Summer Slam 1990

VI and the build to this are here.

Summerslam –1990 (Philly)(Dark – Jim Neidhart d. Greg Valentine)

Okay, Jesse left a couple of weeks before, not working the previous TV tapings. Gorilla has worked recent tapings, so one assumes he's healthy enough to go - and if so, he goes - his partner is Piper, who gets the full introduction, Scotland the Brave taking him to the announce. Piper is full heel, as he's been managing Jake.

1. Demolition Smash and Crush d. White Flight: Hercules/Warlord
-Yeah, screw you, you’ll take your Smash and Crush and like it. Herc and Warlord, two members of the gay fascist bodybuilder stable White Flight, lose to the new Demolition - following the match - Smash and Crush are attacked by Ax, who was punked out at VI.

Ax isn't alone - also in the Demolition gear is Dino Bravo.

And so, over the fall, we're going to feud over the Demolition name. Smash/Crush v. Ax/Bravo - building up to the winner take all match at Survivor Series.

2. Ultimate Warrior (w/White Flight) d. Bad News Brown (w/Haku)
I don’t much like these cards either. Warrior cuts some type of "pull yourself up by your boostraps and stop living off the government dole, you welfare queen" promo on Bad News
pre match - he uses the numbers advantage to go over. Everyone's gotta bleed.

3. Dusty Rhodes d. Hulk Hogan
-Heel Dusty gets a win when his son, young Dustin, debuts in the WWF and hits what, years later, will be called the Curtain Call on Hogan. Everybody bleeds here too.

4. Kerry Von Erich d. Shane Douglas
-This is a crappy show. The KVE push continues. Young Shane grows increasingly bitter.

5. Shawn Michaels d. Tito Santana
There’s a reason why Shawn’s real first feud was Tito, and then Martel, even though they were both heels – these guys were good at working through a match, letting the other guy get in his stuff, keeping it on time, keeping it working. Shawn’s on the singles run now. No Sherri, however. Please, no Sherri. Shawn's got the new music - he needs someone to come out and carry a mirror...he's gonna get Hunter's early gimmick of bringing different women to the ring...Shawn's gonna bring a different woman each time he enters, she brings the mirror so he can preen. Shawn with the flying forearm.

6. Tags: Orient Express d. Marty/Rude
Switch. Roll that one around in your brain, Chico. Orient Express – WWF Tag champs. And it’s Rude who gets pinned. This is a fairly surprising result (clean pin too). Rude refuses Marty’s aid in getting up, instead he walks out of the ring – and never comes back. Tanaka and Diamond, career jobbers, really, seem shocked with the switch, almost breaking the Japanese stoic heel personas to celebrate the title – then come the roar of motorcycles down the aisle…

It’s the Road Warriors. Recall, they held the NWA tag titles for over 2 years before dropping to the Steiners earlier this year – they’re monster faces – they hit the ring, Doomsday Device on both guys – burying the new champs and getting the huge face pop.

7. IC: Bret Hart d. Jake Roberts
Piper stays on the announce, rooting for Jake. Bret’s second run continues as he wrings the very last drop of good wrestling from the body of Jake Roberts. Which is what he did of course, he was Bret Hart, that’s his job. Following the match, Bret is superkicked by Shawn – Shawn and Jake attack Bret, save by Marty Jannetty.

8. WWF Title: Cage Match: Curt Hennig (w/Brain) d. Randy Savage
Using convoluted wrestling logic, because the WWF could no longer control Savage – they decided the only way to protect everyone from him – was to lock him in a cage. Recall the prematch stip that undercard fat guy tags, The Natural Disasters, are guarding the door so no one can get in or out until the fall.

This allows Perfect to do what he did – bump like a freak – Savage goes hardcore – pulling a fork from his tights, and Hennig bleeds like we haven’t seen anyone bleed before in the WWF. Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork to Hennig - Randy just carves him up. It's a match so graphic, it'll never be seen on WWF TV again.

The fans freak out – Savage doesn’t seem interested in pinfalls, he's wild, completely out of control – Bobby desperately tries to open the door but the Natural Disasters have their orders and won't let anyone through– as Savage continues to destroy Hennig with the fork. Blood everywhere, Hennig being tossed around – Savage really dominating much of the match – Hennig shows his guts by hanging in there even though he’s doing the crimson mask – match turns when Savage misses the elbowdrop from the top of the cage...

and the Natural Disasters enter. The Quake and Tugboat doublesplash Savage, then scrape Hennig off the mat and drop him atop Savage for the fall. This makes Curt 3 for 3 against Savage in PPV main events.

Bobby props the bloody Perfect up, trying to stop the blood flow with the trademark white towel, which quickly turns crimson.

DiBiase comes down the aisle with briefcase - handing it to the Disasters as they exit - shaking hands with both of them - DiBiase saying, "That's another one, Brain. Everybody's got a price, for the Million Dollar Man."

The show ends with Savage rising, attacking the bloody Hennig who is being propped up by Bobby. Savage attacks Bobby with the fork – attacks WWF officials with the fork – he has to be restrained by most of the locker room, faces and heels, holding him back, he is the portrait of a man who has totally lost his mind.

On the road to Survivor Series, they continue to push KVE – who now is positioned as the number one contender.

SSeries is the one year anniversary of Hennig winning the strap – and in the PPV era – Savage, Dynamite, Steamboat – none of them held the belt longer than a year. So that’s the story, can Hennig break the one year mark. Randy’s gone – apparently locked up somewhere as Bobby threatens to sue the company for an unhealthy work environment claim if Savage is ever allowed in any building where they are doing a show again. DiBiase, returning after that Number One contender loss to Savage before Mania, helps Bobby again by hiring private security forces to guard each arena. Hennig has a phalanx of Secret Service like officers with him at all times - I mean like a dozen, two dozen guys in black suits, sunglasses, ear pieces, all swarming him whenever he's not in the ring. But we never see Savage. There's a spot, say where they work a fan leaping the railing like fans do - and the security guards just envelope him. Fan does the stretcher job. Hennig is all business in this stretch, no smirking, he gets in the ring, finishes off his opponent, and leaves - Bobby does the full freak out promos,

..hey, here's what else they can do - the Secret Service can frisk everyone before they get in the ring with Hennig - Gene, Howard, opponents -- everyone. Maybe Gene gets thrown out of the building once because security says he's a risk.

...anyway, Bobby's still freaking out about Savage, and while this is played over the top obviously, everyone is kinda creeped out by how unhinged Savage is. And no one has seen him since Summer Slam.

At every opportunity, Ted, who is footing the bill for security reminds Bobby that he owes him one. Hennig questions what it is Ted wants - Bobby nervously changes the subject.

They continue Hogan/Dusty, now with Dustin as the instigator - Dustin tells his pop that he's been disrespected too long - we learn that Dustin convinced dad to turn on Hogan - when Dusty thinks they've crossed the line - Dustin is there to set him straight. They're gonna do some garbage match to blow this off at Survivor Series - let's say some type of coal miner's glove match - okay, during this portion of the feud, Dustin takes a baseball bat to Hogan, that's the thing Dusty thinks crossed the line -- so, they're gonna put a baseball bat on a pole, whomever gets it can use it.

Marty’s singles career starts in a feud with Martel – who is going strong again after losing to Tito at VI. The Warriors squash every tag team in the company, ‘cept for the two Demolitions, as they await their title shot at SSeries.

Michaels takes another run at Bret - dresses like him for one match, does the whole sunglasses spot, does the hands extended spot, mangles the best there is, etc...catchphrase. Michaels works the match like Bret - the legsweep and the elbowdrop and the sharpshooter, then takes the mic and says, "Worst match of my life."

Michaels then meets the Anvil in a singles, beats him and then smashes the mirror over his head. So, we've got that.

And those mysterious power outages continue….Death Comes to the WWF, Thanksgiving Night - Survivor Series.

It's Survivor Series '90! Call your thing!