New York City, New York (from good old MSG)
Attendance: 20,000
Buys: 405,000
Lord Alfred Hayes is with Randy Savage
Ricky Steamboat/Bulldog/Kerry Von Erich Vs. Warlord/Roma/Hercules
Heenan, Monsoon and Piper on commentary, I should note here how Heenan and Piper were pretty much on fire all show. Hercules looks like an out of shape Jake Roberts. The crowd were into it and that for me is due to Steamboat who did a great job of playing face-in-peril, Naitch did call him best babyface of all-time for a reason, it was on Naitchs DVD I think. The faces got some nearfalls towards the end - Discus Punch on Warlord and Powerslam on Roma, which was broken up. The ending was botched in the sense that the ref didn't seem to remember who was legal as he counted Steamboat's pin on Roma from a crossbody despite the fact Bulldog was the legal man. *** - I am a sucker for a multi-man tag match, as in 6-man and over though I do like regular tag matches as well. Loved Steamboats work in building the hot tag though the ending did make me go Hang On! but not enough to dock a point or anything.
Henning says that Hart is excellent but he isn't perfect.
Intercontinental Title - Mr. Perfect (c) (w/ Coach) Vs. Bret Hart
Henning's back was shot going into this. Bret gets an early 2 from a crucifix. Heenan says he heard a rumour Piper's parents ran away from home, that nearly had me in tears. Crossbody and sunset flip both get Bret a 2 count. Henning makes to leave but Bret catches him in the aisle and rips his singlet. Heenan says Stu and Helen Hart are concerned as they snick in. Hart is on the defensive now, we get his going off the apron spot but rather than a table like at Survivor Series 95 he lands on a photographer. They both fight atop the top rope then fall into the ring, going by the delay I don't think it went as planned. Bret does his corner chest bump. Good nearfall as the Perfect-Plex only gets a 2 count. Bret fights back and gets 2 off a suplex and a small package. Bret goes for the leg, Henning almost lands on his head bumping around. Sharpshooter follows for the Submission and we have a new champion. ****1/2 - Very good match, possibly my second fave Bret match with the Mania 13 match being #1. Bret would use the IC as a launching pad to the WWF Title. Perfects last truly great match.
Bushwhackers (w/ Andre The Giant) Vs. The Natural Disasters (w/ Jimmy Hart)
From one extreme to the other, Typhoon had turned on the Whackers, can you blame him?, and by doing so earned enough Exp. points to evolve from a Tugboat to a Typhoon. One of the whackers reminds me of Eric Cantona, am I high? The Whackers kick some heavy duty booty to start but soon it turns into an Orange in the favour of the disasters, Quake flattens a whacker for the 3 count. Post match the Disasters go after Andre but LoD make the save, most notable thing about the match was Heenan leaving the announce desk when he hears Hogan is in his dressing room.*1/2
Heenan is backstage and knocks on Hogans door and challenges him to a match on behalf of the real World Champion Ric Flair, Heenan has Big Gold with him, but Hogan slams the door shut.
Sean Mooney is with Ted Dibiase and Sherri,
Million Dollar Title - Ted Dibiase (c) (w/ Sherri) Vs. Virgil
Is that confirmed that Virgil was named as a shot at Dusty Rhodes or rumour? Virgil attacks as Ted poses. Virgil starts well but misses a dive to the outside and Ted takes over for essentially the whole match. Remember in Mortal Kombat when Goro decimates Art Lean, it's akin to that, not that Ted resembles Goro. Two Dollar Dream to Dibiase but Sherri hits Virgil for the DQ .... but Earl decides to restart the match, as Virgil wouldn't be champion via DQ, and bans Sherri from ringside. Ref bump as Virgil is whipped into him, Ted jaw jacks with Roddy, he'd told Vigil to stand up for himself or something, then he obliterates Virgil, yes obliterates him, he exposes a turnbuckle but Virgil bounces him off it and crawls for the 3 count and the MD Title. *** - Average match that was enhanced by the crowd and the booking. I never get why some matches are restarted, it happens at the 94 Rumble I'm currently reviewing, shouldn't this happen in all matches? You can't pick and choose refs damn you!
Mean Gene is with The Mountie who is ranting, one of the cops struggles to keep a straight face.
Jailhouse Match - The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) Vs. Bossman
Loser spends night in jail. Bossman is dominant, Heenan says he'll get Bossman some cigarettes to bribe the screws with. Mountie goes to the eye but is soon spinebustered. Hart distracts Bossman allowing Mountie to hit him into the ring steps, Heenan 'He should get used to sleeping on the floor'. Monsoon gets in on the action by claiming Hart is the best advert for birth control, buuuuurn! Mountie hits a piledriver and tries to use a cattle prod but Bossman moves. Bossman Slam gets .... 2? Thought that was it, my lord is Mountie entering Paul Roma mode?? Nope as Cobb County Slam gets 3. *1/2 - Pretty boring basic match.
Mountie is immediately handcuffed and taken away in a paddy wagon.
Mean Gene is with an angry Ted and Sherri.
Sean Mooney is with Bret Hart.
Mean Gene is now with Natural Disasters, they threaten Legion of Doom.
Sean Mooney is with the Bossman.
Mountie is dragged into the station shouting do you know who I am?
Sean Mooney is now with Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart, did I press skip and miss a match?
Mountie is tricked into having his mugshot taken.
Mean Gene is with LoD.
Mountie is fingerprinted.
Mooney is with Slaughter, Mustafa and Adnan.
Mean Gene is with Sid Justice.
WWF Tag Titles - LoD Vs. Nasty Boys (w/ Jimmy Hart)
The champions are pummeled from the outset. Sags sprays something in Hawks eyes and the champions now have a foothold in the match. Heenan wouldn't be surprised if Nastys beat LoD then go bust Mountie out of jail. Hawk is your Warrior-In-Peril as Nastys have cut the ring in half. Animal in and he cleans house. Heel miscommunication is avoided as Sags almost hits Knobs with bike helmet. Doomsday Device soon ends it. ** - LoD become the ONLY team to ever hold the AWA, NWA and now WWF tag titles.
Mountie is placed in a cell.
IRS Vs. Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine
Hammer has always looked about 70 years old even here. I know heels are meant to lie but Heenan saying this'll be a good match is going to far in my mind. Nothing of note, was there in any IRS match ever? Greg works the leg prior to the end but is small packed and IRS wins, at one point Hammer double crossed himself as he signaled a Figure Four and went for an elbow. *
Mean Gene is with Hogan and Warrior.
Match Made In Hell - Sgt. Slaughter/Mustafa/Adnan Vs. Warrior/Hogan
Special ref is Sid Justice, Sid Vicious or Psycho Sid for those wondering. I don't know my army ranks at all but I think Sgt. Slaughter, who is presented as the leader, is outranked by his allies or at least one of them. Hogan is WWF Champion. Whole lot of stalling. Slaughter takes a Bret style corner bump as Hogan and Warrior are on top. Finally Slaughter gets a shot in when Sid breaks up Hogan and Sid in the corner. Hogan is in the heel corner. Warrior breaks up a camel clutch. Hogan is whipped into Sid, they make to fight despite it being Sarge's fault. Slaughter heads up top (!!) but Warrior pushes him off. Warrior gets the lukewarm tag, blocks a Mustafa suplex then does one of his own. Hogan in, big boot to Slaughter, Warrior chases the other two to the back then Hogan uses powder on Slaughter, why?, and Leg Drop finishes it. *1/2 - Why in the Hay-ell would Hogan need powder and the ref to do a fast count to beat Slaughter? Real poor main event tag match but I doubt that's news to anyone. As Hogan and Justice pose Heenan 'I take it this is the match made in heaven right'.
We see Mountie with his cell mates.
We see Macho proposing to Liz, I love her 'Ohh Yeah' and his jacket.
They play a tribute to Savage/Liz, which given they've both passed is pretty hard to watch for me. They used this song again for Test/Stephanie, in fact I think they had it sung in the arena. Savage and Liz get married in WWE canon, I am against marriage but if I ever did get married it'd be dressed like Savage was for his. We are whisked to the wedding reception, Gene Okerlund delivers a toast. Doth I see J.J Dillon there? I'd of loved a Savage/IV Horsemen feud in 80s NWA, Savage/Windham alone could be insane or would they negate each other maybe 80s Flair would bounce off Savage better, god darn I need a time machine to be built for this purpose and so I can relive SM:TV live, in fact i'd do a Bill & Ted style thang with wrestlers instead of historical figures and do dream matches even if I was the only one in attendance. Wait what was I doing? They eat cake and open presents Savage shouting 'Got a blender Yeaahhhh!' would've had me spitting out coffee if it'd been drinking some at the time instead a hearty chuckle had to suffice. One of the gifts is a snake from who else .... King Kong Bu.... oops no sorry it was Jake Roberts then Taker hits Savage with an urn but Sid and a chair see off Snake and Deadman, this would lead to the Savage/Roberts feud.
18 / 40 - Man some matches really dragged this down, I mean there was a ****1/2 and two ***'s and it still didn't break .500. Make no mistake though I approve this PPV, the IC is awesome the opener and Virgil/Ted were good viewing as well, sure the main sucks but I think Mountie's antics and the Savage/Liz wedding and stuff more than make up for it's shortcomings.
Thumbs Up for SummerSlam 1991.
