10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Saturday Night's Main Event
4. Hogan Not Invincible
Without a doubt, the workhorse and top draw of the original run of Saturday Night’s Main Event had to be the man who helped launch the show and propel the WWF into the stratosphere in the 80s, Hulk Hogan.
During the initial run of 31 SNMEs, Hogan competed in 24 matches (singles and tags) and two battle royals. He defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship 14 times across two reigns. As one would expect, Hogan was extremely successful in those matches. In fact, he only lost two of those 24 non-battle royal contests, both by count-out.
The first loss, a November 1987 match against King Kong Bundy, shouldn’t surprise many. Bundy was Hogan’s WrestleMania 2 opponent and a member of the Heenan Family, so a count-out loss only helped further the ongoing story of Hulk battling The Brain’s charges. Hogan would win a rematch against Bundy at the January 1988 Saturday Night’s Main Event, avenging that blemish.
But Hogan’s other SNME loss is the thing of lore.
In November 1989, Hogan lost a WWF Championship match via count-out to… The Genius. Yes, Randy Savage’s brother, the former Leaping Lanny Poffo. Genius was a comedy heel (and a damn good one), so this probably was viewed as little more than a formality, an opportunity to Genius to work his shtick and then eat the big boot and legdrop. Instead, Genius confounded Hogan with his antics, eventually scoring the upset win – with a little help from Mr. Perfect.
What makes this match truly unique is that Hogan never got his win back against Genius. Hulk almost never took a loss – even a count-out – if he wasn’t winning a rematch down the line. And losing against a mid-card comedy act on a nationally televised show in the 80s was an unheard-of instance. Genius and Perfect would take things a step further toward legendary status when they stole the WWF title and smashed it to pieces with a hammer backstage.