Summerslam 1989: A Retrospective Look

[Dagger Dias]

This summer I'll be looking back on each of the previous Summerslam events, one by one. Every few days I will submit a new topic until we reach 2014's edition of the 2nd biggest brand in WWE.

This thread will be for discussing.... Summerslam 1989!

Summerslam 1989 took place on August 28, 1989. It was held at Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Here are the results of the matches from this show:


0. Dino Bravo defeated Koko B. Ware in a singles match in the dark match

1. The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) (with Bobby Heenan) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) in a tag team match (16:23)

2. Dusty Rhodes defeated The Honky Tonk Man (with Jimmy Hart) in a singles match (09:36)

3. Mr. Perfect defeated The Red Rooster in a singles match (03:21)

4. Rick Martel and The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Tito Santana and The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) in a six-man tag team match (14:58)

5. The Ultimate Warrior defeated Rick Rude (c) (with Bobby Heenan) in a singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship (16:02)

6. Jim Duggan and Demolition (Smash and Ax) defeated André the Giant and The Twin Towers (The Big Boss Man and Akeem) (with Bobby Heenan and Slick) in a six-man tag team match (07:23)

7. Hercules defeated Greg Valentine (with Jimmy Hart) by disqualification in a singles match (03:08)

8. Ted DiBiase (with Virgil) defeated Jimmy Snuka by countout in a singles match (06:27)

9. Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage and Zeus (with Sensational Sherri) in a tag team match (15:04)





Now, here are some discussion questions concerning the event:

What was your favorite match on this show, and why did you like it the most? What about the worst match of this show, why did you like it the least?

If you could change a few things about Summerslam 1989, what would it be and why?

You may only use wrestlers who were available at the roster at that time or make changes that could have realistically taken place in August 1989. Please keep in mind the situations going into the show such as who could actually have been pushed into a title match, or what songs existed back then if you wanted to change the show's theme music, and so forth.

You may only discuss Summerslam 1989 in this thread. The remaining Summerslam events will be getting their own retrospective threads, any posts regarding other events will be considered spam and you risk getting an infraction.

Discuss!

 

[sdelfin]

I have a mixed opinion of this show. It has some great stuff, but the show went off the rails in other places. The main event is nowhere near as good as the previous year's show on any level.

The tag match between the Harts and Busters was excellent. I actually loved how they explained it was not a title match since the Busters won the belts after this match was put together. Great start to the broadcast.

I believe this was the show with the Gene Okerlund F-bomb blooper.

The first of the two 6-man tags was a great match as well. That ring was filled with talented guys for that one.

Rude and Warrior had a tremendous match as well.

The show was a bit too front loaded in my opinion, with almost all the good stuff in the first half. I suspect this was done to prevent the main event from being overshadowed, but it hurt the flow of the event, plus the main event came off pretty flat to me. I would have swapped the order of the 6-man tags.

If I recall correctly, Taylor(Rooster) got hurt in his match with Perfect which is a shame as they probably would have gone a bit longer and had a good match.

Hercules/Valentine was more of an angle for Garvin, I believe. That wasn't much of a match.

I disliked the main event a lot. Zeus didn't belong in the ring. Beefcake came across as way too weak, which was the whole reason he was in this program. 1989 is when the Hogan formula really got solidified and when he started murdering everyone's finish, which is exactly what he did to Randy by completely not selling the big elbow. I hated that. Hogan couldn't even let Randy try to pin him. Then I think they picked on Sherri to celebrate. I think they got the booking for it all wrong, aside from which team went over.

 

[Pedigree1]

Mixed opinions on this one as well.. The opening two matches great tag team matches hard to pick between my favorite one.. But let me say i wish the Brain Busters had stuck around a little bit longer than they did.. I think the WWF missed out on that one..

Ultimate Warrior match was pretty decent.. A really good back and forth match and warrior actually looked good! The right move was made and warrior definitely should have went over. The perfect match was a bit short did something happen to the rooster or was it just booked as a short match? Maybe he got hurt..

The Hercules vs Valentine match,was well odd.. All that match was supposed to be was a upcoming feud between Garvin and Valentine with Garvin making fun of Valentine the entire match.. Really disrespecting the former IC champion (Like Garvin ever did anything in WWE)..

The ME match was just awful IMO! Zeus didnt even belong anywhere close to a ring and all along it should have been Macho Man vs Hogan again for the title.. I would have had Macho Man go over setting up a third one at Survivor Series!

Also Ricky Martel should have gone against Chico Santana.. I cant ever recall if a one on one match ever happened between those two,I dont believe it did but at Summerslam it needed to happen..

 

[sdelfin]

Also Ricky Martel should have gone against Chico Santana.. I cant ever recall if a one on one match ever happened between those two,I dont believe it did but at Summerslam it needed to happen..

I knew I'd seen at least two one-on-one TV matches between them so I looked it up. One was a Saturday Night's Main Event from Oct. 89 which was just a way to set up a Survivor Series match. The other was from The Main Event in Nov. 90 which was long after they needed to have a blow off. Also, that one was not very competitive with Martel winning easily. I don't know if they were short on time what. Perhaps they were because the same taping featured a home-video match between Warrior and Savage in which Savage literally gets no offense in. I think they tried to keep Martel and Santana primarily a house-show attraction.

 

[The Brain]

I love SummerSlam 89. It's one of my all time favorite events. 1989 was a fun year for me as a wrestling fan and I always look back on this event fondly. It's easy to overlook when discussing great shows but this was great entertainment from start to finish. I never get tired of watching this one.

The IC title match was great and I really enjoyed the first six man tag but my favorite match on the card was The Hart Foundation vs. The Brain Busters. These were two of my favorite teams to watch and they put on a great match to kick off the show. I just wish the titles were on the line. It would have made the match feel much more important. There was no reason not to make it a title match as the Busters won anyway.

Once again I don't really have a least favorite match but if forced to pick one I'd go with Ted Dibiase vs. Jimmy Snuka. Nothing against these guys but the big feud at the time was Dibiase vs. Jake Roberts. Roberts was hurt and out of action during the summer. Going against Snuka just kind of seemed to derail Dibiase for a bit even though it wasn't anybody's fault.

As for changes, honestly, I don't have any. The show was great as it was. I usually try to find at least a little something to improve the show but I can't come up with anything here. I guess just making the opening match a title match would be my only change. At the time I would have preferred Tito Santana vs. Rick Martel and The Rockers vs. The Rougeau Brothers but the six man worked out really well as those guys all fit in together and it allowed more guys to get on the card.

I will say the main event angle was really bizarre and honestly pretty bad but I didn't mind it at the time. SummerSlam 89 took place the day after my tenth birthday. If I was a few years older I probably would have hated this angle. A movie villain coming into wrestling as his movie character? It was just odd. I have to admit though I thought Zeus was a threat. He didn't know a single wrestling hold but he was built up as a monster force and a dangerous opponent. The angle was unique and if not for Zeus I don't know who Hogan would have worked with that summer.

 

[MMK]

I LOVED 1989 in WWF. It was the first year where I watched from start to finish. I had seen a few shows here and there throughout 87 and 88, but 1989 was my first year as a die hard fan. All four of the big events were terrific, especially Rumble and Survivor Series.

BEST MATCH
Martel and Rougeaus vs Rockers and Santana
This is one of the most underrated matches of all time. It is the best WWF match of 1989. I really like the combination of Martel and The Rougeaus as wrestlings version of the french connection. Some would say Martel and Santana should have had a singles match, but I prefer it the way it was.

CHANGES
WWF TITLE
Hulk Hogan vs The undefeated Mr.Perfect w/Genius and Zeus
These two feuded in late 89 but I would have loved to see Perfect go for the title at Summerslam. They could still insert Zeus somehow, perhaps as Mr.Perfect's bodyguard.

TAG TITLES
Demolition vs Brain Busters w/Bobby and Andre
These two teams had several great tag team matches. The Busters won the titles in July, only to drop them back to Demolition in October. I would have either saved the Busters title win for Summerslam OR had Demolition regain the titles at Summerslam. Either way, this feud deserved a PPV match.

Ted Dibiase w/Virgil vs Jake The Snake.
Not sure why this match didn't happen at Summerslam. Stretching it out all the way to Wrestlemania 6 seemed odd. Jake must have been injured or had taken time off, I can't remember. If not, then their's no reason why this match shouldn't have happened. And they could still have a rematch at Wrestlemania 6.

Randy Savage w/Scary Sherri vs Brutus Beefcake
(take them out of the main event and give them their own singles feud)

IC TITLE
Warrior vs Rude w/Heenan
I wouldn't make any changes here. Everything about this match was great. Especially Okerlund's F bomb.

BATTLE ROYAL (won by Dusty in his debut)
Dusty Rhodes, Bret Hart, Anvil, Bossman, Akeem, Hercules, Greg Valentine, Bad News Brown, Red Rooster, Superfly, Ron Garvin, Honky Tonk, Hacksaw, Dino Bravo, Koko BWare
(There were several singles matches at this event such as Hercules vs Valentine, and Dusty vs Honky, that were really just filler. All of those matches could have been combined into one battle royal to give more time for the main feuds.)

 

[HeenanGorilla]

This was the first (and so far only) PPV I attended. I remember my cousin and I making posters (she for Warrior, me for the Harts) and being told we weren't allowed to bring them to our upper deck seats because it was being taped. What?! How times have changed...try to find someone WITHOUT a poster these days. I had been to house shows before but, during the Bravo/Koko match, really noticed how much louder every hit on the mat was, as the mics were on the ring for the PPV broadcast.

Harts came out first, to my delight. They lost, but the titles weren't on the line anyway.

I remember Duggan wearing face paint like Demolition.

I remember during the Warrior/Rude match, Piper making his way down the aisle. I thought it was cool that I saw him coming before the crowd reacted. (No, I'm not one of those people who thinks he saw something first, I'm sure many other people saw him coming down the aisle too...I'm just saying it was after I had seen him that the crowd reacted audibly.) The whole Warrior match was hot and when Piper mooned Rude (got full cheek view from my angle--even in the upper tier, I could have gone without it haha) but the eruption that happened when Warrior won, it was amazing.
I was at HHH's RAW return at MSG in 2002 and didn't appreciate the loudness of it, because I hadn't been to a show in years--figured that's just how live crowds sounded. BUT, Warrior's pop---that was CLEARLY a huge pop and it felt great being there.

Main event wasn't terrible at all to me. As an adult looking back, it wasn't so hot, historically. But, that PPV at the time, for a 10-year-old--and even now--holds a special place in my heart. A great, great night. I wouldn't change anything because I couldn't have had a better time.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

This was not a bad follow up to Mania 5 but it was let down by some medicore booking and perhaps some injuries affecting the talent available.

To this day I cannot understand the set up for the main event... Brutus had no business near a main event and Zeus even less. It smelt of Hogan being told "you can have whatever match you want as long as it involves Zeus". There are several matches that would have worked better that the tag main event for the 2nd year running.

Hogan V Savage - The rematch for the title could have taken place here, with Zeus as Randy's secret weapon, perhaps even helping him upset Hogan... Sure the idea was forming for Warrior v Hogan at Mania, but Savage could easily have dropped the belt again in that run up.

Hogan and Warrior vs Savage and Andre - Sure a little similar to the prior year perhaps, but what better way to start tensions between Hogan and the Warrior than teaming them here... Warrior worked Andre the rest of the year anyway so it made sense for him to take this match. Sure it means he doesn't get his "win back" over Rude but Piper could easily have moved into that IC title shot and Warrior pick up the IC win at Survivor Series.

The 3rd possibility was more "out there" but Vince did consider bringing Ric Flair in as early as 89. While he wouldn't have had as much "shock value" as he later did, he would have been a great guy to tag with Savage as a "mystery partner". The Brainbusters were already on the roster and a new stable could easily have formed around them and Rude with Heenan the mouthpiece. If Flair came in then make Dusty the partner for Hogan, instant boost for both guys.

To me either of those 3 would have been far more valuable than what they got out of Zeus.

The IC title match was great, but unneccesary to anyone except Warrior. Piper either beating Rude or being bested would have made a far more interesting story on the night. Rude retaining and the Busters retaining (why make it a non-title match? Makes no sense) could have fed into Heenan getting "involved" with Savage for his rematch and going for that "clean sweep".

Andre felt a little wasted on this card, even though he was clearly having issues by this point, his matches generally involved tying himself in the ropes or taking a countout loss by this stage... but I felt he could have had one more main event in him or was better kept to an interference role for Rude. I get they wanted to create the "biggest 6 man team" in history with he and the Towers but it seemed like a handicap match almost and Duggan was a bust by this stage. Andre quickly tagged with Haku and beat Demolition for the gold, a move that seemed wasted when the Twin Towers were so good. Which leads me to..

Ted DiBiase, he clearly was involved with Jake at the time who was hurt, but days after this show came the turn of the Big Bossman who refused to "reclaim" his belt for him... Could they not have played this in the weeks before, leading to a DiBiase v Bossman match? With the kicker that Ted paid Akeem and Slick to make sure he got the win... The mania match is thus the same, but you get Ted in and Bossman in far more meaningful matches at Summerslam, and also making Bossman's face turn more incendiary.

Most of the card was fine, but not spectacular. Martel and Tito deserved a singles blow off to their feud but the 6 man was a good match, for whatever reason they just never actually got behind Martel despite him being over as a heel. It showed in this booking.

Dusty's debut against Honky Tonk did the job, although was again not as good as a match against a better opponent. Honky was being jobbed out for his refusal to play ball at Mania 4 so by this stage a win over him was about as valuable as one to the Brawler.

Perfect v Taylor was good enough but saddled with that ridiculous gimmick...what should have been a classic battle was part ruined by injury and part by the stupid motions Rooster was obliged to go through...remember this was the original Mr. Perfect... the match could have seen both shoot up the card to the IC division contendership but only Perfect benefitted, having gotten a similar rub from Owen at Mania.

Hercules was again perfunctory and almost wasted, notably Dino Bravo was on the dark match for this show - these two were the face and heel mirrors of each other at the time... you could squash them on a show or leave them off and no one would notice, benefit from the win over them or suffer from a loss... likewise Snuka's big return at Mania 5 seemed to just die here... was he really brought in to be a jobber to the stars? or did his past not get forgotten as quickly as Vince had hoped?

Like I said, they put on a fine show that kept their streak going, but ultimately this COULD have been so much more with a bit less care to Hogan and Warrior's egos and more to the overall roster... and the irony is doing so wouldn't have really altered history that much...but it set the tone, both Hogan and Warrior could after this show pretty much do as they pleased with Vince's blessing and 2 years later the chickens came home to roost.

The biggest miss was Jake Roberts, having scored some kind of win over Andre and seemingly being ready for that main event role, perhaps the original plan was for him to team with Hogan... he was nowhere to be seen, some claim injury but perhaps this was the point Jake lost Vince's trust, he never really got many "big wins" again, only countouts and the dreaded "blindfold match"... he never moved up from the Andre win which was expected... missing this show may have been the reason for that.

 

[Judah's Lion]

this ppv event might have some of the best talent available of all time. look at the teams and talents that were on the card. some big names are noticeably absent for one reason or another. Piper and Jake the Snake come to mind. Ric Flair wasn't with the WWF yet either, so it's hard to insert him on any fantasy card. putting Flair with the Brain Busters would make sense, as would feuding with Dusty Rhodes. obviously those are NWA bookings, but for those that didn't follow NWA it would be pretty sweet. Jake was injured during the summer, which was unfortunate timing. Piper was in the event but not in a match. kind of a head-scratcher there.

Warrior vs. Rude in the IC Title re-match was great. i might have made this the Steel Cage Match instead of a year later as it did happen.
Hart Foundation vs. Brain Busters was great but should have been for the Tag Team Titles.
Andre and Twin Towers vs. Demolition was enjoyable for what it was. the biggest 3 man team ever for sure. instead of Duggan with Demolition, i wonder if Crush could have debuted here. either way, this match made sense with the Colossal Connection feuding with Demolition later down the road.
Tito and the Rockers vs. Martel and the Fabulous Rougeaus was a great match. maybe a show-stealer. i always thought Santana/Martel should have happened one-on-one with a big stage. but Mania 6 would have worked better for that in my opinion, so keep this 6 man tag match as is.

i'm not gonna put Ric Flair anywhere here cuz i'm not sure how realistic it is to book him. he wasn't with the WWF for another couple of years so i'll just assume he wasn't available at all here.

Dibiase vs. Jake the Snake would have been great, but with Jake injured that match is out. Snuka was not a strong opponent though. what about vs. Hogan in the Main Event with Zeus in Dibiase's corner and Beefcake in Hogan's? that feud was already built in with literal years of story behind it.

was Piper a heel at this time or face? if he's a heel, we could have done Piper/Snuka in a one-on-one match. i don't remember ever seeing this match after the infamous coconut smashing incident. even if Piper was a heel at the time, and i'm not sure he was, it might have been way too late for this feud to happen at this point.

Savage vs. Dusty Rhodes could have started here. end in a double dq or time limit draw or something that allows it to continue on thru Mania 6.

Perfect vs. Terry Taylor was way short. could have been a great match, especially if they used the story that the "Mr. Perfect" gimmick was originally meant for Taylor instead of Curt Hennig. could have been a really fun feud for SummerSlam.

it was a really great event with tons of great matches and amazing talent available. but i would have tried to switch the main event if i could. with Jake the Snake injured, maybe Million Dollar Man could have worked here. but overall, still a really great card.

not sure where everyone should have been placed, but there was way too much talent on this card that felt a little wasted to me.

 

[Xfactor98]

So This SummerSlam had Potential to be a good one..The had a lot of great talent on the rooster..So here are my changes and what i think the card could have been in the order

1. World Tag Title- Brain Busters vs Demolition(c)
Brain Busters Could over here instead of winning on Saturday nights main event

2. Tito Santana Vs Rick Martel
I think this deserves a PPV blow off match..With Martel Going over

3. Jim Duggan vs Andre The Giant
This should have been a Singles Match instead of in a 6 man Match

4. Hercules & the Rockers vs Greg Valentine & the Rougeaus
Let the Heels go Over

4. IC Title Match- Ultimate Warrior vs Rick Rude(c)
Keep The Same Warrior Wins the title back

5. Jake Roberts vs Ted dibiase
This match instead of Dibiase with Snuka and if Jake wasnt injured

6. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Bossman
Move there Feud up from Survivor Series...Let Dusty go over in his debut

7. Randy Savage vs Brutus Beefcake
Savage Goes over here..Brutus never really was a good wrestler

8. World Title Match- Hulk Hogan(c) vs Mr Perfect
Hogan goes over and breaks the undeafeatd Streak

 

[FlairFan2003]

Flair was courted by Vince in 1985 and 1988. According To Flair he was offered the World Title Match (no guarantee of a win, but the match and the main event) of S-Slam 88 the previous year vs Randy Savage with all the talk of Crockett maybe/maybe not selling out to Turner (deal happened a few months later). Flair initially was interested but declined, which cause some reservations on both parts in 1991 when he jumped ship and inquired with Vince (according to Flair he was worried since he "cried foul" In 1988 but ultimately didn't jump that Vince would be leery about offering him another opportunity).