Original Airdate: Saturday, May 2nd, 1987
Edmund P. Joyce Center
Notre Dame, Indiana
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Off The Grid, Volume 46:
Randy Savage is talking about George Steele walking off with Miss Elizabeth at WrestleMania III and his big lumberjack match tonight. Ricky Steamboat is ready for Hercules tonight. The Hart Foundation say that the British Bulldogs are getting a nightmare tonight. Jim Duggan is American. Bobby Heenan in a neckbrace says he'll show us how Andre The Giant won at WrestleMania III. Hulk Hogan talks about the exclusive footage tonight.
We go to Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon to talk about tonight's card. They then show footage of why Bobby Heenan had a neckbrace when he got attacked by Ken Patera on Superstars earlier "today".
We go to Mean Gene, who is with Kamala, Kimchee and Mr. Fuji. Kamala is of course afraid of snakes.
They show Jake Roberts being attacked by Honky Tonk Man and then Jake says he signed this match because Damien wants it.
Kamala vs. Jake Roberts
Jake dumps Damien out as soon as he gets to the ring and Kamala dives out of the ring. The referee makes him put it away and that allows Kamala to attack him from behind. Kamala controls the match for awhile, which means it's pretty slow. Jake hits a knee lift and the crowd is absolutely losing it. The crowd wants the DDT so bad. Has there ever been a more over move in WWE history? Kim Chee is able to attack Jake from behind with the help of distraction from Mr. Fuji. Kamala hits a splash and that's all? Interesting. After the match, Kim Chee takes off his mask and outfit to reveal it was Honky Tonk Man. This match was pretty bad, but man did the crowd come alive for that split second they thought Jake might hit the DDT.
Match Rating: 1/4*
They show the Hart Foundation, Danny Davis and British Bulldogs around the ring talking trash before the Lumberjack match.
We go to George Steele with Mean Gene. He doesn't understand how brutal a Lumberjack match can be.
They then show Honky Tonk Man walking out with Kim Chee.
Ricky Steamboat now walks in with Mean Gene. He says he'll be there with George since he helped him win his Intercontinental Championship.
They show Jim Duggan make his way and then Steamboat with Steele.
Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth are with Mean Gene now. Savage wants Steele because he cost him the Intercontinental title.
Lumberjack Match
George Steele vs. Randy Savage
I can't believe this feud seriously went on for like 2 years. We get a pretty standard Steele match here until things start to break down with the lumberjacks. Duggan tries to chase after Iron Shiek and then is ejected when he swings the 2x4 at him. We get a commercial and when we come back Steele slams Savage and rips open the turnbuckle to throw the foam at Savage. We then get chaos again, with brawling on the outside. That allows Danny Davis to come in and hit Steele from behind with the ring bell. Savage hits the top rope elbow drop and that's all. Back to back matches with the same exact finish. Steamboat goes after Savage and then Hercules attacks him. All of the lumberjacks are in to brawl now. Jake Roberts is now out with Damien and clears the ring except for Kim Chee, who gets the snake treatment. This wasn't really any better than the last match, but it was more fun.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Mean Gene is here for a sit down interview with Bobby Heenan and Andre The Giant. Andre says that he was cheated. Heenan claims that the referees are biased in Hogan matches and Jack Tunney is as well. They show a spot in the WrestleMania match where they think the referee counted to 3.
Mean Gene is with the Harts and Davis. Davis goes after Gene and Gene is flustered.
Two Out Of Three Falls Match For The WWF Tag Team Championship
British Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation
Matilda goes after Jimmy Hart and bites and rips his pants. I'm sure PETA loves that. I guess we had to have at least one match with good action. This one quickly breaks down and it leads to Tito Santana chasing Danny Davis around the ring and somehow leads to the first fall being a DQ in the favor of the Bulldogs. When we come back from commercial, the Harts in control again. They were much better heels than I ever really realized. Dynamite Kid gets a hot tag to Davey Boy and he hits an awesome looking dropkick. Davey Boy knocks Bret off the apron and then Tito comes in behind the referee's back to attack Neidhart. The Bulldogs are able to make the pin and the crowd erupts. The Hart Foundation then run away with the belt and Jesse explains to us that they can't win the title because the first fall was a disqualification. This was a really fun match until the stupid finish.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Hulk Hogan is now with Mean Gene looking at the footage we saw earlier. I don't know, he just yells a lot.
Mean Gene is busy tonight. Now he's with Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat is breathing fire and he's ready to burn.
Mean Gene is now with Savage and Elizabeth, who are watching the match backstage.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Ricky Steamboat vs. Hercules
Steamboat was just so smooth and was able to just work well with just about anyone he wrestled. They keep showing the picture in picture of Randy Savage rooting for Steamboat. I love Macho, but this idea is pretty annoying. After a true back and forth battle, Hercules slaps on the Full Nelson. Out comes Savage and he grabs the ankle of Hercules. He lets go of the hold and he, Heenan and the referee go out to confront Savage. When we come back from commercial, Herc goes for a splash, but Steamboat gets the knees up. Herc comes back with a body slam, but then misses with the elbow drop. We then get Herc's chain thrown in the ring and he starts choking Steamboat with it and that's enough for the disqualification. Herc continues to attack him with it and gets a chorus of boos. Savage comes into the ring after the attack and then hits him with the top rope elbow drop. The match was pretty good for the little bit of time they got.
Match Rating: *1/2
Mean Gene interviews Jim Duggan from his ringside seat. He loves America and doesn't like anyone who doesn't.
We get a pre-taped interview with Slick, Nikolai Volkov and Iron Sheik. Slick says he's down with the communist party.
Can-Am Connection vs. Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik
Nikolai starts to sing the Russian national anthem and Duggan runs in and attacks him. Martel has an energetic start to the match, looking good as usual. Sheik also looks to have his working boots on here tonight as well. The action spills outside, which naturally leads to Duggan getting involved again . It distracts the Sheik and that allows Zenk to hit a sunset flip for the victory. This was energetic, but short and predictable.
Match Rating: *1/4
We go back to Jesse and Vince for the recap of the night.
We come back from another commercial just for Vince to say so long.
This was an entertaining episode, but not nearly as good as a lot of the Saturday Night's Main Events I have reviewed so far. This was good, but not one to go out of your way for.
Overall Rating: 70%
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