Original Airdate: Saturday, July 29th, 1989
Worcester Centrum
Worcester, Massachusetts
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Off The Grid, Volume 36:
We hear from Randy Savage, Sherri, Brutus Beefcake, Brainbusters, Demolition, Honky Tonk Man and Hulk Hogan with the classic SNME intro. Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura rundown tonight's card and then show a highlight package of Honky Tonk Man's greatest hits.
We go to Mean Gene with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. Honky says that Hogan will be at the heartbreak hotel.
We go back to Mean Gene with Hulk Hogan. He says his usual crap.
WWF Championship Match
Honky Tonk Man vs. Hulk Hogan
They start brawling pretty quickly and Hogan then carries Jimmy Hart on his back and into the ring. Honky misses Hogan with a guitar shot and Hogan continues to stay on the offense. Hogan drags in both men and gives them a double noggin knocker. Somehow the referee doesn't see Hart hit Hogan in the back. Honky controls the match and nearly puts me to bed. Hogan hulks up and makes his comeback. He hits Hart and Honky with the chair and hits his finisher for the victory. This wasn't good.
Match Rating: 1/2*
They show Ronnie Garvin celebrating with Hogan and then a recap of him losing to Greg Valentine in a retirement match. They show clips of him being a referee and how he is attacking wrestlers who aren't following the rules. Jack Tunney then says that he is on warning for his behavior.
Greg Valentine vs. Jimmy Snuka
Garvin is the referee here. Valentine attacks Snuka from behind and before the bell rings. Snuka does a leapfrog over a charging Valentine and hits him with a thrust. Snuka goes off the second rope and Valentine gets his knees up. Valentine is wearing his shin guard and he is playing that up. Valentine keeps kicking Snuka as he tries to get back in the ring. Garvin shoves him and they get into an argument, which allows Snuka to go up top. Garvin hits Valentine and Snuka hits a crossbody for the victory. This was all storyline and one that would continue for awhile.
Match Rating: *
We get a brief clip of Randy Savage and Brutus Beefcake from Brother Love before going to Savage, Sherri and Ventura backstage. He says he has a big surprise for him. While Savage enters, we go to Beefcake and Mean Gene for a pretty lame interview.
Randy Savage vs. Brutus Beefcake
Beefcake in '89 is such a weird thing. He was so over and it just fell off a cliff after the accident and he never found anything close. Beefcake tosses Savage over the rope and goes after Sherri. Savage of course makes the save and I dig the red trunks for Savage here. We get some nice frantic back and forth action that you would expect from a Savage match from this era. After some Sherri interference, Savage throws Beefcake over the top and hits the top rope double ax handle to the floor. Sherri gets a couple of kicks in and a hit to the head with a heel. Beefcake gets an inside cradle, but the ref was distracted by Sherri. Sherri uses her nylon to choke Beefcake, but Beefcake gets Savage with a shot to the midsection when Savage comes off the top rope. Sherri holds Beefcake, but Beefcake avoids Savage and Sherri is knocked off the apron. Sherri heads off to the back as we go to the commercial break. She brings out Zeus of course. Beefcake slaps on the sleeper hold and in comes Zeus to cause the disqualification finish. Zeus gets Beefcake up in a bearhug and out comes Hogan. He attacks, but it has not effect on Zeus. Zeus absorbs some more shots and picks Zeus up so Savage can hit him in the back off the top rope. Beefcake makes a save and we have a four man brawl. Hogan hits Zeus with a chair to the back and we have a standoff before Zeus and Savage head to the back. That was a really good TV match and the post match shenanigans were really good too. Savage gave a master class on how to have a good match with a lesser opponent.
Match Rating: ***3/4
We go back to Ventura with Savage, Sherri and Zeus. Lots of loud noises here. Sherri calls out Hogan for beating up women and crying when he loses.
After showing a clip of the last match between the Brainbusters and Demolition, Demolition tells Mean Gene that it's time for pop goes the weasel.
Two-Out-Of-Three Falls Match For The WWF Tag Team Championship
Brain Busters vs. Demolition
I've really come to appreciate Demolition over the years. Obviously Anderson and Blanchard are both awesome. Both teams get some offense in, with the closest call coming after an Anderson spinebuster. Smash hits a hot shot on the top rope and gets the first fall. We get lots of heel antics when we come back from commercial and there weren't many better teams at that for my money. Smash gets a hot tag and things get chaotic with all five men getting involved. Heenan is thrown into the ring post and the crowd is going crazy. Out comes Andre The Giant and Demolition hits the Demoltion Decapitation, but they are called for disqualification for not listening to the referee. That's your classic we never call out anyone for this, but we will since we have three falls scenario. Andre thinks it's hilarious and the third fall is underway. Things break down again, which distracts the referee from what's going on. Andre slides a chair to Blanchard and he hits Smash in the back of the head with it. Anderson covers him and we have new champions. Tremendous action. They crammed a 20 minute match into 12 and it worked. Two really good matches on this show.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Ventura is back Haku and Rick Rude right before Heenan, Anderson, Blanchard and Andre join them for the celebration. I always love these heel celebration interviews. Classic stuff.
We come back from commercial and Mean Gene is with Beefcake and Hogan. Hogan rambles on and on about how it was okay for him to do what he did because the Hulkamaniacs gave him the green light. He then starts wondering what will happen if they get their hands on Elizabeth.
Jesse and Vince wrap it up and we get a quick highlight clip before signing off.
That was a great episode of SNME and a very good example of how compelling characters can make stories happen. I doubt that a better Beefcake match exists than the one we got here and the tag title match was very good too. This one gets a big thumbs up.
Overall Rating: 87%
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