WWF Summerslam Spectacular (8.18.91) review 

 

August 18, 1991 (Taped: July 29, 1991) 

We’re in Worcester, Masschusetts. Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan. This aired on USA. The aim of the show is to sell people on the forthcoming Summerslam PPV. Back when WWF didn’t have a regular TV deal, they ran these shows to sell PPVs. March to Wrestlemania, Survivor Series Showdown and Summerslam Spectacular. If you didn’t realise, you might think you were getting a good show from the good people in Connecticut. Not just an advert for a PPV. Which is better than 2026, where you get adverts IN the PPV itself. This Summerslam was billed around the ongoing Hogan vs. Iraq….uh…Hogan vs Slaughter angle. Which was still going from Wrestlemania VII.  

 

Hulk Hogan was certainly wrestling less than usual, compared to his 80s heyday, but that had been the case for some time. As the houses got smaller, the Hulkster found more projects to top up his income. The 1991 version of this is doing the press tour for Suburban Commando, which comes out in October. It’s Hogan’s first attempt at the movies where he’s not just playing himself. I’ll get into Suburban Commando when it releases in October, but it’s fair to say…it’s not a success.  

 

Brian Knobbs vs. Hawk 

Road Warriors are challenging the Nasty Boys for the belts at Summerslam, hence this preview. The Nasties are ideal opponents for the LOD because they’re big and scary, but they bump around like crazy. IT’S A NASTY SENSATION, BABBBBYYYYY! To my shock, Hawk actually sells in this. My brain goes strolling off in a weird direction here, debating what Hawk would have been like with a snooty British gimmick called “Hawkington Hawksworth III”. Great, I reckon. Anyway, he battles back and wins with a flying shoulder tackle off the ropes. This was alright, actually. **¼ 

 

Video Control gives us this Jake-Warrior thing where Roberts locks Warrior into a room after daring him to get in there. It’s a room full of snakes.  

 

“Look in the coffin Warrior”.  

 

Anyway, after Warrior spends a moment trying to figure out how to lock up with a snake (“he’s got no elbow, brother”) the snake just bites him and Jake cackles about it through the glass. Watching Warrior die from the snake venom. “Goodbye cruel world”. Damn! This is cinematic pro-wrestling.  

Warrior sees Undertaker, from his POV on camera, and reaches out for help from Jake. “Never trust a snake”. This was awesome. How have I never seen this before?  

 

Barbarian vs. Bret Hart 

Bret is going after Perfect’s IC belt at Summerslam, a match that crowned him as a true superstar and changed perception of him. Hennig had a back injury and is currently shelved. At this point they’re not even sure he can work at Summerslam. Bret has made an impressive jump into singles here. His movement around the ring is excellent. He uses his opponent’s strengths effectively. There’s a great spot here where he jumps off the apron and Barbarian catches him. This is clear planning from Bret to make Barbarian look aces.  

 

“Coach” John Tolos is out here, scouting for Mr Perfect. The idea here was Bobby Heenan was going to be a full-time announcer, so his wrestlers got redistributed. Coach got Perfect. The whole thing would fail as Hennig didn’t need Tolos at all, and Heenan would be brought back in with the whole Flair angle later in the year. Barbarian’s control periods in this are very dull. Which is an unfortunate downside to Bret’s singles matches with the earlys 90s steroid monsters. Bret wins by cradling Barbarian out of a slam. **¾.  

 

Promo Time: Sid Justice 

Sid has gone straight into the main event scene and LOOK AT HIM, of course he is. He’s going to be the enforcer at Summerslam in the main event. He yells about “justice being served”. Whose side is he on?  

 

IRS vs. Mark Thomas 

Rotunda jumped earlier in the year and got stuck with this IRS gimmick as Vince turned the York Foundation version of him into a tax attourney. Yes, we’re entering the Two Job Era. Vince claims the fans are yelling “IRRRRRWIN” because they used that to cover for the “boring” chants. Anyway, this is a squash, and it was still boring. DUD 

 

British Bulldog, Texas Tornado & “The Dragon” vs. Orient Express 

Or Davey Boy Smith, Kerry von Erich and Ricky Steamboat if you’re a normal person. Orients are Kato, Sato and Pat Tanaka. The inclusion of Akio Sato means they have an actual Japanese person in the match. Steamboat is still one of the best wrestlers in the world here, so this feels like a waste but what a team the babyfaces are. The same trio is facing Warlord, Herc and Roma at Summerslam. So, this tune up match is obviously better than Summerslam because the Orient Express are way better. 

 

The match is genuinely good until Kerry gets lost…a few times. Man, it’s sad watching him work in 1991. They consider working heat on him, but common sense prevails, and Steamboat takes it. Kerry doesn’t even get the hot tag. He just stands in the corner looking sad while Davey throws heels around. The Steamer tags back in with a high cross for the win. This was a great little match. Very sad watching Kerry’s struggles in it though. *** 

 

Video Control gives us a shill for Summerslam for a bit. Heenan calls Warrior having “mashed potatoes” upstairs.  

Then, in a sensational piece of prop work, Heenan whips out the WCW big gold belt and calls it the “real world’s title”, and name drops the “real world champion; Ric Flair”. Vince looks dumbfounded. Keep in mind here; they’re talking about the NWA champion here. They’re talking about the guy who’s running around with the WCW belt because they fired him while he held it, so he’s still got it. This was real, top tier, sabotage from McMahon. They knew WCW was in a horribly state politically and picked their bones. Not only stealing Sid from them but also Ric Flair.  

 

WWF Championship 

Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Sgt Slaughter 

Vince tries to nudge commentary back to talking about the WWF and how his title is the most important.  

HUGE pop for Hogan here. I know I’ve said things about his declining popularity, but the failed Warrior run has given the crowd a renewed sense of love for Hogan. Which would last a few months until screwy booking, Sid and the steroid scandal derailed his WWF career for good. This match does not match the efforts they put into Wrestlemania, which itself isn’t a good match. This is more the house show version they’ve been running around the horn. They make the referee look dumb here, and eventually he has to pretend he doesn’t see Sheiky get in the ring. The Triangle of Terror beat up Hogan, and Hebner, and SID MAKES THE SAVE. Sid takes the chair off Hogan to reinforce how he would enforce the rules at Summerslam. Should have put the belt on Sid, straight up. Anyway, this SUCKED. ½* 

 

Video Control gives us clips of Earthquake taking out of Andre the Giant’s knee. The angle here was that Andre had been courted by various heel managers. He’d rejected them all. Jimmy Hart then came on TV and said he’d signed Andre. We get to Andre’s response, and it’s all a ruse to get Hart’s Earthquake to attack the giant. This, in turn, leads to Jimmy signing Tugboat and forming the Natural Disasters and Andre’s final major WWF appearance, cornering the Bushwhackers against the Natural Disasters at Summerslam. After that Andre is back off to All Japan and he’ll be dead inside 18 months.  

 

Ray Garcia & Russ Greenberg vs. Natural Disasters 

Tugboat has been re-branded “Typhoon”.  

This is just a squash. Literally. Fred Ottman looked quite animated here. By all accounts both these lads were really nice fellas.  

 

Barbershop 

Brutus Beefcake has started hosting a chat show while recovering from his horrific parasailing accident. His entire face had to be reconstructed. It’s been over a year at this point, so he looks normal and there was an attempt to get him back in the ring around this time. The boys feared injuring him though, and it took another year before he could go again. His guest is Sherri who bitches about Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Brutus politely listens to the whole thing before saying he’s arranged her transportation to Summerslam and hands her a broom. Yanno, because she’s a witch. This was fine.  

 

X vs. Virgil 

The mysterious masked man is Smash. He’s not given a name of any kind. Ted DiBiase, out here in his corner, simply refers to him as “my man”. “Who is this man?” asks Vince McMahon. “Virgil” replies Bobby Heenan. Flawless delivery. Virgil delivers a fairly standard performance, but Darsow does a good job of carrying him. Virgil is still able to take a bump out of the ring where he forgets to grab the ropes and nearly dies. A sensational worker. Virgil also fucks up the finish completely. DUD. Smash would go off TV for a month, or so, and get repackaged as Repo Man right after this.  

 

Virgil would continue with WWF until the RAW era starts and doesn’t leave until 1994. Which is quite incredible. I can only assume someone, namely Vince McMahon, really enjoyed his work….or something. I can’t see it myself. Amazingly, despite having watched him wrestle on TV for years, WCW still signed him at the peak of their powers in 1997 and put him in the New World Order. I know.  

 

The 411: 

An entirely forgettable show, but the angles shown here do flesh out the Summerslam experience. Warrior and Jake with the snake room stuff is pure cinema. Years ahead of its time. The in-ring did have a few highlights. Bret-Barbarian is ok, and the trios match is great. Hogan-Slaughter was the main on this show though and it blows. Also, they closed the show with Virgil. Did nobody notice Virgil couldn’t work at all? Having Sid and the actual WCW title belt feels like a coup and WWF was still firing on all cylinders here. Give it a while.