WWF Summerslam 1989 Review

I’m gonna say this right off the bat, this was not a good show. It had the potential to be a great show with the likes of The Brain Busters, The Hart Foundation, Dusty Rhodes, Mr. Perfect, Shawn Michales, Tito Santana, Rick Rude and Randy Savage. There was a ton of potential for this to be a great show, but something didn’t click this night. And my biggest issue comes at the main event, but well get to that later.

The Hart Foundation Vs. The Brain Busters

This match was probably the best on the card. You had three of the best wrestlers in the world at the time in Bret Hart, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, as well as one of the best powerhouse wrestlers at the time in Jim Neidhart. You had the heels being the heels in the Brain Busters and Bobby Heenan just being the best manager of the time and distracting the referee at every turn. Hart and Neidhart tried to out wrestle their opponents, but the heels outsmarted them and got the win with something clever. Tully Blanchard was the legal man, but Arn Anderson went for the pin, and the referee couldn’t tell who it was, because he had his head covered in Bret Hart’s arm.

The Honky Tonk Man Vs. Dusty Rhodes

Honky Tonk was never the best in the ring, but Dusty Rhodes was a very good wrestler. I think the reason this match didn’t live up to their potential is because of the time constraints. This match needed a few more minutes to even get good. It's a shame that this match couldn’t live up to the expectation. The end didn’t even seem to go right, as Jimmy Hart hit Honky Tonk with his own guitar on accident, only the back of the guitar fell off, and the rest of the guitar was fine.

Mr. Perfect Vs. The Red Rooster

Poor Terry Taylor. He was one of the best wrestlers at the time, but he went to WWE and had that horrible gimmick, and that weird red hair in the middle of his hair. This was just a squash match to help get Mr. Perfect over.

Fabulous Rougeaus & Rick Martel Vs. The Rockers & Tito Santana

This was the last really good match of the show. You had the Rougeaus and Martel being great heels and Martel continuing to avoid Santana. This was also Shawn Michales before the breakout. You could see that he was ready for the breakout when he came in off the hot tag. The finish was hampered because it was very similar to the finish of the opening tag match. Commentary also didn’t notice that Janetty tagged in to take the pin and still thought that Michales was legal.

Rick Rude (C) Vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WWF Intercontinental Championship)

Whenever I see a match with Ultimate Warrior, I immediately lose interest. He just isn’t my type of wrestler, just like Braun Strowman in modern day. It always seemed like whatever match Warrior was in, he wasn’t going to take a lot of damage and would come out on top 9.5 times out of 10. Even despite his lack of natural wrestling ability, Vince is more about the character than the wrestler in the late 80’s. Rick Rude would go down as someone that never would win the world title in WWE like he should have. This match was on the way to the eventual Wrestlemania VI match between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. This was also a fairly good match where one person was dominant at a time. At first it was Warrior, but then he had his normal gas out in the middle where Rude slowed down the pace. Thanks to an outside interference from Roddy Piper where Piper turned around and lifted up his kilt which was enough for Warrior to get a second wind and win the match.

Andre The Giant & The Twin Towers Vs. King Duggan & Demolition

Normally I’m not one to go to far back in the wrestling vault, but this is not the match you would want to go back and watch if you were an Andre fan. At this point, he was nearing the end of his career, and you could see the physical toll all the years had done to him. Thankfully, it was a short match that was dominated by the five other men. Hacksaw coming out in the traditional Demolition mask was a nice touch in the entrances.

Greg Valentine Vs. Hercules

The whole premise of this match revolves around Ronnie Garvin being in a feud with Greg Valentine, and refusing to announce him as the winner. Honestly, another throwaway match.

Ted DiBiase Vs. Jimmy Snuka

You ever watch a match and wish they just had five more minutes? That was me with this match. DiBiase and Snuka were two wrestlers that matched up well together, but were hindered by the time, but there also seemed to be one other thing hindering this match, and I’m not quite sure what. It might’ve been that it was Snuka’s first match back after a long layoff. Who can really say, but I still think they need just a little more time and would’ve had a more solid match.

Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake Vs. Randy Savage & Zeus

So we are finally here, this main event. There were two big issues I had with this match being the main event. One, Brutus Beefcake, a midcarder at best his entire career, was main eventing the second biggest event of the year. Two, ZEUS WAS IN THE GODDAMN MAIN EVENT!!! I cannot stress how important it is that celebrities don’t main event shows. Stephen Amell being in a match early in the show is fine. Snooki being in a mixed tag match is okay. ZEUS MAIN EVENTING SUMMERSLAM should’ve never happened and it may be the worst main event in Summerslam history. The man took like three moves and was done. Hogan and Savage in a title rematch would have been the perfect way to close the show with Beefcake and Elizabeth in Hogan’s corner and Zeus and Sensational Sherri in Savage’s, but with the critical praise for the movie, they just had to have it main event the show.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I was not that big of a fan of this show. There was so much potential on this show, but there was not enough time for them all to get the chance to shine. The main event really brought the show down.

RATING: 2/10