Let’s look back at WWE’s second edition of SummerSlam, a forgotten, feel-good show. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.

The Brain Busters def. The Hart Foundation: ★★★
Dusty Rhodes def. The Honky Tonk Man: ★
Mr. Perfect def. The Red Rooster: ★
Rick Martel and The Fabulous Rougeaus def. Tito Santana and The Rockers: ★★★
The Ultimate Warrior def. Rick Rude to win the Intercontinental Championship: ★★★
Jim Duggan and Demolition def. Andre The Giant and The Twin Towers: ★★
Greg Valentine def. Hercules: ★
“Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase def. Jimmy Snuka: ★
Hulk Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake def. “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Zeus: ★★

Show Highlight—

Ultimate Warrior regains IC title. It’s been said before but judging by the reaction to Warrior’s win, how could you not run Warrior going over Hogan at Mania? The pop was huge, the moment was expertly built, and paid off weaving storylines from the summer of 1989. Sadly, one could argue this was the height of Rick Rude’s importance in the WWE, and it’s a shame his dropping of the IC title didn’t springboard him to permanent main event status like other IC champs, Savage and (albeit later) Bret and Shawn. He got a rematch at SummerSlam ’90 for Warrior’s World title but he didn’t have the heat and chance to walk away with a belt like he had here.

What Worked—

Old school SummerSlam logo. Call it a nostalgia but I miss that clean, classic emblem for SummerSlam. WWE’s graphic design from the 80s was on fire and the branding of their events will always stay vivid in my mind compared to the logos of today.
Dusty’s Charisma. I was too young to be shellshocked by the repackaging of Dusty from the American Dream to the Common Man for me to be butthurt about it, but Jesus, Dusty was so over and did so little to get such big reactions. Sure, he’s a bit of a snake oil salesmen, but I can totally believe Bruce Prichard when he’d insist with Conrad that the polka dots were not a rib. And in hindsight, Vince was right to gimmick him as a monolith of magnetism as opposed to a stoic, Cormac McCarthy character. His Common Man vignettes in the spring of 1989 were gold, especially considering he was just riffing as he’d pretend to work at a burrito shop or gas station for comic effect. In hindsight, it’s kinda crazy Dusty didn’t get a breakout guest spot as the reoccurring blue collar goober on, say, Roseanne or Home Improvement.
“We’re All American Boys.” That entrance music still puts me in an ungodly state of rapture. Most underrated theme song ever. Only behind, “Jive Soul Bro.”

What Didn’t Work—

Harts and Brain Busters. It’s a bit rich to bitch about a match teetering on four stars, but WWE did not have an abundance of great matches in their early forays into PPV, considering how great both teams were it always felt like they left so much on the table considering they were given time.
Bossman’s pits. Poor Bubba’s stains were to his hips before he did anything out there.
Andre’s mobility. I don’t think his back allowed him to not be crouched over the entirety of the match. I was too young to know what the prevailing smart fan ethos was at the time, but I have to imagine so many felt horrible for him then.
WWE on Peacock’s edit. Did the WWE Network initially show the PPV version where Mean Gene screamed, “fuck it!”when the SummerSlam sign fell? That was the best blooper of all time.
Protecting Snuka. Jimmy couldn’t do a leapfrog even by this point. There was no reason why Snuka couldn’t have taken the million dollar dream for a clean loss. Especially when, you know, he was a murderer pretty much undeniably singularly responsible for someone no longer living.

Show Cringe—

“Rugged” Ronnie ring announcing. His roasting was so bad he made Ann Coulter look like Jeff Ross. And noted misanthrope Greg Valentine was so ravaged by depression that maybe his comic oversell about having two left feet was legit.

WWE SummerSlam 1989 Match Ratings and Commentary (Repost)

Top Ten WWE SummerSlam Matches of the 1990s (Repost)