Burning Hammer Tape Review #21
CellJr300 On
WWF: SummerSlam 1991
August 26, 1991
--Taped from New York, NY
--Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, & Roddy Piper
--Warlord, Power & Glory (W/Slick) V. Dragon, Kerry Von Erich, British Bulldog. Power & Glory consisted of Hercules & Paul Roma in a gimmick that actually made me care about them for a change. Dragon is Ricky Steamboat during his fire breathing phase, and Bulldog is Davey Boy Smith in pretty much the only gimmick he knew his entire career. Dragon gets the pin on Roma with a Crossbody off the top-rope at 10:43. ** Basic decent wrestling.
--WWF Intercontinental Championship Match: Bret Hart V. Mr. Perfect (W/Coach). This is the culmination of Hart's first ever major singles push after leaving the Hart Foundation, and was the end of Perfect's initial WWF run due to a severely injured back, and as a matter of fact, his back was so messed up for this match that I'm surprised he was even able to wrestle here. Coach is former wrestler John Tolos who took over managing Perfect after Bobby Heenan retired from all active managing. They do a nice bit where Perfect keeps on pulling Hart's hair to escape a Headlock, but every time he manages to get loose Hart pulls Perfect's hair to get him back in a Headlock. Perfect tries to bale on the match, but Hart brings him back to the ring and rips Perfect's singlet right in half in the process. Hart tries for a crucifix, but in a nice touch Perfect knows to counter it this time, Hart had gotten a 2 count with one earlier in the match, and he hits a Samoan Drop for 2. Fisherman's Suplex by Perfect, and shockingly Hart kicks out at 2, which was the first time I ever saw anyone kick out of that move in the WWF. Hart hits a Pendulum Backbreaker followed up by a Forearm Drop off the middle-rope for a real close 2 count. Perfect goes for a Legdrop to the groin, but Hart catches his leg and applies the Sharpshooter for the real quick submission win & title at 18:03. ****1/4 Really good match, and one that would launch Hart into the main event scene for the rest of his WWF career. It was also very cool to see a top level guy in Perfect doing everything in his power to elevate a guy in Hart who was one big win away from reaching that next level.
--Natural Disasters (W/Jimmy Hart) V. Bushwhackers (W/Andre the Giant). Disasters were the incredibly obese team of Earthquake & Typhoon. The Bushwackers are Butch & Luke, who were previously one of the many tandems to wrestle under the Sheepherders gimmick before coming to the WWF. Earthquake gets the pin on Luke at 6:27 with a Running Butt Splash. 1/4* Extended comedy squash match.
--WWF Million Dollar Championship Match: Virgil V. Ted DiBiase (W/Sensational Sherri). For those unaware, the Million Dollar Championship was a belt created by Ted DiBiase to be his version of the WWF Heavyweight Championship. Virgil is actually a very experienced wrestler named Mike Jones, who has wrestled under the monikers of Vincent, Soul Train Jones, & Curly Bill at various points in his career. The story is that Virgil was DiBiase's bodyguard, and after years of verbal and mental abuse he turned on his boss at the Royal Rumble earlier in the year, and they had an initial match at WrestleMania VII. This match is continuing that feud, which always presented an interesting dichotomy, since you had an experienced pro wrestler in Virgil who had to go out and act like he had no idea how to wrestle and thus stood no chance against a vastly superior wrestler in DiBiase, and while Virgil did a real good job in that role, it was later surpassed by the awesome abilities of Nathan Jones, because no one can actually be that bad in the ring can they? Referee disqualifies DiBiase at 3:58 after Sherri attacked Virgil while he had DiBiase in the Cobra Clutch, but the ref decides the match must continue, and he sends Sherri to the back. Virgil gets the pin and the title to a tremendous pop at 10:54 after ramming DiBiase into an exposed turnbuckle. *1/2 The match told an incredible story, but in some ways that story inhibited the wrestling and a so-so match resulted.
--Jailhouse Match: Mountie (W/Jimmy Hart) V. Big Bossman. Whomever loses this match has to spend the night in a New York City jail cell. Heenan offers to give Bossman some cigarettes to bribe the "screws" with once he ends up in jail, and everyone must bow down before the commentating genius that is Bobby Heenan. Mountie nails Bossman with a vicious looking Piledriver. Bossman gets the pin & sends Mountie to jail at 8:39 with an Alabama Slam (Hold the person in a Crown's Gate position and the flip them over into a Spinebuster.) * Eh match, but the match itself is superfluous to all of Mountie's post-match antics. Mountie gets cuffed and taken to a paddy wagon all the while screaming "you're hurting me" to the cops in the girliest voice possible.
--Mountie arrives at the jail, where he keeps screaming "I'm the Mountie" over & over, and then when the police are taking his mugshot he refuses to look at the camera, but the photographer asks how bad the Bossman kicked his ass, which causes Mountie to look at the camera and cry "What" while his picture gets taken.
--WWF Tag Team Championship, No Disqualification Match: Legion Of Doom V. Nasty Boys (W/Jimmy Hart). LOD are of course Animal & Hawk who were otherwise known as the Road Warriors at various times in their careers. Nasty Boys consist of Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags. Animal gets the pin on Sags to win the titles at 7:45 with the Doomsday Device (Electric Chair Drop/Clothesline off the top-rope combo.) 3/4* Wrestling wasn't good, but LOD winning gave the fans what they wanted.
--Elsewhere Mountie is taken to his cell, which he protests in unfair because he's an "International Law Enforcement Officer", and not some small town hick cop.
--Handicap Match: Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, Gen. Adnan V. Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan. For those who are militarily challenged, Sgt. is short for Sergeant, Col. is short for Colonel, and Gen. is short for General. Mustafa gained all of his fame wrestling as the Iron Sheik. Sid Justice, also known as Sid Vicious, Sycho Sid, & Lord Humongous, is the special referee. Adnan goes after Hogan with nothing but Backrakes, and I'm thinking he must be going after some sort of world record with the amount he uses in the match. It's the only move he ever uses, and that must make Hogan angry, since the Backrake is one of the only five or six moves he knows, and hell, maybe Adnan & Hogan can get into a Backrake war, that'd be thrilling. Hogan gets the pin on Slaughter at 12:40 after tossing powder in his eyes. 1/4* Terrible match, but it closed the chapter on the Hogan/Slaughter feud and set the wheels in motion for everything to follow with Sid Justice.
--Randy Savage & Miss Elisabeth get married, although they had already been married in real life back in Savage's Memphis days, around 1984. This all leads to Undertaker & Jake Roberts attacking Savage & Elisabeth during their wedding reception until Sid Justice makes the save.
--Final Flash: Not the greatest show, but every fan of the current WWE should look at this as a perfect example of an enjoyable show where the wrestling wasn't all that great, but every feud was either ended or furthered along, and the right person went over in every match. Find Hart/Perfect if you can, by itself that's the only match on here worth seeing, but overall this is a real enjoyable event.
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