There were two Prime Time Wrestling pay-per-view focused specials in 1989, predecessors to the dedicated specials that began in 1990. Last year I watched through the Wrestlemania V Face to Face special, and the other week I finally checked out the 3 hour SummerSlam 89 special. I have to say, this special was a little disappointing and felt more like an extended Prime Time, rather than a PPV focused special. The Wrestlemania V special was fantastic, with all the face to face confrontations and some angles, and a real heavy focus on the event itself. This SummerSlam show certainly presented a lot of the major happenings leading up to the show, and talked about it a lot, but it really wasn’t much different than a regular Prime Time from that era. It was still a really fun watch though, as I just love all of 1989 WWF.
Gorilla Monsoon and Rowdy Roddy Piper hosted Prime Time from Studio A, while Bobby the Brain Heenan co-hosted from Studio B. This was from the era when they were trying to get the Bobby Heenan Show over as its own thing, but that quickly failed. All of the Monsoon, Piper, and Heenan segments were PURE COMEDY GOLD. Oh man I was laughing my ass off as Piper and Heenan sniped back and forth and traded insults. Gorilla tried to hold the show together and mediate somewhat between Piper and Heenan. All of this lead to an actual feud and angle, when Piper showed up at SummerSlam and mooned Rude, costing him the IC title. Piper and the Brain took it to a whole other level, as Monsoon was even struggling to hold back laughter. All of this was fucking HILARIOUS! This whole special was worth watching just for these segments.
1) Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart defeated the Powers of Pain (w/ Mr. Fuji) via count-out at 9:24 after Fuji accidentally hit Barbarian with his cane, allowing Hart to slide back inside the ring (6/27/89; Niagara Falls, NY; Convention Center)
Interesting match to kick off the show. I don’t remember seeing the Harts and the Powers wrestle too many times, if ever. I never paid attention to how much the Powers of Pain cooled off after losing the feud to Demolition, and they weren’t even featured at SummerSlam. They would be paired off on opposing teams at Series, and then Powers were split up in early 1990. The Harts had their sights set on the Brain Busters, but it was clarified on this show that the titles would not be up for grabs. The match itself here was a good solid battle, and really made you appreciate how well Bret and the Anvil could adjust their style to match any opponents. The match was moving at a good clip too before the cheap countout finish. Still a huge pop for the Harts winning.
2) Koko B. Ware pinned Iron Mike Sharpe with the Ghostbuster at 1:38 (7/18/89; Worcester, MA; Centrum)
Koko is still big time over with the fans, as he would always be, despite being so low in the card. This was a simple Koko squash, and Sharpe didn’t get much offense in. Loved seeing Koko plant him with the Ghostbuster, which was a pretty sick finisher for 1989. Koko was deceptively strong, lifting a monster like Sharpe high up for the move. Fun match, but why feature someone not even booked for SummerSlam?
3) Jacques & Raymond Rougeau (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Tim Horner & Mark Young when Raymond pinned Young after Jacques hit a kneedrop off the top as Raymond had a Boston Crab applied (7/19/89; Utica, NY; Memorial Auditorium)
Yes! The All-American Boys! The Rougeaus were phenomenal in 89. Interesting note here – Prime Time was always its own little universe, and I really need to start checking out all the exclusive matches from that show. Prime Time was the only place that you could catch some of the very lower card names in the company. Case in point here – former NWA star Tim Horner and his partner Mark Young. Both of these guys were featured as semi-stars on Prime Time and house shows, but never picked up wins on Superstars or Challenge. Mark Young even had music and all these flashy moves, but never showed up outside of the Prime Time/house show world. Prime Time certainly felt like this mysterious other half of the WWF, as angles would rarely happen and jobbers would be in feature matches. Strange times. The Rougeaus looked awesome here as usual, and were just fucking amazing bad guys. I truly think you could do some fun re-booking and have them beat Demolition for the titles instead of the Brain Busters.
4) Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Dave Paradise via submission with the shinguard assisted figure-4 at 3:26 (7/18/89; Worcester, MA; Centrum)
I loved all the clips of the Garvin-Valentine feud. This squash was wallpaper for a discussion about the whole feud and how Garvin would be the guest ref when Valentine faced Hercules at Slam.
5) Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match to win the titles; fall #1: Smash pinned Anderson after dropping him throat first on the top rope at the 5-minute mark; fall #2: the champions were disqualified for continuous double teaming at 9:29; fall #3: Anderson pinned Smash at 12:33 after Blanchard hit Smash in the back of the head with a chair, which had been thrown into the ring by Andre the Giant (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 7/18/89; Worcester, MA; Centrum)
They showed this SNME classic in its entirety. What an all-time great and classic tag team match, and one of the WWF’s best televised matches of 89. Its interesting that they dropped the titles on SNME rather than SummerSlam, and also interesting that the titles were not on the line against the Harts.
6) Jimmy Snuka defeated Dino Bravo (w/ Jimmy Hart) via disqualification at 8:10 after Hart attempted to interfere (7/19/89; Utica, NY; Memorial Auditorium)
Hahahaha! This is such a 1989 WWF match! Bravo is a total goof in this terrible, terrible match. But it’s awful in a fun and ridiculous way. I always forget about the Snuka-Dibiase feud from that summer, and their forgettable match from SummerSlam. By 1990, Snuka would become a jobber to the stars after getting a pretty solid mid-card push throughout 89. This whole match is just a fucking mess, and neither of these guys had any business being so high up the card at this time.
7) Brutus Beefcake defeated Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Sherri) via disqualification when Zeus interfered at around the 12-minute mark; Hulk Hogan attempted to make the save after the bout but was unable to drop Zeus following two steel chair shots to the back (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 7/18/89; Worcester, MA; Centrum)
Another ALL-TIME SNME classic! All the stuff with Zeus at the end of the match is Hall of Fame worthy. Jesse yelling HE SMILED after Hogan hits him in the back with a chair is burned in my brain forever. ZEUS FUCKING SMILED! NO ONE no-sold chairshots at this time! This is the FUCKING BEST! And I’ll fight anyone who doesn’t agree lol.
8) The Ultimate Warrior pinned Haku at 8:02 with a flying clothesline; after the bout, WWF IC Champion Rick Rude attacked Warrior from behind and dropped him with a piledriver, with Andre the Giant appearing ringside moments later; Warrior eventually fought off Rude and press slammed him onto Andre on the floor, knocking down Andre as well (The Ultimate Warrior) (6/27/89; Niagara Falls, NY; Convention Center)
The “main event” of this special. I like that Haku was still in his “King Haku” attire, despite dropping the crown to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. As a side note, I love the arenas they were taping in during this era. Some of these buildings have such a cool and unique look to them, and fans in places like Niagara Falls are just super hot for all these good guys like the Ultimate Warrior. This was a fun power match, and the Warrior was awesome during this time. I will not accept anyone saying otherwise lol! I don’t care if he “sucked” in the ring – he was exactly as advertised and pushed as such. Great to see the Warrior pick up a big win over a Heenan family member prior to SummerSlam. Rude and Andre show up for the post match sneak attack and brawl, and the Ullllllltimate Waaaaaaaarrior takes them both out! Fuck yes!
The show concludes with a much hyped “concert.” Honky Tonk Man (poorly) sings a version of his theme with modified lyrics. Pretty sure they were suggesting that Dusty Rhodes was going to sing as well, but Rhodes just shows up with the nightstick to interfere and go after Honky. Blech. What a lame feud. Would rather have seen Dust against the Bossman at SummerSlam. And why end the SummerSlam special with this crappy feud?! Come on! At least throw a Hogan and Beefcake interview here at the end.
the RepoDan Wrestling Institution 