Summerslam '92

Legacy Review

Summerslam '92

August 29, 1992 (pretaped, aired August 31 on PPV) from Wembley Stadium in London

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

This is the first WWF PPV to take place outside of North America. This was the WWF's first big boom period in Europe, especially the UK, and they wanted to take advantage of it. Also, and most importantly, this is the WWF's first tentative steps into a brand new era, as this is their first PPV ever to have Hulk Hogan not only not on the card, but not involved in any capacity whatsoever.

Brought to you by ICOPRO!

The Legion of Doom (w/Paul Ellering) def Money Inc (w/Jimmy Hart) in 15:10- Good news: Vince thought the LOD's act needed freshening up so he brought Paul Ellering in. Bad news: This is (close to) mid-'90s Vince, so Paul Ellering was to be a ventriloquist act with a dummy named Rocco. Yeah. They "found" Rocco, supposedly the LOD's old childhood toy, in some rubble in Chicago as seen in TV vignettes. The dummy was originally introduced in a promo segment on weekly TV, but it bombed with the live crowd so bad it never aired. Gee, I wonder why? LOD come out on motorcycles like they used to do all the time in the NWA/WCW. DiBiase is in his sweet all white gear tonight. DiBase and Hawk start. Hawk shows zero interest in selling, or trying, right away. DiBiase ducks out, gets attacked from behind by Animal, then gets clotheslined back out by Hawk. Animal stomps on IRS's tie and press slams him. IRS sleeper on Hawk. They do the 3 arm drops and Hawk comes back. IRS ducks a Hawk clothesline off the top and Hawk slides all the way through the ring and out to the floor. DiBiase works him over while the ref's distracted and Hawk goes face in peril. Money Inc plays the swapping without tags game. It looks like there's supposed to be a double clothesline but Hawk effs it up and he and IRS have an ugly collision in the middle of the ring. DiBiase saves the tag and they do the "ref didn't see the face tag" spot. Hawk and IRS take a second shot at the double clothesline spot and get it right this time. Hot tag. Animal cleans house. The LOD set DiBiase up for the Doomsday Device but IRS dropkicks Animal to drop DiBiase. Animal powerslam DiBiase instead and that's good for the win. It could have been decent if LOD gave a damn. Hawk left the company right after this show (supposedly by getting himself lost in London and blowing off the plane ride home). Animal would play nice and work out the rest of their contract, then they'd both head back to New Japan. *1/2

Mean Gene is with The Man. See, Flair was upset that Warrior was chosen as #1 contender instead of him so he and Mr. Perfect decided to get a little revenge. Perfect made himself "available for hire" to both Savage and Warrior, creating a sort of prisoner's dilemma between the two on who would want to hire Perfect, or be afraid the other guy would hire Perfect and hire him first. Okerlund pushes but Flair refuses to give the game away. 10 years later or anytime after, this easily would have been a triple threat match.

Meanwhile, BBCITVSkyThames (did Thames even have a news show?) investigative reporter Lord Alfred Hayes brings us the exclusive that Savage's dressing room door is locked and has been for some time. Is Perfect in there? Only GTV knows.

Nailz def Virgil in 3:55- Nailz is an ex-con that alleges he was beaten by the Big Boss Man in prison. And that his lawyer screwed him. Let's look at this from a kayfabe perspective: ex-con, clearly zero remorse, wishing death on one of our other wrestlers, sure, come and work for our wrestling company! Nailz put Boss Man on the shelf in his debut a couple of months prior and stole his nightstick, which he still carries around with him. As soon as the bell rings Nailz starts in with his scintillating offense. Let's just say that he makes this era's Undertaker moveset look varied and diverse. Virgil tries to keep things lively. He hits a clothesline and dropkick Nailz no sells. A sunset flip and roll up attempt go nowhere. Nailz throws Virgil over the top and out then slowly crawls under the bottom rope to chase him. It's just like he's escaping from prison, see? Nailz puts Virgil in a rear naked choke and the ref calls it. Virgil looked right at home as the spunky babyface jobber. Nailz beats him down with the nightstick after the bell. 1/4*

Shawn Michaels (w/Sensational Sherri) and "The Model" Rick Martel go to a double countout in 8:06- This is heel vs heel. The story here is Martel was hitting on Sherri and Sherri was interested, and Shawn and Martel had been interfering in each other's matches over her, including Shawn costing Martel an IC title match. Sherri's gotten both guys to agree to a "no hitting in the face" stip because they're both so pretty. She's got a jumbo sized mirror for Shawn's entrance tonight. She's also missing a rather crucial part of her pants. It's PPV, kids. Martel pulls hair to keep Shawn in a headlock then arrogantly cartwheels out of a speed sequence. Shawn slides under the legs and hits a dropkick. Does that count as face hitting? Martel tries a springboard crossbody off the second rope but Shawn dodges. Shawn pulls hair and they both threaten punching. Martel uses Shawn's rope run momentum to send him over the top and out. Sherri tries to help Shawn but Martel entices her away and gives her a hug. Shawn and Martel trade roll ups with tights pulls and now literally everyone in this match has had their ass exposed except the ref. Keep your pants on, Marella. Shawn hits a superkick, but to the chest, for 2. After some more near falls with cheating both guys lose their cool. Midring arguing, shoving, and, finally, face slapping. Sherri tries to stop it but faints on the apron. Shawn tries to revive her but he and Martel end up brawling on the floor and both get counted out. While they're fighting Sherri opens her eyes, sees her plan falling to pieces, and "faints" again. Both guys fight over carrying Sherri to the back, with Sherri taking more bumps than the guys did during the match. It ends with Martel dumping a bucket of water on Sherri and running off. Solid match and amusing sideshow. Sherri would break off from Shawn soon after this and leave the company before the end of the year. **1/2

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Natural Disasters (c) def The Beverly Brothers (w/The Genius) in 10:30- The Beverlys Suzuki-Gun but the Disasters quickly fight it off and squash them multiple times. Blake dodges a Typhoon legdrop and Typhoon goes disaster in peril. Wait, stop everything, Heenan has gotten a very important message....Shawn Michaels has left Wembley Stadium! The do the exact same spot as the previous tag match: Typhoon is in a front facelock and pushes his way to the corner and tags, but the ref is distracted and doesn't see it. Typhoon gets a double clothesline out of a corner double team but can't tag. He catches Blake on a crossbody attempt, but Beau dropkicks Blake onto him for a long 2 count. The heels taunt Quake to distract the ref and Blake nails Typhoon with the Genius' scroll. Quake says screw it and kills Blake with an elbow while he's covering. Tags on both sides. Quake hits a belly to belly suplex! The Beverlys try to double team but Quake quickly ends that. Double team avalanche, powerslam, Quake splash, good night. About as good as it possibly could have been. The Disasters didn't work as faces, at least without some major restructuring to the match style, which wasn't happening. *

Lord Alfred is now outside the Warrior's dressing room, where he says he believes Perfect is. He tries to enter without knocking but gets the door slammed in his face.

Crush def Repo Man in 5:41- Demolition explodes! Well, the inferior Smash and Crush version at least. Give Barry Darsow credit, he took whatever crap gimmick he was given and always ran with it 100%. His Repo Man mannerisms make the character mildly amusing shit instead of boring shit. Repo jumps Crush as he gets in and Crush no sells it. Press slam. Repo goes out to recover but Crush runs him over with a clothesline. Repo with an eye poke to get some space. He hits a belly to back suplex, but Crush no sells it and gets a belly to belly suplex of his own. Crush tries a knee off the top but Repo dodges. Crush catches Repo coming off the top rope and turns it into a powerslam. He locks on the John Harrison Skull Squeeze, and we're done. The second extended squash on the show. Crush was actually in line for a fairly sizable push but, as often happens, Vince lost interest and he fizzled out and mostly floated around midcard hell the rest of his career. 1/2*

WWF Championship: The Ultimate Warrior def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) by countout in 28:00- We had heel vs heel earlier, now it's face vs face. Can't fault them for trying some different booking. Warrior is in his flesh colored singlet period. Savage looks like he crashed through a flower shop on the way to the arena. I have to say, this is a MINUS FIVE STARS match in terms of ring gear. Notably, no Mr. Perfect on either entrance. Savage offers the Code of Honor handshake. Warrior reluctantly takes it but doesn't let go and pulls Savage back in. We're on! Savage with a quick clean break on a lockup to play mind games. Warrior responds with shoving him out of another. Savage hits clotheslines and covers but Warrior instantly kicks out. Savage tries coming off the top early but Warrior hits him in the gut. Great intensity early. Warrior with atomic drops of both varieties and a clothesline for 2. Savage dodges an elbow, does some ground and pound, then hits a kneedrop for 2. Warrior jaw jacks out of a sleeper. Classic Warrior pillar to post beating for Savage. Savage uses the tights to pull Warrior into the turnbuckle face first, then clotheslines him over and out. The crowd's turning on Savage a little. He hits the double ax handle off the top but Warrior no sells it. Another one, and this time Warrior goes down for a 2 count. Savage tries for a third, but Warrior catches him and hits a backbreaker. There's been a ton of near falls in the first part of the match. More Warrior pillar to post. He puts a bear hug on, then drops Savage out of it and covers for 2. Side suplex for 2. Savage gets a desperation small package for 2. Savage's back is hurting and Warrior targets it. Lots more near falls. Hebner's busy tonight. Savage dodges a charge and Warrior ends up on the floor. Double ax handle off the top to the floor. Warrior gets posted. Here come Flair and Perfect. As they work their way to the ring (a long walk as it's a large stadium show) Warrior comes back. He goes for the big splash but Savage gets his knees up. Double clothesline! Both guys crawl over to try covers. Perfect trips Savage! Warrior sold out, the swine! Part of the crowd catches on and starts to boo Warrior. A reversal sequence ends with Hebner getting squashed in the corner. Warrior hits an ax handle off the top and covers, but Hebner is still recovering and Savage kicks out. Savage gets Warrior with a high knee in the back, but that takes Hebner out too and he falls to the floor. Savage with a piledriver. He goes out to try to revive Hebner. At the same time, Perfect revives Warrior.....and holds him so Flair can hit him with knucks! Savage sold out, that rat bastard! Savage elbow! But again, Hebner has to crawl over and it gives Warrior time to kick out. Flair gets a chair. Warrior's been hit with a finisher so he starts to Warrior Up. Running clotheslines. Flying tackle. Press slam. But as Warrior hits the ropes for the big splash Flair whacks him in the back with the chair! Savage gets up and tries to piece together what happened. He and Perfect take swings at each other. Savage slowly goes up top for the elbow but is clearly working things out. He turns and dives for Flair instead! But Flair was ready for him and nails him in the knee with the chair in midair! Savage is counted out. As soon as the bell rings Flair and Perfect lay into Savage and try to destroy his knee. Warrior chases them off, then helps Savage out of the ring. This isn't anywhere near the level of their WM 7 classic, but it's still really good, and Flair and Perfect's involvement worked really well. This was Warrior's last brush with anything near greatness for the rest of his career. ***1/2

Mean Gene is with Flair and Perfect and he's *pissed off* with them. It was all a RUSE! Perfect admits that tempting Savage or Warrior into a partnership was Plan A, but neither went for it so now it's Plan B. Related to that, the original plan for all this was that Warrior would take up Perfect on his offer, win the title and turn heel. But Warrior refused to do the turn, so everything had to be reworked. It really is Plan B. Keep reading after the show wrapup for more on the WWF title picture.

Vince announces an official attendance of just over 80,000, which was the second largest ever for a WWF show at the time, behind only Wrestlemania 3.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Kamala (w/Harvey Wippleman and Kim Chee) by DQ in 3:27- This is the first in a long line of "Taker vs some variation of giant slug" feuds that would last for years, many of them with Dr. Wippleman managing. Taker never got a chance for a decent match as a face until Mankind came along. Taker makes his famous entrance on the back of a hearse. Kamala tries to ambush but Taker catches him. Taker hits the rope walk drop. He goes for it again, but Wippleman comes up and lightly shakes the ropes and Taker "falls off". That looked awful. No believably. Kamala clotheslines Taker over. Taker, as he always did in those days, lands on his feet, conveniently right in between the managers and he grabs both of them in chokes. Kamala beats him around the floor and Taker half sells. Back in he ducks a clothesline, goozles, and hits a chokeslam long before anyone knew what a chokeslam was. He manages to get Kamala up for the tombstone, but Kim Chee runs in and hits him with his pith helmet for the cheap DQ. Kamala does a post match beat down and hits big splashes on Taker from every level: ground, second rope, and top rope. Taker does the zombie sit up and there's a great shot of a shocked Kamala. He runs off in terror. Poor Taker. The pain is only just beginning for him. DUD

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) in 25:40- This is the start of another theme that WWF would return to many times the next several years: intra-family feuds in the Hart family. Bulldog is Bret's legit brother in law. It's also our second face vs face match of the night. Bret is playing the nominal heel as they're in the Bulldog's home country and all. Big match circling and light shoving to start. Bulldog instantly pushes Bret out of a lockup and Bret nods as if to say "OK, you're stronger, got it". A shoulderblock sends Bret absolutely flying outside. They do a nice mat sequence where they do the traditional headlock/headscissors counter, then Bret grabs the headlock again, but this time he gets just enough forward where Bulldog can't get the headscissors again. It's the little things that make greatness. Bret slips out of a press slam attempts and gets a quick roll up and small package. Bret back elbows out of a hammerlock to escalate things. Bulldog does a nice flip out of an arm wringer. He catches Bret in midair as he's leapfrogging, drops him down, and slingshots him halfway across the ring face first into the top turnbuckle. Bulldog with a crucifix for 2. Bret tries to slam out of an armbar but Bulldog rolls through it and hangs on. Bret pushes Bulldog into a rope run sequence, ending with a Bret knee to his gut. The crowd starts booing him. Bret hits a bulldog on the Bulldog! He goes up to the top rope but Bulldog gives him the Flair throw. Bulldog goes up top and shouts out his old tag partner Dynamite Kid with an attempted headbutt off the top rope, but Bret dodges. Bulldog slips out of a slam and tries to roll Bret up, but Bret runs with him and uses the momentum to send him outside. Bret soaks in the boos. Bret dives over the top for a plancha, but twists in midair, grabs Bulldog by the neck and turns it into a modified slingblade decades before the slingblade was invented! HUGE European uppercuts from Bret. Big backdrop for 2. Bulldog uses another uppercut to twist into a backlside for 2. Bret uses Bulldog's locks to slam him. That draws huge boos. Bulldog takes a desperation swing, but Bret ducks it and locks in a sleeper. Bulldog gets to the ropes but as soon as they're back in the middle Bret locks it back on. 3 arm drops, comeback, and Bulldog backs Bret into the corner. Slugfest! Bulldog goes for a press slam, but Bret ran into it and he can't hold it with the momentum and drops Bret right into the ropes. That looked like a botch to me, and an ugly one. He recovers to hit Bret with a few clotheslines for 2. The press slam is successful this time. Big delayed suplex for 2. Bret bump! Bulldog signals for the powerslam. And hits it! Bret kicks out! Bret's dead in the ropes, and Bulldog pushes him over. He tries to suplex Bret back in but Bret slips out and turns it into a German suplex with a bridge for 2! Bulldog plants Bret on the top rope. Superplex! Bret kicks out again! Double clothesline. While both guys are down Bret wraps Bulldog's legs around into Sharpshooter position, and manages to turn him over to lock it in! Bulldog gets to the ropes. Bret hits a sunset flip, but Bulldog stacks him up and cuts off any possible avenue of escape, and gets the pin! What a match. Now I know I'm likely in the minority here, but I prefer Bret's match with Perfect at Summerslam '91 (and the WM 8 match with Piper) to this one, but that's not to say this isn't tremendous also. After the match Bret teases leaving in a huff to more boos, but eventually hugs it out with Bulldog and sister/Bulldog's wife Diana. The Hart family is fine again....for now. Until Owen Hart comes into the picture. Bret dropped the title, but he proved to Vince he was more than ready for the main event, which would pay huge dividends for him in very short order (see below). Sadly for Bulldog he would only be a transitional champion, dropping the belt to the rapidly rising Shawn Michaels in a couple of months on the final episode of the original run of Saturday Night's Main Event. ****1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Quite the roller coaster, this one. Some really good stuff. Some utter crap. On the whole the good outweighs the bad. The Brit crowd and large stadium definitely gave this a WM-like big show feel.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

Bonus matches- In between Summerslam and Survivor Series the WWF title changed hands two times. No better time to review those matches than right now.

(9/1/92 from Hershey, PA, aired on Prime Time Wrestling 9/14/92) WWF Championship: Ric Flair (w/Mr. Perfect) def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c)- Savage limps to the ring, selling the Summerslam attack. Perfect starts right in with the distractions and Flair goes right to the knee. It's a clear 2 on 1 situation the whole match. Flair is playing around a little but also cautious as Savage keeps to the corners and tries to find any way possible to survive. Flair gets some punches and chops in but Savage fights out. They get to the middle of the ring and Flair does an amateur sequence takedown. Savage pushes off with his good leg. Savage swings at Perfect again and Flair dives in for the knee. Savage manages to counter into a press slam but his knee barely holds out. Savage gets a diving clothesline out of the corner for 2. Flair locks in a rare half crab. Savage gets to the ropes. Savages uses the ropes for a desperation small package for 2. Flair throws Savage out. He rolls Savage back in but Savage attacks while Flair's getting back in. Backdrop. Flair gets clotheslined over and out. Savage gives Flair a guardrail shot and a suplex on the floor. He grabs a chair but Hebner talks him down. Backdrop on the floor! Back in Savage tries the top rope and hits the double ax handle, but his knee gave out on the landing. WWF newcomer Razor Ramon saunters out to ringside. He and Savage had words earlier in the show. Perfect distracts Savage again and Flair hits him with a dropkick from behind, sending him outside. Ramon sneaks behind him and kicks his leg out of his leg. Flair hooks the figure four in. Savage fights it for a good five minutes, trying to unwrap Flair's legs, trying to crawl to the ropes, even dragging Hebner down in frustration, but eventually he passes out. Super ultra mega Hebner slow count, but he gets to 3 and it's over. Flair wins his second WWF championship! The crowd is stunned but you can see some of them cheering. This was rock solid storytelling, so tightly plotted you could sing it. Heenan added a ton to the match cheering Flair from the booth again too. Not as good as the '92 Rumble, but still a huge plus. This was Savage's last brush with the main event scene in WWF. He'd go into a program to put Ramon over, then Vince would move him into commentary mostly full time, with the occasional match or feud, until his jump to WCW. But Flair's second title reign would only be transitional....***1/4

(10/12/92 from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart def Ric Flair (c) (w/Mr. Perfect)- This match never aired on TV, but was taped for and originally released on Coliseum Video on the unfortunately named video Smack 'Em Whack 'Em. You'd be forgiven if you thought you'd have to go into the curtained section of the video store to get it with that title. Rough lockup that Hebner has to break up, and Flair gives us a WOOOOOOO! Flair tries to work a headlock into a pin. Bret wraps it around into a hammerlock and Flair sells like his arm's being ripped off. He's feeling it tonight. Flair hits the first chop and Bret starts hitting the buckles at 100 MPH. Bret blocks a suplex and hits his own for 2. Gut stomp. Flair powders. Back in they fight for wristlock leverage. Bret hooks in an armbar and stands up on the bottom rope in the corner for extra leverage until Hebner breaks it up. Flair gets a drop toe hold, but Bret smooth as silk flips around and gets back on the hammerlock. That's f'n wrestling kids, the kind you wouldn't see in WWF/E regularly for another 10 years when Kurt Angle burst on the scene and changed the game. Legdrop on the arm. Flair begs off and gets a sneaky kick in. Chops. Bret's thrown out. He sunset flips back in, but Flair backs up across the entire ring to keep leverage and punches out. Bret goes out and tries the sunset flip again, this time pulling down Flair's trunks and giving us the kind of eyefull we'd expect from a video from behind the curtain in the video store for 2. Backdrop, clothesline, Flair rolls out, Flair Flop on the floor! When he rolls back in Bret gives him a headbutt and Flair Flop 2! Sneaky style eye poke from Flair to get a breather. Bret bump! Twice! Flair kicks the knee and drops a kneebreaker. Have your math problems ready to be reviewed kids, it's time to go to school. Flair yells at Hebner like he's Tommy Young. Bret dodges the kneedrop and tries for a figure four but Flair pushes out. Bret with a kneebreaker! He drops elbows on Flair's knee. Bret with the figure four! There's a few near falls and Flair juuuuuuuust reaches out to get the rope. Bret tries another elbow drop but Flair dodges. Bret blocks a hiptoss and rolls into a backslide for 2. Flair pops up with a quick kick. Bret sleeper! Flair back suplexes out. Flair gets a small package and double underhook suplex for 2. He argues with Hebner again and Bret sneaks up and rolls him up for 2. Flair ducks a punch, hits another kneebreaker, and it's figure four time! More near falls as Bret fights it. He manages to roll over into the ropes. Bret needs the ropes to stand up and Flair stays on the knee. Flair goes for the figure four again but Bret rolls it into a small package for 2! Nothing from the crowd on that? They've been near dead the whole match, really disappointing. Especially in Canada, and with Bret in there. Bret starts to come back but Flair stops it with a boot up on a corner charge. Flair goes up top but gets the usual throw off. Bret hits the Five Moves of Doom with good near falls. The get to the corner and Flair chops again. Bret pulls his straps down and asks for more! Badass, especially for the era. Slugfest. Bret hoists Flair up on the top turnbuckle. Superplex! Sharpshooter! Perfect tries to distract Hebner but Flair submits! Bret Hart wins his first WWF Championship! Finally the crowd wakes up. That was awesome. Just what you'd expect from two of the absolute greatest. Put that on PPV in front of a decent crowd, give it 5 more minutes and add more drama down the stretch and we'd be talking about an all time classic. Flair wrestled a 100% NWA style match. I think he decided to act like he was wrestling Steamboat again and just went for it. He was super motivated to put Bret over, and Bret was just Bret Hart like always. ****