Select Next Article by Category

WE ARE A PROUD UGO AFFILIATE SINCE 1999
|
The Specialists
Nostalgia Review: SNME #2; Hogan vs. Koloff, Piper vs. Orndorff, Atlas/Andre vs. Bundy/Studd
Oct 7, 2008 - 1:31:20 PM |
|
By: Brian Hoops, Nostalgia Specialist
This week’s trip to wrestling nostalgia takes us back to October 5, 1985 for the 2nd edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. The event was held in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The SNME series was hugely populasr on NBC in 1985, drawing over 11.0 share ratings, easily eclipsing the ratings for Saturday Night Live in the same timeslot. SNME would become a staple for the WWF to reach a national viewing audience for the next three year period, before wrestling would peak in the late 1980’s in terms of national publicity.
Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon did the announcing with Gene Okerlund doing the interviews.
Okerlund interviewed Hulk Hogan on his way to the ring for his match.
1. Hulk Hogan defeated Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match in 5:17. Volkoff attacked Hogan from behind and before the bell to gain the early advantage, but Hogan ripped off his t-shirt and quickly made his comeback with a clothesline and some punches. They traded kicks and punches until Hogan hit the leg drop on Volkoff then pinned him. Not sure why this was a flag match as the flags never came into play until after the match, when Hogan grabbed the Russian flag and shined his boots with it, then paraded around the ring with the U.S. flag. ¼ *
Okerlund interviewed Hulk Hogan on his way back from the ring after his match. Apparently his match was a title match, although that was never announced.
2. Uncle Elmer squashed Jerry Valiant in only 9 seconds. Valiant tried to attack Elmer at the bell, only Elmer squashed him in a new record time announced at 6 seconds. DUD
Okerlund interviewed Uncle Elmer and Hill Billy Jim and then Arnold Swartzenagger was shown in the crowd.
The next segment was The Body Shop with Jesse Ventura in the ring. Ventura brought out as his guest, Bobby “the Brain” Heenan. Heenan talked about firing Paul Orndorff and putting a $50,000 bounty on his head and Roddy Piper vowed to collect the bounty money.
Okerlund interviewed Paul Orndorff on his way to the ring and then Roddy Piper.
3. Paul Orndroff and Roddy Piper wrestled to a double count out in 4:45. Piper and Orndorff traded blows at the opening bell and it was on. This was a great brawling style match and neither man even tried for a pinfall. It was too short, but the action was great for the short time they were in. * ½
Next, was the wedding of Uncle Elmer and Joyce. The wedding was a waste of time, until they kissed and Ventura said, “they look like two carp going for the same piece of corn in the Mississippi River.” Hilarious. Roddy Piper tried to stop the wedding, but unfortunately, they continued the segment and then went back to the reception area, including barnyard animals and bales of hay.
Okerlund interviewed Bobby Heenan, King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd.
4. Andre the Giant and Tony Atlas defeated Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy by dq in only 4:27. Andre started out against Bundy and choked him into the corner. Andre tagged in Atlas and Bundy managed to tag in Studd, who worked on Atlas after Atlas missed a drop kick. Studd threw Atlas into the ring post and then Bundy and Studd double teamed Andre until Hulk Hogan made the save. A real bad match. DUD
Gene Okerlund went to the Detroit zoo, looking for George the Animal Steele in a really dumb segment.
5. Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine defeated Lanny Poffo and Tony Garea in 3:32. Beefcake and Valentine were the World Tag Team Champions. Ex-champs, Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo were shown sitting at ringside. The champs built heat on Poffo from the opening bell, until Poffo was able to leap and make the tag to Garea. Garea was taking on both men until Valentine hit Garea with a forearm and then used the figure four leglock for the submission victory. *
Final segment was the wedding reception. It was so hokey. One of those segments that wrestling fans would turn off and non-fans would think wrestling was stupid.
Summary: This was a really bad show. The wrestling was so short, it was almost non-existent on this show. Piper and Orndorff at least tried hard, but the double count out in less than 5 minutes was nearly useless as a match. The segments that the show was built around, made a bad Raw of today’s era watchable. If you were Verne Gagne or Jim Crockett in this era, it would have been easy to believe you would be able to defeat the WWF, because of all the bad TV, the gimmicks and the lack of wrestling.
I hope you enjoyed reading this week’s look at Saturday Night’s Main Event #2. Email me with any questions or comments you may have at bhoops@iw.net. Be sure to listen to the PWTorch.com Nostalgia audio show each week, available only in the members section of the PWTorch.com website.
For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA, ROH
visit our affiliate: JASON POWELL'S PROWRESTLING.NET
For UFC AND MMA NEWS & BLOGS
visit our affiliate: MMATORCH.COM - now featuring Jamie Penick's MMATorch Daily Audio Updates!
REACT TO THIS STORY IN OUR FREE PWTORCH FORUM
PWTORCH VIP SIGN-UP INFO - NO ADS, EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
|
| MORE "The Specialists" ARTICLES
|
| 11/18 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Miz & Morrison, All American Challenge, 6 Man Tag |
| PARKS: The Mike Adamle Experiment - How much blame for his failure is on his shoulders? |
| UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 11/17 Raw: Clearance sale for Released Wrestlers merch, Relationship Building with Punk & Kofi, Batista vs. Ref |
| MAGIC, MEMORIES AND MANIA: Ten Step Plan for a more refreshing John Cena return |
| THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - ECW TV 11/18: The Offspring of Chris Masters and Alex Wright, The JoMizzy Fan Club, Doing The Vince Dance On Live Television |
| 11/17 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Superstar Forum, Jericho's Promo, Hardy vs. Regal, Lumberjack Match |
| THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - WWE Raw 11/17: Raw re-uses Scripts, Spoon-feeds Storylines, and Jericho Tries to convince Cena-haters |
| 11/14 WWE Smackdown Hits & Misses: Hardy vs. Benjamin, Fat Jokes, Hardy vs. Undertaker |
| FAST FORWARD 11/17: Predictions on Survivor Series, Christopher Daniels, and Please No on Jeff Hardy's deranged character |
| KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Guide to the beginning, middle, and end of the Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho feud |
| THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - 11/14 WWE Smackdown: That's the Fine Art of Delivering Bad Jokes and Burying Opponents, Baby |
| 11/13 TNA Impact Hits & Misses: Young vs. Bashir, Tag Title Match, End of the Show |
| UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 11/13 TNA IMPACT: What I noticed that you might have missed |
| THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - TNA Impact 11/13: Young Dorks vs. 007 MEM, Worst Feud of 2008, Awesome Kong to Decapitate Disney Characters |
| 11/11 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Hardy vs. Finlay |
| 11/10 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Priceless, Phoenix vs. James, Michaels vs. Jericho |
| ECW Storylines and Feuds - Analyzing everything, which would be the Hardy-Finlay and Dreamer-Swagger feuds |
| Raw Storylines and Feuds - The final week for Jericho-Michaels, Kane-Mysterio, and more |
| ABSURDITY OF IT ALL Midweek Report: ECW, Survivor Series, Randy Orton, And Them Chinlock Blues |
| Smackdown Storylines and Feuds - Complete rundown of all the rivalries on WWE's blue brand |
(c) 1999-2008 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.
|
|
ARE YOU VIP? SIGN UP NOW FOR $7.50 A MONTH FOR INSTANT ACCESS TO AD-FREE, BENEFIT-PACKED VIP VERSION OF PWTORCH.COM (see screen capture)

INFO ON SUBSCRIPTION TO AD-FREE VIP SITE
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS!
Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business... SIGN ME UP NOW!
|
| Articles Grouped by Category |
 |
| Torch Today |
| TORCH STORE: Buy Two, Get One Free November Special on Back Issue Sets, Keller DVD |
| TORCH TODAY: PWTorch invading WWE Universe - join the official PWTorch.com reader group |
| THE DAILY WORD 11/17: Caldwell looks at Raw tonight, Triple H up for major movie role, NWA tapings in Hollywood, Where's Orlando Jordan? |
 |
| WWE News |
| WWE News: WWE stock price takes an absolute beating on Wednesday |
| WWE News: WWE video game accessible on your Mobile phone; Video preview included |
| WWE News: WWE trying to re-energize fanbase through social networking to challenge Myspace, Facebook |
 |
| TNA News |
| TNA News: Kurt Angle positioning himself as future leader of TNA; why TNA started Main Event Mafia angle |
| TNA News: Results and News from Monday's event in Nashville with the Tennessee Titans (w/VIDEO) |
| TNA News: TNA challenging WWE for market share in key region after WWE finishes European tour (w/VIDEO) |
 |
| ROH News |
| ROH News: New video wire with promos for Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs |
| ROH News: Nigel McGuinness says whether he enjoys being a wrestler; comments on C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana |
| ROH News: Replay times for Ring of Honor's "Driven" PPV featuring Steen & Generico, Nigel, Briscoes, Danielson, Jerry Lynn |
 |
| Other News |
| Other News: Where is he now? "The Model" Rick Martel missing the wrestling travel schedule (w/VIDEO) |
| Hogan News: Did RVD help boost viewership for Week 5 of Hulk Hogan's CCW? Complete series ratings analysis |
| Other News: Bret Hart discusses whether his wrestling career is over; describes second book project |
 |
| PPV Reports |
| RADICAN'S ROH DRIVEN PPV REPORT: Strong-McGuinness, Steen & Generico vs. Black & Jacobs |
| KELLER'S TNA TURNING POINT PPV 11/9: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Sting vs. Styles, Nash vs. Samoa Joe, Main Event Mafia |
| CALDWELL'S TNA TURNING POINT PPV REPORT 11/9: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV |
 |
| TV Reports |
| 11/18 ECW on Sci-Fi Report: Mayer's "alt perspective" report including Team Hardy vs. Team Henry, dancing debut, Dreamer vs. Swagger |
| CALDWELL'S ECW TV REPORT 11/18: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of WWE's Sci-Fi show featuring Matt Hardy, Finlay, Miz & Morrison |
| KELLER'S WWE RAW REPORT 11/17: Ongoing coverage of live show including Santino raps for Akon, Orton-Punk |
 |
| Arena Reports |
| 11/12 WWE in Newcastle, U.K.: Batista & Mysterio vs. Jericho & Orton, Shawn Michaels vs. JBL, Haas Hogan in the house |
| WWE News: Complete Smackdown tapings report for next two weeks - Jeff Hardy, Triple H, Koslov set up Survivor Series |
| WWE News: Second detailed report from England with full results of tonight's Raw telecast |
 |
| MMA / UFC Coverage |
| MMATorch Briefing: Fedor wants to fight Lesnar, Filho out of WEC, Heavyweight rankings, Big announcement |
| MMA Update: New Top Ten Heavyweight Rankings by MMATorch Staff Just Released |
| UFC 91 AUDIO ROUNDTABLE (free): Pennick, Ennis, Pelkey, Bent (67 min.) |
 |
| KELLER'S TAKE |
| KELLER: A look back at Mike Adamle's infamously disastrous and embarrassing debut as ECW announcer |
| KELLER: WWE addressed a lot of problems with Raw last night - a march through the eight in our reader poll |
| KELLER SHORT: What was missing from last night's celebration of 800 episodes of WWE Raw... |
 |
| MITCHELL'S TAKE |
| MITCHELL SHORT: WWE Raw Wrestlers Have No Guts Part 2 |
| MITCHELL: Scott Steiner and The Main Event Mafia: The Comeback Promo |
| MOJO MITCHELL'S WWE RAW 11/10: Stream of Stephanie McMahon Gets Creative And Ends All The Bad Storylines (Okay, One of Them) |
 |
| MCNEILL'S TAKE |
| McNEILL's Mailbag: On Lauren Thompson and 70's Style Booking |
| Indestructible: McNEILL previews TNA Turning Point 2008! |
| McNEILL's Mailbag: Should Michaels face 'Taker at WrestleMania? |
 |
| CALDWELL'S TAKE |
| CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 6 - Eddie vs. Rey Mysterio... 'Nuff Said |
| CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 5 - Eddie vs. Chris Jericho; the day no one cared |
| CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 4 - Eddie vs. Ric Flair; the importance of the U.S. Title |
 |
| RADICAN'S TAKE |
| TALES FROM THE PULPIT 11/18: Too small to be big and too big to be small: ROH's fight to get the buzz back (pt. 1) |
| RADICAN: Last Call with Raven & Sandman dissapoints despite fantastic production and high expectations |
| TALES FROM THE PULPIT 11/13: Why should you buy ROH's "Driven" PPV when it debuts tomorrow? (spoilers) |
 |
| The Specialists |
| 11/18 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Miz & Morrison, All American Challenge, 6 Man Tag |
| PARKS: The Mike Adamle Experiment - How much blame for his failure is on his shoulders? |
| UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 11/17 Raw: Clearance sale for Released Wrestlers merch, Relationship Building with Punk & Kofi, Batista vs. Ref |
 |
| Guest Editorials |
| EDITORIAL: Career vs. Career - The Undertaker vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 25 |
| EDITORIAL: A plan for a dramatic make-over of WWE through massive downscaling of TV, PPVs, roster size, titles |
| EDITORIAL: Vetter examines problems with ROH product |
 |
| Torch Feedback |
| ECW on Sci-Fi Reax #1: "I was waiting for someone to take a shot at Swagger's lisp, but Ricky Ortiz?" |
| WWE Raw Reax #4: "Manu came away from his match with Batista stronger than when he walked in." |
| WWE Raw Reax #3: "...Easily the coolest moment on the show besides Santino's rap." |
 |
| Ask the Editor |
| Ask the Editor: Wouldn't incorporating MMA-style holds into pro wrestling matches just be trying to be something it's not? |
| ASK THE EDITOR: Have the Michaels-Batista promos crossed a line with use of insider terms, references to "jobs"? |
| ASK THE EDITOR: Why do wrestlers in WWE refer to wrestling as "the business" and not "the sport"? |
 |
| DVDs - VGames - Books |
| RADICAN: Last Call with Raven & Sandman dissapoints despite fantastic production and high expectations |
| RADICAN: Hey! The Claudio Castagnoli delivers one of the best independent releases of the year |
| DVD REVIEW by Brian Hoops: Magnum T.A. and Nikita Koloff reflections |
 |
| Torch Flashbacks |
| WWE News Flashback: Mike Adamle the new G.M. of Raw: Controversial announcer shifted off of ECW announcing duties |
| RADICAN'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 5 YRS. AGO (11-13-03): Benoit & John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar & Big Show, Vince McMahon rubs his temples, Kurt Angle |
| KELLER'S NWA-TNA PPV REPORT 5 YRS. AGO (11-12-03): Sting & A.J. Styles together vs. Lex Luger & Jeff Jarrett, Raven & The Sandman team, X Division Gauntlet |
 |
| VIP Exclusive Features |
| 11/19 Daily Keller Hotline: A specific proposal to overhaul the look and feel of WWE utilizing current talent in a new way (16 min.) |
| ECW ON SCI-FI ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 11/18: Mayer, Mezzera, Parks rate and review |
| PWTorch Newsletter #1054 (19 Pages!): Your weekly megadose of news, analysis, columns, TV reports, more |
 |
| Torch Trivia |
| Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Curt Hennig? - Part Two |
| Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Curt Hennig? - Part One |
| Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Champion vs. Champion matches? |
 |
| Torch Instant Polls |
| Who was the MVP of the Nov. 17 Raw if you saw the show? |
| Rate the 11/17 WWE Raw on a 0-10 scale if you saw the event |
| POLL: What's your prediction for the Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture fight? |
 |
| PWTorch Free Podcast |
| 11/19 East Coast Audio: ECW - Miz & Morrison continue to shine, A guy debuted, Swagger punished (8 min. clip) |
| 11/17 WWE Raw post-game Show: Caldwell and Parks discuss final hype for Survivor Series, John Cena's lack of presence, beards-a-plenty (7 min. clip) |
| 11/17 VIP East Coast Audio: Smackdown - Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin, Intense debate on Jeff Hardy's character change (7 min. clip) |
 |
| Annual Obituaries |
| SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 1999 - Muchnick, Rick Rude, Owen Hart, Renegade... |
| SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2000 - Solie, Albright, Duncum, Tsuruta, Blue Demon, Al Costello |
| SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2001: Johnny Valentine, Terry Gordy, Chris Adams, Bertha Faye, Helen Hart |
 |
|
|