Summerslam

This Summerslam from the Meadowlands arena, failed to product a worthy PPV. Summerslam in 1988 was way better than this and some of the matches were a colossal bore. Tom 'Zeus' Lister was an actor not a wrestler and it showed. All he could do was shout and smile, he had no wrestling qualities, but then again McMahon liked the guy because of his size. The result? A p*ss poor main event.

Results from the show:

• The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Heidhart) in a fair but long match.

• Dusty Rhodes defeated The Honky Tonk Man in a boring match. The only interesting thing in this match was at the end. Jimmy Hart accidentally hit Honky with his own guitar and Dusty got the win.

• Mr Perfect downed The Red Rooster in a short match.

• The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) and Tito Santana lost to The Fabulous Rougeou Brothers and Rick Martel.

• The Ultimate Warrior beat Rick Rude to win the Intercontinental Championship in a passable match.

• King Duggan and Demolition defeated Akeem, Big Bossman and Andre the Giant in a fair match.

• Greg 'the hammer' Valentine defeated Hercules. However special ring announcer Ronnie Garven declared that Hercules won by DQ after Valentine cheated by putting his feet on the ropes. No one actually knows who the winner was, even to this day!!!

• 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase defeated 'Superfly' Jimmy Snuka in a good match.

• Hulk Hogan and Brutus 'the barber' Beefcake defeated 'Macho Man' Randy Savage and Zeus in a crap match.

Not good! Overall Grade - C

This was a great wresteling event from 1989. It was held at the Medowlands Arena in New Jersey. I like the main event which was Hulk Hogan and Brutis "The Barber" Beefcake vs. The "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Zeus. That was a classic WWF Event. One other of the matches I thought was also great was Dusty Rhodes vs "The Honky Tonk Man." I will remember "The Blue Blazer" aka the late Owen Hart for his great wresteling matches including this one with "Mr. Perfect" Curt Henning. Also, This was Andre The Giant's Last summerslam as he teamed up with The Big Boss Man and Akeem to take on "Hacksaw" Jim Duggin and The Rockers Shawn Micheals and Marty Jenatty. In anther great Match, This is a rematch from wrestlemaina 5, The Ultimate Warrior Tooked on "Ravishing" Rick Rude for the I.C. Belt and I loved it when the Warrior won his second I.C. belt. Rowdy Rowdy Piper was there, too. This was a great Pay-Per-Veiw.

He was the most powerful force in the universe, and the key to Randy `Macho Man' Savage's plan to destroy his bitter enemy, Hulk Hogan. His name was Zeus, a mountain of a man standing at nearly 7 feet and weighing around 300 pounds of solid muscle. Savage recruited Zeus in an effort to take down Hogan, who with his ally, Brutus `The Barber' Beefcake, battled Savage and Zeus in a tag team match to headline SummerSlam 1989. In the end, Hulkamania triumphed again when Hogan bodyslammed Zeus and hit the legdrop for the win! For the second year in a row, the Ultimate Warrior made history at SummerSlam by capturing his second Intercontinental Championship. Warrior defeated `Ravishing' Rick Rude, who five months earlier defeated Warrior for the title at WrestleMania V. The win would eventually lead to Warrior's epic title-for-title confrontation with Hogan at WrestleMania VI.

SummerSlam 1989 The Brain Busters defeated the Hart Foundation Dusty Rhodes pinned the Honky Tonk Man Mr. Perfect pinned the Red Rooster The Rougeaus & Rick Martel defeated the Rockers & Tito Santana The Ultimate Warrior pinned Rick Rude to win the Intercontinental Title Demolition & "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan defeated Andre the Giant & the Twin Towers Hercules defeated Greg "the Hammer" Valentine by DQ Ted DiBiase defeated "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka by countout Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake defeated Randy Savage & Zeus

Overall Mark: C+

Tony schaivone with Jesse Ventura on commentary this year Jesse brilliant. always good at his best here. Brain busters (Champions )hart foundation to kick off the night Hart's really seem to be reaching there peak a very excited crowd no title on the line but some good wrestling and Bobby the brain always gets a good cheer from crowd. Music time honky tonk man and the American dream two men who know how to work the crowd shake the place up. Next Mr Perfect v the man who was rumored to be offered the part of perfect before becoming the red rooster. Then 6 man tag action with some high flyers. One year since electricity hit summerslam for the intercontinental title honky tonk man v ultimate warrior , this time round champion ravishing Rick rude must defend against electric the warrior put throughout the arena two great entertainers . who work well together plus the brain at ringside and pipes playing in the distance maybe not the greatest technical wrestling ,but at this point this is the take home match for the crowd to tell your friends you seen and felt the atmosphere even if through a tv set . Next axe smash and king duggen of the demolition take on the three towers another 6 man tag shows the number of great wrestlers on the books at this time. Valentine Hercules weakness match of the night and felt misplaced. May have worked better earlier. Snuka v $$$$ would recover the night before the main event "Hulkamania the most powerful force in the universe will never go down" Tony schaivone . With beefcake in his corner and miss Elizabeth he must face the seasoned ring veteran Randy Savage with the monster Zeus and Sherri in there corner all the fun and brilliance wrestling can bring something with a good story great moves don't always matter. The heat did rise as the second summer slam even better than the first.

While the first SummerSlam event (1988) was a great premiere, this second edition takes a couple of steps backward due to only a couple really great matches and a "main event" that is anything but.

The only two matches I really enjoyed from SummerSlam '89 were:

-Hart Foundation vs. Brain Busters. Featured some great technical wrestling (as Bret Hart is always good for). -Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude. Just a classic feud that they let play out at THIS event instead of letting it percolate to the next Wrestlemania.

Then, we have the "Zeus" angle (from the WWF film production "No Holds Barred") for the main event, as he teams up with Randy Savage to take on Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake. It is so obvious that Zeus is a film-promoting gimmick that it is kind of sickening. Plus, the Hogan/Savage feud had already been resolved at the previous Wrestlemania, so the bloom was off that rose.

Overall, then, I felt that SummerSlam '89 was kind of a disappointment with its gimmicky main event and low quality of matches. Also, and perhaps this is a result of it being only the second event in the show's history, but this one seemed like little more than a place-holder for upcoming angles/arcs.