WWF Saturday Night's Main Event IX Review

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event IX Review
April 12, 2024
By Ryan Porzl

Event: Saturday Night's Main Event IX
Tagline: None
Date: January 3, 1987
Location: Hartford, Connecticut
Live or Tape: Tape (Taped December 14, 1986)
Arena: Hartford Civic Center
Attendance: 10,000
Announcers: Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Interviewers: “Mean” Gene Okerlund
Other: None
Broadcast: NBC

This is an interesting review. I started writing reviews in 2011 and have recently been going back and polishing my old reviews. When I reviewed the early Saturday Night's Main Events, it was around 2012 which was before the WWE Network or Peacock. This means, I could only review what I could find on YouTube or Dailymotion. While I was successful for many of the shows, this edition was not available at the time so I skipped it and moved on to other reviews. Now that I'm polishing my old reviews, I decided it's finally time to review this episode.

We start with “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan with Heenan telling Hogan he's got no where left to go, no where left to run, and no where left to hide. Orndorff says Hulkamania dies tonight.

Hulk Hogan in the cage says to Orndorff he likes the idea of no where to run or hide. He says the supreme part of professional wrestling is the steel cage and to let it be the judge. Hogan says even if a mere mortal like Hulk Hogan goes down tonight, let it be known that Hulkamania will live forever.

Jimmy Hart asks Piper if he remembers what he did to Adrian Adonis before showing the clip of Piper hitting Adonis with his crutch from SNME VII. Adonis says tonight he's back and it's time for payback for “Adorable” Adrian before wishing Piper a happy new year.

“Mean” Gene Okerlund asks George “The Animal” Steele what he has in store for “Macho Man” Randy Savage tonight. Steele says “surprise!”.

“King” Harley Race says he is the King of Professional Wrestling and The Junkyard Dog, like everyone, will learn to bow to him in servitude.

The Junkyard Dog says he doesn't bow to any man except the good lord above.

We go to intro

Vince and Ventura open the show.

Okerlund interviews Orndorff and Heenan and asks Heenan if he purchased title belt insurance. Heenan says he did. Okerlund brings up Orndorff doesn't want to talk as Orndorff paces back and forth but brings up Orndorff betraying Hogan before Heenan interrupts saying Orndorff left Hogan laying in Cleveland and tonight, he's going to leave Hogan like an old newspaper at the bottom of the birdcage. Orndorff tells Heenan to go and they leave. Short but sweet from Heenan. I like Orndorff here pacing back and forth and intense.

Okerlund then interviews Hulk Hogan and says it's been a long and winding road that led to this steel cage match. Hogan says it has been a long run but promises it all ends here. He says all the Hulkamaniacs are ready for a new start and a new year. Hogan says this steel cage is a dead end for Mr. Wonderful. Okerlund brings up as they enter 1987, Hogan established himself as the finest practitioner in steel cages and then asks Hogan why he didn't settle this earlier. Hogan says the steel cage is the most brutal form of human competition, that it's the last resort, and Mr. Wonderful will find that out. Short but good promo. I especially like Hogan justifying waiting to do the cage because it's brutal and it's only saved for situations like this.

WWF Championship/Steel Cage: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Paul Orndorff (w/Bobby “The Brain” Heenan)- This is the famous blow off to the big Hogan/Orndorff feud. Story, of course, was Hogan and Orndorff were rivals including at the first Wrestlemania before Orndorff turned face in mid 1985 and the two became friends. After a miscommunication where Hogan didn't take a phone call from Orndorff and Orndorff was constantly mocked by heel wrestlers as going soft, it came ahead on the July 19, 1986 Championship Wrestling when Orndorff attacked Hogan and turned on him following a tag match against “Big” John Studd and King Kong Bundy. The two had several big matches including main eventing The Big Event show in August 1986 and then Saturday Night's Main Event VII in October 1986 but both matches ended in disqualification so this is to settle it once and for all.

As was the case with this feud, Orndorff came out to “Real American”. Interesting to note is during Orndorff's entrance, referee Joey Marella is the assigned official for the match. However, senior official Danny Davis, now doing his corrupt referee gimmick, comes out and makes himself a second official which becomes important. Hogan does his Wrestlemania 2 entrance of tearing his shirt off at the top of the cage.

Orndorff jumps Hogan to start and whips him with the WWF Championship. Orndorff stomps away and tries to leave but Hogan grabs the ankle to stop him. Orndorff kicks at Hogan repeatedly and drops two elbows as the fans chant “Hogan”. Orndorff tries to leave through the door again but Hogan grabs the ankle. Orndorff works over Hogan, hits a sliding clothesline, and drops an elbow. Orndorff climbs out but Hogan grabs the hair and chokes him on the top of the cage. Hogan hits some punches and rams Orndorff into the cage before pulling him back in. Hogan punches Orndorff and chokes him with his headband. Hogan climbs out but Orndorff pulls him back in and punches the stomach. He pulls Hogan to the canvas and hits an uppercut. Orndorff jumps off the second rope with a knee drop and chokes Hogan with his knee.

Orndorff tries to leave but Hogan grabs the ankle. Orndorff rakes the eyes but misses two elbow drops and Hogan is back up. Orndorff tries to climb out but Hogan pulls him off and punches away before coming off the ropes with a punch. Hogan tries to leave but Heenan closes the cage door and Danny Davis makes no effort to open it. Joey Marella finally opens it but Orndorff recovers and makes the stop. Orndorff repeatedly headbutts the stomach and hits a running knee as the fans rally behind Hogan. Orndorff drops an elbow to the back of the head and hits a four legged headbutt like JYD. Orndorff slams Hogan face first into the canvas. Orndorff tries to ram Hogan into the cage but Hogan blocks and they ram each other. Both are down. Fans chant “Hogan” as both crawl to the opposite side and start climbing. Then in the famous moment of this match, both land on the floor at the same time. Marella raises Hogan's arm but Davis raises Orndorff's arm.

“Real American” starts playing Hogan points to Orndorff, Heenan, and Davis for Marella who then goes over to confront Davis but Davis shoves Marella. Hogan confronts Davis and grabs him. Orndorff sneaks around ringside and jumps Hogan from behind with a jumping knee but Hogan falls on top of Davis, knocking Davis out. Orndorff rams Hogan into the cage and argues with Marella. Ring announcer Howard Finkel announces the match is declared a tie and must restart. Heenan and Orndorff are pissed as we go to commercial. We're back with Orndorff throwing Hogan back in the cage. Orndorff climbs the top turnbuckle and comes off with an elbow drop. Orndorff gets a foreign objects and works over Hogan with it before throwing back to Heenan. Orndorff comes off with a knee drop and then hits a fist drop as Davis is carried to the back. Orndorff comes off with a fist drop. Orndorff hits a short arm clothesline but Hogan starts to hulk up. 

Hogan no sells some punches, blocks one, and hits three punches. Hogan hits three chops and ram Orndorff into all four sides of the cage. Hogan hits a backbreaker and comes off the ropes with the leg drop as Orndorff has a cut. Hogan starts to climb as Heenan enters the cage to wake Orndorff up and grab Hogan's ankle. Hogan kicks Heenan off as Orndorff climbs. Hogan pulls Orndorff off the cage, punches him, and hits an atomic drop. Hogan grabs Heenan and rams him into the cage to a good pop. Hogan climbs the cage as Orndorff crawls to the door but Hogan drops to the floor first to retain at 10:42. After the match, Hogan returns to the cage to punch Heenan and then hits an atomic drop with Heenan getting propelled to the door. Hogan celebrates after.

Thoughts: *** Good cage match and for the most part a fitting way to end this feud. The action was good, the fans were into it, and the ending had some nice drama with both racing to get out. I also liked how Hogan changed things up during the hulk up spot instead of doing the same old routine. The biggest weakness and what hurts this match for me is the controversial double escape spot. Yes, this helped make the match more memorable but this was an epic fail for several reasons. First is this is not only the blow off to this feud but a cage match is supposed to be the be all/end all of matches back in 1987. The match that's supposed to settle scores and one emerges the clear cut winner. With that, why have controversy here? The feud is over so why have doubts? What did this accomplish? Second and worse of all, it ages horribly in retrospect since these two only worked one more time against each other and that was a dark match in a March 1987 Superstars of Wrestling taping. Also, you'd think maybe they want to protect Orndorff but he didn't do much after this so what's the point? As mentioned, this was end of this huge feud as Hogan would move on to Wrestlemania III and the biggest match in American Wrestling history. As for Orndorff, this was sadly, the beginning of the end for him in the WWF. As is well known, Orndorff tore his biceps while working out in late 1986 but was unable to take time off due to this feud and it would has lasting effects on his career. Orndorff would continue working until March when he finally took time off but upon return in the summer, he went from an aimless heel to an aimless babyface. It's really weird and sad how big of a player Mr. Wonderful was from his arrival in November 1983 to January 1987 only to spent most of 87 irrelevant.

Okerlund runs down the beginning of the rivalry between Randy Savage and George Steele before bringing in Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Okerlund asks Elizabeth if Steele's surprise will affect her. Elizabeth says anything involving Savage before Savage says she doesn't know when to shut up because he's the champion and nobody cares about her. Okerlund brings up Steele does but Savage threatens to beat him up and tells him not to contradict him. Not much to say. Savage didn't say much and this format was really annoying by this point. I get the idea is to get heat on Savage for telling Elizabeth to shut up but why does Okerlund keep trying to interview her when he knows by now Savage won't let her talk? Someone needs to get a hint.

Okerlund interviews George Steele and brings up people are interested in his surprise. Steele responds with “surprise!”. Okerlund asks if it has anything to do with Elizabeth and Steele says “Elizabeth!”. Steele then grabs Okerlund and puts him directly to the camera and says “see!”. Okerlund says he does and Steele leaves. I lost brain cells watching this.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Randy Savage (c) (w/Miss Elizabeth) vs. George Steele- Oh boy. A rematch from some of the worst matches of 1986. Just when you thought this feud was done. Anyway, Steele comes out with an action figure of himself and gives it to Elizabeth but Savage takes in and throws it to the canvas.

Steele jumps Savage, lifts him by the throat, and tosses him. Steele stomps at Savage, gets him in a side headlock, and rams him into the top turnbuckle. Steele hits two bodyslams and calls for someone. Savage jumps Steele and hits a knee drop. Savage chokes Steele on the top rope, and snaps him off it. Savage hits a bodyslam and starts to climb the top before “Sirius” starts playing and out comes Ricky Steamboat. Savage is distracted on the top turnbuckle which allows Steele to throw him off. Steele then throws Savage over and out to the floor with Savage taking a nasty bump and partially landing on the steps. Steele goes out and carries Elizabeth to the back. Savage recovers to find Elizabeth gone and goes after but Steamboat blocks him. Savage calls him in the ring but officials prevent Steamboat from entering. As Steamboat is sent back, we get clips from the November 22, 1986 edition of Superstars of Wrestling where Savage injured Steamboat's larynx with the timekeeper's bell as we go to commercial.

We're back as Steamboat makes a run to the ring but is held back again. Savage runs around ringside while officials prevent Steamboat from getting close. Steele returns to the ring as police escort Steamboat out. Steele rams Savage into the turnbuckle. Steele rips a turnbuckle open and rakes Savage with the stuffing. Steele hits a bodyslam and goes for another turnbuckle. Steele rakes Savage with more stuffing. Steele tries to ram Savage's head into the corner but Savage shoves Steele off and into the ring post shoulder first. Savage works over Steele in the corner. Savage sends Steele to another corner but Steele kicks him. Steele works Savage over and bites him. Steele rams Savage into another corner and bites him again. Savage comes back with kicks and whips Steele to the ropes but Steele comes off by biting Savage's arm. Savage clotheslines Steele over and out to the floor with his other arm.

Steele gets a foreign object out, goes back in, and nails Savage with it behind the referee. Savage falls out while the referee checks Steele but Steele shoves the referee. Savage grabs the timekeeper's bell, sneaks back in, and nails Steele with it to retain at 8:30. After the match, Savage grabs the ring bell and climbs the top turnbuckle like he did with Steamboat but Steamboat runs out to scare him off. Steamboat then wakes Steele up and calms him down before they leave.

Thoughts: ** Decent match that was definitely much better than their 1986 trainwrecks. Then again, Savage was getting into his groove by this point and the Steamboat stuff was a highlight while being a nice way to set up Wrestlemania III. I didn't get Steele using a foreign object during the match. Didn't make him sympathetic after Savage nailed him with the bell. I do like the use of the bell given Savage used it on Steamboat.

Okerlund interviews Bobby Heenan and King Harley Race who Okerlund calls the self-professed King before Heenan interrupts and says he was coronated king of professional wrestling. We then get clips of the coronation from the August 30, 1986 Championship Wrestling. We go back to Race saying he's the king of wrestling, the king of all wrestling, and everyone shall bow to him in servitude. Race forces Okerlund to bow and when Okerlund brings up JYD, Heenan says he'll bow and bow wowwing on his hands and knees. Ok and short promo.

Okerlund interviews JYD and says he doesn't like Race wanting everyone to bow to him in servitude. JYD says this country never had no queen, this country never had no king, and only time his mom and dad told him to bow was the good lord above when he comes to Earth and tells JYD whether he'll be going up the ladder or down the ladder. He asks Race who does he think he is? Another short and ok promo.

The Junkyard Dog vs. Harley Race (w/Bobby “The Brain” Heenan)- Prior to the match, Heenan wants JYD to bow but JYD turns his back and bends over pretty much telling Race to kiss his ass. Danny Davis is notably the referee here.

Davis distracts JYD allowing Race to get some shots in. Race gets a side headlock and punch followed by an elbow drop for 2. Race gets another side headlock and punch. Race whips JYD to the ropes and catches him with a jumping knee. Race comes off with a knee drop for 2. Race works over JYD on the ropes with a punch before JYD makes the comeback with punches. JYD whips Race to a corner with Race running shoulder first into the post. JYD hits another punch and then a headbutt. Race comes back with a rake to the eyes and hits a punch. Race hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Race drops a headbutt but it hurts him more than it does JYD who seems to be revived. JYD hits the four legged headbutt twice, whips Race to the corner, and Race does his over and out bump to the floor. Heenan checks Race which gets a “Weasel” chant. JYD goes out, grabs Race's crown and cape, and goes back in to put it on. JYD struts as Davis counts very slowly.

Heenan comes in to attack JYD but Davis won't disqualify Race. JYD corners Heenan and grabs him. JYD levels Heenan with a punch and then hits a lousy one before Race recovers and comes off the top turnbuckle with a diving forearm. Race drops two elbows before the bell is finally rung with JYD winning by DQ in 6:00. We get a heel beatdown afterwards while Davis does nothing to stop it. Heenan gets Race's cape and crown. Race puts it on and Heenan holds JYD while Race tries to make JYD bow but JYD gets up and hits Heenan with an ass bump that sends Heenan to the outside. JYD goes after Race but he escapes as Davis grabs JYD to hold him back. JYD then headbutts Davis to a good pop before helping him back up.

Thoughts: *1/2 Alright match mostly when Race was on offense and it served it's purpose in sowing the seeds for Wrestlemania III. It's amazing how even at nearly 44, Race could still carry the JYD to something nearly decent. No wonder people praise him.

Orndorff and Heenan are in the locker room as Orndorff is pissed but Heenan calms him down and says Orndorff is the champion and he'll prove it with the footage. He says he'll show it to WWF President Jack Tunney from every angle and within a month, Orndorff would have the gold around his waist. Okerlund says this can't be the way Orndorff wanted to start the new year. Orndorff asks what Okerlund means and says he took the fight to Hogan. Okerlund tries to interrupt while Heenan then gets involved. Heenan says he's going to Tunney with the footage and will prove Orndorff touched first. Heenan then kicks Okerlund out and calms Orndorff down. I'm mixed here as the segment was good but again, why have controversy when the feud is over? Sure enough, nothing came of this segment and the feud was over.

Vince then shows the footage and the time stamp proving both hit the floor at the same time but Ventura doesn't buy it.

Okerlund interviews “Adorable” Adrian Adonis and Jimmy Hart. We get footage of SNME VII where Piper injured Adonis with a crutch as Okerlund asks why Adonis would get back in the ring with Piper. Adonis says it was a vicious injury but he, the Adorable one, can take a licking and keep on ticking. Adonis says to Piper what he'll whip on him even ajax can't get off. Okerlund says to Hart it's not a prudent decision to let Adonis back in the ring with Hart saying Adonis is all heart and Piper couldn't keep him out of the ring for a million bucks. Pretty solid promo.

Okerlund interviews “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and says he's got a big on waiting in the ring. Piper says he'll make this short as he doesn't have a lot to say. He says Adonis humiliated him and that he made a lot of mistakes in his time. He says you don't get to where he's at without making mistakes. He says it's not ashamed to be knocked down but it is to not get up and that's something Adonis can do. Piper accuses Adonis of prostituting his sport and that it just eats him inside. He says the fact he's got a chance in the ring to get Adonis eats him inside. He says he ain't fighting for money but he's fighting for pride. Short but good promo. Nice to see Piper a little mellow.

Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Roddy Piper- This is the continuation of the Piper/Adonis feud. Piper throws his kilt at Adonis to start and muscles him into the corner where he biels him out. Piper punches Adonis, muscles him to another corner, and biels him out again. Piper hits a knee lift which sends Adonis tangled into the ropes. Piper boots Adonis to get him out and whips him to a corner with Adonis flipping to the top turnbuckle but Piper bites him to a pop. Piper bites Adonis' hand and swings him before slamming him to the canvas. Vince announces Elizabeth is released from Steele's custody. Piper goes to the apron and snaps Adonis' arm into the top rope. Back in, Piper corners Adonis but Adonis comes back with upper cuts. Adonis rakes the body as Piper goes to another corner where Adonis knees the stomach and rakes it as fans chant “Roddy”. Piper blocks a punch and hits his own. Another knocks Adonis down. Piper slams Adonis face first in the canvas twice. Adonis reverses a whip to the ropes and catches Piper in the Goodnight Irene Sleeper but Piper sends them both to the floor. Piper punches at Adonis. Hart comes over but Piper grabs him and nails him. As referee Joey Marella is distracted with Hart, Adonis gets the atomizer and sprays the fragrance into Piper's eyes. Adonis goes back in the ring but Piper can't see and Adonis wins by count out at 3:35

Thoughts: * Ok match with a good crowd but too short. To be fair, this was to continue the feud into Wrestlemania III. Adonis winning made sense since he gets one on Piper before Wrestlemania.

Okerlund interviews Hogan with Okerlund saying Hogan has to be delighted with the way he kicked off 1987. Hogan says he doesn't know the agony of defeat just the high of the thrill of victory. He says everybody there knew he had Orndorff beat and he loves it. Okerlund brings up Heenan planning to bring the footage to Tunney and Orndorff will be declared the new champion. Hogan screws up and says Danny Davis declared it a draw when it was Joey Marella and then says he beat Orndorff twice. He says maybe if they show the footage backwards like the old cartoons, maybe then Orndorff won but Orndorff didn't beat him. Okerlund says Heenan is a devious individual and doesn't think he can be trusted. Hogan says he doesn't care what controversy Orndorff and Heenan stir up as he's looking forward to the new year, new challenges, bigger and better things. Solid promo except the part of Hogan mixing up Davis with Marella. Interesting he brought up “new challenges”. Be careful what you ask for Hogan.

Blackjack Mulligan vs. Jimmy Jack Funk- Wow, when last we left these fine gentleman, we were at The Big Event. Since The Big Event in August, both have had interesting runs as Mulligan continued as part of The Machines until they broke up in November 1986 and reverted back to himself where he enjoyed some solid success on the house show circuit and b matches on TV. I think Vince respected Mulligan since he rarely lost despite being 44, past his prime, and moving down the card. Funk largely became a jobber due to Hoss leaving after The Big Event which meant both legit Funk Brothers were gone and the WWF had no further use for Jimmy Jack. Hell, he doesn't have Jimmy Hart as his manager anymore. These two had some history as they worked against each other at a few house shows in late 1986 with Mulligan routinely winning.

Mulligan is forced to remove his boot spurs which allows Funk to jump him in the corner and work him over. Mulligan reverses a whip to another corner with Funk doing the Bret Hart chest first bump. Mulligan hits a charging clothesline that sends Funk over and out. Mulligan goes out and charges at Funk but Funk hits a clothesline. Mulligan comes back by catching a charging Funk with a back body drop.
We get a PIP interview with Okerlund interviewing Mulligan. Mulligan says the battle of Texas actually started on New Year's night at the Mulligan house party which was the wildest thing. He says Funk doesn't belong in Texas and he's going to go out there. He tells Funk knuckle sandwiches will be flying his way, he'll bust his nose, and knock his teeth out. Ok promo as it was rambling but Mulligan is entertaining.

Mulligan throws Funk back in. Funk catches Mulligan coming in with a rake to the eyes and attempts a bodyslam but Mulligan blocks and hits a gorilla press slam. Mulligan hits two punches and rams Funk into the top turnbuckle. Mulligan rakes the eyes. Funk kicks Mulligan but Mulligan no sells and chokes. Mulligan hits two forearms, whips Funk to the ropes, and catches him with a clothesline. Funk cowers in the corner and Mulligan kicks him twice. Mulligan whips Funk to another corner and catches him coming out with a jumping back elbow for the win at 2:31. After the match, Mulligan tries to hang Funk with Funk's noose but Funk escapes.

Thoughts: 1/2* Pretty much a short squash.

Vince and Ventura recap the show.

Vince and Ventura then close the show

Final Thoughts and Verdict
Saturday Night's Main Event IX is definitely one of the more memorable SNMEs, especially at that point. The Hogan/Orndorff blow off match is good and big even though I didn't care for the controversy and it's worth a look. The event also has some alright to decent matches that are good for free TV. Perhaps, more important, the event also sows a lot of seeds for Wrestlemania III as the Hogan/Orndorff feud concluded which allowed Hogan to move on to Andre while we saw the beginning or continuation of the Savage/Steamboat, JYD/Race, and Piper/Adonis feuds that all led to matches at Wrestlemania III. For an hour special, it's definitely worth it. Especially, if you have plans to watch Wrestlemania III.

Very recommended

Saturday Night's Main Event IX Facts
First SNME to have a Steel Cage Match. It would be the last until Saturday Night's Main Event XXI in May 1989.