You know as I start these old school Summerslams it makes me miss Vince welcoming us to the PPV. By the way if you didn’t know this Summerslam is brought to us by ICOPRO. The opening video package is of all the fans in England waiting outside chanting for the Bulldog and other various wrestlers. This stadium looks like something they would host a major network special today and not an early nineties PPV. I’m wondering if I’ll finally have a Summerslam that will overtake the original as the number one Summerslam to date. Let’s just go ahead and jump to the first match of Summerslam which is well you know… a tag match.
Money Inc vs. Legion of Doom: The first thing that hits me is that I completely forgot that Jimmy Hart managed Ted Dibiase and IRS. Paul Ellering leads the Legion of Doom to the ring with “rocco” tied to the front of the motorcycle. Is this puppet supposed to be a mascot for the most badass looking tag team of all time? Kind of a sloppy beginning to the match between two of the all-time greats in wrestling with Dibiase and Hawk. This crowd sounds really loud which is saying a lot as I’m assuming microphones in the early nineties weren’t fantastic and this is an open air stadium where everything is going to funnel up. This match reminds me of playing Wrestlefest arcade game and if you’ve never played it I believe it’s available for download on your mobile cellular device. This match for as much as the crowd has been hot into it and has some very talented wrestlers in it just isn’t doing it for me and it’s pretty sloppy. Things break down and LOD signals for the doomsday device which has the crowd going crazy until IRS breaks things up, Animal ends up hitting a big time power slam for the win.
Ric Flair Promo: Flair is upset that he’s not getting his rematch for the title against Savage at Summerslam. Flair has his robe and his wrestling attire on and says he’s wearing it because he’s ALWAYS ready for action. Mean Gene uses some hyperbole and say’s it’ll be the most controversial main event of all time, I guess maybe so since it’s not the actual main event. Flair teases that either Warrior or Savage may be aligned with Flair and Perfect. Also announced is that Perfect will be in the corner of either Warrior or Savage. Virgil cuts a promo for his upcoming match vs. Nailz. I wonder what kind of money he was paid for his Summerslam match. Oh wow we get a promo for the Summerslam hotline and I didn’t even remember WWF having one. However I remember WCW’s 1-900-909-9900.
Nailz vs. Virgil: This should be an absolute wrestling clinic right? Right? We start with Nailz not having any entrance music and Virgil running down to generic music number 8 on WWE 2k14. Nailz is a very big man and I’ll admit looks like a pretty scary dude. The fans are completely hyped to be here for Summerslam as they are cheering EVERYTHING right now. This isn’t a very long match and it ends with Nailz choking out Virgil. The entire match the commentary teams puts over the feud with Nailz and Bossman and not with Virgil. After the match Nailz grabs a nightstick and jams Virgil in the stomach and then chokes him with it after the match. Vince tries to put Nailz over as someone who can’t be contained by anyone in the WWF. Winner by submission Nailz.
Rick Martel vs. Shawn Michaels: Rick Martel is in the ring with a tennis racket and a full tennis outfit. We then get the Sensational Sherri version of Sexy Boy and out comes Michaels and Sherri with Sherri carrying a full sized mirror. This match has a stipulation where neither man can punch other in the face. I’m pretty sure Heenan just eluded that Sherri would give the winner of the match uh… favors. Oh wow Sherri is missing a part of her outfit and let’s just say it’s a full moon in England during Summerslam 92. More innuendo from McMahon in Sherri “leaving with the winner”. Martel hits the patented cartwheel and jumping jacks spot and Michael’s plays well into it. This has been a pretty entertaining match even though neither man is a traditional face here. We get a series of tights pulling which leads to us seeing three ass’s in this match. We now get both men slapping each other in the face and they both go to punch each other in the face and Sherri faints on the apron. Shawn goes outside to check on Sherri and Martel shoves Michaels out the way and starts to give her CPR. The men start punching each other in the face and they get counted out and Sherri looks up as she’s faking her fainting. This ends with Michaels trying to carrying Sherri to the back and Martel dumping a bucket of water on Sherri in Shawn’s arms.
Beverly Brothers vs. Natural Disasters: This is your tag team title match of the night. These two kind of remind of a purple caped Blake and Murphy except the Genius looks nothing like Alexa Bliss. Earthquake and Typhoon enter to a massive pop and man I loved them as a kid. So am I watching the older version of Blake and Murphy vs. Heavy Machinery in NXT? The Natural Disasters use their size early in the match to get the upper hand until the Beverly Brothers get the upper hand and start double teaming Typhoon. The announce combination of Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan is severely underrated I always hear Heenan and Monsoon and JR and Lawler but give me McMahon and Heenan any day. Was there anything better than Earthquake stomping around his opponent before hitting his finisher as a kid? The Genius tries to accuse the Natural Disasters of cheating and gets thrown over the top rope for his actions. I’m all for a team like the Natural Disasters when can I get this on Mondays or Tuesdays?
Repo Man vs. Crush: Man watching this PPV brings me all sorts of childhood feels. While Repo man looks kind of like a raccoon more than a repo man, Crush was such a big deal in this time. From Kona, Hawaii CRUSH! Very impressive spot of Crush pressing Repo over his head and benching him multiple times before slamming him down. This is nothing but a glorified squash match to get over the big baby face in crush. He hits the cranium crunch on repo man and the bell is called and we get a submission win for Crush.
Ultimate Warrior vs. Macho Man Randy Savage: Your World Title match is located here and not in the main event tonight. I wonder how Savage feels consistently being put in the passenger’s seat of these co-main events. A great video package is shown before this match and tells us why we are hear with these two men fighting and how it involves Flair and Perfect. Still to this day Warrior’s music and entrance could get a pop every time. Out next we have yet another beloved baby face and he’s your WWF champion Randy Savage. This crowd is losing their minds for these two and you can tell they are torn. Warriors is wearing a singlet instead of his traditional trunks. It kind of sounds like Savage is being booed during his offense and Warrior is certainly getting cheered for his. I can see what Vince saw in Warrior, he is high intensity and brings a high impact offense. Warrior for all intent and purposes was a more intense version of Sting who couldn’t wrestle as well. The amount of tassels in this match is insane as both men are wearing very colorful and plenty of them. As far as Warrior matches go this may be one of the better ones it seems like when he worked with the right people he put on good matches. We now get Perfect and Flair coming out and distracting Savage and the commentators are making us believe that Warrior sold out. For the first time Warrior offense got booed during this exchange as it seems like the audience feels the same way. Savage drops the Elbow and Warrior kicks out which leads to Warrior….. “Hulking up?”. We get the patented Warrior clotheslines and rope shake we then get the big shoulder tackle and the fans are losing their minds. We are well over twenty minutes and as Warrior is about to hit the big splash Flair hits Warrior from behind. Flair hits Savage with a chair outside when Savage goes to drop the double axe handle to the outside. This ends in a Warrior victory via count out and Warrior chasing Flair to the backstage with a chair. We get Warrior handing Savage the title in the ring and raising his hand to the applause of the crowd.
Kamala vs. The Undertaker : Harvey Whippleman is a name that doesn’t get enough credit for being able to get legit heat. I wanted to punch him from my couch as he announced Kamala to the ring. We get the Summerslam debut of the Undertaker and his entrance and it’s fantastic as Paul Bearer is seen first holding the urn and the Undertaker is standing on the back of a hearse. You can see a casket in the back of the hearse and The Undertaker is presented as such a big deal with this entrance. I’m pretty sure the entrance of the Undertaker just lasted longer than this match will if I’m looking at the time stamps on the network correctly. Kamala goes to attack the Undertaker and he starts with his great throat thrusts and choke in the corner. The two men brawl around for a short while until the Undertaker hits a choke slam and the crowd goes bonkers. Bearer signals for Undertaker to end this match and Undertaker starts to get Kamala up for the tombstone until Kimche hits him with his hard hat and causes a disqualification. After the match Kamala hits The Undertaker with a big splash and then goes to the second rope and hits another big splash. The Undertaker then pops up and Kamala does a fantastic job selling how scared he is to the point that he falls over walking backwards to the backstage area.
Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog: The main event of this Summerslam is the Intercontinental title match. Bret Hart may have cut his best promo to date and it’s a heel promo. We get a band of bag pipers and Roddy Piper comes out and plays the bag pipes with them. Diana Smith is interviewed before this match as she’s the sister of Bret and the wife of Bulldog. Bulldog is out first to a massive hometown pop. I wonder which ramp was longer this ramp or the ramp at this past Orlando’s Wrestlemania? I said it during the first Summerslam and I’m going to say it again the British Bulldog looks like a superstar and I’m still struggling to find why he was never world champion. Maybe it’s because he jumped from WWF to WCW one to many times? Bret Hart is out to a mixed reaction with some cheers and some boo’s. The crowd is doing a fantastic job of making this feel like a big time match and I wonder how much this crowd and this match helped Hart become world champion a couple of months later. I’ve heard a lot of things about this match and how Bulldog might not have been in his right frame of mind during this match but these two are tearing the house down. They have great chemistry and have the right amount of technical wrestling along with fast paced wrestling. This is two years in a row that Bret Hart has put on the match of the night and this may be the first five star match at Summerslam to date. If it’s in London do matches get weighted the same way as if they are in Tokyo? I’m getting so caught up in this match that I’m forgetting to type and just resting my hands on the keyboard. We get a false finish with the running power slam and after that we end up in the Sharpshooter with Bulldog getting to the ropes. The fans are completely in a frenzy and many aren’t sitting down we get the classic sunset flip reversal pin-fall and cover. Bulldog has won the main event and won the Intercontinental title and it looks like England just won the world cup. People are going absolutely crazy and they were just treated to an all-time classic with their guy winning the match. We get Hart and Bulldog embracing as the PPV goes off the air.
Summerslam 1988 Review
Summerslam 1989 Review
Summerslam 1990 Review
Summerslam 1991 Review
This PPV is difficult as the two main events certainly delivered. This is a decent Summerslam and much better than the year prior. This is the first PPV so far that makes me completely remember my childhood. I remember having all of these Hasbro figures and playing the arcade games with all of these wrestlers. So to rate this event I completely loved this main event, however I still think I’m going to stay with Summerslam ’88 as my favorite so far. As far as match of the night goes it’s hands down Bulldog and Hart in the main event. If you have never seen this match do yourself a favor and stop reading this right now get off your phone and go logon to the network and watch this match. I hope you enjoyed the article and until next time be awesome.
