Summerslam 1990: 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 1990!

Summerslam 1990 took place on August 27, 1990. It was held at Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here are the results of the matches from this show:



0. Shane Douglas defeated Buddy Rose in a singles match in the dark match

1. Power and Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules) (with Slick) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) in a tag team match (06:00)

2. The Texas Tornado defeated Mr. Perfect (c) (with Bobby Heenan) in a singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship (05:15)

3. Sensational Queen Sherri defeated Sapphire by forfeit in a singles match

4. The Warlord (with Slick) defeated Tito Santana in a singles match (05:28)

5. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated Demolition (Smash and Crush) (c) in a two out of three falls match for the WWF Tag Team Championship (14:24)

6. Jake Roberts defeated Bad News Brown by disqualification in a singles match with The Big Boss Man as the special guest referee (04:44)

7. Nikolai Volkoff and Jim Duggan defeated The Orient Express (Tanaka and Sato) (with Mr. Fuji) in a tag team match (03:22)

8. Randy Savage (with Sensational Queen Sherri) defeated Dusty Rhodes in a singles match (02:15)

9. Hulk Hogan (with The Big Boss Man) defeated Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart and Dino Bravo) by countout in a singles match (13:16)

10. The Ultimate Warrior (c) defeated Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) in a steel cage match for the WWF Championship (10:05)




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 1990, 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 1990. 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 1990 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!

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

This is where WWF began to drop the ball with Warrior's title run. Warrior should have been featured with the biggest, baddest, monster heel the company had. At that time it was Earthquake. Warrior and Hogan should have flipped feuds. It would have given Warrior a better chance at getting over back than. It was pretty evident that while Warrior beat Hogan for the title, he was playing second fiddle to Hogan as early as this event. Warrior should have had a long feud with Earthquake to keep him busy/show his dominance before taking on Macho at Mania 7.

 

[sdelfin]

I recently watched some of the bigger shows of 1990 and sadly I found the booking to be disappointing. Heels weren't kept strong and the Hogan formula had become a caricature of itself. While Wrestlemania 6 was a big success, the aftermath was a mess, in my opinion. Summerslam 1990 demonstrates that pretty well. It's like the previous year's edition in that it had good stuff, but was uneven when taken as a whole. It's less solid than the 89 show.

The show had way too much filler of varying quality to start with. Power & Glory vs. the Rockers was a competitive squash match, but ultimately a squash match. It became that because Michaels had a knee injury which they used in the story of the match. Jannetty looked like a champ actually doing a good job alone until the numbers game caught up. P&G looked good and got to kill Marty at the end. Roma and Hercules were going over anyway, but Shawn's injury prevented the match from being what it could. It was probably booked before Shawn was hurt. The match that actually happened would have worked better on SMNE as an angle.

The Sherri/Sapphire match was nothing and the angle comes off flat now, looking back at it. The fact that it ruined two matches, one of which had great potential, was not good planning. Too bad Dusty and Randy couldn't have a real match.

Jake vs. Bad News was disappointing, I thought.

Tito/Warlord was entertaining for a filler enhancement match. Tito was always reliable in that role, though they were leaning on him extra hard to put guys over in 1990 as he played that role to both former members of the Powers of Pain two consecutive PPVs.

Perfect/Tornado was a big moment and a token title win for Von Erich. I don't recall how far in advance they got to promote him as the fill in for Beefcake who suffered his terrible injury. Too bad the match couldn't have been more than it was.

The tag title match was very good. It's just a shame they would not let Bill Eadie(Ax) actually wrestle as he was fine. Unfortunately, the follow up to this match was not so great.

Finally, we have the double main events, which I think were handled terribly. Rude and Warrior was still fresh in people's minds from the previous Summerslam. They also ran a Warrior/Rude match on SNME not long before in which Rude looked like no threat to Warrior at all. I think Earthquake was the only heel in a position to be against Warrior in a feud that could sell. Plus they had unfinished business from when Earthquake debuted. I don't know what course of action would have worked better. Perhaps they should have continued the Summerslam tradition of the tag main events by putting Warrior and Hogan against Earthquake and maybe the Barbarian, since Bravo was already used up. They could have gotten more out of Earthquake that way. Instead, they had Hogan emphatically kick out of the Earthquake splash here, and totally kill it over the next couple of pay per views.

 

[salopstick]

The actual matches for the double main event made sense. Warrior had that history with rude and the hogan and tenta thing had been brewing since the rumble

At the time the Rosta wasn't that strong hence pushing Roma, I can't remember what dibiase was doing at the time but you had him, barbarian and haku doing nothing

Perfect was just beginning his run as champ and they stupidity gave it to Von Erich, this was an era where the top heels usually lost on ppv so it was predictable.

Von Erich should have worked with Martel and jake should have had perfect

Bad news brown was on his way out so he was a waste on the card. Barbarian should have tagged with haku against Dugan and Nikolai

Savage had had his loss to Rhodes at mania and should have worked a program with a face bossman and dusty could have faced dibiase

 

[The Brain]

My favorite match from SummerSlam 90 was easily the tag title match between Demolition and The Hart Foundation. That is one of my all time favorite tag matches and was full of excitement. From the two out of three falls stipulation to Demolition sneaking their third member in to the appearance by LOD to the crowning of new champions, the match was a roller coaster that never came down. My least favorite match was Tito Santana vs. The Warlord. It was originally supposed to be Rick Martel against Santana (a year too late) but for whatever reason Warlord was put in Martel's place. I don't mind some 80s and early 90s filler on ppv but this match was just blah.

I didn't have any changes for SummerSlam 89 but I've got a big one for 1990. I was never a big fan of the main event. Warrior vs. Rude was played out by 1990 and the steel cage didn't do anything to add excitement for me. I love Rude but I wasn't buying him as a challenger to Warrior anymore. Warrior beat Rude at SummerSlam a year earlier and also beat him on SNME shortly before SummerSlam 90. I would have done Warrior vs. Randy Savage for the title. That would have been a blockbuster main event and would have given a better story for their feud leading up to WrestleMania. I discussed this in detail in this thread last year. http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=251115&highlight=summerslam

With Savage in the main event I would have simply put Rude in Savage's place and done Rick Rude vs. Dusty Rhodes. They were at the same level and could have easily had a story during the summer. Savage vs. Rhodes was dead by SummerSlam. Also it would have been nice to see an actual tag match between The Rockers and Power & Glory instead of the handicapped match it turned into. I think Michaels may have actually been injured and if that's the case I guess it's not fair to call for that change but it was disappointing to see what could have been a really good tag match turn into a handicapped match.

 

[Pedigree1]

Summerslam 90 was a pretty decent one,but some changes have to be made to the card.. Easily like the brain my favorite match was Hart Foundation vs Demolition! I was severely disappointed in the Savage vs Dusty Rhodes match.. That was a waste of both competitors IMO and did nothing for the feud..

The ravishing one by this time was done as a challenger for the Warriors title.. Rick Rude didnt belong in the title picture anymore,and the WWE really dropped the ball on Warriors credibility as their champion. Perhaps Earthquake vs Warrior would have worked.. Maybe have earthquake attack warrior on a episodes of the original superstars injuring him in the process kayfabe..

I feel earthquake would have made an excellent challenger as he was,pretty hot as a heel at that time.. He would have been a legit threat to the warrior. Have Rick Rude go against dusty rhodes.. Maybe Rick rude,i know its not his taste,could have woo'd Sapphire from Dusty,rick rude in his day was a playa!

Bossman at that time was a good guy,so why not go against Savage! King Macho Man was great as a heel at the time.. TO go against bossman,someone who is underrated IMO would have been actually a good match.. Hulk Hogan could have gone against Bad News Brown.. That would have been a good feud IMO,bad news was actually quite good and just very mean to look at.. Bad news vs Hogan would have been actually quite good IMO..

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

SummerSlam 1990 was a complete and utter DUD, and a waste of money. The PPV barely clocked in at two hours. When you factor in the time spent on promos, that probably amounted to less than an hour of in-ring action. The IC title match between Perfect and Von Erich was a five minute match, and a waste of the talents of both men. The longest match was the tag team title match between Demolition and the Harts, but when you consider it was a best of 3 falls match, you come up with less than 5 minutes spent on each fall. Sherri Vs. Sapphire never happened -- probably a blessing in disguise, but then the blowoff to the Rhodes/Savage feud was a 2 minute match.

This meant that the tentpole matches of Hogan Vs. Earthquake and Warrior Vs. Rude in a steel cage HAD to deliver. Neither did. I was particularly disappointed in the World Title match because that 3rd match between Warrior and Rude was the least of their matches.

Ways to improve the card: Throw another hour onto that PPV just to bring it up a normal PPV length, and let a couple of match truly go long. Harts and Demolition should've been a 20 to 30 minute classic. Warrior and Rude should've gone an extra 5 to 10 minutes, and for sure, the IC match should've clocked in at something similar.

I almost feel like the WWE was trying to experiment with the duration of the PPVs at that time, perhaps to get multiple viewing times in. Regardless, they failed miserably.

 

[Makaveli31]

I read somewhere that Hogan wasn't originally supposed to be on the card but Warrior was drawing so poorly as champion that they rushed Hogan back from hiatus and threw him into an angle with 'Quake to "save" SummerSlam '90.

Seems strange that they would put the top guy for the past six years into the semi-main event along with the guy who was handed "the torch." It was almost as if Vince said to Warrior "I don't trust you to main event this thing alone." Warrior may have viewed it as a power play by Hogan to get back in the main event picture and upstage Warrior who has having trouble establishing himself as champion. It may have led to some of the animosity between Warrior and Hogan/Vince.

Bret Hart even alluded to this recently saying Warrior didn't enjoy his run as champion because he was constantly looking over his shoulder at Hogan.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The first WWE ppv I ever watched.

The best match - and in my opinion one of the best tag matches ever - was the tag title match.

Worst match was the feud-ender between Savage and Rhodes, what a waste

 

[HeenanGorilla]

I like that idea of having Rude woo Sapphire. He could have gotten heel heat by stealing the Dream's dance partner AND his eventual reveal that he had no interest in that fat, out-of-shape sweathog and that it was just to mess with Rhodes. Good call!

Side note, as SummerSlam '89 was the first and only PPV I attended, SummerSlam '90 was the first PPV party I hosted...always went to my neighbor's house. It was a good thing I chose this one because, since I taped it, I was able to rewind and watch over and over how Rhodes--after leaving the ring and heading for DiBiase--was seen behind the curtain waiting for his cue to chase Sapphire, DiBiase and Virgil. I was 11 at the time and it blew my mind when I saw his leg just standing there, followed by someone yelling "Go!" and Rhodes then running after the limo. You mean he wasn't running from the ring?! He was waiting for his cue?! Haha! Funny thing that I remember from this PPV.

Anyway, I like Tornado's win. I didn't watch anything but WWF growing up, but knew who Von Erich was from magazines. So, to see this established newcomer come in and grab the gold was cool. Wasn't a long reign of course, and it went right back to Perfect, but it was a cool moment.

I liked the cage match, if for no other reason than it guaranteed Hogan wouldn't close the show.

Tag title match was, of course, awesome.

Sapphire no-showing was fine. It added an element I hadn't seen and saved us from a match of a skilled wrestler and a crowd-pleasing dancer. It also caused one of the most awkward "get him on the PPV" moments ever--Dusty saying how worried he was and then a random "Hey Hacksaw, have you seen Sapphire?" and otherwise-uninvolved-Duggan with a "No, but we're still looking for her". Haha! What a goofy moment. The gifts being given to Sapphire were noted in WWF magazine and on TV. So, since Macho/Dusty was about to end anyway, I have no problem at all with how they handled this. It freed up Macho and sent Dusty into an angle with DiBiase. I'm not saying everyone has to like it, but the piggybacking of kicking shit on this match/swerve seems foolish. It was a surprise moment that used an otherwise fading feud--same fading as Warrior/Rude thay you all agree with (of course, you all agree with whatever everyone writes)--to set up a new angle. It was absolutely fine and to bash it is ignorant. Again, you don't have to like it, but it was nowhere near as meaningless as you hindsight "historians" are treating it.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

This was a memorable event. I rented it from blockbuster as a kid - I was drawn in by Hogan V Earthquake. The WWF magazine at the time had been getting kids to write in to wish Hogan a recovery from his Earthquake splash attacks from an episode of Superstars 3 months earlier. In the end Hogan came back to avenge his assailant. In reality he had been away filming Suburban Commando.

Whilst that was exciting for me - and my 3rd favourite bout at the event; there were other exciting bouts; Perfect V Tornado (originally a New Yorker) - the way Perfect sold the Tornado punch and the Iron Claw; exciting and everything right about how to sell against a powerhouse. Then there was the humour of Bad News Brown running away from Jake Roberts with the snake and being petrified.

The Warrior v Rude match was a spectacle to behold because it was in a Cage. It was my first ever viewing of a cage match and it was brilliantly exciting but the quality of the bout was a bit low; despite Rudes best efforts. This should have been a regular match!

However; by far the best moment and one of the best tag matches ever - Hart Foundation VS Demolition. It had everything; power house moves, technical moves, high flying, outside interference, heels that knew how to get heat from cheating, 2 out of 3 falls to throw people off til the very end; and a welcoming result. That match to me WAS the main event and it is probably one of the greatest Summerslam bouts and it is probably the first match I think of when I hear the phrase "Summerslam". Bret had some really spectacular Summerslam matches after this too - against Perfect, Bulldog, Jerry Lawler, Owen, (Don't want to include Kane/Isaac Yankem here as it was not so good) and of course the Undertaker - but I am sure you will be having a retrospective look back on these in the coming weeks.

But yes - that Tag Title match was when the Tag belts meant something and Tag Team wrestling was exciting and not used to just chuck no hopers together.

 

[LODemolition]

I agree that the Hart Foundation vs. Demolition match stands out head and shoulders above the rest of the card. The only other memorable match really was Mr. Perfect vs. Kerry Von Erich for the IC Title. Tornado was really popular with the fans at the time and I understood them putting the strap on him. I also would've had to change the main event to Warrior vs. Savage because Rude had already lost a couple times to Warrior and just did not feel like a legitimate threat to defeat him for the WWF Championship. Savage vs Rhodes was a weak feud and should've ended at WM VI. They should've wrestled 1-on-1 there instead of having the mixed tag match.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I liked this card although the Brutus injury and the revolving door of replacements damaged the card overall... First it was gonna be Davey Boy Smith, who signed for the match and was hyped as the opponent but got hurt, then they looked at Bam Bam but settled on Kerry Von Erich. I feel the match would have been better had Davey been against Perfect, but fate had other ideas.

I felt Bossman and DiBiase were wasted on this show and would have rather he had had a serious feud at that time, DiBiase was wasted and the Savage v Dusty match should have been at Mania. Dusty and Bossman v Savage and Ted would have been a far better match for Summerslam.

I always felt the Hogan feud with Quake was just a rehash of Bundy from Mania 2 and as such needed Quake to go over... instead of Bossman in Hogan's corner I'd have kept Tugboat at Hogan's side and had him do the turn into Typhoon then... Hogan then had 2 opponents he could face at Survivor Series.

The main issue was that there were a lot of talents waiting to debut at this time or still having gimmicks and contracts finalised... and a lot of talent on the way out and Vince also seemed intent on the Slaughter debacle.

Now imagine this Summerslam as being the debut of the Undertaker as DiBiase's weapon against Bossman... or The Mountie attacking him or even had Tyson not lost the title and been at the event... a lot of possibilities.

I'm gonna disagree with the guys saying Rude was done... the issue is they should have put him over and let Warrior chase again till Mania... adding Savage to that mix. Rude left purely because he was dissed over the title...he COULD have drawn great with Hogan and Warrior, Hogan flatly refused and Warrior felt he had jobbed once and that was enough... Rude was livid as the fans wanted to see something new and he could have had great title feuds with a big portion of the roster as champ...

he was proven right that he was the best heel they had as he then did it for 2 years in WCW without missing a beat... that US title reign with Rude as WWE champ? Would it have been better than Slaughter or even Flair's runs... hell yeah.

Imagine this, Savage and Rude both want title matches but Rude wins out as he has beaten Warrior for a title prior... Savage gets pissed and decides to get involved in the cage match to stop Rude as he wants to end Warrior himself... he botches it and nails Warrior with the sceptre, eats a Rude Awakening and allows Rude to claim the gold and escape the cage. Warrior isn't pinned so doesn't look weak, the win isn't clean and he has 2 opponents to take his anger out on.

Savage now has both guys pissed off at him and is the tweener of the situation, realising pissing both off was a bad move. Warrior demands his rematch but Savage pins Rude during Survivor Series creating an argument he is the #1 contender.

In those days it was customary for the champion to be in the Rumble... the final 3 are Rude, Savage and Warrior, Rude outsmarts and dumps both over the top leading to the first ever Elimiator match at Mania 7 (of course I am ditching Sarge's reign completely here and keeping Rude for the long term) with the added stip from Rude as Champ that if either of the other two or both are pinned at Mania... they must retire, Rude knows this will eliminate his competition entirely if he can win his match... Warrior bests Savage much as he did to get to the title match and "end" Randy's career... Sherri turns to cost him the match but no Liz return... yet... Main event sees Sherri accompanying Rude as his new "squeeze" and revealing their plan during the match Savage runs in to cost Rude the title but Sherri lowblows him and begins attacking him outside the ring... Liz runs out to save him and this throws Rude off enough for Warrior to win..

 

[Headman]

I still have my "Autographed" post card I got for writing Hogan after he got splattered by Earthquake. lol

As for Summerslam 90, I enjoyed the hell out of this show. I loved the Rockers / Power & Glory feud. The hype for Hogan/Quake was great and the Warrior / Rude cage match was pretty enjoyable. But I agree with the OP the match of the Night was the Harts / Demolition best 2 out of 3 falls.

 

[Judah's Lion]

SummerSlam 90 seemed like a bust to me, both then and now. looking back at the card, it's tough to ignore that the longest match was less than 15 minutes long, and that was a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match! so there's a lot to be desired as far as match length and quality goes.

Tornado vs. Perfect was good and couldn't be avoided due to Beefcake's injury. i liked the pairing and the outcome but this match and the card overall would have benefitted from a few more minutes, or 10.

Hart Foundation vs. Demolition for the Tag Team Titles in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match was great. it fell short of amazing, again, due to the actual length of those falls. give it 25-30 minutes total and this match becomes a classic not to be missed. as is, it's still a show stealer, but that's not saying much looking at this event.

Savage vs. Rhodes should have happened one-on-one at Mania 6. and it should have ended the feud. SummerSlam should have begun the feud of Dusty Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase, so that's the match i'd pencil in here.

Boss Man vs. Mountie would have been kinda fun here with both having law enforcement type gimmicks. so i'd let that happen on this night.

Rockers vs. Power and Glory was good but not great. from the responses to this thread it looks like HBK was injured, so it makes sense why the match happened the way it did. it wasn't great but it's okay as is.

what about Jake vs. Savage? a few years later we see a face Savage vs. a heel Jake, but what about a face Jake vs. a heel Savage here? i like that, but would rather have the following... Jake vs. Martel. they're about to begin a lengthy feud that culminates at Mania 7 anyway. just move it up some months and let it begin here instead.

i'd pair up Hacksaw with Tito Santana and go against Haku/Barbarian instead of the tag match we did get with Hacksaw. let the Faces of Fear take this one in a slug fest.

so here's where i'm stuck...

i like the idea or Warrior vs. Earthquake because of their history from when Quake debuted. but i really like the idea of Hogan with Tugboat in his corner vs. Earthquake with Dino Bravo in his corner. have Tugboat turn on Hogan and become Typhoon. probably let Hogan have to win the match decisively given the injury angle that was happening, but then after the match have Tugboat turn and do the whole beatdown thing.

that leaves Warrior, Savage and Rude... maybe a Triple Threat? i think Warrior/Rude should have been in a Steel Cage the year before to end their IC Title feud. having a Mania match, a SNME match and two SummerSlam matches just seems excessive. especially considering that the only one of those Rude won was due to outside help. he never was booked as a legit threat to Warrior, for whatever reason. a Triple Threat might work here as it adds a little element instead of the overdone one-on-one between Warrior and Rude and keeps the amazing one-on-one between Warrior and Savage for Mania 7.