WWE SummerSlam: Ranking every main event in history
By Luke Norris
20. SummerSlam 1989: Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. Randy Savage & Zeus
There’s so much of me that wants to put this match even higher than 20th on this list, as it is one of my favorite SummerSlam matches of all time, but I’m trying to be at least somewhat professional here and not fanboy out too much.
Let me say that the wrestling here is not good. For one, you’ve got Hulk Hogan doing Hulk Hogan things. Even as my favorite of all time, let’s not pretend that he’s the best mat technician of all time, even though I will tell you to watch some of his matches from Japan to see a completely different side of him. Then you’ve got Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, who essentially owes all of his success to being Hogan’s buddy. Then you’ve got Zeus, an actor (albeit a rather large one) that couldn’t get past Hogan’s character, Rip, in No Holds Barred so he decided to come to the WWF to settle the score. I love the ’80s so much. Luckily, Randy Savage is as good a wrestler as there’s ever been inside the squared circle so we at least get some solid moves in there. And yet, this match is still insanely fun to watch.
The big story here was that Hogan couldn’t hurt Zeus no matter what he did on the big screen. Zeus had dominated him leading up to this match by showing up on Saturday Night’s Main Event and other programs since the movie’s release and SummerSlam was going to be the night that Hulkamania was crushed. Savage still had a score to settle with The Hulkster as well after dropping the title to him at WrestleMania V and he had run a decent little program with Beefcake over the summer. Throw in the return of Miss Elizabeth on Hogan’s side this time and the always-amazing work of Sensational Sherri and how could this not be a good time?
Seriously, the moment when Hogan and Zeus finally really square off at the end is electric. There’s no style to it but the crowd is so hot for it and the end is a whirlwind with the purse and Sherri and Liz and all of it. This was too much fun not to put into the top 20.