A Look Back At SummerSlam 1989

With the 31^th installment of The Biggest Party of the Summer just around the corner, join us as we take a look back at the history of SummerSlam. The ups, the downs, the moments, the stars, and the Cauldron of Madness! … which is an actual thing …

SummerSlam 1989

Meadowlands Arena

East Rutherford, New Jersey

MAIN EVENT

Hulk Hogan & Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage & Zeus

In 1989, Hulkamania hit the silver screen for the first time in a leading role with the now cult classic No Holds Barred. In it, Hogan reached deep within him and pulled out a character that no one knew he could play … … … a professional wrestler. The premise of the movie was buildup to a big match between “Rip”, played by Hogan, and Zeus. Well, apparently Zeus didn’t realize that it was just a movie and still wanted a piece of Hogan, so he found his way to the WWF.

SummerSlam was the first time that we would see “The Human Wrecking Machine” Zeus in the ring for an official match. The future D-Bo (Friday) played his role well, he wasn’t meant to be a technician, he wasn’t meant to know many moves, he was just supposed to be a monster that the fans would think could be a legitimate contender to eliminate Hulkamania.

Hogan and Zeus played the lead role but Savage and Beefcake were more than serviceable as supporting actors. It may not have been the most memorable main events in SummerSlam history, but it was a good one. The crowd was into from bell to bell, can’t ask for too much more than that.

TME TO GRAB SOME SNACKS

The actual show itself didn’t really provide a clear time to get up and go somewhere. So there is no better time to reference the intermissions that used to be a part of a WWF pay-per-view. No interviews, no history packages, no nothing. Just a graphic with the show’s logo and a five minute countdown. Between the pre-show and the actual show, WrestleMania this year was nearly SEVEN hours long. Can you imagine an additional five minutes of nothing thrown in there?

GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

The crowd was at its craziest not at the end of the show, but in the middle. For the first time in years, it wasn’t Hulk Hogan that created the peak decibel level; it was the man that successfully reclaimed the Intercontinental Championship, The Ultimate Warrior. Obviously Vince McMahon realized this as well as it was less than a year later that The Warrior dethroned Hogan and took the WWF Championship away at WrestleMania 6.

MATCH OF THE NIGHT

It wasn’t just the aura of The Ultimate Warrior that kept the fans up and on the edge of their seats. Warrior and the incumbent Intercontinental Champion Ravishing Rick Rude put on a great match. This is a big nod to Rude as it wasn’t easy to get a solid match longer than three minutes out of The Warrior at that time. Rude could do it though. Throw in an appearance from Rowdy Roddy Piper to help The Warrior win the belt and you have a SummerSlam classic!

OTHER TOP MATCHES

Demolition & Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Andre the Giant & The Twin Towers

The Hart Foundation vs The Brain Busters

Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man

OVERALL

The second installment of SummerSlam seemed to just go off of the template created the year before. We had an exciting Intercontinental Championship match, and exciting main event, and then some other stuff that had been thrown together. Granted the action never really seemed to stop, but quantity shouldn’t take the place of quality.

OVERALL SCORE – 6.5/10

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? WAS THIS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE SUMMERSLAMS? WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MATCH OF THIS YEAR? WHAT DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE IN 2018? LIKE OUR PAGE ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LET US KNOW!