WWF Wrestlemania VI

 

 

 

WWF Wrestlemania VI

Venue: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date: 1/4/90

Attendance: 67,678

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

"Upon the examination of the galaxies of space, images begin to appear… Images of strange and powerful forces… But of all the forces in the universe, the two most powerful; Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior prepare to explode... Champion versus champion... Title for title... IT'S THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE!! IT'S WRESTLEMANIA!!"

You've got to love Vince McMahon's intros for the old pay-per-view events. That one was my personal favourite. As was the case with Wrestlemania V the original video release of this event saw virtually every match edited down to fit on a three hour tape, the exception being the main event. Fortunately I'll be reviewing the full version which can either be found on the Wrestlemania Anthology DVD series or the WWE Network. The only down side with the full version is that some of the entrance music has been dubbed over to save on paying royalties. Sadly they include the theme music for Dusty Rhodes, Demolition and Slick. On another note, this was Jesse Ventura’s final WWF pay-per-view as colour commentator.

Review
Rick Martel and Koko B Ware kicked things off with a short, passable contest. Martel won by submission with a Boston Crab... Demolition regained the tag team title from The Colossal Connection in a okay bout, which would be Andre The Giant's last due to his failing health. For this reason Haku fought almost the entire match by himself, although Andre did get one last hurrah as he turned on Haku and manager Bobby Heenan after the bout. Demolition were massively over and the result brought the house down...

Andre The Giant has finally had enough of Bobby Heenan

Earthquake scored a fairly straightforward win over Hercules as his big push continued. As had
become customary, Quake gave Hercules an "Aftershock" following the bout to further force home his dominance. The match was about as basic as it gets... Mr Perfect finally lost his 'Perfect Record' as he fell to Brutus Beefcake by pin fall in an average match. Perfect did at least avoid getting a haircut from "The Barber", The Genius was not so lucky... Rowdy Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown fought to a double count out in a so-so brawl. Piper and Brown fought all the way back to the locker room just as they did at the Royal Rumble...

Macho King Randy Savage with Sensational Queen Sherri

The Hart Foundation crushed The Bolsheviks in 19 seconds after back jumping them during Nikolai Volkoff's singing of the Russian national anthem. This didn't do a lot for the Harts who were soon to be in line for a tag team title shot. The nature of their victory made you feel bad for the heels, which is not the idea of course... Tito Santana put over The Barbarian in a dull encounter. On the plus side, Barbarian's top rope clothesline finisher looked awesome thanks to a great sell by the reliable Santana... In one of the feature matches of the under card, Macho King Randy Savage teamed with Sensational Queen Sherri to battle Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire in a mildly entertaining mixed tag team bout. Elizabeth made her return in the corner of Rhodes and Sapphire and was instrumental in their victory as Sapphire pinned Sherri with a roll up. As was evident here Sapphire clearly did not belong in the ring...

The Rockers prior to their bout with The Orient Express

The Rockers and The Orient Express contested a decent enough match up that was still some way below what they were actually capable of producing. The Express took the win via a disappointing count out... Hacksaw Jim Duggan scored a popular win over Dino Bravo in a poor match up after nailing Bravo with his 2x4. Duggan was made to pay for this though as Earthquake crushed him in the aftermath... Another big feature match on the card was the battle between "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase and Jake "The Snake" Roberts for the Million Dollar belt. While perfectly acceptable, the match fell well short of the red hot grudge match many were expecting. Dibiase triumphed by count out following the same ring post spot they used at the Royal Rumble. Roberts DDT'd Dibiase after the bout and gave away some of his money to the crowd but even that couldn't mask the anticlimax here...

Jimmy Snuka leapfrogs Ravishing Rick Rude

The Big Boss Man easily beat his former tag team partner Akeem in less than two minutes despite being attacked by Ted Dibiase right before the bout. Now that's what you call a burial; Akeem was finished after this... Ravishing Rick Rude cleanly defeated "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka by pin fall after a Rude Awakening in match not unlike the opening bout. Rude was being prepared for a run in the main events over the summer...

Hulk Hogan applies a rear chinlock on The Ultimate Warrior

The match that everybody came to see was of course Hulk Hogan versus The Ultimate Warrior in a super main event with both the WWF World Heavyweight and WWF Intercontinental Titles on the line. This was the first time a main event of this magnitude would be contested by the two top babyfaces in the company but as greatly anticipated as it was, not much was expected in terms of match quality. Hogan was capable of having good matches with the right opponents but Warrior's limitations meant he usually had short matches unless he was in the ring with a super worker like Rick Rude or Randy Savage. This meant Hogan was in the unfamiliar role of carrying the match (usually the heels job) and building for his opponent’s comebacks but to the surprise of many Hogan performed the role admirably on the night. Warrior also played his part well in what was a great rollercoaster ride of a match in which you really could not tell who was going to win. As it turned out Warrior went over in what was Hogan's only clean loss of his famous second run in the WWF which was supposed to usher in a new era with the Ultimate Warrior as the top star in the company. The atmosphere was really special as the crowd was red hot throughout the match and it appeared to be a perfect 50/50 split. It's also worth noting there was no booing from either section of the support, something that just would not happen these days. The match is still very fondly remembered today as one of the great Wrestlemania main events.

Hogan presents the WWF Heavyweight Title to the Warrior

Overall

Wrestlemania VI as a whole was a letdown as everything aside from Hogan/Warrior was bang average, or worse in some cases. The setting of Sky Dome however was fantastic, a massive step up from the previous two years at Trump Plaza. The stars really aligned for the main event which was booked and executed to perfection avoiding hurting either man as Warrior got the accolades in victory and Hogan got sympathy in defeat. It was arguably Hogan's best performance of his 1983-93 WWF run and only Randy Savage would get a better match out of the Ultimate Warrior in his entire career. The even split in the crowd reactions and constant cheering was a huge bonus as it's always a risk that someone will receive boos in an all-babyface clash. The match was a massive success and saved what was otherwise a very much below par Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania VI drew 550,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results
1 Rick Martel def Koko B Ware by submission (3:51) *3/4

2 Demolition def The Colossal Connection (c) by pinfall to win the WWF Tag Team Title (9:30) **

3 Earthquake pinned Hercules (4:52) 3/4

4 Brutus Beefcake pinned Mr Perfect (7:48) **1/4

5 Rowdy Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown fought to a double count out (6:48) **

6 The Hart Foundation def The Bolsheviks by pinfall (0:19) SQ

7 The Barbarian pinned Tito Santana (4:33) *1/2

8 Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire def Randy Savage & Sensational Sherri by pinfall (7:31) **

9 The Orient Express def The Rockers by count out (7:38) **1/2

10 Hacksaw Jim Duggan pinned Dino Bravo (4:15) *

11 Ted Dibiase def Jake Roberts by count out (11:50) **1/2

12 The Big Boss Man pinned Akeem (1:49) 1/2

13 Ravishing Rick Rude pinned Jimmy Snuka (3:59) *3/4

14 WWF Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior (c) pinned Hulk Hogan (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (22:51) ****

Rating

24.5/70 = 35%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Royal Rumble 1990

WWF Royal Rumble 1990

Venue: Orlando, Florida

Date: 21/01/90

Attendance: 16,000

Commentators: Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura

The second annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view event took place in Orlando, Florida and helped set the scene for Wrestlemania VI. Tony Schiavone was on pay-per-view commentary duties for the second and last time in the WWF alongside Jesse "The Body" Ventura who himself would leave the Federation in 1990.

 

Ronnie Garvin manages to reverse Greg Valentine's figure four leg lock

Review

The Bushwackers defeated The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers in an extended version of the usual Bushwacker match which in fairness was ever so slightly better than normal, but still bad. Luke pinned Jacques after the Battering Ram, which by the way is one of the worst finishers of all time... Whatever match went on next couldn't lose, right? Wrong. The match between Brutus Beefcake and The Genius was dreadful and went to a double disqualification just to make matters worse. With the referee down Beefcake decided to give The Genius a haircut and despite facing the aisle somehow failed to see Mr Perfect running down and climbing in the ring to attack him. Perfect's chair assisted assault on "The Barber" at least set up their clash at Wrestlemania and prevented this match from being a complete waste of time...

 

Randy Savage nails Jake Roberts who is being held by Ted Dibiase

The Greg Valentine/Ronnie Garvin feud came to a head in a near 17-minute Submission Match won by Garvin with a Scorpion Deathlock/Sharpshooter (or "Reverse Figure Four" according to Tony Schiavone). This was a good, stiff grudge match that felt like it came straight out of Jim Crockett Promotions. On the flip side it was a bit sluggish in places and the repeated pin fall attempts made the participants look a bit stupid... Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat The Big Boss Man by disqualification in an acceptable brawl albeit with a cheap finish. Boss Man was much leaner at this point in his career and his performances were getting better and better. He was about to split from Slick and Akeem to become a popular babyface, while Duggan continued to be a one dimensional brawler yet still very popular himself. Boss Man nailed Duggan with his knight stick to signal the end of this one...

 

The Ultimate Warrior is about to level Haku

After an uninspiring undercard the Royal Rumble match itself was thankfully very good. In the most notable happenings... After managing to purchase the number thirty slot in the previous year's event, Ted Dibiase this time drew number one. That's karma I supposed. Dibiase saw off a couple of guys before Jake Roberts made his way down to a great ovation to face his arch enemy. Dibiase applied the Million Dollar Dream on the outside of the ring only for Roberts to counter it by ramming Dibiase (and himself) into the ringpost. Amazingly, this would also be their finish for their upcoming Wrestlemania grudge match... Randy Savage surprisingly didn't enjoy a long stay in the match as he was eliminated by Dusty Rhodes, with whom he was feuding... Rowdy Roddy Piper eliminated Bad News Brown only for Brown to then eliminate Piper and spark a brawl between the two in the aisle way...

 

Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior face off for the first time

Demolition and the Colossal Connection clashed ahead of their Wrestlemania title match... The Ultimate Warrior brought the house down by eliminating the Royal Rumble's first marathon man, Ted Dibiase... Hulk Hogan entered the match to a huge pop and it wasn't long before he and the Warrior were alone standing face-to-face in the ring. This was their first confrontation and it was wisely kept to a minimum leaving the fans wanting more. After a Hogan/Warrior stalemate, The Barbarian and Rick Rude attempted to dump Hogan but Warrior came to his aid. The heels then turned their attention to Warrior and had in him trouble before Hogan attempted to eliminate them both from behind but actually ended up only eliminating Warrior... In the end Hogan overcame Rick Rude and lastly Mr Perfect to win the match and send the fans home happy. Royal Rumble 1990 drew a disappointing 260,000 buys on pay-per-view.

The final two in the Royal Rumble: Hulk Hogan and Mr Perfect

Overall

After the first two Royal Rumbles were won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Big John Studd respectively I believe it was the right decision to have the WWF's top star win the 1990 match to legitimise the event as an important one. Considering the star power in the Rumble match, Hogan's victory only reaffirmed his status as number one in the fans' minds which would only make Warrior's upcoming victory at Wrestlemania look even more impressive. The rumble match also did a great job of furthering other feuds leading into Wrestlemania such as Dibiase/Roberts, Rhodes/Savage, Colossal Connection/Demolition and not forgetting Perfect/Beefcake from the undercard. If you've never seen this event then the Garvin/Valentine bout and the Royal Rumble match are worth your time, the rest is not.

Results

1 The Bushwackers def The Fabulous Rougeaus by pinfall (13:35) *

2 Brutus Beefcake fought The Genius to a double disqualification (11:07) 1/2

3 Ronnie Garvin def Greg Valentine in a submission match (16:55) **3/4

4 Jim Duggan def The Big Boss Man by disqualification (10:26) *3/4

5 Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble match (58:46) ***1/2

Rating

9.50/25 = 38% Rating

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Survivor Series 1989

WWF Survivor Series 1989

Venue: Rosemont, Illinois

Date: 23/11/89

Attendance: 15,294

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

The third annual Survivor Series saw teams cut from five members to four and the addition of team names. Could the 1989 edition live up to the high standards of the previous events?

Review

The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana & The Red Rooster) vs The Enforcers (The Big Boss Man, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Martel & Bad News Brown)

Eliminations: Martel pinned Santana; Bad News Brown was counted out; Beefcake pinned Honky; Beefcake pinned Martel; Boss Man pinned Rooster; Rhodes pinned Boss Man. Rhodes and Beefcake were the survivors.

Notes

The Big Boss Man and Dusty Rhodes were feuding at this time as were Tito Santana and Rick Martel following their split back at Wrestlemania... Martel got the better of Santana again by eliminating him from the match first... Boss Man accidentally nailed Bad News Brown (who was replacing the injured Akeem) causing Brown to walk out on his team. Brown did the exact same thing last year you might remember... Brutus Beefcake scored big wins over The Honky Tonk Man and Rick Martel... Rhodes pinned Boss Man to win the match for his team but Boss Man got his heat back by handcuffing Rhodes and giving him a few shots with the knight stick... Good opening match which the crowd appreciated.

The 4x4's (Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ronnie Garvin & Hercules) vs The King's Court (Randy Savage, Greg Valentine, Earthquake & Dino Bravo)

Eliminations: Earthquake pinned Hercules; Duggan pinned Valentine; Bravo pinned Garvin; Savage pinned Hart; Duggan was counted out. Savage, Earthquake and Bravo were the survivors.

Here's the original King's Court team with Barry Windham included

Notes

Following Summerslam Randy Savage defeated King Hacksaw Jim Duggan to become the Macho King so this was a continuation of that feud. Ronnie Garvin and Greg Valentine were still embroiled in a feud, and this was the second half assed attempt to give Bret Hart a run as a singles wrestler. He would be back with Neidhart within a couple of months. Hercules is now just a mid-card jobber. Barry Windham was supposed to be on the King's Court team but left the company prior to the event. Windham was billed as the Widowmaker during his short WWF stint in 1989. Hart and Savages had some great exchanges. A feud between these two would surely have got Hart over as a solo act not to mention the great matches they would have produced. Duggan is left alone to face three guys and yet lots of illegal double teaming goes unpunished by the referee. Keep that in mind for the next match. Duggan eventually is counted out to protect him from a loss in the ring… Passable contest.

The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts & Demolition) vs The Million Dollar Team (Ted Dibiase, Zeus & The Powers of Pain)

Eliminations: Zeus was disqualified; Warlord pinned Ax; Barbarian pinned Smash; The Powers of Pain were disqualified; Dibiase pinned Roberts; Hogan pinned Dibiase. Hogan was the survivor.

Notes

Hogan was still feuding with Zeus here ahead of the No Holds Barred pay-per-view which would contain the movie and then a steel cage final battle between Hogan & Brutus Beefcake and Zeus & Randy Savage. Dibiase resumes his feud with Jake Roberts who had recently returned from injury. Demolition and the Powers of Pain were still feuding over a year after their issue began... Zeus was disqualified in the opening minutes for relentlessly choking Hogan and shoving down the referee. It kept him looking like a monster and prevented him from having to take a loss before No Holds Barred... The Powers of Pain defeated both members of Demolition yet it would be Andre the Giant and Haku who were about to (temporarily) relieve Ax and Smash of the championship... The Powers of Pain were both disqualified for continuously double teaming Hogan which begged the question why these rules were not enforced in the previous match. No consistency! It did make it look like the referee was favouring Hogan... Dibiase eliminated Roberts with a bit of help from Virgil before Hogan made his comeback to defeat Dibiase and win the match... After the match Zeus and Savage attacked Hogan and Beefcake in the locker room to set the stage for No Holds Barred… The match was fine for what it was but while the Zeus' disqualification made sense in hindsight, the double disqualification of the Powers of Pain was too much. Quite why Hogan or Roberts couldn't have beaten one of them is beyond me.

 

Hogan bodyslams Zeus to the delight of his teammates

 

Roddy's Rowdies (Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka & The Bushwackers) vs Rude's Brood (Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr Perfect & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers)

Eliminations: Snuka pinned Jacques; Piper pinned Raymond; Perfect pinned Butch; Rude pinned Luke; Piper and Rude were counted out; Perfect pinned Snuka. Perfect was the survivor.

Notes

Piper and Rude were feuding after Piper had a hand in Rude losing the Intercontinental Title to the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam... The first half of this bout was comedy (not the good kind) with the Bushwackers leading the way with lots of biting and stomping around the ring... The Rougeaus both went down without much of a fight before Perfect and Rude restored parity by eliminating the Bushwackers... Snuka took a beating setting up for a hot tag to Piper so we could get a big showdown between Piper and Rude, except it didn't even last a minute as both men got counted out. What a joke... It came down to Perfect and Snuka and it was a decent wrestling contest where Perfect went over clean to remain undefeated… Once again overall the match was okay.

 

Mr Perfect and Rick Rude have Jimmy Snuka in trouble

The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, Jim Neidhart & The Rockers) vs The Heenan Family (Andre the Giant, Haku, Arn Anderson & Bobby Heenan)

Eliminations: Andre was counted out; Haku pinned Neidhart; Heenan pinned Jannetty; Michaels pinned Haku; Anderson pinned Michaels; Warrior pinned Anderson; Warrior pinned Heenan. Warrior was the survivor.

Notes

There was a real mid card feel to the main event not helped by the fact that Andre didn't like or respect the Warrior and refused to work with him, therefore we got Andre being eliminated in the first minute of the bout by count out. This left Haku, Arn Anderon and Bobby Heenan as Tully Blanchard was fired before the event for failing a drug test. Anderson would also leave following the event. The outcome was never in doubt here... Haku beat Neidhart who, as good as he was as part of a tag team was never going to get over as a singles wrestler... Heenan got a cheap pin fall over Jannetty after Haku had done the hard work... Shawn Michaels got a big win over Haku but then went down clean to Anderson... Warrior was left alone but he easily despatched Anderson and then Heenan for an anticlimactic finish… This match, while still decent, should have been moved to the middle of the show especially knowing that Blanchard was gone and that Andre wouldn't work with Warrior.

 

Bobby Heenan is about realise he's alone with Warrior

Overall

The 80's and early 90's WWF PPVs with fewer matches tend to get higher ratings as there were usually less lousy filler matches shoved in. All matches here were above average to good so the overall rating looks good. However there was nothing really standout or historically significant on this card. A definite step down in quality from the first two Survivor Series events but still an entertaining show. Survivor Series 1989 drew 385,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results

1 Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana & The Red Rooster def The Big Boss Man, The Honky Tonk Man, Bad News Brown & Rick Martel (22:02) **3/4

2 Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Randy Savage & Greg Valentine def Hercules, Bret Hart, Jim Duggan & Ronnie Garvin (23:25) **

3 Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts & Demolition def Ted Dibiase, Zeus & The Powers of Pain (27:32) **1/4

4 Mr Perfect, Rick Rude & The Fabulous Rougeaus def Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka & The Bushwackers (21:27) **1/4

5 The Ultimate Warrior, Jim Neidhart & The Rockers def Andre the Giant, Arn Anderson, Haku & Bobby Heenan (20:28) **1/2

Rating

11.75/25 = 47% Rating

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 Wrestlemania V

WWF Wrestlemania V

Venue: Atlantic City, New Jersey

Date: 02/04/89

Attendance: 18,946

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

For the second year in a row Wrestlemania took place at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was headlined by the huge showdown between Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship. Could Wrestlemania V improve on the previous year's disappointing show?

Review

To the surprise of many the opening contest between Hercules and King Haku was fairly respectable. Hercules went over in order to gain a measure of revenge against his former manager Bobby Heenan... The Twin Towers defeated The Rockers in a classic example of how two contrasting styles can produce a good match. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty sold wonderfully for the big men, the best example being Akeem's clothesline on Michaels which looks as awesome today as it did back then... Ted Dibiase and Brutus Beefcake battled to a pointless double count out and while the ending was lame at least the match itself was decent enough... The Bushwackers upset the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers in a terrible match... Mr Perfect, who was fast on the rise in the WWF, made the Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) look his equal before taking the win with the Perfect-Plex in a good little bout... Run DMC's performance of the "Wrestlemania Rap" in the ring went down like a lead balloon. It seemed the Trump Plaza crowd just didn't get it... The tag team title was defended under handicap rules as Mr Fuji teamed with the Powers of Pain to face champions Demolition. This was a big feud that had been going on for months and saw Fuji double cross Demolition at Survivor Series 1988 to join forces with the Powers of Pain. This was the big showdown with the title on the line but it was never going to be a classic. Fuji was the man who took the fall for his team which, while making sense in terms of storyline, was a bit of a cop out as the Powers didn't have to lose to their rivals...
 

The Rockers nail the Big Boss Man with a double dropkick

Dino Bravo beat Ronnie Garvin in a quick match which was rubbish. Before the opening bell sounded and with both Bravo and Garvin standing in the ring, Jimmy Snuka made his return by strolling to the ring and taking a bow. Strange... Match quality took a big step in the right direction next as the Brain Busters took on Strike Force who had recently reformed. However Rick Martel walked out on Tito Santana who had nailed him accidently with a flying forearm during the match. Santana was left to face the Busters alone which naturally ended in defeat. Martel would go on to be a successful mid-card heel following the Strike Force split... A special edition of Piper's Pit took place in the ring featuring Brother Love, Morton Downey Jr (a chain smoking chat show host) and of course Rowdy Roddy Piper. The segment went on too long, was only mildly funny and the crowd just weren't interested... Backstage Hulk Hogan gave what I consider to be one of his best interviews as he prepared to face the Macho Man in the main event. Hogan recapped the whole Mega Powers saga brilliantly in his usual over-the-top style... Another big feud came to a head as Jake The Snake Roberts battled Andre the Giant in a match refereed by Big John Studd. Towards the end of the bout Roberts attempted to bring Damien into the ring but Ted Dibiase ran down to attack Roberts and steal Damien who was still in the bag. Roberts chased down Dibiase and retrieved Damien while Andre attacked Studd in the ring. Roberts sent Andre packing, well Damien did anyway, and Roberts was declared the winner by disqualification. The match was dire and the ending settled nothing which makes you wonder why they even bothered...

Mr Perfect battles The Blue Blazer

The Hart Foundation beat Rhythm & Blues in a decent match where the Harts thwarted the heels attempt to use Jimmy Hart's megaphone as a weapon and Bret Hart decked the Honky Tonk Man with it for the win. You may have noticed in other reviews that I don't like to see faces cheating to win unless it's justified or in retaliation but as the heels own dirty tactics backfired on them here I have no problems with this finish... Ravishing Rick Rude upset the Ultimate Warrior to win the Intercontinental Championship in Warrior's best match of his career up to that point, arguably the only good match of his career up to that point! Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura did a superb job of forcing home the importance of the Intercontinental Title, a title which sadly the WWE have ensured doesn't mean so much these days. Selling like his life depended on it, Rude's performance was fantastic which in turn made the Warrior's offense look equally good. The finish came when Bobby Heenan hung on to the Warrior's leg from outside of the ring preventing him completing a suplex and also from kicking out as Rude landed on top of him. The result was a big surprise and after the decision Warrior took his frustrations out on Heenan giving him a botched Gorilla Press Slam injuring "The Brain"...

 

The Ultimate Warrior clotheslines Ravishing Rick Rude

Bad News Brown and Hacksaw Jim Duggan fought to a double disqualification in an awful slugfest that achieved nothing... The Red Rooster gained his revenge on an injured Bobby Heenan in a very quick match. Perhaps Heenan was unable to do any more or maybe they were short on time but either way it didn't do much for the Rooster... Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage in a very good main event to regain the WWF Heavyweight Championship. It was the climax of a superb year long storyline which started and ended in the middle of the ring at Trump Plaza. Elizabeth was an integral part of the story but thankfully she was removed from the equation mid-match enabling the two rivals to fight to a finish with a clear winner. Savage's performance was excellent as the insanely jealous outgoing champion and it was also one of Hogan's best performances of his WWF career. Hogan won cleanly and decisively which was the right decision on the big stage but don't feel too bad for Savage, he made good money with Hogan in the role of challenger over the summer of 1989.

The Mega Powers are about to explode

Overall

As with Wrestlemania IV the show suffered from being in front of a largely non-wrestling crowd and while they were a bit more receptive for the 1989 card, most notably for the main event, there were still long periods of silence throughout the show. The card itself was a touch better than the previous year but again there were too many poor or average matches which made the show seem overly long. The match that everyone wanted to see was Savage versus Hogan and thankfully it delivered in the ring as well as at the box office thanks to the tremendous build and execution of the feud. Wrestlemania V drew 767,000 buys which was a massive number especially at a time when pay-per-view availability was still quite limited. That number would not be surpassed until some ten years later at Wrestlemania 15.

For more on the Mega Powers story click here.

Results

1 Hercules pinned King Haku (6:57) **

2 The Twin Towers def The Rockers by pinfall (8:02) ***

3 Brutus Beefcake fought Ted Dibiase to a double count out (10:01) **1/4

4 The Bushwackers def The Fabulous Rougeaus by pinfall (9:10) DUD

5 Mr Perfect pinned The Blue Blazer (5:38) ***

6 Demolition (c) def The Powers of Pain & Mr Fuji by pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (8:20) *

7 Dino Bravo pinned Ronnie Garvin (3:06) 1/4

8 The Brain Busters def Strike Force by pinfall (9:17) **3/4

9 Jake Roberts def Andre the Giant by disqualification (9:44) DUD

10 The Hart Foundation def Rhythm & Blues by pinfall (7:40) **1/2

11 Rick Rude pinned The Ultimate Warrior (c) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (9:36) ***

12 Jim Duggan & Bad News Brown fought to a double disqualification (3:49) DUD

13 The Red Rooster pinned Bobby Heenan (0:32) SQ

14 Hulk Hogan pinned Randy Savage (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (17:54) ***3/4

Rating

23.50/70 = 33.57%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Royal Rumble 1989

WWF Royal Rumble 1989
Venue: Houston, Texas
Date: 15/01/89
Attendance: 19,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

Officially the first Royal Rumble was a TV special that aired on the USA Network going head to head with Jim Crockett Promotions' NWA Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view on 24th January 1988. However there was a Royal Rumble prior to that on 4th October 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri which was used as a test run for the concept. It was won by the One Man Gang who lastly eliminated the Junkyard Dog. The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first to be a pay-per-view event and would become one of the WWF's 'big four' alongside Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series.

 

Jacques Rougeau has Bret Hart in trouble in the opening bout

Review

The show got off to a good start as the Hart Foundation teamed with Hacksaw Jim Duggan to face the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo in a best two out of three falls contest. The French Canadians took the first fall when Raymond Rougeau pinned Bret Hart only for the faces to even the scores when Jim Duggan pinned Raymond. The decisive fall came when Duggan nailed Dino Bravo with a 2x4 behind the referee's back allowing Hart to cover for the victory. The match was action packed and the crowd was very into it but one of my pet hates is to see babyfaces blatantly cheating to win a match especially when it's unjustified. Duggan did this a lot during his WWF run...

 

A great shot of the Houston Summit

Rockin' Robin defeated Judy Martin to retain the Women's Title in a match that very few in the arena appeared to care about. The ladies rushed through a lot of moves and the match only seemed to exist to set up a future match between Robin and Sensational Sherri who had challenged the winner. Sherri also sat in with the commentary team during the match but sounded uncomfortable and added little... Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior faced Ravishing Rick Rude in a "Super Pose Down" where the winner was decided by the response from the crowd. Naturally under those rules, Warrior was the victor. During Warrior's final pose Bobby Heenan sprayed oil in his face, which Warrior neglected to sell for some reason, and Rude attacked him from behind to set up their title clash at Wrestlemania... The all-heel match between King Haku and former King Harley Race was another strange inclusion and was in fact cut from the video release of the event. The match was designed to help legitimise Haku as the King of the WWF but the highlight was Bobby Heenan, who managed both men, repeatedly switching his allegiance throughout the match depending on who had the advantage. Haku won clean by pinfall in a plodding but passable affair in what would be Race's last match in the WWF... Big John Studd was the surprise winner of the Royal Rumble match lastly eliminating Ted Dibiase who had supposedly purchased his number thirty entrance spot from Slick which enabled the Twin Towers to have their entrances next to each other. The decision to have Studd win the match was a strange one as his career was all but over and his victory led to precisely nothing.

 

The Rockers perform a double elbow as Mr Perfect looks on

In other happenings in the match: Ax and Smash of Demolition drew numbers one and two and had to battle each other... Andre the Giant jobbed Jake The Snake Roberts and sent him packing about two minutes after he entered the fray. Roberts returned later with Damien and caused Andre to eliminate himself, you know, because even monster heels are scared of snakes... Randy Savage entered at number 15 closely followed by Hulk Hogan at 18 in the hottest portion of the match. Hogan eliminated Savage who raced back into the ring to confront the Hulkster prompting Elizabeth to enter the ring and help smooth things over between the Mega Powers. Hogan then had to face both members of the Twin Towers alone but ultimately he was unsuccessful and found himself eliminated soon after. Showing great sportsmanship Hogan then eliminated the Big Boss Man from the outside and the two men fought all the way to the back... In an ending similar to the Survivor Series, Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed Savage who claimed there was no problems between he and Hogan and their clash during the Rumble was nothing more than a misunderstanding. The Mega Powers were about to explode...

 

Things heat up as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage enter the fray

Overall
Two good matches out of four makes the Royal Rumble look average on paper but thankfully the two good matches on the night were the more important ones. The Rumble match itself was enjoyable and unpredictable although it fell a bit flat after the eliminations of Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. The six man tag team match was also a fun bout but the remaining two contests were nothing much to write home about. The "Super Pose Down" was an important part of the Warrior/Rude feud leading into Wrestlemania but it was in truth a bit boring until Rude's sneak attack at the end. The first Royal Rumble pay-per-view drew just 165,000 buys.

He may have bought number 30 but it's not looking good for Ted Dibiase

Results
1 The Hart Foundation & Jim Duggan def The Fabulous Rougeaus & Dino Bravo in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match (15:42) ***
2 Rockin' Robin (c) pinned Judy Martin (6:24) *1/2
3 The Ultimate Warrior def Rick Rude in a "Super Posedown" contest N/A
4 Haku pinned Harley Race (9:01) *1/2
5 Big John Studd won the Royal Rumble match (64:53) **3/4

Rating

8.75/20 = 43.75%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)