SummerSlam 91 Main Event

[The Brain]

A few weeks ago I posted a thread about the main event of SummerSlam 90. Now I want to talk about SummerSlam 91. I never cared for the main event at all but always overlooked it because I thought the rest of SummerSlam 91 was awesome. It would have been even more awesome with a different main event. The actual main event was Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and Gen. Adnan. I have two ideas that make SummerSlam 91 better.

The first one keeps the main event pretty much the same but with one major change. I would have preferred to see Hogan team with Sid instead of the Ultimate Warrior. Sid was involved in the main event anyway as the special referee. Just have him as Hogan’s partner instead. Sid hadn’t made his in ring WWF debut yet and what better endorsement than being chosen as the Hulkster’s partner for a major ppv. The Ultimate Warrior had nothing to do with Slaughter and company. Yeah, Slaughter beat Warrior for the title at the Royal Rumble, but that was seven months earlier and a distant memory by SummerSlam. Warrior had moved on to other things. He was in the middle of a huge feud with the Undertaker and recently started one with Jake Roberts. Warrior should have wrestled one of those two instead of being put in a match that he didn’t fit into. I would have preferred Jake. Jake’s heel turn was pretty surprising in 1991. Jake and Warrior worked together throughout the summer of 1991 before Jake eventually turned against him. We never got a match between the two. Warrior could have just as easily worked against Taker with Jake in Taker’s corner. Either way Warrior should have wrestled Jake or Taker with Sid going into the main event spot.

My next idea takes Slaughter and company off the card all together. I have defended Slaughter as the right choice for the WM7 main event many times, but by SummerSlam the feud was dead. The war had been over for several months and Slaughter’s gimmick expired when he dropped the title at mania. There was no momentum for this match at all. It was obvious WWF was just going through the motions until they were ready for the next angle. The next big angle was Hogan vs. Undertaker so I say start it a little earlier. As I mentioned above Warrior was already feuding with both Taker and Jake. They could have started the feud between Hogan and Taker a little earlier and given us Hogan and Warrior vs. Taker and Jake at SummerSlam. That sounds a lot more interesting than continuing a dead feud with Slaughter.

For as awesome as SummerSlam 91 was I always hated the main event and found it strange that Jake and Taker were left off the card. I know they were involved in Savage and Elizabeth’s wedding reception, but that was not shown on ppv. Besides they still could have done that after losing to Hogan and Warrior. What do you think? Which of my ideas do you prefer? Or do you like the event as it was? Do you have a completely different idea instead?

 

[Makaveli31]

I would agree with the Sid scenario but I think he was still under the "no compete" clause at the time having just left WCW hence the special referee angle. There was no doubt though the WWF were going with Sid.

Warrior was still the second most, and arguably the most, popular wrestler in the WWF at the time so it would make financial sense to pair him with Hogan no matter the scenario. SummerSlam up until then had always been about gimmick tag matches. Mega Bucks vs. Mega Powers; Mega Maniacs vs Savage and Zeus, it kind of separated it from Mania. I think they were gearing Warrior up for a WM 8 showdown with Jake if I'm not mistaken. Jake alluded to working a major angle with Warrior in 1992 before Warrior got himself fired.

I think Taker was still relatively new at the time. They were still building him as this invincible monster. Unless Hogan was ready to do a job for him I would highly doubt they would damage Taker so quickly. The WWF knew where they were going with Hogan/Warrior/Sid/Taker and Jake and SummerSlam 91 was not it. They were going to go full speed in the fall of '91 heading into WM 8 until things sort of fell apart. SummerSlam 91 was just a post-Mania filler.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Summerslam 91 was always an odd one, a couple of major moments - Bret winning the IC and LOD getting their tag titles but other than that it was a lot of filler throughout the card.

Take the opening match, Davey, The Dragon and Tornado v Warlord and Power and Glory... the only one who had a feud with any of the heels was Bulldog and he had decisively beaten Warlord at Mania... it was a "big return" for Ricky Steamboat and he was teamed with the man who won the IC title a year before and the one who would win it a year later. So you had one guy "rising", one "coming back" and one "on the way down"... teaming them per se wasn't a bad idea but their opponents were strictly lower tier and a tag team to boot... It made little sense when Rick Martel, Jake and Undertaker were not on the card.

If the plan was to bury Mustafa and Adnan and prepare Sarge for his face turn then surely this was the match to do it... Have the returning Dragon lead the 2 "young bucks" to victory over the former champion, humiliating him and causing his allies to desert him?

I'd have made this a straight tag match with Bulldog and Tornado going over Rick Martel and Warlord.

The main event itself was wrong from the start... I am sure a lot of contractual stuff did affect it... but WWE could have cleared it and probably for less than Vince paid Warrior extra to prevent the no-show. Now assuming I could have booked it free of those issues then I would have made Warrior face Sgt. Slaughter for his "payback" for losing the title.

For the main event I would have start with Hogan and Piper against The Undertaker and Jake. On the show before, during a Piper's Pit - Ric Flair debuts and announces he has been added to the main event as part of the settlement for him signing and "breaks" Piper's leg with the Figure Four, leading to Hogan and Ricky Steamboat making the save... The heels assume they have a handicap match as Jack Tunney says he will allow Steamboat to replace Piper, but it is too late to find a 3rd man, but Hogan is welcome to try...

On the night... Jake, Taker and Flair disrupt Randy Savage's wedding with Flair forcing a kiss from the bride as "champions right"... Sid manages to chase them off but Randy is in bad shape and he goes with Liz and Randy in the Ambulance.

As the heels go to the ring, Hogan and Steamboat "admit" they haven't found anyone and will go to the ring as a two while Mean Gene laments the "injustice". Just as the bell is about to ring, Sid Justice makes his debut and evens up the numbers.

The danger with this match would be 2 debuts and one "PPV re-debut" and Taker was very hot so it would need to be booked carefully. Steamboat and Flair wrestle a part clinic before Sid and Jake take over... Hogan and Taker have a short taster of what their feud will eventually be but it would be Flair's team who emerge victorious by DQ when an irate Savage interferes as Hogan is trapped in the figure four.

Sid and Taker battle to the back as Ricky tries to pacify Randy, only to eat a DDT on the concrete for his trouble... Security break up the melee and force Flair to the back as a distraught Savage tries to aid his 2 friends.

Where this would then go would of course be a Survivor Series... I would split it across a couple of matches, so Hogan, Piper, Big Bossman and and the LOD v Taker, Natural Disasters, Ted DiBiase and The Mountie. Also Savage, Sid, Steamboat & The Rockers v Flair, Jake, Power & Glory and IRS.

 

[The Brain]

I think Taker was still relatively new at the time. They were still building him as this invincible monster. Unless Hogan was ready to do a job for him I would highly doubt they would damage Taker so quickly. The WWF knew where they were going with Hogan/Warrior/Sid/Taker and Jake and SummerSlam 91 was not it. They were going to go full speed in the fall of '91 heading into WM 8 until things sort of fell apart. SummerSlam 91 was just a post-Mania filler.

That's the beauty of a tag match. Taker could look strong and set himself up as Hogan's next challenger (which he became anyway) while Jake takes the pin.

Summerslam 91 was always an odd one, a couple of major moments - Bret winning the IC and LOD getting their tag titles but other than that it was a lot of filler throughout the card.

Take the opening match, Davey, The Dragon and Tornado v Warlord and Power and Glory... the only one who had a feud with any of the heels was Bulldog and he had decisively beaten Warlord at Mania... it was a "big return" for Ricky Steamboat and he was teamed with the man who won the IC title a year before and the one who would win it a year later. So you had one guy "rising", one "coming back" and one "on the way down"... teaming them per se wasn't a bad idea but their opponents were strictly lower tier and a tag team to boot... It made little sense when Rick Martel, Jake and Undertaker were not on the card.

If the plan was to bury Mustafa and Adnan and prepare Sarge for his face turn then surely this was the match to do it... Have the returning Dragon lead the 2 "young bucks" to victory over the former champion, humiliating him and causing his allies to desert him?

I'd have made this a straight tag match with Bulldog and Tornado going over Rick Martel and Warlord.

The main event itself was wrong from the start... I am sure a lot of contractual stuff did affect it... but WWE could have cleared it and probably for less than Vince paid Warrior extra to prevent the no-show. Now assuming I could have booked it free of those issues then I would have made Warrior face Sgt. Slaughter for his "payback" for losing the title.

For the main event I would have start with Hogan and Piper against The Undertaker and Jake. On the show before, during a Piper's Pit - Ric Flair debuts and announces he has been added to the main event as part of the settlement for him signing and "breaks" Piper's leg with the Figure Four, leading to Hogan and Ricky Steamboat making the save... The heels assume they have a handicap match as Jack Tunney says he will allow Steamboat to replace Piper, but it is too late to find a 3rd man, but Hogan is welcome to try...

On the night... Jake, Taker and Flair disrupt Randy Savage's wedding with Flair forcing a kiss from the bride as "champions right"... Sid manages to chase them off but Randy is in bad shape and he goes with Liz and Randy in the Ambulance.

As the heels go to the ring, Hogan and Steamboat "admit" they haven't found anyone and will go to the ring as a two while Mean Gene laments the "injustice". Just as the bell is about to ring, Sid Justice makes his debut and evens up the numbers.

The danger with this match would be 2 debuts and one "PPV re-debut" and Taker was very hot so it would need to be booked carefully. Steamboat and Flair wrestle a part clinic before Sid and Jake take over... Hogan and Taker have a short taster of what their feud will eventually be but it would be Flair's team who emerge victorious by DQ when an irate Savage interferes as Hogan is trapped in the figure four.

Sid and Taker battle to the back as Ricky tries to pacify Randy, only to eat a DDT on the concrete for his trouble... Security break up the melee and force Flair to the back as a distraught Savage tries to aid his 2 friends.

Where this would then go would of course be a Survivor Series... I would split it across a couple of matches, so Hogan, Piper, Big Bossman and and the LOD v Taker, Natural Disasters, Ted DiBiase and The Mountie. Also Savage, Sid, Steamboat & The Rockers v Flair, Jake, Power & Glory and IRS.

I'm all for fantasy booking but my ideas are realistic with what was actually happening in the WWF at the time. If you look at everything that was happening during the summer of 1991 you could easily slip Jake and Taker in the main event over Slaughter, Mustafa, and Adnan without affecting anyone else. Warrior vs. Jake and Taker was one of the hottest things going that summer. The only thing is Hogan starts a feud with Taker a bit earlier. Not far fetched considering Taker and Hogan would start feuding after SummerSlam. I would have loved it if Steamboat was used better, but that wasn't his role. We didn't even know Flair was coming to the WWF until SummerSlam, and even then he didn't appear on camera. The timing wasn't right to get him on the card.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Agreed but as I said, to get Flair and Justice in in time to book them onto Summerslam would have cost less than the quarter million Warrior held Vince up for and would have got a lot more buzz into what ultimately was a massive letdown event. The booking of the wedding was what killed it... I understand the desire to keep Savage onscreen but the booking of the show was hampered by it.

 

[Makaveli31]

That's the beauty of a tag match. Taker could look strong and set himself up as Hogan's next challenger (which he became anyway) while Jake takes the pin.

It would've been a stretch to elevate Taker to main event of a PPV so quickly. He was in a squash match with Superfly Snuka the PPV prior. Taker's stock really didn't elevate until after the Funeral Parlor skits he did with Warrior in the fall of '91. Plus I don't think either Hogan or Warrior would've agreed to make 'Taker look strong at their expense. Bottom line it would've been hard to cram this main event into SS '91 without the proper build up. Jake was still in the midst of a feud with Macho that wouldn't be settled until November of '91 at Tuesday in Texas PPV then would start a feud with Warrior. The focus of the SS '91 main event HAD to be Sid and Hogan because they were going to be the main event or co-main at WM 8. Slaughter Adnan and Mustafa were just there to be killed off.

 

[The Brain]

It would've been a stretch to elevate Taker to main event of a PPV so quickly. He was in a squash match with Superfly Snuka the PPV prior. Taker's stock really didn't elevate until after the Funeral Parlor skits he did with Warrior in the fall of '91. Plus I don't think either Hogan or Warrior would've agreed to make 'Taker look strong at their expense. Bottom line it would've been hard to cram this main event into SS '91 without the proper build up. Jake was still in the midst of a feud with Macho that wouldn't be settled until November of '91 at Tuesday in Texas PPV then would start a feud with Warrior. The focus of the SS '91 main event HAD to be Sid and Hogan because they were going to be the main event or co-main at WM 8. Slaughter Adnan and Mustafa were just there to be killed off.

Your timeline is a little mixed up. Taker locked Warrior in a casket on the Funeral Parlor only about a month after WrestleMania. Warrior was gone by fall of 91. The build was already there with Warrior, Jake, and Taker. All they had to do was get Hogan involved with Taker a little earlier and kill the Slaughter feud that nobody cared about by then anyway. Hogan and Sid had plenty of time to build toward their mania match which wasn't the original plan as early as SummerSlam anyway. Jake's feud with Savage did not begin until SummerSlam. It started when Jake crashed the wedding reception. That's something he still could have done after losing in the main event.

 

[Makaveli31]

You're right. Warrior/Snake and Taker were feuding in summer of '91 but my question is why would have the blow off match so quickly? Someone would have to take the pin and it would kill the feud. No one knew the Warrior would be fired, according to Jake Roberts' shoot the plan was to have his feud with Warrior in '92 with the blow off at WM 8 in fact.....if he pinned him in '91 there would be no reason for the feud. I think the plan was to have Sid and Hogan involved in WM 8 together in some fashion, so you had the establish that relationship right off the bat. So my main point is that the focus had to be on Sid and Hogan not Warrior/Snake or Taker.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The "plan" was for Flair and Hogan to be working into 92... not Sid, indeed they knew Hogan would be leaving at WM8 almost a year ahead of time, Sid was intended as his replacement. Flair debuted later than originally planned due to the dispute he had with WCW over the title and money he was owed from them. Vince could have paid that, bought out his no compete and got Flair in a lot earlier than he did and it would have cost less than he paid Warrior ultimately (no pun intended).

Warrior would have lost as Taker/Jake and Bearer would have been too much even for him... now would he have agreed to this, probably not - and no one expected him to hold up for money/get canned. BUT Vince was clearly done with him as a top tier talent putting him with Jake and Taker to begin with, so at worst Warrior might have been let go for refusing to job to Taker or Jake.

When Flair and Hogan didn't gel at house shows in late 91, was when the plan was changed for Sid to go heel with Hogan. Indeed the Mania main event was announced as Flair v Hogan.

 

[Makaveli31]

Exactly, my point being is they had to establish a relationship between Sid and Hogan in order for Hogan to "pass the torch" so to speak. This has nothing to do with Warrior/Taker/ or Jake.

 

[The Brain]

You're right. Warrior/Snake and Taker were feuding in summer of '91 but my question is why would have the blow off match so quickly? Someone would have to take the pin and it would kill the feud. No one knew the Warrior would be fired, according to Jake Roberts' shoot the plan was to have his feud with Warrior in '92 with the blow off at WM 8 in fact.....if he pinned him in '91 there would be no reason for the feud. I think the plan was to have Sid and Hogan involved in WM 8 together in some fashion, so you had the establish that relationship right off the bat. So my main point is that the focus had to be on Sid and Hogan not Warrior/Snake or Taker.

SummerSlam is second only to mania in terms of importance so I see no problem with this feud being the focus. Hogan could pin Jake and Jake could still work with Warrior into the fall. I highly doubt Warrior and Jake were going to go all the way to mania. That's a long time for a feud even during the early years of mania. I don't think Hogan and Sid were originally planned to do anything together at mania. Even if they were there was plenty of time to establish a relationship between the two. Hell, Sid could have still been the ref. He didn't really fit in the real main event anyway so you could still stick him in my main event. We're talking about the second biggest show of the year so I see no reason to pass on a hot feud for one that had clearly already run its course.

 

[Makaveli31]

I still think it was still too close to WM 7 to have this mega main event have the impact it deserves. Hogan/Slaughter was still fresh in people's minds. It would have been tough to start an entirely new feud with Hogan in a matter of months without a weekly show like RAW to build it. I think if you had this main event the focus would have been on Warrior/Snake/Taker and not Hogan/Sid since Warrior/Taker/Snake was the hot new feud.

I think a clean Hogan pin over Snake would have severely diminished his impact as a heel. He was being groomed as one of the new top heels and you want him jobbed out in his first PPV? I think Warrior and Snake was the plan going into WM 8. How long was the Jake/Martel feud or the Warrior/Rude feud. Well over a year or just about. Remember back then you didn't have RAW's or monthly PPV's to decide feuds within a span of months.

I think they wanted Sid to have an mega impact debut. There is no doubt he was going to get the mega shove in '91 going into '92 and SummerSlam was the second biggest show as you said. What better way than to have Sid debut than to destroy the heels (Slaughter,Adnan, Mustafa) and kill them off once and for all? They needed to make Sid look strong and establish a relationship with Hogan and couldn't be done on Superstars or even Survivor Series.

 

[boozinjedi]

Only a few things stand out about SummerSlam 91,the stellar Hart/Perfect match..a great singles match!!
The one thing that I laugh at to this day..the NYC Jailhouse match and all that happened to the Mountie after he got taken away.
1.Probably the first use of the middle finger on a WWF/E PPV..
Mountie--You want my finger....HERE'S MY FINGER!!
2.The best bit was in the cell,a bum comes and asks--You want to fight my buddy...There's my buddy!!
A big burly biker looking guy comes up and asks:
Don't you just love the way leather feels against your skin?

Piper put it best...I think the mountie has found a new friend!
(If someone could..please post a link)

 

[willross]

1991 was pure greatness during that summer up until the Royal Rumble of 1992. They did just about everything perfect then, dont know why you guys love to just go and change things, especially the things that were good and basically everything with Jake, Taker, Flair, Hogan, Piper, Sid, and Savage attached to it was amazing from Summer of 91 to Royal Rumble 1992

They were also during a time where angles were not HOT SHOTTED. SO Jake and Taker was still very fresh and was given the time to get over rather than forced over.

They could have put Taker on the card but it would have been against a nobody. The hot money was on a Warrior/Hogan tag match. They needed to give Slaughter so sort of blow off to get him back to babyface and this 3 on 2 tied up all his feuds at once, and sent him into his next one.

 

[Judah's Lion]

The first one keeps the main event pretty much the same but with one major change. I would have preferred to see Hogan team with Sid instead of the Ultimate Warrior. Sid was involved in the main event anyway as the special referee. Just have him as Hogan’s partner instead. Sid hadn’t made his in ring WWF debut yet and what better endorsement than being chosen as the Hulkster’s partner for a major ppv. The Ultimate Warrior had nothing to do with Slaughter and company. Yeah, Slaughter beat Warrior for the title at the Royal Rumble, but that was seven months earlier and a distant memory by SummerSlam. Warrior had moved on to other things. He was in the middle of a huge feud with the Undertaker and recently started one with Jake Roberts. Warrior should have wrestled one of those two instead of being put in a match that he didn’t fit into. I would have preferred Jake. Jake’s heel turn was pretty surprising in 1991. Jake and Warrior worked together throughout the summer of 1991 before Jake eventually turned against him. We never got a match between the two. Warrior could have just as easily worked against Taker with Jake in Taker’s corner. Either way Warrior should have wrestled Jake or Taker with Sid going into the main event spot.

My next idea takes Slaughter and company off the card all together. I have defended Slaughter as the right choice for the WM7 main event many times, but by SummerSlam the feud was dead. The war had been over for several months and Slaughter’s gimmick expired when he dropped the title at mania. There was no momentum for this match at all. It was obvious WWF was just going through the motions until they were ready for the next angle. The next big angle was Hogan vs. Undertaker so I say start it a little earlier. As I mentioned above Warrior was already feuding with both Taker and Jake. They could have started the feud between Hogan and Taker a little earlier and given us Hogan and Warrior vs. Taker and Jake at SummerSlam. That sounds a lot more interesting than continuing a dead feud with Slaughter.

i like both ideas, Brain. and THTRob has some good fantasy booking as well. my idea is to kind of blend what you both said.

Warrior/Slaughter should have had a rematch. at least i think so. not because their first encounter was so amazing, but because Warrior lost the WHC to Slaughter and never got his payback. so i definitely think it could have fit here. maybe even make it a "Boot Camp Handicap Match" and have Warrior bury all of Slaughter and company.

let Savage and Elizabeth have their wedding to start the show maybe. then in the Main Event have Hogan/Sid vs. Taker/Jake. Sid can get the pin on Jake so that Taker doesn't look weak and Sid looks strong. either throughout the rest of the event or to close the show, you could show the footage of Jake's cobra crashing the wedding reception.

now you have the same feuds set up for the rest of the year: Warrior vs. Jake and Taker, Savage vs. Jake and Flair, Hogan vs. Taker, Flair and Sid.

as always, an interesting and enjoyable thread, Brain. loved the fantasy booking THTRob.

 

[The Warlord]

I've never liked tag team matches headlining PPV's, especially a major one like SummerSlam. Not only was it a tag match, it was a handicap tag match which made it even worse.

Slaughter was done after Wrestlemania 7. It was a good feud for what it was but there was no reason to continue it (unless the heel won - but that didn't happen).

Hulk Hogan vs The Undertaker
Ultimate Warrior vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Couple that with Bret vs Perfect, Mountie vs Bossman and Natural Disasters vs Nastys and you've got a fantastic card from top to bottom. Hell, even the Virgil/DiBiase storyline wasn't half bad.

I don't know what Vince was thinking half the time in the early 90's. I know hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to sit here and play armchair booker...but Jesus...I was 11 years old at the time and I could have put together better cards then that. Don't get me started on Wrestlemania 8, Wrestlemania 9 and SummerSlam 93...

 

[HBsam31]

If i remember correctly the feud that was starting between Warrior and Jake was pretty intense. I remember Jake taking Warrior into those caves or what ever they were and putting him through tests. It came to a head when warrior got locked in with that cobra and I believe it sprayed him. I was 11 at the time so I was really eating this stuff up. MY point is I would have loved to see a match between those two at Summerslam, and changing the tag match to Warrior/Hogan vs Roberts/Undertaker is a pretty good idea. The Hogan/Slaughter feud was indeed dead by then, and Summerslam would have benefited from these little changes. I was never really a Sid fan so I can't really say him being added to the Hogan team would have intrigued me, but Warrior Jake the Snake is a feud that I always wish would have played out farther had Warrior not be fired.

 

[spaldoni]

I remember being so disappointed when this main event was announced. In my eyes Slaughter and company posed no threat whatsoever. I always thought it would of been cool if the Legion of Doom were heels and took on Hogan and Warrior at SS 91. Sid could of still been the ref. The match could of ended in a crazy DQ and nobody would of lost heat. Sid and Hogan still could of done a posedown at the end. This would of been a perfect match for SS and an all time dream match.

 

[Killercam]

SummerSlam 91 had the same problem most of the early SummerSlams had and that was that they continued to go with tag team matches as the main-events. Even back in the day these tag matches they built as main-events for SummerSlam could have been on the regular tv shows and ultimately were a waste of money to the people who bought the ppv. You are right though Brain, the Srgt Slaughter angle was played out by August of 91, but I thought WWF got it right with the marriage with Liz and Savage. You also hit the nail on the head with pushing the Undertaker-Hogan feud up a few months. Let Taker go over Hogan in a shocking win (with help from Flair and Jake) to set up Survivor Series rematch (and erase from history the Tuesday in Texas debacle). You could still send everyone home happy after the wedding (the Jake Roberts attack was only seen on the Collesium home video edition if I remember correctly). As far as Warrior and Sid go, the undercard was stacked and also delivered so the show would have been fine withou them, but if the have to be involved in th card then they should have teamed together against somebody (maybe Slaughter and his crew?) and have them loose, with Sid turning on Warrior which would have helped make since of Warriors return at WM8 to help hulk avenge Sid. Great thread though

 

[16timestheman]

Can anyone honestly remember any other match at Summerslam '91 other than Hart and Henning. It's one of those times that the real main event was not the scheduled main event. Just like Wrestlemania '89 when Savage and steamboat stole the show. Bret vs. Curt at Summerslam '91 is one of my all time top 10 favorite matches.