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A Summerslam match a day


HarmonicGenerator

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The Rougeaus were great heels without being particularly threatening or evil, especially Jacques. Total heat machines, and they never even needed to lift a finger to get half of it, as one of the best parts of their schtick was all their opening match stalling, stooging and comedy bullshit. My memory of the Summerslam match was that it was really good, but (probably due to PPV demands & constraints), it lacked those shenanigans in favour of getting right into the action, which was a bit disappointing. In effect, i think the best type of match to showcase what was so fun about the Rougeaus would be on a house show where they could do their thing unrestricted. I'd have loved to see some of those hour long matches with the Rockers for example. 

 

The Rougeaus should be an example for any aspiring heel tag team to study and take influence from, but sadly, I think those skills & traits have become less relevant and almost redundant in modern wrestling. It's all go-go-go action at the expense of pantomine these days.

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The best Rougeau match I've ever seen has them as babyfaces in Montreal against Ron and Jimmy Garvin. This match is dick hardingly awesome, One of my favourite ever matches. Ray Rougeau and ROn Garvin throw some of the sexiest punches in wrestlinmg. Just an awesome super heated brawl. There's some real needle in it. I honestly think Ray Rougeau is a bit of a "lost worker". Look at his babyface fire in this match, and when he's working heel in the WWF his little struts and the rest of the extra things he does are fantastic. Easily better than Jacques and it's a shame Jacques had the quite sizable career and he ended up doing backstage pretaped interviews for Superstars.

 

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I forgot how much I enjoyed that Bulldogs vs Rougeaus match. When I think of great SummerSlam openers and/or great SummerSlam tag matches, Hart Foundation vs Brain Busters from '89 is usually my immediate memory. But Bulldogs vs Rougeaus might be due a rewatch, I think. If only for Matilda.

 

Loving the Matilda updates!

 

I think I found a picture of her backstage watching the Ken Patera vs Bad News Brown match;

 

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Summerslam 08 with Edge and Undertaker is really good. Nothing else above average on that card just re-watched Summerslam 07 and that was guff. Would personally recommended reviewing Punk vs Morriston for the ECW title for that one. And 09 had a few good matches with DX vs Legacy and Mysterio vs Ziggler are both really good but Jeff Hardy and Punk is a top notch showing.

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I think I found a picture of her backstage watching the Ken Patera vs Bad News Brown match;

 

ScKq4.jpg

If that's Patera/Bad News then god help the poor mutt when it got around to Rock/Bravo.

 

Was Ken Patera ever any good? I've only really saw him in that 87-88 WWF run and he was proper shit.

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It's Summerslam '89 time, and I'm going to be watching Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude. I'm looking forward to this.

 

 

The match:

 

It starts off with a Warrior interview with Mean Gene, and I honestly didn't understand a word of what he said.

 

Ravishing Rick is out to the ring first, complete with Intercontinental Title and Bobby Heenan. I think we've got Ventura(?) and Schiavone on commentary. Rick gets on the mic and runs down the crowd a bit and then takes off his robe while his music plays again. His tights are spectacular, they have Warrior's face on them.

 

HERE HE COMES! Wearing the lime green I always remember him wearing, Warrior sprints down to the ring and the crowd goes mental. I may not have got a word of that interview but the energy he creates is absolutely astonishing. The fans are in the palm of his hand, and he's lifted my energy levels just by watching him.

 

The story in the very early going is Rude trying to avoid Warrior by outsmarting him. It's a good plan because as soon as Warrior gets his hands on him, Rude's done for. Rude smacks him a few times to no effect - 'a crazy man feels no pain', says Ventura(?). Soon afterwards, Rude gets press slammed to the floor. Ouch.

 

Confirmed, it's Ventura. Warrior's thrashing Rude outside the ring and hits him with the title belt. The referee is just as stupid as the one from last year (or possibly he's the same guy, Joey Marella) because I, like Ventura, thought that should be a DQ. Schiavone claims it doesn't count if it happens outside the ring! Good loophole, that.

 

Back in the ring, Warrior is firmly in control and is now on the top rope of all places. Axe handle! Rude kicks out. Warrior looks a total monster here, that's partly down to him and equally down to Rude who's making him look incredibly strong. He's getting hit with slams and suplexes all over the place, Rick's hanging in there but I cannot see him winning this.

 

Warrior did the Rick Rude dance! Rude did it better. He then throws Rude up in the air and drops him on the arse, and goes up to the top again… and Rude cuts him off! 'Coming up with the move when he most needed it', points out Ventura. Rude now has the advantage, surprisingly, and goes after the lower back of Warrior. As with the start of the match, he's countering Warrior's strength and energy by outsmarting him to wear him down.

 

It's not working though, because Warrior powered out of the Rude Awakening… or is it, because Rude's got onto his back and attached a sleeper hold… but no, it's not, because Warrior powered out of that too… but wait! They collided mid-ring, and they both go down, as does the referee! I didn't expect to encounter a ref bump this early in the project!

 

Heenan now gets involved, trying to rally his man, which he does. Good manager, Bobby Heenan. But he doesn't have the spirit of the WARRIOR, because he's getting up! He gets punched! It doesn't work! He punches back! Back drop! Swinging the arm, shaking the rope, clothesline, clothesline, clothesline, powerslam! Warrior's got quite a varied repertoire of moves here. But it's to no avail because Marella is still out of it. Piledriver! Rude took that beautifully, I've never understood how some wrestlers can bounce out of a piledriver head first. Marella's back up… but Rick gets his ravishing foot on the ropes! He is smart.

 

Running powerslam, Warrior going for the splaaaaaaaand no! Rude got his knees up! He could actually win this here. What a great match! 

 

BOOM! Reverse tombstone piledriver type thing! What do you call those, where the person on offence drops to their knees like a tombstone, but the person taking the move takes it like a regular piledriver? No time to think about it, however, because Roddy Piper's just turned up?! Something's about to kick off here… Rude's shouting at him, and there's the dance, but don't forget about Warrior and oh, Piper just mooned Rude, allowing Warrior to hit a GERMAN SUPLEX! SUPLEX CITY, WARRIOR STYLE! That was not smart, Rick Rude. Warrior lifts Rude up, displays him overhead for all the crowd to see, drops him, hits the splash, and he's got himself the Intercontinental Title back! Everybody is happy.

 

Rude and Piper went on to have a cracking cage match, if I remember correctly, didn't they? And of course Warrior vs. Rude turns up again on Summerslam 1990...

 

 

My thoughts:

 

Very good match. I couldn't go so far as to call it Warrior's best, because for me that's the Savage match at WrestleMania VII, but both he and Rude looked great throughout. And while Warrior won, Rude could easily have argued that it was down to Piper and he'd have won otherwise, which is interesting. (In fact, watching the post-match Mean Gene segment, this is exactly what happens. Rude and Heenan both look irate. Bring on the rematch.)

 

I'm two for two for good matches so far!

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As much as everyone is going to have 92 covered with the obvious, can I suggest HBK/Martel as an alternative?

 

Fun little match, Heel/Heel dynamics work pretty well, and the "neither man must hit each other in the face" angle is beautifully played throughout.

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The way I've timetabled this means there'll be some days where I'll be watching two matches. This is one of them.

 

I begin with Summerslam 1990, and I've gone for Randy Savage vs. Dusty Rhodes despite air raid's warnings of it being a bit of a rush job.

 

 

The match:

 

Dusty's out first. He's just a common man. And then cut to an interview with the Macho King. Savage is brilliant. What a look, what a costume, what a voice. I dressed up as him for a fancy dress party (sorry Butch) on Friday, and I think I did a reasonable job, but you could never hope to fully replicate the Macho look.

 

Back in the ring, Dusty looks focused. Savage's music hits, and I have to ask, why did he pick this particular music? I mean, it really fits, and I couldn't imagine anything else for him, but it just seems an odd initial choice. Macho's being carried to the ring on a throne by four blokes who he wouldn't allow to wear shirts. Sherri is heading down first, looking like she's just auditioned for a part in Cats or something.

 

Savage is presumably the heel here, but the crowd still loves him. Ooh, but hang on, Ted DiBiase and Virgil are on the mic from another part of the arena! DiBiase has bought Sapphire! Wait, that sounds wrong, especially in the current climate. Sapphire has sold herself to DiBiase… no, hang on… There's no good way to spin this, but DiBiase is in Dusty's head now, which I expect will end badly for him.

 

(Matilda update: everybody has their price, but I have to believe that no amount of gourmet Pedigree Chum would buy Matilda's loyalty to the Million Dollar Man. Just saying. Nobody prove me wrong.)

 

Yep. Dusty went to go and get DiBiase and Savage jumped him. He hits an axe handle! And here come the chokes, Savage and Sherri taking turns. Dusty is at a major disadvantage, but he makes a comeback! Elbow, right hands! Sounds like McMahon and… Piper on commentary? Dusty keeps hitting the elbows and Macho (who is balding quite badly from the angle they just used) bails out of the ring. Sherri's getting involved, and Dusty's going to punch her in the face? That's uncharacteristic of you, Dream. I'm a little disappointed in him. Sherri escapes, Savage smacks him in the head with an… object of some sort, and gets the pin. And that's it!

 

I see what you mean, raid.

 

My thoughts:

 

Could've been a great match, that. It showed signs of it. But much as I like the two of them, I can't say it was. Shame. Don't suppose they had a full-length rematch at any point?

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Following swiftly on, for Summerslam 1991, I will be watching a match from the first half of the card, featuring two future Hall Of Famers...

 

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

 

… that's right, it's The Natural Disasters vs. The Bushwhackers!

 

(Look, I've seen Bret vs. Perfect enough times, and I couldn't resist that combination of teams...)

 

 

The match:

 

They've just been plugging a special programme featuring 'everything you ever wanted to know about Hulk Hogan'. Everything? After last week, I doubt that...

 

Okerlund interview with the Bushwhackers (who do not stop doing the arm thing throughout) and… Andre the Giant?! Andre's with the Bushwhackers?! Sure, he's on crutches but this can only end brilliantly!

 

Butch is absolutely mental. I was so glad to see that hadn't abated at the Hall of Fame this year. I'm admitting it: I love the Bushwhackers.

 

pissingoffandre.gif

 

Natural Disasters have got Jimmy Hart in their corner - Earthquake attacked Andre recently, which I guess is why he's with their opponents tonight.

 

The Disasters "are living proof Chernobyl happened", according to Piper (who's commentating with Monsoon), but I haven't got time to work out how many levels that comment doesn't work on, because the Bushwhackers are coming out! Such good fun. Andre's sadly not doing the arm thing, but he's cheering them on regardless.

 

Earthquake wants to go after Andre, and the Disasters get distracted enough that the Bushwhackers can get the first shot in. They put one of their hats on Andre's head. He tries to wait until the camera's off him before he removes it, but doesn't quite manage.

 

Butch and Typhoon to start the match proper. Typhoon goes for a big chop, Butch reverses and bites him in the arse. Earthquake accidentally runs into Typhoon and the Whackers whip Typhoon into Quake on the opposite side! They get Quake in a headlock and use him as a battering ram on Typhoon, then hit a double clothesline! I must admit, I didn't expect this. They do the walk thing and the crowd loves it! They're in control!

 

But not for long! One clobber from Earthquake and Butch is down. He goes for a big elbow, but takes forever and Butch moves out of the way as Andre shouts support. Quake hits it the second time, and in comes Typhoon to hit a backbreaker. Typhoon now parades around with Butch on his shoulders, tags in Earthquake, and literally (and I mean that in the correct sense of the word) passes Butch over to him to connect with a bearhug. Typhoon tags in again and Butch is in big trouble here, or would be without Luke breaking up the pin.

 

Earthquake comes in for a double team, but accidentally connects with Typhoon. Again. I get the sense that the Disasters, despite their size and corresponding names, weren't the most in-sync of teams. Butch uses Luke as a battering ram and knocks Earthquake out of the ring, where Andre waves his crutch at him. That's teamwork, and it could win them this thing!

 

Or so I thought! Because Earthquake got the advantage back pretty sharpish, and squished Butch to get the win. Booooo.

 

Now they're going after Andre. He's brandishing his crutch like a sword - I assume Inigo Montoya taught him that - and now the Legion of Doom have showed up! They're coming for the Disasters! Jimmy Hart's going mental, and they run for it. Andre gets a smack in with his crutch as they flee, and the Whackers, LOD and Andre head out together. I smell a Survivor Series team...

 

My thoughts:

 

Fun little tag match, and a nice easy watch. Big fat bastards vs. New Zealand mentalists, with added Giant factor: simple to understand, get stuck in and have a few minutes' entertainment. It wasn't the squash I was half-expecting, either, which was a nice surprise. I need to find my Bushwhackers Hasbros...

 

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Sherri's getting involved, and Dusty's going to punch her in the face? That's uncharacteristic of you, Dream. I'm a little disappointed in him.

 

Have you seen WrestleMania VI? The Body was right, Rhodes was a nasty piece  of work. He started it. Him and Sapphire started it. NAIL HER, MACH!

 

Savage smacks him in the head with an… object of some sort, and gets the pin. And that's it!

 

I see what you mean, raid.

 

It reminds me a little of the truncated matches you used to get on badly-planned Manias where time had got away from them somewhat and you end up with Rey and Punk getting six minutes. In fact there were several fairly short matches on the show, the only guys that seemed to get decent time were Hogan, Warrior and the Harts. Savage was a strange choice to get short-changed especially as he was heading into a program with Warrior.

 

Andre gets a smack in with his crutch as they flee, and the Whackers, LOD and Andre head out together. I smell a Survivor Series team...

 

Thankfully LOD did not have to lower their standards to tagging with job-fodder like Luke and Butch. Bushwhackers tagging up with the Rockers at Survivors 91... sorry, but even as a child, that foursome just screams "the bad guys are winning this then."

 

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