Loss Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted November 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2012 This was supposed to be Mike Tyson as the referee, but he lost to James Buster Douglas right before this, so they made a last-minute switch. Savage's pre-match promo is epic. You need to check it out. Talk of tracing Mike Tyson's family tree, and mentioning that he was happy with the change because he was worried about Tyson bias. Hogan refers to himself as chosen to lead the masses to higher ground, which is frightening. Of course Sherri has to take a nice bump before Douglas throws her out for interfering liberally. Savage looks fantastic here and carries Hogan to a good match. Douglas counts the fall after the ref stumbles, and Savage takes exception to the fast count. He eventually slaps Douglas in the face and then starts shadow boxing before Hogan finally pushes him into a right hook. Savage is AMAZING in carrying all of this. Just amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted November 5, 2012 Report Share Posted November 5, 2012 Douglas was willing to work the show for about $110,000, or 1/10 what Tyson was commanding to appear. A serendipitous victory for the WWF when Douglas knocked Tyson out. Savage comes out with the shocking information that Mike Tyson's great great grandmother was a CARD-CARRYING Hulkamaniac and thus would be too biased to officiate a Hogan title defense, while also putting Buster Douglas over as both a nobody and a guy tough enough to knock out Iron Mike. Hogan declares that he and Douglas are a lot alike, except that Hogan was "chosen by the masses to lead them to higher ground." Then threatens that if Douglas doesn't call it down the middle, he'll also be the Heavyweight Boxing Champion in addition to holding the WWF title. Jesus, man. He was right about Buster's flash-in-the-pan status, though. While Savage is great, it's sort of telling that he was more or less shoehorned into this title match on an NBC primetime special with a guest referee with no real storyline to build up to it--the MegaPowers feud was long dead. As would become more evident later in the year, the heel/babyface imbalance in the WWF was pretty ridiculously slanted--and with the Boss Man turning babyface and Kerry Von Erich and the LOD arriving, it would get worse before it got better. With Earthquake still having to wait in the wings, there was literally no one else to put in this role. Douglas with a very wooden promo of his own, getting in a few extra potshots at Tyson. Standard SNME ad break--someone comes to or gets ejected from ringside. In this case, Douglas escorts Sherri to the back after she chokes out Hogan. This is all Hogan and Savage by numbers, but Savage does have some great clotheslines here. A standard Hogan and standard Savage match in a standard NBC layout deserves a standard "boxer as outside referee" ending, as Hebner gets bumped and Douglas counts the 3. Savage is INCREDIBLE in the post-match, doing a mini-Ali shuffle, laying on the turnbuckle, slapping Douglas and goading him all around. Douglas just sort of stands there until Hogan shoves Savage into him for the knockout blow. I didn't really use "standard" as a pejorative, though this isn't a great match. The post-match from Savage is fantastic, however. Douglas turns in what's far from a great performance but I do think he was coached and used quite well considering the short notice he was booked on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 5, 2012 Report Share Posted November 5, 2012 Douglas was willing to work the show for about $110,000, or 1/10 what Tyson was commanding to appear. A serendipitous victory for the WWF when Douglas knocked Tyson out. Is this true, though? Tyson was a huge wrestling fan. He was also a much bigger name than Douglas and much more of a personality. WWF was banking big on Tyson obviously and they certainly got a huge rub from him years later. would it have mattered here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted November 5, 2012 Report Share Posted November 5, 2012 Nevermind, going back again Meltzer debunks the $1 million story. I think that Pro Wrestling Chronicle blog is less than trustworthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted November 14, 2012 Report Share Posted November 14, 2012 Getting Douglas for a cheaper price if true seems like an actual sensible economic move cashing in on relevant news. The match as a whole is a more tightly focused WM 5 main event match with Savage really working hard with great shots, bumping, and antics. I hate seeing the elbow be kicked out of but I guess by this point you just have to accept that as standard business. Savage dancing around at the end of the match even got a chuckle from my wife who is a tough audience to please in regards to wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Savage's promo is epic. I would watch a DVD that consisted only of Randy Savage promos. They're out there, but they make sense and have elements of humor and danger to them. By contrast, Warrior's are definitely out there, but they don't make sense, there's no real humor, and the only danger involved is, "This crazy guy on bath salts with his face painted might actually try to eat my face off." Hogan says "This will probably be the last time I ever face the Macho King Randy Savage in the ring." Not even close, buddy. Not even close. Though I guess it was the last time he faced Savage in a WWF ring. Anyway, the match! Hogan vs Savage by numbers, which is good. Savage might get the Hulk Hogan formula better than anybody. The real treat is the post-match, though. Savage puts on a master class here, and gets the crowd completely riled up wanting to see him get knocked out, and of course they get it. I like how Savage is crazy enough to challenge the world heavyweight boxing champion to a fight post-match. Overall, great great segment. The match is sort of the 3rd or 4th best thing that's happening here, but that's OK, because it's a good match, and it speaks to how good everything else is that it's only the third or fourth best thing here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted January 17, 2013 Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Savage made all this. Fun promo beforehand and thought they match was solid overall. Savage did pop up really fast after the leg drop/pinfall though. I guess they had to get to the post match again as quick as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted January 17, 2013 Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Hogan says "This will probably be the last time I ever face the Macho King Randy Savage in the ring." Not even close, buddy. Not even close. Though I guess it was the last time he faced Savage in a WWF ring. It was. And they didn't really have too many matches in WCW that I can recall. Against each other, that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laney Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 This was a great overall package with the match and promos. Savage really made this whole thing, especially when he talks about tracing Tyson's family tree to find out he was a Hulkamaniac. A nice watch in hindsight when you take into account that 8 years later we see a similar finish at Mania with Tyson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 13, 2013 Report Share Posted September 13, 2013 Pre-show segments were very cool. In the Wrestling Observers, Meltzer talks about this show as if it was going to be one of the most important nights in wrestling history when it was going to be Tyson. Douglas makes sense as a replacement timing wise. Classic Vince and Jesse opening. Awesome promo from Savage pre-match. Sherri was probably never better than she was with Savage. Douglas is not exactly Mr. Charisma is he. Gosh, this match has taken a long time to start. I've never really got the concept of an outside official. Why is one ever needed? And why are they almost always boxers? Sherri takes a full Randy Savage knee! Jesse straight in there with condemnation of Hogan for laying his hands on Sherri -- and rightfully so. Great transition. Douglas earning his money here evicting Sherri. Jesse rags on him. Pretty good Savage performance this only to see his finisher killed yet again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 13, 2013 Report Share Posted September 13, 2013 Post-match is superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garretta Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 It's the hoopla surrounding the match that makes it what it is; as Pate said above, the actual issue between the two was dead by now, probably since SummerSlam at least. I disagree that all Hogan was there for was to be carried. He does what he does, which is get the crowd on his side and keep them there. Mania V was a better match, as were any of the matches in '86, but it's the spots with Buster that were the point of the whole affair, as Buster angers Savage enough by interfering with his top rope moves and ejecting Sherri from the building for Savage to challenge him after the match. We really didn't need the slow count storyline as an add-on, though. The only problem is that it took too long for Buster to get fired up. It's almost as if he didn't know that he was supposed to clobber Randy until Hogan pushed him almost literally into Buster's fist. I'd have liked to have seen Buster woof back just a little. Being crazy enough to challenge the heavyweight champion of the world fits the Macho Man character to a tee, and he's obliging enough to sell for Buster like he was killed. One small nitpick with the Hogan formula: you would think that the heels have seen tape of the Hulk-Up and would know not to just throw punches and look scared when he starts to shake. Just once I'd have liked to have seen a heel actually attempt a move and force Hogan to counter it while still Hulking up, just for something different. But that would have confused all the little Hulkamaniacs too much, I guess. I still have Bret/Shawn to watch, but as of right now this is my WWF Match of the Month for February and slips into third place for my WWF Match of the Year, knocking out Piper/Savage from 1/22. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 As good as Savage is, I have trouble enjoying the matches from '89 and '90 with Hogan, because it feels so obvious that Hogan is going over. Always feels like such a waste of a great performance from Savage. The clean pin at WM V sapped him of the danger aspect that was so integral to their '86 matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drew wardlaw Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Whoa Sherri has the best promo of everyone here. Super brutal and aggressive. Hogan looks so chubby, I can't get over it. Hahaha Buster Douglas looks like a scared little boy during his promo, very heartwarming. I also thought he was British? I'm really enjoying Douglas here, he seems very nice. "He's too polite!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainmakerrtv Posted April 7 Report Share Posted April 7 On 11/20/2015 at 1:44 AM, drew wardlaw said: Whoa Sherri has the best promo of everyone here. Super brutal and aggressive. Hogan looks so chubby, I can't get over it. Hahaha Buster Douglas looks like a scared little boy during his promo, very heartwarming. I also thought he was British? I'm really enjoying Douglas here, he seems very nice. "He's too polite!" Maybe you were thinking of Frank Bruno or possibly Lennox Lewis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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