SummerSlam (1989)

SummerSlam
SummerSlam
	Promotional poster showcasingHulk Hogan,Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake,"Macho Man" Randy Savage,Zeus,andSensational Sherri
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	August 28, 1989
City	East Rutherford, New Jersey
Venue	Meadowlands Arena
Attendance	20,000
Tagline(s)	Feel the Heat!
Pay-per-view chronology
←Previous; WrestleMania V	Next→; Survivor Series
SummerSlamchronology
←Previous; 1988	Next→; 1990

The 1989SummerSlamwas the second annualSummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view(PPV)eventproduced by theWorld Wrestling Federation(WWF, now WWE). It took place on August 28, 1989, in theMeadowlands ArenainEast Rutherford, New Jersey.Ten matches were contested at the event, including onedark matchheld before thelivebroadcast.

Themain eventwas atag team matchbetween the team ofWWF Champion Hulk HoganandBrutus "The Barber" Beefcake(who would later be known asThe Mega-Maniacsin the 1990s) and the team of"Macho Man" Randy SavageandZeus.The main matches on theundercardwere"Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiaseversusJimmy "Superfly" Snuka,The Ultimate WarriorversusRavishing Rick Rudefor theWWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship,andJim DugganandDemolition(AxandSmash) versusAndré the Giantand The Twin Towers (AkeemandBig Boss Man).

Production[edit]

Background[edit]

Following the success ofSummerSlam 1988,theWorld Wrestling Federation(WWF, now WWE) scheduled a second SummerSlam to be held on August 28, 1989, in theMeadowlands ArenainEast Rutherford, New Jersey.Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer",^[3]it was one of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, along withWrestleMania,Royal Rumble,andSurvivor Series,which were dubbed the "Big Four".^[4]It has since become considered WWF's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania.^[5]^[6]This 1989 event establishedSummerSlamas the promotion's annual Augustpay-per-view(PPV).^[7]

Storylines[edit]

The mainfeudheading into SummerSlam pittedWWF Champion Hulk HoganandBrutus "The Barber" Beefcakeagainst"Macho Man" Randy SavageandZeus.AtWrestleMania Vin April 1989, Hogan defeated Savage to win his second WWF Championship (then known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship).^[8]WWF financed aprofessional wrestling movie"No Holds Barred".Hogan starred as the hero Rip, a popular professional wrestler, while Tom Lister played the villain Zeus. In the movie, Hogan defeated Zeus. The rivalry spanned in WWF, because Zeus wanted to take revenge from Hogan inreal-lifedue to Hogan breaking Zeus's nose on set.^[9]In the WWF, he was also billed as Zeus. He made his first appearance on WWF television on the May 27, 1989, edition ofSaturday Night's Main Event XXIbefore Hogan's WWF title defense againstBig Boss Manin asteel cage match.He was introduced by Boss Man'smanager Slick.During Hogan's entrance, Zeus brutally attacked him.^[1]On the July 29 edition ofSaturday Night's Main Event XXII,Zeus attacked Brutus Beefcake during Beefcake's match with Hogan's rival Randy Savage. Zeus did this because Beefcake was on the cusp of defeating Randy Savage. Hogan came to the rescue but was unable to drop Zeus because Savage gave him twochair shotsin the back.^[10]This led to the Hogan & Beefcake vs. Savage & Zeus encounter at SummerSlam.

The main singles match on thecardwas betweenRavishing Rick RudeversusThe Ultimate Warriorfor theWWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship.They had a "SuperPosedown"at theRoyal Rumblein January 1989 which was won by Warrior, prompting Rude to angrily attack him with a steel workout bar.^[11]This led to their title match atWrestleMania V,where Warrior lost the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship to Rude.^[12]They were signed to a rematch for the title at SummerSlam, with Rude defending the title against Warrior.^[13]

Event[edit]

Other on-screen personnel
Role:	Name:
Commentator	Tony Schiavone
Commentator	Jesse Ventura
Ring announcer	Howard Finkel
Ring announcer	Ron Garvin
Interviewer	Gene Okerlund
Interviewer	Sean Mooney
Referee	Earl Hebner
	Joey Marella
	Freddie Sparta
	Tim White

Before the event began airing live on pay-per-view,Dino BravodefeatedKoko B. Warein adark match.^[1]

The first match of the pay-per-view was a non-title tag team match between theWWF Tag Team Champions The Brain Busters(Arn AndersonandTully Blanchard), accompanied to the ring byBobby Heenan,andThe Hart Foundation(Bret HartandJim Neidhart). In the middle of the match, Anderson tried to interfere, causing all four men to fight in the ring. Meanwhile, Heenan had the referee distracted, which allowed Anderson to perform adouble ax handle,dropping his elbow onto the back of Hart's neck as Hart covered Blanchard. Anderson then rolled Blanchard out of the ring and covered Hart. Heenan stopped distracting the referee who turned to see the pin and began the count without realizing that Anderson was not the legal man in the match. Although the Brain Busters were the reigning Tag-Team Champions going into the match, according to the storyline the match against the Harts was signed before they had won the titles and thus the belts were not on the line at SummerSlam.

The second match of the evening was betweenDusty RhodesandThe Honky Tonk Man,who was managed byJimmy Hart.Rhodes had the advantage until Hart distracted him. This allowed The Honky Tonk Man to grab Hart'smegaphoneand ram it into Rhodes' midsection. The Honky Tonk Man continued in the offensive position until Rhodes' was able to get back on his feet. The Honky Tonk Man, however, shoved Rhodes into the referee, knocking him out. This allowed The Honky Tonk Man to hold Rhodes while Hart attempted to hit Rhodes with The Honky Tonk Man's guitar. Rhodes, however, moved out of the way, and Hart hit The Honky Tonk Man instead. Rhodes then performed his finishing move, theBionic Elbow,and pinned him for the win.^[1]^[7]^[14]After the matchSean Mooneyinterviewed Honky Tonk in the aisle. A still dazed Honky, thinking he wasElvisand that Jimmy Hart was"Cilla",asked Mooney where the stage was.

The third match, which pittedMr. PerfectagainstThe Red Rooster,began with a shoving match in the center of the ring. Mr. Perfect performed several offensive maneuvers on The Red Rooster, even preventing Rooster from reversing a slam to the mat. Mr. Perfect ended the match by performing adropkickand thePerfect Plexand then pinning him for the win. The match was ended early due to Taylor legitimately injuring his knee. He would be sidelined afterwards for several months.

In the subsequent match-up,Rick MartelandThe Fabulous Rougeaus(Jacques RougeauandRaymond Rougeau) facedTito SantanaandThe Rockers(Shawn MichaelsandMarty Jannetty). In the first moments of the match, Santana and The Rockers cleared all the opposing team members from the ring. Jannetty was the legal man for his team and faced all three opponents as they tagged each other into the match. Martel and the Rougeaus kept Jannetty isolated in their corner by utilizing illegaldouble team moves.After some time, Santana tagged Michaels into the match, who quickly regained the advantage. Near the end of the match, Jimmy Hart, who had accompanied The Rougeaus and Martel to the ring, distracted Jannetty, who was hit from behind by Jacques. As a result, Martel was able to pin Jannetty.^[1]^[7]^[14]

The next match was aWWF Intercontinental Championshipmatch betweenThe Ultimate Warriorand the defending championRick Rude,who was accompanied to the ring by Bobby Heenan. Before the match a video was aired showing that in the weeks prior to SummerSlam, members ofThe Heenan FamilyincludingHakuandAndré the Gianthad attempted to take the Warrior 'out' in order to help Rude keep his title. The Warrior gained the early advantage in the beginning of the contest bypress slammingRude from the ring onto the arena's floor, where he followed him and continued the assault, including hitting Rude with the IC belt. He continued to have the advantage until Rude was able to thwart an offensive maneuver by pushing The Warrior from the top rope onto the turnbuckle. The two wrestlers swapped the offensive position untilRoddy Pipercame down to ringside to distract Rude by flipping up hisKiltand showing Rude his bare ass (though in reality Piper was wearing ajockstrap). This allowed The Warrior to perform aGerman suplex,press slam, and aWarrior Splash.The Warrior then pinned Rude to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Following the match, commentatorJesse Venturaclaimed that the Warrior should cut the belt in half and give the rest to Piper. Heenan and Rude also stormed into the backstage interview area and interruptedGene Okerlund's interview withRon Garvin.Heenan was so upset during the interview he ended up babbling.

Jim DugganandDemolition(SmashandAx) defeatedAndré the Giantand The Twin Towers (Big Boss ManandAkeem) (with Bobby Heenan and Slick). Smash pinned Akeem after Duggan hit Akeem in the head with his2×4.

Greg Valentine(with Jimmy Hart) defeatedHercules.Valentine pinned Hercules with his feet on the ropes, something the referee failed to see. Guest ring announcer Ronnie Garvin (who was feuding with Valentine at the time) refused to announce Valentine as the winner of the match. Garvin repeatedly announced Hercules as the winner by disqualification (even though Valentine had officially won the match).

Ted DiBiase(with his bodyguardVirgil) defeatedJimmy Snukabycountout.^[1]^[7]^[14]Following the match, Snuka delivered a flying headbutt to Dibiase, knocking him out of the ring before headbutting and slamming Virgil and performing hisSuperfly Splashon the prone bodyguard.

In themain event,WWF Champion Hulk HoganandBrutus BeefcakefacedRandy SavageandZeus.After all of the wrestlers were introduced,Miss Elizabethwas introduced and came to the ring separately. In the beginning, Beefcake and Savage brawled on the floor and Zeusno-soldHogan. Beefcake came out and made the save but was caught by Zeus in abearhug.Hogan tried to save his partner but he also became victim of a bearhug by Zeus. Savage came off the top rope and hit Hogan with adiving double axe handle.He hit Hogan another double axe handle from the top rope and a running knee for anear-fall.Savage applied achinlockon Hogan but Hogan hit Savage withshoulder blocks.He came off the ropes where Zeus assaulted him. Zeus got a tag and then he beat on Hogan and locked in a bearhug where he took Hogan to the mat for several near-falls. Zeus took him in their corner and then tagged Savage. Savage connected with aneckbreakeron Hogan and spat on Beefcake, forcing him to get into the ring. Savage hit abelly to belly suplexon Hogan for a near-fall. Hogan tagged in Beefcake who hit Savage with ahigh kneefor a near-fall. He locked in aBarber's Chairon Savage, who fell to the knees but then got up and drove Beefcake's head in the corner. Zeus tagged in and was very angry. Beefcake hit him with aneye rakeand applied a Barber's Chair on Zeus. Savage took hismanager Sensational Sherri's loaded purse and hit Beefcake in the back with it. Savage got a tag, calmed down Zeus and got a near-fall on Beefcake which ended after Hogan made the save. Savage went for another cover and Hogan came in again and chased Savage, who hid behind Hogan's managerMiss Elizabethand was beaten up by Hogan. Zeus came in and locked achokeholdon Beefcake before tagging Savage. Savage and Beefcake knocked out each other. Beefcake tagged Hogan. Hogan connected with acorner clotheslineon Savage and then assaulted Zeus. He hit abig booton Savage, sending him to the floor. Hogan tried tosuplexSavage in the ring from the apron but Sherri tripped him as Savage fell on Hogan for a near-fall. HeclotheslinedHogan and he hit aSavage Elbowfrom the top rope but like WrestleMania V, Hogan no-sold it. He beat on Savage and sent him to the floor after anatomic drop.Zeus tagged in. He beat Zeus with clotheslines. Zeus fell on one knee.Miss Elizabethtripped Sherri and Beefcake tossed Savage on the mat. Therefereewas distracted. Hogan took advantage and hit Zeus with Sherri's loaded purse, followed by ascoop slamand aleg dropfor the victory.^[1]^[15]^[7]^[14]

Aftermath[edit]

Hulk HoganandBrutus BeefcakemetRandy SavageandZeusin a rematch atNo Holds Barred pay-per-viewcontested in asteel cagewhere Hogan and Beefcake won again.^[16]Prior to the "No Holds Barred" pay-per-view rematch, Zeus began appearing in the corner ofTed DiBiaseas he renewed his push for Hogan's WWF World Heavyweight Championship, and Zeus was on the DiBiase-captained team facing Hogan at the 1989Survivor Series;Hogan also began facing Savage in a series of one-on-one steel cage matches. A steel cage match was also used in the final match involving the Hogan-Beefcake vs. Savage-Zeus storyline, where the two tag teams faced each other during a special pay-per-view,No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie,in December; there, Hogan and Beefcake defeated Savage and Zeus.

The Brain Busters(Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) defended theWWF Tag Team Championshipuntil losing the belts back toDemolitionin October 1989.^[17]The title change took place at a television taping for the WWF's syndicatedSuperstars of Wrestling,and did not air until the weekend of November 4, 1989; until the airing of the title match onSuperstars,Anderson and Blanchard competed at WWF events as the champions, but were frequently not announced as such. Blanchard would be fired for failing a drug test on November 1 and Haku replaced Anderson on the bookings until Survivor Series, when Anderson left the WWF and returned to WCW.^[18]

Rick Rude moved into his new feud with Roddy Piper, with the two exchanging insults throughout the fall of 1989, including an incident onPrime Time Wrestlingwhere they had an altercation that escalated after Rude spit on Piper. Their differences were settled in a steel cage match in December 1989, with Piper winning. Meanwhile,Ultimate Warriordefended his title primarily against André the Giant, regularly squashing the "Eighth Wonder of the World" in less than 30 seconds at house shows across the country (and at least once during a televised match fromMadison Square Gardenin New York City). With the departure of Blanchard and Anderson, André was placed in a tag team withHakuand dubbed theColossal Connection;they immediately targeted Demolition and went on to win the Tag Team Championship^[19]during a December 1989Superstarstelevision taping. André's feud with Ultimate Warrior and placement in the tag team with Haku were ways of keeping the aging "Eighth Wonder of the World" in the spotlight, as his health was continuing to decline.

The other major feud that continued involvedRon Garvinand Greg Valentine. Upset at Garvin for his actions during SummerSlam, Valentine demanded that Garvin – who was still barred from competing after having lost a retirement match to Valentine – be reinstated so that the two could settle their differences once and for all. Garvin eventually got the upper hand in their last match, winning asubmission matchat the1990 Royal Rumble.

The Red Rooster would appear in the 1990 Royal Rumble before leaving the WWF for WCW in mid 1990 and would return to his Terry Taylor persona, while Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig would move on to a feud with Brutus Beefcake after the Royal Rumble.Tito SantanaandRick Martelcontinued to face each other, with Santana defeating Martel in the finals of theKing of the Ringtournament on October 14.

Results[edit]

No.

Results^[1]^[7]^[14]

Stipulations

Times

1^D

Dino BravodefeatedKoko B. Ware

Singles match