After an interesting WrestleMania, we’re onto the Summerslam 1989 review.
Of course, as most will remember, the build to the biggest match on this show was based around the No Holds Barred movie that featured Hulk Hogan.
Let’s dive into Blake’s Summerslam 1989 review.
Date: August 28, 1989
Location: The Meadlowlands in East Rutherford, NJ
The Hart Foundation vs. (c) The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan)
The story here is that the Busters are the champs but they weren’t the champs before the contract was signed, thus this isn’t a title match. Bret and Tully with technical action early before Neihart and Arn work their way in. Arn dives for a tag but Neidhart prevents it and tags in Bret. Some offense from Bret and then Neidhart is back. Arn finally makes a tag to Tully, with the latter going for a cheap shot but Bret blocks and tags in Neidhart. Tully then goes for a hip toss but another block from Neidhart. Good announce work from Tony Schiavone here in putting over the Foundation’s teamwork. That naturally leads to Jesse Ventura calling him out.
Tully delivers some chops to Neidhart and the Anvil is pissed. He throws Tully hard into the corner and tags in Bret. This has been a squash to this point. Bret locks in the hammerlock and Tully eventually gets out and we get the bridge by Bret. Arn comes in for the double team, and Bret flips over and sends them both reeling. Bret and Tully exchange punches before going outside. Bret chases and doesn’t see Tully make the tag, with Arn coming from behind and going to work.
Arn goes for some offense off the top but Bret gets the knee up. The Busters go outside to regroup with Heenan giving instructions. Back in the ring and Bret drives the boot into Tully’s stomach. Neidhart comes in with the evil laugh and catches Tully in mid-air before delivering right hands in the corner. Arn breaks that up but Bret comes in to take down Arn. Foundation go for the double team on Tully but Arn pulls his partner out of the way.
Tully now with the chin lock on Neidhart. Arn gets in and goes for a pin, and Neidhart tosses him to Jupiter. Busters exchange tags and stay on offense until Neidhart and Arn collide mid-ring. Neidhart tries to get the tag but Arn doesn’t allow it. Bret nails Arn in the back and both men down again. Arn makes the tag to Tully, and then Neidhart manages to reach for the tag to Bret. Elbow and a slam to both Busters. Dropkick to Arn, and Bret slams Tully again for good measure. Bret comes off the top with the elbow to Tully before hitting as suplex. Arn breaks the count and now all four men inside.
Bret and Tully collide on the clotheslines as Arn and Neidhart fight outside. Bret sling shots Neidhart back in onto Tully. Neidhart picks Bret up off the top and power slams Bret onto Tully but referee Joey Marella gets occupied with Heenan. That allows Arn, who isn’t the legal man, to hit the double ax handle off the top and pin Bret for the three at 16:23. Solid tag team match that’s enjoyable from start to finish.
• Rating: ***1/2
BACKSTAGE: Gene Okerlund with Dusty Rhodes. He hypes the match with Honky Tonk Man.
Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Dusty Rhodes
Jesse says Honky needs to outwrestle Dusty to win. That may be a problem. Dusty backdrops Honky right off the bat. Dusty then with some theatrics while messing with Honky’s hair. Atomic drop from Dusty and then he hits the elbow to the head. We get the usual 10 corner punches and then Dusty has apparently decided to give Honky a hamstring stretch. Honky gets out and they exchange headlocks and punches. Dusty goes off the ropes and Hart grabs his leg, which sends Dusty on the chase. Hart gets inside and the ref gets occupied with him, and that allows Honky to nail Dusty in the stomach with the megaphone for a two count.
Honky in control with the headlock for what feels like hours. Dusty eventually fights out and slams Honky but the latter reverses and goes back to the headlock. They fight to the corner and Honky keeps thwarting Dusty’s comeback until the polka dot king starts dancing. They go to the corner again and Honky sends Dusty into the referee. WE’VE GOT A REF BUMP IN A MATCH ASSOCIATED WITH DUSTY RHODES. I am shocked. Hart grabs the guitar and accidentally bonks Honky in the head after Dusty moves, which leads us to the pin at 9:36. The match was what you expected it to be.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Demolition. Hacksaw is wearing a Demolition mask. Smash says they’ve been tossing cars around in the parking lot to prepare for the amount of weight they’re gonna face on the other team.
Mr. Perfect vs. The Red Rooster
Perfect is still absolutely perfect to this point. I don’t feel good about a rooster ending someone’s undefeated streak. Arm drags from Perfect but Rooster slaps him in the face. This leads to a leapfrog sequence that results in Rooster legitimately blowing out his knee. He goes for a bodyslam on Perfect but can’t even get him up, which causes Perfect to fall on him for a pin attempt.
Chops and kicks from Perfect, and then a dropkick sends Rooster outside. Rooster rolls back in and his knee is fucked. They fight outside for a minute and Perfect takes it back in for the Perfect Plex and the win at 3:21. Just a showcase for Perfect here with Rooster clearly in pain after a legit injury.
• Rating: *
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Heenan and Rick Rude. The IC champ is gonna prove that the Ultimate Warrior is a liar. Heenan says Warrior will have a blue and black eye. It’s worth noting that this is the famous interview where the Summerslam sign fell on Gene, which led them to doing a double take. The original version is out there on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
The Rockers and Tito Santana vs. The Rougeau Brothers and Rick Martel (w/Jimmy Hart and Slick)
CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE ROUGEAU’S MUSIC IS THE GREATEST? I loved these dudes. The Rougeaus and Martel have an inspirational chat before the match begins. Jacques and Tito get us started. That doesn’t last long as the Rockers come in and we’ve got chaos. The good guys clean house much to the crowd’s delight. Jannetty and Jacques go at each other until Raymond and his mullet get the tag for a little offense.
Martel comes in and goes to work. He decides to showboat, and that allows Jannetty to tag in Tito. Martel gets the hell outta there and tags in Raymond. We work back to the bad guys using the double team, with Martel coming in once Tito was incapacitated. Martel gets some offense before tagging back out. Eventually Tito regains control and Martel is back in on the receiving end of it. Martel manages to get some offense in and tag to Raymond, who keeps going at Tito.
It’s pretty much all heels for a while as they use underhanded tactics. Tito gets a few reversals and near falls but it leads back to the bad guys wearing him down. Miscalculation from the Rougeau men and that finally leads to the hot tag to Michaels. Crowd goes crazy and he goes wild on Martel. More chaos ensues as everyone gets in on the action. Eventually we get shenanigans and Martel pins Jannetty for the victory at 14:58. Two out of three matches where the legal man doesn’t get pinned, but rules are made to be broken or something like that. I liked the match, even if it was your typical six man tag where the heels work over one guy until a hot tag.
• Rating: ***
VIDEO: We get the events leading up to the IC title match between Rude and Warrior.
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Warrior, who cuts one of the most mind-blowing promos ever.
The Ultimate Warrior vs. (c) Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan – Intercontinental Title
Jesse’s pre-match commentary is pretty stellar. Rude with quick offense but Warrior will not stand for that. Rude keeps trying, and Warrior keeps making the champ look silly. Then we get the strength of Warrior on display as he military presses him to the outside. That looked like it hurt. Warrior goes out there with him and he picks up the belt and hammers Rude with it. This leads to one of the best commentary lines ever:
Jesse: “That’s a disqualification! Where the hell is the referee?”
Schiavone: “It’s outside the ring, Jesse.”
Jesse: “So what! What are you gonna tell me, Schiavone? You can shoot someone outside the ring as long as it’s outside the ring?”
Jesse is a natural treasure, folks. He goes off on Warrior not being able to wrestle as the challenger goes up top. Warrior hits the double ax handle on Rude but only gets a two count. A couple of slams and Irish whips for another two count. Then Warrior hits a suplex for another two. Warrior just dominating this thing as he mocks Rude’s dancing.
Warrior goes back up top but Rude flings himself at the turnbuckle and the mini Warriors are officially crushed. Rude goes at the back and hits a suplex for two. Rude locks in the reverse chin lock as the crowd tries to pump up the Warrior. Rude goes for the Rude Awakening but Warriors gets loose momentarily before Rude jumps on for the sleeper hold. Warrior gets out and they both run off the ropes and collide, which also sends the ref to the mat.
Ref still down as Rude gets up and hits Warrior a few times. WARRIOR IS HULKING UP. Flurry of offense from Warrior and he hits the power slam for the pin but the ref is out cold. Warrior delivers a piledriver to Rude and HERE COMES THE REF…….1……2……Rude gets the foot on the rope. Now Warrior goes for the splash but Rude gets the knees up. Rude then tries a piledriver of sorts that doesn’t turn out so well but he still gets a two count.
Rude now up top and he gets the foot to the head for a two count. Crowd starts going bananas AND THE HOT ROD IS HERE. Piper stands near the ring as Rude gets upset and dances. Piper literally shows his ass and Warrior catches Rude off the top with a belly to back suplex. Warrior nails the shoulder block before hitting the press slam and splash to win the title at 16:02. This was a lot of fun, and it was entertaining enough to warrant a higher rating than most may give it.
• Rating: ***3/4
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Mr. Perfect. He runs down the Rooster and we get a replay of the Perfect Plex. Perfect exits and here comes Piper. It’s sad that these two legends left us so early. Piper cuts a wacky promo before leaving. Now we’ve got Ronnie Garvin, who is dressed in a full tuxedo. He’s outta there as Heenan flies in upset. He goes off on Piper as Rude enters the picture. Rude is fuming over losing the title and Heenan requests that the match be started over right now.
RING AREA: Schiavone and Jesse send us to intermission. Just think if WWE had intermissions now during their already 14-hour long PPVs.
BACKSTAGE: Gene shows us a video hyping the feud between Hulk Hogan and Zeus.
The Twin Towers and Andre the Giant (w/Slick) vs. Demolition and Hacksaw Jim Duggan
I’ll give this match six stars if “Jive Soul Bro” plays on repeat in the background. But let’s stop for a second and appreciate the group of hosses in this one. Duggan has American face paint on as he and Akeem go nose to nose to start things off. Demolition come in for the double team shortly after.
Good guys stay in control for a bit until Ax gets caught and Andre comes in. He and Akeem do some damage until we get the hot tag to Smash. He goes wild and slams both Boss Man and Akeem. All hell breaks loose as the referee loses control. Then, like a true babyface would, Duggan gets the 2×4 when the ref’s back is turned and wallops Akeem to allow Smash to get the pin at 7:23. Not much to this but HOSSES WERE EVERYWHERE.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Ted DiBiase. He says he’s the greatest and will squash Jimmy Snuka.
IN THE RING: Howard Finkel announces Ronnie Garvin as the special guest ring announcer. He runs down Greg Valentine while introducing him, which furthered the somewhat interesting feud between the two.
The Mighty Hercules vs. Greg Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)
Garvin goes to nail Valentine before the match starts but Here steps in and delivers a punch. Lots of offense from Herc until Valentine goes to remove the shinguard to hook the Figure Four. Herc reverses and Valentine goes up top. Valentine flies off the top but Herc hits the punch to the midsection. More back and forth until Valentine uses the ropes in the corner to score the cheap pin at 3:08.
Garvin gets in and announces Herc as the winner, which of course leads to Valentine decking him. Valentine and Herc go at it and Garvin comes back in to send Valentine reeling. This simply furthered a feud.
• Rating: 1/2*
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Randy Savage, Zeus, and Sensational Sherri. They’re standing around the cauldron of madness, which is a trash can with smoke flying everywhere. Sherri sees the future, and Savage hypes the showdown.
‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) vs. Jimmy Snuka
DiBiase gets the jobber entrance as Schiavone hypes Snuka’s entrance and the crowd going wild. They actually don’t seem to be that excited. Snuka to work right away. Virgil hops on the apron and gets mouthy with Snuka, and that leads to DiBiase accidentally hitting Virgil. Snuka sends DiBiase outside to regroup. Then we get what is apparently the move of doom for the evening, as Snuka goes for the leapfrog but can’t up high enough and essentially just falls on DiBiase’s head. Not good.
Back and forth we go with Snuka hitting a backdrop. DiBiase finds a way to send Snuka flying into the ropes and proceeds to deliver punches in the corner. Vertical suplex gets a two. DiBiase goes up to deliver the elbow drop but Snuka gets out of the way. Snuka up top now and he hits the headbutt but doesn’t cover. Jesse pretty much calls him a moron for this. Virgil steps on the apron and Snuka goes to chase him.
DiBiase goes with them and throws Snuka into the post before getting back in. Snuka can’t make it back in and DiBiase wins by countout at 6:27. Snuka attacks both afterwards and hits a truly awful backbreaker to Virgil. I didn’t particularly care for this at all.
• Rating: 1/2*
BACKSTAGE: Gene with Hulk Hogan and “Beefcake Barber” as our good friend Zeus would say. Hogan talks about Moses crossing the Red Sea and some other stuff.
IN THE RING: Ladies and gentlemen, THE GENIUS IS HERE WITH A POEM!
Randy Savage and Zeus (w/Sensational Sherri) vs. Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake (w/Miss Elizabeth)
Hogan goes over to Finkel before the match starts and whispers in his ears. HERE COMES MISS ELIZABETH. Savage flips out over this. All four men going at it to kick things off and Hogan tries to lift Zeus but that ain’t happening. Zeus drops down and chokes the daylights out of Hogan before catching Beefcake off the top. Hogan comes from behind and nails Zeus but it does nothing. Zeus picks Hogan up and Savage comes off top to start the double team.
Savage wearing down Hogan with a sleeper hold but the champ goes to the wrong corner and Zeus nails him. Zeus in now and he locks on the bearhug of doom. WILL HOGAN TAP OUT? I already know the answer to this, and I hope you do too. Zeus rams Hogan into the turnbuckle and Savage tags in. He delivers some offense and spits in Beefcake’s face. DO IT AGAIN. Savage tries to go back on offense but Hogan gets the hot tag to Beefcake. He clotheslines Savage and hits the high knee for a two.
Sleeper hold from Beefcake until Savage runs him into the turnbuckle. Savage tags in Zeus and he goes at Beefcake, but the latter rakes the eyes. Referee turns his back to go over to Hogan, and Savage uses Sherri’s purse to clock Beefcake. IT APPEARS THAT BEEFCAKE IS UNCONSCIOUS AFTER GETTING HIT WITH A LADY’S PURSE. Savage races outside to go after Elizabeth but Hogan stops it. Then Savage goes in for another pin but Hogan stops that as well.
Zeus in and he rides Beefcake like a bronco. More offense from the big man until Savage tags back in. Double clothesline and both dudes are down. Beefcake makes the hot tag and Hogan goes wild. He goes for a suplex on Savage but Sherri pulls his legs and Savage falls on him to regain the advantage. Savage goes for the elbow drop and hits it. HOGAN’S NOT SELLING THAT SHIT, FOLKS. Hogan gets up immediately and sends Savage outside the ring.
Zeus in and Hogan eventually knocks him off his feet while Elizabeth trips up Sherri. Chaos everywhere. Hogan then picks up the purse and hits Zeus with it. That’s enough to get the pin at 15:04. Wild scene after the match as Hogan gives Sherri an atomic drop and they cut her hair. WHAT A TRUE AMERICAN HERO! Your typical late 80s Hogan match, and I honestly didn’t think Zeus was that bad in his role.
• Rating: **
SHOW SUMMARY
Warrior/Rude was the best thing on the show, and the main event used the same formula we saw many times during this era. It’s full of entertainment, but it doesn’t really hold up in this day and age. As always, Jesse’s commentary was excellent and made things better than they should have been.
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