Saturday Night’s Main Event #1

Date: 05/10/1985 (aired 05/11) 

Location: Uniondale, NY 

Announcers: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura 

The Setup

After the first Wrestlemania, the company was on a fucking roll, scoring network television as a replacement for SNL. After Hogan and Mr. T

hosted SNL the night before the first Wrestlemania, both were set to be heavily featured here. 

This was also a special Mother’s Day weekend SNME, so that was the theme. 

The Business

The show drew a 9.1 rating, which was considered an enormous success. For that current season of SNL, the show only averaged a 7.5 for context. 

Thehistoryofwwe has the show only drawing 8,300, which contrary to the TV rating, had to be a massive disappointment for the NY market. Perhaps they were burned out from The War to Settle the Score and Mania also being in the NY market in the few months prior. It also wasn’t a super attractive lineup on paper.

Results/Ratings 

-Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, and Mike Rotunda def. Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and George Steele in 6:30 **

-WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan (C) def. Bob Orton by DQ in 6:54 by DQ

Women’s Title Match: Wendi Richter def. Fabulous Moolah in 3:23 3/4*

Junkyard Dog def. Pete Doherty in 3:15 NR

Snap Bumps

-They did a fantastic job setting up angles on a show with the size of this audience. First, Piper and Orton attacked Orndorff for losing the match at the first Wrestlemania on Piper’s Pit. Mr. T made the save. Later, Orndorff joined T and Hogan in running off Piper and Orton after Piper interfered in the match. The crowd loved all of this, and history has probably forgotten how involved T was in the Orndorff babyface turn. 

-Hogan appeared in four segments (including his match), while T and Lauper appeared in three apiece. They were clearly pushing the mainstream stars. 

-The opening six-man mainly was a squash. Steele was pinned by Windham almost immediately after tagging in and was beaten up by the heels after. Lou Albano calmed him, and that kicked off Steele’s turn and some fun later stuff with Albano and Steele. 

-JYD got a fun squash win over Doherty and danced around the ring after with his mother. 

-They had a big Mother’s Day party at the end, and Moolab’s face ended up in a cake. 

-Orton gave Hogan a good match, but couldn’t do a job since he was sliding up the depth chart to join Piper in his feud with Hogan and Orndorff. 

-Iron Sheik and Volkoff were only at the Mother’s Day party to piss off old fans. 

Recommendation: Thumbs Up

This was not a show for wrestling, but Piper’s Pit was excellent, as was the full Orndorff babyface turn, complete with saving Hogan from Piper and Orton. The WWF did great work at this time, selling angles to the big audiences. Someone fell into a cake, so that was whacky and fun. At least the Hogan-Orton match and the six-man were decent.