WWF Saturday Night's Main Event VI Review

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event VI Review
October 12, 2012 (edited October 24, 2023)
By Ryan Porzl

Event: WWF Saturday Night's Main Event VI Review
Tagline: None
Date: May 3, 1986
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Live or Tape: Tape (Taped May 1, 1986)
Arena(s): Providence Civic Center
Attendance: Unknown
Announcers: Vince McMahon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
Interviewers: “Mean” Gene Okerlund
Other: None
Broadcast: NBC

"Mean" Gene Okerlund narrates the intro and previews the matches. We go to intro

Vince opens the show and introduces Bobby "The Brain" Heenan as his broadcast partner. I'm not entirely sure what was up with Jesse Ventura at this point. I know he was filming Predator but I remember hearing he briefly quit WWF as Vince didn't want him to do it but he was brought back in the fall at the request of NBC who liked him on SNME.

Earlier on, Okerlund interviewed The Funk Brothers and Jimmy Hart in their locker room. The Funks 

are taking turns throwing the megaphone to the other like catch. Okerlund ask if their planning to cheat. Hart insists this is about reflexes and hand and eye cordination and that The Funk Brothers are always in training. Terry tells Okerlund they'll train his ears to touch with Hoss adding the long way. We then get footage of The Funks beating JYD and Santana at Wrestlemania 2 with the megaphone. Okerlund says JYD and Hogan will be ready and that they have The Haiti Kid in their corner. Hart says The Funks will take care of JYD and Hogan while he'll take care of Haiti Kid before bringing in the debuting “brother” Jimmy Jack Funk. Pretty solid promo.

Okerlund then interviews Hulk Hogan, Junkyard Dog, and The Haiti Kid at the Gorilla position. Okerlund ask them how they prepared. Hogan says The Haiti Kid is their answer to Jimmy Hart. Haiti says he's never worried about a man who wears red underwear. Hogan says Hart may be bigger and weigh more but Haiti has more heart. Okerlund asks JYD why do The Funks hate him? JYD says he's the top dog, always will be, and he'll take his bite when the time comes. Hogan says JYD is one of the top wrestlers in the world and they're jealous of him. An ok promo.

Hulk Hogan & Junkyard Dog (w/The Haiti Kid) vs. Terry Funk & Hoss Funk (w/Jimmy Hart)-
Hogan comes out with a dog collar while JYD has a "Hulkamania" Shirt. Terry tries to jump JYD but gets caught and bodyslammed. Hoss gets bodyslammed. Another for Terry. Hogan does the four legged headbutts and the Funks bail. The Haiti Kid pulls Jimmy Hart off the apron and escapes under the ring. Back in, it's JYD and Hoss. Hoss hits a knee and an european uppercut. Hoss attempts a bodyslam but it's blocked and JYD gets his own. Hoss bails for a bit. Back in, Hoss tags Terry. Terry gets JYD into the corner and hammers away. Terry whips JYD to the corner but Terry misses JYD and hits the ring post. Terry falls out of the ring and the Funks try to regroup. Terry chases Haiti Kid but JYD grabs his hair and drags him back in. JYD whips Terry to the ropes, comes off the other side and nails a clothesline. Hoss and Hogan tag in. Hogan gets a side headlock but gets whipped off and they criss-cross but Hogan grabs the ropes the stop himself.

 
Terry comes in and both Funks run the ropes. Hoss do-si-dos Terry into Hogan but gets caught with a big boot. Hogan hits a clothesline on Hoss to a pop. Hogan gets a bodyslam and comes off the ropes with an elbow drop for 2. Tag to JYD, who locks up with Hoss. JYD punches Hoss in the corner, whips him to another corner and catches Hoss coming out with a clothesline for 2. Tag to Terry tags who works over JYD with elbows. Tag to Hoss and the Funks double team the JYD as Hogan comes in but is sent back by the referee. The Funks whip JYD to the ropes and catch him with a double forearm. Terry works over JYD with jabs until JYD catches one and nails his own. Tag to Hoss but JYD hits him in the gut. Hoss reverses an irish whip to the corner but misses a boot and gets crotched. Hogan comes and whips Terry to the corner. Terry flair flips and lands on the floor to a pop. Hart jumps on the apron and hits Haiti Kid with the branding iron. JYD takes Haiti Kid to the back as we go to commerical. We're back and JYD hasn't come back yet. Hogan works over Hoss and hits a bodyslam.

 
Terry gets punched off the apron and lands on the timekeeper's table. JYD is back and Hoss takes control. Hoss gets Hogan in the corner and works him over with european uppercuts. Hoss attempts a suplex but it's blocked and Hogan gets his own for 2. Terry comes in and headbutts Hogan. JYD comes in and does the same for Hoss. Hoss recovers first and throws Hogan through the ropes to the outside. Behind the ref, Terry hits Hogan in the ribs with the branding iron. Terry and Hart then stomp Hogan on the outside. Hogan gets whipped into the guardrail. JYD goes out and bodyslams Terry on the concrete floor. JYD whips Terry to Hogan and Terry gets back body dropped to floor. Even in 1986, HE'S HARDCORE! Back in, Hogan whips Hoss to the ropes and nails the big boot. Hogan rams Hoss into JYD's skull as the Haiti Kid is back. Tag to JYD, who hits a headbutt. JYD whips Hoss into the corner but Hoss catches JYD with a punch and follows with a european uppercut. Another european uppercut follows. Tag to Terry as he continues the punishment while the fans are chanting "JYD". JYD starts making the babyface comeback as he no-sells Terry's offense. JYD whips Terry to the ropes and comes off the other side with both hitting clotheslines and both are down. JYD goes for the tag but Terry stops him. Terry hits a bodyslam and climbs to the top. Terry misses a diving headbutt. Hot tag to Hogan who clotheslines Terry and finishes with the Leg Drop at 13:30. We get a heel beatdown afterward with the Funks knocking Hogan and JYD out of the ring. Hart slaps the Haiti Kid and Terry goes to use the branding iron. Hogan pulls him out of the way by pulling Hart (who was holding Haiti Kid) out of the ring. Afterwards, JYD cleans house as Hogan holds Hart for Haiti. Jimmy Jack Funk comes out but too late to do anything.

Thoughts: ** Decent match with some nice spots but it felt like a near 15 minute squash as The Funks barely had much offense and when it looked like they get control, Hogan and JYD regained it quickly. The finish was weird and quick as it came out of nowhere and the wrong guy got the pin. I'm a big Hulkamaniac but JYD should've got the win here since he had the issue with the Funks. This proved to be Terry's last match as he left following this event. He wouldn't be seen again until the dying days of The New Generation Era in 1997.

We then go to pre-record footage of the weigh-ins between King Kong Bundy and Uncle Elmer. Okerlund is host for the segment while Heenan watches with him saying he's here to make sure everything is on the up and up because they don't come bigger, stronger, and faster than Bundy. First we start with Bundy, who weighs in at 468lbs. Bundy says Elmer is in big trouble tonight. We then go to Elmer's weigh-in. Elmer is eating a bucket of “Uncle Elmer's Fried Pig Parts” which looks like a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket. Bobby Heenan sticks around for make sure everything goes fair. Okerlund wants to take the bucket but Elmer refuses since he's going to eat it all anyway. Elmer (and his bucket of pig parts) weigh in at 430lbs. Heenan says it just shows that if you take 200lbs of manure, 200lbs of cellulite, and 30lbs of pig parts and you get the biggest hillbilly today. Good segment to get both big men over and Heenan is entertaining as usual.

King Kong Bundy vs. Uncle Elmer- Heenan decides to remain on commentary as he believes Bundy's got it. Tie up to start with Elmer shoving Bundy a few inches. Another tie up and Bundy wins that one. Third tie up with Elmer winning. Bundy comes off with a shoulder block that barely moves Elmer. Another attempt and Bundy still doesn't move Elmer which frustrates Bundy. Bundy rakes the eyes and starts hammering away. Punching, choking, and stomping commence. Elmer starts to make the comeback and Bundy staggers into the corner. Elmer starts crushing Bundy in the corner with his ass. Elmer whips Bundy to the corner and follows with an avalanche. Bundy gets whipped to the previous corner but Elmer misses a second avalanche. Running elbow drop get the win for Bundy at 2:35.

Thoughts: DUD It's Elmer vs. Bundy, you expecting something good or even mediocre for that matter? Not much to say as it was thankfully short. Bundy was a good big man for his time but he had no chance carrying Elmer to anything solid. This would be Elmer's last match in the WWF and good riddance.

Okerlund interviews "Adorable" Adrian Adonis and Jimmy Hart in Adonis' dressing room. Adonis has a cardboard Paul Orndorff stand up. He says he is twisted steel while Orndorff has sex appeal. He says Orndorff is a Greek god and describes his body before saying when you say powerful, you say Adonis too. He says you talk about the master of disaster but he'll celebrate this event by putting a crack in Orndorff's head like the Liberty Bell. Okerlund says Adonis' gown is something. Adonis says you want to talk vicious, he can be vicious and slice n' dice like a vegomatic before Okerlund ends things. Short but entertaining promo.

We then get a pretape promo of Okerlund interviewing Paul Orndorff in the sauna. Okerlund says he can't believe if Orndorff has faced someone like Adonis. Orndorff says he never faced The Fabulous Moolah either or someone who is light in their loafers. Okerlund brings up Jimmy Hart and Orndorff mentions it'll be 2-on-1 and you have to be concerned but on the other hand, on one side you got a blip and on the other side you got a wimp. Okerlund asks if he's overconfident but Orndorff says no and that he's wonderful, Mr. Wonderful. A forgettable promo.

Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Paul Orndorff- This match had some big history behind it. During this time, Adonis began mocking Orndorff as "Hulk Jr." in interviews due to his friendship with Hogan and saying he gone soft. This would lead to Orndorff turning on Hogan a few months later and beginning their huge feud.

Adonis charges but Orndorff catches him with an armdrag. Orndorff gets another armdrag and a bodyslam. Orndorff hits another bodyslam and Adonis bails as the crowd cheers. Orndorff pulls Adonis back in and whips him to the corner with Adonis trying to Flair Flip but falls through the ropes. Adonis stalls for a bit before returning. Kinda sad we have the babyface Vince acting insulted by Adonis' dress while the heel Heenan is the voice of reason saying it's Adonis' preference. Boy, does this commentary not age well. They circle before Adonis gets a kick to the stomach. Orndorff reverses an irish whip and catches Adonis with an abdominal stretch. Adonis makes to the ropes for the break. Adonis goes to the corner and gets a cheap shot after the referee tries to stop Orndorff from striking in the corner. Adonis works over Orndorff in the corner and beals Orndorff out of the corner. Adonis charges but Orndorff gets a back body drop which sends Adonis out of the ring.

 
Orndorff pulls Hart in the ring. Hart get thrown out onto Adonis to a big pop as we go to commercial. We're back as Orndorff works over Adonis in the corner. Orndorff whips Adonis into a corner and catches him coming out with an airplane spin. Adonis grabs the ropes and falls to the outside. Adonis pulls Orndroff out of the ring but gets pushed into the ring post. Hart hits Orndorff with the megaphone which has no effect. Orndorff chases Hart into the ring and in the corner. The ref tries to separate which allows Adonis to nail Orndorff with the megaphone. Adonis hits Orndorff with a forearm and follows with an elbow to the back of the head. Adonis whips Orndorff to the ropes and catches him with a knee to the stomach. Adonis misses a splash but recovers and gets a bodyslam. Elbow drop gets 1. Suplex gets 1. Adonis climbs to the top and goes for a diving splash but Orndorff gets his knees up to a pop. Orndorff hits a running high knee and Adonis gets tangled in the ropes. Orndorff hammers away. Hart gets pulled to the apron and nailed with a right hand. Orndorff whips Adonis to the ropes, catches him with a dropkick, and Adonis goes into the ring post. Orndorff tears Adonis' dress and chokes him with it. The ref separates them but not for long as Orndorff goes back to choking. The ref tries to separate again but gets shoved by Orndorff. Orndorff goes back to choking Adonis as the ref disqualifies Orndorff at 12:00. After the match, Orndorff tries to sneak behind Adonis with a chair but gets stopped by the referee.

Thoughts: * Boring match as it was too one sided. I don't mind what they were going for in this match as both played their roles well but I don't want to see a 12 minute match with one wrestler getting 95% of the offense. Would've been better if it was a bit more even or shorter.

We then go to a pretaped interview with Okerlund interviewing Hulk Hogan in the empty arena. They talk about Wrestlemania 2 and Hogan's injury. They show clips from the previous SNME where Bundy, Muraco, and Heenan injuring Hogan. Hogan says whether it's family, friends, wives, or plain human lives, most of us are fortunate that we don't know what we have. He says it took what happened on the last SNME to put his feet back on the ground and realize that Hulkamania needs to be fought everyday. Hogan says his eyes are open, his feet are back on the ground, and he must fight for Hulkamania everyday of his life. We get clips from Wrestlemania 2 with Okerlund saying sweet revenge but Hogan says Okerlund is dead wrong because it wasn't sweet revenge but something he had to do. Hogan says for years, he's preached Hulkamania but then he got pearl harbored by Bundy, Muraco, Heenan, and Fuji who premeditated it. He says people thought Hulkamania was destroyed which is why he climbed into that steel cage. Hogan says it was to back up everything he ever said and he proved that he's number one in what he does before saying Bundy, Muraco, Heenan, and Fuji are on his hit list. An alright promo but the latter doesn't age well since Hogan didn't do much with Bundy, Muraco, or Fuji.

Okerlund interviews Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Steamboat doesn't like Roberts putting Damien on his opponents. He won't tolerate the insult to injury. We get clips of Roberts wrapping Damien on George Wells at Wrestlemania 2. Steamboat warns Roberts he may be the one humiliated with Damien on him. An ok promo.

We go to pretape footage of Jake Roberts talking to his snake Damien. Roberts tells Damien time has almost come for them to show the world what they can do as a team. He says Damien taught him and he taught Damien. Roberts says some of the greatest secrets are contained in the snake and have been around since the beginning of time. He tells Damien he must promise Roberts that he'll squeeze the juices out of that Hawaiian. Roberts finishes that Damien can show the world he can squeeze, squeeze, and squeeze. Alright but not up to Roberts' usual standards.

Jake Roberts vs. Ricky Steamboat- Match never happens as Roberts comes off the ropes with a clothesline on Steamboat as he's on the apron during his entrance. Roberts follows with a short arm clothesline and Steamboat falls to the floor. Then the big spot occurs as Roberts DDTs Steamboat on the concrete floor. The DDT legitimately knocks Steamboat out and you can tell as Roberts hauls him back in but he's deadweight. In the ring, Roberts wraps Damien on top of Steamboat.

Thoughts: No Rating Match never happened so no rating. Despite that, this was entertaining and a cool moment in this feud while adding some more heat. Roberts went into detail about the DDT spot in his WWE DVD Pick Your Poison. He was against doing the DDT spot because he was afraid it would kill Steamboat. He agreed after being pressured by Vince & WWF booker George Scott, as well as Steamboat assuring him he would block it.

Okerlund interviews The British Bulldogs and "Captain" Lou Albano while congratulating them on their title win while acknowledging Albano has a another championship. Albano says he doesn't need congratulating before saying The British Bulldogs are the finest gymnastic wrestlers of the modern era. Smith says Albano brought them to where they are before Dynamite adds both as wrestlers and bulldogs. We saw clips of the Bulldogs winning the titles at Wrestlemania 2. Albano says he chose it to be two out of three cause to give them a fair chance as he doesn't think Sheik and Volkoff are in the best shape and The Bulldogs are prepared.

We get a pretape interview of Okerlund interviewing Blassie, Sheik, and Volkoff while saying to Blassie they have a chance to regain the titles with Blassie saying when they do, they'll be cheering from Tehran to Tripoli and Morocco to Moscow. Volkoff says Russia will be proud of him. Sheik says all the Middle East people will pride at Sheik and Volkoff.

WWF World Tag Team Championship/Two out of three falls: The British Bulldogs (c) (w/"Captain" Lou Albano) vs. The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/"Classy" Freddie Blassie)- We start with Volkoff singing the Soviet National Anthem.

First Fall: Volkoff charges at Smith but misses and hits the corner. Smith follows with punches and a headbutt. Dynamite gets his own headbutt. Smith small packages for 1. Smith gets a shoulder block. Smith goes for a second but gets caught and dropped on the top rope. Tag to Sheik who gets a saito suplex. Camel Clutch gets the submission giving the first fall to the challengers in 1:28. We go to a commercial.

Second Fall: We're back with the second fall. Volkoff stomps Smith and rams him into Sheik's boot. Tag to Sheik who whips Smith to the ropes and gets a back body drop. Sheik whips Smith to the ropes and catches him with a clothesline. Sheik applies an abdominal stretch but Smith hip tosses out of it. Smith comes off the ropes but misses the elbow drop. Smith gets rammed to the turnbuckle and Sheik tags Volkoff. Volkoff whips Smith to the ropes and catches him with a clothesline. Volkoff gets a jumping stomp and works over Smith. Volkoff whips Smith to the ropes but drops his head too early and Smith gets a sunset flip but Sheik distracts the ref. The ref finally counts but Volkoff kicks out at 1. Smith gets rammed into Sheik's boot. Tag to Sheik who gets a gutwrench suplex for 2. Sheik whips Smith to the ropes and tries to catch him with a kick but Smith grabs the boot and hits an atomic drop for 2. Volkoff tags in and rolls Smith up for 2. Volkoff whips Smith to the ropes but Smith gets an elbow but can't tag. Volkoff grabs Smith and tags Sheik who kicks Smith and positions him on the second rope. Sheik comes off the ropes and jumps on Smith with a seated senton. Tag to Volkoff who gets a bodyslam but Smith gets his foot on the rope for 2. Volkoff thinks he won. Smith recovers and pushes Volkoff into Shiek and rolls him up with an O'Connor roll for the second fall in 5:58.

Third Fall: Volkoff kicks Smith and gets a knee. Smith gets whipped to the ropes and Volkoff catches him with a thrust to the throat. Vince mentions that Dynamite hasn't tagged in because of a knee injury. Volkoff tags Sheik who gets a few kicks. Sheik gets a Boston Crab but Smith reaches the ropes. Tag to Volkoff who hits a backbreaker and puts pressure on the back. Smith escapes but Volkoff gets a bearhug. Smith escapes and Volkoff tags Sheik. Smith hits the running powerslam but Volkoff breaks up the pin. FINALLY, Dynamite tags in. Sheik kicks him coming in and gets a bearhug. Tag to Volkoff who gets a bearhug. Tag to Sheik who gets a gutwrench suplex and hooks in the camel clutch. Smith and Volkoff come in. As the ref tries to get Volkoff back in the corner, Smith small packages Sheik to retain at 16:36. Heenan isn't happy.

Thoughts: * Mediocre and boring. Yet another one sided match. I understand Dynamite was hurt but if he was that badly hurt they should've make it one fall and have it go 8 minutes instead of 16. This match could've been more with a healthy Dynamite and it being more competitive.

McMahon and Heenan wrap things up as we go to credits.

Final Thoughts and Verdict
SMNE VI sucked. The matches had potential but were giving WAY too much time and were booked one sided. One sided matches can be fine but too many and having them go over ten minutes is a problem. The only good is there is some history with the Roberts/Steamboat being good and added to the feud while Terry Funk and Uncle Elmer wrestled their last WWF matches. However, it's still nothing to go out of your way to see and thankfully, Terry would have his 1997-1998 run so this wasn't the last time WWF fans saw him.

Recommendation to avoid

Saturday Night's Main Event VI Facts
Terry Funk wrestled his last WWF match of this tenure. He wouldn't wrestle again until Royal Rumble 1997

Uncle Elmer wrestled his last WWF match at Saturday Night's Main Event VI

First Saturday Night's Main Event to be announced by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan in it's entirety. It be the last until Saturday Night's Main Event XXX in February 1992

First Saturday Night's Main Event not to be announced by Jesse “The Body” Ventura. It be the last one until Saturday Night's Main Event XXVIII in October 1990.