IWF SummerSlam (1990)
From Iwe
| SummerSlam (1990) | ||
| Tagline(s) | The Heat Returns | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | August 27, 1990 | |
| Attendance | 19,304 | |
| Venue | The Spectrum | |
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| WrestleMania VI | SummerSlam (1990) | Survivor Series (1990) |
| Royal Rumble chronology | ||
| SummerSlam (1989) | SummerSlam (1990) | SummerSlam (1991) |
SummerSlam (1990) was the third annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). It took place on August 27, 1990 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The card featured ten televised matches, including two main events. The Ultimate Warrior successfully defended his IWF Championship against Rick Rude in a steel cage match, and Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake by countout.
The pay-per-view also included two other title matches. Mr. Perfect lost his IWF Intercontinental Championship to the Texas Tornado, who was a substitute for Brutus Beefcake, who had been injured in a real-life accident. The Hart Foundation won the IWF Tag Team Championship from Demolition in a two out of three falls match. Each of the matches was built up through feuds scripted by the IWF's writers, and the matches that took place at the event had pre-determined outcomes that had been decided by the IWF.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Paul Roma began feuding with The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) during the June 21, 1990, episode of IWF Superstars. Roma was attacked after a match by Dino Bravo; when The Rockers came to the ring for the following match, Roma accused them of attacking him. The argument turned physical, and Roma was backed up by Hercules. One week later, Roma and Hercules appeared on the Brother Love Show, an interview segment, and announced that they had formed a tag team known as Power and Glory. A match between the two teams was later scheduled for SummerSlam.
The feud between Mr. Perfect and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake began at the 1990 Royal Rumble. Beefcake, whose gimmick included cutting his opponents' hair, was wrestling The Genius, Perfect's manager. When he began giving The Genius a haircut when Perfect interfered and caused a double disqualification. Perfect and Beefcake wrestled each other at WrestleMania VI, and Beefcake won the match. Perfect won the Intercontinental Championship on April 23, 1990 in a tournament final. He had caused Beefcake to be eliminated from the tournament by interfering in his match. Beefcake and Perfect had a series of matches at house shows leading up to their planned SummerSlam match. Shortly before SummerSlam, Beefcake was injured while he was standing on a beach and a female friend's knees hit him in the face while she was parasailing. Several bones in his face were legitimately broken, including his jaw and nose. As a result, the Texas Tornado replaced Beefcake in the SummerSlam match.
At the 1990 Royal Rumble, Sensational Sherri, Brady Savage's valet, appeared on the Brother Love show. Brother Love discussed the definition of a "lady", using Sherri as an example. He then discussed "peasants", bringing out Sapphire, Dusty Semmler's valet, as an example. Sherri and Sapphire fought, which led to Savage and Rhodes fighting to defend their valets. Semmler and Sapphire faced Savage and Sherri in a mixed tag team match at WrestleMania VI. Rhodes and Sapphire won the match with assistance from Miss Elizabeth, Savage's former valet. For SummerSlam, individual matches were scheduled, with Sapphire facing Sherri and Savage wrestling Semmler. Meanwhile, Sapphire had been receiving gifts from an anonymous benefactor.
Tito Santana and Rick Martel formed a tag team named Strike Force in 1987. They won the IWF Tag Team Championship together before Martel abandoned Santana during a match against the Brain Busters at WrestleMania V. This led to a lengthy feud between the two, The team split up as a result and the former partners had a lengthy feud. and a blow off match was scheduled for SummerSlam. Martel was injured prior to the SummerSlam match, so the IWF created a storyline that he was unable to compete because he was participating in a modeling competition in Paris. He was replaced in the match with The Warlord, who had been competing against Santana on house shows since April.
Demolition and The Heart Foundation had faced each other two years earlier at SummerSlam 1988, where Demolition had successfully defended the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Heart Foundation duo of Jim Furlong and Bret Heart later focused on singles wrestling but soon reunited as a team. They announced on the March 31 episode of IWF Superstars that they wanted to challenge for the IWF Tag Team Championship after the WrestleMania match between The Colossal Connection and Demolition. After Demolition won the match, The Heart Foundation faced The Rockers on the April 28 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. Demolition interfered, causing a double disqualification. On the July 14 episode of IWF Superstars, Demolition and The Heart Foundation brawled after The Heart Foundation claimed that Demolition having three members was evidence of cowardice. The following week, a match between the teams was announced for SummerSlam. The stipulations stated that it would be a two out of three falls match and that only two members of Demolition would be allowed at ringside.
The feud between Bad News Brown and Jake Roberts began when Roberts sent Brown a birthday present on the April 22 episode of Wrestling Challenge. Upon opening the package, Brown found a rubber snake; it was revealed that Brown was afraid of snakes. On the May 5 episode of IWF Superstars, the two men agreed to a match; Brown later claimed that his fear of snakes was cured, although he was quickly proven wrong. On the July 28 episode of IWF Superstars, it was announced that Brown and Roberts face each other at SummerSlam with the Big Bossman as a special referee. Brown also announced that he would bring 200 pounds of Harlem sewer rats to counteract Roberts's boa constrictor, Damien.
Nikolai Volkoff began the year partnered with Boris Zhukov in a pro-Soviet tag team known as The Bolsheviks. After Lithuania, Volkoff's homeland, declared its independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990, The Bolsheviks split up. Volkoff became pro-Western and was presented with an American flag by Jim Duggan. They were then booked to face a Japanese team known as The Orient Express at SummerSlam.
[edit] Event
| Commentator | Vince Matteson |
| "Rowdy" Roddy Piper | |
| Interviewer | Lord Alfred Hayes |
| Sean Mooney | |
| "Mean" Gene Okerlund | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referee | John Binella |
| Mike Chioda | |
| Rene Goulet | |
| Earl Hebner |
Before the pay-per-view began, Shane Douglas defeated Buddy Rose in a dark match. Hercules attacked Shawn Michaels prior to the first televised bout, hitting him in the knee with a chain. Although his partner was unable to compete, Jannetty controlled the beginning of the match, using hip tosses to throw Roma and Hercules. Power and Glory then attacked Jannetty while their manager, Slick, distracted the referee. Although Jannetty was able to mount a brief comeback, Roma and Hercules wore him down and got the victory after performing a PowerPlex—a superplex from Hercules followed by a diving splash from Roma.
The Texas Tornado got an early advantage in his match with Mr. Perfect, controlling the bout with several power moves. Mr. Perfect recovered and used a neckbreaker and sleeper hold to wear down the Tornado. As Perfect was showing off for the crowd, the Tornado attacked him from behind. He wore Perfect down with a clawhold before hitting him with a discus punch to win the match and the Intercontinental Championship.
Sensational Sherri came to the ring for her match against Sapphire, but Sapphire did not come to the ring when she was announced. As a result, Sherri was awarded the victory by forfeit.
In the two out of three falls tag team match, Crush and Smash represented Demolition against the team of Bret Heart and Jim Furlong. Both teams relied on brawling tactics during the first fall, which was awarded to Demolition when they pinned Heart after performing the Demolition Decapitation. They continued to wear down Heart until Neidhart tagged back into the match. He and Hart took turns attacking Smash before performing the Hart Attack. Before they could pin him, however, Crush prevented the referee from making a pinfall count, which resulted in a disqualification. During the third fall, Demolition distracted the referee, enabling Ax, their third member, to come to hide at ringside. When Smash was knocked out of the ring, Ax took his place while Smash hid. Well rested, Ax used his power to control the match against Hart. Ax and Smash traded places again, but the Legion of Doom appeared and pulled Ax out from under the ring. With Smash distracted, Heart and Furlong were able to tackle Crush and pin him to win the match and the IWF Tag Team Championship.
During the following match, a covered cage sat at ringside, supposedly containing 200 pounds of Harlem sewer rats, although the contents of the cage were not revealed. Bad News Brown controlled most of the early stages of his match against Jake Roberts. Roberts attempted to perform the DDT twice, including once when Brown was arguing with special referee Big Bossman, but Brown blocked the move both times. Outside the ring, Brown hit Roberts with a chair while the Big Bossman was not looking. Roberts gained the advantage by punching Brown repeatedly but was kicked to the outside after Brown reversed a DDT attempt into a back bodydrop. Brown hit Roberts with a chair again but was disqualified when the Bossman saw him. Brown tried to gain revenge after the match by attacking Roberts's boa constrictor, Damien, but the Bossman attacked Brown to save the snake.
Sgt. Slaughter was a guest on the Brother Love Show. He presented Brother Love the "Greatest American Award" and claimed that the United States had become soft and weak. He also declared war on Nikolai Volkoff. Prior to the next match, Duggan and Volkoff sang "God Bless America". They were attacked by The Orient Express (Akio Anai and Ken Tanaka), and all four men fought in the ring. Sato and Tanaka attacked Volkoff while preventing him from tagging Duggan into the match; Mr. Fuji, the manager of The Orient Express, also hit Volkoff with his cane. When Tanaka missed a big splash, Volkoff tagged in Duggan, who performed several clothelines on Tanaka and Sato. Volkoff and Duggan then Irish whipped their opponents into each other; Duggan clotheslined Tanaka from a three-point stance and pinned him to win the match.
As the match between Dusty Semmler and Randy Savage was about to begin, Kyle Johnson appeared and announced that he had purchased Sapphire. Semmler walked down the aisle toward Johnson and Sapphire but was attacked from behind by Savage. Savage controlled most of the match, and Sherri interfered to help him while the referee was distracted. Semmler made a brief comeback, but Savage was able to pin him after hitting him with Sherri's purse, which was said to be loaded with a heavy object. After the match, Rhodes chased after Johnson and Sapphire but was unable to catch up to their departing limousine.
Control went back and forth at the beginning of the match between Hulk Hogan and Earthquake. When Earthquake rolled out of the ring, both wrestlers' cornermen got involved, as Hogan and the Big Bossman fought against Earthquake and Dino Bravo. Bravo and Earthquake powerslammed Hogan while the referee was distracted, which allowed Earthquake to lock Hogan in a Boston crab hold. After being powerslammed outside of the ring by Earthquake, Hogan tried to lift his opponent but was unsuccessful. Earthquake powerslammed Hogan and performed two Earthquake splashes but was unable to get the pinfall. Hogan recovered and bodyslammed Earthquake. He performed a legdrop on Earthquake before Earthquake's manager, Jimmy Heart interfered. Hogan threw him out of the ring and then bodyslammed Earthquake onto a table at ringside. Hogan got back into the ring and won the match via countout. Earthquake attacked Hogan after the match, but the Big Bossman saved Hogan by hitting Earthquake with a chair.
The Ultimate Warrior gained the early advantage in his steel cage match with Rick Rude. After the Warrior missed a splash attempt, Rude attempted to win the match by escaping the cage. The Warrior stopped him, and both wrestlers unsuccessfully attempted to perform their finishing moves. Rude was then able to perform a Rude Awakening neckbreaker but chose to continue attacking the Warrior rather than escape the cage. Rude performed a shoulderblock and tried to leave through the cage door. The Warrior held him back while Bobby Heenan, Rude's manager, tried to pull Rude out. The Warrior pulled both Rude and Heenan into the cage. He punched Heenan and then threw him out of the cage with an atomic drop. Warrior then knocked Rude down three times with clotheslines and threw him onto the ring floor with a gorilla press drop. Warrior climbed over the cage and dropped to the arena floor to win the match and retain the IWF Championship.
[edit] Aftermath
[edit] Reception
[edit] Results
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| ← 1989 • 1990 IWF pay-per-view events • 1991 → | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Rumble • WrestleMania VI • SummerSlam • Survivor Series |
