(Hey all, Scott here. Here’s a tryout column from Lou DiPietro, who worked in various roles within the WWE ecosystem over the years, most recently the WWE Network before the whole Peacock merger went down. He’s doing a series of “What if” columns about PPV concepts that never were, so hopefully you give it a look and enjoy it! First up, what if there was a fifth PPV show in 1991 to build up Summerslam?)
When Vince McMahon birthed Survivor Series in 1987 and then the Royal Rumble in 1988 to cut into Jim Crockett’s big event pie, the era of WWF TV building to live events with the occasional huge house show – see also “The Big Event” in 1986 – pretty much came to an end.
SummerSlam came later in 1988, and from WrestleManias IV through VIII, there was still Saturday Night’s Main Event and occasional big shows (like WrestleFest ’88) or TV specials (i.e. The Main Event) to fill in the gaps in what was now a four pay-per-view cycle.
But when SNME 29 aired on NBC aired in April 1991, that was the end of the line for those specials – and with FOX only coming in to air a pair of SNMEs in February and October 1992, the summers of ’91 and ’92 seemed to drag, as there was no real “big event” between WrestleMania and SummerSlam and it left Challenge and Superstars in a holding pattern.
Look at 1991: SummerSlam was basically a culmination of the entirety of the WWF Championship arc of the year, the other two title matches were blow-offs of feuds that started months earlier, and the other two big matches – Ted DiBiase vs. Virgil and Big Boss Man vs. The Mountie – had been brewing since Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, respectively.
So, what if Vince McMahon saw the writing on the wall in 1991 and decided to change things a little early, inserting a fifth pay-per-view event in the middle of summer to make up for the lack of big events? That’s what brings us to the first in a 10-part series wondering what “the year before” would have looked like, starting with a potential 1991 mid-summer PPV.
WrestleMania VII saw Hulk Hogan become a three-time WWF Champion, the Nasty Boys win the Tag Team Title and basically kick off Bret Hart’s singles push, Big Bossman “finish” his run through the Heenan Family with a DQ win over Mr. Perfect, and Virgil get his first taste of comeuppance on Ted DiBiase, beating him by countout. We also saw Randy Savage retired and Jake Roberts blow off his feud with Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match, along with the then-usual parade of random matchups.
The TV aftermath saw Ultimate Warrior begin a feud with Undertaker after ‘Taker’s appearance during a Warrior/Slaughter rematch on the final NBC SNME, while the Bossman/Mountie and DiBiase/Virgil and Roddy Piper feuds kept rolling. Col. Mustafa joined the Iraqi contingent and began a feud with Jim Duggan while Hogan had his rematches with Slaughter, LOD started their ascent to the Tag Team Titles, and British Bulldog became the top contender to the IC Title. And, Roberts moved on to battle Earthquake after the big man squashed Damien, but Tugboat turned heel in June to form the Natural Disasters with Quake, while Roberts would later turn heel while “helping” Warrior learn the Tao of Undertaker. So with that…
WWF INDEPENDENCE DAY – Monday, July 1, 1991 live on PPV from Madison Square Garden!
MATCH 1: Ricky Steamboat vs. Paul Roma
As good of an opener as could be to warm up the crowd. This was on the actual 7/1/91 MSG show, and we’ll go with the same finish: Steamboat wins with a bodypress.
MATCH 2: Earthwquake vs. Jake Roberts
On the actual 7/1/91 cards, Jake beat Quake with help from Andre the Giant at MSG, while Typhoon fought British Bulldog in Florida. Roberts’ heel turn is coming soon and Typhoon is freshly turned on the Bushwhackers with the tag match coming at SummerSlam, so we’ll go in a slightly different direction: Jake wins by DQ when Typhoon runs in. They go after Andre, too, the Bushwhackers come to help, some megaphone shenanigans ensue, and Jake gets the last laugh by giving poor Jimmy Hart the Lucifer treatment.
MATCH 3: Bret Hart vs. Haku
A showcase for Hart on the way to the IC Title. Bobby Heenan’s stable is slim pickings at this point as he’s on his way out, but of anyone other than Perfect, Bret can work a good power vs. speed match with Haku. Bret wins clean with a sharpshooter.
MATCH 4: Roddy Piper & Virgil vs. Ted DiBiase & IRS
Long before Money Inc., DiBiase had enlisted IRS to help him go after Piper, who was “managing” Virgil (he needed to learn how to fight!). So as we head into the Million Dollar Championship Match, we’ll have a distraction finish – Piper goes after Sherri, IRS bops Virgil with the briefcase outside, and the babyfaces end up getting counted out.
MATCH 5: Ultimate Warrior vs. Undertaker in a Body Bag Match
Warrior had been beating ‘Taker around the horn in these matches, so the pre-intermission match has him do it on PPV, the first “official” TV loss for Undertaker.
MATCH 6: LOD & The Big Bossman vs. The Nasty Boys & The Mountie
No Jimmy Hart here to sell the snake attack. The Nasties had attacked Bossman on TV earlier in the summer on behalf of Mountie, so to get from Point A to Point B of the SummerSlam matches, we get this six-man tag. And, since the babyfaces win clean at SummerSlam in both blowoffs, we’ll go with a double DQ here when the shock stick, the nightstick, AND the helmet get involved in a brawl.
MATCH 7: Mr. Perfect vs. British Bulldog for the IC Title
We need one clean win for a heel, and Perfect is gearing up for Hart, so he gets to take out his brother-in-law here. Bulldog goes for the powerslam, but Perfect slides out, turnbuckles him, and NOW YOU’RE GONNA SEE A PERFECT-PLEX! finishes to retain.
MATCH 8: Warlord vs. Greg Valentine
Quick cooldown before the main, and since everyone of note is on the show already, we’ll stick with this one that actually happened on 7/1/91 with a different finish: Warlord makes The Hammer submit to the full nelson. In our world, Valentine is a sub for The Texas Tornado, who is out on a coke binge (or wherever he was to miss some shows around this time).
MAIN EVENT: Hulk Hogan & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Col. Mustafa in a Flag Match
They went around the horn doing Hogan vs. Sarge in Boot Camp (aka No-DQ) matches, but since that already played at MSG – that was the main event of the actual Florida show on 7/1/91 – we get this tag match that also main evented parts of the loop. Hogan gets the big boot and leg drop on Mustafa after Warrior thwarts Adnan-ference, the babyfaces celebrate with Old Glory, and that sets up the SummerSlam main event where the Iraqi contingent explodes for good.
With that in the books, we’re set up for basically the entire SummerSlam card, and the SummerSlam Spectacular can fill in some more gaps/keep things burning, based on that card.
Next time, we’ll move forward a year to 1992, when King of the Ring could’ve debuted!