‘WWE Vintage Collection TV Report #61 – August 2^nd, 2009

Shown on Sky Sports in the U.K.

By Stephen Lyon.

This week: The first of the annual ‘History of Summerslam’ recap shows, featuring the following Summerslam matches: Koko B. Ware vs Big Boss Man (1988); Demolition vs Hart Foundation for the tag team titles in 2-out-of-3 falls (1990); Honky Tonk Man vs Ultimate Warrior for the IC title (1988); and Ravishing Rick Rude vs Ultimate Warrior for the IC title (1989).   

Yes, after four straight weeks of back-to-back great matches, half of this week’s show was devoted to the Ultimate Warrior.

Introduction:

Show opened with ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund, introducing the show and detailing the above. They didn’t heed my advice from last week’s report. Last year at this time, in the four weeks building up to Summerslam, they devoted this show to covering Summerslams 1988 to 1995. Logically, one would think this year they would pick up at the point they left off; i.e. air matches from Summerslam 1996 onwards. No such luck. Back to the 1988 beginning we go. At least the matches they aired on this show had not been aired previously last year.   

1) Big Boss Man (w/Slick in his corner) defeated Koko B. Ware. This match was from Summerslam 1988, held on August 29^th, 1988, from Madison Square Garden, New York. Announcers for this match were Gorilla Monsoon & Superstar Billy Graham. This was almost a total squash. Bossman clotheslined Ware a few times and pinned him, then picked him up off the mat at the two count to dish out more punishment. Boss Man draped him across the middle rope and dropped a running legdrop across his neck. Boss Man missed a top rope splash, made his own comeback almost immediately, then missed a splash in the corner and crotched himself on the top rope. Ware had a brief flurry of offense, including nailing Boss Man with a top rope dropkick, but Boss Man made the Superman kick out of Koko’s pinfall attempt, launching the Birdman across the ring, then giving him the Boss Man slam for the pinfall win.

Next, a brief video aired from the June 23^rd, 1990 edition of ‘WWF Superstars of Wrestling’, recapping the debut of the three man Demolition team, thus automatically turning them heel by virtue of them no longer ‘playing fair’. The disgust and disappointment in Vince McMahon’s voice, and the joy in Jesse Ventura’s at this turn of events was hilarious to listen to. Ax, Smash and Crush as a unit were born. Next came pre-match Summerslam 1990 interviews from both Demolition (who gloated about the Hart Foundation not knowing which two Demolition members would start the match between the three of them), and the Hart Foundation (who basically said they didn’t care, Neidhart in particular was non-plussed about who he faced. Bret Hart actually became the first and probably only wrestler in history to quote Phil Collins in his promo – “Just like Phil Collins says, we’ll be two Harts beating as one”).

2) The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition to win the WWF Tag Team titles in a 2-out-of-3 falls match. This match was from Summerslam 1990, held on August 27^th, 1990, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Announcers for this match were Vince McMahon & Rowdy Roddy Piper. Smash & Crush started the match, joined in progress, for Demolition. Bret Hart scored several near falls on Smash, before tagging in Jim Neidhart. The Big Anvil was running the ropes when Crush gave him a knee to the back of his head, knocking him down. Neidhart made his own comeback, pounding on Crush. Bret was tagged in, and was in total control, throwing both Demolition members into each other, hitting a dropkick and atomic drop on Smash, and giving Crush the Russian legsweep, backbreaker and middle rope elbowdrop for a series of near falls. Out of nowhere, Crush low-blowed Hart, then combined with Smash to give Hart the ‘Demolition Decapitation’ finisher (backbreaker hold & diving elbow drop combination) for the first pinfall to be scored.

After a commercial break, Crush was working over Hart with a chinlock. Hart managed to break free, clotheslined Crush, then made the hot tag to Neidhart. The Anvil came in fired up, attacking both Demolition members, elbowing Smash and bodyslamming him, getting a two count in the process. Bret combined with Neidhart to launch Neidhart into Smash like a battering ram, then both guys combined to give him the Hart Attack finishing move. Bret had Smash pinned, but Crush broke up the pin by jumping on the referee, and thus, got Demolition disqualified for the second fall, tying the falls at 1-1. As the Hart Foundation celebrated, Crush knocked Bret out of the ring to ringside. As Neidhart tended to the fallen Bret at ringside, Ax came running down the aisle, and hid under the ring apron here.

After another commercial break, Bret used a sunset flip on Smash for a nearfall. In a really creative move, Neidhart draped Bret across his shoulder, then powerslammed him on to Crush for another nearfall. Ax came out from under the ring and pulled a switcheroo with Smash, and immediately clotheslined Bret. Piper on commentary here was pretty lame, acting like all three Demolition members looked-a-like and debated with Vince whether or not it was Ax in the ring. Despite the matching ring gear, the guy looked nothing at all like either Smash or Crush! Ax gave Bret a side Russian legsweep for a near fall, then threw Bret chest-first into the turnbuckles. Ax pulled Bret to ringside, where he held Bret, and Smash came out from under the ring and nailed Bret with a punch, then rolled underneath the ring again. There was then a HUGE crowd pop (both loud and visible) when the Road Warriors came out, and pulled Smash out from under the ring and attacked him. As Ax tried to make the save, Animal crotched Crush on the top turnbuckle. Amongst all the confusion, Neidhart nailed Crush with a slingshot shoulder tackle over the top rope, and Bret rolled up Crush for the third and winning pinfall, regaining the WWF Tag Team Titles in the process. Huge crowd reaction for all of this. This was an Austin or a Hogan at-their-peak level crowd reaction to a title win. I miss the days when tag teams were this over and this significant, and pushed as a big deal. This was a very entertaining match and unquestionably the highlight of this show. 

3) Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart in his corner) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title, in 27 seconds. Similar to the first match on this show, it was from Summerslam 1988. Honky came out, acting like his usual cocky self, and demanded his mystery opponent come out. Warrior ran out to his famous entrance music and attacked Honky straight away, nailing him with three punches, a bodyslam, a flying bodytackle, a clothesline and then a big splash to win the match and title.

Next, they aired a recap piece, detailing the Ultimate Warrior vs Ravishing Rick Rude feud. They showed a clip of the conclusion from their ‘posedown’ at the 1989 Royal Rumble, in which Rude jumped Warrior from behind and choked him out with an iron bar. Then at Wrestlemania 5, during the Warrior vs Rude match, Bobby Heenan tripped Warrior from outside the ring, as he was about to suplex Rude, and held on to Warrior’s leg as Rude pinned him, winning the match and Intercontinental title in the process.  Then came a clip from the July 24^th, 1989 edition of ‘WWF Prime Time Wrestling’ (inexplicably they placed a ‘WWF Superstars’ logo over the words ‘Prime Time Wrestling’ here), where Rude was doing his usual post-squash match routine of inviting a female into the ring to kiss him. Rude puckered up and closed his eyes like an idiot, as Warrior ran out instead and decked Rude. Then there was a clip from ‘this past weekend’ (August 26^th, 1989 edition of ‘WWF Superstars of Wrestling’) where Warrior was carrying jobber Steve Vega over his shoulder to the back after defeating him in a squash, when Bobby Heenan distracted Warrior in the entrance area, and Andre the Giant came from behind and attacked Warrior, choking him out. Pre-match Summerslam promos aired from both Warrior (ranting nonsensically as usual) and Rude & Heenan (and no, this wasn’t the live promo from the pay-per-view where the Summerslam logo fell down and Okerlund yelled, ‘Ah f*** it!’ on live pay-per-view tv. This was the re-taped version of the promo from the Coliseum Video release).

4) Ultimate Warrior defeated Ravishing Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan in his corner) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title. This match was from Summerslam 1989, held on August 28^th, 1989, from Meadowlands, New Jersey. Announcers for this match were Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura. This match was joined in progress. Warrior no-sold a kick to the mid-section, then clotheslined Rude on to the ring apron. Rude attempted a sunset flip, but Warrior punched him like he was nothing, then press-slammed him over the top rope and on to the ringside floor. Warrior suplexed Rude at ringside, threw him back in the ring, then back out to ringside again. Ventura was blowing a gasket on commentary, slating Joey Marella’s performance as a referee for allowing such shenanigans. Warrior gave Rude a double axe handle blow from the top rope, slammed Rude, gave him an atomic drop and mocked Rude with his own version of Rude’s gyrations, then dropped Rude on his ass again. Warrior charged at Rude, but Rude moved and managed to crotch Warrior on the top rope. After a commercial break, Rude had a sleeperhold on Warrior, but Warrior gave him a chinbreaker to escape. Both ran the ropes and collided with the referee, bumping him. Warrior backdropped Rude, gave him three clotheslines and a powerslam, and had a visible count of five on Rude, but of course, there was no referee. When Marella finally did revive and crawled across to count, at the count of two, Rude placed his leg on the bottom rope. Warrior attempted a splash on Rude, but Rude brought his knees up to block Warrior. Rude gave Warrior a piledriver, but Warrior kicked out of the pinfall attempt. Rude then gave Warrior a top rope kneedrop. Rowdy Roddy Piper came out to the ringside area. Rude gave Warrior a second piledriver, and scored another nearfall. Rude confronted Piper, and gyrated in his direction. Piper, wearing his t-shirt and kilt and evidently nothing else under the kilt, turned around and mooned Rude. On this show, Piper’s ass was blurred out. A stunned Rude was grabbed from behind by Warrior and given a sloppy belly-to-back suplex, then a flying shoulder-tackle and big splash for the pinfall win, regaining the Intercontinental title in the process.

Closing thoughts: This was a definite step down from the quality of the previous month of shows. The opener was just a squash. The Hart Foundation win was a good match and very entertaining. The Warrior-Honky match was just a quick squash, although it is historically significant enough that it is worth seeing. The Warrior-Rude match... it was well-put together and entertaining, and the crowd were reacting hugely to all of it. It was ‘of its’ time’ and what this audience at the time wanted to see. But as an actual wrestling match, judged by the standards of 1989 (not to mention 2009), it was well below average, and that was entirely down to Warrior and his lack of ability (no surprise there then). The funniest part of the entire show was when Tony Schiavone referred to Warrior as ‘a tremendous athlete’ during the Warrior-Rude match. Let’s hope next week’s show brings some better matches.

Match Results:

1) Big Boss Man (w/Slick in his corner) defeated Koko B. Ware (‘WWF Summerslam 1988’ pay-per-view – MSG, New York: 29/08/88). 

2) The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition to win the WWF Tag Team titles in a 2-out-of-3 falls match (‘WWF Summerslam 1990’ pay-per-view – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 27/08/90). 

3) Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart in his corner) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (‘WWF Summerslam 1988’ pay-per-view – MSG, New York: 29/08/88). 

4) Ultimate Warrior defeated Ravishing Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan in his corner) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (‘WWF Summerslam 1989’ pay-per-view – Meadowlands, New Jersey: 28/08/89). 

Please note: I DO NOT sell DVDs or tapes of any of these shows. Sorry!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s report. For other reports like this one, be sure to check it out my website archive at http://www.classicwrestlingreports.com .

It’s no longer updated, but this website carries all of my previous WWE Classics tv reports that have been featured on the old WrestlingObserver.com website.

As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Until next week, have a good week.

Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.