Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are in the booth. This show took place in Worchester, Massachusetts, the same site as the recent Superstars tapings.
Opening Contest: Hawk beats Brian Knobbs (w/Jimmy Hart) (0-1) with a flying clothesline at 7:40:
Knobbs stalls for the first few minutes and gains the advantage when Hawk goes shoulder-first into the ring post and falls to the floor. Knobbs follows up by blasting Hawk’s back with a chair, allowing McMahon to hype the no disqualification, no count out stipulation for the Legion of Doom-Nasty Boys tag team title match at SummerSlam. Knobbs works the back with rest holds until Hawk fights out of a chinlock. A blind charge from the Nasty Boy lets Hawk come off the top with his flying clothesline, providing a refreshing clean finish. Aside from the rest holds this was fine but those bits weighed down too much of the match. Rating: *
Jake Roberts’ heel turn from Superstars is shown.
Bret Hart (15-0-3) defeats the Barbarian (7-5-1) with a small package at 12:00 shown:
These two faced off on Prime Time on July 8 and Bret won with a sunset flip. As was the case in their previous encounter, the Barbarian bullies Bret with his power before Bret uses his technical acumen to take the big man down. Coach shows up in the aisle to scout the match, making notes as Bret goes chest-first into the corner. The Barbarian throws a nice lariat to block a hiptoss counter and busts out a vertical suplex for a near-fall. Bret fires back with a flying clothesline off the second rope and goes through the moves of doom. When Bret argues with the referee after his second rope elbow drop gets a near-fall, the Barbarian blasts him with a Mafia kick but, fortunately for Bret, he falls to the floor. When the Barbarian tries to slam him back in the ring, Bret shifts his weight and rolls the Barbarian up in a small package to escape with a win. This was a fun back-and-forth match that continued Bret’s ascendancy in the midcard. It also makes a viewer today wonder why the Barbarian did not get a stronger push. Rating: ***
Gene Okerlund interviews Sid Justice. Sid promises that he can control what happens in the ring at SummerSlam. He reiterates that he stands alone and will call the match impartially.
Sergeant Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa, and General Adnan do a taped promo, promising to take down Hulk Hogan later tonight.
Irwin R. Schyster (11-0-2) pins Mark Thomas after the Write Off at 1:59:
As IRS dominates the bout, McMahon tries to get over how an “Irwin!” chant gets under IRS’ skin. IRS wins an easy match as a tune up for his SummerSlam match with Greg Valentine.
Highlights of Randy Savage’s bachelor party on Prime Time Wrestling are shown.
The Dragon, the Texas Tornado & the British Bulldog defeat the Orient Express & Sato (w/Mr. Fuji) when the Dragon pins Kato with the flying body press at 10:28:
Akio Sato returns to WWF television for the first time since the December 1, 1990 edition of Superstars, teaming with his old partner Tanaka and the man who replaced him, Kato. A veteran of All Japan, he AWA, and various Texas promotions, Sato was working in the WWF front office for much of the year, handling the company’s international markets.
The Express have become an afterthought in the tag team division, last appearing on the June 16 edition of Wrestling Challenge. The Dragon is placed in peril after trying a piledriver and having that blocked with a Tanaka flying forearm. The Tornado is out of his mind during various save spots, turning and twisting all over the ring, putting himself over the Dragon near the apron that makes it appear like he is choking him, and then hopping up on the Express’ side of the apron. Tanaka scores a near-fall from a thrust kick and the Dragon catches Kato with a thrust kick of his own to give the Bulldog the hot tag. The crowd pops as the Bulldog press slams everything that moves and hits the running powerslam on Kato, only to have Tanaka break up the pinfall. Sato eats a running powerslam too as the Tornado leans on Tanaka in the corner, and the Bulldog tags the Dragon, who finishes with the flying body press on Kato. This was a fun six-man tag that kept moving. And the Express were always great when taking offense from larger foes like the Bulldog. Rating: ***
Heenan shows off the NWA World Heavyweight Championship Belt, hyping how Ric Flair is coming into the company soon.
WWF Championship Match: Hulk Hogan (Champion) (2-0) beats Sergeant Slaughter (w/Colonel Mustafa & General Adnan) (12-3) via disqualification when Mustafa and Adnan interfere at 6:34 shown:
This is an abbreviated form of the match that Hogan and Slaughter were having on house shows, with Slaughter using a chair to score a near-fall and Adnan throwing powder in Hogan’s eyes to disrupt a hulk up comeback. Slaughter distracts referee Earl Hebner as Mustafa and Adnan get into the ring to beat on Hogan, but Slaughter cannot keep Hebner from turning around forever and when he does, Slaughter gets disqualified. In response, Slaughter tosses Hebner over the top rope. The best that can be said of this is that it was a match. Rating: *
After the bell, Slaughter puts Hogan in the Camel Clutch until Sid Justice comes into the ring and the heels back off. As Sid jaws with Slaughter and his crew, Hogan gets a chair and clears the ring, but Sid takes it away from him. That makes Hogan upset, but Sid just walks out of the ring and to the locker room.
A replay of Earthquake injuring Andre the Giant’s knee several months ago on Superstars airs.
The Natural Disasters (w/Jimmy Hart) (6-0) defeat Ray Garcia & Ross Greenberg when Earthquake pins Garcia after the Earthquake Splash at 2:14:
Garcia takes a significant beating as Typhoon and Earthquake drop elbows on him. Then, he takes the finishers of each man, providing a nice showcase of what the Disasters can do to the Bushwhackers at SummerSlam.
Sensational Sherri is a guest on the Barber Shop. Sherri says that she would love to slap Randy Savage and puke all over Elizabeth. She promises that she will turn their wedding into a “match made in hell.” Beefcake concludes the segment by giving Sherri a broom, which he says is her transportation to the wedding. An irate Sherri swings it wildly and screams before going back to the locker room.
Okerlund does the SummerSlam Report.
Virgil (12-0) pins the Black Knight (w/Ted DiBiase & Sensational Sherri) after blocking a splash at 4:51:
At the beginning of the show, McMahon put over that DiBiase had a mystery opponent for Virgil but it looks like his money could not buy anyone of quality as he has to settle for longtime WWF jobber the Black Knight. This choice is even worse when one remembers that Virgil beat the Knight on the July 20 edition of Superstars.
Virgil goes 50/50 with the Knight before locking in the Million Dollar Dream. However, DiBiase reaches through the ropes and grabs Virgil’s leg, breaking the hold and allowing the Knight to regain momentum with a series of suplexes. The Knight goes for a splash, but it does not work for some reason, as it seems like Virgil forgets to put his feet up to block, and Virgil rolls his opponent up for the win. This did not make Virgil look good going into SummerSlam.
The Mountie investigates the jail that he insists the Big Bossman will be going to after their match at SummerSlam. In a funny bit, he has the jail take some photos of him in their processing facility. He also roughly fingerprints an inmate to show the people working there how to do their jobs. And the best bit is when he puts the shock stick through the bars of various cells to inflict pain on the inmates.
The Big Bossman does a taped promo about how the Mountie will be going to jail after SummerSlam.
The Last Word: This was a so-so show as fans got some good matches like Bret Hart-Barbarian and the six-man tag but had to sit through a bad Hulk Hogan-Sergeant Slaughter match and a bad Virgil-Black Knight bout. The Hogan title defense exposed how dead his angle with Sergeant Slaughter has become and it seemed like a big stretch to imply that Sid Justice favored the heels when made them back off of Hogan following the bout. The Mountie’s jailhouse skit was great, though, laying the foundation for him to get his comeuppance at SummerSlam.
Up Next: WWF Superstars for August 24!