SUMMERSLAM 1989
August 28, 1989 in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Meadowlands Arena
After the initial success of SummerSlam 1988, it was hardly surprising that the WWF continued on the next year. In keeping with the previous year, the main event was a tag team match but unlike the year previous, one of the wrestlers involved was actor Tiny Lister Jr, who was feuding with Hulk Hogan as a way to promote the latest Hogan movie.
We also got a dream match between The Hart Foundation and The Brian Busters which was notable for it being a non-title match for the tag team titles, even more curious still was the Busters winning the match.
The curse of the Intercontinental Championship curse also struck again with Rick Rude dropping the title back to The Ultimate Warrior as Warrior’s ascension to the WWF Title kicked into high gear.
Fun fact? Did you know Dino Bravo beat Koko B. Ware in a dark match?
So as 411 continues to look at each SummerSlam in the lead up to this years eveny, the following writers have lent their thoughts about the 1989 version –
Wes Kirk: Recent addition to the 411 clan. Wes currently is responsible for The Wrestling Sandwich every Saturday.
Larry Csonka: 411 webmaster and editor of just about everything around these parts. Often hated and always over opinionated, Larry offers his old school, southern thoughts to proceedings.
Thomas Hall: Thomas currently has the unenviable task of recapping RAW and IMPACT every week. Madness will be his in no time at all.
Scott Rutherford: Longtime 411 stalwart and jack of all trades for over 7 years. Has bounced between most zones as an editor or news columnist. Spends most of his time these days offering music reviews and a Top 5 Wrestling contributor.
THE CARDsize = +2> The Brain Busters vs. The Hart Foundation – Non Title Tag Team Match Winner: The Brain Busters Time: 16:23
Dusty Rhodes vs. The Honky Tonk Man Winner: Dusty Rhodes via pinfall. Time: 9:36
Mr. Perfect vs. the Red Rooster Winner: Mr. Perfect via pinfall. Time: 3:21
Tito Santana & The Rockers vs. Rick Martel & The Fabulous Rougeaus Winner: Rick Martel & The Fabulous Rougeaus via pinfall. Time: 14:58
Intercontinental Championship – Rick Rude vs. The Ultimate Warrior Winner: The Ultimate Warrior via pinfall to regain the IC Championship. Time: 16:02
Jim Duggan & Demolition vs. Andre The Giant & The Twin Towers Winner: Jim Duggan & Demolition via pinfall. Time: 7:23
Greg Valentine vs. Hercules Winner: Hercules via DQ. Time: 3:08
Ted DiBiase vs. Jimmy Snuka Winner: Ted DiBiase via countout. Time: 6:27
Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. Randy Savage & Zeus Winner: Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake via pinfall.
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Best Match: Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior. This was a damn fun match. Like I said, these two just have freaky chemistry together for no reason at all and every time they’re in the ring it works well. Warrior is slowed down in these matches and it works quite well for him. Rude was a completely opposite style than his but for some reason they just meshed so well. Great match that made sense and furthered Piper vs. Rude like it was supposed to do. Warrior would hold the title until he vacated it after winning at Mania. Worst Match: Honky Tonk Man vs. Dusty Rhodes. This was atrocious. Both men had issues wrestling anything close to a passable match and were asked to put on a good match out there. That’s a bad combination and Dusty apparently was sleepy as he was in about 18 rest holds in a 10 minute match. That was the biggest issue of the whole thing for the most part. Honky was a great comedy heel, but even he couldn’t escape from the gravitational force of the suckage that comes from Dusty’s ass. Highlight: The amount of wrestling. This isn’t so much a highlight as much as it’s an overall theme. This show had a TON of matches on it which means you got a ton of wrestling. The show is well over three hours long so you certainly couldn’t say you didn’t get your money’s worth. That’s a good thing from the 80s that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of today. Hidden Highlight: Sherri, Macho and Zeus promo. We then get what has to be the weirdest promo of all time. Gene is with Sherri, Macho and Zeus, around a fucking cauldron of all things. They say….something about bad things coming to the faces tonight but I really was too confounded to listen. This was far stranger than it sounds and is so bizarre that it’s awesome. MVP: Rick Rude. I don’t know how he does it but somehow Rude manages to pull off great matches with Ultimate Warrior nearly every time he’s in the ring with him. There’s no reason at all to how he does it but he gets it to work every time. This is no exception as we get a good match out of the two of them, although I could have used less Piper nudity. Overall Rating: B. What an upgrade from last year! This was a million times better but that’s not really saying a lot. There were two featured matches this year so therefore the show looks a lot bigger. However, MY GOD THERE’S A LOT OF FILLER. This show never seems like it’s going to end as there’s probably 2-3 matches that could be completely cut. DiBiase’s could have been accomplished in a promo to say the least. Hercules/Valentine could have been a short promo with Garvin running down Valentine (or being trampled under the hooves of stampeding camels), and the 6 man was just to get Andre and Demolition on the show. It’s light years ahead of 88, but next year the show really starts to get it right. Watch it if you’re a fan of 80s stuff and are quite bored.
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Best Match: I’ve often called the Tito/Rockers vs Martel/Rougeaus 6 man tag one of the most underrated matches ever. I mean, have a look at the six guys involved? It’s an instant *** even before the bell rings. All the elements are in place…sympathetic babyfaces…slimy heels…a wronged Tito hell bent on revenge…tonnes of great wrestling…loads of goofy fun from the Rougeaus…it’s just a great ****+ match that never truly gets its due. Worst Match: Mr Perfect vs. The Red Rooster. For the insider fan this was another little dream match. Taylor was a hot commodity coming into the WWF around the same time as Hennig who was a former AWA World Champion. Both were tapped for the Mr. Perfect gimmick and we all know what happened to the person that didn’t get it. This had the potential to be quite the show stealer had Taylor not injured himself. Highlight: When Roddy Piper came down during the Warrior/Rude match and mooned Rude…it was just classic. What made the moment so much better was Rude being SOOO INDIGNANT over the whole thing. Here’s a guy that had made his name being the person that stretches the boundaries of male machismo getting his nose put out of joint by a bare ass. Hidden Highlight: While the first 6 man tag match was a thriller, the other 6-man tag was the shits, but I always loved the spot where Smash slammed Bossman…then Akeem…and then looked set to do the same to Andre only to be cut off. I’m sure this was done out of respect for Andre but, fuck me, wouldn’t the place have come unstuck if his managed all three in a row. You could here the buzz in the crowd build with each spot and the noticeable deflation when it didn’t happen. MVP: Rick Rude. The guy pulled the first really decent match out of Warrior and probably earned himself a main event run a year later when Warrior was WWF Champion just based on this alone. For a guy that still wasn’t the best of workers himself, Rude sure knew how to handle Warriors crappy talent. Overall Rating: A good solid B. Plenty of matches, some good wrestling, a classically over the top Hogan main event, historic title changes and a dream match for the opener. Sure the filler dragged it down a little but overall a good waste of 2-odd hours.
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Best Match: The Brain Busters vs. The Hart Foundation – While 1988 delivered a good opener, 1989 raised the bar to a new level. The Brain Busters vs. The Hart Foundation was the opener, and if you know anything about these two teams, you knew that they could FLAT OUT GO. Anderson and Blanchard were an awesome team in the NWA, and when they came to the WWF, even though they were not the typical WWE tag team, they did some tremendous work while there. This was bliss for 16-minutes, and an easy ****½ match. A truly sexy way to kick off the 1989 version of the show. Worst Match: Andre the Giant, Big Bossman & Akeem (w/Slick & Bobby Heenan) vs. King Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Demolition – I wish I could offer some form of analysis here to perfectly explain how bad this was, but I can’t. This was pure shit, a DUD if there ever was one. It was not that easy a choice though for worst match, Valentine vs. Hercules was pretty shit too. Old school wasn’t always the best. Highlight: The Brain Busters vs. The Hart Foundation – Delivering a phenomenal match to open up the PPV was the best part of the show for me then and now, no doubt. They may have been the Brain Busters in the WWF, but to me, the Horsemen rode again, and did so in style. That Bret Hart guy was pretty good as well. MVP: Rick Rude – Rick Rude gets the nod from me in the MVP category because most people forget about what he had done here. He was the first man to get a really good match out of Warrior on a major scale. While Warrior would have good matches with Hogan and especially Savage, and that’s the guy that gets the credit and he should, Rock Rude reminds us all of how good a worker he could be by pulling this effort out of Warrior. Rick Rude isn’t remembered as fondly as he should be in my book. Overall Rating: 7.0 – While I felt that the 1988 debut of the event fell very flat, 1989 rebounded big time and almost felt like a different promotion put on the event. A excellent opener, the six man featuring Tito Santana & The Rockers vs. Rick Martel & The Rougeaus delivered rather well, Rude vs. Warrior was a very pleasant surprise, and the main event, while not a classic, had great storytelling elements, and allowed the crowd to go home happy. This is easily a thumbs up event, and redeemed the company from the poor showing the year before.
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Best Match: Rick Martel & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers def Tito Santana & The Rockers – With the talent in this match was there any other outcome? Martel had turned on Santana and become “The Model” after a disastrous match during WrestleMania V w/Santana against the Brain Busters, and Martel would run from his ex-partner as much as possible. Rockers and Rougeaus as usual brought the goods and in this match the evildoers would be victorious thanks to Jimmy Hart, as usual. Worst Match: Greg “The Hammer” Valentine def. Hercules – This was really just a backdrop to allow Ronnie Garvin to continue his feud with Valentine by announcing him as weighing “thirty pounds too much” and when Valentine cheated to win, Ronnie announced Hercules as the winner by DQ anyway. Highlight: Ultimate Warrior becomes the IC Champion for a second time – Warrior had big plans designed for him after his performance at the last SummerSlam. By having a good match with Rude he showed he could go longer than half a minute in the ring with the right opponents, and with the win he put himself as one of the top guys in the company, who would eventually cross paths with Hulk Hogan later that year to set up the main event at WrestleMania VI. Hidden Highlight: Demolition Demolishes Andre – Anybody who knows me knows I am just a HUGE Demolition mark. I absolutely loved them, and I HATED Andre. To me he was just a giant fatass who couldn’t talk and when the Demos manhandled Andre it was simply awesome to behold as Andre often fought off two or three people at a time. The Demos, however, were a different story! MVP: Randy Savage – Talk about a 180. Savage went from being the heavyweight champion teaming with Hogan to an evil, conniving coward hiding behind his new woman Sensational Sherri and Hogan’s new enemy, Zeus. Savage did all the main work in the match as Zeus was being protected since he didn’t know how to wrestle, and deserves a lot of credit for putting a good one on and taking the loss so Zeus could continue to look unstoppable. Overall Rating: 5.5 It was overall a good show but nothing really worth taking time out to review these days. The obvious top matches were discussed above and some of the others were just “there” such as Mr. Perfect and the Rooster which was basically there to show off Mr. Perfect’s skill. A good follow-up to the previous year with improvement in terms of the good six man tag match and Brain Busters/Hart Foundation but the rest was pretty iffy.
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