The 1992 SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the American promotion World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the fifth annual SummerSlam and took place on Saturday, August 29, 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, England and aired on tape delay on Monday, August 31, 1992. It was the first major WWF pay-per-view to take place outside North America.
The pay-per-view included two main event matches. At the time of the event, Ultimate Warrior challenging "Macho Man" Randy Savage for the WWF Championship was promoted as the top of the bill match.Summerslam '92 report, WWF Magazine November 1992Summerslam '92, UK VHS, Silver Vision WF10 1992- cover art gives prime position to Savage vs Warrior match and depicts Hart vs Bulldog as one of three supporting matches, rear cover places Savage vs Warrior at top of list of matches with Hart vs Bulldog below it The Ultimate Warrior won the match by countout but did not win back the title he had held in 1990-1991. Retrospectively, WWE recognises "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith pinning Bret Hart to win the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship as having been the main event.WWE: SummerSlam 1992 - 30th Anniversary Edition DVD Sports DVD Freemantle 2022, front cover art depicts Hart vs Bulldog as main event match, rear cover match list places Hart vs Bulldog at top and relegates Warrior vs Savage to joint third place with Natural Disasters vs Beverly Brothers The undercard also included The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) retaining the WWF Tag Team Championship over The Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake), and Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel wrestling to a double countout in a match with the stipulation that the wrestlers were banned from hitting each other in the face.
The event had an attendance of 78,927. The company themselves claimed a disputed attendance of 80,355, which would make it their seventh-biggest event. It remains the highest attended wrestling event to take place in Europe. Between ticket prices and merchandise sales, the WWF made over $3,650,000 in revenue. Reviews of the event were almost all positive, with the Smith–Hart match rated as the best match in SummerSlam history.
Production Background
SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced every August by the American promotion World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four".Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) It has since become considered WWF's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania.
Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom had achieved major mainstream popularity via television broadcasts on ITV since 1955, particularly on Saturday afternoons. From 1965 to 1985, it was part of the show World of Sport, featuring matches from dominant promotional cartel Joint Promotions. The WWF's first significant foothold in the British market came in January 1987 when it began providing "American special" editions for the standalone Wrestling show which succeeded the slot (which the WWF and Joint Promotions shared with opposition promotion All Star Wrestling.) Less than two months after ITV cancelled its wrestling coverage in December 1988, the WWF relaunched on new satellite channel Sky One and by October 1989 was running house shows in London and Birmingham. From spring 1991, the WWF and its main US rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW) regularly held successful national tours of the UK. The European Rampage Tour of October 1991, across numerous countries, quickly sold out, and the success was replicated by the European Rampage Again Tour of April 1992. Overall, by 1992 wrestling in the UK was at the peak of a boom in popularity, and the WWF remained one of Sky TV's highest rated broadcasts, and ITV effectively reinstated Saturday afternoon wrestling by scheduling WCW in the old slot.
The fifth annual SummerSlam was originally intended to take place at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. However, buoyed by the WWF's growing popularity in Europe and the possibility of increasing the revenue, Sean Mooney revealed on a WWF Superstars taping that the event would take place in Europe, but a venue had not yet been decided. During a June 9 press conference, the WWF officially confirmed that SummerSlam would take place at Wembley Stadium in London. The event was scheduled to be held on Saturday, August 29, 1992, and it aired on tape delay on Monday, August 31. Shawn Michaels was originally booked to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Bret Hart, but the storyline was adjusted due to the change of venue. As a result, "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, a native of Golborne, a working-class town in the north of England, was chosen to win the title.
Storylines
One of the main events was the Intercontinental Championship match between Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith, brothers-in-law in real life as Smith was married to Diana Hart, Bret's sister. On television broadcasts leading up to SummerSlam, interviews with Diana and her mother Helen portrayed the family as being torn apart by the upcoming match. Bruce Hart publicly supported Smith, while Owen Hart sided with his brother Bret. Diana stated that she did not know who she wanted to win the match, as she had close ties to both men. She ultimately stated that she simply hoped that neither wrestler would get hurt. Prior to the match, Smith was hospitalized with a legitimate staph infection in his knee. Despite the concerns about his health, he decided to wrestle the match as planned. Bret Hart later revealed in an interview that he doubted the legitimacy of the injury.
The other main event was a WWF Championship match between Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage. Although they had a previous run of house show matches in early 1989, the rivalry between them began in earnest in the fall of 1990, when Sensational Sherri, who was managing Savage, tried to arrange a match between Savage and Warrior. The Warrior refused to defend his WWF Championship against Savage, and he ripped up a contract that Sherri had given him. While they faced each other at house shows over the next few months, where Savage was unable to win the title, they never had a televised match with each other. Savage then interfered in the title match at Royal Rumble 1991, enabling Sgt. Slaughter to win the title. To settle the rivalry, Savage and the Warrior agreed to face each other in a retirement match at WrestleMania VII. The Warrior won the match, forcing Savage into retirement. However, Savage would be reinstated as an active wrestler in November 1991. by which time the Warrior had left the WWF. The following year, the rivalry was rekindled when Ultimate Warrior, having returned to the WWF at WrestleMania VIII on April 5, 1992. was granted a shot at the WWF Championship, which Savage had won from Ric Flair earlier that same evening. Flair and his executive consultant Mr. Perfect, were upset that Flair had not been granted a rematch. They decided to cause trouble between Savage and the Warrior. In August, Perfect claimed that he was in negotiations with Savage and Warrior, who both had sought his managerial services, but refused to clarify which wrestler he would support at SummerSlam. At the SummerSlam Spectacular, a show designed to promote the pay-per-view, Savage and the Warrior teamed up to face The Nasty Boys. Perfect and Ric Flair interfered in the match, resulting in a count-out victory for the Nasty Boys and more animosity between Savage and Warrior.
The undercard included two tag team matches: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) and The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) had been feuding in 1992 over the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Legion of Doom held the championship belts until dropping the title to Money Inc. This title change occurred after Hawk failed a drug test and was suspended. Once Hawk's suspension ended, a rematch was scheduled to take place at SummerSlam. The match was first scheduled as a title match but Money Inc. lost the championship to The Natural Disasters.
Meanwhile, the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) and the Beverly Brothers (Beau Beverly and Blake Beverly) had a rivalry dating back to a match aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling on July 20, 1992. While Earthquake brawled with Beau and Blake, Typhoon attacked the Beverlys' manager, The Genius. When the Disasters won the WWF Tag Team Championship, their SummerSlam match was transformed into a title match.
The rivalry between Shawn Michaels against Rick Martel centred around Martel's attempts to steal Michaels' manager Sensational Sherri. During one of Michaels' matches televised on August 9, 1992, Martel came to ringside and winked at Sherri, who returned the gesture. At the SummerSlam Spectacular, Sherri came to the ring during one of Martel's matches and winked at him. Both Michaels and Martel were "heel" wrestlers who bragged about their good looks, and Sherri had them agree not to hit each other in the face during their SummerSlam match.
Event
Preliminary matches + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorVince McMahonBobby HeenanInterviewerLord Alfred HayesSean MooneyGene OkerlundRing announcerHoward FinkelRefereeMike ChiodaDanny DavisEarl HebnerJoey Marella
Before recording of the pay-per-view broadcast, two matches were taped for later showings on WWF Prime Time Wrestling. These matches were never advertised on US television in the weeks leading up to SummerSlam. The first match saw "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers (Bushwhacker Luke and Bushwhacker Butch) defeat The Mountie and The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags) when Duggan pinned The Mountie. In the other match, Papa Shango defeated Tito Santana by pinfall.
The actual pay-per-view opened with the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) taking on Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster). The Legion of Doom used their size and power to wear down their opponents in the opening minutes of the match. Money Inc. gained the advantage when Hawk missed a flying clothesline. Hawk tried to tag in his partner but was unable for several minutes because Money Inc. kept him away from the corner where Animal was standing. Eventually, Hawk and Schyster hit each other at the same time. Hawk tagged Animal in, and the Legion of Doom attempted the Doomsday device, their signature move. Schyster stopped them, but Animal hit Schyster in retaliation, causing Schyster to run into DiBiase. Animal then powerslammed DiBiase and pinned him to get the victory.
The second match of the broadcast pitted Nailz against Virgil. Nailz spent the majority of the match choking Virgil. Virgil recovered several times and performed several offensive maneuvers, but Nailz always regained the advantage. Ultimately, Nailz won the match by performing a sleeper hold. After the match, he attacked Virgil with a nightstick.