WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event (1-4-1986)

From the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida, it’s SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT!

I don’t usually do entire show reviews, of course, but I don’t NOT do them, and this is a request! There will be a couple more, too. Plus SNME runs about 60 minutes and had a breeziness, so I’m looking forward to it.

Just a reminder that if you DO want to request a full show — which is welcome! — it, like, costs more than the normal $3. Because it is long and takes up a lot of my time. And what a great treat you get in the end! Me saying shit about wrestling to read while you take a crap or dump.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Gimmick Battle Royal (WWF, 4-1-2001)

WWF WrestleMania X-Seven, Houston, TX

A request! Among the glitz and glamour, the big matches and the great WWF Superstars of the day, when the WWF had fully vanquished WCW and ECW had finally run itself out of business, there was also the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven, the WrestleMania people who are wrong continue to insist is the greatest ever.

A bunch of old farts in Super Silly gimmicks such as “Former WWF Champion The Iron Sheik” LMAO and “Jim Cornette”! LOL!!! Who came up with this CRAP back in the day?

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Royal Rumble (WWF, 1-19-1992)

WWF Royal Rumble, Albany, NY

Request via Ko-fi. There’s a chance I’ve watched this match more than any other match in history. When people say, “What wrestling match would you show friends who don’t like wrestling to get them into wrestling,” my answer is, obviously, “I would not show them wrestling. They have lived however long having made the correct choice to not let this ridiculous shit into their veins.” But sometimes people will suggest a long, epic match, one that we dorks largely agree is great, and people will say, “Ugh! Look at me, pay attention to me, I am extremely smart and I would not show them that match. All wrestling matches should be 18 seconds long and not have anything good, because when you think about it, that is good!” But this is a 62-minute match I might show someone if I were forced to try to get them to like wrestling, because in this one hour, you see 30 various personalities and one of the all-time great performances.

The Men From Down Under vs Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik (Heroes of Wrestling, 10-10-1999)

Heroes of Wrestling, Bay St. Louis, MS

Request via Ko-fi. I actually watched this show live back in 1999. None of us thought it’d be good, we were all about 16-17 and recognized what the show was going to be, but there was some interest just because it was some wrestling, some old guys from the TV, and then we got a real huuuumdinger. This is one of the matches from said humdinger.

20-Man Battle Royal (WWF, 3-27-1988)

WWF WrestleMania IV, Atlantic City, NJ

This is a request via Ko-fi. It’s for the entire show, which I’ll break into match-by-match reviews, since that’s how I do it here on this blog. I have watched this show so many times in my life. It was a favorite 88 cent rental from the Movie Zoo when I was a youngster for two reasons: 1) I love tournaments, and especially loved them as a kid, and 2) It was four hours as a double VHS so more bang for my not-quite-a-buck. It is not a good show, certainly not by today’s standards and really not then either, but it is one I have a remarkable soft spot for, and I’m happy to fuck with it again. Also because I was paid money to fuck with it, that helps.

King Kong Bundy vs Nikolai Volkoff (AAWA, 11-30-2001)

AAWA, Jersey City, NJ

This is one of those indie shows that appears to have been a total one-off under a company name, or maybe there were more shows, I don’t know. I’m not looking that hard into it. But it’s Nov. 2001 and we’ve got a 54-year-old Nikolai Volkoff, who didn’t even move well 15 years before this, and a 46-year-old King Kong Bundy, who looked long in the tooth six years before this in his final WWF stint. Why watch this? Because wrestling is about variety, y’all.