wrestling / Video Reviews
Hall’s Summerslam 1990 Review

Summerslam 1990
Date: August 27, 1990
Location: Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 19,304
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper
I’ve been watching wrestling for a rather long time and this might be the show I’ve seen more than any other. My family went through three copies of the VHS as I watched it so frequently as a kid. I still have a copy of it to this day and hopefully it has more than just nostalgia value. We have a double main event of Ultimate Warrior defending the WWF Title against Rick Rude in a cage, plus the real main event of the returning Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake. Let’s get to it.
The opening video looks at the double main event and nothing else.
Commentary welcomes us to the show and Vince puts Piper over as the reason the fans are so excited.
The Rockers vs. Power & Glory
Slick is here with Power & Glory. The camera stays wide on the Rockers’ entrance and the villains take out Michaels’ knee with a chain shot before the bell. This would be due to Michaels having a genuine injury and this was the way to let him stay out of the ring for the match. Jannetty tries to fight both of them off to start and manages a small package for two. Another kick to the leg cuts Michaels off and Jannetty gets two off a sunset flip.
The numbers game catches up to him though and the beating is on. Hercules’ slam is countered into a small package for two and the comeback begins rather quickly. Jannetty manages the top rope fist drop to Roma, with Hercules making the save. One heck of a clothesline drops Jannetty and he gets tossed into the air for a crash down to the mat. The PowerPlex (which has since become a beloved move for reasons I don’t quite get) finishes Jannetty off at 5:58.
Rating: C. There was only so much that you could do here as this was a handicap match. Michaels never got in the ring and unfortunately there weren’t many other options. Power & Glory were a perfectly serviceable midcard heel team and they get a nice win here, even if it wasn’t exactly in a traditional match.
Post match Michaels is thrown inside to get destroyed even more, with Jannetty trying to cover his leg. Michaels is taken out on a stretcher.
Mr. Perfect, with Bobby Heenan, isn’t worried about defending the Intercontinental Title against the Texas Tornado despite not knowing much about him. Heenan says if you’ve seen one Texas tornado, you’ve seen them all, because you can see them coming a mile away. They make a lot of noise but they won’t do much more than mess up a trailer park.
The Texas Tornado is ready to come out of the clouds and destroy everything in his path. Perfect must not know much about Texas tornadoes, because they’re powerful, unpredictable and devastating. When the match is over, he’s heading back into the clouds with the Intercontinental Title.
Intercontinental Title: Mr. Perfect vs. Texas Tornado
The Tornado (who has changed his gear from yellow to white in the time of the absolutely live promo before the match, likely because Perfect is wearing yellow) is challenging and Bobby Heenan is here with Perfect. They circle each other to start and Tornado knocks him outside. Back in and Perfect gets a takedown of his own and then does it again, leaving Heenan to wipe the champ down.
Things slow down a bit with Perfect striking away and then grabbing a not so great sleeper. That’s broken up and Perfect hammers away in the corner but Tornado catapults him into the post. The Claw into the Tornado (discus) Punch gives Tornado the pin and the title at 5:14.
Rating: C+. Not much of a match here but they did a good job of establishing Tornado, who had only been around for a few weeks at this point, as a big deal. Beating Perfect alone is a major step and he wins the Intercontinental Title in the process. At the same time, to show you how far things had changed, Perfect’s reign was the 16th in the title’s history and the second shortest, at a mere 126 days.
Gene Okerlund is in the back to talk to Sweet Sapphire but she is nowhere to be found. Cue Bobby Heenan and Mr. Perfect, ranting about how Perfect was sent into the post and how HIS SHOULDER WAS UP. Perfect swears revenge, which he would eventually get.
Sensational Sherri vs. Sweet Sapphire
Sherri has what can be described as a huge Mardi Gras mask on (which genuinely terrified me as a kid). Sapphire’s music plays…and there’s no Sapphire to be seen. The music plays a few more times and there is still no Sapphire, so Sherri counts to ten and it’s a forfeit. The fact that Sherri was in a dress rather than gear makes me think something wasn’t on the up and up here.
Dusty Rhodes isn’t sure where Sapphire is, even though they got to the show together today. Everyone is looking for her, including Jim Duggan, who pops up to say he hasn’t seen Sapphire but everyone is still looking for her, giving us one of the most out of nowhere cameos you’ll see in wrestling.
Rhodes talks about Sapphire getting a bunch of gifts recently and knows no one gets something for nothing. That’s not his business though, and now he needs to go find her. Okerlund mentions that Sapphire had said she would be getting her best gift here, though she might not be here to receive it. We have a running mystery on our hands.
Tito Santana vs. Warlord
Slick is here with Warlord. This was supposed to be Santana vs. Rick Martel in their big pay per view blowoff but Martel was hurt so this is what we get instead. Santana fires off some dropkicks to start and the frustrated Warlord bails out to the floor. Back in and Santana works on the arm but gets pulled up into a powerbomb. That’s broken up with right hands, so Warlord takes him outside for a ram into the post.
Back in and a backbreaker has Santana in trouble and Slick looking rather confident (and dancing a bit, as he is known to do). Santana fights up and hits some right hands, followed by the running forearm. Warlord gets away though and comes right back with a running powerslam for the pin at 5:30.
Rating: C. if you need someone to put over a monster, there aren’t many better options than Santana. He knew how to work well with someone of any size and he could make Warlord look great out there. That’s more or less what he did with Barbarian to great effect at Wrestlemania earlier in the year and this went well enough, with Slick’s dancing making things even better.
Demolition talks about how they’ve brought in a third member in Crush, but their opponents don’t know who they’re going to face. After they take care of the Hart Foundation, it’s time to deal with the Legion Of Doom, the knockoffs who deserve a beating.
The Hart Foundation doesn’t care who they’re facing because they want the Tag Team Titles back. After the Hart Attack Demolition is getting, they’ll be buying pacemakers by the truckload. Well, Crush is there because it was believed Ax had a heart problem (he didn’t) so that’s almost cruel.
Tag Team Titles: Hart Foundation vs. Demolition
Demolition (Crush/Smash here) is defending and this is 2/3 falls. The Harts start fast with a double back elbow to put Smash down and Bret gets two off a rollup. Neidhart comes in to work on the arm but Smash shoves Bret away and brings in Crush. That’s fine with Bret, who fires off a headbutt but the crossbody is easily pulled out of the air. Neidhart comes back in and gets hammered in the corner but comes out of said corner with a clothesline.
It’s right back to Hart who takes Crush down and hammers away before sending the champs together. A Russian legsweep gets two on Smash as Crush sends Neidhart into the barricade. The middle rope elbow gets two but Crush drops a leg for the save, with Vince and Piper getting into an argument over the amount of time a partner can be in without being tagged (you could hear Piper trying so, so, so hard to be Jesse Ventura in that exchange and it just wasn’t there). The Demolition Decapitator gives Crush the first fall on Bret at 6:19.
Bret is still down so Smash beats him down for two and Crush adds a neck crank. That’s broken up and a clothesline out of the corner gives Bret a needed breather. The tag brings in Neidhart to clean house as the fans are WAY into this whole thing. The powerslam gives Neidhart a close two on Smash (and the fans were WAY into that one). Smash gets caught in the Hart Attack for….two, as Crush picks up the referee and carries him around, with the obvious DQ (commentary was almost aghast at how stupid that was from Crush) tying it up at 10:38.
Bret gets knocked off the apron between falls and Neidhart goes to check on him….as Ax runs down to hide underneath the ring. Back in and Bret hammers on Smash before handing it back to Neidhart, who reverse powerslams Bret onto Smash (cool spot). The referee goes to get rid of Neidhart and Ax takes Smash’s place. This is a fine idea, save for the issue of THEY DON’T LOOK ALIKE. This didn’t make sense when I was a kid and it’s even worse looking back down.
Ax hammers away with the forearms to the back and drops an elbow for two. There’s the hard whip into the corner and Neidhart goes for a save, allowing Ax and Smash to double team Bret on the floor. Cue the Legion Of Doom as the fans are going even nuttier with every single thing that happens.
Animal pulls Ax from underneath the ring and Hawk breaks up the Demolition Decapitator (Smash: “YOU SON OF A B****!”). As all that is going on, Neidhart hits a slingshot shoulder to knock Crush into a rollup for the pin and the titles at 15:48 (Blowing the roof off the place in the process. There are people literally jumping up and down on the title change in an underrated all time reaction.).
Rating: B+. I’ve loved this match since I first saw it and dang does it hold up. The crowd reactions alone are more than enough to make this feel even bigger, with the fans getting into every near fall and then going ballistic on the title change. The often forgotten part of this is that it was part of a very long term story. The Harts had lost the titles all the way back in 1987 and could never get them back. It turned into a question of whether or not they could do it without Jimmy Hart and the cheating but they swore they could, and here was the big payoff. A lot of this is pure nostalgia, but DANG does that crowd reaction boost things.
Wrestlemania VII is coming to Los Angeles! It is indeed, just not at the Coliseum!
The Legion Of Doom hopes Demolition is good and mad because they’re tired of Demolition running roughshod over everyone. Demolition are little men in a big man’s world and here are the Harts to say they’ll face anyone anytime anywhere. Okerlund is happy with the win and Hawk strokes Neidhart’s goatee.
Sean Mooney is outside of Demolition’s locker room, where they are screaming vengeance against the Legion Of Doom.
Sensational Sherri brags about her win and laughs at Okerlund asking about “early sightings” of Sapphire. Sherri: “Early sightings? WHAT IS SHE, A UFO???” Sherri talks about how smart Sapphire is because of not showing up for the match and something about some rumors she has heard recently. As for Sapphire, she may be missing, but Sherri never said she was a person. And that sounds like a twist.
We take a five minute intermission, thankfully edited out of Peacock.
Okerlund runs down the remaining card.
Bad News Brown has brought a bunch of rats to the show.
Damien is in the shower. I’m not sure why we need to see this.
Big Boss Man is ready to be guest referee for Jake Roberts vs. Bad News Brown and isn’t scared of snakes or anything from the sewer.
Nikolai Volkoff and Jim Duggan are ready to team together because the Soviet Union and the USA are getting along great. Volkoff says Duggan is his idol. That’s….a rather low standard. They’re ready for the Orient Express, because they’re the AMERICAN EXPRESS.
Earthquake and company recap his feud with Hulk Hogan, including injuring him earlier this year (so Hogan could make Suburban Commando). Then Tugboat tried to help Hogan but got taken out as a result. Now Big Boss Man is helping Hogan, but Dino Bravo will take care of him. Jimmy Hart vows a double stretcher ride.
Jake Roberts talks about how hungry Damien is to eat some rats, all while the snake wraps itself around his throat. That’s one of those things that you couldn’t script but it made things so much better.
Bad News Brown vs. Jake Roberts
Big Boss Man is guest referee. The bell rings before he gets there, which tells me that the timekeeper doesn’t know how this works. The threat of a DDT sends Brown outside but he comes back in for a hiptoss. Brown can’t hit the Ghetto Blaster but he can drop a leg for two. Roberts uses the argument with Boss Man to try another failed DDT attempt.
They go outside where Brown gets in a chair shot, earning himself some chastisement from Boss Man. Back in and Brown hammers away but misses a middle rope fist drop. Roberts hits a kneelift and fires off some left hands to put Brown down. The DDT is blocked again though (it’s not working for you Jake) so Brown hits him with the chair again and that’s a DQ at 4:43.
Rating: C. Brown wasn’t exactly putting in the effort here and it’s no surprise that he was gone from the company after this show. Roberts was kind of floating around and looking for something to do, which would come in the way of the big feud with Rick Martel. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have Brown take a pin on the way out but….well you argue with him.
Post match Brown goes to legdrop Damien but Boss Man makes the save. Brown jumps Boss Man, so Roberts grabs Damien and makes the save.
Wrestlemania VII. Dang that show in the Coliseum could have been great.
Demolition accuses the Hart Foundation of cheating and swear to get the titles back. They’ll take care of the Legion Of Doom too.
It’s time for the Brother Love Show, with Love talking about how America needs someone to tell them what to do. That was the case when they were children and it is still true to this day. The person who can do that is his guest: Sgt. Slaughter! Cue Slaughter, who is here to present a most prestigious award. As he was looking for someone to receive the award, he found out that America had gone soft.
Then he looked at the WWF and he found the person worthy of receiving the Sgt. Slaughter Great American Award: Brother Love! Who we knew would be getting this in advance but he’s still very happy! Slaughter is also here to declare war on Nikolai Volkoff because America is too scared to do it. This keeps going way too long and the crowd doesn’t seem overly interested.
Mr. Fuji and the Orient Express are ready to take out Nikolai Volkoff and Jim Duggan but we cut to….Sapphire going into a dressing room and locking the door.
Jim Duggan/Nikolai Volkoff vs. Orient Express
Before the match, Duggan and Volkoff, uh, sing, God Bless America. The Express jumps them (at least waiting until after the song is over) and get dropped with stereo atomic drops. We settle down to Volkoff shoving Tanaka down a few times. A crossbody goes badly for Tanaka but Sato comes in off the top with a shot to the back. Sato comes in for a superkick and it’s back to Tanaka for a shot to the face. Volkoff manages to get over to Duggan for the tag and Duggan knows exactly how to play that role. Sato is knocked outside and the three point clothesline finishes Tanaka at 3:23.
Rating: C-. Yeah this didn’t work very well, as Volkoff was not that interesting in the ring. He was old and could only move at a certain speed, which wasn’t going to be enough to make him last here. Sgt. Slaughter is coming for both Volkoff and Duggan and I’m not sure I can see that working in the slightest.
Dusty Rhodes is outside of the Sapphire dressing room and knows there is something going down here. He has to go have his match but he’s getting to the bottom of this.
Sean Mooney gets on a ladder to talk to Randy Savage, who brings up Sherri’s rumors about Sapphire. Maybe she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with a common man. The Founding Fathers probably didn’t think of Dusty Rhodes when they talked about the American Dream. Now get to the ring because there are peasants waiting to see the Macho Man!
Dusty Rhodes vs. Randy Savage
Sherri having to walk in front of Savage’s throne is pretty much perfect for Savage. Hold on though as here are Ted DiBiase and Virgil on the platform. DiBiase says he can buy anyone or anything and tonight it has bought Rhodes’ humiliation. Cue Sapphire, now in a fur coat with a diamond necklace and carrying a (sweet WWF gym) bag full of money. DiBiase mocks Rhodes and asks what he plans to do about it.
Rhodes goes after him but Savage jumps him from behind and starts the beating in a hurry. Savage and Sherri get in some choking but Rhodes comes back with an elbow and left hands in the corner. Rhodes knocks him to the floor where Savage hides behind Sherri (as he should), with Sherri even getting in the ring for a chase. Savage uses the distraction to hit him with Sherri’s loaded purse for the pin at 2:14.
We cut to the back where Ted DiBiase and Virgil are getting into the limo with Sapphire. Dusty Rhodes comes to the back and gives chase but the car gets away. Rhodes tries to follow the car but stops and stands alone in the drive way. That visual always gets to me a bit as the bad guy won and got away clean.
There are a few things to unpack here and we’ll start with the most obvious: who else was it supposed to be? Sapphire had been getting a lot of expensive gifts and they wind up being from the richest person in the company. That kind of follows logically doesn’t it? Other than that, it was probably good to split Sapphire from Rhodes, as they had kind of gotten everything they could out of the pairing (sidenote: Despite being fairly well remembered, Sapphire wasn’t even around for a year. She debuted at Survivor Series 1989 and was gone shortly after this.).
Overall, it’s cool to have a mystery angle going throughout the show, but at the same time, it kind of loses its luster when you realize how obvious the reveal kind of had to be. It doesn’t help that Sapphire basically disappeared after a few appearances with DiBiase, though it did make sense as Sapphire was basically just a trophy for DiBiase in the first place. It was a perfectly logical feud though, and it got better when Sapphire wasn’t a factor any longer.
Hulk Hogan talks about getting hurt by Earthquake and all of the cards and letters he received. There were quite a few of them, as the WWF put up an address for fans to send them in. The fact that they used those fan addresses to refresh their mailing list made it all the more brilliant. Anyway, Hogan talks about Tugboat leading the charge to bring him back…but now it’s Big Boss Man instead, likely because….well it was going to be Tugboat. Various Founding Fathers references wrap us up.
Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake
Big Boss Man, Dino Bravo and Jimmy Hart are here too. As expected, the place goes coconuts for Hogan. They take their time to start and Earthquake shoves him down a few times without much trouble. As Piper suggests that Hogan (who was announced at 302lbs instead of the usual 303lbs) trained lean for endurance, Earthquake shoulders him out to the floor, where it’s time for a chat with Boss Man.
That suggestion is apparently “try for a slam way too early because that has ever worked”, allowing Earthquake to hammer him down and whip him hard into the corner. Hogan gets a boot up in the corner though and hits some clotheslines before hammering away to limited amounts of avail.
Sidenote: I know Hogan has his issues in the ring, but he had this kind of a formula down to perfection. Notice that he mixes it up with clotheslines, chops, right hands, various other things. Compare this to Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna three years later where it’s 95% right hands. That kind of a thing makes a huge difference and is a major reason why Hogan’s stuff worked and Luger’s didn’t.
Earthquake gets knocked outside so Hogan goes after both villains, with Boss Man helping him throw them back inside. Some double big boots drop Earthquake and Bravo but Earthquake knocks Hogan down again. Earthquake GOES UP (GULP) and hits a top rope forearm to the back, setting up a Boston crab. Hogan has to grab the rope (that feels so weird coming from him) and Bravo gets in a slam on the floor. Back in and Hogan slugs back but another slam attempt fails, giving us another crash.
The bearhug goes on, with Hogan ripping the referee’s shirt off to break it up (that’s a new one). Earthquake’s powerslam gets two and he hits the Him, leaving Hogan doing his weird fish out of water selling. Earthquake does it again and it’s Hulk Up time, with Bravo and Boss Man getting up. Hogan fights back and hits the slam so everything breaks down. The fight goes to the floor where Hogan slams him onto the table (which doesn’t break, even in Philadelphia) to give Hogan the countout win at 13:15.
Rating: B-. This was designed to set up a bunch of rematches down the line and that’s kind of a weird way to bring Hogan back. I get the idea behind the move, but seeing him not quite being able to slay the monster always felt a bit off. That being said, Hogan could do this match in his sleep and Earthquake was more than good enough to hang in there with him. Nice match here, and it absolutely should have gone on last given the reactions here.
Post match Earthquake and Bravo keep up the beating so Boss Man grabs a chair. Earthquake lifts Hogan up in a choke and no sells the chair shots to the back, leaving Boss Man with limited options. The chair is thrown down and Boss Man whips out the nightstick, spinning it around and getting ready to go (that was always so cool). That’s enough for the villains to bail and posing can ensue.
Bobby Heenan and Rick Rude promise to win the main event while making a bunch of Rocky references (I saw this show before I saw the movie so seeing the lines in the movie blew my mind).
Dusty Rhodes is crushed and says this is built on emotion. He offered up his innocence to Sapphire (Dusty LOVED that line) and she paid him back in scorn. Now only America can offer him shelter from the storm and the fans were asking when he was going to get mad and even. Ted DiBiase can buy anything except the American Dream and the American way of life that lives in his heart. He’s getting bad baby and now he’s coming for DiBiase. Rhodes had a lot of flaws, but that man could swear vengeance like few others.
Alfred Hayes walks us through the construction of the cage, as this was before the idea of having the cage above the ring and lowering it down. Hence the parade of interviews.
Hulk Hogan is ready to ride his motorcycle and says he wants to beat up Earthquake over and over. There are buildings being built around the world that are EARTHQUAKE PROOF, so Hogan can beat him up time after time until he is #1 contender again. Hogan also introduces the fourth Demandment: believe in yourself. Now he’s off to get a new nine foot surfboard so he can chase the big TITLE wave. Then he rides an invisible motorcycle out of the shot.
Earthquake and company swear that it’s not over with Hulk Hogan.
The Ultimate Warrior (belt color: light blue) says Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan have something in common with the Liberty Bell: one is cracked and the other is a ding dong. Warrior says it is time to protect his inalienable right to be the WWF Champion and enter a new frontier. Makes sense (Heaven help me, the Ultimate Warrior is making sense), but he could not feel like more of a second fiddle to Hogan.
WWF Title: Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude
Warrior is defending in a cage, Bobby Heenan is here with Rude and it’s pinfall/submission/escape to win. Warrior charges to the ring and climbs the cage to shake the wall for an awesome visual. Rude cuts him off trying to come in over the top but Warrior cuts off the cut off without much trouble.
A big right hand sends Rude down and Warrior rams him into the cage. Warrior does the gorilla press pose and runs in place (Piper: “What does that mean when he does that?”) but misses a charge into the cage (Piper: “It means he’s going to miss!”), allowing Rude to take over. Rude sends him into the cage but the Rude Awakening is blocked. Back up and Rude hits the Awakening before going up.
Rude’s top rope ax handle connects so he goes up again (Heenan: “WHERE ARE YOU GOING???”), but this time Warrior knocks him out of the air (I would bet Warrior missed the spot the first time so Rude had to do it again). Heenan slams the door on Warrior’s head for two and Rude goes for the door, with Warrior pulling the tights half off for the save (the fans approve). Warrior makes the comeback, Warriors Up, and climbs out for the win (with a Rude hip swivel on the way down) to retain at 10:04.
Rating: C-. As for a match, it was a fine house show main event. As for a pay per view main event, this was pretty dreadful, as it’s just a “here they are, they do their thing, they’re done” match with nothing standing out. Warrior’s run as champion wasn’t going well and a lot of that was due to facing people like Rude. Despite the harping on the fact that Rude had beaten him before, Rude felt like little more than a nuisance for Warrior to deal with before the show could end. It’s not the worst by any stretch, but it’s a really weak way to wrap up the show.
Warrior celebrates to end the show.
Results
Power & Glory b. The Rockers – PowerPlex to Jannetty
Texas Tornado b. Mr. Perfect – Tornado Punch
Sensational Sherri b. Sweet Sapphire via forfeit
Warlord b. Tito Santana – Running powerslam
Hart Foundation b. Demolition 2-1
Jake Roberts b. Bad News Brown via DQ when Brown used a chair
Randy Savage b. Dusty Rhodes – Loaded purse to the head
Hulk Hogan b. Earthquake via countout
Ultimate Warrior b. Rick Rude – Warrior escaped the cage