Wrestling in the late eighties was just different. You had these larger-than-life characters that felt less like athletes and more like Saturday morning cartoons come to life, which makes sense because that’s exactly what Vince McMahon was selling. If you look back at Saturday Night's Main Event Season 10, specifically the episodes airing in early 1987, you see a company on the precipice of its biggest explosion ever. WrestleMania III was looming. The air was thick with the scent of baby oil and inevitable betrayal.
Most people forget that Season 10 wasn't a "season" in the way we think of Netflix shows today. It was a series of chaotic, high-energy specials that aired on NBC, filling the slot usually reserved for Saturday Night Live. Honestly, the vibe was electric. You didn't get wrestling on network TV every day back then. When that heavy synth theme music hit, you knew you were seeing the A-list.
The Night Hulk Hogan Almost Lost the Title to a Greek God
The standout moment of Saturday Night's Main Event Season 10 has to be the March 14, 1987, episode. This was Episode 10, taped at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. It served as the final, frantic push toward the historic showdown between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. But surprisingly, the focal point wasn't just Andre; it was a battle for the physical championship belt against Hercules Hernandez.
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was at the height of his powers here. He had sold Hercules’ contract to "buy" the services of Andre, but Hercules was still the focal point of the Heenan Family's muscle.
The match itself was a masterclass in the "Hulk Up" formula. Hercules actually had Hogan in the torture rack. For a second, the crowd in Detroit went silent. You could see the genuine concern on the faces of the kids in the front row. Of course, Hogan escaped, hit the big boot, and finished with the leg drop, but the post-match chaos was the real story. Andre coming out to the ring, ripping the shirt and crucifix off Hogan’s neck—it was visceral. It’s the kind of storytelling that modern wrestling sometimes overcomplicates with too many promos. Back then, a torn shirt meant war.
Why 1987 Was the Sweet Spot for the WWF
You’ve gotta realize that the roster during Season 10 was arguably the most "complete" in the history of the business. You weren't just getting Hogan. You were getting the Hart Foundation in their prime. Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart were defending the Tag Team titles against Danny Spivey and Mike Rotundo (long before he became IRS).
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The technical proficiency of the Hart Foundation provided a necessary balance to the muscle-bound brawling of the main events. While Hogan was the draw, the Harts were the glue. In that same March episode, we saw Randy "Macho Man" Savage defending his Intercontinental Title against George "The Animal" Steele. It was ridiculous. It was campy. It involved Steele eating turnbuckle padding. And yet, the crowd was absolutely unglued.
- The Randy Savage Factor: Savage was a genius. He treated every match like it was the main event of a stadium show. His intensity during Season 10 helped elevate the Intercontinental Title to a status that rivaled the World Heavyweight Championship.
- The Battle Royal: We also saw a massive 20-man battle royal in Episode 10. These were staples of the era. It was a way to cram every mid-carder on the roster—from Koko B. Ware to Hillbilly Jim—into a single segment. It was messy, but it gave the show a "variety hour" feel that kept the ratings through the roof.
Breaking Down the Production: The NBC Influence
One thing that made Saturday Night's Main Event Season 10 feel special was the production value. Because it was an NBC production, it didn't look like the grainy syndicated shows filmed in small gyms. It had the bright lights and the cinematic cameras of a major sporting event. Dick Ebersol and Vince McMahon were basically reinventing how sports-entertainment was packaged for a mainstream audience.
The commentary duo of Vince McMahon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura was the secret sauce. Their chemistry was untouchable. Jesse was the "heel" commentator who spoke the truth that fans didn't want to hear, while Vince played the over-the-top, shocked play-by-play man. They sold the stakes better than anyone today. When Jesse pointed out that Hogan was technically cheating by using the ropes, you actually stopped to think, "Wait, is the bad guy right?"
The Andre the Giant Turning Point
We can't talk about this season without mentioning the tension. The buildup to WrestleMania III is widely considered the greatest long-term booking in wrestling history. In the episodes leading up to the big show, the WWF used Saturday Night's Main Event Season 10 to establish Andre as a terrifying, unstoppable force who had finally turned his back on his best friend.
There’s a specific segment where Andre is standing on the podium with Heenan, looking down at Hogan. Andre didn't need to say a word. His presence alone filled the screen. This was the era before "work rate" became the primary metric for fans. It was about "presence." It was about the way Andre’s hand looked against Hogan’s chest. It was simple, effective, and it sold 93,000 tickets.
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The Matches You Forgot Happened
While everyone remembers the big names, Season 10 had some oddities. Like King Kong Bundy vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Think about that clash of styles. Bundy was a massive, immobile wall of a man, and Jake was a psychological wizard who used a literal python to get a psychological edge.
Jake was actually one of the first "cool" heels who the fans started cheering because he was just too charismatic to hate. During this season, you could see the shift in how the audience responded to him. It forced the WWF to eventually turn him babyface, a move that would define his career.
Then there was the "British Bulldogs" vs. "The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff." The political heat was real—or at least, the fans thought it was. Seeing the British flag and the US flag go up against the Soviet and Iranian flags was a cheap pop, sure, but in the context of 1987, it worked every single time. The Bulldogs were arguably the greatest tag team of the decade in terms of pure athleticism, and watching Dynamite Kid snap-suplex a man twice his size never got old.
Fact-Checking the Legacy of Season 10
A lot of modern fans think Saturday Night's Main Event was a weekly show. It wasn't. Season 10 only consisted of a handful of episodes (specifically episodes 8 through 11 if you count the calendar year/broadcast cycle). This scarcity is what made it "must-see TV." If you missed it, you had to wait for the wrestling magazines to come out weeks later to see the photos.
The ratings for these specials were astronomical. We’re talking about 10.0+ shares in late-night slots. To put that in perspective, most modern wrestling shows struggle to hit a 1.5. People were genuinely invested in the soap opera. It wasn't just "fake fighting" to them; it was a cultural phenomenon that everyone talked about at the water cooler on Monday morning.
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Insights for the Modern Fan
If you're going back to watch Saturday Night's Main Event Season 10 on the WWE Network or Peacock, don't look for 20-minute technical classics. You won't find them. Instead, look for the following:
- The Camera Cuts: Notice how they used close-ups on the wrestlers' faces during the promos. It made them feel like giants.
- The Crowd Energy: These weren't "smart" crowds trying to hijack the show with chants. They were genuinely terrified or elated.
- The Simplicity of the Stories: Good guy wants to keep his belt. Bad guy wants to take it. No complex legal contracts or "meta" fourth-wall breaking required.
What You Should Do Next
If you want to truly understand why wrestling became a global powerhouse, you need to watch the March 14, 1987, episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. It is the perfect time capsule of the 80s boom.
Don't just watch the matches. Pay attention to the "Mean Gene" Okerlund interviews. Watch the way the wrestlers sell their injuries. Then, compare it to a modern episode of Raw. You’ll notice that while the athleticism has improved, the raw emotional stakes of the Hogan/Andre era are incredibly hard to replicate.
Go find the footage of the 20-man battle royal from that season. Count how many future Hall of Famers are in the ring at the same time. It’s staggering. Once you see the sheer star power on display in Season 10, you'll realize why that specific year is still considered the "Golden Age" by fans who lived through it.