WWF Wrestlemania VIII

WWF Wrestlemania VIII
Venue: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: 5/4/92
Attendance: 62,167
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan


Adapted from review originally written in 2014.


Wrestlemania VIII was held in the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis and with over 60,000 fans on hand it felt like a big deal from the get-go. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan were on commentary for what I consider to be their best effort as an announce duo. Heenan in particular was at the top of his game during this period, while Monsoon had such a great voice and a style which added so much drama to the action in the ring. The expected dream match main event between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair did not materialise as Vince McMahon was not satisfied by the numbers drawn by Hogan/Flair matches in late 1991 on the house show circuit. Instead he plumped for a "Double Main Event" of Hulk Hogan versus Sid Justice and Ric Flair versus Randy Savage for the WWF Heavyweight Championship.


Review


Opening match duties went to Tito Santana and Shawn Michaels, who had recently joined the singles ranks after his famous bust up with Marty Jannetty. The match was a good one with Michaels, the young arrogant heel managing to withstand the onslaught of the veteran who was having a little bit of a resurgence under the "El Matador" guise. The finish was a bit soft though as Santana, trying to slam Michaels back into the ring from the apron fell back as Michaels held onto the top rope and that was enough for a three count. Still, it was the correct result as they tried to push Michaels as a future contender for the Intercontinental Title. The Legion of Doom appeared for an interview with Mean Gene Okerlund. They didn't wrestle on the card due to Hawk’s suspension. They didn't say a lot of note. I guess it was just a way to introduce Paul Ellering to the WWF fans. Next up was The Undertaker versus Jake "The Snake" Roberts, minus the snake which had been barred from ringside following the shocking angle where Randy Savage was bitten by a cobra. This match was nothing more than a glorified squash as Roberts did the honours on his way out of the WWF. The Undertaker survived two DDTs before hitting Roberts with an extremely safe looking Tombstone Piledriver on the outside of the ring which they should have shot from a different angle. Anyway, Taker rolled Jake back inside for an easy three count. It was basic action really as most early Undertaker matches were due to his zombie-like gimmick.


The same could not be said of the Intercontinental Title bout which was a classic as Rowdy Roddy Piper defended the title against friend and former champion Bret "Hitman" Hart. Piper was magnificent in the pre-match interview also. The all-babyface affair started out exactly as that but as the match wore on, Piper began to resort to heelish underhanded tactics as he looked to retain the only singles title he would ever have in the WWF. Hart bladed in the match but managed to convince Vince McMahon that the blood was caused accidentally, something Ric Flair would not get away with later on the card as he was fined heavily for blading right on camera. The action was back and forth with Piper getting increasingly more desperate as Hart refused to be beaten. "This is a hell of a match!" proclaimed Heenan. The end came as the referee took a bump allowing Piper to bring the ring bell into the match with ideas of finishing Hart by any means necessary. Piper began to have second thoughts as the crowd turned on him before finally breaking out into cheers as he tossed the weapon away. It would be the end for Piper though as Hart countered the sleeper into a pinning combination to take the championship. It was all smiles at the finish as Hot Rod presented the title to the Hitman for a happy ending.

After watching Lex Luger drink a glass of milk (?) and talk about the WBF we get to the 8-man tag team match, the highlight of which may have been Family Feud Host Ray Combs slagging off the heel team before the bout. The match itself was okay for what it was with Virgil, the Big Boss Man, Sgt Slaughter and Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeating The Mountie, Repo Man and The Nasty Boys. Next was the match of the night as Macho Man Randy Savage challenged Ric Flair for the WWF Championship in a heated belter. The story was Flair had been claiming the love of Elizabeth and had even gone so far as to photoshop himself into pictures with her to prove it. Savage played the enraged husband brilliantly as he charged to the ring to pound the Nature Boy. The tide of the bout turned as Mr. Perfect, who was Flair's "Executive Consultant", nailed Savage in his knee with a chair and continued to get himself involved in the match. Savage sold the knee injury fabulously as he would continue to do so throughout the year. Elizabeth stormed out to the ring as various WWF officials tried to prevent her from doing so. If you look closely you'll see one of them is none other than a young Shane McMahon. With Flair distracted by Elizabeth's appearance, Savage surprised Flair with a roll-up and a handful of trunks to win the title. It all kicked off after the bout as Flair forced a kiss on Elizabeth causing the Macho Man to go ballistic! Finally things calmed down and Randy and Elizabeth stood victorious in the ring as the fireworks went off in the Hoosier Dome. The Savage-Flair feud was far from over though. The post match interview with Flair, Perfect and Heenan was fantastic.

As everyone in the arena tried to calm themselves after the "Macho/Flair Affair", Tatanka made his PPV debut and defeated "The Model" Rick Martel in a short, straight-forward match-up. Like the opener it was designed to help establish the younger talent as the Federation began to look towards the future. Next up was Money Inc. against The Natural Disasters for the Tag Team Championship in a rubbish match up. At one stage in the bout Typhoon inexplicably fell down the wrong way from a double clothesline! Just as Earthquake was about to finish IRS off, Ted DiBiase and Jimmy Hart pulled him from the ring and decided to head home with the belts. Yes, that was the finish. It was designed to gain more heat for the tag champs but an ending like that is not good enough for a title match at Wrestlemania. Just before the second half of the "Double Main Event" Owen Hart faced Skinner in a quick, throwaway match. Owen was cheap-shotted before the bell, didn't get a single offensive move in but kicked out of Skinner's finisher and beat him with a roll-up. All in just over a minute! A bad night for Steve Keirn.


Finally came the showdown between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice. It was billed as Hogan's 'Farewell Match' as they teased the retirement of pro wrestling's biggest star. In reality Hogan was being moved out of the spotlight as the steroid scandal had hit the WWF hard and due to his stature the Hulkster was taking the brunt of it. This match came about as Sid had the audacity to eliminate Hulk from the Royal Rumble and Hogan took exception to it. Sid then turned into a lunatic, a part which he played very well. Hogan made his entrance to a booming ovation and looked to have a tear in his eye perhaps taken aback by the response. The match itself wasn't good but as usual Hogan's presence and charisma created a great atmosphere. Hogan sold for most of the bout and made his trademark comeback at the end. The only trouble was as Hogan hit the leg drop the pin fall was supposed to be interrupted by Papa Shango, except Shango had missed his cue and was nowhere to be seen. Sid, probably feeling he had nothing to lose as he was soon to be leaving the company, kicked out. The referee then called for a disqualification as Sid's manager Harvey Whippleman entered the ring. Shango finally arrived and helped Sid attack Hogan before the place went crazy as the Ultimate Warrior charged down to the ring to assist the Hulkster. The fans were delighted to see Hogan and the Warrior together in the ring to close the show as the fireworks exploded in the Hoosier Dome, although some questioned whether it was actually Jim Hellwig as he had lost so much muscle mass during his absence.

Overall
Wrestlemania VIII can be considered a decent show, on par with Wrestlemania VII, thanks to two great matches (Flair vs Savage, Piper vs Hart), one good one (Michaels vs Santana) and a memorable ending to the show. The rest of the card was pretty much a nonp-event. The scheduled Davey Boy Smith versus Berzerker match was cut from the line-up due to time restraints but I don't expect it would have added much to the show anyway. Wrestlemania VIII marked the end of Hulk Hogan's full time WWF career and was truly the end of an era. Hogan would continue to make international appearances for the company but would not appear on TV again until February 1993. Roddy Piper's full time WWF career also came to an end although he had already 'retired' in 1987 for two years. Piper would make a few special appearances over the next four years before signing with WCW in 1996. Wrestlemania VIII pulled a 2.3 rating meaning an estimated 390,000 buys on pay-per-view.


Results
1 Shawn Michaels pinned El Matador (10:38) ***
2 The Undertaker pinned Jake Roberts (6:39) *1/2
3 Bret Hart pinned Rowdy Roddy Piper (c) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (13:50) ****
4 The Big Boss Man, Sgt Slaughter, Jim Duggan & Virgil def The Nasty Boys, The Mountie & Repo Man (6:31) **
5 Randy Savage pinned Ric Flair (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (18:02) ****1/2
6 Tatanka pinned Rick Martel (4:33) *3/4
7 The Natural Disasters def Money Inc (c) by count out. Money Inc retained the WWF Tag Team Title (8:37) 1/2
8 Owen Hart pinned Skinner (1:09) 1/4
9 Hulk Hogan def Sid Justice by disqualification (12:29) 3/4


Rating
18.25/45 = 40.56%

Royal Rumble 2016 Thoughts

I thought Royal Rumble 2016 was a good show, I enjoyed it a lot actually. The Last Man Standing Match for the Intercontinental Title was a great battle with some clever spots mixed in to the usual weapon based brawling. I liked Kevin Owens rolling to the outside after a Dirty Deeds on a chair as he was unable to climb to his feet. I also liked the finish as enough time had passed to make the viewer forget about the stacked tables on the outside. I wasn't so keen on Dean Ambrose's ability to jump to his feet (albeit on a nine count) after going through a table from the top rope and then suffering the Pop-up Powerbomb as I felt it weakened Owens' finisher. I also didn't like this match going on first as I feel it lessened it's importance and hurt the next couple of bouts as the crowd were on a comedown.

I feel like I've seen New Day versus The Usos a thousand times and this felt like just another match between them. Xavier Woods on the outside was more interesting than the action in the ring for the most part. There was a cool finish though as Big E caught Jimmy on his shoulder and finished him off with the Big Ending.

There was yet another US Title switch as Kalisto defeated Alberto Del Rio which begs the question why they felt the need to put the belt back on Del Rio 24 hours after Kalisto's original title win. The hot potato approach does nothing but devalue a championship. There was a great near fall for Kalisto towards the end but the match was only okay and was a bit clunky in places.

I felt Charlotte and Becky Lynch had a good wrestling. I liked the no nonsense punch counter to the Figure 8 but the finish involving Ric Flair was a bit daft. Sasha Bank's post match angle with Charlotte went down a storm with the live crowd. Hopefully they'll build this towards Wrestlemania and not throw it away at Fast Lane.

The Royal Rumble match was really entertaining but there's something really wrong with 46 year old Triple H winning the WWE World Title and headlining the "biggest Wrestlemania of all time" as the company's top heel. I realise Seth Rollins' injury messed up their plans but this is what happens when you don't create new stars. It's a real shame the likes of Rusev and Bray Wyatt have been damaged so much. I don't have a problem with Triple H versus Roman Reigns as the story makes sense and has been built well, I do have a problem with it being for the world title in the main event of Wrestlemania. I thought Triple H didn't look in the greatest shape and his arms have shrunk quite a lot. The other marquee match set for Wrestlemania is Brock Lesnar versus Bray Wyatt which sadly doesn't fill me with much excitement either. Wyatt has been reduced to the role of jobber to the stars in the last 12-18 months and a lot of work needs to be done to repair the damage done to him.

Rumble match observations: I think WWE should be concerned with the level of boos aimed at their star project Roman Reigns not to mention the roar of cheers that went up when he was dumped out of the match by Triple H. It's quite obvious that Reigns is beating Hunter for the belt at Wrestlemania and surely the last thing they want is the show to end with their new star babyface being showered with boos ... Rusev being dumped out by Reigns in less than 90 seconds shows how far he has fallen ... AJ Styles got a huge pop as he made his debut and put in a really good first performance in a WWE ring. A positive start for him for sure ... Chris Jericho, who looks a bit heavier these days, was this year's endurance man as he lasted 50 minutes in the match. Could a young up-and-comer not have been given that role? ... R-Truth's 'comedy' spot must've gone over my head ... Kofi Kingston did his annual spot of leaving the ring over the top rope without being eliminated only for the cameras to miss his actual elimination ... The Authority were so desperate for Roman Reigns to lose the World Title that they forced him to defend the title in the Rumble from the number one spot and then Vince McMahon instructed the League of Nations to pull him from the ring and attack him until he was unable to continue. Why not just have the three men throw him over the top rope? As it was Reigns was helped to the back but of course, he would be back ... Braun Strowman was given the star treatment as he eliminated Kane and then the Big Show. Unfortunately nobody seemed to care ... Owens limped to the ring and eliminated AJ Styles to loud boos. It was to be expected ... Sami Zayn then eliminated Owens to a big pop which was a nice nod to their NXT feud ... Brock Lesnar got a huge pop too as he entered the match just as the Wyatt's were taking over. Lesnar battered Strowman for no selling his clothesline before eliminating him, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Lesnar's showdown with Bray was cut short as the Wyatt clan re-entered to eliminate Brock. I'm not sure what was stopping them remaining in the ring to help Bray win the match as already eliminated participants are apparently allowed to do whatever they want ... Predictably Reigns returned to the ring and ran riot for a while before Triple H entered as number 30 to a big pop that was nothing compared to the booming response when he eliminated Reigns from behind ... The crowd was hot for the final two (Triple H and Dean Ambrose) but it was obvious that Hunter was going to win here so in some ways the ending was a bit of an anti-climax.


Hopefully Wrestlemania will mark the end of The Authority. The so called 'superstars' being treated like lowly workers who are lucky to have a job is really counter productive and needs to end. They've been doing the heel authority gimmick for 18 years now, it's time to move on.

WWF Royal Rumble 1992

WWF Royal Rumble 1992

Venue: Albany, New York
Date: 19/1/92
Attendance: 17,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan


After two controversial title changes at Survivor Series and This Tuesday In Texas the WWF Heavyweight Title was declared vacant by Jack Tunney and would be awarded to the winner of the Royal Rumble match. The idea being that a match of this magnitude would surely draw well on pay-per-view after buy rates had slumped in 1991. The two men at the centre of the title controversy, Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker were guaranteed a number between 20 and 30 in the Rumble.


To kick off the show the New Foundation defeated the Orient Express in a good tag team contest. After a false start under the guise of the Blue Blazer, Owen Hart teamed with Jim Neidhart hoping to emulate the success his brother Bret had paired with "The Anvil". Unfortunately Neidhart would be fired shortly after the Royal Rumble and Owen found himself back at square one for a while. He certainly shone in this contest though.


An explanation is probably required before I cover the next match-up. Bret Hart was the Intercontinental Champion and was feuding with The Mountie but Hart believing his contract was expiring began negotiating with WCW (sound familiar?). Hart had already been told he would be dropping the title to Mountie on 17/01/91 and whether or not this played a part in his decision to explore his options are open to debate. Unbeknownst to Hart at the time was that his contract had already rolled over meaning he wouldn't be able to sign elsewhere until later in the year effectively ending any negotiations. Hart's title loss was blamed on his decision to wrestle despite suffering from a high fever but even still the defeat came as a big surprise to fans at the time. Roddy Piper, who had come to Hart's aid during a post match beating was installed as the number one contender for the Royal Rumble in just two days time. As it was Piper ploughed through the Quebecer in a short passable match made better by the hot crowd to win his only WWF singles title. Piper then shocked Mountie with his own cattle prod, complete with comedy buzzer sound effects.  An all babyface Intercontinental Title clash was then set between Piper and Hart for Wrestlemania as Hart's push continued ensuring "The Hitman" would remain in the WWF.

The Bushwackers beat the Beverly Brothers in a rubbish match that went on too long. Luke and Butch were accompanied by Jamison (a geeky character who first appeared on The Bobby Heenan Show) who was being bullied by Beau and Blake's manager The Genius. It was all very embarrassing.


Back to serious business as the Legion of Doom defended the tag team title against the Natural Disasters in an okay match but with a cheap count out finish in favour of the challengers. Hawk and Animal would soon lose the belts to Money Inc (Ted Dibiase & Irwin R Schyster) as Hawk would be suspended for failing a drugs test. They would return with Paul Ellering as their manager at Wrestlemania.


Ric Flair became WWF Heavyweight Champion with a stellar performance in an exceptional Royal Rumble match. Flair entered the match at number three and survived for over an hour, taking a pounding from everyone and surviving by the skin of his teeth. It was classic Ric Flair. Just about every big name (and future big name) available was in the match such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Undertaker, Sid Justice and Shawn Michaels making the match even more monumental. In the big moments from the match; Ted Dibiase was surprisingly eliminated first by Davey Boy Smith before Flair even entered; Piper and Flair had a great showdown which had the Albany crowd on their feet; Randy Savage and Jake Roberts collided with a crazed Savage still looking for revenge. Savage eliminated "The Snake" before accidently eliminating himself by leaping over the top rope to continue the brawl. The officials had to let him back in the match as Savage was not due to depart just yet while Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan tried their best to cover for the error on commentary; the crowd roared as Hulk Hogan made his way down and then ousted The Undertaker before setting his sights on Ric Flair. With the match down to three men, Hogan had Flair in trouble on the verge of elimination until Sid (supposedly Hogan's friend) dumped the Hulkster from behind. Hogan took exception to this and pulled Sid out (with Flair's help) handing the championship to the "Nature Boy". As Flair's celebration began, Hogan and Sid had a stand off in the ring with the majority of the vocal crowd not supporting the Hulkster. Hogan was reportedly unhappy backstage feeling he had been set up to be booed but he should have realised he would look bad the way the end of the match was laid out for him. Backstage Flair cut a great promo after being awarded the title by Jack Tunney. After months of claiming to already be the "Real World's Champion" and carrying the NWA/WCW title, Flair drew a line under the whole angle as he proclaimed that the WWF title was the only title in the world that makes you number one. You could argue that Flair would never have another night in his career that would surpass this.

Overall a good show with an outstanding Royal Rumble match tempered by an average undercard. At the age of 43 Ric Flair became the WWF's oldest world champion (this record would be broken by 54 year old Vince McMahon in 1999) and this would be one his last truly great performances. It should also be said that Bobby Heenan was fantastic on commentary in his support of Flair. The original plan was for Hogan to challenge Flair in the main event of Wrestlemania VIII but the match was scratched for two reasons; Vince McMahon was not satisfied enough with the numbers drawn on the house show circuit headlined by Hogan versus Flair matches to push it as his biggest match of the year; and secondly because Hogan was about to move out of the spotlight due to increasing pressure surrounding the steroid scandal. Hogan would stay away from the WWF for ten months hoping the fires would die down in his absence. Royal Rumble pulled in 260,000 buys which considering the magnitude of the main event must've been a huge disappointment. This was a whopping 180,000 less than the 1991 event.

Results
1. New Foundation def Orient Express by pinfall (17:18) ***1/4
2. Rowdy Roddy Piper def The Mountie (c) by referee stoppage to win the Intercontinental Title (5:22) *1/2
3. Beverly Brothers def Bushwackers by pinfall (14:56) 1/4
4. Natural Disasters def Legion of Doom (c) by count out. LOD retained the World Tag Team Title (9:24) *1/2
5. Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble match to become WWF Heavyweight Champion (62:02) ****1/2


Rating
11/25 = 44.00%


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

WWF This Tuesday In Texas

This Tuesday In Texas
Venue: San Antonio, Texas
Date: 03/12/91
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan

This Tuesday In Texas was an experimental ninety minute pay-per-view to see if the WWF could sell a show at short notice and to try and generate more revenue after buy rates had declined in 1991. The show was based around two big matches; Hulk Hogan challenging The Undertaker for the WWF Heavyweight Championship after Ric Flair had cost him the title six days earlier at Survivor Series, and Randy Savage versus Jake Roberts in the aftermath of the famous angle where Savage was bitten by Robert's king cobra.

Review
Bret Hart defended the Intercontinental Title against Skinner (Steve Keirn) in the opener which was a decent affair. Hart retained the title after forcing Skinner to submit in the Sharpshooter... Randy Savage then attacked Jake Roberts on his way to the ring to kick start their big grudge match which was a good intense brawl. Surprisingly the match only went about six minutes as Savage pinned Roberts with the top rope elbow drop. The reason for this was to facilitate a lengthy post match angle where Roberts got his heat back hitting three DDTs on Savage before giving Elizabeth a (pretty phony looking) slap as she begged him not to unleash the cobra on her husband again. The whole thing was well done if you look past the fact that no officials came down to the ring for ages to stop this until Roberts looked like he was about to open the snake bag. Backstage Mean Gene Okerlund was sickened by Roberts who showed no remorse for his actions. We didn't get to see enough of heel Jake in the WWF, he was a riot. Savage's post match interview saw him go into meltdown.

The British Bulldog defeated The Warlord after pinning him with a crucifix in a match that while decent enough was not as good as their Wrestlemania clash. The full nelson spot went on a bit too long for my liking... Virgil teamed with Tito Santana (who had been repackaged as "El Matador") looking for revenge on Ted Dibiase and Repo Man after they cheated him out of the Million Dollar Belt back at Survivor Series Showdown. They didn't get it however as Dibiase and Repo won an entertaining bout albeit with a bit of a weak finish where Virgil went down to a knee in the back as he confronted Sensational Sherri... Finally Hulk Hogan defeated The Undertaker to regain the WWF Heavyweight Championship in a match that was much better than their Survivor Series stinker. Due to the restrictions of his 'zombie' gimmick Undertaker wouldn't have many good matches until he began to change his style in 1996 but this was about as good a match as he would have in his first five years in the WWF. After a bit of a mixed reaction at Survivor Series the crowd was hot again for Hogan here as he fired out of the blocks before things slowed down in the middle part of the match. Ric Flair made his way down once again despite Jack Tunney being at ringside to ensure a "fair and just outcome" but was nailed by a Hogan chair shot that also sent Tunney down. Flair's attempts to screw Hogan backfired this time and Hogan scored the victory after throwing ashes from Paul Bearer's urn into the Undertaker's face. There were some sloppy moments but the bout started well and had an exciting and memorable finish. The title would later be declared vacant due to the controversial finish here and at Survivor Series meaning the winner of the Royal Rumble match in January would be the undisputed champion.

Overall
Whatever your thoughts on the WWF's attempts to squeeze more cash out of it's customers this was a good show, streets ahead of Survivor Series. The two big matches delivered well enough, the three supporting matches were all of good quality and the crowd were really receptive. It also helped that the main event was, you know, the main event. As the show was only 90 minutes long the live crowd were treated to Ric Flair versus Roddy Piper before the show (Flair won) as well as other dark matches including the likes of Chris Chavis (Tatanka) and the Harris Brothers (Blu Brothers/Disciples of Apocalypse). This Tuesday In Texas drew only 140,000 buys so the experiment was deemed not worth repeating but the show is worth checking out if you haven't seen it.

Rating
13.5/25 = 54%

Results
1 Bret Hart (c) def Skinner by submission to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (13:46) **1/2
2 Randy Savage pinned Jake Roberts (6:25) ***
3 The British Bulldog pinned Warlord (12:45) **1/2
4 Ted Dibiase & Repo Man def Virgil & El Matador by pinfall (11:28) ***
5 Hulk Hogan pinned The Undertaker (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (13:09) **1/2

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

WWF Survivor Series 1991

 

 

 

 

Survivor Series 1991

Venue: Detroit, Michigan

Date: 27/11/91

Attendance: 17,500

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan

 

With business in decline the WWF attempted to boost the Survivor Series card by adding a WWF Championship match to the previously tag team exclusive event as Hulk Hogan would defend against The Undertaker in a match dubbed "The Gravest Challenge". After battling Sgt Slaughter throughout the summer Hogan had spent the last couple of months squaring off with Ric Flair on the house show circuit but that match appeared to being saved for a dream clash at Wrestlemania. With a lack of other serious heel contenders on the roster The Undertaker was pushed into the main event slot to be the next threat to Hogan's crown. Prior to the event starting we were shown footage of the still quite shocking angle where Jake "The Snake" Roberts' cobra gnawed on the arm of Randy Savage who was tied up in the ropes. In response to this, on-screen President Jack Tunney reinstated the 'retired' Savage and ordered a match between he and Roberts to take place at a special mini-PPV set for six days time in Texas. This was part of an experiment by the WWF to sell an extra pay-per-view event mid-week at fairly short notice as buy rates had fallen in 1991.

Review

The opening tag team elimination match had the talent and the star power to be a classic but due to the booking ended up being good, yet ultimately disappointing. Good because of how well it started and how much the crowd were into it, but the downside was that we only saw two eliminations in a near 23 minute match which ended with a mass disqualification excluding Ric Flair which meant he was the sole survivor. The ending made the whole process of the match feel pointless. On a side note, Jack Tunney had declared that he would video distort the image of the NWA/WCW World Title belt anytime Flair attempted to parade it on WWF television as it wasn't a recognised title in the WWF. The real reason for this was because the title belt had been returned to WCW due to a law suit so the WWF were actually distorting the fact that Flair was now carrying a WWF Tag Team Title belt. The fans in the arena must've been pretty confused. They should've just dropped the "Real World's Champion" angle when they were forced to return the "Big Gold Belt". Another side note for this match was that Virgil had lost the Million Dollar Belt back to Ted Dibiase on the "Survivor Series Showdown" (Prime Time Wrestling special) thanks in part to Repo Man (Barry "Smash" Darsow)...

Randy Savage and Elizabeth were interviewed in the arena by Gene Okerlund to sell "This Tuesday In Texas" and talk about the aforementioned angle with Jake Roberts... Ahead of the second Survivor Series elimination match, just looking at the two teams you instantly felt this would be a squash match of sorts... and it was. Skinner, Col Mustafa and Hercules were all routinely dispatched before The Berzerker went down last having at least put up somewhat of a fight. Sgt Slaughter, in alliance with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, was now supposed to be a super patriotic babyface having spent most of the year supporting Saddam Hussain and waving the Iraqi flag. Wrestling, eh? ... Like the "Macho Man" earlier, Jake Roberts had an arena interview with Gene Okerlund. Jack Tunney had banned all reptiles from ringside but Roberts insisted that he was always the snake you needed to worry about...

The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Heavyweight Title in a lousy match with help from Ric Flair. Flair brought a chair into the ring allowing Undertaker to Tombstone Hogan onto it, although Hogan's head was a good six inches from contact. Knowing that Hogan didn't have long hair to cover the point of impact this move should have been shot from a different camera angle. While nowhere near the level John Cena often has to endure there were audible cheers as the three count was registered. The fact that the main event was placed midway through the show may have alerted the more knowledgeable fans that the heel was going over here. Vince McMahon, especially back in those days, didn't like to leave big shows on a sour note for the fans. It also gave him time to have Jack Tunney announce a rematch for "This Tuesday In Texas" which they spent the rest of the show selling. The trouble with putting your big match on half way through the show is that the rest of the card tends to fall flat and that was certainly the case here...

The Rockers and The Bushwackers fell to The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers in an okay match that would lead to the big split between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Jannetty accidently hit Michaels in the face while body slamming Jerry Sags enabling Brian Knobbs to roll him up for a three count. The future "Heartbreak Kid" was livid with his partner and stormed off to the back while Jannetty appeared oblivious to what had happened. Annoyingly Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan somehow missed the pin fall and assumed Michaels had simply walked out on the match... The default main event was The Legion of Doom and The Big Boss Man versus The Natural Disasters and Irwin R Schyster. Jake Roberts and Sid Justice were originally booked for this match but Roberts was pulled by Tunney after the snake bite incident and Sid stepped aside as well to make it an even 3 versus 3. Boss Man was eliminated first after a briefcase shot by IRS but the same trick backfired later as IRS accidently nailed Typhoon causing him to be eliminated. Earthquake then walked out in protest meaning we had an anticlimactic finish as IRS was clearly no match for both Hawk and Animal. It was a weak finish to an average match and there wasn't even a Doomsday Device to end the show (some wrestlers just flat out refused to take that move)... The event closed with The Undertaker holding the WWF title belt informing us that Hulkamania had died and all that remained was "This Tuesday In Texas", the burial.

Overall

This was a pretty poor show. The matches were average to bad except for the opener which was actually good until the stupid and lazily booked finish. This card is only memorable for The Undertaker's first world title win and the beginning of the end for The Rockers. Apart from that the show seemed to be one long advert for "This Tuesday In Texas" which is not what you want to see if you've just handed over your hard earned money to buy a pay-per-view. The tactic of adding a world title match to the event for the first time didn't appear to work either as Survivor Series 1991 drew a very disappointing 300,000 buys, down by 100,000 from the 1990 edition. The WWF were heading down a slippery slope.

Results

1 Ric Flair, Ted Dibiase, The Mountie & Warlord def Bret Hart, The British Bulldog, Roddy Piper & Virgil (22:48) **3/4

2 Jim Duggan, Sgt Slaughter, El Matador & Texas Tornado def Col Mustafa, The Berzerker, Skinner & Hercules (14:19) 3/4

3 The Undertaker pinned Hulk Hogan (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (12:45) 1/2

4 The Nasty Boys & The Beverly Brothers def The Rockers & The Bushwackers (11:28) **

5 The Legion of Doom & The Big Boss Man def The Natural Disasters & Irwin R Schyster (13:09) *3/4

 

Rating

7.75/25 = 31%

Star Rating Guide

*****    Excellent/World Class

****      Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

 

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 Wrestlemania VII

 

WWF Wrestlemania VII

Venue: Los Angeles, California

Date: 24/3/91

Attendance: 16,158

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan (Jim Duggan & Lord Alfred Hayes)

 

"The stars of the World Wrestling Federation are on their way to join the over 100,000 screaming fans in what will be the biggest Wrestlemania extravaganza ever!" - Vince McMahon

The Vince McMahon voiced Wrestlemania VII advert showed his grand vision for the event; the WWF were looking to smash their own (disputed) attendance record set at Wrestlemania III by attracting over 100,000 to the outdoor Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It didn't happen of course, in fact they were nowhere close. The official reason given as to why the event was switched to the much smaller Los Angeles Sports Arena was concern for Sgt Slaughter's safety having apparently received death threats for his portrayal of an Iraqi sympathiser during the time of the Gulf War. While I have no doubt Slaughter's well being was a factor, the real reason which WWE have finally admitted in recent years was poor ticket sales. By February 1991 only approximately 20,000 seats had been sold meaning the WWF had no choice but to abandon their grand plan late in the day and head across the street to the Sports Arena with their tail between their legs. Why were the ticket sales so poor? Many reasons. There was a lot of bad press surrounding the WWF at the time as government investigations into steroid abuse were gathering pace, and perhaps even worse from a PR perspective was the hugely negative reaction to the company's exploitation of the Gulf War. The Sgt Slaughter versus Hulk Hogan main event just did not attract fans like Hogan's previous main events against Andre the Giant, Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. The original plan was in fact for Hogan/Warrior II to be the main event but McMahon had already decided to pull the plug on Warrior's failing title reign in favour of a sure fire xenophobic cash-in. It would prove to be a big mistake. This would be the start of a downward slide for the WWF which would eventually, coupled with the ascension of WCW, put the company in real danger of going out of business. It may not have been on the scale that McMahon had envisioned but there was a great atmosphere inside the Sports Arena for Wrestlemania VII with red, white and blue plastered all over for a very patriotic feel. The show would go on.

Review

The Rockers delivered a quality performance for the second consecutive pay-per-view defeating The Barbarian& Haku in the opening bout of the show. The future Faces Of Fear certainly played their part but this was another example of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty's ability to have a great match with just about any team. Michaels scored the winning fall with a high cross body block on Haku. Hacksaw Jim Duggan covered for Bobby Heenan on commentary for this match and I felt he did a decent job… The Texas Tornado scored a fairly easy win over Dino Bravo in a short match up with the Tornado/Discus Punch. Nothing much doing here... The British Bulldog power slammed and pinned The Warlord in a good power house match. These two would meet in the ring quite a lot during 1991 and usually produced good results due to their chemistry. This was their best televised match…

The Nasty Boys became WWF Tag Team Champions by defeating the Hart Foundation in one of their final few matches before Bret Hart's overdue singles run began. While different to the opener this was another tremendous tag team battle and was a great way for the Harts to go out. The Nasty Boys stole victory after using Jimmy Hart's motorcycle helmet on Jim Neidhart. The Los Angeles crowd seemed genuinely stunned at the result… Jake Roberts and Rick Martel's feud came to an end with a "Blindfold Match" which came about after Martel had temporarily blinded Roberts by spraying his cologne "Arrogance" into his eyes. Yes the gimmick match was a bit silly but they did the best they could under the restrictions before Roberts DDT'd Martel for the victory. Roberts deserves credit for ensuring the fans in the arena were involved throughout…

The Undertaker began what would years later be known as "The Streak" by beating Jimmy Snuka in what was essentially an extended squash. The match was fine for what it was and achieved the goal it was meant to, making Undertaker look strong. I particularly liked the suplex he delivered on Snuka from the ring apron. In the end the Tombstone Piledriver spelled the end for the WWF's original "Phenom"… The "Career Ending Match" between the Ultimate Warrior and Macho King Randy Savage was the culmination of a great four month feud which included Savage costing Warrior the WWF Heavyweight Title at the Royal Rumble. This was without question Warrior's finest match but the real praise must go to Savage for a super performance in which he put Warrior over as strong as possible. Warrior survived five Big Elbows before eventually pinning Savage with one boot on his chest (Savage's idea) to become the decisive winner and send the Macho King into retirement... for eight months (actually six days if you count the WWF/SWS Tokyo Dome show on 30/3/91). After Warrior took his bow in victory Sherri attacked Savage for his failings until Elizabeth made her return (she was shown on camera in the crowd before the bout) throwing Sherri from the ring. Randy and Liz then reunited and left together to a standing ovation. It was a truly memorable moment and tears flowed from many in the crowd. How could anyone possibly follow all of that?! Well, they couldn't…

Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao appeared on the show as part of the WWF's deal with the aforementioned SWS (Super World of Sports) who were a short-lived Japanese promotion. They defeated Demolition Mk2 who were all but finished as a team. The problem here is that most WWF fans wouldn't have known who Tenryu and Kitao were and had not been given any reason to care about Demolition in months be it positively or negatively. All in all this was pointless and the match was rubbish… The Big Boss Man challenged Mr Perfect for the Intercontinental Title in a logical climax to Boss Man's feud with the Heenan Family. The match was good enough but really should have been a lot better considering both men were at their peak as workers around this time. The finish was lame as Haku & The Barbarian ran in for a disqualification in Boss Man's favour meaning Perfect retained the title. In a nice moment Andre the Giant made his return during the match to prevent further interference from Bobby Heenan. Lord Alfred Hayes filled in on commentary for this one… Earthquake pinned Greg Valentine in a filler match that was short and meant very little. Following a distraction from Jimmy Hart 'Quake took the win with an Earthquake Splash. Earthquake would struggle now his big feud with Hogan had finished. He would find himself in the tag team ranks very soon…

The Legion of Doom crushed Power & Glory in less than a minute. LOD were booked exactly the same way as the Hart Foundation the previous year; a squash win at Wrestlemania followed by a title win at Summerslam… Next was Virgil's showdown with Ted Dibiase. Or was it Roddy Piper's showdown with Dibiase? Piper trained Virgil for the match and was in his corner having persuaded him to finally turn on Dibiase at the Royal Rumble. During the bout Dibiase took some cheap shots at Piper who was on crutches after a "motorcycle accident" (a cover story for Piper's hip replacement surgery) but was so preoccupied with him he managed to get himself counted out. After the match, which was ok, Sherri made her way down to distract Piper allowing Dibiase to viciously attack Piper's already injured knee. Piper sold the agony very well and in a fit of rage actually launched one of his crutches right into the crotch of referee Danny Davis. Virgil would have to wait until Summerslam for his big moment in the ring with Dibiase… The Mountie's win over Tito Santana achieved nothing. It certainly didn't help Mountie in getting over. Santana beat up Mountie for about a minute before getting shocked with a cattle prod out of the referee's view. The 'match' lasted about a minute and a half and was a waste of time… Finally Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt Slaughter to become the first ever three time WWF Heavyweight Champion in a good main event. Slaughter took a pounding in the beginning (which was his strength) before using underhanded tactics to gain control while Hogan played on the sympathy of the crowd, something he did better than most. Hogan also bled from the forehead during the match, a rare sight in the WWF back then. In the end Hogan made his patented comeback to win the match and the 'war' (which had already ended in the Middle East) for America. Hooray! A post match angle after the show (which aired on Superstars) saw Slaughter throw fire in Hogan's face ensuring the feud would continue throughout the summer.

Overall

Putting aside the exploitation of a war, this was a good Wrestlemania from an in-ring perspective. It would have been rated a lot higher had the show been three hours instead of four with the worthless filler matches removed. Incidentally this would be the last four hour edition of the event until Wrestlemania 2000. The Savage/Warrior match was an excellent encounter that really stole the show but it wasn't alone in delivering the goods. The Rockers versus Barbarian & Haku was a cracker, the tag team championship bout was equally good and even Hogan/Slaughter was much better than expected despite the negativity surrounding the feud. The outrage could have been much worse had Slaughter agreed to burn the American flag. Thankfully he refused. Wrestlemania VII drew a somewhat disappointing 400,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results
1 The Rockers def Haku & The Barbarian (10:41) ***1/2

2 Texas Tornado pinned Dino Bravo (3:11) *

3 The British Bulldog pinned Warlord (8:15) **3/4

4 The Nasty Boys def The Hart Foundation (c) to win the WWF Tag Team Title (12:10) ***1/2

5 Jake Roberts pinned Rick Martel in a "Blindfold Match" (8:34) *1/4

6 The Undertaker pinned Jimmy Snuka (4:20) *3/4

7 The Ultimate Warrior pinned Randy Savage in a "Career Ending Match" (20:47) ****1/2

8 Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao def Demolition by pinfall (4:44) 1/2

9 The Big Boss Man def WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr Perfect (c) by disqualification (10:47) **3/4

10 Earthquake pinned Greg Valentine (3:14) *

11 The Legion of Doom def Power & Glory by pinfall (0:59) SQ

12 Virgil def Ted Dibiase by count out (7:41) **1/4

13 The Mountie pinned Tito Santana (1:21) DUD

14 Hulk Hogan pinned Sgt Slaughter (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (20:26) **3/4

 

Rating

27.5/70 = 39.29%

 

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)