By Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor

With this weekend's SummerSlam event taking place, I decided to go back 15 years and review SummerSlam 1992. SummerSlam 1992 was the fifth SummerSlam event. It took place on August 29, 1992 at Wembley Stadium, London, England but aired in the United States on August 31. At the time, it was the second largest live audience to ever attend a WWF event with announced attendance at 80,355; trailing only WrestleMania III in 1987 with an announced attendance of 93,173. The buy rate for this PPV had to be considered a disappointment as it drew a 1.5 rating, well below the 1991 buy rate of 2.7. However, this was still well above their biggest competition at the time, WCW's Great American Bash PPV which only drew a .40 buy rate. The billed main event was Randy Savage defending the WWF Title against The Ultimate Warrior; however the main event of SummerSlam 1992 actually pitted brother in law against brother in law when WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart wrestled Davey Boy Smith.

In a dark match, Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers defeated The Nasty Boys and The Mountie when Duggan pinned the Mountie in 12:33. In another dark match, Papa Shango defeated Tito Santana in 6:00 by pin fall.

In the first televised PPV match, the Legion of Doom defeated Money Inc in 15:10. Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are the announcers. Money Inc came out to a great heel reaction from the crowd, while the LOD rode their motorcycles out while the crowd chanted LOD. DiBiase and Hawk started the match with LOD gaining the early upper hand with power moves. Jimmy Hart is in the corner of Money Inc. while Paul Ellering is in the corner of LOD. I felt sorry for Ellering during this time period as the LOD was saddled with the stupid gimmick of having a ventriloquist dummy give them advice to win the titles. Poor Ellering had to carry this dummy around and pretend it was talking to him. It was just painful for me to see the Road Warriors, the most dominant tag team of the 80's, be forced to have such a lame gimmick. The majority of the match saw DiBiase and I.R.S. double team Hawk to build to the hot tag to Animal. After teasing several false tags, Animal finally got the hot tag in and cleaned house. The finish saw the LOD tease the Doomsday finisher, but Schyster broke up the attempt with a drop kick. Animal threw DiBiase into Schyster and power slammed DiBiase for the pin. Hawk looked legitimately lost at the finish. LOD selling throughout the match and playing the sympathetic babyfaces was not their strong suit. (**)

Next, Nailz defeated Virgil in 3:55. Nailz was Kevin Wacholz, a former AWA wrestler under the name of Kevin Kelly. He was doing a convict gimmick and had previously attacked The Big Bossman and put him out of action, claiming The Big Bossman had been one of his guards in prison. Virgil was trying to gain a measure of revenge for his friend The Big Bossman but the match was basically a squash for Nailz. (1/2 *) Slow methodical match with no build.

Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel fought to a double count out in 8:06. Story was Sherri Martel had a crush on Rick Martel but was in love with Michaels and was his manager so she made the stipulation that neither man could punch the other in the face. Michaels got a strong reaction when he was announced. I loved Rick Martel as AWA champion but I hated his "model" gimmick. Originally from Montreal, Canada; he was billed as from Cocoa Beach, Florida. Finish came when Sheri "fainted" and both men went to check on her and were counted out as they fought over her. They were having a very good, athletic match until the lame finish. (**1/2)

In a match for the WWF Tag Team Titles, the Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon) defeated the Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake Beverly) in 10:30 to retain the WWF titles. The Disasters had recently defeated Money, Inc for the titles in July for their first and only tag team title reign. The Beverly Brothers were Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom, former AWA World Tag Team champions. The Beverly's worked over Typhoon most of the match until Avalanche made a tag in and pinned Beau Beverly after an Earthquake splash. The match was laid out almost exactly the same as the LOD-Money Inc. match. (*1/2)

In the next match, Crush defeated The Repo Man in 5:41. Both of these men were former teammates in Demolition, although this was never mentioned on the broadcast. It was sad to watch Crush (Bryan Adams) in this match due to his recent passing. Crush made Repo submit with the Cranium Crush. The match wasn't horrible. (*)

The next match was the advertised main event with The Ultimate Warrior defeating Randy Savage in 28:00 by countout due to interference by Ric Flair and Curt Hennig. Randy Savage had defeated Ric Flair in April at Wrestlemania and this was his second run with the title. Flair and Hennig teased they would be in someone's corner during the match but wouldn't comment on whose corner it would be as the story of the match was either Savage or the Warrior would sell out to Flair and Perfect. Savage and Warrior were both babyfaces at this time, so Flair and Hennig were working as the heel element in this fued. Warrior and Savage had a surprisingly strong match going until interference from Hennig and Flair ended the match. (**1/2)

Next, The Undertaker defeated Kamala by disqualification in 3:27. Undertaker rode to the ring on the back of a hearse. Whoever decided to keep this match short wins a gold star. (1/2 *)

In another dark match, Tatanka defeated The Berzerker by pinfall in 5:46.

In the final match of the evening, Davey Boy Smith defeated Bret Hart by pinfall in 25:40 to win the WWF Intercontinental Title. Bret Hart won the title from Roddy Piper the previous April at WrestleMania and this would be his last match as Intercontinental champion as he would never win the title again. This would also be Davey Boy's only Intercontinental title run. Both Smith and Hart were interviewed prior to the match, adding to the importance of the match. Hart played the subtle heel during his interview and during the match. The British Bulldog was introduced first and received a huge ovation from his hometown crowd. Early stages of the match was tremendous with the Bulldog using his power to take control of the match. Hart mixed in his technical expertise to make it competitive. Midway through the match Hart took control and the announcers played it up big that Smith had given his best but wouldn't be able to defeat Hart for the title. Bulldog started to make his comeback again using his power. Smith hit his running power slam but Hart kicked out, frustrating Smith. Announcers again played it up that Smith had no chance to beat Hart if his finisher couldn't put the Hitman away. Finish came when Hart reversed a suplex for a near fall but Smith recovered to hit a superplex that Hart kicked out of and the crowd was on its feet. Hart applied the sharpshooter but Smith made the ropes to a huge pop. Smith reversed a sunset flip into a cradle for the pin. Huge crowd reaction for the Smith win. Match of the year candidate. (****1/2)

Summary: From a wrestling perspective, it was a one match show. This is a good overall PPV and well worth watching, especially the main event. Some of the undercard matches could have been better.

I hope you enjoyed this week's column. As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at bhoops@iw.net.

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