Summerslam (1990 TV Special) User Reviews

Classic Fun!

[mathewshires · 8/10 · 13 May 2001]

This one has always been a sentimental favorite of mine. I won a VHS copy of it in a newspaper competition about 8 years ago, and I still watch it today, it's great fun.

It's like a peek into another world-Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior are on top of the WWF, and probably two of their more interesting , if not brilliant, outings are here. Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper are hamming it up on commentary, and virtually everything that was great about wrestling between 1988-92 is here-a great Hart Foundation bout, prime Curt Hennig stuff, The Rockers, the underrated Brother Love sketches and plenty more. Not totally great, but really fun stuff all round.

The Golden era continues

[paudieconnolly · 7/10 · 27 December 2020]

Heats up fast this summer power and glory bring Shawn Michaels to his knees which leaves one rocker chasing glory in fun fast action filled starter. Intercontinental title next a perfect rivalry of styles two of the greatest ever Texas tornado mr perfect with the brain at ring side. No one sells for the opponent like perfect and here's a good example of how. Then the temperature drops with a no show match followed by a slow match. "Two hearts beating as one" said Bret Hart of the Hart foundation to face two of the three members of demolition two of the greatest tag teams of all time. Damon the snake up next always a fan favorite. Macho dusty million dollar man compete for sapphire affection. Then an earthquake as damaged hulk hogan can he come back or is this natural disaster to big world champion ultimate warrior in a cage with rick rude the main event . Great names brilliant characters great storyline following on from wrestle mania 6 . I was 11 years old first time round and at that age watching these superstars was amazing 30 years on still for me still one of wrestling golden eras.That it for SS90 In the words of roddy piper wham bam summer slam

Both great and awful

[wwfhistoryguy · 7/10 · 7 April 2004]

*SPOILERS*



In some ways, this one was terrible. Santana vs. Warlord, Bad News Brown vs. Jake, and Savage vs. Rhodes were just painful to watch. Savage and Rhodes actually had a great match months later on Saturday Night's Main Event (Dustin Rhodes' first tv appearance). The late Sapphire vs. Scary Sherri, potentially the worst match in SummerSlam history, didn't even happen.

Marty Jannetty vs. Hercules and Paul Roma wasn't actually that bad. Marty actually came very close to winning. I'm sure they wanted to include Michaels in the match, but they had to stage the knee injury that occurred days before the event. Notice how Marty and Shawn walk to the ring rather than run.

Mr. Perfect really started jobbing after WM VI. This was Kerry Von Erich's single WWF highlight. He was a fantastic person (I met him once in Honolulu), but he used even fewer wrestling moves than the Ultimate Warrior. After this, he would lose several times to Perfect, and besides winning a non-televised feud with DiBiase, his WWF career went nowhere.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan sure made quite a career out of SummerSlam tag team matches. Before this, the Orient Express had a great string of countout wins over the Rockers, and, yes, even Demolition. This was the beginning of their downfall.

The Hart Foundation-"Demolition" match was superior to their match from '88, and almost as good as Bret and Jim's match against the Brain Busters the year before. I don't know about any of you, but Ax and Smash look nothing alike. We really had to suspend our disbelief here. The Hart Foundation cemented their place here as the best tag team ever. We had lots of talented teams, but LOD, the Bulldogs, and the Steiners had disappointing careers. The Harts always did great, winning almost all their feuds: the Bulldogs, Killer Bees, Strike Force, Rougeaus, Rhythm & Blues (twice), Hercules and Paul Roma, and the Powers of Pain. Plus quick wins over the Orient Express and Bolsheviks. Strangely, the only team they never beat was the Rockers.

Both of the main event matches were surprisingly good. I like how the referee allowed all the cheating in the Hogan-Earthquake match. And Rick Rude was fine in his last big WWF match. Strangely, he lost all his feuds: Jake the Snake, the Ultimate Warrior, and Roddy Piper.

So watch the show, but know where to fast-forward. Especially the Jake-Bad News match. But the Harts-Demolition match and the main events are great.

Waste of a perfect character

[dave78 · 7/10 · 22 March 2006]

First ever event i watched thought it was real looking back its still a fantastic event the first match was excellent a real underdog fight with a realistic ending Perfect losing was a waste of one of the best characters ever he should of kept the title for a long time Warlord could have fought barbarian in a tag match with heenan and slick. The harts match could be the greatest tag match I've ever seen. i cannot understand why l.o.d where not used and even though hogan earthquake was good everyone wanted a hogan warrior rematch. Why bother wasting peoples time with bad news vs jake it was terrible and what has poor tito done to vince to be jobbed every two minutes

A fun night

[bh_tafe3 · 7/10 · 16 February 2009]

There had been a big shift in the professional wrestling landscape since The Ultimate Warriors upset win over Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI. Warrior had surrendered the Intercontinental Title, allowing Mr Perfect to win a tournament and become IC Champion. In the meantime the Warrior had been challenged by Rick Rude, the man who ended his winning streak at Wrestlemania V, to a match for the WWE Title.

Hulk Hogan had been destroyed by Earthquake not long after his loss at Wrestlemania VI, but the prayers and letters from his Hulkamaniacs had given him the strength to come back and he would make a play for revenge tonight on Earthquake and Heenan.

But first let's start the night with Paul Roma and Hercules aka Power and Glory defeating the Rockers Shawn Micheals and Marty Janetty. Well they beat Janetty anyway, Micheals was hit by HErcules and blew out his knee before the match. Fictional as far as I know. Marty puts up a fight for about 6 minutes, but falls to the mighty Hercules.

Mean Gene gets some words with IC Champion Mr Perfect and Bobby Heenan, and then with his opponent Kerry Von Erich, the Texas Tornado. Von Erich defeated Perfect, winning a short match. The crowd went wild and this was a great moment. Tragically, Von Erich failed a drug test, was fired, and took his own life about a year later. A talented performer, his death was a huge loss for professional wrestling.

Sapphire didn't turn up for her match with Queen Sherri. Sherri had the ref declare her winner by forfeit and forced him to raise her hand. It turned out that Sapphire, Dusty Rhodes' favourite woman had been bought out by the Million Dollar Man, turning on Rhodes.

Next up Warlord defeated Tito Santana in a short match, Mean Gene then interviewed WWE tag Team Champions Demolition and the Hart Foundation about their upcoming two out of three falls championship match. Tonight Demolition was made up of Smash and Cruch, who have the same weird face paint which they use to cheat at various times in the match. They split the first two falls. The end comes with the Legion of Doom drawing Smash out of the ring, giving the Hart Foundation the chance to double team Crush and get the pin. Your winners and new WWE Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation.

Next up we get a series of interviews before Jake the Snake Roberts defeats Bad News Brown by DQ In Brown's final match in the WWE. Brown jabs Snake in the ribs with a steel chair to get the match thrown out.

Next up we have Sgt Slaughter telling us all that Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the rest of America has gone soft by being welcoming to Russians. He brings this up to set up his defection to Iraq and also because Hacksaw is siding with Russian Nikolai Volkoff in the next match.

Well, Duggan and Volkoff have little trouble dispatching the Orient Express in a very short match. Tanaka eats the pin.

This is followed by a other short match with Randy Savage ending his feud with Dusty Rhodes with a victory. Rhodes had just found doubt before the match that Sapphire had turned on him and allied herself with DiBiase. He was easily distracted by Queen Sherri who slipped a loaded purse to Savage for the Macho King to knock him out get the pin.

This leads us to the big match of the night, Hulk Hogans taking on the man who had sideline him earlier in the year Earthquake. Earthquake hits some devastating moves on Hogan, including two splashes, BUt HOgan hulks up and brawls with Earthquake outside the ring, slipping back into beat a 10 count and claiming a count out victory. Hulkamania was back, but the magic would be largely absent this time unfortunately.

Next comes the interviews with Rick Rude and Ultimate Warrior and finally our Main Event as Warrior puts the WWE Championship on the line inside a steel cage. This match is a little more one sided than some of their earlier matches. Rude come off the top of the cage a few times, but Warrior calls down the powers, hits guerrilla press slam and climbs out of the cage. Not a long, or as memorable, as some of their earlier matches.

Well, Hulkamania was back, though diluted, and Warrior continued along his merry way as champion. Just where was all this going? Well, we'd have to wait till Survivor Series to find out.

A slightly missed opportunity.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 6/10 · 25 December 2017]

Summerslam 1990 had some marvellous names on the card, plus some good story angles. The P.P.V had the potential to be a highly memorable one. Sadly, this wasn't the case in my opinion. The matches of The Rockers vs Power and Glory was too one-sided and also too predictable. Shawn Michaels had a legitimate leg injury so I can understand why he couldn't participate in the tag team match. Even so, it was disappointing. The Sapphire/ Queen Sherri match didn't even bloody happen so it was a waste of time in planning it! They had a bit of heat with their angle and I'll bet the fans were looking forward to it. The match of Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Volkoff against The Orient Express was terrible from beginning to end. Tito Santana had become a midcarder at this stage of his career when he took on The Warlord but it was a decent match anyway. Jake Roberts vs Bad News Brown was ok and Big Boss Man as the guest referee was a good idea. Macho King and Dusty Rhodes were still in the middle of their feud when they had their dreadful match at Summerslam. Rhodes was losing momentum by now and he didn't stay for much longer with the WWE. Mr. Perfect defended his I.C title against newcomer Texas Tornado after Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake had to withdraw. The resulting match was ok but too short. Demolition vs The Hart Foundation in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the tag team titles is undoubtedly the best one on the card. There were numerous twists and turns and I enjoyed it. The new member being Crush, meant that Ax was being fazed out due to an injury. Legion of Doom certainly added some spice to this title match and should have been included on the Summerslam card. The Hart Foundation proved they are one of the leading teams in wrestling history and deserved another title reign. Now for the double main event: Hulk Hogan had been absent from the company for a short time but he still had a good angle with the superheavyweight that was Earthquake. In Hogan's corner was Big Boss Man and with Earthquake was Canadian strong man, Dino Bravo. I rate the match as being very good. It was bound to be a bit more leisurely paced but it worked up about good head of steam. The Ultimate Warrior defended his heavyweight title against Ravishing Rick Rude inside a steel cage. It was the first time this kind of match had been held at a Summerslam event and it is great. The Warrior and Rude had re-ignited their angle from the previous year. According to various sources, Rude left the company in disgust after discovering how much The Warrior was paid for the cage match. That was quite a loss as Ravishing Rick Rude is a fine worker. Vince McMahon and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper provided some very good commentary. Some very good matches but also some very poor ones.

The tremors of the late, great Earthquake..

[jexlin01 · 10/10 · 4 October 2006]

Roddy Piper joined Vince McMahon to comment this standout SummerSlam event of the good old days of WWF action. Power $ Glory took it to the original Rockers in a sneak attack before the bell. Watch for the final, wild moments of the Hulk Hogan-Earthquake revenge bout. Big Bossman was in Hulster's corner. He rushes the ring with a chair as Hogan is held up in a vicious choke hold-the, one, two shots to the 5-foot wide back of Earthquake (John Tenta)! Piper screams in disbelief to Mr. McMahon: "Did you see the welts on his back from that chair!" A steel cage main event title match follows with the late Rick Rude challenging his toughest opponent then WWF champion The Ultimate Warrior.

Awkward Period Leads To Awkward Event

[zkonedog · 5/10 · 26 February 2017]

Following the epic Hogan/Warrior showdown of Wrestlemania VI, the WWF entered a bit of an awkward period. They couldn't push Hogan as hard as they had in the past, and the Warrior didn't prove to have much staying power. As such, this SummerSlam event ended up being a hodgepodge of awkward (though perhaps not terrible) matches.

For example...

-Texas Tornado being the one to snap Mr. Perfect's streak. Texas Tornado?! -Hogan vs. Earthquake in the penultimate match. It's one thing for five minutes of Hogan strutting when he's the champion. Doing it after a lackluster victory over a completely airless rival is quite another. Almost a little sickening. -The "big finale" sees Warrior and Rick Rude unable to put on much of a show in the steel cage. One has to think that the WWF was pretty panicked at this point, as the bloom went off the Warrior rose so quickly.

The two quality matches in this event were:

-Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (with new teammate Smash). I can't remember exactly, but I have a feeling Bret Hart will be going solo pretty soon, as he puts on too good of a show to be stuck in a tag team format. -Jake Roberts vs. Bad News Brown. During this era, could anyone energize an arena more than "The Snake"? He brings his A game pretty much every single time.

Overall, then, SummerSlam '90 was an even event to judge. It wasn't completely bereft of talent or excitement, but it just felt so odd and awkward at the same time. Very much a transition period (but clearly the transition hadn't happened yet and perhaps no goal was even in sight).

Sometimes boring as hell

[amanwhorocks · 5/10 · 27 June 2013]

Yes, we have an intercontinental Title Tournament. Hope that Mr. Perfect won.

1. Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty Vs Hercules/Paul Roma 6/10 2. Mr. Perfect Vs. The Texas Tornado - Hmm, new IC Champ 6/10 3. Sister Sherri Vs. Sapphire 4/10 4. The Warlord Vs. Tito Santana 5.5/10 5. World Tag Title Match: Hart Foundation Vs. Demolition 6/10 6. Bad News Brown Vs. Jake Roberts 5/10 7. Orient express Vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan/Nikolai Volkoff 4/10 8. Randy Savage Vs. Piggy Rhodes 4.5/10 9. Hulk Hogan Vs. Earthquake 4.5/10 10. The Ultimate Idiot Vs. Ricky Rude w. New Haircut Only for Rude 5/10 Last three matches was really weak except Rude.... Main event, ehm...

Not A Great Classic Honestly

[morantjavonte · 4/10 · 31 January 2021]

SummerSlam 1990 Thoughts

SummerSlam 1990 was the third annual SummerSlam event by the WWE. It took place on August 27, 1990 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Attendance was said to be at 19,304. The show featured what WWE likes to call, double main events. Ultimate Warrior defended the WWE Championship against Rick Rude in a steel cage. Hulk Hogan battled Earthquake who at the time was being pushed as a big monster. This event was memorable for being the last time The Hart Foundation also got the tag team belts as months later future legend Bret Hart would go on to start his singles career.

The Good - The best match of the night was Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation for the tag belts. Demolition was often mocked as being rip-offs of the Road Warriors but honestly, I've always found them to be a really good performing team. But the match like I said was really good. It did get a little messy with Crush, AX, and Smash rotating every couple of seconds. The steel cage match for the WWE Championship was a good match but the time it lasted nearly ruined it something I will get to in a sec.

The Meh - The match between Mr. Perfect and Texas Tornado was okay. It could have been a little better but the title changing moment was a very memorable and emotional moment. Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake was decent but it went on too long and to end with a count out also hurt.

The Bad - What really was a WTF moment was Earthquake/Hogan getting 13 minutes of a match but the main event getting 10 minutes. It made the WWE Championship match feel less important than a normal match which was ment for nothing. Dusty Rhodes vs. Randy Savage also got to be a disappointment. 2 great performers sadly not getting to shine thanks to a silly storyline involving Ted DiBiase buying Sapphire to work as a manager towards him. Most of the undercard didn't have any memorable moments honestly.

Overall - Once again, it took years for the WWE at the time to make an atmosphere for the SummerSlam feel like a special PPV. With that said, an unfortunately disappointing show that didn't do well with booking.

Score - 4 out of 10: Boring

0 = Terrible: 1 = Bad/Lackluster: 2 = Decent: 3 = Good: 4 = Awesome: 5 = One of the Best of all Time:

1. Power & Glory vs. The Rockers - 2/5

2. Mr. Perfect vs. Texas Tornado: WWE Intercontinental Championship - 2.5/5

3. Sensational Sherri vs Sapphire - Waste of time

4. Tito Santana vs. Warlord - 1/5

5. Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation: World Tag Team Championship (2 out 3 Falls) - 3.5/5

6. Bad News Brown vs. Jake Roberts - 1.5/5

7. Jim Duggan & Volkoff vs. Orient Express - 0.5/5

8. Dusty Rhodes vs. Randy Savage - 1/5

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake - 2/5

10. Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior: WWE Championship (Steel Cage) - 3/5

Best Match - Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation

Worst Match - Jim Duggan & Volkoff vs. Orient Express

Most Memorable Moment - The Hart Foundation's victory

Top 5 Performers

1. The Hart Foundation

2. Rick Rude

3. Ultimate Warrior

4. Texas Tornado

5. Mr. Perfect.

Recap

[Spawn Devil · 1 July 2002]

In the spring of 1990, Hulk Hogan's career was in jeopardy. Weeks after a brutal encounter with the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania, Hogan was attacked by the 500-pound Earthquake, who repeated squashed Hogan enough times to send him to the hospital. Inspired by cards and letters from his Hulkamanics, Hogan returned to announce he had signed to fact Earthquake at SummerSlam 1990. Although Hogan did not get the revenge he wanted - Jimmy Hart and Dino Bravo interfered on Earthquake's behalf to give Hogan the DQ win - it was clear that Hogan and Hulkamania were back, and better than ever! SummerSlam '90 capped the bitter feud between the Ultimate Warrior and `Ravishing' Rick Rude when Warrior defeated Rude in a steel cage to retain the WWE Championship. Two title changes also took place: The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition in a best-of-three falls match to become WWE Tag Team Champions, and Kerry Von Erich - `The Texas Tornado' - defeated Mr. Perfect to win the Intercontinental Championship.

Power and Glory defeated the Rockers Sensational Sherri defeated Sapphire when Sapphire never showed up The Warlord pinned Tito Santana Jake "the Snake" Roberts pinned Bad News Brown (Big Boss Man was guest ref) Nikolai Volkoff & "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def. the Orient Express Randy Savage pinned Dusty Rhodes The Texas Tornado pinned Mr. Perfect to win the Intercontinental Title The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition in a best-of-three-falls match to win the Tag Team Championship Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake by DQ WWE Champion The Ultimate Warrior defeating Rick Rude in a cage match

Overall Mark: B

SPECTACULAR EVENT

[Big Movie Fan · 7 May 2002]

I really wish the WWF was as good as it was back in the late 80's/early 90's. Watch this event just to see how good things really were.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)We had a double main event. The Ultimate Warrior and the late Rick Rude had a brilliant steel cage match where the Warrior defended the WWF Title. The Warrior and Rude always knew how to entertain the fans.

Hulk Hogan made a comeback to battle the dastardly Earthquake in an intense match.

Top tag team of the time The Hart Foundation battled Demolition in a brilliant two out of three falls match.

We also saw the Pay-Per-View debut of the late Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich who took the intercontinental title from Mr. Perfect.

There was plenty of other great action for WWF fans-check it out!