WWF SummerSlam Spectacular (August 1992)

Original Airdate: August 23, 1992

This was a go-home, hard sell show for SummerSlam 1992 – put on during a Wrestling Challenge taping a few weeks before – and airing as a special on the USA Network. Also, it's spectacular!

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan – dressed as Sherlock Holmes, along with a bad British accent.


Opening Match: Tito Santana v Ric Flair: They do a couple quick wrestling stalemates (with Flair complaining of hair pulling the whole way, natch), but quickly break down into a slugfest, after Flair tries a cheap shot. Backdrop by Santana, and he goes ballistic with clotheslines, knocking Flair to the floor. Flair hangs out there to regroup, and it works, as he manages to level Tito with chops on the way back in, and then toss him to the floor to return the favor. Inside, Flair continues to throw chops, and a backelbow takes Tito down, but Flair walks into a drop-toe hold, and Santana quickly locks a figure four. Not surprisingly, Flair makes the ropes, so Tito drags him right back into another. Flair makes the ropes again, so Tito starts firing shots at the leg, but Flair blows him low to stop that effort. He tries his own figure four, but gets cradled. More chops, but he gets slammed off of the top rope, and backdropped again. Diving forearm gets two, when Flair managed Mr. Perfect literally drags him off. Tito's got his blinders on, though, and stays focused right on Flair with a schoolboy for two. Ten punch count flops Flair, and Santana suplexes him for two. Bodypress for two, so Perfect interferes again - this time whacking Tito with a chair to the knee. Figure four finishes for Flair at 16:30. Match had some timing issues, but was solid overall - with a nice helping of psychology. I loved Flair's first WWF run, but they grossly misused him by not booking him for a match at SummerSlam. Even as a kid, I found that weird. Even Flair still seems bitter about it, name checking his omission during his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech. *

Tatanka v Kato: Kato dominates the feeling out process, but runs into a hiptoss, and gets slammed. Tatanka with an armbar, Kato chops his way free, but gets atomic dropped for his trouble, so he dumps Tatanka to catch a quick breather. That allows manager Mr. Fuji to get off a shot with his omnipresent cane, and Kato slams Tatanka on the way back in. Chinlock, but Tatanka JIGS UP!! Clothesline! Flying Tomahawk Chop! Fallaway Slam! 8:40! Extended squash, as they were showcasing Tatanka during this period. And I guess they figured super dull matches were the way to do that. ¼*

Nailz v Ken Wayne: Nailz chokes Wayne like his last name’s 'McMahon,' and whips him to the floor with ease. Back in, Nailz launches him across the ring with a press slam, and goes back to the choke. Hand chokes, rope chokes, boot chokes - he does it all! In fact, he finishes with a choke variation (the sleeper) at 3:48. The jobber was game, but this had more choking than a Lex Luger compilation. Still, I would have paid good money to see Nailz v '92 Undertaker, if only to play some sort of chokehold related drinking game. ¼*

Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior v The Nasty Boys: Warrior and Savage, who had been having increasingly tense relations for weeks over their impending WWF Title match at SummerSlam, argue over who will start. They settle on Warrior to start with Jerry Sags, and he clotheslines the shit out of him. Not literally, thankfully. Brian Knobs runs in, but Warrior fends them both off with ease, then gives a hostile tag to Savage. Savage is more concerned with Warrior than the Nasties, though, allowing Knobs to jump him. Savage quickly takes over with an elbowsmash, then takes both Nasties out with a flying axehandle. Second one for Sags, and he gives Warrior a hostile tag right back. Warrior eggs him on by hitting his own flying axehandle, and then gloating that his is better. That allows the Nasties to jump him, and try to cut the ring in half - though Warrior pretty much no-sells the whole thing, and levels them both with a series of clotheslines. Tag to Savage, and Warrior passive aggressively hold the ropes open for him - so Randy leaps over them rather than acknowledge him. He continues the slaughter of the Nasties, but the referee gets bumped, and they clock Savage with their motorcycle helmet. That draws out Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect (who had been stirring the pot between Warrior and Savage, telling each that the other had turned on him), and they destroy Savage and Warrior with chairs. The referee finally recovers - having missed the entire beat down - and counts the faces out at 12:00. The Nasties may have technically won, but they were made to look like complete and total jobbers here - with even their double-team stuff casually shrugged off by Savage and Warrior so they could get back to engaging in their drama. DUD

Rick Martel v Joey Maggs: Maggs looks like a period appropriate Scott Steiner clone - with his tights, and perm. He tries to take Martel down, but Rick uses his speed to dodge whatever Maggs throws. Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels' (Martel's opponent for SummerSlam) manager, Sensational Sherri hits ringside to distract Martel. He flexes for her, allowing Maggs to schoolboy him - and that's enough to piss Martel off, finishing with a backbreaker and a Boston Crab at 2:43. Just a squash, with a bit of angle thrown in. DUD.

Kamala v Burt Stiles: Kamala literally uses his gut to take the early advantage, so much so that Stiles has to actually bail to the floor to avoid his fat. Inside, Kamala with a splash, and a nonchalant cover gets the pin at 2:31. Kamala must have ordered squash. DUD

Money Inc v The Bushwhackers: The 'Whackers do their standard 'bite everyone’s ass' routine to start (a lot of people have been saddled with shitty routines over the years, but drawing the 'literally bury your face in every one of your opponents' sweaty asses, and chew' card has to be the all time worst), and The 'Whackers clean house with clotheslines, but Ted DiBiase has enough of their shit, and jumps Luke for IRS to choke with the tag rope. Money Inc cut the ring in half, but Luke manages to escape a death defying chinlock to get the tag to Butch. He's an outhouse of arson, and the 'Whackers look to finish with the Battering Ram, but Money manager Jimmy Hart gets involved, and IRS gets the pin at 5:50. Aaaaaannnndd DUD

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Bret Hart v Skinner: Bret tries a quick rollup, but Skinner hits the deck to dodge him, and Hart flies to the floor. Skinner follows out with an axehandle off of the apron, and hits Hart in the throat with his Gator Glove. Inside, Skinner continues to choke him with it, but the referee catches him, so he reverts to biting. Rope-assisted abdominal stretch, and more choking, but Bret throws a sunset flip for two. Skinner responds with a well executed shoulderbreaker, but gets decked off of a flying axehandle attempt, and caught with the Russian legsweep. Backbreaker gets two, but a blind charge misses, so Skinner tries to blow him low, only to have Hart tie him up on the mat (he already had a chick in the front row scheduled to blow him low, and didn’t want to have to shower first), and roll into the Sharpshooter at 6:16. Bret got the biggest pop of the night, and not surprisingly, would end up WWF Champion by the end of the year. This was well paced, and Hart looked good, but nothing extraordinary here. ½*

BUExperience: The message was clear here: buy SummerSlam or Kamala will show up in your living room, and shit down your throat while you try to entertain your in-laws. That gives new meaning to ‘hard sell’ but the early 90s were tough financial times for the WWF, and they did what they had to do.

Pretty much one big commercial for SummerSlam, and while it makes a decent companion piece to the big show – certainly nothing to go out of your way to see.