Just over 20 years ago the WWE came to London, England to bring one of its top Pay-Per-View’s SummerSlam to another country for the very first, and so far last time. It was a mega event that had the whole of Great Britain watching, even those that didn’t usually watch. There was over 80,000 fans in attendance that night and it will in many people’s minds go down with all the greatest Pay-Per-Views of all-time. In this review I am joined by regular TheWrestlingMania.com writer Matthew plus good friends I’ve mine Ruben from California and Brett from here in England. We had a long discussion about the show and here’s all the highlights of that conversation.
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Main SummerSlam card –
The Legion of Doom (with Paul Ellering) defeated Money Inc. (with Jimmy Hart)
Nailz defeated Virgil
Shawn Michaels (with Sensational Sherri) vs Rick Martel, Double Count Out
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
The Natural Disasters (c) defeated The Beverly Brothers (with The Genius)
Crush defeated Repo Man
WWE Championship Match
The Ultimate Warrior defeated Randy Savage (c) by countout
The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Kamala (with Harvey Wipplemanand Kim Chee)
Tatanka defeated The Berzerker (with Mr. Fuji)
Intercontinental Championship Match
The British Bulldog defeated Bret Hart (c)
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Orion – Lets get to it with you first Brett, you were there in person, dream come true??
Brett – Can you imagine what it felt like to be in Wembley stadium surrounded by 80,000 WWF/WWE fans.
Matthew – I’m very jealous that Brett went. My parents wouldn’t let me go! But the excitement that a PPV was coming to England was still there for me.
Ruben – Few crowds stand out in my memory, Pontiac Silverdome for WrestleMania III and the crowd in Wembley for SummerSlam 92. Just an amazing sight.
Orion – I collected all the posters, newspaper article, t-shirts, but didn’t get to go, gutting for a young fan who lived within touching distance.
Brett – I wanted a warrior t-shirt but had to settle for LOD. I think I’ve still got it but not sure if it will fit now haha.
Orion – The crowd were behind every match from the start and what a start it had from a TV point with LOD sending the place mad.
Matthew – Now, the whole Paul Ellering and a ventriloquists dummy is ridiculous, but back then as a young kid it was amazing.
Orion – Looking back on it now surely the opening match should’ve been the tag titles match with Natural Disasters dropping the belts before the PPV?
Ruben – I never understood why Money Inc. dropped the titles to the Disasters. In my opinion it should have been LOD vs. Money Inc for the belts.
Matthew – I think that LOD were upset with the whole Rocco thing and Hawk was so wasted at this time they would never have put the belts on them here. Perhaps it was done like this to allow LOD to win a match.Orion – Good point Matthew, but what a way to kick-start a PPV!!
Matthew – It certainly kicked things off on a high note!
Brett – What I never got was why didn’t Taker have a better opponent for a huge PPV like that, the only thing I was interested in about that match was ‘Takers entrance I think I went to the loo after the bell went.
Matthew – All Taker did at this time was fight monsters who couldn’t really work.
Orion – I think Taker faced all the monsters back then and the feud had been building so it seemed a good idea. I would rather have seen a Taker vs. Papa Shango or young HBK to be honest. It was all to do with Takers character, if big monsters couldn’t beat him what chance would smaller guys have? Thank God all that changed over the years. Was a great entrance though.
Matthew – His entrance was often the highlight of his matches in the early part of his career!
Orion – Before we got to the main event we had the WWF title match and being a big Savage fan I was going nuts.
Ruben – I wanted the Savage/Flair rematch but settled for Warrior/Savage. I think their match is underrated. Its not the classic their WrestleMania match was but was still a damn good match.
Orion – I agree Ruben it’s a very underrated match and with the added mystery of who’s corner Mr Perfect would be in it made for a great match.
Brett – I still remember that really bad singlet that Warrior wore it just made it obvious that he had dropped a lot of weight before he returned.
Matthew – His 92 run was a bust really. I remember the rumours that the original Warrior had died and it was someone else at WrestleMania 8 when he returned!
Orion – I remember those rumours Matthew.
Ruben – Awful singlet lol I liked the addition of Perfect to the match. I always heard those rumours as well. Some of my friends to this day swear the warrior died. Savage was one of the few guys who could get a good match out of Warrior.
Orion – I agree Ruben, Savage worked wonders with Warrior that most never could.
Brett – I have to admit I’m not sure that the WWE title match would have been as good without Flair and Perfect being there at ringside. It was a great way to have Curt at the PPV while he was rehabbing his injury.
Orion – Once Savage retained his title it was obviously going to be Flair that got the rematch and win back the title.
Matthew – I often think its interesting to think what would have happened if the original plan for SS to be held in Washington with Shawn beating Bret had actually happened. Things could have been VERY different.
Orion – From a British fans point of view I’m pleased it didn’t happen Matthew.
Ruben– I believe Shawn and Bret would of put on a terrific match but it didn’t have the storyline or appeal of his match with Davey. Not sure you could have done the same with Shawn at the time.
Brett – It tied together very well by using the family angle.
Orion – The British Bulldog was already very popular over here but on this night he became a national treasure.
Matthew – Oh exactly. Without this Davey wouldn’t be as huge as he was. Shawn vs Bret could never have had that appeal.
Ruben – Do you think the WWE will ever be able to recreate that type of magic again? Even if for one night. They did PPVs in guys’ home towns but Davey was repping the entire country the PPV was really put on his and Bret shoulders.Orion – It would be very hard Ruben, its just not done like that anymore. The whole country, even non wrestling fans knew something big was happening. There’s no way another PPV as a whole could get the reaction this one did, it was a one off in my opinion and it’s never been bettered since in terms off atmosphere. There’s been great atmosphere for one off matches but for an entire PPV this takes all the beating.
Brett – Not to sure it could happen but it would have to be a very special PPV and have a good feud that’s actually got a point to it.
Ruben – I agree with that. Just imagine if they weren’t the main event. Would have been difficult to follow that match. There’s no way the creative team they have now could come close to creating an event like this today.
Brett – The atmosphere was electric from the time my group arrived to the time 80,000+ was leaving the stadium and it carried on into the next two days while I was at school.
Orion – Tatanka had a poor match with the Berzerker but the crowd loved him and if you just listened to that match without seeing it you would have thought it was a main event at WRESTLEMANIA , another testament to the great crowd. The big thing with the match that night was Davey Boy proved he was a star and there’s only a handful of wrestlers that get to win in their home-town. In saying that no one will ever get the buzz that Davey Boy got that night.
Ruben – Even as an 11 yr old here in the States I just knew this event was special. It’s one of those rare moments where the atmosphere is so awesome you feel like you’re there.
Orion – Times that by 1000 and that’s what it was like here. Well that seems to be SummerSlam 92 reviewed by us and I’ve really enjoyed it, all the best my friends.
All you wrestling fans lookout for next week’s review which will be about the Attitude Era.