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Post by mikey1974 on Jul 21, 2015 12:49:00 GMT -5
"Feel The Heat!"  1989 was rolling along, the WWF was red-hot, and Hulkamania was back on top, as the Mega-Powers Exploded, and Hogan reclaimed the World Title from his former best friend Randy Savage. but a new opponent loomed on the horizon, one that came not from the confines of the squared circle, but from the silver screen. while Hogan had taken some time off in the summer of 1988 to film the movie No Holds Barred, none of us had any inkling the movie would become reality. to capitalize on the soon to be released movie, Vince decided to do some cross promotion to get WWF fans flocking to the theater, and to get moviegoers watching the WWF - he would bring Hogan's main adversary from the film, a former convict turned strongman named 'Zeus', into the WWF! he first appeared on Saturday Night's Main Event, attacking the Hulkster before a title defense, and would soon ally himself with another Hogan hater, the Macho man. and Savage himself was embroiled in a feud with Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake. all 4 competitors paths started to intertwine, setting up the main event for the second edition of SummerSlam - Hogan and Beefcake vs Savage and Zeus. while compelling on paper, reality intruded to take some steam out of it. first off, Zeus was no wrestler. he was an actor named Tiny Lister,Jr., and everyone knew he had no actual ring experience. second was the over the top cartoonish way they played off each other, with Hogan overselling forearm shots from Zeus and being unable to bodyslam him ( after he had already slammed several wrestlers who weighed WAY more than Zeus on multiple occassions!) and Zeus no-selling everything. third, the movie didn't set the box-office on fire, so by the time Summerslam came around interest was evaporating in seeing the movie come to life.but despite all this, it was still a hot event,but the undercard was significantly weaker than the year before, with the best matches being the Brain Busters vs The Hart Foundation, and Rick Rude vs The Ultimate Warrior. still, it was a fun way to spend a summer night. I fondly remember these early SummerSlam's, taking place on a Monday night, and one of the last "big"things to do with friends before school was set to start shortly thereafter. but, overall, I consider this one of the weaker Slam's they produced. THE CARD: WWF Tag Team Champions The Brain Busters, w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs The Hart Foundation Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man, w/ Jimmy Hart Mr. Perfect vs The Red Rooster Rick Martel and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, w/ Slick and Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana and The Rockers WWF Intercontinental Champion "Ravishing" Rick Rude, w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs The Ultimate Warrior "King" Duggan and Demolition vs Andre the Giant and The Twin Towers , w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Slick Greg "The Hammer" Valentine , w/ Jimmy Hart vs Hercules "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase , w/ Virgil vs Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, w/ Miss Elizabeth vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Zeus , w/ Sensational Sherri |
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Jul 21, 2015 13:00:32 GMT -5
I just reviewed this show. It was pretty fun. Here are my final star ratings for it.
Brainbusters/Foundation - ****¼
Dusty/Honky - ¼*
Perfect/Rooster - *½
Martel & Rogeaus/Rockers & Tito - **¾
Warrior/Rude - ***½
Andre, Akeem & Bossman/Demolition & Duggan - *¼
Hammer/Hercules - ¼*
Dibiase/Snuka - ¾*
Beefcake & Hogan/Zeus & Macho - **¾
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Post by mikey1974 on Jul 21, 2015 13:05:49 GMT -5
I just reviewed this show. It was pretty fun. Here are my final star ratings for it. Brainbusters/Foundation - ****¼ Dusty/Honky - ¼* Perfect/Rooster - *½ Martel & Rogeaus/Rockers & Tito - **¾ Warrior/Rude - ***½ Andre, Akeem & Bossman/Demolition & Duggan - *¼ Hammer/Hercules - ¼* Dibiase/Snuka - ¾* Beefcake & Hogan/Zeus & Macho - **¾ I see you agree with me that Busters-Harts and Rude-Warrior were the best matches on the card, with the rest falling anywhere between average to piss poor. |
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robbutler01
Main Eventer
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Post by robbutler01 on Jul 21, 2015 13:19:31 GMT -5
Nostalgia kicking in as it was the first PPV I saw and I Love this event!
Could definitely have been improvements made to it but overall it was fun and I still watch it now.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 13:27:05 GMT -5
The Dusty vs Honky Tonk Man match was Dusty's best in the wwf, imo. A dream match for me at the time...JCP's number one face of the 80's vs WWF's top heel of the 80's...or at least one of them. Great match.
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Greensborohill
Main Eventer
CHAMPION
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Post by Greensborohill on Jul 21, 2015 15:12:00 GMT -5
Anyone have any idea why the Arn/Tully vs. Hart's was a non-title match? Just seems weird to me.
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Post by mikey1974 on Jul 21, 2015 16:59:38 GMT -5
Anyone have any idea why the Arn/Tully vs. Hart's was a non-title match? Just seems weird to me. the match was already booked / advertised before the Busters won the title, and they even mentioned this on the commentary. however, they could've switched it a title match, but decided not to, fo whatever reason. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2015 8:49:23 GMT -5
I just reviewed this show. It was pretty fun. Here are my final star ratings for it. Brainbusters/Foundation - ****¼ Dusty/Honky - ¼* Perfect/Rooster - *½ Martel & Rogeaus/Rockers & Tito - **¾ Warrior/Rude - ***½ Andre, Akeem & Bossman/Demolition & Duggan - *¼ Hammer/Hercules - ¼* Dibiase/Snuka - ¾* Beefcake & Hogan/Zeus & Macho - **¾ I see you agree with me that Busters-Harts and Rude-Warrior were the best matches on the card, with the rest falling anywhere between average to piss poor. I LOVE this event......you people are nuts. |
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jul 22, 2015 12:28:37 GMT -5
SummerSlam 89 was my first SummerSlam event I ever saw and I got to see it live on PPV when it happened.
I thought this event was really good actually for what we were given. But then back during this time frame I was used to seeing jobber matches on Superstars and Wrestling Challenge.
Where has the Busters/Harts and Warrior/Rude matches were good, I remember enjoying both six man tag matches, I enjoyed Hammer vs. Herc just cause it involved Ronnie Garvin still (what a sweet gig he had during this time frame, lose to Valentine and become a referee for 3 months and get paid doing that) and the main event was amazing considering who was in it. Savage was a machine in that match, bumping for Beefcake and Hogan and Zeus vs. Hogan was still hot and people wanted to see it.
It could be just nostalgia kicking in, but I say this SummerSlam was good. Not great, but nowhere near as bad as people say it is either.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2015 12:39:10 GMT -5
SummerSlam 89 was my first SummerSlam event I ever saw and I got to see it live on PPV when it happened. I thought this event was really good actually for what we were given. But then back during this time frame I was used to seeing jobber matches on Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. Where has the Busters/Harts and Warrior/Rude matches were good, I remember enjoying both six man tag matches, I enjoyed Hammer vs. Herc just cause it involved Ronnie Garvin still (what a sweet gig he had during this time frame, lose to Valentine and become a referee for 3 months and get paid doing that) and the main event was amazing considering who was in it. Savage was a machine in that match, bumping for Beefcake and Hogan and Zeus vs. Hogan was still hot and people wanted to see it. It could be just nostalgia kicking in, but I say this SummerSlam was good. Not great, but nowhere near as bad as people say it is either. The SSlam 89 ME is still one of my all time faves. Hogan vs Savage was still RED HOT and by Christ those two had legit chemistry. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2015 13:20:23 GMT -5
I have a wrestling blog where I am going to go back, watch and rate every old school ppv I can.
If you would like to start doing this with me on the blog in post form rather than here, let me know. I'll give you blog credentials to do it on the site. Or if not, you should think about starting a blog where you do this so you can always go back and re-read your reviews. I am enjoying them so far.
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Post by mikey1974 on Jul 22, 2015 16:59:19 GMT -5
SummerSlam 89 was my first SummerSlam event I ever saw and I got to see it live on PPV when it happened. I thought this event was really good actually for what we were given. But then back during this time frame I was used to seeing jobber matches on Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. Where has the Busters/Harts and Warrior/Rude matches were good, I remember enjoying both six man tag matches, I enjoyed Hammer vs. Herc just cause it involved Ronnie Garvin still (what a sweet gig he had during this time frame, lose to Valentine and become a referee for 3 months and get paid doing that) and the main event was amazing considering who was in it. Savage was a machine in that match, bumping for Beefcake and Hogan and Zeus vs. Hogan was still hot and people wanted to see it. It could be just nostalgia kicking in, but I say this SummerSlam was good. Not great, but nowhere near as bad as people say it is either. to me, it was just an average event. sorry Joker, LOL! but then again, to me 1989 was just an average year. it's still amazing to me that Vince had initial plans to do Hogan vs Zeus as the main event of WrestleMania VI ! Jesus Christ, imagine the stink in the Skydome! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 9:38:20 GMT -5
Anyone have any idea why the Arn/Tully vs. Hart's was a non-title match? Just seems weird to me. the match was already booked / advertised before the Busters won the title, and they even mentioned this on the commentary. however, they could've switched it a title match, but decided not to, fo whatever reason. Yeah it was very weird.......I really cant understand to this day why it wasn't. Sure the Harts weren't gonna win but still.....it should have been for the straps. Is nobody gonna talk about the weirdness of Schiavone on commentary with Jesse? |
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Post by marino13 on Jul 23, 2015 10:35:33 GMT -5
I always say the Brain Busters vs the Hart Foundation is one of the greatest tag matches ever. Those four put on a clinic.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 11:41:11 GMT -5
I always say the Brain Busters vs the Hart Foundation is one of the greatest tag matches ever. Those four put on a clinic. They sure did......Vince was gonna have Demolition get defeated by the BB again at Summerslam 89 but he felt(according to Prichard) that the card was stacked enough and put the Harts in there instead. The match was bereft of drama(in places) because of it being non title though. |
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Post by marino13 on Jul 23, 2015 11:45:41 GMT -5
I always say the Brain Busters vs the Hart Foundation is one of the greatest tag matches ever. Those four put on a clinic. They sure did......Vince was gonna have Demolition get defeated by the BB again at Summerslam 89 but he felt(according to Prichard) that the card was stacked enough and put the Harts in there instead. The match was bereft of drama because of it being non title though. I never understood why the titles weren't on the line, but the champs won anyhow. If the Brain Busters were gonna win, why not add to the excitement? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 11:48:06 GMT -5
Bret addresses this in his book too.....he felt it made The Hart Foundation look like chumps against WCW/NWAs former top dogs of the tag division.
Arn & Tully are one of the few examples of established NWA guys getting treated well in WWF in that time......
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Post by T R W on Jul 23, 2015 11:52:26 GMT -5
I ordered this event and watched both live. I enjoyed it thoroughly at the time, and laughed my ass off at the movie. I should re-enact this event one day and watch both.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 12:42:05 GMT -5
I ordered this event and watched both live. I enjoyed it thoroughly at the time, and laughed my ass off at the movie. I should re-enact this event one day and watch both. I did this last year for the 15th anniversary!! LOL!! |
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