August 28th, 1989
Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey
By the summer of 1989, the World Wrestling Federation had finally begun to work out how to deliver blockbuster pay per views which went above and beyond your average large houseshow with a fancy name.
Nowhere was that more evident than with the arrival of the second annual Summerslam, an event which not only looked the part, but delivered the goods in terms of entertaining the crowd, and delivered them in spades.
Our show tonight opened with a brief montage of excited wrestling fans arriving at the Meadlowlands arena.
We had some decked in Ultimate Warrior facepaint waving at the camera, some buying merchandise and a young child no more than five year’s old doing the Rick Rude hip-swivel in a gesture which would probably be deemed inappropriate by today’s standards.
From there, we were welcomed to the show by our commentators for the evening, Tony Schiavone and Jesse ‘The Body’ Venture before a second video package, complete with awful, typically 80s, music, intersperses clips of WWF superstars with cute shots of people enjoying the summertime, as though to suggest that there was some sort of connection between The Hart Foundation decaptiating an opponent and a young boy playing on a swing.
Speaking of the Harts, they were up first in our opening contest.
Non-title match:
WWF Tag Team Champions The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard w/ Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan) VS. The Hart Foundation (Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart)
And so for the second year in a row, Summerslam kicked off with a very memorable tag team contest.
Apparently, reigning champions Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard were not required to put the belts on the line since our match tonight was signed before the Brain Busters stole the gold in an upset win over Demolition.
Still, eager to gain a title shot, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart took the fight to their opponents in a thrilling opening contest which bucked almost all the tag team norms and was all the better for it.
Eschewing the usual format of faces take charge, heels do something sneaky, babyface in peril, hot tag, finish, here we had The Hart Foundation dominating the bulk of the match, with the Busters grabbing brief moments of offence here and there.
Regarded as something of a dream match (given Arn and Tully’s long affiliation with the NWA), this opening match delivered exactly what fans had hoped for; crisp technical wrestling, drama and excitement in abundance.
Following a lengthy battle, Bobby Heenan distracted the referee as Bret attempted to pin Blanchard. The distraction allowed Anderson to leap from the ropes and attack Hart, then role Blanchard out of the ring and cover The Hitman. Referee Joey Marella returned his attention to the action, paid no mind that Anderson wasn’t the legal man in the ring, and delivered the three count.
Your Winners: The Brain Busters
If they were going with that finish, you have to wonder why they didn’t just make this one a title match. Surely clinging on to their belts by such dastardly tactics could have only helped the Busters’ cause as dirty, dirty heels whilst making the Hart Foundation look good too in the process.
Heading to the back, Mean Gene Okerlund caught up with a clearly elated American Dream Dusty Rhodes.
Donning a police officer’s hat and clutching a nighstick as reminders of his ongoing problems with The Big Bossman, Dusty focussed his attentions this evening squarly on The Honky Tonk Man. ‘I ammmmmm the propaaaaaaaaayatuh, of Heartbreak Hotel, I aaaaaaaaam, the man, who wears the blue suede shoes, baby’ screamed the dream as he vowed to settle a score with the Honky Tonk over who was the better singer, dancer and wrestler.
Say what you want about Dusty’s WWF run, that promo was just wonderful. The Dream was clearly having the time of his life, and his enthusiasm here radiated through the screen.
American Dream Dusty Rhodes VS. The Honky Tonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart)
Yet if Rhodes was having a great time, the same could not be said for his opponent, The Honky Tonk Man, nor, sadly, for anybody watching this abysmal contest.
Going for far too long without a single interesting thing happening in the ring, this was beyond dull.
Things kind of livened up towards the end. The referee took a bump, Honky held Dusty in place, Jimmy Hart grabbed Honky’s guitar and attempted to smash The Dream with it. Dusty ducked, Honky took the blow. Dusty dropped an elbow, the referee recovered and a three count was made.
Your winner: Dusty Rhodes
Afterwards, a visibily dazed and confused Honky Tonk Man told Sean Mooney that everybody had come to hear him sing and asked somebody to show him to the stage. This brief post-match promo was the highlight of the entire thing.
Backstage, Mean Gene met up with Demolition and Hacksaw King Duggan. Duggan, looking all kinds of funky in his King of the Ring garb with a Demolition mask concealing his grizzly mug, stood back whilst Ax and Smash did most of the talking.
Mostly, they talked about going back to ‘basic training’ in order to prepare for their upcoming six man tag team match against Andre The Giant, Akeem and The Big Boss Man. Smash also mentioned something about tossing cars around the parking lot.
Mr. Perfect vs. The Red Rooster
With Mr. Perfect in the midst of his ‘perfect’ streak, the outcome of this brief contest was never really in question.
Yet that was no reason why two fantastic wrestlers like Perfect and Terry ‘Red Rooster’ Taylor couldn’t put on a great little wrestling match. Indeed, the opening moments showed all the signs of developing into something special.
Alas, we were barely in a minute into battle when the Rooster’s knee blew out from under him, forcing a change of plans and an early win for Perfect via the PerfectPlex.
Your Winner: Mr. Perfect
When you think of famous professional wrestling bloopers, it’s never usually long before all thoughts turn to the infamous ‘Mean Gene F-Bomb’ incident which took place at Summerslam 1989.
Unfortunately, your reviewer’s copy of the show skips this out for seemingly obvious reasons, but if you can track down an original one, this is where you’ll find it.
After a disastrous first attempt (saved by Ventura’s hillarious comments), Mean Gene did finally get his interview with Ravising Rick Rude and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan.
Tito Santana and The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) VS. Rick Martel and The Fabulous Rougeaus (w/ Jimmy Hart and Slick)
Towards the finish, Rowdy Roddy Piper (who was having troubles of his own with Rude) made his way out to the ring and mooned the champion.
The distraction was enough for a fatigued Ultimate Warrior to recover, batter Rick Rude and hit him with the Big Splash.
Your Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: The Ultimate Warrior
This year, Randy Savage was his opponent rather than his partner, whilst Savage’s former valet, Elizabeth, was introduced before the first blow could be struck as being in the good guy’s camp.
Then the bell rang, and Summerslam 1989’s main event accelerated into an exciting, entirely captivating main event which kept the audience enthralled throughout.
WWF Champion Hogan, and his mission to fell the seemingly indestructable Zeus provided the focal point of this entertaining main event whilst Savage and Beefcake, not to mention Sherri and Liz on the outside, all played their parts perfectly too.
The end of this epic encounter came when Hogan finally got Zeus on his back, causing the crowd to erupt in the process. One Leg Drop of Doom later, and this thing was over…for now.
Your Winners: Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake
After the bell, Sensational Sherri (who admittedly looked incredibly sexy here), recieved an atomic drop (no doubt flashing the crowd her panties in the process) from Hogan for her troubles before having her lengthy hair chopped by Elizabeth and Brutus Beefcake.
Despite the few especially dull or dismal enocunters (Rhodes/Honky and Dibiase/Snuka), Summerslam 1989 was an exceptionally good show.
Compelling battles from Warrior/Rude and the main event, coupled with great wrestling from the Harts/Brainbusters and our first six man tag match, not to mention insane promos, all helped to create a sense of excitement which made Summerslam 1989 incredibly fun to watch.
In terms of its importance in the greater history of professional wrestling, this isn’t necessarily must-see stuff, but if you want to sit back enjoy some thoroughly entertaining old-school WWF, you can do far worse than this show.
The Mega Maniacs!