Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

14. WWE SummerSlam 1991

• The British Bulldog, Ricky Steamboat & The Texas Tornado def. Power and Glory & The Warlord (6-Man Tag Match)
• Bret Hart def. Mr. Perfect to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• The Natural Disasters def. The Bushwhackers
• Virgil def. Ted Dibiase to win the Million Dollar Championship
• Big Boss Man def. The Mountie (Jailhouse Match)
• The Legion of Doom def. The Nasty Boys to win the WWE Tag Team Championship (Street Fight)
• Irwin R. Schyster def. Greg Valentine
• Hulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior def. Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa & General Adnan

A year before headlining SummerSlam in his home country, The British Bulldog opened the 1991 edition of SummerSlam by teaming with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Kerry Von Erich to defeat Power and Glory and The Warlord in the first of what were a lot of fun matches on the night, even if some may not be as technically sound from top to bottom as some of the other cards that have already been listed.

Bret Hart was going after his first singles title at this point after having split from The Anvil and leaving The Hart Foundation behind. His opponent for the night was Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect and this match was exactly what you’d expect from two of the best in-ring technicians the business has ever seen.

Even today, if you’re going to show someone wanting to break into the wrestling business what a wrestling match is supposed to look like, show them this one. It was counter after counter and Bret was the first to kick out of the Perfect Plex, which was at a time when kicking out of finishers was pretty rare. He slapped on the Sharpshooter and walked out as the new champ.

The Natural Disasters beat The Bushwhackers in what was a pretty forgettable match but the big note from this one is that Andre the Giant was seated at ringside for this one, even getting a few shots in on Earthquake in what would be his last big appearance on WWE television.

Part of the fun of this night was that this was the beginning of Ric Flair’s arrival in WWE, which was huge at the time. Bobby Heenan even knocked on Hulk Hogan’s dressing room door and issued a challenge from the real World Champion.

In what was certainly no clinic but still a lot of fun for us who grew up in that era, Virgil finally got his big moment by defeating his former boss, Ted Dibiase, for the Million Dollar Championship, which wasn’t even a real title. But you would have thought that Virgil had just won the main event at WrestleMania with the celebration and the way Roddy Piper was going nuts on commentary. It made for a fun moment and was actually a better match than I had remembered.

Big Boss Man and The Mountie, who was just Jacques Rougeau in a costume, battled in a Jail House Match — you know, because they’re both in law enforcement — and since The Mountie lost, he had to spend the night in jail and Boss Man dragged him away in cuffs after getting the win. It was pretty hilarious.

LOD won their first WWE Tag Team Championship that night with a win over The Nasty Boys, which the crowd popped like crazy for, and IRS got a singles win over Greg “The Hammer” Valentine to lead us into the main event.

With Sid Justice serving as the special guest referee, the dream team for kids everywhere, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior, took on Sgt. Slaughter, the watered-down version of The Iron Sheik that was now called Colonel Mustafa and General Adnan. This match was a lot like the ’89 main event. It wasn’t great by any stretch of the imagination but it was fun and did exactly what it was supposed to do. The crowd was hot for it, the good guys won and then Warrior was gone for seven months after Vince sent him home right after he got back to the locker room.

The night ended with the wedding of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, who had actually been married for eight years in real life. But after their amazing reunion at WrestleMania, WWE had to capitalize on it and went with the big production to close things out. The big thing after was Jake “The Snake” Roberts ruining the afterparty, which eventually led to Savage being “reinstated” as an active wrestler. Just a fun night, overall.