Cert: E

Length: (VHS) 180 mins

Since it interception in 1988, Summerslam has provided wrestling fans with some of the best matches and moments in WWE history. Who can forget Summerslam ‘91 when Bret Hart defeated Mr. Perfect for the WWE Intercontinental championship, or at Summerslam ‘95 when Shawn Michaels took on Razor Ramon in a thrilling ladder match. Even in recent years we have seen some quality matches, for example Shawn Michael’s triumphant return match at Summerslam 2002 against Triple H. But, out of all the Summerslam events, there is one that sticks out in my mind as my personal favorite, Summerslam 1992, Why? Well read on to find out.

Over 80’000 people jammed packed the Wembley Stadium to witness Summerslam 1992 as the WWE hit the UK by storm. The night would be headlined by an Intercontinental match involving reigning and defending champion, Bret “Hitman” Hart, as he would defend his Intercontinental Championship belt against his brother in law, and home town hero, The British Bulldog in a match that is regarded as one of the best Intercontinental matches ever.

The WWF Championship would also be up for grabs, as “Macho Man” Randy Savage defended his title against The Ultimate Warrior. But it wouldn’t be as simple as that, as “Nature Boy” Ric Flair was in London, with his “Executive Consultant “ Mr . Perfect who promised that he would be in the corner of either Warrior or Savage to help them win the match, but who’s corner would he be in ? Would Perfect and Flair be a factor in the match?

Also taking part in matches would be some of the biggest WWE superstars of the day, including Shawn Michaels , The Legion of Doom, and The Undertaker.

Here is the full card;

Non Televised matches;

• Papa Shango vs. Tito Santana
• Tatanka vs. The Berzerker
• The Bushwhackers and Jim Duggan vs. The Nasty Boys and The Mountie

Pay Per View Card

• The Legion of Doom vs. Money Inc.
• Nailz vs. Virgil
• Shawn Michaels vs. Rick Martel
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match
  The Natural Disasters vs. The Beverly Brothers
• Crush vs. Repo Man
• WWE Championship Match
  Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage
• The Undertaker vs. Kamala
• Intercontinental Championship Match
  The British Bulldog vs. Bret Hart

No! you don’t have to double check, you haven’t seen his name, because he is not on the card. That’s right, Summerslam ‘92 was one of the WWE’s first major PPV events which Hulk Hogan didn’t appear, if you remember correctly, Hogan was away doing one of his blockbuster movies, or it might have been one his ground breaking TV shows, I can’t exactly remember. So, not only was this PPV memorable for being one of the first WWE PPV events to be held outside of North America, but it was also a test of the WWE to see if they needed Hogan on PPV.

Highs & Lows

The first match of the PPV sees Money Inc. take on the Legion of Doom, and as you can expect, the crowd were well into LOD as they made there way to the ring on motorbikes accompanied by Paul Ellering. Pretty typical offerings from LOD, quite slow and hard hitting match, with little technique. Throughout a lot of the match, Money Inc. targeted Road Warrior Hawk and beat him down, while Animal waits for the tag. Hawk manages to tag in Animal and Animal beats Money Inc. down, LOD go for the Doomsday device, but IRS manages to break the move and saves the team from defeat, at least momentarily. Match continues and Animal picks Dibiase up for a power slam, hit’s the move and scores the pinfall to give LOD the victory. As far as the quality of this match, it was pretty poor, it was your typical LOD match, quite slow and not very technical. But to be honest, when you have a team like LOD, that’s what you expect, the crowd loved it, and I enjoyed it. Money Inc. performed solidly as usual, and overall the match was entertaining.

Next match - Nailz vs. Virgil, need I say more? Well, I will. This was a horrible match that had absolutely no redeeming features. The match consisted of Nailz choking Virgil for about 99.9% of the match, with Nailz winning the match with a choke hold. It was horrible from start to finish and I can’t see why anyone would want to put this on a PPV card.

Shawn Michaels vs. Rick “The Model” Martel is next and this match has a unique and very special stipulation. Basically, Sensational Sherri was in “love” with both Michaels and Martel, so she had it written into the contract of the mach, that neither man could hit one another in the face, in order to protect their “good looks”. Well, its not rocket science to know that this match was a hundred million times better than the previous match on this card. Match starts off nice with both men trying to gain the advantage, with Martel being more successful. Martel beats down on Shawn as he “moves in” on Sherri. Match sees a number of near falls with both Martel and Michaels nearing a victory with attempted pin falls, with Shawn’s nearest brush with victory coming after a Sweet Chin Music for the two count. As the match goes on the inevitable happens, both men ignore the “No hitting the face” rule and start to beat each other. In sheer shock and horror, Sherri “faints”, this leads to yet another fight between Martel and Michaels on who will revive her. The pair’s fight takes them through the curtain, Sherri ends up revived and Shawn carries Sherri back to the locker room but before he can, Martel knocks her down and ends up pouring a bucket of water over Sherri. This match certainly could have been better, both men are great athletes and could have had good matches any day of the week, however this wasn’t one of the occasions, simply because the pair didn’t need to go out and have a 5 Star match, the crowd lapped up what was on offer anyway. The match was really entertaining and the “No hitting in the face” rule really worked well, very entertaining match indeed.

Next up is the WWE Tag Team Championship match, with The Natural disasters defending their belts against The Beverley Brothers. Not the most exciting match of the night, with the Beverley’s controlling quite a proportion of the match by an unethical manner, shall we say. Anyway, after Typhoon makes the tag to Earthquake, Earthquake hit’s his finisher and the match is over with the Tam Team Champions retaining the titles. This match was ok for what is was, not something I’d particularly go out of my way to watch, but its wasn’t too bad, seen worse match, Virgil vs. Nailz being case example.

Crush vs. Repo man is next up, this is tropical flavored Crush by the way, not the evil Crush variety. Anyway, the match starts off with Crush leading the way, but after a failed knee drop from Crush, Repo takes control of the match. Repo goes to the top rope but gets caught with a Powerslam and then he gets locked in to the Head Crushing finisher of Crush, as Crush picks up the victory. Filler match I think, time to fast forward the video or take a break to go and get so more munchies as the real action is about to start in the way of Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage.

Just a year and a bit earlier at Wrestlemania VII, Savage and Warrior had a superb match, which supplied me with one of my favorite Wrestlemania moments when Miss. Elizabeth and Savage got back together after Savage being a “heel” for the last three years came to an end when he lost a “retirement” match to Warrior. Would this match be as good as their bout from Wrestlemania? I certainly hoped so. And also, who’s corner would Mr. Perfect be in, would it be Savage or Warrior, I was waiting anxiously to find out.

Match starts off with Warrior and Savage staring each other down, followed by a less than enthusiastic handshake. Savage starts work on Warrior and gains the early advantage, but Warrior manages to take partial control after he hit’s an atomic drop and goes for the cover after two clotheslines. Match continues with Warrior getting beaten down from Savage, Warrior is clotheslined to the floor by Savage who is starting to look like the “heel” in the match. Savage goes for a Double Axe handle from the top, no affect on Warrior, another one, and still no affect, Savage goes up the third time, but Warrior catches him and hit’s a back breaker. The match continues with the momentum following back and forth between Savage and Warrior. Mr. Perfect accompanied by Ric Flair makes his way to the ring and we will finally get to see who’s corner he is in, don’t we?

The match continues in the ring and both men are out, Savage regains himself and comes from the ropes, but Perfect trips Savage up. Savage exchanges words with Flair and Perfect only to be attacked by Warrior. Warrior hit’s the Gorilla Press Slam on Savage but only gets a two count. The referee now gets knocked out and Savage nails a Piledriver on Warrior. Savage tries to revive the ref and Warrior is revived by Perfect, but is then attacked by Perfect and Flair in the process. Savage goes up top for the flying elbow hits it, but Warrior kicks out at the two count. Warrior goes for his finish, runs from the ropes for the Big Splash, but Flair nails him with a steel chair. Savage takes the advantage, comes back to the top, goes for another flying elbow, but he realises that Flair and Perfect hit Warrior , and he chases them, only to be met with a chair shot from Flair. Perfect and Flair go on to beat down on Savage until Warrior makes the save. Warrior helps Savage to the back and the match is over as Savage is counted out. I really enjoyed this match from start to finish. People are always quick to condemn Warrior as a talentless worker who’s matches always sucked, and I’ll be the first to admit that on occasions I have jumped on that bandwagon. But if truth be known, Warrior often had some good matches, whether or not it was because his opponent carried him is arguable, but one thing is sure, I really enjoyed this match. Randy Savage is one of my all time favourite workers and while this match may not have been as good as the match from Wrestlemania VII, it wasn’t far off. The whole “Who’s corner was Mr. Perfect in? “ angle really worked well, and at times, I did think Perfect was in Savage’s corner. So all in all, this was great, I really enjoyed it, and hey, Who needs Hulk Hogan?

Next match is The Undertaker vs. Kamala, who is introduced to the ring by Harvey Wimpleman and is lead to the ring by the one and only Kim Chee. The Undertaker makes his way down to the ring in a quite impressive style as he is riding on the back of a hearse as Paul Bearer leads it to ringside. The match was as unimpressive to be honest with you, basically Undertaker took the early advantage with his usual offensive moves, went to give Kamala a lesson in “Old School” but Kamala pulled Taker from the ropes. Kamala briefly goes on the offensive, until Taker hit’s a chokeslam , followed by a flying clothesline and a Tombstone, however before Taker can get the victory, Kim Chee runs in and the match is declared a DQ with Taker picking up the win. Kamala then attacks Taker with 3 big splashes from the top rope, however these have little or no effect on Undertaker as he rises to his feet and stalks Kamala back to the locker room area. All in all, this match was what I expected, it was short, with Taker having nearly all the offensive momentum in the match, but overall it was fun to watch.

Before the main event, we are shown an interview with The Bulldog followed by another interview from Bulldog’s opponent, Bret Hart.

Surprise appearance from Roddy Piper is next, as he comes out with a bagpipe band and he pays the bagpipes for the fans.

The main event is now upon us, and Bulldog is accompanied to the ring by fellow country man, Lenox Lewis, and the 80,000 plus fans in attendance obviously approved. The match starts of with the pair shoving one another and this sets off the match. Throughout that match both men exchange wrestling holds and the match follows the “technical” route. With the fans firmly behind Bulldog, Bret become the “heel” in the match, and resorts to getting some cheap heat from the fans. Anyway, the match continues with its fast and technical pace throughout, and the ending comes when Bret puts Bulldog in the Sharpshooter, however Bulldog manages to make it to the ropes. Bulldog whips Bret into the ropes and Bulldog puts his head down, as Bret Sunset flips over Bulldog, however, Bulldog manages to hook Bret’s legs into a pinning position and score the 3 count for the victory and the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Diana Smith, Bret and Bulldog put their differences aside and celebrate in the ring as the crowd lap it up.

This is probably one of the greatest WWE Intercontinental matches of all time in my opinion, and certainly Bulldog’s best match in the WWE, and its also one of Bret’s best matches too. From start to finish its what a wrestling match should be, its fast paced, full of great actual wrestling, and more importantly full of emotion, with the crowd firmly behind their hero, The British Bulldog. This match is one for the ages and in fact could be the greatest Summerslam match ever, certainly well worth waiting for.

Overall

Ok, I really like this PPV, which is very surprising because the majority of the matches on the show are mediocre at best. The WWE Championship match was very good, and I take my hat off to both Savage and Warrior for pulling off a good match which was very enjoyable, and with the added twist of Flair and Perfect it made great viewing. As for the main event, it was excellent, certainly the match of the night, and the video is worth buying of this match alone. The other matches such as Nailz vs. Virgil are horrific, but the positives certainly out weight the negatives.

Also, on the version I had, which I believe is the standard UK release, it had the non televised bouts on, which included a Six Man Tag with The Nasty Boys and The Mountie vs. Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers, which was quite interesting. Also, The Berzerker vs. Tatanka which wasn’t too bad, and Papa Shango vs. Tito Santana which again was ok.

All in all, its certainly well worth getting, if you can pick up a copy on Video you’ll be quite lucky, otherwise I’d expect, Silvervision to re-release this as part of their "Tagged Collection" in the near future.

Points: 8/10

Dan