WINC Watchlist: WWE Saturday Night's Main Event

Whenever there's a big show coming up, like "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event" this weekend, it can be instructive (not to mention fun) to go back and watch some older, related matches in the lead-up to the event. There are as many different ways to watch wrestling as there are individual wrestling fans, but here at Wrestling Inc., we love to cut up and rearrange wrestling history in interesting and unique ways, selecting a variety of matches with some sort of through-line connecting them and placing them side-by-side. After making its grand debut with John Cena vs. Randy Orton ahead of Backlash, this week's WINC Watchlist invites you to join us for a journey through the history of "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event," before its revival last year.

Historically, "Saturday Night's Main Event" has been known far more for angles than for matches. Some "SNME" recommendations lists will include Randy Savage vs. Honky Tonk Man, for example, despite the fact all the interesting stuff — the official formation of the Mega-Powers — happens after the bell. Even matches you'd expect to be high-quality, like the one between Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, often feel more like angles than matches, in this case because of the "confrontation" between Roberts' python and Steamboat's alligator. To create this list, the WINC staff dug deep, pouring over old "SNME" episodes to find matches worthy of inclusion from 1985 to 2008. Some of them are matches you'd probably expect to see; others could be considered sneakier finds. One thing is certain, however: no match will appear on this list that occurred at a show merely called "The Main Event." The "Saturday" portion is crucial.

On the fourth installment of "Saturday Night's Main Event," airing on January 4, 1986, Hulk Hogan was making one of the many WWE Championship defenses of his 1,474-day first title reign. Hogan's star-making run as the company's top babyface was marked by several encounters with monster heels and larger-than-life personalities. But this time around, he was coming against the hardcore brawling style of Terry Funk, a proven veteran who reigned with the NWA World's Heavyweight title previously. Backed by eternal thorn in Hogan's side, Jimmy Hart, Funk was looking to become world champion once again, and spent the weeks beforehand talking about his hatred for Hogan and the WWE establishment, attacking him and proving to be one of the more physical opponents of his reign until that point.

To counteract the threat posed by Hart outside the ring, Junkyard Dog cornered Hogan for the bout. But it didn't do much to negate the creative violence of Funk, choking Hogan with his wrist tape and brawling with Hogan before retreating outside of the ring to stall the champion's attempt at regaining control. Hart got involved as his presence promised, at one point tripping Hogan and later attempting to use a branding iron on him – Funk had been using the branding iron as part of his gimmick up until that point – until Funk almost looked like he would steal the win with a piledriver. But as would become Hogan's signature, he used the subsequent comeback to land a Big Boot and his Axe Bomber lariat to oust his foe.

It was a sharp departure from the typical Hogan formula and stands the test of time as physical, even if relatively short, title battle. And it was also one that demonstrated the value of the "SNME" IP as a platform to stage title clashes that would otherwise have no place on TV. It's worth noting that this clash between Funk and Hogan fed into the clash between the Funk Brothers (Terry and Dory Jr.) against Hogan and Junkyard Dog at the sixth "SNME" a few months later, which remains the last time that Hogan and Funk wrestled one another and was (although admittedly less so than Funk-Hogan) also an entertaining experience.

Written by Max Everett

If you were to ask a wrestling fan to list the most iconic in-ring performers in history, they will name "The Hitman" Bret Hart, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, or both. The wrestling icons clashed on the November 28, 1987 edition of "Saturday Night's Main Event," and their match is often heralded as a masterclass in both classic wrestling and in-ring theatre.

Tensions flared high even before "The Hitman" and the "Macho Man" met inside the classic red, white, and blue ropes. Hart and Savage had been involved in a high-stakes program over the Intercontinental Championship: a title that Hart had cost Savage during the latter's recent October match against then-champion The Honky Tonk Man. Hart, who was accompanied by Hart Foundation allies Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Jimmy Hart, was well-suited for his role as the conniving, sadistic heel with his strong in-ring technique, and Savage, who had Elizabeth in his corner, brought the Seattle crowd on their feet with his performance as the emotional and hardworking babyface.

The match started with no bell and all chaos, as Savage immediately gunned for the three Hart Foundation members. Savage pounced on Hart as Hart attempted to make his way back from the outside, and when the two men finally locked up within the ropes, the sound of their knees buckling and their backs meeting the canvas echoed throughout the building. After a series of vintage strikes, Hart took a high-risk, high-reward bump when he was shoved from the outside and onto vintage steel barricade. After dispatching Neidhart and Jimmy Hart by cartoonishly butting their heads together, Savage took to the top rope and made a long-distance dive to strike "The Hitman" with an elbow, only to be plucked from mid-air by Hart, armed with Jimmy Hart's megaphone. Throughout the entire encounter, each performer's movements were perfectly exaggerated — their performative storytelling big enough to capture the eye without betraying the mind.

Savage and Hart's large physical storytelling — recognizable today as prime selling — has made this 1987 match a classic for many. Many glowing online reviews often expressly crediting the way both men sold leg injuries throughout the match. Savage's kayfabe ankle injury, sustained after a trip over the top rope to the outside, put the entire match in jeopardy as the referee threatened to call the match prematurely, and "The Macho Man's" resilience resonated with the hearts of many of WWE's target demographic: working-class Americans who believed in the power of hard work, despite all odds. Conversely, Hart's sadistic leg submissions only provoked the ire of the American crowd, further cementing his character as a heel.

Ultimately, Savage won the contest with a rolling crater pin, and further scored a victory over The Hart Foundation by ducking out of the way from Jimmy Hart's megaphone attack so that the suit-wearing Hart struck "The Hitman" in the face. With one leg, Savage managed to overcome the dastardly heel, outsmart the gang of hyenas, and stand tall with the beautiful girl next to him.

Written by Angeline Phu

One of the interesting things you realize when you look through the history of "Saturday Night's Main Event" is just how many of the biggest and best-remembered "SNME" matches end on disqualifications, count-outs or otherwise indecisive finishes. This was free TV, after all, and WWE (WWF at the time) wanted people to pay for the pay-per-views, where the real match would presumably happen, so at least one of our inclusions here having a non-finish was largely unavoidable. And even the "largely" part gets removed when you factor in the early careers of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

Hart and Michaels first stepped into the ring as opponents in 1989, but it would be almost two years before either would score a decisive victory over the other. That's because the storied rivalry between the two men began in the tag team division, where both The Hart Foundation (Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) and The Rockers (Michaels and Marty Jannetty) were chasing the tag titles held by Demolition. After the first Rockers vs. Hart Foundation match on "WWF Prime Time Wrestling" ended in a no contest, the two teams hit the house show circuit for the rest of 1989, wrestling match after match, all ending in time limit draws. In January 1990, Hart and Michaels wrestled their first-ever singles match on "WWF Wrestling Challenge"; that match ended in a double DQ, so the teams wrestled four more matches, all of which also ended in a double DQ. The last of those, and the only one that made TV, was on the 4/28/90 "SNME," and it really sums up the entire vibe.

For one thing, you can just tell these guys have been working together for months at this point. Everything is clean, every move is crisp, and they're working at a speed that would eventually help revolutionize both the company and the industry as a whole. They're also two babyface tag teams, and the match has almost a modern, "fight forever" feel at points, where it seems as though the crowd doesn't want either team to win or lose so much as they just want them to keep wrestling. That plays into the heat that Demolition gets when they arrive ringside to scout the competition and ultimately ruin the party — I love that they don't interfere immediately and that it takes an altercation with both teams over the course of the rest of the match to get them to jump in and start a massive brawl.It's the kind of angle that makes everyone look good, and you know you've done something right when a double DQ finish fires the crowd up instead of taking the wind out of their sails. Maybe you could compare it to the Hardys, the Dudleys, and Edge & Christian in 2000 and 2001; to me, it strangely feels more like the Shield vs. the Wyatt Family feud in early 2014, when the audience didn't care about anyone's alignment and just wanted to see the two sides fight until they couldn't fight anymore.

If you want to watch some really good tag team wrestling with a finish that'll have you wanting to watch more really good tag team wrestling, you could do a lot worse than this. And while the tag title reign that never was, the boyhood dream that came true, and the Montreal Screwjob are all still in the future, this match is still a must-see if you're a Bret vs. Shawn completist — especially the pre-match backstage promos, in which you have to wonder how much Michaels' ears perked up when Jannetty entreated the Hart Foundation to "get ready for a broken heart."

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Saturday, October 14, 1992, is the day Michael Hickenbottom became "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (okay, the match technically it was taped on October 27 of that year, but work with me here). Yes, Hickenbottom had been wrestling under the moniker for almost a decade prior to the match, but the last edition of "Saturday Night's Main Event" under the WWF banner was the night he became more than just one-half of The Rockers.

On that night, WWE Intercontinental Champion "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith was riding high, fresh off his win over Bret "Hitman" Hart in Wembley Stadium at SummerSlam 1992. He had a size and strength advantage, which he used early and often in the match, but Michaels took advantage of an exposed turnbuckle, weakening Bulldog's back. Bulldog went for an ill-advised superplex and crumpled, allowing Michaels to pick up the win and earn his first singles title in WWE.

While Bulldog would never go on to hold the Intercontinental title again, Michaels would become synonymous with the belt until he was elevated to the WWE Championship scene in 1996, and eventually wrestling immortality. The journey began that night, when he broke all the hearts of Bulldog fans around the world.

Written by Ross Berman

Two of the most popular WWE stars throughout both the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras were Edge and Jeff Hardy, so their bout to conclude "Saturday Night's Main Event" on August 2, 2008 is a solid choice for anyone attempting to introduce someone to wrestling ahead of Saturday's network special with a simple, shorter match. This match is also important because it was the main event of the final "SNME" before the network special was canceled before its 2024 revival.

These two are forever fan-favorites for a reason and the pair had a fun bout to cap off the night from the then-Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The video package before the match sets the scene well for what Edge was going through at the time. He was staring down SummerSlam and a Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker, set up thanks to his "wife" Vickie Guerrero. Jeff Hardy's SummerSlam match is also set up during this bout, due to interference. 

The week before "SNME," he was involved in a number one contender's battle royal on "WWE SmackDown" to see who would take on Triple H for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. MVP was in the match alongside Hardy and despite neither man winning, MVP took things personally. Edge won the Saturday Night's Main Event match and gained momentum going in to SummerSlam after MVP delivered a big kick to Hardy's head behind the referee's back. MVP fled through the crowd and Edge delivered a spear to Hardy for the victory. Hardy would go on to face MVP at "The Biggest Party of the Summer." The match wasn't the best or most intense between Edge and Hardy, but it was solid enough for an unexpectedly historic "SNME," and it's always fun to re-watch one of the many classics between old rivals Edge and Hardy.

Written by Daisy Ruth