Yearly Review: WWF July 1989

WWF World Championship Scene: (currently held by: Hulk Hogan)
Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Championship against former WWF Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man at SNME #22. Hogan prevailed after hitting Honky with a guitar and followed up with a leg drop. Hogan’s night wasn’t over with as he would make an appearance later on in the show. Hogan’s friend Brutus Beefcake competed against Randy Savage on the show. Beefcake won by disqualification when Zeus came out and attacked Beefcake while he had a sleeper hold on Savage. Hogan returned to the ring and hit Zeus with a chair but didn’t have any effect. Hogan and Beefcake were able to clean out the ring after getting two steel chairs.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Scene: (currently held by: Rick Rude) 
There wasn’t any new developments between Rick Rude and Ultimate Warrior. They will be wrestling each other at SummerSlam next month.

However, a new feud for Rude was hinted at. During the July 19th taping of Wrestling Challenge, Rick Rude warned Roddy Piper to watch what he says about his manager Bobby Heenan.

On the house show market, Rude would compete against Jim Duggan while the Ultimate Warrior had quick main event matches against Andre the Giant. Rude would typically lose by disqualification while Warrior would win his matches by pin fall.

WWF World Tag Team Championships Scene: (currently held by: Demolition) 
At SNME #22 Demolition’s title reign came to an end. The Brain Busters, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, captured the championships in a best two out of three falls match. Andre the Giant got involved by tossing a chair into the match to help Anderson and Blanchard win the championships.

Other Happenings: 
– During the July 19th taping of WWF Superstars Ronnie Garvin was suspended for getting involved at SNME costing Greg Valentine a match against Jimmy Snuka. However, the suspension didn’t last long after Jack Tunney granted Valentine’s request to reinstate Garvin as a wrestler.

– Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect competed against each other on the house show market with the outcome being a draw each time.

– The blue collar Dusty Rhodes wrestled against the rich Ted DiBiase on the house show market. Rhodes would walk out victorious each time they wrestled.

– Rick Martel continued to get the better of Tito Santana on the house show market as well.

The month didn’t feature a lot of angle advancement with SummerSlam just around the corner.

Bob’s Opinion: 
It was nice to see the Brainbusters win the tag titles, though I thought it was also surprising. A match between the Brainbusters and Demolition at SummerSlam would have been nice to see. Regardless, Anderson and Blanchard will make for great champions and have some good matches with the tag teams in WWF.

A feud between Dusty Rhodes and Ted DiBiase was a no brainer. It’s just too bad that DiBiase wasn’t able to remain in the main event scene.

Not a lot going on here as we heads towards SummerSlam 1989. What are your memories of the WWF during this time?

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