This was taped on April 28th 1987 and aired on May 2nd. It is a rematch for the WWF World’s Tag Team Titles after The Hart Foundation “stole” the belts from the Bulldogs previously. This is a 2-out-of-3 Falls match, which was always an interesting play considering the time that these Saturday Night’s Main Event bouts usually got. The real action occurs before the bell rings anyway, as Matilda charges at Jimmy Hart who cowers before a slow-mo replay spotlights the chase.
Once the bell does ring, Bret and Davey Boy get us underway, sharing a typical grappling exchange as the latter showcases some impressive athleticism. Hart responds though, snatching a headlock as they settle down. Smith continues to roll regardless, almost taking a fall via crucifix pin. A knee to the gut grounds him though and Neidhart enters as they get some heat on Smith. They don’t have time for it to be anything much but there’s some nice heel tactics anyway.
A well-timed boot creates space before long and in comes Dynamite, relying on Hart to create the motion as he roughs him up best he can at this point. Things break down from there, with the referee being ignored as meanwhile, Tito Santana chases Jimmy Hart around ringside. The result is Neidhart being disqualified for refusing to leave the ring, putting The Bulldogs 1-0 up. We come back in some heat, as the champions work over Dynamite.
While he can’t really move much, Dynamite shows enough babyface fire to keep the people engaged, eventually making the tag while sporting a busted nose. Davey Boy explodes into action, greeting Neidhart with an insane dropkick and toppling the big man via lariat. A massive suplex follows but Neidhart then fires back, punting Smith only for some double-team offence to backfire, inadvertently taking Bret off the apron. That allows The Bulldogs to isolate Neidhart, becoming champions with some tandem offence.
Ha, just kidding, The Hart Foundation remain champions even after losing 2-0, as the first fall was a disqualification. This ruling will never make sense to me but whatever, wrestling is dumb. Anyway, this is good, a hot tag match that makes the most of its nine minutes or so. I love Bret Hart but have never been a big Hart Foundation fan. That’s not even a reflection of them really, more just the promotion surrounding them and how their matches so often had to work in this ‘greatest hits’ format.
Even still, they produce something exciting with The Bulldogs here, who are barely one and a half men at this juncture. Luckily, Davey Boy Smith was in great form on this occasion, which helped in hiding Dynamite’s immobility. Fun match, perfect for this kind of show too as it had very little downtime.
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