WWF Summer Slam 92 Review
Well I felt that it was high time I did another video review while I have some free time to speak of and this show was sitting there so I felt “Hey why not?”
This was the first, and so far last, major “Big 4” Pay Per View ever to be held in England and of course British Bulldog was a large part of it. Many of us Brits still consider this to be the best Summer Slam ever as it was OUR Summer Slam. It’s a show I love watching too so let’s get to the review
We’re in the massive Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 screaming fans making this crowd BIGGER than Wrestlemania III thank you very much.
You’re hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan w/ a crown
The Nasty Boys and The Mountie w/ Jimmy Hart Vs The Bushwhackers and Jim Duggan
The usual British crowd reaction kicks in as they boo the heels vociferously and cheer the faces despite all 6 guys in this match are lower card losers because we’re more inclined just to watch the match and cheer for faces and boo the heels. Just to show how polite we are too we actually chant “USA” for Jim Duggan because, if nothing else, we’re a very considerate people. God this crowd is HUGE. The heels do the whole “We’ll pose and expect you to cheer us” routine and gets booed so the faces do it and get cheered. That ALWAYS works over here. The heels jump the faces to start but get whipped into each other and the heels bail. Heenan is on full comic form here saying Duggan uses “Liquid Wrench” cologne. Knobs and Luke start and that turns into the Whackers doing their usual double team routine. The heels bail and the faces taunt some more in the ring. Butch and Sags come in and Sags gets the better of that exchange. Luke stops a Nasty double team and all 6 guys come in and it’s Battering Ram time on the heels in the corner. Duggan lariats everyone and the heels bail again. Eventually Luke becomes “Retarded New Zealander” in peril, I love you Scott Keith please don’t sue me for plagiarism, and that goes on for a while. After a less than inspiring heel heat segment the hot tag is made to Duggan and he cleans house. It’s lariats and Battering Rams for everyone and Duggan gets the win following some heel miscommunication
WINNERS – BUSHWHACKERS AND DUGGAN
½* – Just some pointless comedy to get the crowd going.
Papa Shango Vs Tito Santana
Here’s another example as the crowd cheer for Tito despite him having no chance here. It pissed me off to see what happened to Tito as fans still obviously liked him but they just buried him anyway to put useless losers like Shango over. This is 6 years and zero hos before Shango ever got over. Shango slowly and boringly squashes Tito as I hit the fast forward.
WINNER – SHANGO
No rating for being a shitty match
Ted Dibiase w/ f*cking awesome white outfit and IRS w/ Jimmy Hart Vs Legion of Doom w/ Paul Ellering and Rocco
Rocco is a freaky looking dummy that was somehow meant to help get LOD over and make them the most popular team in history or something. I’ll leave it as an exercise to you to find out if it worked. Big “L-O-D” chant to start. Dibiase and Hawk start us out and Hawk no sells some offence and Dibiase bails. Animal sends him back in and he turns around into a lariat that sends him out again. IRS comes in and Animal comes in to give us that long wanted match. Man how that didn’t main event Wrestlemania IX is beyond me. That would have gotten them 2,000,000 buys EASY. Anyway Animal press slams IRS but Dibiase saves at two. IRS goes to a sleeper on Hawk and but that doesn’t work and Hawk fires back with a couple of clotheslines. Hawk misses the top rope lariat and Dibiase destroys him outside before sending him in and Hawk is now the face in peril. Money INC do their usual heat segment on Hawk which involves mucho choking. Hawk eventually makes the hot tag and Animal comes in with some clotheslines and a dropkick! Whoa someone’s motivated! Dibiase is double teamed and they set him up for the Doomsday Device but IRS saves. Animal gets the Power Slam soon after to win
WINNERS – LEGION OF DOOM
¾* – The crowd were into it and there was some good moments.
Mean WOOOOOOOOO BY GOD Gene is with Ric Flair. He asks Flair which corner Mr. Perfect will be in tonight. You see they had a storyline running that either Savage or Warrior had sold out and Flair was trying to stir up things between them. Flair refuses to tell Gene and just says that Mr. Perfect will be in the corner of the winner. Man I loved the Flair/Savage stuff from 92.
Sean Mooney is with Virgil who ahs Nailz next. You know Nailz is evil because of the z. Virgil is hyped for his jobbing duty for tonight
Nailz Vs Virgil
Nailz just looks stupid in that prison gear. You see Nailz was supposed to be an ex convict who Big Bossman unfairly treated when he was in prison. For some reason this made Nailz the heel in the feud despite the fact he was abused by Bossman in prison. Anyway Nailz annihilates Virgil and beats him with a chin lock. The match is not exactly great to say the least. Nailz does a slow paced beat down and wins with some form of chin lock
WINNER – NAILZ
¼* – That wasn’t very good.
Rick Martel Vs Shawn Michaels w/ Sherri
Special Rules – No hitting in the face
Anyone above 30 calls both guys gay
Okay I made the last one up. Sherri was in love with both guys so she had that clause written into the contract to stop them hurting each other. Aw that’s so sweet. Shawn is pretty over here as all the women of course are behind him. Having Martel and Shawn fighting over Sherri is so perversely funny for some reason. Martel goes to a side headlock and that leads to a nice leapfrog segment and a stand off. Michaels dodges some lariats and gets a dropkick. Martel gets some shots into the kidneys and some knees in the corner. Martel misses a second rope body press and Shawn goes to the wrist lock as Martel fights the urge to punch. Martel gets his own and Shawn is tempted to punch. Shawn is knocked outside and Martel follows where he gives Sherri a hug which she enjoys. Martel sends Shawn inside and gets a back body drop. Shawn gets a roll up and they fight over who pulls the tights the most. That was a pretty funny spot. Sweet Chin Music, when it was still a transition move, gets two for Shawn and he starts pounding away in the corner. Martel runs into a boot in the corner and Shawn tries to use the ropes for a pin but the ref stops him. They slap each other and as they are about to fight Sherri “faints” on the apron. Shawn and Martel fight over her and that leads to fist fight for a double DQ
WINNER – DRAW
***1/4 – Post match Sherri reveals she was faking the fainting but neither Martel or Shawn see her. Both guys fight over who gets to carry her to the back and Sherri takes some awesome bumps as they keep fighting each other and dropping her. Finally Martel revives her by dumping some water on her. What a fun match
Sean Mooney is with The Nasty Boys who say they want a tag title shot in the future. Jimmy Hart isn’t too sure, he would prefer Money INC to get the shot, but he agrees to get the Boys a match soon. In the end Hart turned on them to join Money INC showing he was a pretty damn smart manager
WWF Tag Team Titles
(C) The Natural Disasters The Beverly Brothers w/ The Genius
I recently emailed Lanny Poffo and he was nice enough to email back the same day. I would recommend you get on amazon and search for his new limerick book as some of them are really witty and funny. TND are shockingly over here as they were enjoying a monster team push at this point. I always liked John Tenta although Fred Ottman isn’t one of my favourite wrestlers. The Beverly’s get crushed and squashed in a variety of ways to start. Typhoon misses a splash and Blake tries a body slam and that goes as well as you could expect. Earthquake accidentally squashes Typhoon in the corner and that leaves him open for some cool Beverly Brother double teaming. I really liked The Beverly’s and thought they were a very under appreciated team. The Beverly’s actually do the TWGTT move where one guy jumps onto the opponents guys spine while the other holds him out on the ropes. The Beverly’s are doing a great job of making it look believable they can win this match by double teaming as much as possible and using the size advantage against the Disasters by putting them in moves like a front face lock that makes the bigger guy lose energy fighting it. Typhoon makes a false tag and that leads to another cool double team. In a nice spot the Beverly’s put Typhoon’s throat beneath the bottom rope and then stand on the rope to make it hurt more. Typhoon goes to slam Blake but Beau comes off the top with a dropkick to floor him for two. Blake nails Typhoon with a metal scroll but Earthquake comes in with a big elbow and both guys are down. Quake FINALLY gets that hot tag and the crowd was waiting for that one. Quake gets a belly to belly suplex and double lariats both Beverly’s. typhoon comes in as Heenan gets in of his lines of the night “This isn’t fair it’s 8 against 2” Earthquake gets a big power slam and the After Shock for the win to a huge pop.
WINNERS – THE NATURAL DISASTERS
**1/2 – TND beat on Genius post match too. Call me crazy but I loved this match. The Beverly’s were great as heels and TND were way over.
Bushwhackers have some interview time and they make some references to England. They talk about having dinner with the Royal Family. Imaging the queen making small talk with the Bushwhackers is hilarious in it’s self.
Repo Man Vs Crush
Two years ago they were tag champions and now they’re fighting. Repo Man could have been awesome if they brought him for a one shot deal to help Eddie Guerrero out. Can you imagine him repossessing JBL’s limo? That would have provided me with hours of entertainment. Crush gets a press slam to start and then lariats Repo outside. Crush gets some kicks back inside and pounds away in the corner. Crush gets the tilt a whirl but that wasn’t his finish at this point. Repo does some cheating to gain the advantage. Crush fights back with a belly to belly and a rib breaker which leads to him going up top and missing a knee drop. Is this some crazy alternate universe where Crush is motivated? Repo is pressed to the outside from a lateral press. He heads up top but is slammed down and the Cranium Crunch, why the f*ck do I know it’s name?, wins it by submission
WINNER – CRUSH
*1/2 – No resting and Crush had his working boots on.
Hype video for Savage Vs Warrior
WWF Championship
(C) Randy Savage Vs Ultimate Warrior
Warrior is wearing a Giant Gonzalez like bodysuit here, now there’s a feud they never pulled the trigger on. The period from 88-92 was a time when I really like Warriors work. It’s a shame that it all went tits up after then but what can you do? Savage looks like an ice cream sundae with his ring attire on. I’m such a hopeless mark for Savage during this time period, especially considering Hogan wasn’t around to steal his spotlight. I don’t care if both these guys are clinically insane they just clicked for some reason. Savage wants a handshake to start but Warrior doesn’t trust him. They finally do but that leads to shoving contest. Man the crowd is HOT for this match. Warrior seems to be the sentimental favourite here. Lock up leads to a clean break from Savage. A second lock up leads to a shove. Savage gets some offence in and gets booed by a large portion of the fans showing they think he sold out. Warrior gets a couple of atomic drops, how come people are allowed to do that when it’s an obvious low blow? Warrior misses an elbow giving Savage the chance to fight back but that doesn’t work for long and Warrior takes the advantage again. Warrior pummels Savage in the corner as the crowd are still quite clearly in his corner. Savage uses Warriors tights to send him into the corner and clotheslines him outside. Back inside that gets two, Savage heads up with a top rope axe handle which Warrior no sells. A second one floors him for two. Savage goes up and goes for a cross body but Warrior catches him and gets a big back breaker for two. Savage is sent into the corner hard style a few times and Warrior goes to a bear hug which he drops and gets a two count from. Warrior and psychology? This is something special folks. Savage gets the Bret Hart fluke inside cradle for two. Shake, Rattle and Roll gets a two count for Savage. Savage drops Warrior throat first on the top rope in his own unique way, I love that move, for two. Savage tries a vertical suplex but his back goes out and Warrior targets it with right hands. Warrior gets a vertical suplex for two as Savage crawls around trying to use the ropes to get to his feet. Warrior goes for a clothesline but Savage ducks and sends him flying outside. Savage gets the axe handle from the top to the outside and sends Warrior into the steps. Savage gets two inside as Flair and Perfect finally make their appearance. Savage gets two from a roll up but walks into a lariat for two. Warrior gets a slam but gets only knees on a big splash. Savage gets two from that and double clothesline knocks both down as Flair and Perfect look on. Warrior gets up and makes a cover for two. Savage gets one as well and runs to the ropes and Perfect trips him making it seem Warrior sold out. Warrior gets up and floors Savage and the ref gets bumped in ensuing fight. Warrior gets a slam and heads up top with a double axe handle but the ref is still recovering and by the time he counts it only gets two. The ref gets bumped again and Savage gets a piledriver but there’s no ref. Perfect comes in to revive Warrior but then holds him up for Flair to hit him so now it seems Savage sold out. Savage gets the slam and heads up top for the Macho Elbow for two. Warrior starts hulking up and fights back. A few lariats later Warrior gets the shoulder block and calls for the press slam. Warrior gets the slam but Flair chairs him when he tries the splash. Savage gets up and realises what happened and stupidly dives out into Flair into a waiting chair shot. That leads to him getting counted out
WINNER – WARRIOR BY COUNT OUT
***3/4 – immediately post match Flair pounces on Savage with a figure four. You see their plan was to weaken both guys so it would be easier for Flair to beat one of them and started the rumour of Perfect managing one of them to make them fight harder. Warrior makes the save and we have a handshake post match.
The original idea for this match was for Warrior to turn heel but he didn’t want to do it so they booked the count out and put the belt on Flair at a later date.
Gene is with Flair and Perfect and they brag about what they’ve done. Flair says the belt is coming home with him. This feud was so great
The Bezerker w/ Mr. Fuji Vs Ta-Ta-Ta-Tatanka
Tatanka was undefeated here as he went over a year without getting beaten until Ludvig Borga beat him when he was in the midst of a main event push. Bezerker gets two from a big boot but misses a dropkick. Tatanka goes to the legs but runs into a boot in the corner. I bet Fuji was over the moon when they allowed him to manage main eventers again when he got Yokozuna. Heenan makes some Indian jokes as Tatanka gets slammed on the floor outside. Back inside Tatanka gets tied up in the ropes and Bezerker pounds away as this match begins it’s slow and agonising death. Tatanka tries to defy all means of logic and make this match entertaining by making a come back with some chops and such. Samoan Drop ends it soon after
WINNER – TATANKA
½* – Tatanka was trying I’ll give him that
The official attendance for the show is announced as 80,573. Now that’s a big crowd
Kamala w/ Harvey Wippleman and Kim Chee Vs The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
Oh dear lord no. This was during the period of Takers career where they put him against freakishly big guys because they thought it would draw. Thank god Mankind showed up in 1996 otherwise Taker would have been stuck with stiffs like Kamala forever. I love the original Undertaker organ theme, it is still his best theme ever IMO. Taker is pretty over here to say the least. This is why WWF was seen as a joke most of the time. I mean you have an un dead zombie Vs a Cannibal from the jungle somewhere. Taker chokes and pounds away to start and walks the ropes to floor Kamala. He tries again but Kamala pulls him down. Kamala gets some of his lame offence in and that goes on for a while. Taker actually gets a Choke Slam on Kamala and follows that up with a flying lariat. Taker gets Kamala up for the Tombstone but Kim Chee runs in for a DQ
WINNER – UNDERTAKER BY DQ
½* – Post match Kamala gets three big fat splashes but Taker no sells them and Kamala runs away in fear. I do like how Taker would no sell heels moves and the heels would run away in fear as they weren’t used to guys doing that to them. Still this match was ugly while Kamala was on offence but Taker was game and did some cool moves so I’ll be lenient.
Sean Mooney is with British Bulldog. Bulldog says Bret is his brother in law but when he gets in the ring he won’t even know him. He says he’s not worried about wrestling in front of all the fans, it’s his dream. We go to Mean Gene with Bret Hart he cuts a pretty good promo and takes the stance of heel in this one. The way Bret goes on about wanting to beat Bulldog in his hometown makes me feel even less empathy for him to do with Montreal. I mean Bulldog did the job to Michaels at One Night Only without complaints and that was even worse than Montreal. At least Bret had an excuse, Vince screwed him, Bulldog was embarrassed and destroyed by Michaels as an actual part of the match.
Anyway Roddy Piper plays the bagpipes to fire up the crowd.
WWF Intercontinental Championship
(C) Bret Hart Vs British Bulldog
Before the match Sean Mooney is with Diana Smith. She’s worried, as you’d expect. Bulldogs pop still gives me chills when I see it. He’s accompanied by Lennox Lewis long before he was world champion but just plain old Olympic champion. Bulldog shoves Bret to start and goes to a side headlock. They go to a leapfrog segment and Bulldog shoves Bret outside. Bret comes back in and goes to a headlock of his own and takes him down to the mat. Bret gets a quick roll up and an inside cradle for another two before going back to the headlock. Bulldog gets out of the headlock and goes to an arm lock but Bret gets a head butt and goes to his own. Bulldog gets his own arm lock and rides Bret down to the mat. Bret fights up to a vertical base but is caught on a leapfrog and tossed into the corner. Bulldog stays on the arm and gets a quick crucifix roll up for two and goes back to the arm. Bret goes for a slam but Bulldog holds onto the arm lock. Bret gets a knee to the gut and a leg drop before going to a chin lock. Bulldog fights up to his feet but runs into an elbow. Bret gets an inverted atomic drop, called a reverse piledriver by Vince, and turns a crucifix into a slam for two before going back to the chin lock. It’s so nice to just sit back and watch two guys just go hold for hold like this. They do another leapfrog segment which ends with Bret getting flipped. Bulldog runs right into a raised boot, to mucho heel heat, and Bret gets a bulldog on Bulldog. Bulldog throws him off and heads up top for a swan dive head butt but Bret dodges it. Think Bulldog is motivated for this one? Bulldog tries to get a victory roll but Bret sends him outside and then gets an ugly looking vaulting body press catching Bulldog on the back of the neck. Bulldog is sent back first into the ring post and back inside he’s sent hard style into the corner. Bret gets a Russian Leg Sweep for two and hammers away with some rights and a dropkick. Bret gets a back body drop for another two and goes back to the chin lock as the fans get behind Bulldog. Bret is carrying this one beautifully and is pacing perfectly to suit Bulldogs style which is why Bret was so good, timing and story telling. Speaking of which Bulldog gets a fluke backslide for two but takes a second rope elbow for two. Bret decides to go full heel and pull Bulldogs hair before going back to the chin lock. Crowd is getting rabidly behind Bulldog here and haven’t stop buzzing since the match started. Bret goes to a full sleeper as the crowd keep making noise. Bulldog makes the ropes and Bret utilises the full 4 count before letting go and then goes back to it as we start moving into the tried and tested Black Tiger/Wild Pegasus formula, keep going to a rest hold till the fans go nuts when the face finally breaks it. Bulldog keeps fighting it and shoves Bret into the corner to break it. Bulldog press slams Bret crotch first into the middle rope, ouch that looked botched, and gets some lariats in for two. Bulldog gets another press slam for two and then gets the classic hanging suplex spot for two. Bret is sent chest first into the top turnbuckle and Bulldog gets two from that. Bulldog calls for the Running Power Slam for two as the fans are in shock that that didn’t work. Bulldog tries to suplex Bret back in but Bret turns that into a German Suplex for two. Bulldog sets Bret up top and gets the superplex for two and the fans were buying that near fall. Double clothesline knocks both guys down and Bret tries to go from the Sharpshooter from that and locks it in. Fans are on the brink of a heart attack here thinking Bulldog will tap but he makes the ropes to a mega pop. Bret tries a sunset flip but Bulldog turns that into a pinning predicament to win the title to one of the biggest pops I’ve heard
WINNER – BRITISH BULLDOG
***** – I can’t explain how much this meant to me as a British wrestling fan. There are some people who think having pride in your country is wrong but I think it’s a beautiful thing which is why I will never begrudge an American, Canadian or anyone else for being patriotic because you should be proud of your roots and where you came from so long as you aren’t violent or persecute someone else. Seeing 80,000+ British people pop for Bulldog means a lot to me as a proud Englishman. Bret and Bulldog make peace after the match as pyro goes off and Rule Britannia blares out over the speakers. Damn I love being British.
The Inside Pulse
Well this show has to be one of the best Summer Slams for the main event alone but there is some good stuff on the under card too and like I’m going to be negative about this show? I say WWE should have Wrestlemania over here once the new Wembley has been built. Come on Vince get the fuck over here we’re long overdue a major show.
