Saturday Night's Main Event (29/11/86)

Saturday Night's Main Event
29/11/86 (Taped 15/11/86)
Los Angeles, California


Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage fought Jake Roberts to a double disqualification in a decent bout. Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura played it off like two hated heels were in battle but the crowd were clearly behind Roberts... We were shown footage of Slick selling Hercules to Bobby Heenan... Hulk Hogan defeated Hercules to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title in a straight forward Hogan-formula match. The crowd was of course hot... Bob Orton Jr claimed he was used by Roddy Piper in an interview with Ventura... Piper pinned Orton in a match that could've been good but was quite short. Once again the crowd was hot... The Killer Bees beat The Hart Foundation in a really good match. The Harts dominated until The Bees donned masks to perform an illegal switch and win the bout. I thought it was the heels who were meant to be the cheats? ... Koko B Ware pinned Nikolai Volkoff in a short, rubbish match... Don Muraco beat Dick Slater in an awful contest.

Results
Randy Savage (c) fought Jake Roberts to a double disqualification. Savage retained the Intercontinental Title (9:24) **1/2
Hulk Hogan (c) pinned Hercules to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (6:23) **
Roddy Piper pinned Bob Orton Jr (3:47) *
The Killer Bees def The Hart Foundation by pinfall (8:39) ***1/4
Koko B Ware pinned Nikolai Volkoff (2:25) 1/4
Don Muraco pinned Dick Slater (2:18) DUD

WWF Wrestlemania X

WWF Wrestlemania X
Venue: New York City, New York
Date: 20/03/94
Attendance: 18,065
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

The World Wrestling Federation returned to Madison Square Garden to celebrate the 10th annual Wrestlemania and Vince McMahon pulled in the celebrities for the occasion. Little Richard (badly) mimed "America The Beautiful", Rhonda Shear (TV personality) and Jennie Garth (actress) were guest time keepers, while Donnie Wahlberg (singer, actor) and the biggest coup of all Burt Reynolds (actor) were guest ring announcers. There was also a Bill Clinton lookalike that fooled nobody. It had been decided that Royal Rumble co-winners Lex Luger and Bret Hart would both receive championship matches on the night. Luger would face Yokozuna first (decided by coin toss on Raw) and Hart would take on the winner later in the evening. Hart would also be in the opening match after finally agreeing to battle his brother Owen after the younger Hart went full heel at the Royal Rumble. There was also a certain Intercontinental Title Ladder Match on the card which you may have heard about. Jerry Lawler made his return to TV as colour commentator and did an excellent job.

Review

Owen Hart scored a big upset win over older brother Bret in a fantastic opening bout. Owen had to cut some of his more high flying manoeuvres out of his arsenal to suit his new heel stance but that did not detract from this technically superb contest. Owen was of course the aggressor as the younger hot-headed sibling but he didn't overdo the heel shortcuts. Bret was excellent in his role as babyface older brother and the match told a great story. Both men survived each other's version of the Sharpshooter. Bret attempted to perform a victory roll but Owen countered it for a shockingly clean three count. Lawler sold the significance of Owen's victory fantastically.


Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeated Doink and Dink in an acceptable mixed tag team match that was always going to feel flat after the Hart classic. It was what it was, a bit of fun. Bigelow scored a decisive win for his team when he pinned Doink following his top rope head butt.


After being built for around five months, Randy Savage and Crush finally collided in a "Falls Count Anywhere" grudge match. The rules were amended so that falls had to take place outside of the ring and the beaten wrestler would get one minute to return to the ring or lose the match. It was not a change for the better. Crush beat Savage in less than a minute after dropping him onto the guard rail in the aisle. Savage survived and pinned Crush after the big elbow off the top rope. He then had to roll Crush outside to pin him but Crush just made it back inside in time with the help of Mr Fuji. The finish came when Savage threw Crush into a few doors and attempted to hang him upside down after pinning him. Crush did not make it back and Savage was declared the winner of a fairly good brawl.

Women's Champion Alundra Blayze beat Leilani Kai in a short match which nobody really cared about. Kai's appearance was a nice nod to the original Wrestlemania but this did nothing for Blayze or the women's division.


Men on a Mission scored a weak count out win over tag team champions The Quebecers. The match wasn't very good but at the same time not as bad as expected.


Lex Luger was unsuccessful in his quest to become WWF Champion after he was screwed by guest referee Mr Perfect in his match with Yokozuna. Going nearly 15 minutes and filled with rest holds, the match was offensively boring. Towards the end Luger finally made his comeback by body slamming Yoko and KO-ing him with the formerly illegal elbow. He then nailed Jim Cornette and Mr Fuji before covering the champion but Perfect refused to count. Luger lightly shoved Perfect urging him to count but instead Perfect disqualified Luger. The crowd chanted "bulls**t" in response to the screwy finish. Apparently McMahon changed his mind about Luger very late in the day and effectively killed him as a top babyface. His feud with Perfect went nowhere as Curt Hennig would soon leave the company once again.


Harvey Whippleman made fun of Howard Finkel's new hairpiece and bullied him until "The Fink" shoved him down. Adam Bomb came out and grabbed Finkel but Earthquake made the save and squashed Bomb in about 30 seconds. Pointless. Who did this benefit?

Then came the match to determine the undisputed Intercontinental Champion in the first ever WWF ladder match on pay-per-view. There had been ladder matches before, even in the WWF but this one was a game changer. Featuring an incredible performance by Shawn Michaels who bumped like a man possessed, this match remains the ladder match that all others are judged by. Michaels claimed to be Intercontinental Champion despite being stripped of the title in September and still carried the belt when he returned from suspension. Meanwhile a new champion had been crowned in Razor Ramon who defeated Rick Martel to lift the vacant title so the two men were on a collision course the moment Michaels returned. The difference between this ladder match and the previous one in the WWF between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1992 was the ladder was now being used as a weapon as well as a way of getting the title belt. Ramon and Michaels thought up many innovative ways to do this including baseball sliding the ladder, jumping off the ladder, performing moves off the ladder and just plain old beating your opponent with it. Watching this match when it first took place you knew you were watching something special. Ramon won the match after shoving Michaels off the ladder causing his leg to be tied up in the ropes meaning Ramon could retrieve the title belts to be confirmed as the undisputed champion. There was lots of talk of Michaels being WCW-bound at this time but although he took an extended break from in-ring action he remained with the WWF.

The main event was always going to feel a bit of an anticlimax after Ramon/Michaels but the introduction of Roddy Piper as guest referee helped as he came out to a great reception. You could argue that as entertaining as Piper was, he overshadowed the match itself. Yokozuna and Bret Hart had an okay title bout but it wasn't was good as the one they had in Las Vegas. However the finish was equally lame. Yokozuna inexplicably just fell backwards off the middle rope as he prepared to hit the Banzai Drop. Hart then pinned him for a complete fluke victory. That being said the crowd did pop huge for the three count. After the match wrestlers and celebrities filled the ring to celebrate with Bret. Owen Hart then appeared in the aisle to stare at his brother which was important because Owen now had a legitimate claim to be the number one contender.


Overall
Wrestlemania X is remembered as a great WWF show on the strength of two phenomenal matches. Without them the card is just average but that's how strong they were. The ladder match was the one that really pushed Shawn Michaels to the next level while at the same time casting the die for all future ladder matches. Owen Hart was also well and truly put on the map after his world class match with Bret. The brothers were set to collide for the title at Summerslam and would remain on opposite sides of the fence for the next three years. Wrestlemania X drew 390,000 buys for a Wrestlemania low buy rate of 1.68. Considering how business had been going this was still a satisfactory number.


Results
1 Owen Hart pinned Bret Hart (20:26) *****
2 Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon def Doink & Dink by pinfall (6:09) *1/2
3 Randy Savage def Crush in a "Falls Count Anywhere Match" (9:43) **1/2
4 Alundra Blayze (c) pinned Leilani Kai to retain the WWF Women's Title (3:23) *
5 Men On A Mission def The Quebecers (c) by count out. Quebecers retained the WWF Tag Team Title (7:45) *1/4
6 Yokozuna (c) def Lex Luger by disqualification to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (14:40) 1/2
7 Earthquake pinned Adam Bomb (0:35) SQ
8 Razor Ramon (c) def Shawn Michaels in a "Ladder Match" to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (18:47) *****
9 Bret Hart pinned Yokozuna (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (10:36) **1/4


Rating
19/45 = 42.22%

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

WWF Royal Rumble 1994
Venue: Providence, Rhode Island
Date: 23/1/94
Attendance: 14,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Ted Dibiase


With the tenth annual Wrestlemania just around the corner, the WWF had already laid the foundations for grudge matches between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage and Crush but it remained to be seen who would be squaring off in the main event for the WWF Heavyweight Title. That was to be determined at the Royal Rumble where Yokozuna would defend the championship against The Undertaker with the number one contender being decided in the Rumble match itself. With Bobby Heenan now in WCW and Jerry Lawler suspended, Ted Dibiase was placed in the slot of colour commentator alongside Vince McMahon. Sadly, he wasn't very good.


Review
The opener saw Tatanka defeat Bam Bam Bigelow in a fairly good bout. It was originally scheduled to be Ludvig Borga versus Tatanka after Borga broke the Native American's long unbeaten streak in November, however Borga was pulled due to injury and would soon leave the company.

"All you had to do was tag me!"

Next up The Quebecers retained the World Tag Team Title with a referee stoppage victory over Bret and Owen Hart. This was a really good, heated match and told a great story. Owen and Bret had recently made up after the Survivor Series incident and deciding they were stronger together they channelled their energy towards winning the tag belts. However, Bret would suffer a knee injury during the bout and despite having a golden opportunity to tag his brother he instead attempted to apply the Sharpshooter. This decision led to their defeat and Owen, quite rightly, was livid. He yelled at Bret before sweeping his injured leg and walking away. Owen then famously cocked up his promo on the big screen as Bret was being helped to the back.


Razor Ramon's Intercontinental Title defence over IRS was okay and furthered the growing feud between Ramon and Shawn Michaels. Michaels was claiming to still be IC Champion despite being stripped of the title for falling foul of the 30 day mandatory title defence rule (in reality he failed a drugs test) and still carried the original title belt around with him. After a ref bump in the match, Michaels ran in and clobbered Ramon with his title belt which led to Ramon being pinned. Then (in one of those incidents when they randomly decide the referee's decision is not final) another referee ran down to demand the match continue, which it did unbeknownst to IRS who got Razor Edge'd from behind and pinned. In the end it felt like the heel got screwed here.

"I'm about to die, but don't worry I'll be reborn in time for Summerslam"

Then came the "Casket Match" for the WWF Title between Yokozuna and The Undertaker. It was a really poor match that became and absolute joke by the end. When it looked like Undertaker was about to win the match, no less than nine other wrestlers came down to attack. The heels opened Undertaker's urn which allowed his 'power' to get away (there was green smoke escaping from the urn) and Taker became weaker and weaker until he was placed into the casket. If that wasn't stupid enough, as the heels pushed the casket back down the aisle smoke began to rise from underneath and the lights went out. The fallen Undertaker then appeared on the big screen 'live' from the casket which apparently had a microphone, a light and a camera in it. The coffin-cam somehow managed to zoom out so we could see the top edges of the casket despite the lid being on. Taker refused to rest in peace, died (or something) and then levitated to the heaven (or somewhere), not from the casket but from behind the big screen?! This was one of the stupidest and most embarrassing things I've ever seen in wrestling.


The Royal Rumble match was entertaining without being anything special. Diesel looked like a star for the first time as he tossed out several guys before being double crossed by Shawn Michaels, a subtle detail they saved for a later date. There was a nice continuation of the Randy Savage/Crush feud and a brief clash between Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Nobody came out at number 25 so McMahon and Dibiase concluded it must have been Bret Hart's slot. But no, Hart hobbled out at number 27 like a hero. The 25th slot should've been Bastion Booger, but he was sick. That was the best they could come up with?! Predictably the final two were Bret Hart and Lex Luger but they did nothing more than exchange a couple of punches then topple over the top rope together rather oddly. Couldn't they have done a clothesline spot or something? The referees argued over who had won until Jack Tunney came out and declared they were co-winners as opposed to just say, sending them back in to settle it. The question now was who would face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania; Bret Hart or Lex Luger?

Lex Luger and Bret Hart both claim victory in the Royal Rumble

Overall
Aside from the casket match debacle, Royal Rumble 1994 was a decent enough card. The Quebecers versus The Hart Brothers was the stand out match (and angle) but the other match-ups weren't bad either. The feuds between Ramon/Michaels, Savage/Crush and now Bret/Owen were furthered with the question remaining whether Bret Hart or Lex Luger would face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania. At the time it was expected that Luger would win the Rumble so the non-finish finish came as a bit of a surprise. Royal Rumble 1994 drew a worrying 0.9 buy rate which was around 200,000 buys. This was only slightly up from Survivor Series and a massive 100,000 down from Royal Rumble 1993.

Results
1 Tatanka pinned Bam Bam Bigelow (8:12) **1/4
2 The Quebecers (c) def Bret Hart & Owen Hart by stoppage to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (16:48) ***1/2
3 Razor Ramon (c) pinned Irwin R Schyster to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (11:30) **1/4
4 Yokozuna (c) def The Undertaker in a "Casket Match" to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (14:20) 1/2
5 Bret Hart & Lex Luger won the Royal Rumble match (55:08) **3/4


Rating
11.25/25 = 45%

WWF Survivor Series 1993

WWF Survivor Series 1993
Venue: Boston, Massachusetts
Date: 24/11/93
Attendance: 15,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan


After changing the format of the previous year's Survivor Series to a regular card, the 1993 edition reverted back to all tag team elimination matches, with the exception of one. The trouble was the WWF no longer had the roster to pull off four eight-man elimination matches and going in the card looked less than exciting. The show was also massively hindered by the suspension of Jerry Lawler who was facing charges of statutory rape (later dropped) as it meant the culmination of his feud with the Hart family could not happen. Lawler had to be replaced by Shawn Michaels who himself had not long returned from suspension for failing a drugs test for steroids. The match didn't make any sense without Lawler and interest waned. The show was headlined by the "All Americans" versus the "Foreign Fanatics" featuring the hardly riveting feud between Lex Luger and Ludvig Borga, the seeds for which were sown in a backstage confrontation at Summerslam. This would also be Bobby Heenan's final WWF pay-per-view before heading to WCW, but at least he went out with a bang.


Review


Razor Ramon, Marty Jannetty, The 1-2-3 Kid & Randy Savage vs IRS, Adam Bomb, Rick Martel & Diesel


The first elimination tag team match was the best of the four on the night and was centred around Razor Ramon's feud with Irwin R Schyster. It was announced by Ramon that Mr Perfect would not be taking part and Randy Savage would be replacing him. Curt Hennig was unhappy with the direction of his character and would soon leave the company.  Savage scored the first decision of the night pinning Diesel after the flying elbow drop. Savage was then distracted by the arrival of Crush and was rolled up from behind by IRS. Crush had recently turned on Savage and so intent on getting revenge, Savage lost his job as colour commentator on Raw. Ramon then pinned IRS after the Razor's Edge but when Ramon attempted to do the same to Rick Martel, IRS struck him with his briefcase and caused the Intercontinental Champion to be counted out. Martel and Adam Bomb took control before a quick fire double elimination saw 1-2-3 Kid pin Martel with a sunset flip in the corner before Jannetty pinned Bomb with a sunset flip over the top rope. Kid and Jannetty would soon get a very brief run as tag team champions. This was a fun match to kick off the show.

Bret, Owen, Keith & Bruce Hart vs Shawn Michaels & "Three Knights of the Squared Circle"


Next up was the "Family Feud" match as Bret, Owen, Keith and Bruce Hart (along with father Stu) battled Shawn Michaels (replacing Jerry Lawler) and his "Knights of the Squared Circle" who were Greg Valentine, Jeff Gaylord and Barry Horowitz under masks. Ray Combs of the TV show Family Feud was guest ring announcer and colour commentator and personally I thought he did ok. Many members of the Hart family were also seated at ringside for the match. The match was long, boring and lost the heat it would've had with Lawler in there. The Knights were nameless and faceless nobodies to the crowd and there was little reaction when they were in the ring. Owen pinned Gaylord with a top rope dropkick, Bret made Horowitz submit to the Sharpshooter, and Owen then forced Valentine to surrender in his version of the Sharpshooter. Owen then accidentally collided with Bret knocking him into the guard rail and causing Owen to be pinned by Michaels. Michaels then continued to take a pounding before walking out on the match with the odds firmly against him. Owen returned to the ring to confront Bret and begin his heel turn. The highlight of the match was Bobby Heenan's first rate performance on commentary.

Rock N Roll Express (c) vs Heavenly Bodies - Smoky Mountain Tag Team Title


The Heavenly Bodies defeated the Rock N Roll Express to win the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Title in a good match. The problem was the WWF crowd did not come to see Smoky Mountain Wrestling and couldn't care less. It was a typical NWA-style tag team bout with good action but it played out to mostly silence. Radio commentators Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon took over announce duties for this one. The Bodies victory came when Jimmy Del Rey hit Ricky Morton with Jim Cornette's tennis racket off the top rope.


"The Four Doinks" vs Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger & The Headshrinkers


This match evoked more of a reaction from the Boston crowd, but not much more. The "Four Doinks" who turned out to be Men on a Mission and The Bushwackers (complete with Doink face paint and masks) scored a clean sweep victory in an abysmal 'comedy' match that made a mockery of pro wrestling. The Headshrinkers and Bastion Booger were made out to be morons with the minds of wild animals as they were easily distracted by turkey and bananas leading to their eliminations. At one point Mo rode a scooter around the ring for a laugh or something. With the rest of his team eliminated Bigelow was then also beaten as all four of his opponents lay on top of him for the pin fall. He was then mocked by Doink on the big screen. This was terrible.

Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers & The Undertaker vs Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Jacques Rougeau & Crush


Things thankfully got more serious for the main event which was decent enough but felt a bit flat for a headline match. Rick Steiner looked ridiculously weak as he was pinned by Borga early on after they botched whatever they were trying to do when Rick came off the top rope. Randy Savage came out for Crush which caused the Hawaiian to be counted out. Luger pinned Rougeau with his strangely no-longer-illegal forearm smash. Yokozuna pinned Scott Steiner. Undertaker then finally tagged in for the hottest part of the match as he battled Yokozuna, although it lasted all of three minutes and both men got counted out. Disaster was also narrowly avoided as Yokozuna almost came down on Undertaker's head as Taker sat up to avoid a second Banzai Drop. Borga then beat up Luger for a few minutes before Luger made a Hogan-like comeback for the win. Santa Claus then joined Luger in the ring to celebrate for a happy ending.

Overall
A very average show that was hurt by the lack of depth on the roster and by the lack of a climax to the Hart Family/Jerry Lawler feud, although there was little they could do about that. Lex Luger was lacking the charisma and appeal that Hulk Hogan possessed and his main event match fell flat in a way that no Hogan top liner ever did. Bobby Heenan (like Gene Okerlund before him) soon said his farewells and left for WCW after refusing to relocate to Connecticut as requested by Vince McMahon as part of the WWF's cost cutting measures. Survivor Series 1993 drew a company low buy rate of 0.82 meaning 185,000 buys, 65,000 less than the 1992 event.


Results
1 Razor Ramon, Randy Savage, Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid def Irwin R Schyster, Rick Martel, Adam Bomb & Diesel (26:58) ***
2 Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart & Keith Hart def Shawn Michaels, The Black Knight, The Blue Knight & The Red Knight (30:57) *3/4
3 The Heavenly Bodies def The Rock N Roll Express (c) to win the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Title (13:43) ***
4 Men On A Mission & The Bushwackers def Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger & The Headshrinkers (10:58) DUD
5 Lex Luger, The Undertaker & The Steiner Brothers def Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Jacques Rougeau & Crush (27:59) **1/4


Rating
10/25 = 40%

WWF Summerslam 1993

WWF Summerslam 1993
Venue: Auburn Hills, Michigan
Date: 30/8/93
Attendance: 18,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan

As Hulk Hogan was to leave the WWF following the July/August European Tour, Vince McMahon decided simply to make a new Hulk Hogan in time for a big main event at Summerslam in Auburn Hills, Michigan. A big angle was set up on 4th July 1993 aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York City where Mr Fuji and Yokozuna had challenged all comers to attempt to body slam the massive 550lbs plus WWF Champion. Failure to do so would of course, "embarrass America on it's most famous holiday" as put by Jim Ross. A host of NFL, NHL and NBA stars joined the likes of the Steiner Brothers, Randy Savage and Crush in an attempt to win the "Body Slam Challenge" but all failed. Just as it looked like defeat for the USA, a helicopter landed on the ship prompting big "Hogan" chants. To the surprise of most it would be heel Lex Luger who made his way towards the ring shoving Bobby Heenan aside in phase one of the quick fire face turn. Luger then cut a babyface, pro-America promo on the evil foreigners (Rodney Anoa'i was actually a Samoan from San Francisco)  and then tossed Fuji out of the ring. After a brief stare down Luger clocked Yoko with his steel plated forearm and, with Yoko's assistance, body slammed him to bring the house (or aircraft carrier) down! Babyface turn complete, the WWF set up a huge promotional tour where Luger would travel around the country in his "Lex Express" Greyhound bus in what was called a "Call To Action" campaign. The WWF really pulled out all of the stops to get Luger over as the new American hero and after a gruelling six weeks on the road, the stage was set for the big showdown at Summerslam.


Review
In a run-of-the-mill opening contest, newly turned babyface Razor Ramon defeated Ted Dibiase with the Razor's Edge. This would be Dibiase's final match in the WWF and he would retire from the ring later in the year following a short spell in AJPW.

The Steiner Brothers successfully defended the World Tag Team Title in arguably the best match of their WWF run against The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray & Tom Pritchard). Naturally the Detroit crowd were hot for the Steiners and there was some great tag team wrestling in this one.


The much anticipated clash between Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels and Mr Perfect did not deliver to the level that most expected. By his own admission Michaels was carrying excess weight around this time while Perfect was never quite the same after his back injury. The match was good from a technical standpoint but after the heated build up including a wild brawl in the street in New York City it did not resemble a grudge match at all. The cheap finish did not help as Diesel (Michaels' bodyguard Kevin Nash) cost Perfect the title and caused him to be counted out. During a backstage post match brawl designed to start a feud between Perfect and Diesel, Michaels dropped and shattered the Intercontinental Title belt and had to foot the bill for it to be replaced.

After a shock win over Razor Ramon and later Ted Dibiase, The 1-2-3 Kid was brought crashing back down to earth with a clean loss to IRS. The match itself wasn't bad but according to Sean Waltman the loss was in order to keep his ego in check.


It looked like we would be getting screwed out the battle to determine the real "King" of the WWF as Jerry Lawler appeared on crutches after being involved in a "ten car pile up". Instead Bret Hart would have to face Doink with Lawler watching from ringside. Hart had a decent battle with Doink until Lawler (genuinely) levelled him with a crutch when he had Doink locked in the Sharpshooter. After proving his injury to be phony, Lawler was forced to face Hart by Jack Tunney in a stiff and very heated brawl that unlike the Intercontinental Title bout, did feel like a grudge match. Hart won the match with the Sharpshooter but refused to release it afterwards and the decision was reversed. It was a bit ridiculous as there were at least ten people in the ring and they couldn't pull Hart off of Lawler. Overall though this was a really good angle where Hart got his revenge but Lawler remained a "King".

Newcomer Ludvig Borga (Tony Halme) crushed Marty Jannetty in a five minute squash. They clearly had big plans for Borga although he was extremely limited and didn't look particularly good here.


The Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzales in an awful "Rest in Peace" match which basically meant no disqualification or count outs. A top rope clothesline was all it took to beat this monstrous giant in the end. Paul Bearer made his return mid-match to reclaim the urn from Harvey Whippleman. Gonzales choke slammed Whippleman after the match to apparently turn face but nobody seemed that bothered.


Tatanka and The Smoking Gunns beat Bam Bam Bigelow and The Headshrinkers in an entertaining six man tag team bout. The match was good fun and was won by Tatanka pinning Samu with a roll up.

After a monster push and promotional campaign to get Lex Luger over as the new American hero babyface he was unable to unseat Yokozuna as WWF Champion winning only by count out. The wind was really taken out of Luger's sails right from the start as this meant he had already failed in the eyes of the fans. Imagine if Hulk Hogan could've only managed a count out win over the Iron Sheik back in 1984. If they were really serious about going all the way with Luger he had to go over here. As it was it was still a shockingly decent match, about the best they could've had really but despite acting like Luger had secured a huge victory at the end it all fell a bit flat. Randy Savage, the Steiner Brothers and Tatanka celebrated with Luger in the ring as balloons fell from the ceiling but Luger was not the champion so there was nothing really to celebrate. The music video at the end of the show featuring clips from the "Lex Express" tour was however, excellent. The plan was to make Yokozuna versus Luger the big money match at Wrestlemania X, except Luger lost so much steam as a babyface in the coming months that Bret Hart was put back into the world title mix come January.


Overall
Summerslam 1993 was a decent show, as long as you look past the non-finishes in the three big matches. The highlight of the show was the whole Bret Hart/Jerry Lawler saga which was heated and very entertaining. The involvement of Owen and Bruce Hart helped also, not least because Bruce was wound up by being dowsed in water by Doink without knowing it was coming. That was hilarious. Shawn Michaels versus Mr Perfect was good but at the same time disappointing, and the main event surpassed all expectations, until the finish. Summerslam 1993 drew a 1.3 buy rate, approximately 250,000 buys, which was a touch disappointing considering the amount of hype for Lex Luger's big night.


Results
1 Razor Ramon pinned Ted Dibiase (7:32) **1/4
2 The Steiner Brothers (c) def The Heavenly Bodies by pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (9:28) ***1/2
3 Shawn Michaels (c) def Mr Perfect by count out to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (11:20) ***
4 Irwin R Schyster pinned The 1-2-3 Kid (5:44) **1/2
5 Bret Hart def Doink by disqualification (9:05) **1/2
6 Jerry Lawler def Bret Hart by disqualification (6:32) ***
7 Ludvig Borga def Marty Jannetty by submission (5:15) 3/4
8 The Undertaker pinned Giant Gonzales (8:04) DUD
9 The Smoking Gunns & Tatanka def The Headshrinkers & Bam Bam Bigelow by pinfall (11:15) ***
10 Lex Luger def Yokozuna (c) by count out. Yokozuna retained the WWF Heavyweight Title (17:58) **3/4


Rating
23.25/50 = 46.5%

WWF King of the Ring 1993

WWF King of the Ring 1993
Venue: Dayton, Ohio
Date: 13/6/93
Attendance: 6,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage


King of the Ring was an (almost) annual tournament which ran on untelevised events from 1985 to 1991 but in 1993 the decision was made to make it into a pay-per-view event. Qualifying matches for the tournament aired on Monday Night Raw with the quarter finals, semi finals and final to feature on the pay-per-view itself. In addition to the tournament Yokozuna challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Heavyweight Title in a rematch from their impromptu bout at Wrestlemania IX.


Review
In the first tournament quarter final Bret Hart defeated Razor Ramon in a good contest but not quite to the level of their Royal Rumble battle after countering a super-plex... Mr Perfect advanced past Mr Hughes by disqualification in a worthless match. Perfect was not permitted to beat Hughes who was to work with The Undertaker... Bam Bam Bigelow beat Hacksaw Jim Duggan clean in another poor bout with his top rope diving headbutt... Lex Luger and Tatanka's unbeaten streaks remained intact after they fought to a fifteen minute time limit draw which eliminated them both. The match was actually fairly good. Luger wore an elbow pad to cover his steel plated err.. forearm but removed it after the bout to KO Tatanka.

Bret Hart and Mr Perfect had a good face-to-face interview with Gene Okerlund followed by an excellent wrestling match which Hart won to reach the final. Perfect played the slight heel here but shook hands with Hart after the match to confirm there was no turn. The match was similar in quality to their bout at Summerslam 1991 but with less crowd heat... Hulk Hogan's first U.S. televised match since Wrestlemania IX and his first title defence ended in a surprise defeat to Yokozuna. The slimmed down 1993 version of Hogan looked even more slight next to the massive Rodney Anoa'i. Hogan put Yokozuna over very strong in the match with 'Zuna dominating almost entirely and Hogan's comebacks amounting to little. Hogan even allowed Yoko to kick out of the leg drop. The finish however was ridiculous. As Hogan was readying himself to bodyslam Yokozuna a 'cameraman' with a very phony looking disguise (it was Harvey Whippleman) got onto the apron and fired a flame into Hogan's face leaving him prone to defeat. Yoko then crushed Hogan with a Banzai Drop to send him on his way with the crowd's sympathy. In the aftermath (and unlike Survivor Series 1991) there was no outrage and demands for justice after such a blatant screwjob. Jack Tunney bizarrely congratulated Yokozuna as if the fire spot hadn't happened.

The Smoking Gunns & The Steiner Brothers beat Money Inc and The Headshrinkers in a match which at 6:49 was not allocated enough time for an eight man tag. The Steiners barely featured as Billy Gunn pinned Ted Dibiase out of nowhere for the win. This wouldn't have been so bad except it'd be the Steiners who would win the tag team title the next night... After announcing the name of his new bodyguard Diesel, Shawn Michaels retained the Intercontinental Title over Crush in an average match with another screwy finish. Two Doinks walked out to distract Crush allowing Michaels to superkick him from behind in a spot that looked awful for the cheap win.

The final tournament match was a good one as Bret Hart pinned Bam Bam Bigelow with a victory roll to claim his second King of the Ring crown. Bigelow initially won the bout with his diving headbutt but Earl Hebner ran to the ring to rule the match should continue because Luna Vachon had struck Hart with a very weak chair shot. It made no sense as a much more obvious injustice had been allowed to stand in the world title match. It didn't make Hart look great either. Regardless of the inconsistencies the match told a good story with Hart selling injury and exhaustion having wrestled the extra match but like any good top babyface still found a way to overcome the odds. During Hart's coronation celebration he was confronted and attacked by Jerry Lawler who claimed he was the only true king of in the WWF. This was a good angle that began a hot feud between the two although Hart claimed Lawler was a bit over zealous during the attack.

Overall
This was undoubtedly Bret Hart's night. His three tournament matches with Razor Ramon, Mr Perfect and Bam Bam Bigelow really made the show because the rest wasn't much to write home about. At the time it was presumed a rematch between Yokozuna and Hulk Hogan would headline Summerslam but Hogan would leave the WWF following his match with Yoko in Sheffield, England on 6th August and not return for eight and a half years. Hart was about to engage in a feud with Jerry Lawler so a new top babyface would need to be found and quick... King of the Ring 1993 attracted a buy rate of 1.1 which was around 245,000 buys.


Results
1 Bret Hart pinned Razor Ramon (10:27) ***
2 Mr Perfect def Mr Hughes by disqualification (6:02) *1/4
3 Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Jim Duggan (4:59) *1/4
4 Lex Luger fought Tatanka to a time limit draw (15:00) **1/2
5 Bret Hart pinned Mr Perfect (18:55) ****1/4
6 Yokozuna pinned Hulk Hogan (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (13:11) *1/2
7 The Smoking Gunns & The Steiner Brothers def Money Inc & The Headshrinkers by pinfall (6:49) **
8 Shawn Michaels (c) pinned Crush to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (11:14) **
9 Bret Hart pinned Bam Bam Bigelow to become "King of the Ring" (18:11) ***1/4


Rating
21/45 = 46.67%

WWF Wrestlemania IX

WWF Wrestlemania IX

Venue: Las Vegas, Nevada
Date: 4/4/93
Attendance: 15,045
Commentators: Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage

In stark contrast to the previous year's event Wrestlemania IX was held outdoors at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas with a Roman themed set including toga outfits for the announcers and ringside crew. It was certainly different. Due to the falling pay-per-view numbers Hulk Hogan was brought back into the fold to be a part of a special double main event as he teamed with Brutus Beefcake to challenge Money Inc for the World Tag Team Title while Bret Hart defended the WWF Heavyweight Title against Royal Rumble winner Yokozuna.

Review
In the opening contest, Shawn Michaels retained the Intercontinental Championship despite a count out loss to Tatanka in what turned out to be the best match on the show. The finish was perplexing however as Michaels tripped up the referee from outside the ring to prevent being counted out which was surely a disqualification, except Howard Finkel announced that the champion had in fact lost via count out. It was an easy way out as Tatanka could then remain undefeated without taking the title from the "Heartbreak Kid". After the bout Luna Vachon attacked Sensational Sherri who was in the corner of Tatanka. She assaulted her again in the medical room later in the show.

The Steiner Brothers defeated The Headshrinkers in a decent match-up won by Scott Steiner's Frankensteiner which didn't connect that well. There were a few cool manoeuvres in this one including Rick Steiner's belly-to-belly suplex on Fatu while sat on Samu's shoulders. This was one of two matches on the show that had a clean finish.
Crush was looking for revenge after being put out of action back in December by Doink, only he didn't get it. After a ref bump a second Doink attacked Crush from behind with a prosthetic arm allowing the original Doink to score the pin fall victory. Following the decision two referees looked for the second Doink under the ring but he was nowhere to be found. Apparently it was some kind of illusion. For a grudge match built quite well it got a pretty tepid reaction. There were some cheers for the finish which didn't bode well for Crush.

Razor Ramon beat Bob Backlund with an inside cradle in a rubbish match that did nothing for anybody. Backlund looked awful. Ramon was cheered despite being the heel and it's not hard to understand why.

Hulk Hogan's big return ended in defeat as he and Brutus Beefcake were disqualified in their tag title match with Money Inc. Jimmy Hart had switched allegiances to Hogan & Beefcake after an angle on Raw where Beefcake's nose was broken by Ted Dibiase & IRS. Hogan then made his return to television and vowed revenge for his best friend. The match however did not feel like a big enough deal for the long awaited return of Hogan. It was an okay bout but the finish was pretty stupid. After KO'ing the champions with Beefcake's protective face mask, Hogan and Beefcake apparently thought that Jimmy Hart had the authority to count the pin fall simply by turning his jacket inside out to reveal black and white stripes on the inner lining. The faces were rightly DQ'd but they celebrated regardless after the match. It should also be noted that Hogan worked the match with a nasty looking eye injury caused by a boating accident (or Randy Savage's fist if you believe the rumours). Speaking of boating accidents this was Beefcake's first pay-per-view match for three years after shattering his face in 1990.

Mr Perfect's showdown with Lex Luger was a disappointment. It was a very ordinary bout which Luger won with a backslide despite both of Perfect's feet being on the middle rope. Luger then knocked Perfect out with his steel plated forearm before Perfect tracked him down backstage only to be attacked by Shawn Michaels. This was more exciting than the match itself. Incidentally Luger had also knocked out Bret Hart during the Wrestlemania brunch event but strangely it didn't lead to anything.

The Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzales by disqualification after Gonzales decided to use chloroform to incapacitate the "Dead Man". Taker did the first stretcher job of his WWF career only to charge back to the ring soon after and take down Gonzales with a series of clotheslines. Predictably the match was awful.

In the main event Bret Hart had a decent bout with Yokozuna until yet another lame ending. Hart (sort of) locked Yokozuna in the Sharpshooter only for Mr Fuji to throw salt in his eyes which was enough to keep the champion down for the three count. Couldn't Yoko have also dropped a leg on him or something? Hulk Hogan then stormed down to the ring to protest the injustice but ended up being challenged by Fuji to an immediate title match with 'Zuna. Hogan asked for Hart's permission, which he granted, the salt trick backfired, Hogan clotheslined Yoko, dropped the leg and just like that picked up his fifth WWF Heavyweight Title. Despite the obvious flaws in the way it went down I felt this ending brought about the only memorable moment of the show. A lot of people rightly felt bad for Hart but the reality is he wasn't drawing well enough as champion so McMahon decided to pull the plug. Supposedly the idea was for Hart to challenge Hogan for the title at Summerslam but that didn't happen as Hogan would leave the company in the summer. McMahon clearly did not want to go back to Hart as champion as he instead attempted to make a new Hogan in the form of Lex Luger.

Overall
An awful Wrestlemania. The only memorable things about the show were the setting and the ending with Hogan's surprise title win which like it or not got a big pop and sent the fans home happy. The other positives were new signing Jim Ross' performance on commentary, and Bam Bam Bigelow versus Kamala being cancelled. Besides that, an abundance of dodgy finishes and average matches made this show one to forget. Wrestlemania IX drew a 2.1 buy rate equating to 430,000 buys. While still slightly down from the year before it was a much healthier number than the past three pay-per-view shows.

Results
1 Tatanka def Shawn Michaels (c) by count out. Michaels retained the WWF Intercontinental Title (18:13) ***1/4
2 The Steiner Brothers def The Headshrinkers by pinfall (14:22) **3/4
3 Doink pinned Crush (8:28) *
4 Razor Ramon pinned Bob Backlund (3:45) 3/4
5 Money Inc (c) def The Mega Maniacs to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (18:27) **
6 Lex Luger pinned Mr Perfect (10:56) *3/4
7 The Undertaker def Giant Gonzales by disqualification (7:33) DUD
8 Yokozuna pinned Bret Hart (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (8:55) **3/4
9 Hulk Hogan pinned Yokozuna (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (0:21) SQ

Rating
14.25/45 = 31.67%

WWF Royal Rumble 1993

WWF Royal Rumble 1993
Venue: Sacramento, California
Date: 24/1/93
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan


The fifth annual WWF Royal Rumble pay-per-view took place in Sacramento, California and was headlined by Bret Hart's WWF title defence against Razor Ramon and of course, the Royal Rumble match itself. This would also be the final PPV that Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan would call together.

Review

The Steiner Brothers made their WWF PPV debut with a victory over The Beverly Brothers in a good opening match. Rick & Scott got a great reaction from the WWF fan base proving they did watch the competition's product... Shawn Michaels pinned Marty Jannetty to retain the Intercontinental Title after Sherri accidentally hit Jannetty in the face with her shoe. Sherri's hysterics after the bout were very believable as she sold being distraught over her miscue. The match may not quite have been the high flying spectacle some expected from the former Rockers but was actually a very good contest featuring a mixture of cool manoeuvres and good wrestling. This match was about a year later than it should have been due to Jannetty being fired and their planned rematch at Wrestlemania IX had to be scrapped as well with Jannetty being dismissed once again...

Bam Bam Bigelow made his first WWF PPV appearance in over five years as he defeated The Big Boss Man. Boss Man was on his way out of the company and did the clean job here. The match wasn't much cop (no pun intended)... Unlike at Survivor Series Bret Hart's WWF Heavyweight Title felt like it might be under threat as he faced Razor Ramon who had attacked Owen Hart to help build heat for this one. Like Michaels/Jannetty this was another very good bout with good heat. Hart went over by submission with not the best applied Sharpshooter. Ramon would be permanently dropped to the upper mid-card after this.

Lex Luger debuted as "Narcissus" (later changed to "The Narcissist" Lex Luger) after the WBF went down the pan. The story was that Bobby Heenan had brought in Luger to take care of Mr Perfect who had turned on him and Ric Flair back in November.

The Royal Rumble match was easily the worst to date and was massively lacking in star power especially compared to previous years. Bob Backlund, who was completely lacking in charisma (at least until he discovered his crazed heel gimmick in late 1994) was chosen as the man to break Flair's longevity record. The trouble was Backlund had no chance in carrying the match in the way Flair had done in 1992. His style was very awkward and dated and he was not over in the slightest. Flair did a decent job early on. His showdown with Perfect, although brief, was one of the few highlights of the match. Perfect was inexplicably eliminated like a mid-carder soon after. Giant Gonzales' debut was at least intriguing as he laid waste to The Undertaker and eliminated him despite not being in the match. The match came down to Yokozuna and Randy Savage which wasn't too bad until the finish which made the "Macho Man" look like a complete moron. Savage managed to take Yoko off his feet and hit his patented top rope elbow drop before going for a pinfall. Yoko then pressed Savage from the canvas up and over the top rope which was just not believable. The backstage face-to-face between Yokozuna and Bret Hart was a nice touch though.

Overall

After a good undercard the show was let down by a humdrum Royal Rumble match which at least brought to the fore a new top heel in Yokozuna. The Ric Flair/Mr Perfect feud came to an end the next night on Raw as Perfect defeated the "Nature Boy" in a match where the loser left the WWF. Flair would return to WCW where he would remain until the bitter end. Bret Hart was set to collide with Yokozuna in the main event of Wrestlemania IX for the WWF Heavyweight Title. The downward spiral continued as Royal Rumble 1993 pulled a 1.2 buy rate which was approximately 240,000 buys.

Results
1 The Steiner Brothers def The Beverly Brothers by pinfall (9:10) **3/4
2 Shawn Michaels (c) pinned Marty Jannetty to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (14:20) ***1/2
3 Bam Bam Bigelow pinned The Big Boss Man (10:10) *
4 Bret Hart (c) def Razor Ramon by submission to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (17:52) ***1/2
5 Yokozuna won the Royal Rumble match (66:35) *1/2


Rating
12.25/25 = 49%

WWF Royal Rumble 1991

WWF Royal Rumble 1991
Venue: Miami, Florida
Date: 19/01/91
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Rowdy Roddy Piper

The 1991 Royal Rumble took place just days after the start of Operation Desert Storm where coalition forces entered into battle as part of the Gulf War and with heavy U.S. involvement the show began with the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. However the World Wrestling Federation was gaining lots of negative press for portraying Sergeant Slaughter as an Iraqi sympathiser who had turned his back on the United States. Many deemed this as extremely distasteful exploitation of a war that would claim many lives. Undeterred, the WWF installed Slaughter as the number one contender to the Ultimate Warrior's WWF Heavyweight Title in order to capitalise on the very real events in the Middle East thus making Slaughter a red hot heel (for a short time at least).

Review

The Rockers defeated The Orient Express in a superb opening bout featuring lots of innovative sequences and manoeuvres. The Express' Sato had been replaced by Kato who was Paul Diamond under a mask. Diamond and Tanaka had teamed previously as Bad Company in the AWA and were familiar with The (Midnight) Rockers who they'd faced many times. The two teams clearly had great chemistry and the Miami crowd was hot for this exciting tag team contest...

Sensational Queen Sherri called out the Ultimate Warrior in an attempt to persuade the champion to grant Randy Savage a title shot should he defeat Sgt Slaughter later in the evening. She tried insulting, flirting and begging but to no avail as Warrior flat out refused. Savage's reaction was fantastic...

Next up the Big Boss Man continued his war against the Heenan Family as he pinned The Barbarian in a surprisingly good encounter. Boss Man was at his peak as a worker around this time and The Barbarian was also able to pull out good matches in the right circumstances. Intercontinental Champion Mr Perfect would be next in line for the Big Boss Man at WrestleMania...

Sgt Slaughter defeated the Ultimate Warrior to become the new WWF Heavyweight Champion in a super-heated title match with lots of help from Randy Savage and Sherri. There was not much in the way of wrestling but the match told a great story as a bitter and vengeful Savage ensured Warrior would not leave the Royal Rumble as champion. After interfering early in the match Warrior chased Sherri away from ringside only to be blindsided by Savage while Slaughter distracted the referee. Warrior managed to make his way back to the ring where Slaughter was able to capitalise. Just as it looked like Warrior was making a comeback Sherri and Savage returned to ringside and Savage smashed a sceptre over Warrior's head allowing Slaughter to take the championship. Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper's outrage on commentary only added to the drama. While Slaughter's offense continued to look weak it must be said he was excellent at selling a beating. Warrior and Savage were on a collision course set for WrestleMania...

Jacques Rougeau had recently been repackaged as The Mountie and was a bit more serious at this point as opposed to the comedy character he would later become. Mountie beat Koko B Ware in a boring contest that went too long. The crowd were obviously deflated after Warrior's shock title loss but I can't believe this bout would've been much better received had it been placed after the Boss Man/Barbarian match. The best part was Jimmy Hart talking trash to Frankie when Mountie was on the offense. This match did not appear on the original video release of the event, which was not a bad thing...

The Ted Dibiase/Dusty Rhodes feud came to an end as Dibiase teamed with his bodyguard Virgil to face Rhodes and his son Dustin. The younger Rhodes took a beating for a big chunk of the bout until Dusty was finally able to tag in but he was easily beaten by Dibiase which was understandable as the American Dream was just about to return to WCW. The real story in this match though was a tremendous post match angle between Dibiase and Virgil. After finally having enough of being treated so appallingly by his employer, Virgil knocked out Dibiase with the Million Dollar belt and left the arena to a huge ovation...

The Royal Rumble match itself was entertaining although it lacked in big memorable moments. Rick Martel became the new record holder for endurance clocking in with over 52 minutes and there were good showings for Bret Hart, a young Shane Douglas and the returning British Bulldog. Randy Savage would not appear as scheduled as he was run out of the building by the Ultimate Warrior. Hulk Hogan won the match for the second year running by lastly eliminating Earthquake. Hogan would now become the number one contender to face Sgt Slaughter at WrestleMania VII.

Overall
A really good show that tends to be remembered for the Ultimate Warrior's dramatic title loss to Sgt Slaughter but every match on the card is worthwhile (well, except one) and set the scene nicely for WrestleMania VII. With 440,000 buys on pay-per-view, this would be the highest drawing Royal Rumble until 1999.

Results
1 The Rockers def The Orient Express by pinfall (19:15) ****
2 The Big Boss Man pinned The Barbarian (14:15) ***
3 Sgt Slaughter pinned The Ultimate Warrior (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (12:47) ***
4 The Mountie pinned Koko B Ware (9:12) *
5 Ted Dibiase & Virgil def Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes (9:57) **1/2
6 Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble match (65:17) ***

Rating
16.50/30 = 55%

Star Rating Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
***    Good
**     OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Survivor Series 1992

WWF Survivor Series 1992
Venue: Richfield, Ohio
Date: 25/11/92
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan




The WWF were forced into a major change to the Survivor Series line up just a couple of weeks prior to the event as the Ultimate Warrior and the British Bulldog were both fired for failing drug tests. Bulldog's match with The Mountie was scrapped but much more disruptive was Warrior's dismissal as he was part of the main event program that had been built for months. With few options left open to them Mr Perfect (who had to come out of retirement and cease claiming his Lloyds of London insurance pay) was chosen as the man to partner Randy Savage in his battle with Ric Flair and Razor Ramon in the headline bout. It didn't make a great deal of sense considering what Perfect (and Flair) had done to Savage all year but it was a case of needs must. It was however a memorable turn as Perfect accepted Savage's offer on Prime Time Wrestling by pouring water over the head of Bobby Heenan after being slapped by "The Brain". Warrior would be gone from the company for over three years while Bulldog would be back in the summer of 1994 after a stint in WCW.

The original main event line up

Review
The Headshrinkers defeated High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B Ware) in a fairly good opener which was designed to get the new heel team over. High Energy would prove to be another dead end role for the talented Owen Hart... The Big Boss Man beat Nailz in a "Knightstick (on a pole) Match" in what was supposed to be their big showdown but turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. This match was six months in the making but was over in less than six minutes and despite all the hype being about the knightstick it was barely a factor as Boss Man won clean and suddenly with the Boss Man Slam. A passable brawl... Tatanka and Rick Martel had a pretty boring bout which was overshadowed by the appearance of Matt Borne at ringside introducing the as yet unnamed Doink the Clown gimmick. Tatanka won clean with the "Papoose To Go" (Fallaway Slam).

The original plan was for Davey Boy Smith to face The Mountie

Next up was the main event which went on at half way to allow the World Title bout to go on last. Mr Perfect and Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair and Razor Ramon in a really good tag match although it did end with a weak disqualification finish. Despite a 15 month lay-off Perfect looked good here. They teased him having second thoughts on teaming with Savage mid-way through the contest... Yokozuna made his PPV debut with a squash victory over Virgil. Yoko's offense looked devastating... The Nasty Boys and The Natural Disasters overcame tag champions Money Inc and The Beverly Brothers in a tag team elimination match. While not offensive the match was pretty lifeless and seemed to drag. The Nasty's were the surviving team here confirming them as number one contenders to Money Inc's title... The Undertaker beat Kamala in a terrible "Coffin Match". It was as bad as their Summerslam bout but at least it had a finish. Undertaker pinned Kamala after a Tombstone and then rolled him into the coffin and nailed it shut.

Randy Savage and Mr Perfect double team Ric Flair

Finally WWF Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart defeated Shawn Michaels by submission in a quality wrestling match. Hart was being put over as a fighting champion who defended the title regularly and although Michaels was his biggest challenge so far, nobody really believed "The Heartbreak Kid" had a chance of winning the big one here. Michaels was without Sensational Sherri following an angle where the returning Marty Jannetty smashed a mirror over her head after Shawn had pulled her into harm's way. Santa Claus joined Hart in the ring to end the show on a feel good note for the younger fans.

Overall
Survivor Series 1992, much like Summerslam was a two match show and thankfully the two feature bouts delivered in the ring because the rest of the show was quite forgettable. Considering the disruption caused by Warrior's exit the main event was a success thanks to the intrigue of Mr Perfect turning on Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan to join forces with Randy Savage, regardless of whether it made sense or not. Bret Hart's first PPV title defence against Shawn Michaels was a great technical exhibition with the only possible negative being it was a touch hold heavy in places. The only other notable happening was the emergence of new super heel Yokozuna. Survivor Series 1992 pulled in approximately 250,000 buys on pay-per-view with a 1.4 buy rate.

Bret Hart applies the match winning Sharpshooter

Results
1 The Headshrinkers def High Energy by pinfall (7:38) **1/2
2 The Big Boss Man pinned Nailz in a "Knightstick Match" (5:43) *1/2
3 Tatanka pinned Rick Martel (11:04) *3/4
4 Randy Savage & Mr Perfect def Ric Flair & Razor Ramon by disqualification (16:29) ***1/2
5 Yokozuna pinned Virgil (3:34) *
6 The Nasty Boys & The Natural Disasters def Money Inc & The Beverly Brothers in an Elimination Match (15:50) *3/4
7 The Undertaker def Kamala in a "Coffin Match" (5:27) DUD
8 Bret Hart (c) def Shawn Michaels by submission to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (26:40) ***3/4




Rating
15.75/40 = 39.38%

WWE Payback 2016

Just a few thoughts about Payback from this past Sunday night...

On the whole I liked the show. It was much more entertaining than Wrestlemania, the event had a better build up and the crowd was really lively as is usually the case in Rosemont. I don't think there was a bad match on the show but at the same time I expected more from a couple of them. My main gripe coming out of the show was despite it being the beginning of a so-called "New Era" in WWE, two championship matches were complete rehashes of pay-per-view main events from the 1990s. The worst offender was Charlotte versus Natalya which was a good match until they did the ridiculous "Montreal Screwjob" finish for the 258th time. Is that the only reason they brought Bret Hart in? It's like WWE want Hart to only be remembered for that one night in the Molson Centre. Just let it go. Hart was clearly still in some discomfort following his recent battle with prostate cancer which was no more evident than when he carefully put Ric Flair in the sharpshooter after the bout. The main event between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles was another good scrap but the story of the match bared a striking resemblance to the Shawn Michaels/Vader main event at Summerslam 1996. Styles, like Vader won the match by count out and then by disqualification only for the match to be restarted twice so the champion could go over by pinfall in the end. Once Shane McMahon had restarted the match declaring there could be no count outs it was just a matter of time before a disqualification was called so his sister could have her share of the spotlight. I did like that we were kept guessing on the relationship between Styles and his former Bullet Club buddies but it was obvious Reigns was always going to win this one.

Elsewhere on the show... Enzo Amore was very unfortunate to suffer the injury he did and hopefully he recovers quickly... The New Day were fantastic once again in their role. The have great chemistry together but I just worry that people now care more about their comedy routines than their actual matches... Kevin Owens versus Sami Zayn was a tremendous match with a really good build. I don't understand why their feud is not over the Intercontinental Title though... Speaking of which The Miz's title defence over Cesaro was decent enough but was overshadowed by Owens' brilliant performance on commentary. It looks like we're heading for a four way match at Extreme Rules so there's hope yet that the IC title will end up back in the Owens/Zayn feud... Dean Ambrose scored a much needed win over Chris Jericho but the match, while not bad at all, was still quite sloppy in places and I felt it should've been better... Finally Vince McMahon decided that both Shane and Stephanie will run Raw (or is it WWE as a whole?) together. Nobody was particularly happy with that outcome which is something else that has been done before by Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff back in 2003. I seriously doubt it will be anywhere near as entertaining featuring the McMahon siblings in 2016. That said I thought the segment itself on this show was good fun.

WWF Summerslam 1992

WWF Summerslam 1992
Venue: London, England
Date: 29/8/92 (Aired 31/8/92)
Attendance: 80,355
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan


Originally set for Washington DC, Summerslam 1992 was moved to London, England to capitalise on the pro wrestling boom in the UK. The show attracted over 80,000 fans to Wembley Stadium on a warm summer night where the star attraction would be Davey Boy Smith who was incredibly over in the UK (and Europe). So much so that Smith's Intercontinental Title match with brother-in-law Bret Hart was positioned in the headline slot ahead of Randy Savage's WWF Heavyweight Title defence against the Ultimate Warrior which was the show's actual main event and promoted on TV as such. Sadly despite it's success Summerslam 1992 remains the only major pay-per-view to have taken place in the UK, or outside of North America for that matter. This was also the first WWF pay-per-view without Hulk Hogan.


Review
In the two dark matches before the PPV, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Bushwackers beat the Mountie and the Nasty Boys in an okay six-man tag and Papa Shango defeated El Matador in another passable affair. These matches (along with Tatanka versus The Berzerker from later in the evening) were recorded to be aired on Prime Time Wrestling in the coming weeks and but would also appear on the video release of the event. As you might be able to tell by the adjusted sound levels the commentary for the dark matches was inserted afterwards.

In the opening match of the pay-per-view the Legion of Doom finally got their revenge on Money Inc and Jimmy Hart for cheating them out of the World Tag Team Title earlier in the year. LOD were on their way out of the WWF but still went over clean here. Animal power slammed and pinned Ted Dibiase for the win in a decent match. The match is remembered more for LOD riding motorcycles to the ring and for Paul Ellering's ventriloquist act with LOD dummy mascot Rocco. Minus 100 cool points for that idea... Nailz squashed Virgil as he continued his preparation for a showdown with the Big Boss Man.

Shawn Michaels was initially set to take the Intercontinental Title from Bret Hart on this show until the change in location. As a result Michaels had to be satisfied working a program with Rick Martel where they battled for the affections of Michaels' manager Sensational Sherri. In this match neither man was permitted to strike the other in the face as per Sherri's instructions. That obviously didn't last and when the two combatants threatened to throw punches Sherri 'fainted' and both men were counted out as they fought over who would tend to her. It all ended when Martel threw a pail of water in Sherri's face. Oh the hilarity! The match itself was just alright and Michaels was elected the babyface in this one by the live crowd... Tag Team Champions The Natural Disasters retained the gold in a so-so bout with The Beverly Brothers. Earthquake and Typhoon were really over with the Wembley crowd and received a big pop when Quake scored the victory for his team... In another squash the repackaged Crush eased past his former tag team partner Repo Man. The two teamed previously as Demolition mk2 (Smash & Crush).

Randy Savage retained the WWF Heavyweight Title despite a count out loss to the Ultimate Warrior in a tremendous match carried superbly by the Macho Man. Warrior was the clear crowd favourite here although Savage did have some support in the stadium. The build and the angle surrounding the match really helped the bout's success as Mr Perfect declared he would be in the corner of one of the combatants. This caused a lot of friction between Savage and Warrior who both believed the other had 'sold out' to Perfect and Ric Flair. After about 15 minutes of action Perfect (along with Flair) walked out and first gave the impression he was backing Warrior but after a ref bump the heels attacked Warrior unbeknownst to the champion. Warrior survived this but was later nailed with a steel chair by Flair once again out of the view of Savage. As Savage was ready to hit his big elbow drop on Warrior he instead decided to leap down on Flair who cracked Savage's knee with a steel chair. This caused Savage to be counted out. Flair and Perfect attacked Savage's knee until Warrior made the save. The match ended with Warrior helping the injured Savage to the back making it clear that neither man had sold out to the dark side. This was an excellent piece of work. It led to Ric Flair regaining the title from Savage at the TV tapings in Pennsylvania capitalising on the damage done to Savage's knee.

Tatanka beat the Berzerker in the aforementioned dark match. It was straightforward and pretty forgettable... The Undertaker made a memorable entrance on the back of a hearse before defeating Kamala in a terrible match. Kamala's 'keeper' Kim Chee interfered causing a really lame disqualification.

In the night's main event The British Bulldog pinned Bret Hart to capture the Intercontinental Title in a fantastic match which was at least on par with Randy Savage versus Ricky Steamboat from Wrestlemania III as the greatest WWF match ever at that point in time. Davey Boy Smith received a booming response as he made his entrance accompanied by Lennox Lewis, the reaction was only topped by the one he received at the end of the bout. Smith was so over that Hart was effectively heel for the night and was booed at various points during the contest. It was however a tremendous performance by "The Hitman" who carried the bout and ensured that both he and his opponent's status was significantly raised by the time the final bell rang. Hart survived a top rope superplex and Smith's running powerslam while the Bulldog wouldn't be beaten by Hart's Sharpshooter or a German suplex. There was one scary moment where Bret performed a plancha over the top rope onto an unsuspecting Smith and somehow improvised the move into a reverse bulldog. According to Hart, Davey had forgotten this manoeuvre was coming. In the end Hart went for a sunset flip but Davey Boy dropped to his knees and cradled Bret for the 1-2-3 and an incredible pop from the Wembley crowd. After the match with fireworks exploding in the stadium, Davey and Bret embraced along with Diana (Davey's wife and Bret's sister) whose concerned reactions had been shown multiple times throughout the match. It was a great ending to a wonderful match.

Overall
Summerslam was a historic and memorable event even though it was effectively a two match show. With the exception of LOD/Money Inc which was decent, all of the supporting matches on the card weren't very good but the fact that the crowd was so into everything made them seem better than they actually were. The crowd heat went up to another level though for Savage/Warrior and again for Hart/Bulldog and both matches were more than worthy of the reactions they got. The Intercontinental title match was Davey Boy Smith's greatest moment of his career while Bret Hart would be rewarded by being stepped up to world title status very soon. Smith's title reign wouldn't be a long one though as he would relinquish it to Shawn Michaels in late October and would be on his way out of the company in November for an alleged drugs violation. He would spend 1993 in WCW before returning to the WWF in the summer of 1994. Summerslam 1992 pulled a 1.6, approximately 280,000 buys on pay-per-view which was down from Wrestlemania but similar to Royal Rumble of that year.


Results
(Dark) The Bushwackers & Jim Duggan def The Nasty Boys & The Mountie by pinfall (12:33) **
(Dark) Papa Shango pinned El Matador (6:00) *1/2
1 The Legion of Doom def Money Inc by pinfall (11:58) **1/2
2 Nailz def Virgil by submission (3:15) 1/2
3 Shawn Michaels fought Rick Martel to a double count out (8:06) **
4 The Natural Disasters (c) def The Beverly Brothers to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (10:21) *1/2
5 Crush def Repo Man by submission (4:03) 1/2
6 The Ultimate Warrior def Randy Savage (c) by count out. Savage retained the WWF Heavyweight Title (26:17) ****
(Dark) Tatanka pinned The Berzerker (5:46) *3/4
7 The Undertaker def Kamala by disqualification (3:42) DUD
8 The British Bulldog pinned Bret Hart (c) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (25:13) ****3/4


Rating
15.75/40 = 39.38%