WWF SummerSlam 1991
WWF SummerSlam 1991 is one of my favourite shows from the Golden Age, and yet that particular period of wrestling history was on its last legs by this point. Though the WWF’s popularity was really beginning to take a tumble by this point, events like this proved that there was nothing like a classic old-school WWF PPV, especially this one which featured so many timeless legends, as well as featuring the Match Made In Heaven (the wedding of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth) and the Match Made In Hell (the handicap match noted in the title).
The British Bulldog, Ricky Steamboat & The Texas Tornado vs. Power & Glory & The Warlord
First up at SummerSlam 1991, we had this six-man tag match. The babyface team feels like three different backgrounds coming up, with Bulldog of UK and Stampede Wrestling fame, Steamboat (now with his fire-breathing Dragon act) coming from the likes of Mid-Atlantic, and Kerry Von Erich having been a staple in the Dallas area. In contrast, their opponents were typical heels for the era, though they did have Slick at their side to further antagonise the good guys. This was primitive stuff, but it did help to set the tone for the evening when it came to the atmosphere, as the Madison Square Garden crowd were electric for this one. Steamboat scored the pin with a crossbody on Paul Roma, though he would be out of the WWF shortly thereafter, and he wouldn’t wrestle for the company again until it was known as WWE in 2009 at WrestleMania 25. As an aside, Bulldog appeared on every PPV in 1991, and The Warlord was on the other side of the ring on every single occasion (including the Royal Rumble if you want to get technical about it).
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match
Mr. Perfect (C) vs. Bret Hart
Simply put, this was an absolute masterpiece. Perfect had been IC Champion for some time, but a serious back injury seemed to force an early retirement for Curt Hennig. But before he rode off into the sunset, he had to drop the belt (depending who you believe, he either chose to wrestle one final bout or he was “convinced” to do so by Vince McMahon), and the strongest challenger available was rising star Bret Hart, who was finally moving into the singles ranks following a long stint as part of the Hart Foundation tag team with Jim Neidhart. The upshot was this terrific wrestling match, which featured lightning-quick counters, smooth-as-silk execution of even the most basic of moves, and a whole lot of drama with The Garden urging The Hitman to dethrone the disliked Perfect. Bobby Heenan delivered one of his very best commentary performances during this bout, continuously running down Hart and antagonising both Gorilla Monsoon and Rowdy Roddy Piper (“I heard that one time Piper came home from school to find out that his parents had left!”). It’s worth remembering that fans were not told in advance about this being Perfect’s swansong, so when he finally hit the Perfect Plex, it seemed like Mr. P had retained. But Bret kicked out, getting the New York fans even more excited, and they went crazy when Bret submitted Perfect very quickly to the Sharpshooter to win his first Intercontinental Championship. Afterwards, Bret chased off the barely-remembered Coach and stole Perfect’s torn singlet as a memento to celebrate his monumental win.
Post-match, Lord Alfred Hayes tried to cut an interview with Stu and Helen Hart in the audience, and it didn’t go very well, let’s just say. This would be the springboard for Hart to launch a fabulously successful singles career, and little more than a year later, he had become the WWF’s most popular babyface. As for Perfect, he did retire from wrestling, but he sided with Flair as his on-screen executive consultant, and by Survivor Series 1992, he was back competing in the ring. He even later wrestled Bret again in another awesome match at King Of The Ring 1993.
The Natural Disasters vs. The Bushwhackers
This was set up by virtue of Tugboat turning heel on Luke and Butch, and soon being renamed Typhoon, to form a combo with his previous enemy Earthquake. To give themselves a fighting chance of toppling the behemoths, The Bushwhackers recruited Andre The Giant, who made his final appearance at MSG during this show (and with the exception of a brief cameo at the Royal Albert Hall for a UK special in October, I believe this was also his final televised appearance for the WWF). The storyline explanation for Andre being on crutches was that Quake had supposedly broken his leg (between him nearly ending Hulkamania, crushing Jake Roberts’ pet snake Damien and shattering Andre’s limbs, Quake was one bad mo-fo of a heel at this point), though it’s still sad to see that Andre’s body was really giving up on him here, less than 18 months before he passed away. The match itself was what you would expect; namely, harmless fan. In the end, Quake pinned Luke to get the nod, but The Legion Of Doom rescued Andre from a potential post-match attack, thus planting the seeds for a future feud (which would include a showdown at Royal Rumble 1992).
Before the next bout at SummerSlam 1991, Bobby Heenan was backstage, and trying to taunt WWF Champion Hulk Hogan by knocking on his dressing room door with a version of the WCW/NWA World Title, which belonged to Ric Flair. Flair was en route to the WWF following a controversial firing from WCW, and these plot developments were gripping for those who knew of a wrestling world outside of the WWF. Hogan refused him entry, thus furthering the build towards an eventual Hogan-Flair match that would never really happen.
Million Dollar Championship Match
Ted DiBiase (C) vs. Virgil
Virgil had split from his longtime employer DiBiase at Royal Rumble, and he even defeated him on a technicality at WrestleMania VII. Their rematch here saw Ted put his Million Dollar Title on the line, and especially since he had Sensational Sherri at his side, surely The Million Dollar Man would finally put his former, erm, serviceman in his place, right? Well, not quite. By this point, Virgil had progressed as a wrestler (don’t laugh) and even caught DiBiase in the Million Dollar Dream, drawing interference from Sherri to cause a DQ. But rather than stop the match, the referee used some rational thinking and instead sent Sherri backstage, allowing the match to go on. DiBiase still regained control, but became distracted by Piper at ringside, who had helped Virgil along his personal journey. This allowed Virgil to capitalise and stun Ted long enough to score the shock pin and to win the Million Dollar Championship to a huge pop. Hey, Virgil was over in 1991. DiBiase would later reclaim the belt from Virgil prior to Survivor Series, and Virgil would start to see his status plummet after that.
Jailhouse Match
Big Boss Man vs. The Mountie
Now, I like Cobb Country, Georgia cops, but then I also like Canadian Mounties. But which is better? There’s only one way to find out … FIGHT! Vince must have taken a page out of Harry Hill’s book to promote this SummerSlam 1991 contest between two polar opposites, one being an American policeman proclaiming truth, justice and law, whereas Mountie was more interested in using overly aggressive tactics, such as stinging people with his dangerous shockstick. This match was set up, with the loser having to spend the night in a New York City prison. Boss Man would have been humiliated if he had lost this one even via any cheating from Mountie or his manager Jimmy Hart, and so he triumphed with a clean victory. This meant that Mountie was going to spend a night in the cells and that he did, though we saw segments throughout the night of him being dragged away by the NYPD, being led out of the arena in a police car, having his fingerprints taken, and later being “confronted” in the showers. Yikes.
WWF World Tag Team Championship Street Fight
The Nasty Boys (C) vs. The Legion Of Doom
The Nastys had won the Tag Team Titles at Mania VII, and shortly thereafter, Hawk and Animal let them know in no uncertain terms that they were coming for their belts. Somewhere along the way, a Street Fight stipulation was added, which allowed this to stand out on a night full of diverse characters and stipulations. This was just a straight-up brawl; unlike Street Fights nowadays where the likes of chairs and tables are integrated specifically for major spots to tell a story, this was just four burly guys beating the hell out of each other. And it was great! Well, it was fun, let’s put it that way. And it had another crowd-pleasing outcome, as Jerry Sags took the Doomsday Device to crown the LOD as the new WWF World Tag Team Champions. It’s not unfair to say that this marked the most high-profile and popular moment in the careers of the Road Warriors, though it’s worth noting that while they were perfectly suited to hold the titles, their reign with the straps wasn’t particularly memorable.
Irwin R. Schyster vs. Greg Valentine
IRS had arrived a few months earlier in the WWF. Once known as smiley All-American babyface Mike Rotunda, Irwin R. Schyster was a snivelling, smarmy tax man who constantly berated people for not paying their due amounts. Presumably, that included Greg The Hammer Valentine, though to be fair, he does look like someone who doesn’t have a pot to piss in. By this point, the veteran Valentine was becoming accustomed to putting over younger or more promising talents as opposed to enhancing his own career fortunes, and so it was no surprise when Irwin got the win to boost his own stock (ha!). The Hammer would be out of the WWF after the Royal Rumble, while IRS stuck around for a good few years.
Handicap Match – Sid Justice Is Special Guest Referee
Hulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa & General Adnan
At WrestleMania VII, Hogan had defeated Slaughter to win the WWF Title, a prize that Sgt. had taken from Warrior at Royal Rumble. But after the match, Slaughter set off a fireball in Hulk’s eyes, thus continuing the feud. Along the way, the former Iron Sheik was brought back as Colonel Mustafa, thus creating the Triangle Of Terror heel alliance. To warden off these war-wounded souls, Hogan linked up with Warrior, though the latter was distracted in the preceding weeks by Jake Roberts, whose supposed quest to help the Ultimate one move past The Undertaker actually led to a trap, with the end result being a Jake heel turn, and him aligning with Taker and Paul Bearer. Incidentally, those segments are creepy as hell to watch, and even today, they’re pretty scary. In the meantime, Sid Justice had arrived in the WWF, and it was decided that he would referee this bout at SummerSlam 199, presumably to plant the seeds for a potential feud with one or more of the participants.
The match itself was nothing special. It was a standard Hogan tag match, except with the heels having one extra combatant and with Justice’s involvement allowing for some referee-argument spots. This included a Hogan-Sid nose-to-nose, which had fans wondering what would happen if they ever clashed (by the time that WrestleMania VIII happened, they’d probably wished that they hadn’t). After Warrior chased Mustafa and Adnan backstage, Hogan hit Slaughter with the Legdrop to win, and afterwards he and Sid posed, flexing those pythons for the world to see. More interesting than this rather boring match are the fortunes of everyone afterwards. Sid would move into the singles babyface ranks proper, but would suffer an injury before his planned in-ring PPV debut at Survivor Series. Slaughter would beg America for forgiveness, and with Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s help, he eventually got it; this angered Mustafa and Adnan, who hung around for a bit before quietly disappearing. Hogan, meanwhile, would enter a feud with The Undertaker, and remember that Warrior was still in a rivalry with Taker at this time.
Which brings us to the most intriguing case in Warrior. As the story goes, backstage prior to the match, Warrior demanded a significant lump sum in cash to wrestle this match, either because he felt he was owed a lot of money by Vince, or because he simply wanted to grow his bank balance. McMahon agreed, but once Warrior had returned through the curtain (possibly while he was still chasing the heels), he was legitimately fired. Warrior denied this, later saying that the two sides agreed to mutually part ways. Whatever the case, Warrior’s first WWF tenure abruptly ended here, and for a while, it seemed like he would never return. But he did, at WrestleMania VIII and again at WrestleMania XII. Either way, though, the pea of Warrior’s popularity came to a screeching halt after this event.
Macho Man Randy Savage Marries Miss Elizabeth
Yes, the final segment at SummerSlam 1991 was the Match Made In Heaven, the long-awaited on-screen wedding between Randy and Liz. Remember that Savage had lost a Career match to Warrior at WrestleMania, which led to a touching post-match reunion with his former manager. In subsequent weeks, they remained on television, and eventually, the Macho Man proposed to Elizabeth. Her response? “Oh, yeah!” The stage was set, and the occasion was a wonderfully romantic yet totally cheesy affair. This was what led to the introduction of the WWF/WWE’s go-to wedding song (“Together, our love will last forever!”). Heenan was tremendous as he ripped into both the bride and groom, continuously riling up Piper and Gorilla. The wedding itself went without a hitch, though there was a brief tease that Savage might not go through with it. But of course he did, and the happy couple kissed to end SummerSlam 1991. But the post-show fracas was what really mattered.
Shown on Superstars the next week, and on the home video release for SummerSlam 1991, we had the wedding reception backstage. Heenan brilliantly looked away as he shook Savage’s hand in one of the funniest low-key wrestling moments that you will ever see, because he’s such a slimeball that even at a man’s wedding, he’d only endorse him if he absolutely had to. Fantastic. Then we got to the major incident, though: as the newly-weds opened their gifts, Liz shrieked at the sight of a venomous king cobra. This could only have come from Jake Roberts, who had crashed the big day. Undertaker then hilariously lamped Savage with his urn, and the occasion turned into a disaster. Fortunately, Sid Justice was there to chase the heels away, but not before Jake tried to get the cobra close to Elizabeth’s face. This of course led to the Savage-Roberts rivalry, one of the best in WWF history, and the iconic moment of Roberts setting his snake on Savage, which led to the Macho Man being reinstated in time to face Jake at This Tuesday In Texas in December. One last thing is the understandable yet bonkers line from Randy: “Thank God for Sid Justice!” Say that in his voice as only he can, and you’ll laugh as well.
WWF SummerSlam 1991 is an absolute nostalgia trip of the highest entertainment value. Perfect vs. Bret is a classic, while there are colourful characters, unique stipulations and historic moments elsewhere on the show. Being held in MSG adds that layer of importance to proceedings, and it’s also remembered as a notorious night for The Ultimate Warrior, giving it further appeal to those studying the WWF/WWE’s archives. And then you have the wedding and the post-wedding scenes, which may not seem like a great way to end a PPV, but which created one of the hottest feuds ever in a logical and unintentionally comical fashion. If you love the Golden Age of the WWF, you will get a massive kick out of reliving WWF SummerSlam 1991.
