WWF Summerslam 1989

 

WWF Summerslam 1989

Venue: East Rutherford, New Jersey

Date: 28/08/89

Attendance: 20,000

Commentators: Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura

In a bid to further the hype for WWF financed movie No Holds Barred starring Hulk Hogan and Tiny Lister, Lister's character Zeus was brought into the World Wrestling Federation to be a short term monster heel and face Hogan in a "real life confrontation". Meanwhile Randy Savage who had lost the WWF Heavyweight Championship to Hogan at Wrestlemania and had spent the summer unsuccessfully trying to regain the title, teamed up with Zeus to attempt to take out 'The Hulkster' once and for all. Hogan's best friend Brutus Beefcake, who was also targeted by Zeus, would team with Hogan to face Zeus and Savage in the big main event at Summerslam. This was the first of two WWF pay-per-views that featured Tony Schiavone as lead announcer.

Review

Recently crowned tag team champions The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) defeated The Hart Foundation in a quality non-title opening bout. The Harts were dominant for most of the contest, so much so that the Busters looked almost inferior to their opponents. Although Anderson and Blanchard went over in the end they should have been afforded more offense in order to legitimise their status as champions... Dusty Rhodes beat The Honky Tonk Man in a slow and boring contest. Rhodes took the win after Jimmy Hart accidently crashed a guitar over Honky's head. The real highlight though was Honky's post match interview where the effects of the guitar shot caused him to believe he was Elvis Presley...

 

Mr Perfect lands a standing dropkick on The Red Rooster.

Mr Perfect continued his unbeaten streak as he made short work of The Red Rooster (Terry Taylor). Taylor actually suffered a knee injury during the bout so perhaps the match was shorter than intended but as that wasn't obvious to those watching Rooster just came across as a jobber here... Next up was a very good six-man tag team match where Rick Martel and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers defeated Tito Santana and The Rockers. Santana was desperate for revenge after Martel turned his back on him at Wrestlemania but Martel played the cowardly heel brilliantly, only entering the fray when his former partner was in trouble. Martel scored the win for his team pinning Marty Jannetty amidst the confusion at the end of the bout...

 

Santana executes a sunset flip out of the corner on former partner Martel.

Ravishing Rick Rude managed to surpass his herculean efforts at Wrestlemania to pull an even better match out of the bag with The Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental Title. It must be said that Warrior and Rude always worked well together but this was probably their best encounter. Warrior regained the title he lost in Atlantic City thanks in part to a distraction from Rowdy Roddy Piper which allowed Rude to avoid taking a clean loss and moved him seamlessly onto his next feud... Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Demolition beat Andre the Giant and The Twin Towers in a six man tag that was light years in quality behind the one earlier on the card. Duggan once again cheated to win in a typical for the time big man brawl... The Hercules/Greg Valentine match existed only to further the feud between Valentine and Ronnie Garvin, who was guest ring announcer. Garvin insulted Valentine at length on the house mic before the bout. Valentine pinned Hercules in short order only for Garvin to announce Hercules as the winner. Valentine nailed Garvin for his trouble before Garvin climbed back into the ring and hit "The Hammer" with a terrible looking punch made worse by Valentine's sell, or lack there of...

 

Andre crushes Axe as Akeem looks on. Notice how Bobby Heenan is still distraught
following Rude's IC Title loss. Selling is important for managers too you know.

Ted Dibiase squared off with Jimmy Snuka in a nothing match which Dibiase won by count out. The action was lacklustre and the finish was lousy. Dibiase's comments towards Snuka in his pre-match interview bordered on being racist as did Jesse Ventura's commentary during the match. WWE must have thought the same as Dibiase's comments have been edited out of the DVD release of this event, although Ventura's remain... In the main event Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake beat Randy Savage and Zeus in an enjoyable tag bout. Zeus (actor Tiny Lister) was brought in to be a monster heel who was impervious to pain. His ability to perform in the ring was limited to say the least so Savage had to work extra hard to compensate for him but what he did do was acceptable. Hogan pinned Zeus after nailing him with a loaded purse, which had previously been used in the match by Savage. After the match Beefcake and Miss Elizabeth chopped off Sensational Sherri's long hair (which I suspect was extensions) with a pair of shears.

 

Zeus and the Macho Man before the main event

Overall

Summerslam 1989 can be considered a good show thanks to three very good matches and a decent main event. Unfortunately the show's overall rating is dragged down by the remaining five bouts which were poor and nothing more than filler in truth. The best matches were also the ones that mattered most and that made this show worthwhile. Summerslam 1989 drew 625,000 buys on pay-per-view, an excellent number.

 

Hogan, Beefcake and Miss Elizabeth celebrate victory

 

Results

1 The Brain Busters def The Hart Foundation by pinfall (16:23) ***3/4

2 Dusty Rhodes pinned The Honky Tonk Man (9:36) 3/4

3 Mr Perfect pinned The Red Rooster (3:21) *

4 The Fabulous Rougeaus & Rick Martel def The Rockers & Tito Santana by pinfall (14:58) ***1/2

5 The Ultimate Warrior pinned Rick Rude (c) to win the Intercontinental Title (16:02) ***3/4

6 Demolition & Jim Duggan def The Twin Towers & Andre the Giant by pinfall (7:23) *

7 Greg Valentine pinned Hercules (3:08) 1/2

8 Ted Dibiase def Jimmy Snuka by count out (6:27) *1/4

9 Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake def Randy Savage & Zeus by pinfall (15:04) ***

Rating

18.50/45 = 41.11% Rating

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)