PPV REVIEW: WWF Summerslam 1992

August 29, 1992
Wembley Stadium, London, England

Taking advantage of the company's popularity across the pond, the World Wrestling federation promoted one of the greatest Summerslams of all time from the mammoth Wembley Stadium in England.

Here's what went down:

Instead of the usual gruff growlings of Vince McMahon, Summerslam 1992 began with numerous young cockney children giving us their predictions for the first World Wrestling Federation pay per view to be held in the United Kingdom.

The highlights (if you could call them such) of this opening package included two young girls arguing -with all the blatant awkwardness of Lord Alfred Hayes at Wrestlemania One- over Mr. Perfect's choice of man to corner in the main event, and this young gentlemen to our left, who declared that not only would British Bulldog win his match against Bret Hart, but that he would do so -and I quote- 'whether he wants to or not.'

And there was Davey Boy hoping for an easy night.

Finally, Vinny Mac did give his usual pay per view opening growl as he welcomed everybody to Wembley Stadium, and to Summerslam 1992.

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McMahon was joined on commentary by Bobby Heenan, who wore a crown and claimed himself to be Sir Bobby. The two wondered, with a little more enthusiasm than the two young girls, whether Mr. Perfect would turn up to support Randy Savage or Ultimate Warrior in their upcoming title match.

With that out of the way, it was on to the first of two 'bonus' matches, which were taped at the show to be shown on later episodes of Prime Time Wrestling, but which, for reasons unknown to your writer, have turned up on his copy of this particular event.

Six man tag team match:
The Mountie and The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch)
This was a match built for pure comedy, and on that front, it delivered right from the very start.

The Mountie was a hoot as he made his way to ringside, all chipper and jolly, singing along with his theme tune. Yet a true comedy moment came with the arrival of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. As The fans raised their thumbs in the air to salute the American patriot, Bobby Heenan quipped 'Yeah, I remember when people always used to put their fingers up at me when I made my way to the ring.'

'That was a different kind of salute!' replied Vince McMahon without breaking stride. Both Heenan and McMahon had funnier encounters throughout the years, but that one really made this writer chuckle.

Anyway, as for the action itself, it was, as I say, a purely playful, comedy bout designed to get the crowd pumped up and ready for action.

To that effect, this fun little six-man tag certainly did its job.

After 12 minutes of fairly harmless action, Duggan put away The Mountie for the three count, much to the delight of the Wembley faithful.
Your winners: Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers

Wasting no time, we went right to our second bonus match of the evening.

Papa Shango vs. 'El Matador' Tito Santana
Having no prior recollection of these two 'bonus' matches, I had no idea that Shango/Matador was on the card. So, imagine my sigh of resignation when Tito Santana was announced as the opponent of the voodoo man, Papa Shango. Yep, here came another loss for, in this fan's mind at least, one of the most underutilized talents in WWE history.

Santana certainly looked impressive against the lumbering Shango, but alas it wasn't to be his day.

Six minutes of forgettable action finally came to an end with a win for the future Godfather.
Your winner: Papa Shango

With that out of the way, we moved right into the opening match of the pay per view.

The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal, w/ Paul Ellering) vs. Money Incoperated ('Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase and Irwin R. Schyster w/ Jimmy Hart)
Things began with I.R.S lambasting 'British tax cheats' for being a burden to Her Majesty the Queen, before the Legion of Doom and Paul Ellering raced to the ring on motorbikes, complete with ventriloquist's dummy Rocco in tow

As Ellering played with his toy on the outside (mostly getting Rocco to chant 'L.O.D, L.O.D', Hawk began the match with Ted Dibiase, notable here for eschewing his usual black and gold attire for an all-white outfit.

As this happens, your writer can't help but wonder if, had the L.O.D been active in the modern day, fans may have instead chanted LOL! (OK, that was a terrible joke, I'm sorry)

The match itself was your typical tag team affair, the bad guys cutting the ring in half to isolate Hawk, only for the Road Warrior to eventually make the hot tag to partner, Animal.

The crowd ate this one up, routing for the Chicago-born heros throughout and cheering them en route to victory in a decent, though hardly outstanding match.
Your winners: The Legion of Doom

Backstage, Mean Gene Okerlund spoke with The Nature Boy Ric Flair. 

Flair was annoyed that he wasn't getting a shot at Randy Savage's world title later on in the show. After ranting about being left not only out of that match, but off the entire card, Flair teased that he knew which corner Mr. Perfect would be in during that main event.

This was followed by a rendevouz between Sean Mooney and Virgil. A year on after defeating Dibiase for the Million Dollar Title, the now sprightly Virgil promised the same fate for his upcoming opponent, Nailz.

Not only did Virgil claim he would pin Nailz as a matter of revenge for his good buddy Big Boss Man (Nailz had recently beaten up the Boss Man pretty bad as part of their oft-remembered, short-lived feud), but he also tried to get over a new catchphrase in the form of 'I'm too legit to quit.'

It might have worked if Virgil didn't sound like a pre-pubescent boy.

Virgil vs. Nailz
A year on from the peak of his popularity, Virgil still had the fans on his side as he raced to ringside to do battle with the ex-con Nailz. 

Yet fan support could do little for the former bodyguard as he succumbed to the brute strength of his opponent in less than four minutes of mostly forgettable action.
Your winner: Nailz

Post-match, Nailz beat down Virgil with Big Boss Man's nightstick.

Heading backstage, we found Lord Alfred Hayes outside Randy Savage's dressing room. Hayes could not confirm that Mr. Perfect was back there in Savage's dressing room, but, in a revelation to end all revelations, he could confirm that the door was locked. Hayes insisted he would go on undaunted and get to the bottom of the whole drama.

Next, Mean Gene spoke to Sensational Sherri about the ongoing saga between her beau, Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel. In a rare move at the time, this was the first of three matches on the card which pitted two wrestlers on the same side of the heel/face divide against one another.

The drama here was that both men were competing for the affections of Sherri.

Rick Martel vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Sensational Sherri)
Martel made his way to ringside decked in full tennis regalia, causing Vince McMahon to proclaim that 'Wimpleton ended some months ago, Martel.'

I can't be too certain, but I have an idea Vinny Mac may have been referring to Wimbledon.

For his part, Michaels had Sherri bring a huge mirror to ringside, which he used to preen himself prior to the opening bell.

When the bell did eventually ring, it signaled the start of the best match on the card so far.

Things began in fine form, both men working an exciting, fast-paced brawl combining high-octane spots with excessive cheating to gain the upper-hand on the other.

After delighting the Wembley crowd, Martel and Michaels' had their attentions distracted by Sherri herself. the former women's champion 'fainted' at ringside as a way to stop two men she admired from fighting each other, and as a way to get them to pay her attention.

Her ploy worked.

Both men made their way to the outside and began brawling over which one of them would get to tend to the fallen damsel. This led to a double-countout and to a comedy spot in which one man would carry Sherri half way up the isle, only to be knocked down by the other one, who would resume rescue duties.
Double-countout

A fine match before the finish, which ultimately saw Martel revive Sherri with a bucket of water, leaving her to bemoan her fortune as Michaels chased Martel backstage.

Signalling the start of their eventual face-turn, The Nasty Boys were found backstage with Jimmy Hart and Sean Mooney. Knobs and Sags laughed at Sherri's misfortune until Sean Mooney told them that it wasn't such a very nice thing to do.

The duo then turned their attentions to the tag team titles, and questioned Hart on when they would get a title shot. Clearly uneasy (having promised to get Money Inc. a shot instead), Hart lied and promised his charges that they would get a match. Say what you will about The Nasty Boys today, that was a fun little segment.

World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championship match
WWF Tag Team Champions The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) vs. The Beverley Brothers (Beau & Blake w/ The Genius)
True story for you, dear readers: I have a sister named Beverley, which meant that when I was a child, I claimed that my younger brother and I were the real Beverley Brothers.

Hey, I said it was true, I never said it was interesting.  Which basically sums up the WWF version of The Beverley Brothers. They happened but I don't recall a single interesting thing that they did during their tenure in McMahonland.

As for this title match, it was another fairly forgettable affair in which nothing much of note happened. Even the London crowd --who had roared their approval Virgil/Nailz like it was Hogan/Savage- seemed to lose the will to live during this one.

Not too surprisingly, the champions retained.
Your winners and still WWF Tag Team Champions: The Natural Disasters

Backstage, The Bushwhackers told Mean Gene that they were having 'Super fun' at Summerslam, joined in with the "who's side is he on" speculation regarding Mr. Perfect, and pontificated on their upcoming lunch with the Queen.

Yep.

In a hillarious segment, we next found Lord Alfred Hayes outside the dressing room of the Ultimate Warrior (we know it was Warrior's, because somebody had drawn a Warrior mask in crayon and stuck it on the door). Hayes claimed that he was going to get the bottom of this whole Mr. Perfect saga by going into the Warrior's dressing room without knocking.

Unsurprisingly, when Hayes tried to do just that, he had the door slammed in his face. Indignant, Hayes claimed that this proved nothing, but was certainly "A vulgar act of rudeness.'" 

Bobby Heenan ruined the joke seconds later by explaining it.

Crush vs. Repo Man

And so we moved on to Demolition Crush against Demolition Smash in a Lone Ranger mask as filler before our world title match.

'Crush certainly has a bright future in the World Wrestling Federation,' said Vince McMahon. Even to this day, your reviewer can't quite fathom why McMahon's prophecy never came true.

As popular as anybody on the roster at the time, with a great look (apart from that awful orange, purple and yellow attire) and a decent work ethic in the ring, one can only concur that McMahon's move to smaller wrestlers like Michaels and Hart had something to do with it.

That aside, it was another win for Crush over his former tag team partner in an enjoyable, if not particularly spectacular, five minute match.
Your winner: Crush

The World Wrestling Federation Championship match on one of the biggest shows of the year featured two of the most popular stars in the company in the form of The Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man Randy Savage.

Instead of playing up to this fact, the whole of the show spent so much time questioning whether Mr. Perfect would be in either Savage or Warrior's corner, that the idea of this being a world title match between tow huge stars was largely ignored.

Of course, as we got a video package highlighting Perfect and Flair's involvement with Warrior and Savage, it became pretty obvious that neither Warrior nor Savage would want anything to do with Perfect. Still, the idea was played up right up until the opening bell.

World Wrestling Federation Championship match:
WWF Champion 'Macho Man' Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior
Though your reviewer will always prefer the Wreslemania 7 classic between Savage and Warrior, their repeat performance some seventeen months later was still pretty special.

As night fell upon London, both champ and challenger gave it their all for the best part of half an hour. The result was a compelling, exhilarating performance which only grew in suspense with the inevitable arrival of Flair and Perfect.

Rather than taking sides, the dastardly duo ran interference for both men during the first of two babyface vs. babyface matches on the card.

This ultimately led, after a solid, engrossing contest, to a countout victory for the challenger.

The Ultimate Warrior may have gained a reputation as a less-than-stellar in-ring performer, but having now reviewed every WWF pay per view he was involved in during his initial run, I'm not so sure that's the case.

No, the man born James Brian Hellwig will never be classed in the same category as master technicians such as Hart, Perfect or even HBK, but when it came to dramatic performances against the likes of Hulk Hogan, Rick Rude and Savage himself, Warrior always delivered.

Nor do I believe he was necessarily 'carried' by said men. Every time, Warrior would hold his own to create an entertaining match which still stands tall as a classic, even in 2014.
Your winner via count-out: The Ultimate Warrior (Macho Man retains the title)

Afterwards, Flair and Perfect attacked Savage and injured his knee, only to be chased off by a battered and bruised Ultimate Warrior.

Returning to the ring, Warrior helped Savage to his feet and assisted him back to the locker room, all the while carrying the WWF title belt as though he were the champion.

Backstage, Flair and Perfect gloated about the success of their plan. As it turned out, Perfect was never going to be in either man's corner, but instead was there to help Flair injure Savage, making it easier for The Nature Boy to triumph when they eventually met for the title.

As history would go to show, the plan worked and Ric Flair would go on to become a two-time WWF Champion inside a year.

The Bezerker (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. Tatanka
With the crowd completely drained in the wake of the awesome title match, Tatanka battled The Bezkerker in front of an almost silent audience.

Another match not included in the initial pay per view broadcast (again recorded instead for TV), this was a decent yet unspectacular affair ending with another win for the undefeated Native American.
Your winner: Tatanka

Finally, we had one more match between our main event.

Kamala (w/ Kimchee and Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)
Riding a wave of popularity, The Undertaker made is way to the ring on a hearse and proceeded to make lightwork of Kamala.

Up to this point, the Ugandan giant had been built up as something of a beast, yet all that fell apart when The Dead Man arrived at Wembley and destroyed him in just a few short minutes.

Ultimately, this one went to a DQ finish when Kim Chee got involved, saving his man yet costing him the match.
Your winner: The Undertaker

Afterwards, Kamala beat down on The Undertaker, even going so far as to plant him with a top-rope splash. As per the norm, The Undertaker sat right up and chased Kamala away (in as much as walking stoically to the back can be classed as chasing).

Out in the back, a beaming British Bulldog disowned his brother in-law Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and promised to beat him for the Intercontinental title. Davey Boy insisted that fighting for the title in front of 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium was not a pressure at all, but rather, was a dream come true.

Offering a retort, The Hitman played the heel role by claiming to be the one who not only introduced Davey to his wife (and Bret's brother) Dianna, but was largely responsible for the Bulldog's success in his career. To further add fuel to the fire, Bret claimed that the Bulldog was responsible for tension in the Hart family,, and promised to end his dream.

Killing a little bit more time, Rowdy Roddy Piper joined the  Balmoral Highlanders in playing the bagpipes to Scotland The Brave, before Dianna Hart-Smith cut a wooden promo in which she expressed her concerns about the upcoming title match between her brother and her husband.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship match:
WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart vs. The British Bulldog (accompanied by Lennox Lewis)
The challenger made his way to the ring first, accompanied by boxing star Lennox Lewis waving the Union Jack high and proud. He was followed by a stern-looking Bret Hart, and when the opening bell rang, we were all set for one of the best WWF matches in history.

From start to finish, both champ and challenger delivered an absolutely enthralling encounter which still stands up today as not only one of the greatest intercontinental title matches ever, but one of the best matches ever, period.

Full of intensity, emotion, passion and, yes, great wrestling, this timeless match is a pure joy to watch.

As you probably already knew, The British Bulldog pinned his brother -in-law to become the new Intercontinental champion.
Your winner and NEW Intercontinental champion: The British Bulldog

Afterwards, Bret and Bulldog embraced, Dianna Smith joined them in the ring, and the three of them celebrated before the London faithful to end the show.

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And so the first WWF PPV to not only come from the United Kingdom, but to go from start to finish without sight nor sound of Hulk Hogan, came to a close in a terrific finale of action and emotion. Summerslam 1992 was unique for reasons beyond the location and lack of Hulkster. It was unique because the three top matches on the card were the ones which pitted either heel against heel or face against face. 
If you concentrate purely on those three matches, this was a great show well worth checking out.

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PPV REVIEW - WWF SUMMERSLAM 1991

August 26th, 1991
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

On the face of it, a wrestling pay per view headlined by a wedding shouldn't have worked. Yet, despite itself, Summerslam 1991, topped by the wedding between Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth ('A match made in heaven) with Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior teaming up for a handicap match against Sgt. Slaughter) and his goons ('A match made in hell') turned out to be one of the best wrestling shows of the year.

I'm reviewing this from a copy an old VHS tape, so no Vince McMahon growling of special introduction.

Instead, we go straight to our first match.

The Dragon, The British Bulldog, Texas Tornado vs. The Warlord and Power & Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules)

And so we begin with an enjoyable six man tag team match served well in setting the tone for the rest of the show.

Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat (who at this particular point in his career had been repackaged simply as The Dragon, complete with a cape made to look like a dragon and red scales on his tights) spent the bulk of the contest getting his butt handed to him thanks to the efforts of Warlord and Powers of Pain, but it was when he finally made the obligatory hot tag that things got really exciting.

Texas Tornado (who remains one this writer's favorite stars of the early 1990s) stormed the ring to clean house, Davey Boy Smith beat up on Warlord (as he would do for most of 1991) all hell broke loose until Steamboat planted Paul Roma with a big splash for the win.

A fun way to kick off Summerslam 1991.

Your winners: The Dragon, The British Bulldog, Texas Tornado

Following the bout, our three-man commentary team of Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon and 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper spent some time shilling a special hotline in which callers could chat to 'Macho Man' Randy Savage and Miss. Elizabeth before they tied the proverbial not later on in the show... because nothing says romance like spending the few remaining hours before your wedding speaking to wrestling fans on the telephone.

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Cutting to the back, Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect had some final words for challenger Bret 'The Hitman' Hart. The champ claimed that even though Bret was the Excellence of Execution, he wasn't perfect, and would be defeated in their upcoming match. All the while, Perfect's manager The Coach did pretty much the same thing as he would do throughout his WWF tenure; absolutely nothing.

WWF Intercontinental Championship match

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/ The Coach) vs. Bret 'The Hitman' Hart

For the second year in a row then, Mr. Perfect defended the IC title at Summerslam. 

Unlike his previous year's loss against Texas Tornado, Perfect went down swinging in this thrilling encounter against a Hitman on the rise.

By far the best match on the card, this was a brilliant match in which technical wrestling evolved into wild brawling and then further, into both men desperately pulling out all the stops in search of the elusive three-count.

After a dramatic, back and forth battle, Bret slapped on the sharpshooter to earn his first Intercontinental title.

Your winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart

The post-match to this one was pretty hillarious. As The Hitman celebrated, Lord Alfred Hayes attempted to get an interview with Stu Hart, along with Helen, had watched his son's victory from the crowd.

Hayes tapped Stu on the shoulder, said pestered and begged and bugged Stu, and was basically ignored. Then, just when Stu finally relented and tried to speak into Alfred's microphone, the Englishman turned his back on the Hart patriach and snubbed him. 

Trust me, that was damn funny.

More shilling followed, this time for Hulk Hogan, a Real American Story, a career retrospective on The Hulkster that could be ordered on pay per view from October. 

Andre The Bushwhacker

Up next, Mean Gene Okerlund spoke to The Bushwhackers and a barely-mobile Andre The Giant.

The story here was that Andre had returned to the World Wrestling Federation and was seeking a manager. Jimmy Hart got in Andre's face demanding the job, only for Hart's charge Earthquake to attack the big man and break his leg. 

In a moment of madness, Andre decided that, when it came to getting revenge against Earthquake and his Natural Disasters partner, Typhoon, there was only two men for the job; Luke and Butch.

Yep, that happened.

The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch w/ Andre The Giant) vs. The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon w/ Jimmy Hart)

'There's two ways to beat the Natural Disasters,' quipped Bobby Heenan 'You get 'em down, or you don't show up.'

After witnessing this short, nothing match, your reviewer would have preffered both teams to stay at home.

Despite a fairly lively opening spot which kept the New York crowd alive, this was nothing to write home about.

Half way through this match, Bobby Heenan left the commentary table to take care of soething backstage. A few moments later, Earthquake sat on his opponent and that was all she wrote.

Your winners: The Natural Disasters

Post match, the big baddies beat down on their fallen foes before stalking Andre, causing the Legion of Doom to run to the rescue and see off Earthquake and Typhoon.

The Real World's Champion is coming

Backstage, Bobby Heenan knocked on the dressing room door of one Hulk Hogan, Big Gold Belt in hand, and challenged the World Wrestling Federation Champion to a match against 'The Real World's Champion,' Ric Flair. 

Hogan slammed the door in Heenan's face. Hillariously, the Brain yelled 'Who do you think you're embarrassing!?!' 

I'll admit that I was still a year away from my own introduction wrestling in 1991, but from what I hear, seeing Heenan challenge Hogan on behalf of Ric Flair was a serious mark-out moment back then.

Money, money, money

As Heenan composed himself, his colleagues went back on the shill for the 1-900 Attached wedding hotline before we saw a clip of Savage on the phone with a fan, insisting that the honeymoon location was a big secret that he wasn't prepared to reveal.

Next, our old friend Sean Mooney caught up with The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Sensational Sherri ahead of Dibiase's Million Dollar Title defense against Virgil.

Million Dollar Championship match:

Million Dollar Man (and champion) Ted Dibiase (w/ Sensational Sherri) vs. Virgil

In what would prove to be the defining moment in Virgil's otherwise lacklustre career, the future Curly Bill took it to his former boss in a wonderfully engrossing, emotional affair. 

As hot (if not hotter) than anybody in the World Wrestling Federation at the time, Virgil had his head licked by Roddy Piper (the man who, so the story went, had trained him to wrestle), then went right after Dibiase with a flurry of fists.

What followed was not a technical masterpiece, but then, it was never supposed to be. This was good old fashioned storytelling in which one of the best heels in the history of the business finally got his comeuppance at the hands of his long-suffering former charge. 

The New York fans were with this match every step of the way, errupting with outrage when Dibiase took the cheap way out and got himself disqualified thanks to a Sensational Sherri shoe-shot. Their jeers soon turned to cheers however when Howard Finkle took to the microphone to announce that, under orders from referee Earl Hebner, the match would continue with Sensational Sherri sent to the back.

The war continued until, at just over the 13 minute mark, a battered Virgil crawled over a weakened Ted Dibiase and gained the pinfall.

Your winner and NEW Million Dollar Champion

It's sad that this would be the best thing that would ever happen to Virgil. As hot as he was at Summerslam '91, when he inevitably moved on from his storyline with the Million Dollar Man, Virgil was unable to capitalize on his popularity and would never quite be the same without Dibiase. 

He's The Mountie

Out in the parking lot, Mean Gene Okerlund spoke with The Mountie. Flanked by three of New York's finest, the former Rougueau Brother gloated about zapping Big Boss Man with his infamous cattleprod, before vowing to defeat his rival in their upcoming Jailhouse Match. The Mountie then yelled at the three cops and told them to be rough with the Boss Man when they threw him in the slammer.

Offering a retort, Big Boss Man promised that his enemy would serve  hard time.

'Jailhouse match'

The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Big Boss Man

The stipulation here was simple: The loser gets put in jail for the night, because apparently, losing a professional wrestling match can be considered a criminal offence.

Despite The Mountie playing such a large part of the show from this point on, his actual match against the Boss Man wasn't particularly memorable. 

Or good, for that matter.

A passable, entirely forgetable affair which saw the Big Boss Man finally extract a measure of revenge against the Canadian, putting him away at just under ten minutes.

Your winner: The Big Boss Man (The Mountie gets sent to prison)

The post-match hillarity began with the three New York City cops racing to the ring, and slapping the cuffs on the loser. The Mountie sold this like a whiny little child as the Boss Man and his colleagues carted him off to the back and into a paddy wagon heading for the prison.

Interval time

As was custom at the time, the pay per view interval was filled mostly with a string of interviews. 

First, a furious Ted Dibiase and Sensational Sherri screamed at Mean Gene, bemoaning Dibiase's loss to Virgil.

Bret Hart told Sean Mooney that he'd been waiting a long time to become Intercontinental Champion and was proud of his achievement.

Jimmy Hart threatened to get his lawyers on the Big Boss Man, after which Big Boss Man yelled and spluttered at Sean Mooney, calling The Mountie a criminal (so apparently losing a match is a crime).

Finally, Mean Gene barged into Randy Savage's dressing room whilst Savage was still on the phone with his fans. Savage didn't want to talk to to Gene, but when Okerlund threatened to go off in search of Miss. Elizabeth, the Macho Man told the interviewer to stay.

Fans in the United States where then treated to five minutes of the 1-900 ATTACHED advertisement whilst Lord Alfred Hayes shilled for the UK fans.

When the show returned, it was with Monsoon, Piper and Heenan discussing the highlights of the show so far and hyping our big main event. Heenan insisted that Sid Justice, the special referee in the Match Made in Hell, was up to something.

We then caught up with an outraged Mountie, who was dragged out of the paddy wagon yelling 'Hey!  You can't do that to me! Don't you know who I am! You're lowly cops and I'M THE MOUNTIE! I'M THE MOUNTIE!'

Tag team turmoil

Back in the arena, Sean Mooney interviewed WWF Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys about their upcoming title defence against the Legion of Doom. 

The Nasty's manager was then shown a clip of his other charge, The Mountie, having his mugshot taken in jail. As with all the clips of Mountie in jail, it was pretty hysterical.

'You can't take pictures of The Mountie like that! That's an invasion of privacy!' bellowed Hart.

Speaking to Mean Gene Okerlund, Hawk and Animal vowed to beat The Nasty Boys for the tag team titles and turn them into The Pasty Boys (whatever that's supposed to mean).

With that done, we went once again to the New York Jail where The Mountie refused to have his fingerprints taken. 'Give me your finger, give me your finger,' insisted one cop. The Mountie did as he was told and flipped off the police man before yelling 'You can't fingerprint me, I'm The Mountie!'

Sgt. Slaughter, flanked by General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa (Iron Shiek) talked trash against Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. 

Sid Justice denied being in cahoots with Slaughter and friends, before finally it was back to the action. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Street Fight

World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)

If you're coming at this review as a fan from the wild and violent days of the Attitude Era or later, its probably worth noting here that a street fight in 1991 WWF wasn't quite what you might expect.

Indeed, this was far from the wild, crazy, arena-wide brawls popularized in the mid to late nineties (including this awesome match pitting the Nasty Boys against Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne).

'There's no rules, no count out, no disqualification' said Bobby Heenan as The Nasty Boys made a legal tag, proving that this was nothing more than your standard tag team match with the occasional weapon brought into play.

That's not to say it was necessarily bad. It was still a fun, hard-hitting, highly-entertaining match which saw the Road Warriors land the Doomsday Device and pick up the tag team titles in the process.

Your winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: The Legion of Doom

As they raised the belts in the air, Hawk and Animal became triple-crown tag team winners,, having held the tag team titles in the NWA, AWA and now, the WWF. 

Mountie makes a friend

Heading back to jail, The Mountie was thrown in jail and yelled 'You've got the wrong guy!' as though he was actually guilty of something.

Vince McMahon's trademark growl made an appearance, growling about Survivor Series 1991.

Irwin R. Schyster vs. Greg Valentine

An entirely pointless match that wasn't even remotely entertaining. 

The only thing remotely interesting about this match was that it took place during Valentine's oft-forgotten about face run. He lost to I.R.S, nobody cared.

Your winner: I.R.S

Another ad came for Hulk Hogan - A Real American Hero, before the WWF Champion himself was joined by The Ultimate Warrior for a word with Mean Gene Okerlund. This was the usual promo from both men in which they yelled and rambled and promised to put an end to the reign of Sgt. Slaughter.

In our final trip to jail, we bid The Mountie fairwell in the company of an effeminate biker.

Handicap match:

Sgt. Slaughter, Colnel Mustafa and General Adnan vs. World Wrestling Federation Champion Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior, with special guest referee, Sid Justice. 

When Sgt. Slaughter is the only guy on your team capable of doing much in the ring, you know you're in trouble. 

By this point in their careers, Slaughter's partners were limited in the ring, leading Slaughter to carry the bulk of the match for his team. 

For their part, Hogan and Warrior (and even Sid) worked hard to deliver a fun main event, yet despite their best efforts, this one sadly fell flat.

The end came when Warrior grabbed a chair and chased off Adnan and Mustafa (in the process running out of the WWF altogether due to his famous incident with Vince McMahon), allowing Hogan to leg drop Slaughter and pick up the win.

Your winners: Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior

Post-match, Hogan invited Sid back to the ring and the two closed the show with the usual posing and showboating. 

A match made in heaven

And so Summerslam 1991 ended with Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss. Elizabeth finally becoming man and wife.

That's where my copy of this event ends, but I understand that afterwards, this happened:

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All in all then, a fun show. Definitely worth watching the Perfect/Hitman and Dibiase/Virgil matches, not to mention The Mountie's time in prison. OK, so some of the matches left a lot to be desired (see IRS/Valentine and the Disasters/Bushwhackers clash), but they were fairly innoffensive and did little to detract from what a generally enjoyable pay per view Summerslam 1991 really was. For early '90s WWF, this was good stuff indeed.

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