Nickrj’s rant for SummerSlam 1989

Live from the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Monday August 28^th 1989.

Your hosts are Tony Schivione and Jesse Ventura. You might be asking “What was Tony doing in the WWF in early 1989-early 1990?” Well I’m guessing Tony signed a one year deal in which he was entitled to do two PPV’s as a broadcaster. So I guess he chose this and the Royal Rumble the following year.

Tag Team Champs, The Brain Busters (With Bobby Heenan) VS The Hart Foundation

Why aren’t the Busters defending the tag titles here? Well it was because this match was signed before they won the titles from Demolition on Saturday Night’s Main Event a month ago. Jesse notes that if the Harts lose, it may be another year before they get a title shot and if they win they won’t win the titles. Tully Blanchard starts out with Bret Hart. I’d love to see a singles match between these two but I don’t think it ever happened. Two armdrags by Bret and he goes after the left arm. Arn Anderson gets the tag and gets a drop toe hold but Bret goes after his left arm as well. Slam by Bret and he tags Jim Neidhart who works on the left arm. Arn gets out but can’t tag his partner. Bret is back in and he gets a quick tag to Neidhart after some blows. Tully gets the tag but the ref doesn’t allow it for some reason. I guess Tully was on the bottom rope. Anvil drags Arn to the wrong corner and Bret gets an arm drag. Arn tags in Tully and Bret catches the foot. Anvil back in and he goes after the rgith arm. Tully grabs the goatee and the Anvil blocks a hiptoss. Bret is back in and Arn tags the foot of Blanchard and the ref doesn’t allow it either. Anvil continues to work on the left arm. And he no sells some chops. Bret is back in and he goes to a hammerlock. Tully grabs the hair but Bret hangs on. He gets some knees and the Hitman gets a nice bridge. He gets up and the Busters double team but it doesn’t work on Bret. Double hip toss send the Busters out of the ring where they regroup with Bobby. Bret knocks Tully to the outside. Tully gets a blind tag and Arn nails Bret but Bret blocks a Vader bomb attempt. All 4 men are in and the Harts win the battle. They haven’t won the war yet though. Bret pulls Tully back in the ring. He trips him and places a boot to the stomach. I would’ve done the Sharpshooter right there but I think Arn would’ve broken it up. Anvil is back in and catches Tully on a spinning cross body attempt and all 4 men are in. Anvil is slingshot in by his partner but Arn pulls his partner out of the way and the Busters for the first time control the tempo. Tully is tagged in and he gets an elbow. He goes to a camel clutch. Anvil gets up but Arn gets the tag. He goes downstairs with a shot for 2. Tully is in again and they double team. Arn is in but he gets nailed from behind. Arn stops Jim from making the tag but he’s nailed from behind by Bret. Bret gets the hot tag and he start peppering on Tully. Slam on Arn and Tully. Dropkick on Arn. Slam on Tully. 2^nd rope elbow. Snap suplex for 2. All 4 men are in and Bret and Tully collide. Anvil goes after Arn outside. Inverted atomic drop by Bret on Tully. Anvil with a flying tackle on Tully. Slam by Jim and he powerslams Bret onto Tully but the ref is tied up and Arn hits Bret with a double axhandle and gets the pin at 15:58. Tough loss for the Harts but this was a great matchup to kick things off ***3/4

Dusty Rhodes VS The Honky Tonk Man (With Jimmy Hart)

This was after Dusty’s debut in the WWF where he steals the Big Boss Man’s knifestick. We a dance contest to start off the match and of course the fans like Dusty’s moves better. Tie up and Dusty gets a back drop and almost hits Honky with his big elbow. He goes to the left arm now and messes Honky’s hair. Atmoic drop and Honky knows how to sell it. Big elbow and a 10 punch count. He pulls on Honky’s leg. That’s legwork? We gets shot of Dusty’s polka dot behind as Honky gets some shots now. Jimmy grabs the leg of Dusty and that’s a mistake. Dusty goes after him but Honky has Jimmy’s megaphone and hits Dusty in the gut with it for 2. Honky is after the stomach now. Jimmy gets a cheap lick in as well. Honky goes to the chinlock and we get a shot of his “Heartbreak Hotel” behind. Dusty gets back up and takes a knee to the gut. Back to the chinlock again. Dusty back up and he slams Honky but misses the big elbow smash. Back to the chinlock again. Yawn. Dusty gets him into the corner and lays some shoulders. Slugfest develops and Dusty is winning it. He misses a charge and Honky sends Dusty into the ref. Jimmy grabs Honky’s guitar but he accidentally nails Honky with it and Dusty drops the big elbow for the pin at 9:41. Did we really need 10 minutes for this? DUD

The Red Rooster VS Mr. Perfect

Boy oh boy. Why did Terry Taylor have to look like a rooster after dumping Bobby Heenan? It would’ve been better if he just went back to plain old Terry Taylor. Shoveoff to start. Headlock by Perfect and a clean break in the corner. Armdrag by Perfect and a hiptoss. Taylor gets in a hard shot and these two run around. Rooster picks up Perfect for a slam but collapses for 2. And I think right there Taylor may have suffered a back injury. Hard chop by Perfect. Standing dropkick sends Taylor to the outside. Eyerake by the Rooster and he throws Perfect to the outside. They brawl on the outside and back in Perfect gets the Perfect Plex for the 3 count at 3:21. These two tried but the back injury from Taylor was the reason why this match was shortened down. *1/4

Gene Okerlund interviews Ravishing Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan but Coliseum Video edited out the part where they tried to interview before but the SummerSlam sign falls down behind them and Gene says “OH F--- IT!!” I’d like to see the live PPV telecast so that I can see this hilarious blooper

Six Man Tag: The Rockers and Tito Santana VS Rick Martel and The Fabulous ROUGEAU Brothers (With Slick and Jimmy Hart)

This was of course after Martel turned on his partner Santana at Wrestlemania V. This is the first of two Six man tags tonight and we actually have 6 good workers in this one. We have three Montrealans on one side and a Texian, a Georgian and a Mexican on the other. Tito starts it off with Jacques thoughs he wants Martel and so do the fans. Jacques offers a handshake but Tito doesn’t even buy it. Tie up and a double leap frog and hip toss by the Rockers illegally. They slingshot Tito into Raymond and we have all 6 men in already and the faces win the brawl. The heels regroup outside with the two managers. Marty Jannetty is in now with Jacques. He fakes Jannetty but it doesn’t fool him. Raymond gets the tag and a savat kick. Martel is in and he allows a double team. Great running moves by both Marty and Rick and Rick takes a dropkick. Tito is in and Martel bails out like a little coward. Raymond and Tito now. Clothesline by Tito gets two and goes to the headlock. Jacques trips the leg and Raymond takes advantage of it. Double chop by the Rougeaus. Martel gets the tag and he and Jacques double stun Tito on the top rope. Martel is laying it on Tito now. Jacques back in and he hits a dropkick. Tito starts to fight back but can’t tag either Marty or Shawn Michaels. Martel back in and Tito fights back but Jacques pulls the hair. Sunset Flip in the corner by Tito for 2 and Martel choking him. Raymond is tagged in and Martel gets a backbreaker. Raymond hooks a Boston Crab and Jacques comes in with a kneedrop for 2. Raymond with a bit of a camel clutch. Jacques comes in and hooks an ab stretch and uses Martel for leverage. Crowd chanting “Tito!” Martel gets the tag right when Santana tosses Jacques. Tito fights back again but Martel goes to the throat. Tito holds the ropes on a rollup attempt but still can’t get out of there. Jacques in and Santana gets a cross body for 2. Raymond gets a mule kick in the corner for 2. Sunset flip by Tito for 2. Raymond goes to the chinlock. Jacques gets the tag and hits his flying elbow for 2. Raymond in and Jacques knees his own partner. Shawn gets the hot tag and he hammers on Martel. They would face off three years later at Summerslam. Dropkick by Shawn and a snap suplex. He goes to the top and hits a flying fistdrop. Marty comes in and is dropped on Martel for 2. All 6 men are in and we get a club sandwich. Santana flying forearms Martel. Shawn and Raymond pummel and Marty’s got Jimmy Hart. Marty rolls up Jacques but Martel nails him and gets the pin at 14:58. Good energy shown by these six guys. ***1/2

We go back to the feud between the Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude. At the Posedown at the Royal Rumble, Rude attacks UW with his steel workout bar. At Wrestlemania V Bobby Heenan interferes and helps Rick Rude win the IC title from UW. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago on Prime Time Wrestling. UW VS Haku. The Warrior wins but Rude comes in and starts destroying the Warrior and Andre the Giant comes out to keep the crowd from coming into the ring. UW comes back and tosses Rude onto Andre. Reverse back to July 24^th on Superstars where Rude is about to give a Rude Awakening kiss on a young lady but the Warrior comes in and pummels Rude. Finally this past weekend on Superstars, Bobby Heenan distracts the Warrior after a squash match and Andre comes in from behind and chokes out the Warrior.

IC Title Match: Ravishing Rick Rude (With Bobby Heenan) VS The Ultimate Warrior

As I mentioned in my Royal Rumble 1990 rant, both Ted Dibase and Mr. Perfect have great charisma. So does Rick Rude when he does his opening spiel when he comes out. Rude tries a kick but UW doesn’t even sell it. Neither do any of his punches. The Warrior clothesline Rude to the outside. Rude gets a sunset flip but Warrior sits on him. Press slam all the way to the outside by UW! Serious bump taken by Rude! Warrior takes it outside with Rude and hits him with his IC title on the back but there’s no DQ because it was outside and Jesse says “You can shoot someone outside the ring and get away with it Tony? You’re dumber than Monsoon!” Suplex on the floor. They go back in and Rude is thrown over the top again. Slam on the floor. They go back in again and Warrior goes to the top unusual for him and he hits a double axhandle for 2. Hard into the corner twice goes Rude. Slam by Warrior for 2. Suplex by the Warrior for another 2. Inverted atomic drop and Warrior mocks Rude. He slams him on his butt. Warrior goes to the top again but Rude catches him. Rude starts going into the back of the Warrior now. Snap suplex by Rude for 2. He goes to a camel clutch now. He sits on his back repeatily for 2. Rude goes for his Rude Awakening but the Warrior powers out of it. Rude hooks a sleeper but of course there’s never any blood to the brain to the Warrior so that doesn’t work. Jaw jacker by the Warrior. Double KO into the ref as well. Bobby Heenan tries to wake up his man. Rude is back up and Warrior start no selling his offense again. BAAAAAAAAAAACK Body drop by the Warrior and several clotheslines. Powerslam but there’s still no ref. Warrior goes over and wakes him up. He hits a piledriver. The ref is finally up and he count 1, 2 but Rude gets his foot on the rope. Davey Boy Smith style powerslam by the Warrior but Rude blocks his big splash with his knees. Rude gets him in an inverted tombstone piledriver for 2. I’ve never seen that before. Rude goes to the top and hits the Warrior for 2. Rowdy Roddy Piper comes on out and the crowd goes nuts. Piledriver by Rude for 2 and now he sees Piper outside. Rude swivels his hips to him and Piper responds by mooning him. Rude is irate and the Warrior catches him and back suplexes him from the 2^nd rope. Flying tackle. Gorilla Press slam by the Warrior and the flying splash wins his 2^nd IC title at 16:02. Great matchup from these two with a hot crowd ***1/2.

We get a bunch of interviews now. First up is Mr. Perfect, followed by Rowdy Roddy Piper then Ron Garvin and finally an irate Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan. Typical irate Heenan right here and I love it every time.

We go to the feud between Hogan and Beefcake VS Savage and Zeus. Hogan and Zeus first met in the movie No Holds Barred and it was around the time the movie was released that Zeus was brought to the WWF. They first met in real life on Saturday Night’s Main Event on May 27^th where Zeus knocked out Hogan with just 3 or 4 blows. On July 8^th on the Brother Love Show. Macho Man Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri introduce Zeus the Human Wrecking Machine and issue a challenge to Hogan and Beefcake. Hogan and Beefcake accept and then one month ago on SNME. Zeus interferes in a match between Savage and Beefcake. Hogan comes out but can’t even hurt Zeus with a chair.

Six Man Tag: King Duggan and Demolition VS Andre The Giant and The Twin Towers (With Slick and Bobby Heenan)

Well in the first six man match we saw 6 good workers and now here we have completely the opposite. Demolition want to get their hand on Andre after he cost them the tag titles one month ago on SNME. Duggan is wearing a mask as well as red white and blue face paint just like the Demos. Duggan starts it off with Akeem. Duggan with some right hands knocking down the African dream. Ax is in and he pounds away as only he does. Now Smash is in and they both pummel on Akeem. Duggan back in and it looks like the faces have great chemistry. Ax in again and he takes an eyerake. Elbow by Ax. The Big Boss Man is in for the first time and he’s getting hammered as well. Smash pounds on him as well but the Boss Man grabs the hair. They trade eye rakes and Duggan is back in who grabs the left arm. Ax is in and is caught in the wrong corner and Andre is in for the first time and he sits on Ax and tries to choke him out. Boss Man is back in and gets a head butt. Akeem is tagged in and he misses an avalanche and Smash comes in and slams both Boss Man and Akeem but he’s nailed by Andre. Elbow by the Boss Man for 2. Ax pulls Boss Man out of the ring. Slam by Akeem on Smash. Akeem hits a 2^nd rope splash and Duggan hits Akeem with the 2X4 and Smash gets the pin at 7:25. Let’s just move on shall we? DUD

Hercules VS Greg Valentine (With Jimmy Hart)

Rugged Ronnie Garvin is the guest ring announcer after being banned from wrestling and refereeing. He intros Herc first and then makes all sorts of fun at Greg Valentine which led to the submission match at the Royal Rumble. Valentine wants to get at Garvin but he’s jumped by Herc. He pummels on Valentine and Greg slips to the outside. Roll up by Herc for 2. Valentine wants to get his hands on Garvin and Herc rams him into the timekeepers table. Valentine starts dropping his patented elbows and tries the figure four but gets kicked away. Valentine goes to the top but gets caught. He counters a headdown but Herc reverses a suplex. Valentine gets the Flair pin in the corner at 3:05 however Garvin announces Herc the winner by DQ. Whatever. DUD

Jimmy Snuka VS Ted Dibiase (With Virgil)

Dibiase grabs the mike and gloats about how he put Jake Roberts out of wrestling pernamantly. Ted tries to jump Snuka from behind but fails and Snuka headbutts Dibiase out of the ring. Dibiase accidentally knees Virgil and Snuka hits an atomic drop and Dibiase takes a pretty nasty bump out of the ring. Headlock by Dibiase and Snuka blows the double leap frog. Kick to the gut by Dibiase who starts hammering Snuka. Backdrop by Snuka and Dibiase starts begging. Dibiase stuns Snuka right on the top rope though. Snap suplex by Dibiase for 2. Backbreaker gets another 2. Slam and he misses his backwards 2^nd rope elbow. Snuka fights back. He gets a slam and he goes to the 2^nd rope and hits a flying headbutt. He goes to the top rope and Virgil distracts him. He chases Virgil outside and Dibiase nails Snuka and throws him into the post. He gets back in the ring and Snuka is counted out at 6:25. Decent effort from these two * Snuka once again shows that he’s a great sportsman by superfly splashing Virgil.

Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake VS Randy Savage and Zeus (With Sensational Sherri)

The Genius reads us a poem before the participants make their way to the ring. The heels come out followed by Beefcake and Hogan gets his usual gigantic pop. Then Hogan brings out Miss Elizabeth for her to be in Hogan and Beefcake’s corner. 4 man brawl to start and Zeus no sells Hogan’s offense. And Zeus starts choking Hogan. They even double team Zeus and it doesn’t work. Bear Hug by Zeus and Savage off the top with a double axhandle. Slam by Savage and he goes to the top and hits another double axhandle. Knee to the back by Savage and a clothesline for 2. He goes to the sleeper and almost puts Hogan out with it. Hogan is up but he gets nailed by Zeus. He’s tagged in and Zeus gets a bear hug and puts him down with it. How lazy is that? Hogan gets back up but he’s rammed into the wrong corner. Savage clotheslines Hogan on the top rope. Back suplex gets 2. Savage misses a butt splash on the ropes and Beefcake gets the hot tag. Clothesline and a high knee for 2. Savage almost hits the ref and Beefcake hooks the sleeper but he’s thrown into the corner. Zeus gets the tag but takes an eye rake. Beefcake hooks the sleeper on Zeus but Savage gets Sherri’s loaded purse and nails Beefcake with it. Beefcake is out. Hogan makes the save on the cover. He chases Savage and Savage almost grabs Liz. Hogan saves Beefcake again on the cover. Zeus is in again and chokes Beefcake on the top rope. He chokes him with his hand and the ref breaks it up. Zeus continues to choke Beefcake and that’s all this guy knows. He drops Beefcake on the top rope. Savage is in thankfully and a double clothesline KO. Hogan gets the hot tag. Right hands by Hogan and he hits Zeus as well. Big boot sends Savage to the outside by Sherri. Hogan suplexes Savage but Sherri grabs the leg and Savage gets 2. Savage goes to the top and hits the flying elbow and Hogan pops right up. I guess the reviving elbow drop really made its debut at Wrestlemania V. Atmoic drop sends Savage to the outside. Now Zeus is the legal man in. Hogan giving him his best shots and knocks Zeus down to one knee. Sherri jumps in the ring and Liz pushes her in. Savage has the loaded purse but Beefcake shoves him off. Hogan has the loaded purse and whacks Zeus in the face. He slams Zeus and legdrops him for the pin at 15:10. What a bunch of overbooked nonsense at the end to an already bad match. 3/4* Liz KO’s Sherri with the loaded purse after Hogan beats her up. Beefcake cuts off the ponytail of Sherri for good measure. Now why didn’t this feud end right here?

Summary: Well the first half of the show was pretty good but he second half was bad. So I’ll be a little generous and give the show MILDLY RECOMMENDED