SPORTS-(RASSLIN)
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What the HECK?/Intro- Rasslin Tape 6 (Summer 1989)
This tape appears to have more matches than #4 or 5..so I'll quit with the winded intro and
get it on, like a steamin pot of neckbone. Just remember: PTW= "Prime Time Wrestling",
SNME= "Saturday Night's Main Event" and MSG= "Madison Square Gardens".
Saturday Night's Main Event from Memorial Day weekend of 1989 opens the tape.
Hulk Hogan cuts a fairly tolerable promo for his upcoming cage match with
the Big Bossman. For once, his analogies make sense, as he compares the
cage to a courtroom, with Judge Hogan presiding.
SNME Match 1- WWF Intercontinental Title: Ravishing Rick Rude (c) (w/Bobby Heenan) vs.
King Hacksaw Jim Duggan
In the pre-match interview, Duggan dedicates his match to all the
deceased American soldiers. Okay, a guy with a monarch
gimmick, carrying an American flag pretending to protect democracy.
Logic in wrestling..... Back to the arena, and Jesse is jubilant that
Memorial Day is recognizing veterans like himself. Jesse: Veterans Day and
Memorial Day are two different things!
Duggan enters on the king platform, with various jobbers carrying the load.
Duggan has the crown and cape, so I'm assuming he's recovered them from Heenan
since tape 5.
Lock-up to start and Hacksaw pummels away on Rude with punches and
a powerslam. Rude mixes in a few forearm
shots and tries a sunset flip. Rude connects off the top turnbuckle with a flying
fist, but Hacksaw kicks out. Hacksaw then tries a piledriver for a two count.
Haku makes an appearance, and that only serves to get Hacksaw onto the ring floor.
Referees Hebner, Marella and Davis keep Haku out of the match and send him back
to the locker. Commercial break... and
Big John Studd is the Mountain Dew Slam of the Night.
Duggan gets back in and is nailed by a Rude dropkick to the forehead.
Rude goes up top and connects again. Rude slaps on a chinlock, and Vince clamors:
"His arm is over Hacksaw's nose!! He's trying to break his nose, Jesse!!" Duggan
"hacks up" to Rude's disdain. Couple of clotheslines and Duggan sets up for the
three point stance, and connects. Rude goes flying out of the ring, giving
Hacksaw the countout win. Duggan celebrates as if winning a title match by countout
is a GOOD thing. "Stars and Stripes Forever" plays and the crowd is HAPPY.
SNME Match 2- Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Sherri)
Basically a Macho Man squash all around. Vince and the cameras spend almost the entire match
on Sherri. Macho backs Anvil to the ropes, and Sherri grabs his leg. Backs him in again,
and Sherri chokes. Neidhart hits a sequence of shoulderblocks
and a clothesline for two. Macho keeps dumping Neidhart and Sherri chokes some more.
We get the point, already! Neidhart hits a dropkick on Macho
outside the ring. After an axehandle and more choking, Neidhart is prone in the ring.
Macho goes up top for the big elbow and the 3 count. Sherri comes in to
celebrate with her pot belly and mini skirt.
Savage really didn't do much, as this match was just
there to sell fans on how "evil" Sherri was.
SNME Match 3- WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Big Bossman (w/Slick)
This is the final blowoff match for the Hogan-Bossman feud that started in
September 1988, but was left unfinished when the "MegaPowers exploded".
But first, Slick has a special surprise for us: he introduces Zeus. Billed
at 6'11" and 340 pounds. Zeus walks down and stands outside the cage door and
won't let Hogan enter. He kicks Hogan, then delivers two double punches to the back.
Hogan sells it like an Andre buttdrop. Commercial break, and in a momemnt of possible
irony, it's an ad for "Road House", and we see Terry Funk hitting the floor. The match
starts as Bossman punches and chokes out Hogan. Bossman tries to climb out, but Hulk
knocks him down, and whips him for a big boot. Hulk tries to climb out, but this time
Bossman does the catchin' round here. More beatings, sloppy spinebuster and a big splash.
Bossman is sweating like Gilbert Brown after two-a-days in mid August. This time,
Bossman actually makes it over the top of the cage. Hogan gets up just in time (it
takes about four minutes for Bossman to "climb" over the top), reaches through the cage
and chokes Bossman. Now why doesn't Bossman just let go of the cage and FALL TO THE FLOOR??!
For the last time, ES- "LOGIC IN WRESTLING, DAMMIT!". Hogan pulls him back up the
top and hauls him down with a superplex. Both guys are knocked out. Ref Dave Hebner
breaks protocol by coming in and attempting to count out both men. Both guys get up.
More beatings. Slick tosses a chain to Bossman, but it eventually backfires and
Hogan chokes out Bossman with it. Hogan tries to scale the cage again. Slick knocks
out Hebner (REMEMBER THIS..the REF is KO'd!!)
and runs into the cage to stall Hogan, while Bossman tries to climb the other side.
Hulk back down. Punchamania runs wild on Slickster. Tugs Bossman off the cage, and he straddles
the top rope for the nutjob shot. For good measure, Hogan steals Slick's handcuffs and
cuffs Bossman to the top rope. Hogan then climbs over the cage, while Slick tries to
unlock Bossman. Hogan just barely beats a dangling Bossman foot by touching the floor, first.
Bell rings and Hogan retains. Hogan walks over, smashes Bossman, then REVIVES HEBNER!!!
So who called for the bell if the ref was knocked out??! Logic in wrest... oh, for shit's sake!
Hogan whups on Slick for awhile and celebrates to make the fans HAPPY. On a side note,
Jesse absolutely butchers Hogan during this match! He points out all of
Hogan's rulebreaking tendencies and how they're only "okay if Hogan does 'em!"
SNME Match 4- WWF Tag Team Championship: Demolition (c) vs. the Brainbusters (w/Bobby Heenan)
(Ax and Smash vs. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard)
Pre-match interview words of wisdom from Blanchard: "Bobby said we'd
get a title shot if we believed in ourselves". Heenan's a closet
Hulkamaniac?!?
Ax gets in most of the offense for the Demos. He absolutely kills Tully for the first four
minutes or so. Elbow smash sends Tully out, where Smash military presses him back in.
Ax clotheslines Tully out the other side, sending him flopping onto Heenan.
Heenan is pissed and wants in. Busters restrain him as commercial cuts in.
Smash comes in and beats on Tully for a bit. During a bearhug, Arn sneaks in
and hits a knee into Smash's back to turn the tide. Tully lifts Smash into
a stun gun (neck first into the ropes), then tags Arn for the spinebuster.
Both guys connect on a clothesline and slowly crawl to their partner.
Tully sneaks around on the outside, and trips Ax off the apron, preventing the
tag. Neat way to cut the tag off, and one we haven't seen for a few years.
Pier six errupts and all four guys brawl in the ring. Ax hiptosses Ref
Joey Marella, drawing the DQ. Demos beat on the Busters all the way back to the
dressing room. The Busters would be back a few months later, though...
Backstage, Jesse interviews Macho and Sherri. By virtue of beating Neidhart,
Savage is now the #1 contender. How the most recent champ ever had to
beat Neidhart to regain that status is beyond my comprehension. I've
always suspected wrestling 'rankings' were about as crystal clear as
college football's BCS system. All three end the interview with a
synchronous "Ohhhh Yeahhh!"
SNME match 5- "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka vs. Boris Zhukov (w/Slick)
Slick must have learned his lesson from Wrestlemania 3: He has a new suit, different
from the one he messed up during the Bossman match. Zhukov tries to ram Snuka
into the turnbuckle to no avail. Five turnbuckle smashes for Zhukov's noggin, a backbreaker
and the Superfly splash end it quickly, as Snuka gets the pin.
Sorry, I didn't tape the show-ending Hogan interview. End of SNME broadcast.
Random Match 1- Blue Blazer and Hillbilly Jim vs. Bad News Brown and Brooklyn Brawler
Back to PTW, with Lord Alfred Hayes and Tony Schiavone on the call. Jim insists on doe-see-dooe'ing with Blazer before the match.
Brown barks orders to his partner, forcing Brawler to work most of the match.
Brawler clotheslines and whips Blazer into the corner. Brawler misses the follow-up charge, as
Blazer floats over. Blazer leaps and hits a Hurracanrana on Brawler (Tony calls it a
"victory roll". The name was unknown back then) then reverses out of a
hiptoss with his flip thingie. Standing dropkick connects. Brawler tries to tag
Brown, but Bad News backs away. Tag to Hillbilly who does jackshit. Well, if you're gonna do jackshit,
at least make sure you're wearing overalls. Hillbilly hits
Brawler with ummm...I think it's a bulldog. For some reason, Hillbilly
lays on the mat, as if he just got slammed. Hot tag to Blazer, who immediately
gets molested with a Brawler clothesline. Tag to Brown, who barks
"I'll show ya how it's done!". Blazer instantly picks up and slams Brown.
Blazer goes up top for a flying dropkick. Brown avoids it, then hits the ghetto
blaster for the pin. Brawler looks bewildered, as Bad News wants nothing to do
with him and walks away. Hillbilly clotheslines Brawler out of the ring, and
it's time to get HAPPY, cuz Hillbilly's gonna clap and dance for YOU! Meanwhile,
Blazer covers his head and leans into the turnbuckle, still selling the head shot he took from
the ghetto blaster..or embarassment, take yer pick. Geez, if this
were to happen today, Blazer would get up and dropkick the shit out of Hillbilly! I'm not
an Owen Hart fan, but DAMN, Hillbilly is annoying!
Random Match 2- Bushwhackers vs. Bad News Brown and Brooklyn Brawler
(Butch Miller and Luke Williams)
From the very next week, on PTW, with Tony and Alfred. Let's throw some punches, mate.
Neatest thing in this match is seeing Brawler bounce off the ropes and land elbows.
Luke sneaks around and bites Brawler in the butt...yeah, kinda disturbing.
Brown comes in for a bit, drops some karate shots and works in a powerslam on
Luke. Brown tags out and "coincedentally" starts looking away and arguing with the crowd.
Luke avoids a Brawler charge. Battering Ram and the double knee smash thingie gives the Whackers
the pin. Afterwards, Brown turns around and is shocked that Brawler just lost the thing.
They argue for a bit and Brown calms him down. Surprise ghetto blaster lays out Brawler, and
Brown leaves on his own.
Random Match 3- Blue Blazer vs. Warlord (w/Mr. Fuji)
Jump to the next week of PTW, with Tony and Alfred, again. Basic Warlord squash, as he pounds
away on Blazer. Blazer gets a foot up to stop a charge, then goes up top to connect with
a missile dropkick. Two standing dropkicks and Blazer leaps from the second rope for a
cross-body. Warlord catches him in mid-air and turns it into a powerslam for the pin.
Very quick match. Blazer played the part of "Superstars of Wrestling" jobber. Yep, this was
the last TV match for the Blazer, as he left the WWF.
Random Match 4: WWF: Intercontinental Title: Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. Greg "the Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)
No, don't worry, this was shown in June 1989, but is really from February 1989.
PTW had a little segment with Tony Schiavone called "Coliseum Corner", where
they'd show recent matches to hype their video line. This is to pimp the
release of the Ultimate Warrior video, and is from the untelevised portion of
the NBC "Main Event". The same Milwaukee card where "the Megapowers exploded".
Lots of stalling and running to start. Warrior decides to chase after Hart for a few minutes.
Hammer gets in his patented elbows and hits a chop from the second turnbuckle.
Warrior hits him with a powerslam...then chases Hart some more. Valentine removes his
"Heartbreaker" shinguard. Warrior ends up with the guard, and clotheslines Valentine with it
for the pin. Yup, a clothesline wins the match. This must have been the final match on the
Main Event card, because the crowd immediately starts leaving.
Random Match 5- Bad News Brown vs. Brooklyn Brawler
The immediate blow-off to the red hot Brawler-Brown feud that sold out arenas.
Blink and you'll miss it, but Brawler is actually wearing a BROOKLYN Dodgers
t-shirt for this match. Outside brawl to start, as Bad News punches the post, again.
Lots of elbow smashes and very little wrestling. Brawler seems to be getting a
decent face pop from the crowd. Brawler charges and eats turnbuckle.
Ghetto blaster connects, and that's that. Pinfall win for Brown.
Random Match 6- Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart vs. Greg "the Hammer" Valentine
Heh, the hammer and the anvil..always thought they would've made a good team.
I have a flashback to the 1970's Incredible Hulk villains.
From MSG and PTW. No Jimmy Hart for Valentine. Hammer spends the first
few minutes rolling outside the ring. Lord Alfred Hayes
mentions the "annymosity between Jimmy Hart and the Hart Foundation. That is, uhh,
Jim Neidhart and Brett Neidhart". Anvil hits two shoulderblocks, a dropkick, then
splits the Hammer's legs into the ringpost. Anvil tries to mess with Hammer's
Hearbreaker shinguard. Ref tries to restrain Neidhart, but the Anvil shoves him off.
Valentine grabs the guard and wallops Neidhart in the back of the head to get the pin.
Random Match 7- Hercules vs. "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
From Nassau Coliseum, with the scintillating commentary duo of Tony Schiavone and
"Mr Intensity" Sean Mooney. Tony was tolerable at this point, but Mooney had the mutant
power to make a Teri Hatcher porn movie seem boring. Hennig stalls like mad and keeps
bailing to tick off Herc. After five exits, he finally gets in a few chops on Herc,
but Herc goes to the side headlock. Herc punches Hennig into the corner and
Mr. P does his traditional flip/punch oversell. More outside stalling.
Herc whips Hennig to the tunrbuckle a few times, allowing him to sell those
malicious corner shots. Outside again. Herc finally slingshots Mr. P back in. High knee and
clothesline as Herc singals for the backbreaker. Just as he lifts him up, the bell
sounds and we have a time limit draw. Hennig maintains his "unbeaten" streak. I suppose
that a record of about 66-0-1 would technically still qualify as "perfect"... but
it's logic in wrestling, and all that.
SNME Match 1- Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Sherri)
Since the week after WMV, Brutus had been calling Sensational Sherri "Scary Sherri", and
shoehorned his way into the Hulk-Savage-Zeus thing.
Sometime in June, Macho and Sherri finally got one over on the Barber.
They ambushed him on the Brother Love shows and shaved off the back of his mullet.
This was from the first-ever late July SNME. I was on vacation and missed that entire show,
but was able to tape a few repeat matches from PTW. Punches and outside sprinting to start.
Brutus keeps punching, and works in a high knee for a 2 count. Whip to the buckle,
then it's (gasp) Air Bruti, as Beefer hits a high cross body on Macho for another 2.
Somehwere in here, Macho hits a few elbowsmashes and we get a backslide attempt.
Savage pulls Beefer outside, and Sherri nails him with her heel. Top rope axehandle from
Macho to the outside. Sherri then sneaks in and chokes Beefer with her nylon. Sherri holds up
Beefcake, but it's HEEL MISCOMMUNICATION, as Macho's knee decks Sherri.
Savage charges again, but gets backdropped over the rope and onto Sherri. Macho then sends Sherri
back to the locker to get... Zeus!!! The Big Z makes his way down as the duo in
the ring trade 2 counts. Savage is whipped into the ropes and Brutus catches him with the
sleeper. Zeus runs in and hits his butterfly punches to Beefcake's back, drawing the
DQ. Heels start to beatdown Bruti. As would become the standard in later years: a Brutus
beatdown is the same as going up to the top of the police station and turning on the
"Hogan Signal". Hulk runs in, but Zeus is IMPERVIOUS TO PAIN!! Double chairshots only
draw a huge grin from the future "Friday" bully. Macho and Sherri talk Zeus out of the
ring, while Hogan tries to look all worried and stuff. Actually a decent match from
Brutus, though.
Random Match 8- Hart Foundation vs. Powers of Pain (w/Mr. Fuji)
(Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart vs. Barbarian and Warlord)
Back to PTW, with Tony and Alfred. Alfred mentions that "the Powers of Pain are the
most impressive team of this year, and definitely next year". Keep in mind that
the Powers lost to Demolition at WM5, spent the Summer wrestling individually,
and would be dissolved in time for WM6. Neidhart starts with Barbarian and slaps
on the side headlock immediately. Barbarian throws him to the ropes and
a shoving/shoulderblock match results. Barbarian stops to flex, but Bret Hart sneaks in
behind and the Harts do the double-team schoolboy manuever on him. Quick tags
for both teams, with nothing special happening. Bret Hart comes in and settles into
whipping boy role for about five minutes. Melee ensues after a broken bearhug.
Neidhart slingshots Hart over the ropes, onto Barbarian, for a two count.
Neidhart then clotheslines Barbarian out, and Warlord does the same to the Anvil.
All four guys fight outside (surprise: Fuji's cane gets involved, as he
errantly smacks Warlord). Bret Hart rolls back into the ring to
score a countout win for the Harts.
SNME Match 2- WWF Tag Team Championship: Demolition (c) vs. Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan)
(Ax and Smash vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson)- 2 out of 3 falls
Re-broadcast from PTW, and that becomes important later on. Important to note that
this match had no real feud or build-up to it. Demos fought the Busters on May's
SNME, but no feud resulted. In fact, the Demos spent the Summer feuding with
Big Bossman and Akeen. 2 out of 3 falls, and the first fall is
basically a Demolition squash. Ax and Tully start. As was the norm, Tully gets absolutely
clobbered. Arn doesn't fair much better, but does get his spinebuster on Smash.
Heenan gets on the apron and is sent to the ringpost for his troubles.
Just when the Busters seem to turn the tide, Smash drops Arn onto the ropes,
neck-first (stun-gun) to get the pin and the first fall. Crowd is nuts! Make no mistake,
Demolition was supremely OVER in 1989.
Second fall is typical old school heel/Four Horsemen style. They beat on Ax for
most of it, with quick double teams and tags. As much as I loved this match when it first aired,
here it's pretty boring, with lots of punching. Ax finally hits the hot tag to Smash, who
breaks out some rags and a bucket, and cleans house. He gorilla press slams Tully.
Arn gets sent out. Referee Joey Marella tries to stop the Demos' flagrant double teaming.
Almost on cue (well, yeah...it WAS on cue), Andre the Giant waddles down to
ringside. Right as he does,
Smash holds up Tully for the Demolition Decapitation. Ax covers, but no count-
the Demos have been disqualified for double-teaming. Second fall to the
exhausted Busters. (Note: some wrestling rags disupted that the match should
have been made non-title at this point, due to the old rule of
"you can't win a title by DQ or CO". It was a minor controversy around wrestling.
I don't believe a 2/3 title match had ever involved a DQ until this point).
Andre's taken a seat as we start the third fall. Both teams are pretty winded and Smash's
face paint is almost entirely wiped off. More typical Horsemen work on Smash.
Match breaks down again, as Ax gets the rags and bucket, this time. Arn grabs Smash
and holds him for a top rope axehandle from Tully. Smash breaks Arn's hold, and Tully
brains his partner. Ax is off chasing Heenan and arguing with Marella, I guess.
Suddenly... tape break! We see Arn covering Smash for the win!
Whoa, whoa, whoa... back in the PTW studio, Roddy Piper and
Gorilla Monsoon are outraged. Bobby Heenan, over in PTW's Studio B (home of
the short-lived "Bobby Heenan Show") brags about his "clean" title win.
After commercial break, Piper anounces he has the "real" footage. "Roll that
footage!". In which we satisfy Paul Harvey by seeing the Rest of the Story:
After Tully nails Arn, Andre quickly tosses a steel chair to
Tully. Tully BRAINS Smash with it, and tosses the chair back out.
An exhausted Arn covers Smash for the 3 count and the tag team titles! A few
pure wrestling fans in the first row go nuts. Heenan quickly grabs the belts and
the Heenan Family runs off. A complete shocker, as 1/2 of the Four Horsemen
steal what would be their only WWF Titles. The Busters were just
middle of the road WWF heels- people booed them because Heenan was the manager.
Now, by knocking off the most popular team in the WWF (a team that had reigned
for over a year, since WM4), they are instantly HATED! This was probably the
WWF's match of the year. Good booking, good controversy and great emotion.
Random Match 9- Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka vs. Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart)
Another PTW exclusive, with Tony and Alfred on the call. Sometime since his last
appearance on my tapes (which was WM5 against Ronnie Garvin), Bravo has replaced Frenchy Martin
with Jimmy Hart. Yes, THE most Electrifying Move in Pre-Determined Sports
Competition- The Garvin Stomp (or toe-tap) ended Frenchy MArtin's
WWF career. And people will try to tell you how lame that move was! It took out
Frenchy Martin! BY GAWD, how much more proof do you need??!! Oh yeah, Bravo's
also changed his wardrobe- he has the light blue French Canadian flag motif
going on. So this means no more embroidered "Dino" trunks for all you purists. Anyways,
short lock-up to start. Criss-cross action sees Superfly leapfrog over,
hit a backdrop and a dropkick. Dino escapes and comes back with the
Greco-Roman Knucklelock Challenge!! Snuka locks up with him, and Bravo works it into some kicks.
Bravo sends Snuka out of the ring, then welcomes him back with more punches. It should
also be notcied that Snuka looks pretty disgusting in this match- his trunks seem too small and
are approaching "SPEEDO" status.
Yes, I am scared. In what looks like a blown spot, Jimmy Hart
holds Snuka on the ropes. Bravo advances, trips and Jimmy fall off the apron.
Snuka wanders around for abit and the two brawl. Referee "Good Dave" Hebner calls for the
bell- pantomiming that Hart grabbed Snuka's leg. Messy ending, and a DQ win for
Snuka.
Random Match 10- Ultimate Warrior vs. Haku
Another PTW one, with Tony and Alfred. Haku still has his "king" trunks.
Warrior enters to a big pop and the two actually work a decent match.
Warrior with a powerslam, leapfrog and a hiptoss! Haku misses a legdrop.
Warrior with his usual shoulderblocks and clotheslines. Warrior goes for the big splash,
but Haku gets the knees up. Haku works over Warrior for a bit and hits a backbreaker.
"Oh-num-shee-bah" is the chant from Haku. What the HELL does that mean!?? He would
always begin repeating it, whenever he got winded in his matches. Andre waddles out
to take a look. He conveinently turns around and looks at the crowd. Warrior goes up top
for a top-rope axehandle! Whoa. Shoulderblock and the pinfall win for Warrior.
Afterwards, IC Champ Rick Rude runs in to beatdown the Warrior with a piledriver. Warrior
fights him off and gorilla presses him out of the ring, onto Andre's....
toes. Andre sells it and falls down. The Heenan Family departs. This would lead to
Andre ambushing and choking Warrior a few days later on "Superstars of Wrestling".
That's it for the weekly filler matches, as it's time for...
SummerSlam 1989- 8-29-89 Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey
This was probably the WWF's best show, of the year 1989.
Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone are the commentators. Jesse reminds us of an angle where
Tony forced Bobby Heenan off of "Wrestling Challenge". Actually, Heenan got pissed
when the third man, Schiavone, came along, and he walked out. Had forgotten about
that. In retrospect, this
was probably Heenan's best all-around year in the WWF. He had two championships,
had some great verbal duels with Roddy Piper and Monsoon, and even had the
hilarious "Bobby Heenan Show" (go to
ddtdigest.com, NOW to
check out that stuff!) For weeks, the highlight of
PTW was Heenan vs. Piper. If you want to track down some vintage Heenan,
get some of his studio work from 1989!
Again, since you've probably seen or read SummerSlam 89, I'll do quick results
and Neat Things You May Have Missed.
SS89 Match 1- Hart Foundation vs. BrainBusters (w/Bobby Heenan)
(Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson)
Non-title match
Yup, a classic Heenan contradiction, as the titles are NOT up for grabs (see
Tape 5 for some fun). Exceptional tag team match, especially when you
consider 3 of the 4 involved are pretty damn good. Busters win when Arn drops a cheapshot double
axehandle onto Bret for the pin.
Mean Gene interviews Dusty Rhodes backstage, if you wheeeeel.
Dusty was in the midst of his feud with the
Big Bossman and thus, has the nightstick and his own special policeman's
hat. Yup, polka dots, cowboy boots and cop stuff... the 7th Village Person.
SS89 Match 2- Dusty Rhodes vs. Honkytonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart)
Jesse: "I heard Dusty entered Mr. Universe and won Most Abs".
Despite two restholds, Dusty's pretty animated in this match, and it is
rather fun. Jimmy accidentally brains Honky with the gee-tar. Dusty drops
ONE ELBOW to get the pin. Fans go HAPPY!
Sean Mooney interviews a wasted Honky after the match- who
then goes into a decent Elvis Presley impersonation.
Backstage, Mean Gene interviews "King" Hacksaw Duggan and Demolition. Smash mentions
that the Demos have been out in the parking lot, tossing cars around, in
preparation for Team Juggbutt (Andre, Big Bossman and Akeem). "Arrr,
we're gonna kick their stinkin teeth in!!" Hacksaw is wearing a black hockey mask and
proclaims himself
"King Demolition".
SS89 Match 3- Red Rooster vs. Mr. Perfect
It looks like Rooster screws up his knee on a powerslam attempt.
Mr. P mocks the Rooster's head-bob/rooster walk.
Hennig carries the match and scores a quick pinfall with the perfect-plex.
Hennig actually receives a minor pop from the crowd.
Back to Mean Gene, who's with Intercontinental Champ Rick Rude and manager
Bobby Heenan. The "SummerSlam" logo falls off the billboard and Gene can clearly
be heard saying "Fuck it!". They cut back to the arena, immediately. Jesse sells
the screw up by mentioning someone is chasing after Okerlund.
Back to the interview area, where the sign has been fixed, and
Rude gives his final monologue with the belt.
SS89 Match 4- Tito Santana and the Rockers vs. Rick Martel and the Rougeau Brothers (w/Slick and Jimmy Hart)
Tito works most of the match and gets the crap kicked out of him. Good tag team stuff that
ends when Martel sneaks in to roll-up Marty Jannetty for the pin.
Video recap of the Warrior-Rude feud. Included: The Royal Rumble Super-posedown,
WMV title switch, Warrior interrupts a Rude Awakening in July, the Haku match above,
and Andre choking out the Warrior on "Superstars".
SS89 Match 5- WWF Intercontinental Title: Ravishing Rick Rude (c) (w/Bobby Heenan) vs.
Ultimate Warrior
Tony makes fun of the Brain, and Jesse replies: "I don't hear anybody calling you
'Mr. Intelligence, Tony Schiavone'!"
Rude enters first and insults the "SummerSlam sweathogs" that have ventured out to
the arena. Rude's trunks say: "Feel the Heat", which was SummerSlam's subtitle.
Great match between these two, that ends when Roddy Piper comes down to moon
Rude. Warrior with a belly-to-back suplex, gorilla press and big splash to
regain the belt to a HUGE pop.
Mean Gene starts a non-stop interview-o-rama...all in one take. In sequence:
Mr. Perfect, Roddy Piper, Ronnie Garvin and Rude/Heenan. Piper acts semi-drunk,
and he mentions: "What am I gonna do next? heh. I'm gonna drive Voyager 3!!" Intermission
lasts for a bit, then it's time for..
SS89 Match 6- Demolition and "King Hacksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Twin Towers and Andre the Giant (w/
Slick and Bobby Heenan)
A sign in the audince sez: "Demolition will Topple The Twin Towers"...and has a crude drawing of
two skyscrapers shaking...ouch. Combine that with Jim Duggan twirling the American Flag,
and this match suddenly has an eerie feeling to it. Strange. Hacksaw and the
Demos quickly shake us out of any weirdness by all removing their masks and "blaaaaah"-ing
for the camera. Hacksaw is wearing a pretty nifty stars n/ stripes face paint scheme.
Best part of the match sees Smash slam Bossman, then
IMMEDIATELY slam Akeem! Akeem lands a second rope splash on Smash. Hacksaw brains
him with the 2x4, then Smash covers for the 3 count.
Video recap of some Hogan-Zeus-Savage stuff.
Backstage interview features Zeus, Macho Man, Sherri and the "cauldron of madness"!
SS89 Match 7- Hercules vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)
But first, a special ring intro by Rugged Ronnie Garvin. Dozens get HAPPY.
Valentine wins with the old "feet on the ropes for extra leverage" trick.
Garvin comes in to inform the ref and reverse the decision. Herc now wins by DQ.
Valentine argues, and gets a "hands of stone" punch for his troubles.
SS89 Match 8- "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka vs. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil)
DiBiase grabs the mic: "The Million Dollar Champion..AND, the man who ended Jake Roberts'
wrestling career! MWAHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!". Gotta love DiBiase's evil laugh! DiBiase
wins by countount, but Virgil then falls victim to the old chiche: "DiBiase won
at SummerSlam, and all I got was a Superfly splash"
Video recap of some Hogan-Zeus-Savage stuff.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, here to read a special poem...the Genius!"
Genius slams Hogan, acting especially homosexual while doing so.
Backstage again, where Hulk and Brutus talk about traffic in New York and how it
"parted like Moses at the Red Sea" for their Harleys. Hogan makes special note of
the special package that was on the back of his fender - Elizabeth.
"Those sexy curvaceous legs...
and headlights pointing straight ahead". It's kinda unsettling to see Hogan,
a married man, fantasize about someone else's wife on national TV.
SS89 Match 9- Hulk Hogan and Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake vs. Zeus and
"Macho Man" Randy Savage.
After the intros, Hogan lets Howard Finkel introduces Elizabeth. This was her first
appearance on WWF TV since Wrestlemania V, and she looks pretty slimmed down. Lots of
makeup and poofy hair, too. I was 15, and
still wanted to bang her like a screen door in a hurricane. I almost couldn't
blame Hogan...almost. Anyways, kinda fun to watch Zeus no-sell Hogan's stuff, as the match
begins. Powerslam, legdrop, win for Hogan and Beefer, etc. Crowd goes HAPPY as
Liz and Brutus crop Sherri's hair (which, coincedentally, was done up in a long pony
tail in case someone wanted to chop her hair off).
End of SummerSlam broadcast
Random Match 11- WWF Tag Team Championship: Bushwhackers vs. BrainBusters (c) (w/Bobby Heenan)
Butch Miller and Luke Williams vs. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard
Back to PTW, with Tony and Lord Alfred.
Tully slaps off Luke's hat, to start. Quick lock-up, and Luke backs Tully into the ropes.
Brawling from Luke, and things quickly breakdown. All four guys keep entering the ring,
and the usual plodding 'Whacker offense results. Double clothesline sends Arn out of the ring.
Back in, and Arn whips Butch to the corner, then goes up to the top rope. Butch knocks him
off with more punches. "Yaaaayyyyyy". Another melee, and it settles on Luke and Tully as
the legal men. Tully gets an armbar and forces Luke to the his knees. Luke bites his thigh.
Tully immediately tags Arn, and Luke chomps on HIS leg. Four way breakdown, AGAIN, and
the Busters tumble out of the ring. Arn tries to get back in, but Butch crawls over and
headbutts him out of the ring. Luke rolls back in and the Whackers win by countout.
Why'd you tape this??
WWF seemed to slow down a bit after WM5. Most of the summer was spent hyping
"No Holds Barred", the incoming Zeus, and establishing Sherri as a heel manager.
House shows were decent, but the WWF went back to keeping the good stuff off of TV.
The "new talent" for the summer consisted of Dusty Rhodes, Zeus, the returning Piper,
Lanny Poffo in a new gimmick, and "The Widowmaker" Barry Windham. (Windham did nothing but
show up in squash/jobber matches once a month). The only notable departures were
Big John Studd and the Blue Blazer...oh, Frenchy Martin too.
The Studd departure was a sizeable blow, as
he was booked to face off against Andre for most of the Summer. He may have even
been pencilled in to the SummerSlam six-man match with Demolition, above. The biggest
surprise was the Demos-
Busters title change, which resulted in a pretty decent feud that would main event
house shows in the Fall. In the next tape review we see Survivor Series 1989,
the Demos regain their belts, and Curt Hennig start to squeeze into the title picture.
Until then, the pleasure has been...all ours.
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