WWF 305 Live: Boss Man! Akeem! Earthquake! Hillbilly Jim!

Earthquake vs. Hillbilly Jim WWF SNME 4/28/90 - FUN

ER: This was the last "major" Hillbilly Jim TV appearance, and it's a pretty cool sendoff. It's not talked about as a sendoff, other than Jesse frequently referring to Jim as an idiot (a thing he did a lot during Jim matches). This is a 2 minute match so there's not going to be a lot of development, but it wasn't worked as a straight squash. It's better that way because it meant we got to see Hillbilly back up Quake a few times. WWE has been so overproduced for the last 15 years that it's wild they were just throwing big Hogan-feuding heels out there with only a big blue singlet and matching boots and letting him just stomp out to the ring with a sloppy fucking beard. They assemble stars so differently now, and whenever I watch Tenta I just wonder where all the big fat Canadian 42 year old 27 year olds have gone? 

Hillbilly Jim is really really big but never treated as if he was the same size as Big John Studd for some reason. Seeing how big he looks opposite Quake is so cool, and he had nice body shots and a great fired up babyface cartwheel. Hillbilly Jim: He had a really good cartwheel. Earthquake didn't quite have his WWF formula and pacing down here but you know he's cool because of how hard he still committed to hitting those ropes. His big leaping elbowdrop is even more impressive than the Earthquake Splash, but Earthquake jumping before the splash is iconic and really adds to the effect. Four jumping stomps is right. Three would be too few. 

Big Boss Man vs. Akeem WWF SNME 4/28/90 - VERY GOOD

ER: We didn't get any kind of full satisfying blowoff to the Twin Towers, only smoke blowing off the Chelsea Piers. We got about 5 total minutes of Boss Man/Akeem between this match and the WrestleMania match earlier in the month, and maybe that's fine. We were never going to get any kind of Boss Man/Akeem match to rival the 1987 UWF Big Bubba/One Man Gang match, but surely there's some middle ground we could have landed on. Nevertheless, this is a fun 3 minutes and a great Akeem show. Either he's bumping around for Boss Man - including a major spill when he's backdropped over the top and then flipped into the ring the hard way - or he's throwing some awe-inspiring overhand rights. The best part of the match is Akeem throwing single punches at Boss Man's head, sending Boss Man reeling into the ropes each time. 

Boss Man is huge guy who can work rope rebounds as smoothly as Bobby Eaton. Now when you hear somebody has great rope work, it typically means they're good at finding new ways to spring off them. Not enough guys use them to slump into, to catch their fall, to send them back into the scrum like someone hitting the edge of a mosh pit. Akeem keeps rocking Boss Man, and Boss Man gets sent leaning wayyy back into the ropes, thrown back into another of Akeem's fists whether he was ready or not. 

Maybe the best part of this was Akeem's completely rhythmless jive dancing to the unquestionable greatest WWF entrance theme of all time. Or, maybe it was Akeem's standing splash that doesn't get a single fucking inch of air. Worry not, Akeem is such a mountain that he can squish a guy just fine even if he only goes up on his tiptoes for a splash. Dibiase interrupts before we can get a finish (bookending the way he ambushed Boss Man before the WM6 match), but not before Akeem can take the lowest hang time Boss Man Slam you have ever seen. It looked like a Rock Bottom that Boss Man had delivered it from his knees.  

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WWF 305 Live: Akeem vs. Hogan!

Akeem vs. Hulk Hogan WWF SNME 1/7/89 - GREAT

ER: This is a real important show in my personal pro wrestling history, as it was the first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event that I saw. It reminds me of that great feeling when you're a kid and you discover that a thing like Pro Wrestling exists, and you learn about new wrestlers every week, and you piece together information about all of them and mentally fill in their histories. At this point I had discovered WWF weekend AM TV shows Superstars and Wrestling Challenge, but I didn't realize SNME was a regularly scheduled special event. This was the first one my dad taped for me, meaning this was a show I watched a ton. I didn't know who half the people were on this show, but I came to be very familiar with all of them (and this was probably my only tape, for a long time, that had a Ron Bass match on it). I had no idea who Akeem was before this show, but I remember that Akeem dancing his way through selling for Hogan strikes was a huge hit with me. 

Akeem looks massive here, vibing his way to the ring with a never bigger Boss Man, then dance selling his way through the match. He did terrible moonwalks on offense, hit Hogan with clubbing arms, and did variations on the electric slide while taking many Hogan right hands. Akeem is great at waddling around a ring and making faces like a mammoth Dom Deluise, then takes some big flat bumps off Hogan axe bombers. Boss Man and Slick were working overtime too, with both taking big bumps off the apron. Giving Hogan several targets that all fall in spectacular ways is a smart way to organize a Hogan match, keep him busy and constantly battling enemies, crowd stays hot, etc. Boss Man seriously takes three different big falls off the apron, with the best being Hogan running Akeem into Boss Man. Boss Man gets hit and holds the top rope while doing a huge power squat, butt hanging way over the edge of the apron, before hitting the floor with a big splat. 

This whole match was so dominantly Hogan, that when we hit our mid-match twist the crowd gets furious at how much the Twin Towers are running the board. Akeem pulls Hebner into the way of another axe bomber, Boss Man nails Hogan with the night stick, and then we get a couple glorious minutes of the Twin Towers falling repeatedly onto Hogan like he was an NYC firefighter reliving the worst day of his life. Akeem doesn't so much do "standing splashes" as he gets a couple inches off the ground before horizontally flattening Hogan. Over and over, two fat monsters just splashing Hogan, as garbage starts to rain into the ring. Now of course we get a Hulk Up and Akeem runs into the big boot in an amusing way, but Boss Man draws the DQ which saves Akeem from a legdrop. I need to find any of the Hogan/Gang singles matches from 87/88 to see how they hold up to our only existing Hogan/Akeem match. Those likely won't have any dance selling so they are probably worse.  

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WWF 305 Live: Uncle Elmer! Big John Studd! Boss Man! Dusty!

Big John Studd vs. Uncle Elmer WWF MSG 8/10/85 - VERY GOOD

ER: Anyone who says the Hillbillies were not an insanely over act in WWF's main touring markets is an outright liar who has never actually watched any Hillbilly matches. Because on this night in 1985 there were 22,000 people packed into MSG and they lost their collective minds when Uncle Elmer made his comeback, and it was glorious. The whole match is a lot of clobbering and stomping, with Studd jumping Elmer the moment Elmer crossed the plane of the ring ropes. Studd clubs and stomps Elmer so much that Elmer isn't even on his feet until his actual comeback! Studd clubs him to the ground and then stomps away while Elmer rolls around in a daze, and when Studd drags Elmer to his feet (lifting him up by his overall straps), that's when Elmer starts clubbing Studd in the ears and throwing a couple great forearms to the chest, then hits a big avalanche in the corner. 

When Elmer calls for the powerslam the MSG crowd loses it, just an insanely loud crowd reaction for these Hillbillies. And just as Elmer is about to lift Studd, Heenan flies into frame and starts throwing stiff as hell shots at Elmer, and the crowd loses it all over again when Hillbilly Jim gets in the ring to punch Studd in the head as Elmer starts to choke Heenan. I immediately go to look up where the follow up Elmer/Hillbilly Jim vs. Studd/Heenan matches happened, and of course Elmer never had any kind of interaction with Studd OR Heenan after this match. WWF had this very bizarre habit during this era of using an MSG match for an angle to set up a molten hot return match, and then never cashing in on that return match in any way. This whole match was maybe 4 minutes (including the excellent post match Heenan involvement) and it is so weird to me that something this and a match this fun was sadly both angle AND blowoff. 

Big Boss Man vs. Dusty Rhodes WWF SNME 11/25/89 - FUN

ER: This was good but really should have been great. Instead it was a short match that served as more angle than match, bringing Sapphire from exuberant ringside Dust fan to Dusty's new manager and setting up a run of house show stips matches. There's a lot of Slick distraction, a lot of Boss Man and Slick yelling at Sapphire, and some fairly unnecessary arm work from Boss Man. But there are also several memorable exchanges. Every time they are throwing strikes is great, with nothing but exciting right hands from both. We got some nice flashes of young Boss Man's speed when he chased Dusty to throw him into the ringpost. Best moment of the match is a real beast of a kitchen sink that Boss Man buries in Dusty's belly. Boss Man's kitchen sink was so great that it would have made a believable finisher, and I love how Dusty bumped for it. There are a few fun big misses, like Dusty missing an elbowdrop and Boss Man missing an avalanche and winding up draped over the top ropes, but the schoolboy finish is incredibly weak. The match would have been way better if they had just brawled to a count out, and we didn't ever get another TV singles match between them. 

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On the Undeniable Greatness of Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant

Andre the Giant vs. The Ultimate Warrior WWF SNME 11/25/89

This was a special match on what is a very special wrestling show for me. I watched this match as part of my 9th birthday party, my first ever sleepover party. I had 8 or 10 friends over, which is FAR too many 9/10 year olds to be staying up watching wrestling at 2 AM while adults are trying to sleep just down the hall. I assume everybody has those memories of sleepovers where dads stagger out in their underwear, eyes mostly shut, telling the kids to PLEASE keep it down. Less than half the kids at my party were wrestling fans, and a couple of them had never even seen pro wrestling before this show. We watched this show as it aired, taped it, and immediately watched it over again once it ended. I have to think that starting a show like this with a bad gums giant fighting a gassed up maniac was exactly what the kids wanted. Just imagine a room of kids, many seeing pro wrestling for the first time, hopped up on pizza and sugar, and being introduced to Andre and Bobby Heenan. It's a beautiful thing. 

This match was voted the Worst Match of 1989 in the WON, which is a completely ludicrous, indefensible result that I'm sure was decided before most of the voters had even seen the match. Because, not only is this match far from being the worst of the year, but it's not even close to being the worst match on this show. In fact, this match is easily one of Warrior's greatest performances, and one of the great Old Andre performances. In many ways I think this is the greatest late career Andre performance, using every single part of his fading skillset and maximizing his greatest skills. He takes two bumps here and they are perfect, his selling is excellent, his facials are incredible, and his teeth make him seem like a wild animal. Warrior threw himself (often literally) into every piece of offense, threw some of his best strikes, and bumped appropriately for Andre's offense. This match was perfectly crafted around each man's skills at this point in their careers. 

I love how this starts, with Andre interrupting Warrior's posing to just start choking him, with both mixing in punches until Andre throws a headbutt that knocks Warrior to the floor. Overwhelmed, Warrior responds by immediately going desperation mode and choking Andre out with his singlet strap, and Andre is awesome at flailing and rocking in the ropes, lowering his center of gravity the longer he's choked. And even though we already got two different cool choking spots, we get another as Andre grabs Warrior from the floor and chokes him with the bottom rope by forcing the rope down onto his throat. Warrior keeps trying to bring Andre down to his size with headlocks (none of which work, and Andre is awesome at resisting all of them) and I thought it was cool that Warrior approaches the match with Andre as if he delusionally thinks he is the same size as Andre, and really that's the way Warrior SHOULD approach his matches. Andre makes a bunch of great bared teeth facials as he stretches Warrior's arms and chest, then takes a nice tumbling bump to the floor off a Warrior clothesline. Warrior is obviously not a guy known for good strikes, but there's only one punch he whiffs wide here. The rest of his strikes look like he's actually trying to hit Andre as hard as he can, and it's why his clothesline looks like something that would send Andre to the floor. 

Warrior continues working as a giant by locking Andre in a bearhug, which is a bizarre and cool sight. Warrior's arms were never bigger in wrestling than they were in this match, and the visual of him trying to keep them locked around Andre as Andre's massive hands close in on Warrior's traps, before Andre breaks the bearhug with another headbutt, is strong. Andre's hands covered Warrior's entire shoulderspan, each literally looking the same size as Warrior's head. Andre locks in his own bearhug, arms wrapped around Warrior's midsection as Andre locks it in from one knee. Warrior rains down on Andre's back with some really violent windmill shots, getting great sound by smacking full arms off Andre until Andre headbutts him in the stomach to get Warrior to stop. 

My favorite part of the match is when Warrior finally escapes the bearhug, and then catches Andre with a brutal body shot as Andre approached. Warrior threw it as hard as possible and it made a loud crack, and Andre sold it majestically. Andre took the loud body shot and let out the groan of a dying wooly mammoth, holding his stomach and contorting his face the way a man who just finished eating an entire pot of chili might. Warrior throws truly excellent chops in the corner, more great echoing sound, and in the spot of the match hits a baseball bat standing lariat that drops Andre into the ropes, trapping his arms. Andre flying backwards and getting trapped in the ropes is always a great spot, and this might legitimately be the best he ever did it. He flies backwards with 100% trust in the ropes, and you have NEVER seen ropes bend this far. I have no clue how they didn't snap and send Andre on a death fall to the floor. Andre was so good at making that spot work so well every time, but this was a spectacular version of a great spot. You really buy that Andre was trapped in the ropes, the force of his full weight hitting them looked like Godzilla getting trapped in a suspension bridge. Another great spot when Warrior does a crossbody into an Andre boot while Andre is still trapped, again really putting over the size discrepancy. Heenan gets involved as the ref struggles to free Andre, with Heenan eating some potato shots before getting press slammed into a now freed Andre (with Heenan bouncing off Andre and landing on his shoulder) and earning Andre the DQ. 

I understand why people would have been close-minded to this match due to prevailing "smart" opinions of the time, but I am failing to see how Andre and Warrior could have worked a smarter, more compelling match. This was clearly an example of a group predetermining that something was going to be eye poison, and refusing to evaluate it on its own terms. It's easy to hate something if you look for reasons to hate it, but there was so much here to appreciate and love that I feel it's due for a re-evaluation. This was a tremendous later career Andre performance, and, while the scales are different, one of Warrior's best.

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WWF 305 Live: Andre!! Studd! Bundy! Atlas! Hillbilly Jim!

King Kong Bundy/Big John Studd vs. Andre the Giant/Tony Atlas WWF SNME 10/5/85 - VERY GOOD

ER: The angle to set this one up was good, with Studd holding Andre's legs while Bundy kept hitting splash after splash on him. All of Bundy's splashes looked good, and this match kicked ass. Atlas looked downright tiny compared to all these oafs in the ring, and when Atlas is the smallest guy in a match you know it's gonna rule. This is all about Andre's revenge, going after Bundy and taking shots at Studd, with the kind of pace that said "we ain't going long". Andre chokes Bundy with his singlet straps, and in a moment of inspired genius, Andre does his double headlock noggin knocker spot....except he does it to Bundy and Atlas! Andre headlocks his own partner because his medically proven concrete head is a more violent weapon than clonking Bundy's head against Studd's! I don't think I've seen that before, and I am in love. 

Atlas hits his big jumping headbutts after tagging in, Bundy misses an awesome fat guy elbowdrop (I'm not sure what I love more: fat guys hitting elbowdrops, or fat guys missing elbowdrops), Atlas misses a dropkick and Bundy hits a splash. Studd gets in and goes right after Andre, which backfires spectacularly. Andre headbutts him from the apron and gets in and starts beating Studd, the pairing the crowd was dying for, and I loved Andre's big boot that sent Studd to the floor. Studd runs Atlas into the ringpost in a cool way, and the visual of Andre being attacked by Studd and Bundy while fighting back before the DQ was killer. Hogan runs out to save and his wedding attire is class (this was the Uncle Elmer wedding episode): leather pants, snakeskin cowboy boots, weight belt cummerbund, tuxedo shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and bowtie. This almost feels like a woman wearing a white gown to someone else's wedding. You can't upstage the groom like this, my man.

Andre the Giant/Hillbilly Jim vs. Big John Studd/King Kong Bundy WWF 11/10/85 - GREAT

ER: This was a main event attraction on an otherwise dull Maple Leaf Gardens show. Dino Bravo vs. Nikolai Volkoff was the big Canadian attraction, and the undercard was filled with Tony Parisi and Terry Gibbs and Ron Shaw. But then you get THIS match between maybe the four biggest guys on the roster and it's not some quickie affair. There are some really big moments and the structure was not what I expected. It's starts with Andre/Studd, and Andre backs him into the corner to flatten him. But pretty quickly, Studd gets a knee up right into Andre's back, and we get a long very fun stretch of Andre in peril. I hadn't crossed my mind that we'd get Andre in peril as the bulk of the match, as my first guess had been WWF's typical heel in peril formula that they used a lot in this era, and after that would have guessed a Hillbilly in peril. 

So Andre takes some nice clubbing shots from Studd, hitting Andre's chest with his left arm and Andre's back with his right arm. Studd and Bundy are good at clubbing on Andre while avoiding anything bigger, and Andre is great at selling like he's in actual danger without any of the dangerous things hitting. For example, Bundy tags in and smacks Andre around in the corner, but when he runs back in to try and avalanche Andre gets a boot up, sending Bundy bumping back towards Studd in a fun way. Bundy also misses a big elbow drop, so Andre has been established as taking a bunch of damage but hasn't been hit with anything big. He tries to tie Studd up with a bearhug and eventually we get our Hillbilly hot tag, which isn't as good as it should be. 

But it all builds to a truly great finish, as we get an Andre tied in the ropes spot done in a way I've never seen done before: Bundy and Studd tie Andre up on the apron, with Andre facing toward the crowd, sitting on the apron. That's a cool unique visual to the classic Andre trapped spot, and then Studd just brains Andre with the ringside timekeeper's table. It was a sturdy wooden table and made a big PLONK sound on Andre's head, and they do an all time great stretcher job for Andre. Andre is lying motionless at ringside for over 5 minutes, and it was convincing enough that it was clearly fooling more than just children. If I had seen this in my teens I would have bought it entirely. It takes forever to get Andre out of there, and that helps with the realism. Total big time angle that somehow was ONLY used to set up a return house show, even though I don't think I've ever seen someone lay out Andre to this degree. 

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WWF 305 Live: Hogan! King Mabel!! Bam Bam! Volkoff!

Hulk Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff WWF SNME 10/5/85 - GREAT

ER: This was a flag match, so you get Volkoff out singing the Russian anthem, Hogan comes out waving a gigantic American flag and wearing his resplendent whites. This is unquestionably the greatest gear of Hogan's career. The white boots, kneepads, and trunks, but with a proper sheen so it doesn't look like he's wearing a diaper (see Akiyama, Jun). The match is good, good enough that I wish we had more Hogan/Volkoff showdowns. This gets the added Red Menace heat, and it's worked at a quicker pace than a lot of era Hogan matches, and benefits from more back and forth (less Volkoff taking his share up front so Hogan can come back). It's more of a slugfest brawl with Hogan fired up (because of America), hitting an early axe bomber and awesome elbowdrop. Hogan had a really great elbowdrop in 84/85, something he dropped almost entirely not long after. It was a fistdrop like elbow, dropping down like Dibiase but placing the elbow perfectly across the throat. It's honestly one of the finest elbowdrops in wrestling, which is funny as I don't think of an elbowdrop as a Hogan move. He knocks Volkoff through the ropes, onto the time keeper's table, and Volkoff only takes over by running Hogan into a ringpost. His control is good, slamming Hogan and bullying him around, lifting him up with a super impressive overhead press, holding Hogan over his head by the trunks before crashing him down with a backbreaker. The finish is tight and sudden, with Hogan dodging a charging Volkoff, sending him high up on the turnbuckles into the post, leading to a quick Hogan legdrop. After the match Hogan actually spit shines his boots with the Russian flag!

King Mabel vs. Bam Bam Bigelow WWF Superstars 8/19/95 - VERY GOOD

ER: This is a literally and figuratively BIG match to show up on Superstars, maybe the two heaviest guys on the roster at this point. My only complaint is that Bigelow really needed to lay in shots, just to put over this ring-stressing clash of colossus. Bigelow is someone who always pulled his shots, never worked stiff, and used his agility to bump around generously for opponents. I appreciate a nice worked shot, but Mabel is such a tower of mass that you need to really run into him to back him up. That said, obviously this was a (ahem) ton of fun. Mabel is a real beast and really aims to smoosh Bigelow. The best parts were obviously when they would just run and leap into each other. A match like this basically needs to be nothing but avalanches, over and over, until one of the big fat guys falls on the other big fat guy. Mabel is good at selling for Bigelow, and my favorite thing might be Mabel selling the pyro during Bigelow's intro. Now there *was* a lot of fire in that ring, but Mabel sold it like he got maced. Bigelow runs the ropes really cool, always leaning deep into them to show how much is size can bend them, and it really puts across any extra spring he might be getting before hurling himself into the King. Bigelow runs into a big Boss Man Slam and Mabel chokes him in the ropes a bunch, whips him hard in the buckles, drops axe handles, Bam Bam bumping around for all of it. We get a fantastic spot, where Bigelow tries to surprise Mabel with his enziguiri, but Mabel ducks it and when Bigelow gets back to his feet MABEL hits an enziguiri! I'm not sure I've seen Bam Bam's enziguiri countered and used against him before, and it rules. Mabel hits an avalanche but crashes hard into the buckles on another one, and then Bigelow nails the enziguiri. Mo gets involved and takes a huge bump off the apron when Bigelow immediately shuts that interference down. Missed headbutt off the top and Mabel puts him away (a little easily) with a nice belly to belly. I would have liked to see one more Bigelow kickout before Mabel crushed him for good, but this had the kind of squishing you'd want from two behemoths.

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The Joy of WWF Saturday Night's Main Event 7/28/90

During this era, there was no program I looked forward to more than Saturday Night's Main Event. My dad would tape it for me and I'd watch the tapes over and over, and this episode was one of my favorites. It's a loaded episode with all the belts on the line, and several memorable performances. Let's see how much I like it 30 years later. 

Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior

ER: A smokin' great Rude performance in front of an unhinged crowd that loved every single thing Warrior did. Warrior's entrance reactions were at their peak here (and it's kind of amazing how loud this crowd stayed for this show considering they had already sat through THREE long Superstars tapings) and Rude was almost certainly Warrior's best ever opponent. This isn't one of their greatest matches, and Rude doesn't get much offense, but Rude stooged his way through this and built to him almost winning the belt. Rude took big bumps on Irish whips into turnbuckles, got tossed by a press slam, ate axe handles like they were dangerous projectiles, and gave us two immaculate atomic drop sells. I can't imagine having more fun as a professional wrestler than getting atomic dropped in front of 8,000 loud fans, then sticking your tailbone out and duck walking across the ring on your tiptoes before getting laid out with a clothesline. Rude's atomic drop selling is probably the greatest stooge sell of all time, and it's amazing how uniquely he treated the bump and always found new gags to add in. I love the heel aspect of Rude coming back by wasting Warrior with a belt shot, nailing him with a convincing nearfall Rude Awakening, leaping onto his back to really sink in a sleeper (Warrior hilariously getting his leg lifted by the ref like he's doing Jan Fonda glute exercises), and of course all the distraction and interference Heenan ran from ringside. I loved Heenan stopping the count and then walking all the way down the entrance way like he was just minding his own business, not interfering in a pro wrestling match. The finish is a big mess with Warrior taking it all out on Heenan (Heenan gets his face bounced off all the turnbuckles and takes a wild bump to the floor after getting tossed) and the match gets called a DQ. But what a tremendous Rude performance, the kind that keeps moving him up my list of favorite wrestlers ever. 

They play *that* Hulk Hogan tribute video, and watching it again with adult eyes I kind of forgive myself for thinking that Hulk Hogan had actually died because of Earthquake. If you showed this to someone who was unfamiliar with the angle, I can only assume that they would think Hulk Hogan died, or at minimum was seriously injured. The entire video really plays like Hogan got crushed to death by Earthquake. I liked the in ring Hogan promo and the intensity of Earthquake/Dino Bravo surrounding the ring, with a big tumbling save from Tugboat. I'm really surprised they didn't run the Hogan/Tugboat vs. Earthquake/Bravo tag match sooner (they ran it a few times on house shows, but not for several months after this aired, and this tag didn't air on TV until 6 months later), but this angle played out really well on TV. 

The Rockers vs. Demolition (Smash/Crush)

ER: Crush is kinda clumsy and doesn't have great timing, and this probably would have been better with Ax and Smash. But Ax gives a strong ringside performance and Smash puts in a great performance. Barry Darsow was a real goofball but was good at creating openings for the small Rockers and good at directing tags with Crush. Rockers looked good, had a couple nice headscissors and dropkicked both Smash and Crush to the floor. Eadie hits a great lariat on the floor to allow Demolition to take control, and the simple control segment is good. Crush hits big backbreakers on Marty Jannetty and even hits a cool press slam to throw him from the floor over the top rope. Michaels and Crush probably mix up less than anyone in the match, but Crush was fun as a big lug taking cruiser offense. The finish run is really fun with the Rockers hitting a great tandem superkick on Smash, then hitting the spot of the match with a gorgeous tandem fistdrop. Michaels hits an O'Connor roll on Smash but Ax comes in and nukes him with a clothesline, fun use of the masked heel finish. 

Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana

ER: This was great, a rematch of the finals of the IC Title tourney (after Warrior vacated the title), and even better than that match. Tito gets such a wonderful, loud babyface reaction throughout the match, with especially loud cheers coming from women. The cheers were higher pitch and loud, and Perfect bumped all over the ring and floor in a way that really made it look like Tito had a chance. Sure, it's not surprising to hear that Perfect bumped his way through a match, but these bumps came off like Tito was a serious threat, almost all of them felt like an actual extension of the move he was taking and not like athletic showing off. He flew to the floor two different times, really flying out past the top rope no his way to the floor; he took a couple of his signature flip bumps that land him on his head, getting his leg swept on the floor and in the ring. The in ring leg sweep bump is Perfect's signature, but I don't remember seeing him use it on the floor like this, not often. 

We get a long stretch of Earl Hebner selling a leg injury, and it takes a lot for Tito and Perfect to not let him overshadow everything. Hebner got run up on and he drags himself all around the edges of the ring as if he took sniper fire from the rafters. He's a wounded soldier in there and hilariously, Perfect has to overact just to try to combat Hebner's extreme overacting. So Hennig is selling Tito's figure 4 as if acid were being slowly poured up his legs, and we build to a nice dramatic moment where Tito hits the flying forearm and Hebner laboriously crawls over, bleeding out, leg likely already lost, and only makes a 2 count. Fans really want Tito to take this, and it's a great moment when Tito finally gets his new referee, running triumphantly down to the ring to gently nudge Hebner out to the floor. Once we get the new ref, the home stretch is brilliant. Perfect takes TWO atomic drops, meaning this show had TWO Minnesotans (the biological best bumpers on the planet) each taking TWO atomic drops and creating FOUR unique atomic drop bumps in the process (Perfect's silliest involved him getting bounced face first into the turnbuckle). The finish itself is so well executed and felt like one of those cool Arn finishes: Tito ducks down for a backdrop that Perfect scouts, Perfect stops short and grabs him for a Perfect Plex, Tito expects that and blocks it with a small package, and Perfect reversed the small package and narrowly escapes with a 3. I could easily see someone lifting this finish today, except Perfect and Tito made it look like actual logical reversals and not two dance partners over anticipating movements that haven't yet come. This is one of the more fondly remembered matches in SNME history, and it earns that acclaim. 

Buddy Rose vs. Kerry von Erich

ER: This is von Erich's TV debut, and really there aren't many cooler things in wrestling history than Kerry von Erich's long shag underneath a headband. Buddy Rose is a really fun but opponent for a debuting von Erich. Rose is gigantic and has two of the more memorable bumps on a show that had Rick Rude, Shawn Michaels, and Mr. Perfect in full title matches. He slaps Kerry to start and spends the rest of the match getting his ass kicked in and out of the ring. It's great. Kerry slams him, Buddy stumbles around and gets caught in the ropes, does that crazy huge fat guy Harley Race bump where he hangs off the bottom rope by his feet and falls on his head, and he leans right into a spins into the mat after taking the discus punch. This match and a two minute Superstars match are the only two times these absolute wrestling legends crossed paths, two stars from different worlds orbiting each other for merely 5 total minutes. 

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