Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura handle commentary and they are taped from Austin, Texas. To put over the Texas setting of the show, McMahon and Ventura open the show on horseback in the aisle. The card was hyped as “The Tussle in Texas” and took place on April 23. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 8,500 fans.
Saturday Night’s Main Event
What the World Was Watching: WWF The Main Event – February 23, 1990
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura do commentary and they are live from Detroit, Michigan. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 21,000 fans. The broadcast drew a rating of 12.8 (roughly 20.9 million viewers), an increase from the previous year’s telecast that pulled a 11.6 rating (19.9 million viewers) when the show was headlined by the Mega Powers facing the Twin Towers.
Gene Okerlund interviews Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri. Savage says that he is happy that Mike Tyson pulled out as the referee because he found out that Tyson’s great grandmother is a Hulkamaniac so that made him biased. Savage warns Buster Douglas to call it down the middle or royal authority will rain down on him. Sherri closes by vowing that Hulk Hogan is not going to go into WrestleMania VI as world champion.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #34 / #35
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #34 – 06.02.07
(OK, one last pair of reposts to wrap up the SNME retrospectives for good, with the 2 episodes from 2007, which both died in the ratings.)
Welcome to the 2007 SNME, now cut down to a 90 minute show and abandoned to die by NBC. Which it did. This would be the very definition of “by contractual obligation”, as neither side had any real interest in continuing with the relationship. In kind of a throwback to the 80s, there’s a weird theme of “biggest, strongest, strangest, smallest, etc” like it’s a circus act or something.
What the World Was Watching: Saturday Night’s Main Event – January 27, 1990
Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura provide the commentary for this evening’s matches. They are taped from Chattanooga, Tennessee on January 3. According to oswreview.com, this show scored an 11.1 rating, an improvement over the 8.7 rating of the previous edition.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #33 – 07.15.06
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event – 07.15.06
Now we’re getting into the SNME shows I’m REALLY dreading, when the ratings tanked and both NBC and WWE stopped giving a crap at either end. Much like me, because I was all in on WWE 24/7 and paying zero attention to the product. This show was hyping the Great American Bash PPV that no one remembers.
Taped from Dallas, TX.
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole & JBL.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #32 – 03.18.06
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #32 – 03.18.06
(I know we already skipped to the end of this series, but I messed up tonight and started doing the 09.19.12 edition of WWE NXT, only to get 35 minutes into it and realize that I had already done it at the start of Covid and completely forgot about it. Anyway, here’s a couple of SNME reposts instead because I gotta get to bed.)
This was pretty near my lowpoint for wrestling fandom so I had little interest in watching this when it aired on NBC. This was building up to Wrestlemania 22, another show I had little interest in and didn’t see until much later.
The cast of characters gives their introductory blurbs to start, in the style of the original shows.
Taped from Detroit, MI
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Tazz & Jerry Lawler
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #36 – 08.02.08
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #36 – 08.02.08
So in my quest to redo all the SNMEs, I got through the NBC era and reposted my FOX era rants, which left the 2006 reboot that completely failed in every way. I actually had redone the first 5 episodes of that run when they originally dropped on the Network, but the very last episode of the series, which turned out the lights for good, had been done live in 2008 before we had more information about one very particular aspect of the show, which we’ll get into. So I’m gonna redo it and then turn out the lights on the series, much like this episode did.
Now watch and they cut everything I want to dunk on out of the Network version.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #31 – 11.14.92
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event – 11.14.92
(OK, wrapping up my well-earned week long break from reviewing wrestling, minus Dynamite, as we also wrap up the “classic” era of Saturday Night’s Main Event and I debate whether redoing the terrible 2006 reboot is worth my time. Probably not.)
Well, this fits perfectly into the timeline with Superstars right now, and it’s short. This was the second of the FOX specials to be produced, and was such a bomb that it basically killed the SNME concept dead for a decade afterwards.
Taped from Indiana State, IN
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #30 – 02.08.92
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #30 – 02.08.92
Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to FOX we go with the SNME series, although only for two one-hour episodes. And with a terrible opening sequence and logo. As I’ve mentioned before, the FOX network wasn’t available in most parts of Canada until well into the 90s, so this was a show I never got to see.
Taped from somewhere.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #29 – 04.27.91
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #29 – 04.27.91
End of the line for the NBC version of the show. In a reverse of the November 90 show, this one was taped as The Main Event and then edited into a full SNME after the fact because NBC didn’t want to give them a primetime slot. So all the banners say “The Main Event”. This is another one I’ve never seen because advertising for the show was so minimal that I didn’t even know it was on at the time.
Taped from somewhere that is again never mentioned.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Randy Savage.
The SmarK Rant for The Main Event #5 – 02.01.91
The SmarK Rant for The Main Event #5 – 02.01.91
This is the last of the Main Event primetime specials, and one which I’ve never even seen before. NBC was basically burning off their contractual obligations at this point because the product was ice cold and ratings were falling fast.
Taped from somewhere never mentioned. Turns out it was Macon, GA.
The SmarK Rant for The Main Event #4 – 11.23.90
The SmarK Rant for The Main Event #4 – 11.23.90
So this one was of course originally taped as a Saturday Night’s Main Event, complete with the Rockers winning the tag team titles from the Hart Foundation, but due to schedule changes from NBC it ended up edited down to an hour and moved to a prime time slot instead, where it DIED. In fact the banners even read “Saturday Night’s Main Event”.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #28 – 10.13.90
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #28 – 10.13.90
(I’ve already done this episode a couple of times, and once fairly recently, so here’s a repost of the most recent version as a bonus rant tonight, and then tomorrow morning it’s the redo of THE MAIN EVENT #4.)
It’s OKTOBERFEST! Oh man, I kind of love this one.
Taped from somewhere that isn’t Germany, sadly, which turns out to be Toledo OH on 09.18.90. I believe they were trying to get away from naming the city at this point for some reason.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Rowdy Roddy Piper in front of an obvious green screen, as the Jesse Ventura era comes to an end.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #27 – 07.28.90
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #27 – 07.28.90
Taped from Omaha, NE on 07.16.90, drawing 10,303 and a 7.2 rating. That’s down pretty significantly from the last one.
Anyway, this is the “Wild Kingdom” episode because it’s “Mutual of Omaha”. Is that even a thing anymore?
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #26 – 04.28.90
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #26 – 04.28.90
OK! Now we’re caught up again after yesterday’s pair of reposts, so let’s head to the first SNME after the beginning of the Warrior Era at Wrestlemania 6!
The SmarK Rant for the Main Event #3 – 02.28.90
The SmarK Rant for The Main Event #3 – 02.23.90
(Originally written sometime in 2015 when the SNMEs all dropped onto the Network.)
My original rant was ridiculously bad, so here’s a redo.
Live(ish) from Detroit, MI, drawing 21000 and a 12.8 rating.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #25 – 01.27.90
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #25 – 01.27.90
(OK, I’ve already done this particular episode twice and it doesn’t need another redo, so I’m gonna repost it and the Main Event #3 that follows this morning so I can move onto #26 tomorrow morning for you!)
This is a redo of a rant from 98-ish and a pretty fun show anyway. This one ties into the January theme of “ring royalty” via Macho King, I’m thinking.
Taped from Chattanooga, TN. Attendance unknown but it did a huge 11.1 rating!
Your hosts are Vince & Jesse.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #24 – 11.25.89
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #24 – 11.25.89
Taped from Topeka, KS on 10.31.89, drawing an 8.7 rating.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura
You may also remember this episode.
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #23 – 10.14.89
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #23 – 10.14.89
Taped on 09.21.89 from Cincinnati, OH, drawing 14,000 and a 9.5 rating on NBC
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #22 – 07.29.89
The SmarK Rant for Saturday Night’s Main Event #22 – 07.29.89
Taped from Worcester, MA, on 07.18.89. No attendance or ratings info for this one, but it’s a pretty famous episode.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura
