Original Airdate: Saturday, October 3rd, 1997
Hershey Arena
Hershey, Pennsylvania
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Off The Grid, Volume 62:
Honky Tonk Man says he is going to steal Miss Elizabeth, Randy Savage tells us to freak out, freak out, King Kong Bundy talks about Mr. Blunderful, Sika eats a chicken and Hulk Hogan says that Sika can't eat these 24" pythons.
Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan welcome us to the arena to talk about the title matches and Heenan is all fired up tonight. Mean Gene is with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. They make a big deal about Honky demanding to come out first, which is rare for a champion. Uh, have they never watched a WWF show? The heel champ so often comes out first. Honky is pretty great here. As always here on SNME, we see Honky's entrance and then go to Mean Gene with Randy Savage and Elizabeth. Savage says that Honky doesn't know the difference between a guitar string and a g string, which naturally cracks Gene up.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Honky Tonk Man vs. Randy Savage
Heenan says that Elizabeth is attractive in a gaudy way, which infuriates McMahon. I love this era of Savage so much. Honky at this time is pretty great also. Honky telegraphs a back body drop and Savage kicks him in the face before leaping over the top rope to snap Honky's neck on it. Honky regains control and hits the second rope fist to the face. Savage explodes back hitting the double ax handle off the top rope but Jimmy Hart gets involved. Savage turns his attention to Hart and hits him with a right hand to a huge pop. The Hart Foundation are now out to check on Jimmy. They carry him to the back as we go to a commercial break. When we come back Honky is back in the ring and it isn't long until Savage is back in control. Honky rakes the eyes and dumps Savage, which allows the Hart Foundation to attack him. Savage battles back and hits the scoop slam and the top rope elbow drop but Bret Hart runs in and hits him before the referee counts 3. You knew we were getting a cheap finish the second that the Foundation came out. They attack Savage and Honky grabs the guitar. Honky gets set up and takes his time before Elizabeth finally steps in front of him. She begs Honky to stop but Honky shoves her to the mat and then orders her out of the ring. She heads to the back with the cops and Honky finally smashes the guitar on Savage's head after a lot of stalling. Honky dances and out comes Elizabeth with Hulk Hogan. Hogan gets attacked upon entering the ring, but as always, he fights off all three men. Savage pitches in now and they accidentally bump into each other and throw up fists. Savage then reaches out his hand and Hogan shakes hands with him. This whole thing took up over a third of the show and for the most part lived up to that distinction. Savage was super over and Honky is probably the most hated heel at this point.
Match Rating: ***
We see Sika coming into the ring and then go back to a pre-recorded interview with Mr. Fuji and Sika. Fuji is so happy that Hogan is so tired from his 30 second fight out there. They then show Sika biting the head of the chicken again. We then go to Hogan talking about the madness of him and Savage working together. Hogan says that in the jungle the bigger animals gobble up the little ones. He's ready to tear up the whole tribe.
WWF Championship Match
Sika vs. Hulk Hogan
Sika gets the better of Hogan and Fuji chokes him with the cane. Fuji then jabs him with the cane but Sika misses the headbutt. Hogan clotheslines him through the ropes because of course he does. Hogan goes after Kimchee and that allows Sika to nail him in the throat. Hogan shoves Sika into the ring post and steals the cane from Fuji. The refs try to take it away from Hogan as we go to the commercial break. Hogan goes for a splash, but Sika gets the knees up. Sika chokes and Fuji gets some more cane action in before we get the inevitable Hulk up moment. He hits the scoop slam and a leg drop for the victory. He then gets in shots on Kimchee and Fuji. I've made it pretty clear on here that I have never liked Hogan, but I did like how involved Fuji was here and Sika played his role well here.
Match Rating: **
Paul Orndorff is with his new manager, Oliver Humperdink. Why? Orndorff says that he's going to make the fat lady sing the blues. This was not good. We then hear from King Kong Bundy and talk about Heenan staying in the announce booth. Bundy says he has a lot of confidence in his ability.
Paul Orndorff vs. King Kong Bundy
Orndorff tries to get off to a quick start but then misses with a dropkick. I will never be a fan of the no eyebrows look for Bundy though. Bundy misses an elbow and Orndorff battles back. A second rope elbow drop knocks Bundy down and gets a 2 count. Heenan is shown leaving the announce booth and Orndorff hits a dropkick. Out comes Andre The Giant and Heenan is back to the announce booth. I didn't really expect this match to get as much time as it is. Bundy misses in the corner with the Avalanche. Andre grabs Orndorff's tights and pulls him in the corner to hold him and this time Bundy connects and picks up the victory. I wouldn't classify this as good by any means, but it was definitely better than I was expecting.
Match Rating: *3/4
Mean Gene is with the Hart Foundation and compares what they did earlier to Pearl Harbor. Uh, not sure that's a great comparison. Gene is so offended by them saying that they are going to punch and slap around the Stallions. Neidhart was good in these interviews.
WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Young Stallions vs. Hart Foundation
Jimmy is not out here with the Foundation so I'm not sure there's any way that they'll ever be able to beat the legendary Young Stallions. A crossbody by Powers on Bret gets a close call and then Bret quickly shifts the momentum in their favor. Paul Roma gets the hot tag and now all four men are in the ring. Roma hits his nice body slam, but the pin attempt is broken up. That allows the Harts to hit the Hart Attack and get the easy victory here. This was hardly anything.
Match Rating: 3/4*
We go back to Gene who is with Hogan and Savage. Hogan says that they may just blow up the planet and we get lots of astronomy talk. They coin the name Mega Powers here, so there's that.
Now it's time for the world premiere of "Piledriver". If you ever wanted to see wrestlers in construction gear, then this is the video for you.
We go back to Heenan and McMahon to wrap it up. Heenan is bragging about Andre being his surprise.
We come back again and they let us know that Jimmy Hart is okay and we sign off with the usual music and highlights.
This was another good episode of SNME overall. A lot happened in a short time and most of the matches were good. Even for someone like myself who can't stand Hogan is able to get into the story here and be entertained. Thumbs up.
Overall Rating: 73%
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