SummerSlam 89: Feel the Heat!

SummerSlam 89: Feel the Heat!

State of the Squared Circle: Since SS88 the Mega Powers broke up with Hulk Hogan pinning Randy Savage for the title at WrestleMania V and even stole away his manager Miss Elizabeth. Savage has moved on to feud with Brutus Beefcake, while Hogan is premiering his first starring role in "No Holds Barred." In what has to be one of the worst ideas in wrestling history (and that's saying something), Vince decides to have actor Tiny Lester come into the WWF as his movie character Zeus and tag with Savage against Hogan and Beefcake at the second SummerSlam. For the weeks leading up to the event, the WWF claims that while filming the movie Zeus (who they never refer to as Lester) became jealous and followed Hogan back to the WWF. Meanwhile, NWA Four Horsemen members have joined the WWF and future Nitro play-by-play man Tony Schiavone is on the mike for the PPV.

The Venue: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ

The Card:

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Brain Busters def. The Hart Foundation

The Brain Busters was a great tag team but looked really odd in the WWF. First of all Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard were the window dressing of the 4 Horsemen, supporting Ric Flair and putting on great matches in the NWA. In the WWF they came out to no music, rarely got the mic away from Bobby Heenan but they were great in the ring, including a spike pile drive finisher. As for Bret and the Anvil, they were just being strung along here and wouldn't get rolling as tag champs til further down the road and of course Bret went on to much bigger things on his own. It's awesome to look back and see Bret and Arn and Bret and Tully go at it in this old school match.

Dusty Rhodes def. The Honky Tonk Man

Ah, the American Dream! Along with Arn and Tully, another big NWA star had switched over to the WWF. Dusty returned to the World Wrestling Federation for the first time since feuding with Superstar Graham in the 70s. He put on the most entertaining "introduction" vignettes of all time, going from blue collar job to blue collar job (nicely collected on the Dusty Rhodes DVD set). Vince would soon enough put polka-dots on the Dream and make his WWF run a joke, but for now it was good to see the Soul back in the northeast.

Mr. Perfect def. The Red Rooster

Terry Taylor, who wasn't a bad wrestler, put up with the Red Rooster gimmick for the length of his short stay in the WWF and may have had is best opportunity to put on a good match here against Hall of Famer, Mr. Perfect. Didn't happen. The high point for the Rooster in the WWF was his run against Bobby Heenan right before WrestleMania V.

The Fabulous Rougeaus & Rick Martel def. The Rockers & Tito Santana

An early sign of boring booking here, though you'll see this at about every pay per view these days. The 6 man tag was easily forgettable, which is a shame since Rick Martel and Shawn Michaels would put on a good solo bout 3 year later at the SummerSlam in England.

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Ultimate Warrior def. “Ravishing” Rick Rude to retain

Decent match by the Warrior, who wins the championship back after being screwed by Heenan and Rude at WrestleMania V. Of course the Warrior gets an assist from Roddy Piper who comes down to the ring and distracts Rude by mooning him towards the end. Warrior takes advantage and gets the pin to end this feud...For now...

Demolition & Hacksaw Jim Duggan def. Andre The Giant, Akeem & Big Boss Man

Ugh. Two 6 man tag matches in 1 PPV? It's really amazing the ring held up. Except for a battle royal, it's hard to imagine much more weight in the ring.

Hercules def. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine via disqualification

This match was a part of what UB still thinks is the greatest wrestling gimmick feud of all times. Rugged Ronnie Garvin had lost to the Hammer in a retirement match and to get revenge came back as a wrestler (ranked Garvin as the #7 all time ref on UB's previous Top 10 Refs list) and kept causing Valentine to lose his matches. This time around, Garvin gave Herc the DQ win even after the Hammer scored the pin.

“Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase def. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka via countout

UB really has zero recollection of this match. Maybe that's a good thing since wasting a match between two greats like this on a countout finish just plain sucks.

Hulk Hogan & Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake def. “Macho Man” Randy Savage & Zeus

Now to the biggest dud main event in the history of SummerSlam...Actually Diesel vs Mabel was worse, but you get the point. Zeus was so freaking stiff that it forced Savage to put on 90 percent of the work. Scary Sherri took a beating in the end as Hulk and Beefcake end up with the victory after Zeus was knocked down with Sherri's brick-loaded purse. Sadly Zeus would stick around for follow up matches in a steel cage.

Bonus: The No Holds Barred "Dookie" scene: