WWE SummerSlam 1991 (1991)

Memorable, crazy movie

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

In keeping with previous WWF events during this time period, SummerSlam 1991 is kind of all over the place in terms of talent and excitement. There are a few good matches, with many clunkers interspersed throughout. At least this time, however, the "gimmick" (Randy Savage & Elizabeth's wedding) was entertaining.The highlights: -Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect with the Intercontinental Title on the line. This is a very well-executed and entertaining match. Two guys who just knew who to wrestle and put on a show. -Legion of Doom vs. Nasty Boys for the Tag Team titles. I'm usually not a huge fan of tag-team matches, but this one was professionally done all the way around. -The "Match Made in Heaven", or the wedding between Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth. They had been married in real life for years, so this was a fun "meta" moment for the WWF at a time where they were desperate for any goodwill.Other than those highlights, however, pretty much everything else falls flat. Teaming up Hogan/Warrior vs. Slaughter and Co. reeks of desperation, while a recurring gig with the Mountie being booked in a local jail after losing to Big Boss Man goes on for far too long.So, while the wedding gimmick (and a few select matches) makes SummerSlam '91 worth watching, the WWF is still a bit of a mess in terms of talent and direction at this point.

Live from NY, NY; MSGAttendance: 20,000Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and Bobby HeenanRicky Steamboat, The Texas Tornado, The British Bulldog Vs Power & Glory and The Warlord (W/Slick)Bulldog gets the biggest pop out of the three faces. The faces win when Steamboat pins Roma after a flying cross body from the top. This is a fun opener and a good way to start the show. There were impressive spots, like The Bulldog hitting a vertical suplex on The Warlord. **3/4Intercontinental ChampionshipMr. Perfect (C) (W/The Coach) Vs Bret HartBobby Heenan had retired from managing at this point. Bret wins the title by making Perfect submit with a Sharpshooter. This is one of the best matches in wrestling history, it rarely gives you a chance to breathe. What's even more amazing is that Perfect's back was legitimately in bad shape with a bad back, as proved when he started favoring it and walking gingerly. If that's the type of amazing quality we get when he's injured, it's downright frightening to think what these two would be capable of if Perfect was fully healthy. Bret kicking out of the Perfect-Plex is a pretty cool moment as well. How on earth do you follow this? I almost feel sorry for the other wrestlers.***** (5 stars out of 5)The Bushwhackers (W/Andre The Giant) Vs The Natural Disasters (W/Jimmy Hart)This match is one way to cool the crowd down after such a classic. The Natural Disasters win when Earthquake hits his sitdown splash. The Natural Disasters try to attack Andre after the match, but The Legion of Doom saves the day. This was a terrible match, as to be expected. Even Andre's presence couldn't liven it up. "Bobby Heenan had a great line, though. "If I was managing The Buswhackers, I'd commit suicide"*Bobby Heenan shows up at Hogan's dressing room with the REAL World Title, challenging Hogan to a match on Flair's behalf. Hogan slams the door in Heenan's face.Million Dollar ChampionshipTed Dibiase (C) (W/Sensational Sherri) Vs VirgilDibiase is initially disqualified after Sherri nails Virgil with her shoe, but the ref changes his mind and orders Sherri to the back, as well as the match to continue. Virgil wins the Million Dollar belt by ramming Dibiase's head into the exposed turnbuckle, which Dibiase used to try to cheat. The match itself is a little overbooked, but the story Dibiase and Virgil told really carries this one. The fans desperately wanted to see Dibiase get his comeuppance and Virgil winning the title provided a memorable moment.**1/2Jailhouse MatchThe Big Bossman Vs The Mountie (W/Jimmy Hart)The loser of this match goes directly to jail for a night. Bossman wins with an Alabama slam. This match was fairly boring for the most part. Despite the stipulation, I wasn't really able to get into it. Maybe I'm a stickler, but I didn't find The Mountie being hauled off to jail all that funny either. *1/4Up Next are a plethora of interviews that involve Bret Hart, The Big Bossman, The Natural Disasters, Ted Dibiase, The Nasty Boys, Jimmy Hart, Sensational Sherri, The Legion of Doom, Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, General Adnan, Sid Justice, and a segment where The Mountie is suffering on his way to jail.Tag Team Championship (No count out, no DQ)The Nasty Boys (C) (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs The Legion of DoomLOD wins the titles with the Doomsday Device. This was nothing more than a brawl for the most part and a fairly average one at that. At least this match played to both of their strengths, which is brawling. LOD winning the titles makes this the 3rd title that's changed hands at this PPV*3/4The Mountie is dragged by cops into a Jail cell.I.R.S Vs Greg "The Hammer" ValentineValentine was a face at this point and near the end of his WWE tenure. I.R.S wins by countering The Figure Four into a small package. This was a pretty uneventful match that the crowd was flat for. Valentine was past his prime and couldn't be depended on to carry a match anymore. *3 on 2 Handicapped MatchHulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior Vs Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan, and Col. MustafaSid Justice is the guest referee for this match. For those who don't know, Mustafa is The Iron Sheik. Hogan wins with a legdrop after throwing powder in Slaughter's face. Afterwards, Hogan poses with Sid Justice. This was a pretty bad main event. It featured no excitement at all and three heels that really couldn't go all that well anymore. The big storyline here was if Sid would be impartial or not. The Ultimate Warrior would be suspended for arguing with Vince about money and wouldn't appear in the WWF again until Wrestlemania 8. Slaughter would also turn face not too long after this.*Macho Man and Elizabeth's wedding ends the show. It ends without any shenanigans. I'm not so sure this should end a PPV, but it was sweet enough. I love Macho and Elizabeth so it didn't bother me.Overall, Summerslam 91 is worthwhile, but it takes a bit of a tumble after the first few matches. The faces dominated the entire PPV with only two heels getting a victory during the show. Not to mention that we also got three title changes as well. The main reason to see this show is the absolute classic between Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect. It's one of the best matches you'll ever see.

Here are the matches...Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, British Bulldog and Texas Tornado v Warlord and Power and Glory: What on earth is Steamboat wearing? Lol. I don't think he is referred to by name, just by his moniker 'The Dragon' and spends most of the time in the ring getting beat up. The weak link is Paul Roma and he gets body-crossed by Steamboat for the pin. An okay starter but there is talent in this match that could have had better separate matches. This is Paul Roma's last PPV and Steamboat leaves the WWF shortly afterwards. 5/10 Bret 'The Hit-man' Hart v Mr Perfect for the Intercontinental title: Mr Perfect, for one PPV only, has 'coach' as his manager who does very little. What makes this match excellent is probably not the wrestling itself but the way Mr Perfect bumps throughout. Mr Perfect spins and gets crotched into ring posts like nobody's business. Perfect smacks Hart off the apron at one point when he tries to get in the ring, flinging him into a camera man and Hart kicks out of the Perfect Plex. The match ends when Hart applies the sharpshooter. Mr Perfect had an injured back and so immediately submitted. Hart is the new Intercontinental champion. This is Hart's debut as a singles wrestler and he does a great job of it. 8/10 Bushwhackers (with Andre the Giant) v Natural Disasters: Bushwhackers oddly enough keep control through most of the match and actually put on a more intelligent fight than usual. It all ended rather predictably when Butch gets squashed in Earthquake's vertical splash. After the match, the Disasters threaten to beat up Andre when the summertime vigilantes Legion of Doom even the odds. That's the second consecutive Summerslam the LOD have come to ringside to help someone out. It would be the last time we see Andre the Giant on PPV as he died in February 1993. 4/10 Virgil v 'Million dollar man' Ted Dibiase for the million dollar belt: Virgil starts off burning and applies the million dollar dream but Dibiase's manager 'Sensational' Sherri hits Virgil with her loaded purse and the bell rings teasing a disqualification. The referee wants Sherri away from the ring and the match continues. Roddy Piper does terrible commentary all night but he sells this match well with nice interplay between him and Dibiase. Dibiase mocks Piper after every move he executes on Virgil. Ted takes advantage of the ref being on the floor by removing a turnbuckle. However, Dibiase is sent head first into it and Virgil gets the pin. Virgil's success proves to be his downfall as the WWF don't know what to do with his character afterwards. 5/10 Bigbossman v Mountie in a jail-house match: I have seen this match a few times now and just can't get into it. As Jacques Rougeau he was okay, as The Mountie he was abysmal. The biggest surprise was Mountie kicking out of The Bossman Slam but gets pinned after the Alabama Jammer. I think I was more interested in the conclusion rather than the match itself. 4/10 Legion of Doom v Nasty Boys in a no disqualification/no count-out match for the tag team titles: Sags actually does most of the rule-breaking at the start spraying something into Hawk's eyes and then hitting him over the back with what appears to be a tray of drinks. It becomes more genteel and settles into a tag match. It ends when Nasty Boys both get hit on the head with Jimmy Hart's helmet and Doomsday Device on Sags to secure the pin to become new tag team champions. This really should have played out like an ECW tornado match. 5/10 Greg 'Hammer' Valentine v IRS: I think this is the only time we hear Greg Valentine's ring music. I like The Hammer but this is really slow even by his standards and IRS's stalling makes it worse. The Hammer gets ensnared in the cradle trying to apply the figure four leg-lock (how many times does Valentine lose this way?). Pretty much the end of the line for Greg Valentine who was ill-used in the WWF after 1988. 3/10 Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior v Sgt Slaughter, Colonel Mustapha and General Adnan in a handicap match (Sid Justice as special referee): Four years after the first Summerslam and we have another 'is the ref biased or not?' subplot. This is hopeless for so many reasons. 1. The Gulf War finished months before. 2. Hogan already pinned Slaughter at Wrestlemania VII. 3. Everybody in the match performed terribly. 4. Despite the handicap rules, did the WWF really think the 'Triangle of Terror' would pose such a challenge to Warrior and Hogan? Warrior and Hogan beat 5 better mid-carders in the previous Survivor Series. 5. Warrior and Hogan were obviously the stronger side yet Hogan still cheated to win the match with powder. This is the third out of four Summerslams to have the tag team main event format and was a clear sign that Hulkamania was running out of steam. 3/10 We now have the 'privilege' of attending 'Machoman' Randy Savage and Elizabeth's wedding (even though they married for real in 1986). It's just an elaborate way of setting up a feud with Jake Roberts. One question though - why does Gene Okerlund refer to the bride and groom as 'Mr and Mrs Macho'? The Intercontinental title match between Hart and Perfect saved this PPV from being a right mess. The undercard wasn't that thrilling (only the blow-off between Dibiase and Virgil was memorable). The WWF can get away with that if the main event is of exceptional quality (Wrestlemania VI comes to mind) but the main event of Summerslam 1991 was premeditively disgusting. The Machoman/Elizabeth wedding would have been better served on a Saturday Night's Main Event than a PPV.

*SPOILERS*Until the last three segments, this one was really good.The opening six-man match was a good way of putting over two guys in one match. I say "two" because all the Texas Tornado did was punch. But it took the British Bulldog a year to go over at least that well again, and The Dragon was gone soon after.The big reason the Bret-Perfect match is so memorable is that it was Bret's first great high-profile match. He has said that most wrestlers had their best match against him, and no one can deny it.\The Bushwhackers put up a great fight against the Disasters, and the spot with the Legion of Doom afterward was almost as big a highlight as what the LOD did later on that afternoon.The Big Bossman always was an underrated performer. He and Jake the Snake are the only wrestlers who I remember could have a good match with the late Hercules. Here, he dominated the Mountie, but the real show went on afterward. Look closely and you'll see the Mountie give a jailer the finger. And the end of his segment is too funny for words. Kudos to Jacques Rougeau in selling this spot so well.While the LOD's match against the Nasty Boys was good, why did they bother making it a "No Disqualification, No Countout" match? The Nasty Boys make sure to do all of their cheating behind the ref's back, and Animal spends most of the match on the apron waiting for Hawk's tag. He would not have been disqualified for running in! That's the whole point!After that, we get a mediocre match between Valentine and IRS, followed by the worst main event in SummerSlam history. That includes the one from '89. Then the ludicrous wedding, which was an elaborate setup for the major feuds of the next few months.So rent it, but just hit "stop" after LOD's match.