Off The Grid, Volume 57: Saturday Night's Main Event I Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, May 11th, 1985
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Uniondale, New York

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Off The Grid, Volume 57:

It's probably about time that I watch the first one, huh? I have seen this once before, but it's been at least 5 years. Wendi Richter and Cyndi Lauper's promo is first and then we go to Hulk Hogan and Mr. T wearing Saturday Night's Main Event shirts. We then go to Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura. We have two title matches tonight. 

Mean Gene is with the face team and for some reason they let Barry Windham talk instead of just having Lou Albano do the talking. 

Nikolai Volkoff, Iron Sheik & George Steele vs. US Express & Ricky Steamboat

The music they use for the US Express is just horrendous. It's kind of crazy that they weren't able to do more with Windham during this era. The faces dominate the entire first segment of the match before going into a commercial break. After the break, they continue to dominate. This is about as one-sided of a match that I can remember for a non-squash. Volkoff and Sheik go outside the ring and Steele looked outside the ring. This allowed Windham to roll up Steele and get the victory. The crowd absolutely loved that finish and we get a huge pop. After the match, Steele rips up a turnbuckle and then Sheik and Volkoff attack him. They retreat to the back and Lou Albano checks on Steele. The match was pretty good with a hot crowd. After the match, Mean Gene tries to get a word with Sheik, Volkoff and Freddie Blassie. Steele interrupts and attacks them. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We go to Piper's Pit with Paul Orndorff. Piper clearly carries this one, as Orndorff was always a dorky character to me. Chaos ensues and Orndorff has Piper up for a piledriver but Bob Orton hits him in the back of the head with his cast. Mr. T comes out and makes the save. 

Mean Gene is with Hogan now and he says that this match tonight is for his mom since it's almost Mother's Day. It's kind of weird to me that they are doing such a poor job of trying to make this seem like it is live. 

WWF Championship Match
Bob Orton vs. Hulk Hogan

Hogan gets the hot start and Orton decides to roll out of the ring to talk to Piper. That works for a second until Hogan is all over him again. We get a competitive match now to save this one from being a turd. Just as I type that, Piper socks Hogan and causes a disqualification. Out comes Orndorff and Mr. T, making it a 3 on 2 and the heels retreat. I know I didn't type much here, but this was better than most Hogan TV matches. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene is now with Fabulous Moolah. She cuts a lame promo and no one cares. She says that she's going to get Lauper banned from ringside. 

We then hear from Cyndi and Wendi and you have to love how into this Lauper is. Lauper says that she is Wendi's manager, so she'll be there. 

WWF Women's Championship Match
Fabulous Moolah vs. Wendi Richter

Howard Finkel reads out that Cyndi Lauper is going to be banned from ringside and she then is escorted to the back into the commercial break. Moolah's matches are more formulaic than Hogan's, which is saying something. The finish comes out of nowhere with Moolah going for a body slam and Richter turning it into a pinfall. This was terrible. Lauper runs out and celebrates with Richter. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Junkyard Dog is with his mom and Mean Gene. Thrilling. 

Pete Doherty vs. Junkyard Dog

Doherty is something else. JYD is all over him and Doherty is selling like he's dying. Doherty tries going up top but gets powerslammed across the ring. He hits a power slam and gets the win and it gets no reaction whatsoever. What was this? 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Now we have a Mother's Day party going on backstage. They have the heels mixed in with the faces, which is kind of surprising for 1985. Moolah interrupts the party and she starts insulting Lauper's mom. There's a cake on a table. I wonder if that will come into play. Moolah and Gene get shoved into the cake and Moolah can't even do that right. Moolah starts throwing cake and we go to commercial. 

Jesse and Vince are here for 30 seconds and then we get another commercial. We come back for them to just say goodbye. 

I've mentioned before that I'm not particularly fond of this era and this show was no different. There was nothing here that was really worthwhile and a lot of it was subpar wrestling or entertainment. Plus any show that is full of Hulk Hogan and Moolah is something I'm not really interested in. 

Overall Rating: 37%