WWF PPV RATINGS LIST

Every match on each PPV is given a star rating and the show as a whole is given a score based on these ratings. Every match can score a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 0 so the show gets an overall average score which is shown as a percentage.


The rankings of the shows reviewed so far based on match quality.


1.   Survivor Series 1987      67.50%
2.   Survivor Series 1988      61.25%
3.   Royal Rumble 1991       55.00%
4.   This Tuesday In Texas   54.00%
5.   Royal Rumble 1993       49.00%
6.   Summerslam 1991         48.75%
7.   Survivor Series 1989      47.00%
8.   King of the Ring 1993    46.67%
9.   Summerslam 1993          46.50%
10. Royal Rumble 1992       44.00%
11. Royal Rumble 1989       43.75%
12. Summerslam 1989         41.11%
13. Wrestlemania III            40.83%
14. Wrestlemania VIII         40.56%
15. Survivor Series 1993     40.00%
16. Summerslam 1992         39.38%
17. Survivor Series 1992      39.38%
18. Wrestlemania VII           39.29%
19. Survivor Series 1990      38.33%
20. Royal Rumble 1990        38.00%
21. Summerslam 1990          37.22%
22. Wrestlemania VI             35.00%
23. Wrestlemania V              33.57%
24. The Big Event                 32.73%
25. Wrestlemania IX             31.67%
26. Survivor Series 1991      31.00%
27. Wrestlemania II              30.42%
28. Summerslam 1998          28.50%
29. Wrestlemania                  28.33%
30. Wrestlemania IV             27.50%
31. The Wrestling Classic     26.00%

WWF BEST PPV MATCHES (1990-1992)

1. Bret Hart vs British Bulldog - Summerslam 1992 ****3/4


2. Royal Rumble - Royal Rumble 1992 ****1/2


3. Mr Perfect vs Bret Hart - Summerslam 1991 ****1/2


4. Ultimate Warrior vs Randy Savage - Wrestlemania VII ****1/2


5. Ric Flair vs Randy Savage - Wrestlemania VIII ****1/2


6. Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior - Wrestlemania VI ****


7. The Rockers vs Orient Express - Royal Rumble 1991 ****


8. Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior - Summerslam 1992 ****


9. Roddy Piper vs Bret Hart - Wrestlemania VIII ****


10. Demolition vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam 1990 ***3/4


11. Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels - Survivor Series 1992 ***3/4


12. Hart Foundation vs Nasty Boys - Wrestlemania VII ***1/2


13. The Rockers vs Barbarian & Haku - Wrestlemania VII ***1/2


14. Royal Rumble - Royal Rumble 1990 ***1/2


15. Randy Savage & Mr Perfect vs Ric Flair & Razor Ramon - Survivor Series 1992 ***1/2

WWF BEST PPV MATCHES OF THE 80s

1. Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat - Wrestlemania III ****1/2


2. British Bulldogs, Strike Force, Killer Bees, Rougeau Brothers & Young Stallions vs Demolition, Hart Foundation, The Bolsheviks, The Islanders & The New Dream Team - Survivor Series 1987 ****


3. Hart Foundation, British Bulldogs, The Rockers, Young Stallions & Powers of Pain vs Demolition, Brain Busters, Fabulous Rougeaus, The Bolsheviks & The Conquistadors - Survivor Series 1988 ***3/4


4. Randy Savage vs Hulk Hogan - Wrestlemania V ***3/4


5. Rick Rude vs Ultimate Warrior - Summerslam 1989 ***3/4


6. Brain Busters vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam 1989 ***1/2


7. The Rockers & Tito Santana vs Fabulous Rougeaus & Rick Martel - Summerslam 1989 ***1/2


8. Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Bam Bam Bigelow & Ken Patera vs Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Rick Rude & Butch Reed - Survivor Series 1987 ***1/2


9. Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake vs Honky Tonk Man, Harley Race, Hercules, Ron Bass & Danny Davis - Survivor Series 1987 ***1/2


10. The Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II ***1/2

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 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%

WWF Summerslam 1991

WWF Summerslam 1991 
Venue: New York City, New York
Date: 26/08/91
Attendance: 20,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan & Rowdy Roddy Piper

Summerslam 1991 came at a tough time for the World Wrestling Federation. The trial and conviction of Dr George Zahorian (the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission appointed doctor for WWF events) in June for illegal distribution of steroids was a public relations disaster for the WWF having brought to light rampant steroid use within the company over a number of years. Among the many wrestlers and WWF personnel to have purchased drugs from Zahorian were the high profile names of Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and even Vince McMahon himself. The company's name was being dragged through the mud and as the industry's biggest star, Hogan was bearing the brunt of it. Under fire from all angles the WWF went into damage limitation mode first with Vince McMahon announcing in the New York Times that he planned to begin drug testing in the company, which he did in November of the same year. Then Hogan appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show on 16th July appearing to have every intention of admitting to steroid use but for whatever reason backed out at the last minute and denied ever being an "abuser" of the drug. The backlash from this would be disastrous for Hogan and it would take years for him to rebuild his reputation. In the face of all this negativity the WWF felt the need to produce a very positive show for their fans and they certainly did that at Summerslam, headlined by the marriage of Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth at Madison Square Garden.

Review
The show opened with an entertaining six man tag where Ricky Steamboat, The Texas Tornado and The British Bulldog defeated The Warlord and Power & Glory. Steamboat, now billed simply as "The Dragon", had returned to the WWF in March but would soon be on his way again. He worked the bulk of the match for his team as the face-in-peril but did get to score the winning fall with a high cross body block onto Paul Roma.

Bret Hart won his first major singles championship by defeating Mr Perfect for the Intercontinental Title in an excellent match. Curt Hennig had suffered what was thought to be a career ending back injury and had even cut his hair believing he had wrestled his last match. However when the company decided Bret would be the next IC champion Hennig set out to put Hart over the right way despite being in tremendous pain. Hennig gave Bret the best match he could and did everything in his power to make "The Hitman" look great including allowing him to kick out of the Perfect-Plex and submitting instantly to the (half applied) Sharpshooter. This match made Bret Hart as a singles worker and he would be eternally grateful to Curt Hennig for his selflessness. Mr Perfect would return to the ring in late 1992 but his injury meant he was never quite the same... Match quality then dropped off a cliff as the Natural Disasters beat The Bushwackers who were accompanied to the ring by Andre the Giant. Andre was on crutches following an attack by Earthquake which was storyline cover for his recent knee surgery. Tugboat had turned on The Bushwackers on an episode of Superstars of Wrestling to become Typhoon and form the Natural Disasters with Earthquake. After the usual Bushwacker antics, Quake crushed Luke for the easy victory in this one. Following the match the Disasters attempted to attack Andre again but the Legion of Doom came to the rescue setting up their next feud... Bobby Heenan, acting on behalf of Ric Flair, attempted to confront Hulk Hogan backstage while holding the NWA/WCW Heavyweight Title belt. Flair was about to debut in the WWF following a bitter departure from WCW and still had possession of the title belt as part of the dispute. It was customary at the time for NWA World Champions to pay a $25,000 deposit on winning the title but Flair claimed his deposit had not been returned to him after being fired by WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd. As a result Flair refused to return the title belt and instead brought it to the WWF. A lot has been made of Madusa's trashing of the WWF Women's title belt on WCW TV as being a big reason for the "Montreal Screwjob" with Vince McMahon fearing Bret Hart may take the WWF Heavyweight title onto Monday Nitro and do the same thing. It appears he didn't have a problem parading his competition's biggest title on his programming in 1991, not to mention trashing it verbally.

Next up was the battle for the Million Dollar Belt as Ted Dibiase squared off against his former bodyguard Virgil. This match, like the feud was booked expertly with Dibiase excelling in the role of despicable heel. Virgil looked like he had victory in his grasp as he locked Dibiase in his own "Million Dollar Dream" sleeper hold only for Sensational Sherri to break things up for an obvious disqualification... except Earl Hebner instead decided to eject Sherri and allow the match to continue. Late in the bout and with the referee down, Dibiase set about doing some damage to Virgil while taunting Roddy Piper who was commentating at ringside. However Virgil turned the tables on Dibiase by ramming him head first into an exposed turnbuckle to score the 1-2-3. The MSG crowd roared as Virgil held up the Million Dollar Belt, it would be the biggest moment of his career.

 

The Big Boss Man pinned The Mountie in a match where the loser had to spend the night in a New York City jail. The match was okay with Mountie surprisingly kicking out of the Boss Man Slam before falling to an Alabama Slam soon after. The real entertainment then began as Mountie was handcuffed and dragged kicking and screaming to jail. We would get further updates on Mountie's trip to jail throughout the rest of the show which Jacques Rougeau sold brilliantly... The Legion of Doom became the first and only team to become AWA, NWA and WWF Tag Team Champions as they downed the Nasty Boys in a decent brawl where there could be no disqualifications or count outs. My only gripe with the match is despite it being a no disqualification match the referee was still enforcing the rules of a normal tag team match.

Irwin R Schyster beat Greg Valentine in a passable match that did little more than allow the crowd to catch their breath. Valentine was caught out by an IRS small package as he attempted to apply the figure four leg lock. During the match Gorilla Monsoon mentioned that Jake Roberts and The Undertaker had been spotted in the building somewhere... And so to part one of the main event, "The Match Made In Hell". Sid Justice was the special guest referee and it had been hinted that he may be in the pocket of the "Triangle of Terror" who were Sgt Slaughter, Gen Adnan and Col Mustafa (The Iron Sheik). There was even footage of him conversing with the threesome backstage. Kayfabe aside the bigger story which didn't come out until after the event was that the Ultimate Warrior had held up Vince McMahon for more money before the match and refused to compete unless McMahon acquiesced. Backed into a corner, McMahon reluctantly agreed. Warrior then wrestled as scheduled but was promptly fired by McMahon when he returned to the dressing room. Despite being a handicap match you never got the impression that Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior were ever going to lose here, even with the question Sid's impartiality hanging over the match. As it was Sid called the match down the middle, Hogan pinned Slaughter to win the match and then Sid returned to the ring to pose with Hogan after the bout. The match was fine but nothing to write home about.

 

Main event part two was the "Match Made In Heaven", the wedding of Randy Savage and Elizabeth. It wasn't their actual wedding of course (they were married for real in 1984) but the WWF did everything they could to make this ceremony look as legitimate as possible and to that end they did a really good job. Even the MSG crowd were respectful throughout, although it was a much different time back then. So the wedding ceremony went down without a hitch, so to speak, and the wrestling angle was saved for the reception from which footage aired on Superstars of Wrestling (and was added to the end of the video release of the event). Elizabeth opened a present which contained a cobra which was the cue for Jake Roberts and the Undertaker to gate crash the festivities. Taker knocked out Savage with his urn while Roberts terrified Elizabeth holding the cobra until Sid Justice chased away the bad guys. The angle that would lead to Savage's return to the ring had begun.

Overall
This was a really good show and while it could have been better from a wrestling standpoint, it was filled with big match-ups and big moments. The crowd at Madison Square Garden were on top form and were really spoiled too as the faces won all the important matches with no less than three title changes on the card. The Mr Perfect/Bret Hart bout was a classic in a truly golden era for the Intercontinental Championship; Virgil and Ted Dibiase's Million Dollar Belt battle was the pinnacle of their excellent feud; and the Legion of Doom completed a clean sweep of tag team titles from the three major wrestling organisations of the 1980's. Add to that Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior teaming up and the Big Boss Man sending The Mountie to jail, it was a great night for the good guys with big pops aplenty in the Garden. The Randy Savage/Elizabeth love story may not have been what the traditional wrestling fan wanted to see but it did capture the attention of many who may not have been interested in the WWF product otherwise. I really enjoyed the commentary on this show with Bobby Heenan playing a starring role, especially with his jokes at the expense of Roddy Piper. Summerslam 1991 drew 405,000 buys on pay-per-view, more or less even with the previous three supercards. Pay-per-view buy rates would take another big hit though from this point on.

Results
1 The British Bulldog, Texas Tornado & Ricky Steamboat def Warlord & Power & Glory by pinfall (10:43) **3/4

2 Bret Hart def Mr Perfect (c) by submission to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (18:04) ****1/2

3 The Natural Disasters def The Bushwackers by pinfall (6:27) 3/4

4 Virgil pinned Ted Dibiase (c) to win the Million Dollar Belt (13:11) ***1/4

5 The Big Boss Man pinned The Mountie in a "Jailhouse Match" (9:38) **1/4

6 The Legion of Doom def The Nasty Boys (c) to win the WWF Tag Team Title (7:45) **1/2

7 Irwin R Schyster pinned Greg Valentine (7:07) *1/2

8 Hulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior def Sgt Slaughter, Col Mustafa & Gen Adnan by pinfall (12:40) **

Rating

19.5/40 = 48.75%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Summerslam 1990

WWF Summerslam 1990

Venue: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Date: 27/8/90

Attendance: 19,304

Commentators: Vince McMahon & Rowdy Roddy Piper

Following his defeat to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania, Hulk Hogan took some time away from the ring in order to film Suburban Commando while Warrior stepped up to be the top guy in the WWF. The trouble was despite Warrior's popularity he was not drawing well at the arenas and it wasn't long before fans were clamouring for the return of Hogan who had been put out of action by Earthquake. The injury angle where Earthquake crushed Hogan's ribs was genuinely upsetting for some younger fans and garnered plenty of sympathy for Hogan while making Earthquake look like a killer heel. Perhaps concerned about a low buy rate for Summerslam the WWF heavily hyped Hogan's return to the ring which understandably overshadowed Warrior's title feud with Ravishing Rick Rude. However, Warrior versus Rude would still go on last as scheduled as part of a special "Double Main Event".

Review

Newly formed heel team Power & Glory (Hercules & Paul Roma) defeated The Rockers in a good opener. Shawn Michaels was attacked before the match to cover for his legitimate knee injury meaning this was essentially a handicap match. Jannetty gave it everything as a babyface should but eventually fell to the "Power-Plex" which was a super-plex/top rope splash combination. Power & Glory looked ruthless here and Michaels sold like his leg was on fire... As was the case at Summerslam 1988 Brutus Beefcake was scheduled to win the Intercontinental Title but once again had to miss out due to injury. Beefcake suffered severe facial injuries in a parasailing accident which would require major reconstructive surgery. He would not wrestle again for two and a half years. WWF newcomer Kerry Von Erich stepped in under his new moniker the Texas Tornado to defeat an over confident Mr Perfect in just over five minutes. Despite Von Erich's status outside of the WWF this was still a shock result and quite a memorable moment. The match itself though was only passable with a slingshot into the ring post leading to Mr Perfect's downfall for the third pay-per-view in a row!

 

Texas Tornado is about to finish Mr Perfect

Sensational Sherri was awarded a forfeit victory over Sapphire who failed to show up for the match. We'll get to the reason later. Sherri's catlike get-up was pretty bizarre even by her standards... Tito Santana put over The Warlord in much the same way he did for his former tag team partner The Barbarian at Wrestlemania VI. The match was basic and existed to help establish Warlord as a singles wrestler. The original plan was for Santana to face former tag team partner Rick Martel but for whatever reason Martel was pulled from the show... The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition in a really good best two out of three falls match to become tag team champions for a second time. Demolition had very quickly gone from being super-over babyfaces to heels for two reasons; firstly Ax was now unable to wrestle full time due to concerns over a heart condition so Crush was brought in to make a threesome, something that would not work as faces. Secondly the signing of the Legion of Doom meant they would instantly become the top power team on the good side of the fence. The duo of Smash & Crush defended the title here and they took the first fall following their "Decapitation" finisher before the Harts levelled things up via a disqualification. Ax made his way down during the third fall and somehow managed to tag into the match, you know because Demolition were clearly identical. In the end the Legion of Doom made their way out to expose the shenanigans and the Harts took the championship during the chaos. As the winning fall came about because of a distraction I feel it would have been nice for the Harts to have taken the second fall with a clean pinfall as opposed the lame disqualification. Still despite this and the stupidity of the referee not noticing Ax tagging into the match, this was still a quality tag team bout. It would be all downhill for Demolition from here though partly because Crush just wasn't up to the standard of Ax...

 

The Hart Foundation win their second WWF tag team title

Jake Roberts scored a disqualification win over Bad News Brown in an awful match refereed by the Big Boss Man. Brown supposedly brought Harlem sewer rats to the ring to oppose Damien, obviously we did not see them. Brown used a steel chair on Roberts for the lame finish... Sgt Slaughter appeared on the Brother Love Show having recently returned to the WWF as a heel. Slaughter proclaimed support for Iraq following their invasion of Kuwait as the WWF began to exploit what would become the Gulf War... Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the new America-loving Nikolai Volkoff needlessly squashed the Orient Express in a match more memorable for Duggan and Volkoff's dreadful rendition of "America The Beautiful" before the bout... Randy Savage ended his feud with a shell shocked Dusty Rhodes by defeating him in about two minutes. Rhodes had just discovered Sapphire had been bought by the Million Dollar Man and he was naturally heartbroken. This would move Rhodes straight into a feud with Ted Dibiase but at the same time was a very anticlimactic end to his feud with Savage. This was all about the angle, the match barely existed...

 

Earthquake has Hulk Hogan trapped in a Boston Crab

Hulk Hogan made his return to the ring and defeated Earthquake by count out in a surprisingly decent affair. Hogan was accompanied by the Big Boss Man (replacing Tugboat who was injured by Earthquake) in order to combat any interference from Dino Bravo and Jimmy Hart. Hogan survived two Earthquake drops and slammed Quake on a table for the count out victory. Hogan didn't get a pinfall victory here to presumably get more mileage out of the feud on the house show circuit... Finally the Ultimate Warrior beat Ravishing Rick Rude in a steel cage match to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title. The match, while perfectly adequate, did not reach the heights of their previous encounters and was a touch on the short side. Warrior won by escaping the cage and Rude would soon be on his way out of the World Wrestling Federation.

 

Ultimate Warrior launches Rick Rude into the steel cage

Overall

A disappointing show overall much like Wrestlemania VI only there would be no super main event to rescue this show. Warrior and Rude were always going to struggle to follow Hogan's return match and thus the show felt a bit flat at the end. While both Warrior/Rude and Hogan/Earthquake were fine it was the tag team championship match for which this show tends to be remembered. Warrior would continue as champion for the rest of 1990 but his numbers did not improve and the WWF would soon turn back to Hulk Hogan. This was the first pay-per-view to feature Vince McMahon on commentary duties and the first without Jesse Ventura who had recently left the WWF. Roddy Piper took over colour duties and did a good job despite being unable to decide whether he was face or heel. Summerslam 1990 drew 507,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results
1 Power & Glory def The Rockers by pinfall (6:00) **3/4

2 Texas Tornado pinned Mr Perfect (c) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (5:15) **1/4

3 Sensational Sherri def Sapphire by forfeit N/A

4 Warlord pinned Tito Santana (5:28) *1/4

5 The Hart Foundation def Demolition (c) in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls match to win the WWF Tag Team Title (14:24) ***3/4

6 Jake Roberts def Bad News Brown by disqualification (4:44) DUD

7 Jim Duggan & Nikolai Volkoff def The Orient Express by pinfall (3:22) 1/2

8 Randy Savage pinned Dusty Rhodes (2:15) 1/2

9 Hulk Hogan def Earthquake by count out (13:16) **3/4

10 The Ultimate Warrior (c) def Ravishing Rick Rude in a steel cage match to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (10:05) ***

Rating

16.75/45 = 37.22%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

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)

 

 

 

 

WWF Summerslam 1988

 

WWF Summerslam 1988

Venue: New York, New York

Date: 29/08/88

Attendance: 20,000

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Superstar Billy Graham

The first Summerslam event took place in August 1988 at Madison Square Garden as the WWF added a third pay-per-view to their calendar. The main event followed on nicely from the climax of Wrestlemania 4 as WWF Heavyweight Champion Macho Man Randy Savage teamed with the returning Hulk Hogan (Hogan had been away filming No Holds Barred) to face the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant. Jesse Ventura was named as the special guest referee for the match so Billy Graham filled in on commentary duties.

Davey Boy Smith corners Raymond Rougeau in the opener

 

Review

The British Bulldogs battled the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers to an enjoyable twenty minute time limit draw. The two teams legitimately did not like each other but they did have good chemistry in the ring. The lack of a finish was mildly irritating but the match quality made up for it somewhat... Bad New Brown beat Ken Patera in a basic encounter. Brown won clean with the Ghetto Blaster... The Junkyard Dog was disqualified in his match against Ravishing Rick Rude after Jake Roberts interfered. Rude revealed an image of Roberts' wife on his tights during the match inciting "The Snake" who ran down and hammered him. This really belonged on Superstars of Wrestling... The Powers of Pain looked impressive as they marched down to the ring for their match with The Bolsheviks. There was however nothing impressive about the match... The Honky Tonk Man's record breaking Intercontinental Title reign famously came to an end as he was crushed by the Ultimate Warrior in about thirty seconds. Honky's opponent was originally scheduled to be Brutus The Barber Beefcake but he was put out of action by Ron Bass prior to the event. The crowd was red hot for the Warrior here and the squash match went down a storm...

 

The Ultimate Warrior levels the Honky Tonk Man

 

Hacksaw Jim Duggan made an appearance on an in-ring version of the Brother Love Show. It was quite annoying... Dino Bravo beat Don Muraco in an awkward poor bout... Demolition retained the tag team title in a good match against the Hart Foundation. Jimmy Hart had previously been fired by the Hart Foundation as their manager but he was allowed to be at ringside as he still owned their contracts. His presence proved to be the difference in the end... The Big Boss Man's win over Koko B Ware wasn't much more than an extended squash... Jake The Snake Roberts DDT'd and pinned Hercules in a boring ten minute match... WWF Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan defeated Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant in a good main event refereed by Jesse Ventura. Miss Elizabeth caused a distraction by climbing onto the ring apron and removing her skirt, which was quite racy for the time, and allowing the Mega Powers to make their comeback and win the match. Savage forced Ventura's hand in making the three count after The Body hesitated. During the celebration a subtle seed of dissension was planted as the Savage appeared to object to Hogan's post match hug with Elizabeth.

The Big Boss Man works over Koko B Ware

 

Overall

Not a great show by any means but it was an improvement on Wrestlemania 4. Firstly the Madison Square Garden crowd was infinitely better than the Trump Plaza crowd but more importantly there were three matches on this card that were superior to every match at Wrestlemania. Additionally the Ultimate Warrior's Intercontinental Title win over the Honky Tonk Man was perhaps the hottest squash match in WWF history. Unfortunately that's where the positives end because the remaining six matches on the card were poor, really poor in some cases, which pulled the overall rating of the show right down. Summerslam 1988 drew 400,000 buys on pay-per-view.

 

The Mega Powers prepare to battle the Mega Bucks

 

Results

1 The British Bulldogs fought The Fabulous Rougeaus to a time limit draw (20:00) ***1/4

2 Bad News Brown pinned Ken Patera (6:33) *

3 Rick Rude def The Junkyard Dog by disqualification (6:18) 1/2

4 The Powers of Pain def The Bolsheviks by pinfall (5:27) 1/2

5 The Ultimate Warrior pinned The Honky Tonk Man (c) for the WWF Intercontinental Title (0:31) SQ

6 Dino Bravo pinned Don Muraco (5:28) 1/2

7 Demolition (c) def The Hart Foundation by pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (9:49) ***

8 The Big Boss Man pinned Koko B Ware (5:57) *1/4

9 Jake Roberts pinned Hercules (10:06) *1/4

10 Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan def Ted Dibiase & Andre the Giant by pinfall (13:57) ***

Rating

14.25/50 = 28.50%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)