When Honky shoved Liz and the Mega-Powers formed, man, I seriously expected to see it on the 6 o'clock news the next day. A big deal. I was 7 and this show was just the greatest thing in the world.

 

During the era of quarterly PPV's and squash-match heavy tv, SNME was genuinely special.

 

I had no understanding of the "dark weeks for SNL" scheduling then, and was always suprised by the announcement (usually an ad during WWF Superstars "Tonight on CHCH channel 11 at 11:30...") and excited for the rest of the day. Was never a problem staying up that late... though I do recall setting the primitive VCR we had just in case I fell asleep.

 

I'd watch those tapes over and over.

 

Thoughts, memories, cynical criticisms of Sarurday Night's Main Event?

The definitive show of the Hogan era, literally and figuratively. It had such a unique style--theme episodes, colorful graphics, location shoots. The original "Obsession" opening gives me chills and I never even saw it until years later. It was rarely the wrestling equal of the Super specials and Clashes on TBS, but almost every episode is amusing to rewatch anyway. And whatever wrestling deficiencies it had, it still managed to have one of the best WWF 80s matches.

Yep, that Obsession open, preceeded by the bass-line during the cold-open promos, is one of the great television openings of all time. I have it on my i-pod today only for that nostalgic reason.

First wrestling show I'd ever watched too, except mine was the first of the two episodes on Fox, so I never saw it in it's heyday. I put the Clash of the Champions shows in a similar regard to you guys because our cable system wouldn't have WCW PPV's regularly until almost 5 years later.

 

I've watched several of the old-schol SNME's in the meantime. My major criticism is how much more animated Vince and Jesse were on commentary compared to the PPVs.

Rewatching the 80s run on the WWE Network it is stunning how much more the short ten second promos from every wrestler at the beginning of the show get me so much more hyped to see matches that I know the outcome of than the 20 minute monologues that start Raw every week.

Nod to the original poster, as the angle with Honky teasing a guitar shot to Elizabeth prompting a Hogan save is what permanently ensnared 7 year old me as a wrestling fan. I was 6.5 for Hogan-Andre at Mania 3, and not quite there yet, but vividly remember watching this one after my parents taped it for me. One of *the* all time angles, SNME or otherwise.

I never saw a single 1980's SNME around when they happened. We got a Betamax in 1987 and my dad said he would tape them for me. Every time I asked and every time he said it "didn't work". Years later he told me could never figure out how to tape while away or when watching another show so after one try he never tried again and just lied.

 

However it was the clips shown on Superstars that sold to me better than Superstars itself did how awesome watching WWF was to a young boy. I did catch the Main Events and the last few on Fox.

Huge part of my early fandom. My dad did tape them for me, so Sunday morning was breakfast and SNME

Your dad beats my dad then.

He hated wrestling but always made sure I was able to enjoy it

Canadian Parenting. 👍

How sad was their attempt to relaunch the show a few years ago? Nobody cared, it drew pretty much the same ratings as Smackdown.

Really really sad. Done at a time when nobody even cared about WWE too. I wonder why NBC even went along with this.

I think the SNME DVD WWE put out a couple of years ago is the best WWE produced DVD in terms of match selection and angles. I still watch it all the time.

One of my favorite moments was when Hogan took on Hercules. Not that I wanted Herc to win, I just liked seeing different guys for Hulk to conquer.

 

The Macho Man vs Bret match was a real eye opening experience. I always saw Bret as a tag guy until that match. I had never seen Bret take his signature bump off the apron onto the guard rail before that match. That spot really blew me away back then.

My dad would tape these for me and I would watch them Sunday after church. Would almost make church bearable.

 

89 was my favourite year of the show. They had a great series between Demolition and Brainbusters, Hogan-Bossman in a cage and some other great stuff.

I once bought every single SNME on VHS from a guy on ebay, along with every single "Best of WWF" volume. Legit like 50 casette tapes in two big sacks. I got an angry call from my dad who was like "what the flying fuck are these massive packages?"

 

I watched them all in one summer. Glory days.

I love everything about SNME.

 

One thing I've noticed ... the promos on the show, not just the opening, all seem scripted. But not in a bad way. Everything feels so tight and focused.

Yep, in "Live From New York," the Bobby Heenan DVD and perhaps even the SNME DVD, there are mentions of "Once A Week Productions," which was the production company Dick Ebersol created to co-produce SNME with Titan Sports. You'll notice their name in the credits. Ebersol and his writers would often script stuff for the guys to say in their promos. By the 1987/88 season, it is obvious that everything is scripted.

 

Even as a young fan, I noticed that when Heenan or Slick spoke, it wasn't in their "voice."

 

You can see guys looking off screen every once and a while at cue cards/notes or whatever.

 

One of the more common tropes of Ebersol's scripting was the "-heel says something - manager says something -heel and manager say something together at the same time! -laughter!"

The only time I got to see SNME growing up was the clips on Superstars. We got all the PPVs free-to-air, albeit months behind, so we lived from PPV to PPV with spoilers in the TV guide. I've seen matches from SNME but I've never seen an entire episode. Maybe I ought to rectify that.

For me the show peaks from the fall of 86 through WM IV. That might be where I would start OJ. The first few eps are not that great.

Piper vs Orndorff brawl on the 2nd ep is great. Hogan/Andre vs Bundy/Studd on 3rd ep is super fun. 86-87 have tons of great stuff, but 88-89 eps are equally worthy of a watch. Show declines in 90 but there are still plenty of great moments through the end of its run on NBC

I can't think of too many eps that don't have something good but I feel 86-early 88 eps are the best as episodes.

 

Even the hated late 1988 one has the Ultimate Warrior - Super Ninja match which was one of my favorite laugh out loud moments as a kid when it was covered in the magazine.

Loved this show!

 

My favorite SNME memory actually wasn't a SNME memory.....

 

Hogan/Andre "The Rematch" was going to take place and it was all me and my friends could talk about. It happened to come on The MAIN Event on a Friday night at 8PM in prime time. I was pumped and was ready to record it but didn't have my tape set so I said I would just watch. What could POSSIBLY happen??

 

Hogan loses, Andre gives the belt to Ted, and I didn't record it!! But not to worry because it will replay tomorrow on SATURDAY Night's Main Event, right??

 

WRONG!!

 

2 things happened:

 

1) I told my friends what happened since apparently a lot of them missed the show and they didn't believe me since I had no video evidence.

 

2) It took me YEARS to see that match again!! I legit think it took me until college to watch that match.

 

That's my favorite SNME memory.

 

The ones I actually saw were good. LOVED the Tito/Perfect match and The Megapowers break up. Jesse made Vince eat crow during the Dibiase/Hercules match.

I love 'em all to some extent. Just a whole lot of nostalgia and plenty of fond memories tied up there.

 

The big time angles, the quick clip intro promos, and the "themes" of those early episodes are what still stand out to me the most.