WWE SummerSlam 1991 (1991)

Simply Perfect

People are voting emotionally.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

In keeping with previous WWF events during this time period, SummerSlam 1991 is kind of all over the place in terms of talent and excitement. There are a few good matches, with many clunkers interspersed throughout. At least this time, however, the "gimmick" (Randy Savage & Elizabeth's wedding) was entertaining.The highlights: -Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect with the Intercontinental Title on the line. This is a very well-executed and entertaining match. Two guys who just knew who to wrestle and put on a show. -Legion of Doom vs. Nasty Boys for the Tag Team titles. I'm usually not a huge fan of tag-team matches, but this one was professionally done all the way around. -The "Match Made in Heaven", or the wedding between Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth. They had been married in real life for years, so this was a fun "meta" moment for the WWF at a time where they were desperate for any goodwill.Other than those highlights, however, pretty much everything else falls flat. Teaming up Hogan/Warrior vs. Slaughter and Co. reeks of desperation, while a recurring gig with the Mountie being booked in a local jail after losing to Big Boss Man goes on for far too long.So, while the wedding gimmick (and a few select matches) makes SummerSlam '91 worth watching, the WWF is still a bit of a mess in terms of talent and direction at this point.

Live from NY, NY; MSGAttendance: 20,000Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and Bobby HeenanRicky Steamboat, The Texas Tornado, The British Bulldog Vs Power & Glory and The Warlord (W/Slick)Bulldog gets the biggest pop out of the three faces. The faces win when Steamboat pins Roma after a flying cross body from the top. This is a fun opener and a good way to start the show. There were impressive spots, like The Bulldog hitting a vertical suplex on The Warlord. **3/4Intercontinental ChampionshipMr. Perfect (C) (W/The Coach) Vs Bret HartBobby Heenan had retired from managing at this point. Bret wins the title by making Perfect submit with a Sharpshooter. This is one of the best matches in wrestling history, it rarely gives you a chance to breathe. What's even more amazing is that Perfect's back was legitimately in bad shape with a bad back, as proved when he started favoring it and walking gingerly. If that's the type of amazing quality we get when he's injured, it's downright frightening to think what these two would be capable of if Perfect was fully healthy. Bret kicking out of the Perfect-Plex is a pretty cool moment as well. How on earth do you follow this? I almost feel sorry for the other wrestlers.***** (5 stars out of 5)The Bushwhackers (W/Andre The Giant) Vs The Natural Disasters (W/Jimmy Hart)This match is one way to cool the crowd down after such a classic. The Natural Disasters win when Earthquake hits his sitdown splash. The Natural Disasters try to attack Andre after the match, but The Legion of Doom saves the day. This was a terrible match, as to be expected. Even Andre's presence couldn't liven it up. "Bobby Heenan had a great line, though. "If I was managing The Buswhackers, I'd commit suicide"*Bobby Heenan shows up at Hogan's dressing room with the REAL World Title, challenging Hogan to a match on Flair's behalf. Hogan slams the door in Heenan's face.Million Dollar ChampionshipTed Dibiase (C) (W/Sensational Sherri) Vs VirgilDibiase is initially disqualified after Sherri nails Virgil with her shoe, but the ref changes his mind and orders Sherri to the back, as well as the match to continue. Virgil wins the Million Dollar belt by ramming Dibiase's head into the exposed turnbuckle, which Dibiase used to try to cheat. The match itself is a little overbooked, but the story Dibiase and Virgil told really carries this one. The fans desperately wanted to see Dibiase get his comeuppance and Virgil winning the title provided a memorable moment.**1/2Jailhouse MatchThe Big Bossman Vs The Mountie (W/Jimmy Hart)The loser of this match goes directly to jail for a night. Bossman wins with an Alabama slam. This match was fairly boring for the most part. Despite the stipulation, I wasn't really able to get into it. Maybe I'm a stickler, but I didn't find The Mountie being hauled off to jail all that funny either. *1/4Up Next are a plethora of interviews that involve Bret Hart, The Big Bossman, The Natural Disasters, Ted Dibiase, The Nasty Boys, Jimmy Hart, Sensational Sherri, The Legion of Doom, Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, General Adnan, Sid Justice, and a segment where The Mountie is suffering on his way to jail.Tag Team Championship (No count out, no DQ)The Nasty Boys (C) (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs The Legion of DoomLOD wins the titles with the Doomsday Device. This was nothing more than a brawl for the most part and a fairly average one at that. At least this match played to both of their strengths, which is brawling. LOD winning the titles makes this the 3rd title that's changed hands at this PPV*3/4The Mountie is dragged by cops into a Jail cell.I.R.S Vs Greg "The Hammer" ValentineValentine was a face at this point and near the end of his WWE tenure. I.R.S wins by countering The Figure Four into a small package. This was a pretty uneventful match that the crowd was flat for. Valentine was past his prime and couldn't be depended on to carry a match anymore. *3 on 2 Handicapped MatchHulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior Vs Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan, and Col. MustafaSid Justice is the guest referee for this match. For those who don't know, Mustafa is The Iron Sheik. Hogan wins with a legdrop after throwing powder in Slaughter's face. Afterwards, Hogan poses with Sid Justice. This was a pretty bad main event. It featured no excitement at all and three heels that really couldn't go all that well anymore. The big storyline here was if Sid would be impartial or not. The Ultimate Warrior would be suspended for arguing with Vince about money and wouldn't appear in the WWF again until Wrestlemania 8. Slaughter would also turn face not too long after this.*Macho Man and Elizabeth's wedding ends the show. It ends without any shenanigans. I'm not so sure this should end a PPV, but it was sweet enough. I love Macho and Elizabeth so it didn't bother me.Overall, Summerslam 91 is worthwhile, but it takes a bit of a tumble after the first few matches. The faces dominated the entire PPV with only two heels getting a victory during the show. Not to mention that we also got three title changes as well. The main reason to see this show is the absolute classic between Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect. It's one of the best matches you'll ever see.

"The Real American" Hulk Hogan and his fighting for American rights against Iraqi sympathisers Sgt Slaughter and General Adnan had gotten very old by this point. But, to flog the dead horse the WWE bought back former Champion the Iron Sheik, renamed as Col Mustafa, to team up against the "Real American" Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.Now I haven't picked on any of the other earlier wrestling story lines from 1985- 1990, because they worked. But for a young Australian this storyline was crap. The Iraq war was a non event and well and truly over by August 1991.The night started off with a six man tag match won by Ricky Steamboat (returning to the WWE after a long tour of duty in the NWA) The British Bulldog and Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich, over The Warlord, and Power and Glory Hercules and Paul Roma.Next up came one of the bets matches ever seen in the WWE as Bret Hart defeated Mr Perfect to win the Intercontinental Championship. Perfect was working with an injured back and put in a sensational performance. Hart was on song as always. These two had tremendous chemistry and this was probably the best of their PPV matches.Next up we see Andre the Giant in a backstage interview with the Bushwackers in his final PPV appearance as he would die later that year. The interview didn't help them though as The Natural Disasters Earthquake and Typhoon picked up a comprehensive victory over the Bushwackers, who were starting to get pretty old.Next up we saw some of the build to the main event with Bobby Heenan standing outside Hulk's dressing room. Following this is an interview with Ted DiBiase as he guarantees all of us he is going to wipe the floor with his former slave Virgil and walk out with his million dollar title belt. He was wrong. Virgil got the win and Million Dollar Belt was his.Next came a jailhouse match won by he Big Bossman over The Mountie. The downside of this was we had to watch some "Comedy" scenes of The Mountie being arrested and thrown in jail. Pretty over the top and quite dated.In our next match the Legion of Doom Hawk and Animal defeated The Nasty Boys to win the Tag Team Championships. If memory serves I think this was the first time they had been tag champs in the WWE.We get another shot of The Mountie in jail and then Irwin R Shyster defeating Greg Valentine, who was cast as a good guy in this match for some reason.Next up is our main event as Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior defeated Sgt Slaughter, Col Mustafa and General Adnan with Sid Justice as the guest referee. It had been a running story all night that Justice had supposedly been bought out by the Iraqis, but this was not the case and Justice and Hogan posed together at matches end. This was the Warrior's last PPV match in the WWE for some time and it nearly didn't happen after Warrior had threatened to leave the building if he was not given bonuses he was owed from months before. The match sucked. The angle sucked. THank goodness it was finished.The Main Event of the show though was Randy Savage's "wedding" to Miss Elizabeth. Savage, despite not being allowed to wrestle after losing a retirement match to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VII had stayed on the show as a commentator and come back to the good side. He'd proposed to Elizabeth in the build up and they are given a proper wedding here with no catches. This would eventually lead to Savage breaking his retirement, which wasn't a bad thing.This PPV had some good stuff on it, DiBiase/ Virgil and Hart/ Perfect, but not much else and it really has aged badly.

Summerslam 1991 was built as the match made in heaven, the match made in hell. The match made in heaven being the wedding of Randy "Macho Man" Savage and former manager now girlfriend Elizabeth. The match made in hell featured Hulk Hogan teaming up with former foe the Ultimate Warrior to go against the anti-American trio of Sgt. Slaughter, the Iron Shiek (Known here as Col. Mustafa), and Gen. Adnan. had ended but the WWF was trying to milk the American pride for all it was worth.This event was held in Madison Square Garden. The commentators for this event were Gorilla Monsoon, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and Bobby "the Brain" Heenan. This event really showcase the absolute genius and pure talent that Heenan had as a color commentator. At times he had me cracking up. Heenan will always be my favorite "pro-heel". Jesse Ventura was always trying to make things too personal, Jerry Lawler's "puppy talk" gets old after a while, and Tazz is just a pure waste of time. But Heenan totally stole the night on commentary and at times had me cracking up.Now onto the event itself. It was totally great until the main event happened. Both the IC and Tag Team title matches were classic. The Big Bossman/Mountie "go to jail match" was very entertaining especially the post-match. Looking back there is a bit of sadness to this event as it marked the final WWF appearance for the late great Andre the Giant as he accompanied the Buschwackers to the ring for their match against the Natural Disasters. A great night to be a babyface and a bad night to be a heel as their were only two heel wins on the whole card. But that kept the crowd happy. So here's my view on the card itself: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, the British Bulldog, and the Texas Tornado vs. The Warlord and Power and Glory w/Slick: A great opener that really offered everything. You had the martial arts technical skills of Steamboat, the brawling ability of Kerry Von Erich, and the other four wrestlers were flat out power wrestlers. Lots of fast action, and they really didn't over do anything. And it really got the crowd into it.IC Title Match - Mr. Perfect w/the Coach (Champion) vs. Bret "Hitman" Hart (Challenger): This one was an absolute classic. Two of the all time great technical wrestlers. Given the pain that Perfect's back was in at that time, he really put on an excellent show and this was kind of the passing of the torch, so to speak. This was the beginning of Bret Hart's huge push as a single's wrestler. Perfect would not return to active wrestling until Survior Series of 1992.The Buschwackers w/Andre the Giant vs. The Natural Disasters w/Jimmy Hart- A good solid match, even for a Buschwacker match. The Natural Disasters were being pushed as the top heel tag team at the time so they got the win. As mentioned, this was the final WWF appearance for the legendary Andre the Giant. After the match, the Disasters tried to go after Andre but the Legion of Doom came to his rescue setting up a big feud between those two teams.Virgil vs. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibase w/Sensation Sherri: Piper was way too over dramatic on commentary for my liking. But it got the crowd going though. Few workers were better at carrying wrestlers with less talent than Dibiase. I feel he's the greatest WWF superstar that never held the world title. I wish Dibiase would have just won this thing with a million dollar dream and ended this feud here while Piper cried. But not to be.Big Bossman vs. The Mountie w/Jimmy Hart: Supprisingly this was a really great match. The stipulation here was that the loser of this match would spend the night in jail. Basically this was a squash match for the Bossman. The post-match was just as entertaining as the Mountie gets taken away in the patiwagon. Throughout the rest of the night, they would show segments of the Mountie in jail.Tag Team title match - The Nasty Boyz w/Jimmy Hart (Champions) vs. The Legion of Doom (challengers): A no DQ match here. A decent tag match. Not top notch, but definitely entertaining. Road Warrior fans will enjoy this one.Greg Valentine vs. Irwin R. Schyster: Greg Valentine was nearing the end of his WWF career and had not been involved in any meaningful story lines for well over a year and by now he had been demoted to jobber to the stars. Irwin R. Schyster was a brand new undefeated heel with a great gimmick that fans hated. Any guesses as to how this one turns out? Next please.Hulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and Gen. Adnan. Sid Justice is the special guest referee: It was the match made in hell alright, but not for the reason the WWF gave. Who booked this crappy main event? Let's see at this time the WWF had just signed Ric Flair and Sid Justice. You also had the Undertaker and the newly turned heel Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Yet they book two over the hill crappy wrestlers like the Iron Shiek and General Adnan to team up with Sgt. Slaughter who never had any business being elevated above mid-card status in the first place. The match sucked from beginning and the only real heat it got was when Hogan and the Warrior accidentally ran into Sid Justice and had a stare down. I guess a fatal 4-way title match between Hogan, Warrior, Undertaker, and Sid Justice would have been too much to ask for.The Wedding: The only reason to watch the wedding is for Heenan's funny commentary and to see Jake the Snake and the Undertaker crash the reception. Other than that, you can skip it.