabbing two small pumpkins and says this is Hogan and Andre before crushing them together. Solid promo especially the end.

Hulk Hogan says you can forget what Heenan says because everybody knows about Andre, Studd, and Bundy with Studd and Bundy breaking the rules. He says tonight will be a fair fight as he'll make sure. Hogan then says he can't wait to see Andre mop the floor with those two. Just then Andre touches Hogan's chest and tells him that's enough talking. Another solid promo

Jesse "The Body" Ventura interviews "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and says Piper did it as he got the hillbillies steamed when he interrupted their wedding. Piper claimed Elmer and his bride looked like two carps kissing in the Mississippi River. Ventura then asks why Piper invited them to the Pit. Piper says family planning and what better way to make fools out of them on national TV. Entertaining promo

Okerlund interviews Terry Funk & Jimmy Hart with Okerlund saying a win could lead to a title shot and Hogan. Funk says it's only a matter of time before that belt is around his waist but says that can wait because tonight, he's here to house train the Junkyard Dog. Okerlund says critics say there's no place in wrestling for Funk's branding iron but Hart says he doesn't have to answer that but Funk's got something at which point Funk spits his tobacco at the camera as we go to intro. Probably the weakest of the promos but still decent

Vince and Ventura welcome us to the show

We get clips from Funk's debut on the June 29, 1985 edition of Championship Wrestling when prior to his match he beat up WWF employee Mel Phillips thus making him a hero to ring boys everywhere.

Okerlund interviews Funk and Hart again and ask how they can justify such dastardly behavior. Hart says it was television tricks to make he and Funk look bad. Funk says television tricks or not, it won't be anything compared to what they do to JYD before saying they got some branding to do. An ok promo.

We then get clips of Funk beating up JYD at Madison Square Garden on September 23, 1985.

Okerlund interviews JYD and asks what he wants: revenge or to win. JYD says every dog has it's day and that was Terry Funk's day while this will be his. A short but ok promo

Terry Funk (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Junkyard Dog- Funk came to the WWF a few months earlier in June less than a year after ending his first retirement. Kinda weird that there was a time when a Funk retirement only occurred once and meant something instead of a punchline. By this point, Hart has his megaphone.

JYD jumps Funk to start while Funk is arguing with fans by sending him into the ring from the apron to a pop and works him over with punches. JYD then tries to go after Hart who hides under the ring. Funk climbs the ropes but JYD crotches him on the top rope and shakes Funk by using his ankle several times and Funk bails to regroup. Back in, they tie up with Funk hitting a bodyslam and comes off the ropes but misses an elbow drop. JYD gets his own bodyslam and dumps Funk out of the ring to a good pop. Back in, Funk gets whipped into the corner and JYD catches him coming out with a bodyslam. Four legged headbutts follow and Funk bails again to regroup. Fans chant "JYD" which pisses Funk off so he climbs over the guardrail to yell at the fans. Back in, they tie up with JYD getting a side headlock. Funk whips JYD to the ropes where Hart grabs JYD's ankle which results in JYD chasing him around ringside.

Funk tries to sneak up from behind but JYD sees him coming and catches him with a back body drop on the concrete floor. Even in 1985, the Funker was hardcore. Back in, JYD hits a headbutt but Funk comes back with some jabs and covers for 2. Funk whips JYD to the ropes and catches him with a sleeper hold as the fans once again chant "JYD" as he grabs the ropes to break the hold. Funk hits an elbow to the back of the head, whips JYD to the ropes, misses the clothesline, and JYD gets his own sleeper but lets go when Hart jumps on the apron. JYD brings Hart in with a nasty bump and tries to pull him back in the ring as he attempts to escapes. The ref gets distracted long enough for Funk to KO JYD with Hart's megaphone to win at 5:16. After the match, Funk tries to brand JYD but JYD fights Funk off and proceeds to pull Harts pants off and brands him to a big pop.

Thoughts: **1/2 Probably one of the best JYD matches I've seen which is an example of Funk's greatness. Don't get wrong, JYD was entertaining here, albeit limited. The crowd was into it which helps. Funk and even Hart at the end took some nice bumps. Funk winning made sense as it keeps the feud going and Okerlund and Vince had previously teased Funk would get a title shot with a win which sets up the next SNME in early 1986.

With this being a Halloween Special, this show features 3 Halloween competitions between Babyfaces and Heels. The babyfaces are "Captain" Lou Albano (dressed as Julius Caesar), Hulk Hogan (as Hercules), Tito Santana (as Zorro), and The Hillbillies (as the three Musketeers) while the heels are Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (as Davy Crockett), King Kong Bundy (as Abraham Lincoln), The Iron Sheik (as Batman), Nikolai Volkoff (as Robin), "Macho Man" Randy Savage (as Tarzan), and Miss Elizabeth (as Jane). The first competition is a pie eating contest between Albano and Bundy with Albano winning. Bundy smashes a pie in Albano's face. An ok segment.

We get clips of Elmer's wedding and Piper interrupting.

We get a Piper's Pit with Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, and Cousin Junior as the guests. Piper greets them and mocks them before asking Elmer what happened on his wedding night to which Elmer said it was none of Piper's business. Piper then asks if they thought about family planning but Elmer says that's none of Piper's business either. Piper proceeds to insult Elmer's bride with Elmer telling him to shut his mouth. Jim then gets up and asks why Piper said what he said but Piper says he didn't say it and says Jesse Ventura said the insults on commentary. Jim then calls Ventura out and Elmer wants Ventura to come down and say what he said about Elmer and his wife to Elmer's face. Ventura obliges by taking his jacket and sunglasses off and heads to the ring where he says he called it and talked it like he seen it and he's not backing down from nothing. Piper says they look like they want to fight with the Hillbillies saying maybe they do. During this, Orton sneaks behind them and gets on all fours. Piper mocks their intelligence and pushes Junior who trips over Orton. The Hillbillies eventually chase Piper and Orton out of the ring before cornering Ventura but he gets away and they stomp Ventura's hat. An entertaining segment to set up a tag match at the next SNME.

The 2nd competition is a pumpkin dunk between Heenan and Junior. JYD now joins the fun as a Mummy. Heenan wins. Another ok segment

Okerlund interviews Heenan, Bundy, and Studd. I know the Halloween stuff was pretaped but it's funny wondering how Heenan and Bundy cleaned up and changed out of their costumes so fast. Anyway, Okerlund brings up the pumpkin dunk and Heenan asks if there was any doubt before saying anything he puts his mind on, he accomplishes. He says we'll see Studd and Bundy defeat Hogan and big Andre the Giant in a little while. Okerlund wants Bundy to talk about the dream team but Bundy refers to himself and Studd saying nobody puts them down. Okerlund brings up to Studd that he's not a stranger to either one with Studd saying everyone is saying Hulk Hogan and Andre are the dream team but in a few short minutes, he, Bundy, and Heenan will show everyone who is the best. Three short but sweet promos.

Okerlund then interviews Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and “Captain” Lou Albano with Okerlund asks Albano will winning the pie eating contest help or hinder his men tonight. Albano burps and tells Hogan to tell them. Hogan says enough of the nonsense and points to the crowd saying this is the real thing before saying Andre is the eighth, ninth, and tenth wonder of the world and that Studd and Bundy couldn't beat him fairly. Andre says that's enough talk and let's get in the ring while Hogan agrees before calling Andre is nickname “boss”. Solid talk but we kind of saw this in the beginning, at least with Andre's stuff.

Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant vs. John Studd & King Kong Bundy- Story here, of course, is Studd and Bundy on the last SNME took on Andre and Tony Atlas and began double teaming Andre after taking out Atlas before Hogan made the save. By this point, Hogan now has the criminally underrated “Hogan 1986” WWF Championship belt even though it debuted in 1985 or as I occasionally jokingly refer it as the WWF Television Championship since it's the same shape of the 1995-2000 WCW Television Title. I love that belt.

Hogan and Bundy start off to a big pop with shoving. Hogan comes off the ropes and hits a shoulder block which has no effect. Hogan comes off the ropes with a high knee that knocks Bundy down for 1. Hogan attempts a bodyslam but can't do it and Bundy takes over with forearms. Bundy whips Hogan but misses the clothesline and Hogan comes back with a bionic elbow and rams Bundy into the top turnbuckle. Hogan whips Bundy into the corner & follows with a charging clothesline. Tag to Andre, who chokes Bundy with the straps on Bundy's singlet and hits a headbutt to the back of the head followed by a punch. Tag to Hogan, who hits a double ax handle from the second turnbuckle but gets caught in the Studd/Bundy corner and worked on. Tag to Studd, who works over Hogan. Studd whips Hogan and catches him with a shoulder block. Studd forearms the back and whips Hogan again but misses the elbow and Hogan hits a lousy atomic drop as it looked he and Studd's timing was off.

Tag to Andre who works over Studd in the corner. Andre accidentally hits the referee and all four are in the ring. Eventually Hogan and Andre clean house and Studd & Bundy bail to regroup as the fans pop huge and we go to commercial. We're back with Andre applying a bearhug to Studd. Andre whips Studd into Hogan's boot. Tag to Hogan who whips Studd into the ropes and comes off the opposite side with an ax bomber to a pop. Tag to Andre who whips Studd and gets a big boot to a pop. Studd bails and Andre tries to follow but Bundy comes from behind with a forearm and Andre gets caught in the ropes. Hogan tries to help but Studd grabs and holds Hogan's legs to allow Bundy to nail a splash. Illegal Double teaming on Andre gets the Heenan Family disqualified at 8:00. After the match, Andre is double teamed until Hogan recovers and makes the save. Andre gets out and back in to work over Studd while Hogan whips Bundy to the ropes and catches him with a big boot. Andre holds Studd as Hogan comes off the ropes with a clothesline and Studd bails. Okerlund interviews Hogan & Andre who want Studd and Bundy to come back.

Thoughts: ** Good TV match and decent overall especially when Hogan was in there outside of the atomic drop attempt he tried with Studd but sadly it was a sign of things to come with Andre as Hogan did most of the work while Andre came in with small bits and pieces while what he did wasn't the best.

We the first music video from the Wrestling Album which is the WWF Superstars singing Land of a Thousand Dances. This was clipped out of the Peacock version because WWE and Peacock are cheap with royalties. Anyway, you can find it on YouTube and it's catchy.

Okerlund interviews "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Okerlund asks Savage why a woman manager. Savage says the kind of man to ask that question is either a blind man or a stupid man and asks what kind of a man is Okerlund. Okerlund asks Elizabeth why wrestling to which she says she's always loved sports and wanted to help Randy. Okerlund says it's rare for someone to get a title shot so quickly and asks if he's ready. Savage says he's ready, willing, and able and tells Okerlund not to ask him a question like that again. Entertaining promo from Savage while Elizabeth was bland.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Tito Santana (c) vs. Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth)- This is one of the first major appearances of Savage in his legendary WWF run as he just came in around June. Santana regained the IC Title from Greg Valentine on July 6^th in a famous cage match. By this point, Santana has the classic 1985-1998 version of the Intercontinental Title which is the most famous version of the title and was the first to wear it. Also by this point, Ventura is calling Santana “Chico” which he would run into the ground the next five years.

Tie up to start with Santana and Savage heading to the ropes for the break up. Another tie up and Santana blocks a punch and teases a punch which results in Savage stalling a bit by going between the ropes and yelling at the fans to boos. Another tie up as they head to the ropes and jock for position until the referee tries to break them up allowing Savage to nail Santana with a punch, knocking him down. Savage hits a snapmare and follows with a kneedrop. Santana gets rammed into the ropes. Savage whips Santana to the ropes but Savage misses the clothesline, Santana comes off the ropes, Savage tries to catch him with a hip toss but Santana blocks and gets his own but misses an elbow drop. Savage comes back by climbing the turnbuckles and comes off with a second turnbuckle double ax handle for 2. Savage applies a chinlock as fans chant “Tito”. Santana gets up but Savage yanks him down by the hair.

Santana eventually gets up and fights out by elbowing the stomach but Savage nails a bionic elbow and a bodyslam. Savage climbs the top turnbuckle and comes off with diving double ax handle but Santana catches him on the way down with a punch to the stomach to a big pop. Santana follows with a knee lift. Santana stomps away and then works over Savage with jabs before dropping him with one. Santana hits a bodyslam and comes off the ropes for the flying forearm but Savage bails out. Santana follows and works over Savage. Santana then chases Savage in and out of the ring while the referee is still counting despite them getting back in at times. Eventually, Savage goes back in and catches Santana with a punch to knock him off the apron. Savage goes out and attempts a piledriver but can't get it so he hits a knee lift and both are counted out at 4:08.

Thoughts: * An ok but kind of dull and too short. The count out finish made sense giving this was far from over. Speaking of that, Savage would win the title a few months later on February 8, 1986 at the Boston Garden.

Clips of Mr. Fuji and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat getting ready for their Kung fu Challenge

We get a funny Roddy Piper skit from Piper's house while Vince interviews him. Piper prepares for Halloween by disguising Bowling balls as candy apples and bricks for chocolate bars. He gives them to several trick or treaters while taking their candy but the kids get the last laugh as the candy is chocolate peppers. A young Stephanie McMahon is one of the kids making her first WWF appearance 13 1/2 years before becoming a regular and before she became intolerable. Pretty entertaining segment with Piper's antics being funny.

Vince interviews Hulk Hogan about the skit with Hogan saying he can't believe those kids were smart enough to outsmart that no good “Rowdy” Roddy Piper which gives him faith in the Hulkamanics around the world. Short but unnecessary

Okerlund interviews Mr. Fuji while he trains for the challenge by chopping bricks. Okerlund says he's not familiar with this training and Fuji says imagine a brick being Steamboat's arm and he chops it. Then chops another while says imagine it being Steamboat's leg. Then he chops a block saying it's Steamboat's ribs. Entertaining segment.

Okerlund interviews Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at gorilla position and mentions we know what Fuji and Muraco are capable of doing in the past before showing us clips from the July 20, 1985 Championship Wrestling when following a Steamboat/Muraco match, Muraco and Fuji beat down Steamboat. Muraco grabs the legs while Fuji holds Steamboat by his belt wrapped around Steamboat's throat. They then swing him over the top rope and hang him with the belt. Okerlund then asks Steamboat what will be different in his match tonight? Steamboat says they only felt the physical person of Steamboat but tonight Fuji will feel his only fear: The Dragon and tells Fuji to remember that before saying he said enough. Ok promo but Steamboat was never known for his promo skills

Kung Fu Challenge: Ricky Steamboat vs. Mr. Fuji (w/Magnificant Muraco)- Kind of weird two dudes of Japanese descent are in a “Kung Fu” challenge but whatever. By this point, Steamboat has his “The Dragon” gimmick.

Fuji throws a few chops and a kick but Steamboat blocks all of them and gets some chops, an arm wringer, elbow, and a gamengiri. Fuji comes back with a kick to the leg and a chop to the throat. Fuji drops a headbutt to the abdomen and follows with more chops & kicks. Steamboat makes a comeback with some kicks the legs and some chops & elbows but Fuji comes back with throat chops and a tongan death grip before tossing Steamboat by his throat which looked cool. More chops and elbows. Fuji hits a rolling solebutt kick to the stomach and tries a suplex but Steamboat counters with his own to a pop. Steamboat climbs the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick for the win at 3:16. After the match, Muraco spits Red mist in Steamboat's face (didn't know Muraco mastered mist spitting) and Muraco & Fuji get their licks in.

Thoughts: * Pretty enjoyable for what it was but with it being a “Kung Fu” challenge, Fuji being 50, and the match going a little over 3 minutes, I'm not expecting a classic. Still, it had some entertaining moments especially Fuji's throat toss on Steamboat. Again, the beatdown afterwards makes sense as this would face each other again at the next Saturday Night's Main Event.

We now get the pumpkin pass with Piper now joining as Superman which is kind of funny. Albano's team gets 5 passes while Heenan's (despite attempts at cheating) get 4 passes. Savage blames Elizabeth afterwards for dropping the pumpkin.

Vince, Ventura, and Okerlund talk with Ventura issuing a challenge with him and Piper vs. the Hillbillies at the next SNME.

Vince and Ventura wrap things while as we go to the credits.

Final Thoughts and Verdict
This was a better SNME than I remember. The tag match and the opener were pretty entertaining while the IC Title match was alright and the kung fu challenge was fine for what it was. The Halloween segments were fine and the Piper one was entertaining as opposed to WWF's usual attempts at goofiness which fall flat. It's a decent way to spend an hour

Slightly Recommended

Saturday Night's Main Event III Facts-
First SNME to have a theme

First SNME to feature an Intercontinental Title match

Only SNME to have a Kung Fu Challenge