Written by: Tom Hopkins
Cold opening this week. Vince McMahon is here with Mr. Perfect but the camera is focused on Mean Gene Okerlund as he brings the Ultimate Warrior out to the interview pedestal. It’s always fun listening to the Ultimate Warrior. Perfect teases McMahon that something is going to happen during Warrior’s promo and sure enough here comes Ric Flair. Ric Flair interrupts Warrior’s interview time and Warrior invites him up. Flair isn’t out here to confront the Warrior but just to make him aware of three things: 1) Flair will be champion by Summerslam, 2) Flair will be at Summerslam to ensure the winner of the Warrior/Savage match will get a title shot and finally, 3) Savage had been on the phone with Mr. Perfect to all week looking for Perfect to be his manager. He tells Warrior that the manager job is not set in stone, so Warrior can use Perfect’s services, too. Flair leaves and Warrior goes on record saying he’d do anything and pay any price to win the WWE title. Good interview that set up the manipulations of Flair and Perfect in the World Title Match. Also, was this the first ever Opening Interview used in the WWE? Nowadays half of all WWE Programming starts that way!
We head back to the announce booth with Perfect saying that if either Warrior or Savage want to win the title they will need HIM in their corner.
–Razor Ramon vs. Paul Landell–
This is the debut of Razor Ramon. I’m guessing on the spelling of the jobber’s name since it wasn’t shown on TV. Razor gets some chops in early and Landell actually elbows Ramon off. He sends Ramon to the corner and charges but runs into a big boot. Ramon chokeslams Landell (or Blandell, who knows) before getting a back suplex off the top rope. Razor ends with the Razor’s Edge at 2:38. Nice squash for the debuting Ramon.
We go to pre-recorded comments from Stu and Helen Hart. They complain of a house divided with this IC match between Bret and his brother-in-law, British Bulldog.
–Natural Disasters vs. Brian Brigger & Brian Donohue–
The Brian Brothers didn’t have their name on the screen either. Is that something new they did? I’m guessing for some reason Superstars had a bit of a format change (15 minutes in and no Event or Update Center?) and even the camera work seems a bit different. Earthquake and one of the Brian’s start. We hear from the Beverly Brothers and the Genius who say they will be taking the Tag Team Titles from the Disasters. Standard squash for the Disasters who literally squash their opponents. Butt-Splash/Big Splash combo ends this at 3:12.
Okay, good, our first Event Center update. I thought I’d never see Mooney here again! It’s all Summerslam promo’s and first up is Kamala, Whippleman and Kimchee hyping up their match with the Undertaker. British Bulldog has something to say, too. He will win the title but the families will be reunited afterwards. Turns out he would be right!
–Kamala vs. Ross Greenberg–
Kamala beats up on Ross, slaps his own belly and even does a leapfrog. The match just goes downhill from there, as Kamala doesn’t have a whole lot to his moveset. He ends with the big splash (complete with lack of pinning technique) to end this at 2:45. Two matches in a row that ended with a big splash! The most interesting thing about this match was Perfect mentioning that he head Ultimate Warrior wanted to talk to him after the show.
Mooney tells us about two new matches for the show: Tatanka vs. Berzerzer and Crush vs. Repo Man. We hear from Nailz (who will finish off Virgil) and Virgil (who is shaking with anger, man). We also hear from Money Inc about their match against the Legion of Doom.
–British Bulldog vs. Iron Mike Sharpe–
Iron Mike Sharpe is rewarded for his years of jobberness by having his name listed on the screen! There’s a big moment of irony with McMahon talking about IcoPro and how you won’t see people using Icopro being ‘roided up. The irony lies in the fact that the BRITISH BULLDOG is in the ring. The same guy who shot up with Dynamite Kid in the locker room. Bulldog does a criss-cross, bringing us back to 1985 and actually covers after a suplex, which Sharpe kicks out of. Bulldog goes to the chinlock which I always found annoying in a jobber match. Sharpe controls action for about 30-seconds before finding turnbuckle on a blind charge and powerslammed down to end this at 2:55.
Gene is here with the Summerslam Report which happens to be brought to you by the Summerslam program. It’s certainly the program I never thought I’d see for the event I’d never thought I’d see. Gene is all about Ric Flair’s involvement in the title match between Warrior and Savage. Savage will be here next week for an update on the situation. Okerlund runs down all the matches and we hear from a bunch of the participants. Bret Hart is worried about his family falling apart, The Undertaker and Paul Bearer have spoken with British undertakers for caskets, Shawn Michaels, Repo Man,
–Berzerker (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. Jason Knight–
McMahon mentions Perfect and his team beating the WBF team in tug-rope. He goes on to mention Billie Jean King and World Team Tennis, too. I didn’t realize it’s been around that long. Tatanka wants Berzerker’s scalp according to his in-match promo. Berzerker hits his finisher – dumping his opponent to the outside – to end this at 2:00.
It’s one last visit from the Event Center. Crush wants to squeeze a victory out of Repo Man and the Natural Disasters are not worried about the Beverly Brothers. I wouldn’t be, either. Next week we have Undertaker and Money Inc in action, as well as a special interview with Macho Man and a match between the Big Boss Man (his return!) and Skinner.
–The Bottom Line–
I really liked the cold opening as it added some excitement right from the onset. There were no good matches to follow that up, but it did eat a good portion of the show and carried it through to the Summerslam Report and finally to the end. I found this to be a very good episode.