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