WWF The Main Event – November 23rd, 1990
By Brian Bayless on 17th January 2018
November 23, 1990
From the Allen County Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, IN. The show was taped on 10/30.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper
Gene Okerlund is backstage with Ted DiBiase. We are shown his early vignettes where he bought out a public pool and kicked everyone out and even paid for a referee to get plastic surgery. Okerlund wants to know what he has up his sleeve now as DiBiase puts over his ability and says money isn’t everything, its the only thing. And that everyone has a price.
Sean Mooney is with the Ultimate Warrior, who says “dollars do not by desire” and “bankrolls do not buy desires” as he says sacrifice, not money is the bottom line. Warrior wants to know how much the WWF World Heavyweight Title belt is worth to DiBiase.
WWF World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ted DiBiase w/ Virgil vs. Ultimate Warrior (c)
Warrior shoves DiBiase into the corner to start. He continues to overpower DiBiase then shrugs off some punches and sends DiBiase over the top rope with a clothesline and poses. Warrior hits DiBiase & Virgil with a double noggin-knocker then rolls DiBiase back inside and hits a flying chop. DiBiase begs for mercy but Warrior chops away in the corner. DiBiase is able to get his knee up on a charge then takes Warrior down with a clothesline. He gets a two count with a double axe handle and a piledriver. Warrior blocks a second piledriver attempt and runs wild until Virgil grabs his leg. DiBiase sends Warrior outside and we go to commercial and return with DiBiase targeting the neck. He works a side headlock on the mat then hits a clothesline after Warrior escaped. Warrior is able to catch DiBiase with a backslide but DiBiase goes back on offense. DiBiase hits a suplex for a two count then Warrior is able to take him over with a sunset flip before getting tossed outside. DiBiase beats on Warrior then tosses him back inside. Warrior blocks a suplex and hits one of his own as both men are down. They get up and collide after an Irish whip sequence as DiBiase gets up first. He tries for a double axe handle but gets hit in midair. Warrior starts pumping up then fires away on DiBiase and hits a flying shoulder tackle but Virgil breaks up the pin for the DQ (9:58) ***. Virgil hammers away but Warrior takes him down and gets him up for a press slam but Macho King Randy Savage runs out and hits him with the royal scepter. Savage hammers away then tosses a few refs aside as Queen Sherri steals the belt. Savage poses with the belt as Sherri is kicking Warrior then chokes him out. Savage heads up top then jumps off with a double axe handle despite several agents trying to stop him. They finally leave then Warrior is able to slowly get to his feet while holding up the belt.
Thoughts: Good match and sort of a forgotten gem of Warrior’s career. I give DiBiase a lot of credit here as he put on a clinic. The main point was to enhance the Warrior/Savage feud which has been put on the backburner due to the Survivor Series. Now they are ready to make it a focal point of TV.
Backstage, Savage tells Okerlund to shut up then talks about loving the feeling he had after attacking Warrior. Savage says the greatest feeling of all will be when he wins the World Heavyweight Championship.
Nikolai Volkoff is in the ring waving the American Flag.
Sgt. Slaughter & Gen. Adnan are backstage with Okerlund. Slaughter says to hell with the American Flag as he only salutes the Iraqi flag and says no one in America has the guts to stand in his way.
Slaughter comes out for his match against Volkoff. Adnan is waving the Iraqi flag in front of him and that allows Slaughter to attack from behind. Slaughter beats Volkoff with a riding crop as Adnan waves his flag then barks out orders. Piper yells at Slaughter for being a traitor then Hacksaw Jim Duggan comes out and clears the ring with his 2×4. Volkoff gets destroyed here and at the Survivor Series on his way out of the company. Duggan will now be the next one to get fed to Slaughter. Its a vast improvement as babyface Volkoff was awful.
The Big Bossman is with Okerlund. Bossman promises Heenan we will get revenge for making fun of his momma.
Mr. Perfect vs. Big Bossman
Heenan does not accompany Perfect to the ring. Vince tells us later on that we will see a new diet plan that lets you eat whatever you want. Perfect smiles after slapping Bossman in the face. He does it again then bails as he tries to play mind games. Bossman chases Perfect around and catches him. He tosses Perfect inside then drills him with a clothesline before firing away in the corner. The crowd is really into Bossman here as he drags Perfect around by his hair. Perfect gets his crotch rammed into the post then Bossman hits a backbreaker but misses a splash from the top rope. Perfect hits his neck snap for just a one count as Bossman powers out. Perfect punts Bossman in the ribs then uses a small package for a two count. Perfect continues to hammer away and fends off a comeback attempt. He removes the turnbuckle pad but Bossman blocks an attack and rams Perfect into the exposed steel. Bossman beats down Perfect until he is whipped into the corner. Heenan now comes down to ringside and gives Perfect orders. Perfect sets up for the Perfect Plex but Bossman counters with a small package for two. Perfect hits some chops then they slug it out until Perfect pokes the eyes. Perfect hits a Perfect Plex but Bossman kicks out. Heenan gets up on the apron and pulls the rope down for an Irish whip but Bossman reversed and Perfect dumps outside. Heenan gets up on the apron and slaps Bossman, who chases him backstage. We see Heenan slip and fall backstage as he runs away then Bossman comes back to the ring but is counted out (8:15) **1/2. Bossman grabs his nightstick and chases away Perfect, who says never to mess with the Heenan Family again.
Thoughts: Solid action but it all just a backdrop for the neverending Heenan/Bossman feud. Perfect was in the Intercontinental Title hunt so having him lose would have been a bad move so this finish, while not inspired, did at least make sense. Dave Meltzer in the “Wrestling Observer Newsletter” raved about Mr. Perfect’s performance and gave this match a ***3/4 rating. He was good but I cannot see giving this match that high of a rating.
Heenan runs into Okerlund backstage and begs him for help against Bossman.
We now see the infomercial for the Playboy Buddy Rose “Blowaway Diet,” which lets you eat whatever you want. You just put the powder on your stomach and have hit blown away by a fan. 1-500-LAR-DASS. Funny stuff and Rose was superb. According to Bruce Prichard, Rose pitched this idea at a Denny’s and it got back to Vince McMahon, who approved of the idea and was cracking up during the filming. Prichard also noted they were going to have an industrial fan blow the powder off of Rose but it broke so Rose wiped the powder away with his hands.
“The Model” Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana
Martel attacks Tito before the bell and tosses him outside. The announcers talk about the Martel/Jake Roberts feud as Tito fights back. Tito works the arm for a while then almost gets the win with a small package. He goes back to the arm until Martel escapes after using a throat thrust. Tito reverses a hold into a hammerlock until Martel reaches the ropes. Martel yanks Tito off of the middle turnbuckle then chokes him out with his foot. Martel teases heading up top after a backbreaker then hits another backbreaker and goes up top, taking his time, and gets cut off. Tito fires away as Martel begs for mercy. He hits a dropkick then a backbreaker of his own before getting a nearfall with a flying clothesline. Martel hits an atomic drop but Tito yanks him down and tries for the figure four. Martel then gets out of that and puts Tito in a Boston Crab and that gets the win (6:47) **1/2.
Thoughts: Good match for the time allowed. Martel was the one in an actual program so getting a clean win made sense, especially since they were doing nothing with Tito. The real problem with Tito is that their isn’t much you can do with him because of how long he’s been with the company. He was still talented and might have benefited from going somewhere else but really wasn’t all that over outside of the WWF during his career.
Okerlund is backstage with Jake. We see clips of Martel spraying Arrogance in his eye, which is still not at 100%. Jake says that Martel is the one whose truly blind and with Survivor Series over he no longer has any help. Jake then tells Martel he rolled the dice and lost as it came up “snake eyes” as he takes off his glasses to reveal his damaged eye. Another excellent promo from Jake as this feud is the most interesting thing on WWF programming.
Clips of Savage attacking Warrior. We then see Mooney with Warrior, who talks about ligaments and tendons before saying the Warriors were crying but when he looked he did not see tears, he saw rage, which is what Savage will see. You could tell they heavily scripted Warrior here and had him tone down the ridiculousness. With Warrior now the focal point of the opening credits they are trying to broaden his appeal. Unfortunately, it was several months too late.
Show ends with Piper going nuts in selling a future Warrior/Savage match.
Final Thoughts: This was a good night of action, especially for the era. And the show revolved around Warrior with Hogan nowhere in sight or even mentioned. However, the product was really cold and the show bombed in the ratings. Originally, this was going to be a 90-minute “Saturday Night’s Main Event” show but NBC cut it back to a 60 minute show due to declining ratings. It was also going to air the Rockers vs. Hart Foundation Tag Team Title match where the Rockers won but the match was not aired as the top rope broke and Vince decided against re-filming the match and scrapped the change altogether. The change was designed to launch Bret’s singles push and Bret himself said in a shoot interview with RF Video that he thinks Neidhart might have unhooked the ropes on purpose due to being unhappy with his standing in the company. Anyway, this is a breeze to watch if you are feeling nostalgic and want something to pass the time on the network.
Here is my schedule for the next several days:
Thursday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 11/24/90
Friday: WWF Madison Square Garden 11/24/90
Saturday: Mid-South Wrestling 5/5/83
Sunday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 11/25/90
Monday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 12/1/90
Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 12/2/90
Wednesday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 12/8/90