WWE - Summerslam 1990 And 1991 [DVD]

Well these were indeed the good old days,a time when the WWF looked the business,it had the stars and the glamour but it was also a family time,less risk than ever,rewatching these ppvs through older eyes has exposed weaknesses but also when a match is good its good,its as simple as that and these two events contained some great bouts and some feuds that stick in the mind.
I wont give every match the once over as that is time consuming for all,my learned fellow reviewer has done a good job on that even if i dont agree with his rating,there are good matches and bad and some that barely last a second at all,it could be argued that the card is crammed with too many matches but that wasnt just exclusive of this era but some matches deserved longer,such as macho king vs dusty rhodes,that was a feud that did last but this match doesnt even last two minutes,happy memories at times,the wedding with macho man and miss elizabeth,ah sweet memories,how moving and then there is the steel cage match with rick rude and the warrior which doesnt really involve the cage,unlike latter days,all in all i enjoyed reliving these times even if it has lost some of its magic.

Summerslam 1990 could have been the first WWF pay-per-view not solely concerned with pushing Hulk Hogan as THE star of the company but even though The Ultimate Warrior was defending his World Title for the first time on pay-per-view here, his match with Rick Rude, whilst going on last, played second fiddle to Hulk's clash with the gargantuan Earthquake. Thanks to the superb Rick Rude, the Warrior's match is by far the better of the two but is hampered by the fact that no-one really took Rude seriously in this rarefied air. Hogan/Quake is predictably poor although not THAT bad, although the non-finish is somewhat of an insult.

The undercard is the usual mixed bag of the time. The whole Dusty Rhodes/Randy Savage/Ted DiBiase storyline takes up a lot of time to little effect (and is perhaps something Rhodes looks back on with less pride than his NWA Championship days) whilst the likes of Nikolai Volkoff & Jim Duggan versus The Orient Express and The Warlord against Tito Santana are as pointless as you'd imagine. There is some quality action though; whilst a genuinely injured Shawn Michaels is excused duty in the opener, it does add to some genuine heat for, what turns out to be, Marty Jannetty against Power & Glory and whilst it's criminally short, Mr Perfect's clash with The Texas Tornado is very entertaining. The pick of the undercard is a solid clash betweeen The Hart Foundation and Demolition which whilst not the best bout either team would ever have is still a good one.

SummerSlam 1991 features a dreadful main event as Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior team up to face Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa and General Adnan; indeed the only entertainment watching this today is gleamed from the knowledge that the Warrior had an almighty blow-up with Vince McMahon immediately prior to the match and which led to the Warrior being fired almost straight afterwards. The other "main event" was the marriage of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth which was, admittedly, ludicrous but has a kitsch charm even if it is sad to watch this with knowledge of how Elizabeth would meet her death years later.

The undercard is largely saved by the Bret Hart / Mr. Perfect Intercontinental title match which is the kind of thing the WWE cannot (or are unable) to produce today. Credit to Curt Hennig for putting over the "lesser" superstar with such veracity (and whilst obviously in such pain from a back injury) and credit to Bret for stepping up to the mark in what was his biggest singles bout to date. Nothing else comes close to that, but Virgil's bout with Ted DiBiase is entertaining, the opening six-man is solid enough and whilst their match might not be up to much, The Mountie is so over the top in selling the fact that his loss to Big Boss Man means he has to spend a night in a New York Jail that it is impossible not to laugh along with the segments. Of course no-one in their right mind would want to see I.R.S take on Greg Valentine or the Natural Disasters taking on the Bushwhackers and the Tag Team title match pitting the Legion of Doom against The Nasty Boys is a disappointment but there's just about enough good stuff on this show to give it a partial, at least, thumbs up.

The WWF of the early 90's is clearly not the WWE of the late 90's (nevermind of the current day) but if you approach these two events with an open mind there is quite a lot to enjoy, even if you do have to sit through some utter dross whilst you are there.

although many regard the days when the ultimate warrior held the belt as failure it brings back fond memories for me. sslam90 kicks off with the up and coming rockers against the newly formed power and glory. can the rockers overcome shawn michaels knee problem or will they be shut down. 3/5
next we have mr perfect defending against wwf newcomer the texas tornado. the match certainly could have been a lot better but this was a nice moment for the tornado who sadly suffered from personal trouble in real life. here though he could atleast enjoy himself and he did.

the sapphire/sherri bout doesnt go ahead but maybe thats a good thing and its all part of an interesting storyline that developed all night long (much to the concern of dusty rhodes who is managed by sapphire). tito santana then takes on the powerhouse warlord who screams in the camera afterwards that he will be the next wwf champion (yeah and paris hilton is a nun). the interest develops with the match of the night as the hart foundation challenges demoltion in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the tag titles. with demolition having 3 members, which 2 out of ax smash and crush will defend the gold? how will the harts cope with this?

jake the snake also takes on bad news brown in his last ppv, what if any influence will special guest ref the big boss man have? brother love then sticks his nose in interviewing iraqi sympathiser sgt slaughter. speaking of patriotism nikolai volkoff who now loves usa team with jim duggan against the orient express. next dusty rhodes battles long term foe the macho king and finally solves the sapphire riddle but just who is now irking big dusty and can he keep his focus on the match in hand? interesting story but terribly short match that had 6 months of build up for 2 mins action.

in a revenge mission hulk hogan attempts to get revenge on earthquake for his recent vicious assaults on tugboat and hogan himself. hogans hires in the boss man to watch his back while earthquake has dino bravo and jimmy hart in his corner. can hulkamania thwart the 470lb monster?

finally watch the ultimate warrior defend the gold against rick rude. solid enough ppv and worth watching even if its for old time sake.

sslam91 was equally impressive kicking off with warlord/power and glory taking on bulldog/dragon/tornado in a decent opener even if the end is bothced. but nothing is botched next when bret hart again pulls off another classic against mr perfect whos performance is amazing despite a bad back(perfects last match for 15 months). classic summerslam.

the recently formed natural disasters then lock up with the bushwhackers, but what does andre the giant have to say about this? not a good match though. next we get a wrestlemania rematch as ted dibiase (rarely ) puts his million dollar belt on the line against virgil. has the training from rowdy roddy piper helped virgil? or is the million dollar man to much to handle for the former mistreated bodyguard(again another classic wwf story from the early 90s).

another great story is that of the mountie and the big boss man, the loser will head nurse his ego in the new york slammer that night except which law enforcement officer will get a taste of their own medicine. with the msg crowd hooked on almost every match this makes for some interesting tv over the course of the night.

next is the tag title bout, can the nasty boys halt the indestructible legion of doom? or is the no dq bout right up the alley of the LOD? again the crowd eat up every minute. to cool it before the big main event greg valentine takes on ppv debutant IRS but although the crowd dont care about this one it is actually a very good match although the same cant be said for a tame main event handicap match as sgt slaughter/gen adnan/col mustafa tackle the red hot duo of the ultimate warrior/hulk hogan. and what will special guest ref sid justice make of it all (terrible main event). also we get the wedding between macho man and elizabeth, and only a devious SNAKE could interfer. hmmmmm

worth watching for old times sake and for some classic bouts and storylines. or simply to remind you of your innocent youth