SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 16:02 Min.
Nearly five months after his WrestleMania V I-C Title win, “Ravishing” Rick Rude would again face The Ultimate Warrior in this grudge rematch. This SummerSlam ’89 showdown would occur at The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on August 28, 1989. Giving Rude a ringside advantage is his unscrupulous manager, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, whose interference had previously sealed Rude’s title win over the Warrior.
The match commentators are Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Tony Schiavone. Also making a pivotal ringside appearance is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, as he would be Rude’s next major feud.
Notes: This title clash has been collected at least times on WWE DVD sets: specifically, the first SummerSlam anthology (1988-1992); The History of the WWE Intercontinental Championship; and The Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection. In his last WWF Pay-Per-View main event a year later, Rude subsequently challenged for The Warrior’s WWF World Championship inside a steel cage at SummerSlam ’90 in Philadelphia, PA.
For trivia’s sake, Rude and the then-called ‘Dingo Warrior’ were once mid-80’s tag team partners in the Von Erichs’ World Class Championship Wrestling promotion.
REVIEW:
It’s been said that far too few competitors (i.e. “Macho Man” Randy Savage) could consistently conjure up excellent in-ring chemistry with The Ultimate Warrior. Among them, “Ravishing” Rick Rude is another name that comes to mind. Beyond these two wrestling icons, it’s likely a steep drop. Case in point: even “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig’s solo clashes with the Warrior, comparatively, were a few shades beyond merely watchable.
It’s indisputable that this Warrior-Rude bout’s initial few minutes imply another glorified Warrior squash win in the making. Patient viewers, however, are subsequently rewarded with perhaps the best I-C Title showdown since 1987’s Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat feud. I don’t make this assessment lightly – given I’m admittedly a fan of neither Rude nor the Warrior.
Rude and the Warrior’s SummerSlam ’89, however, effort readily surpasses the Honky Tonk Man’s endlessly cheap 1987-88 finishes – escaping the far more talented likes of Savage, Steamboat, and Jake Roberts, among others. Specifically, Rude leads with a high-caliber heel performance that prompts the Warrior to keep up with him for over fifteen minutes. The Warrior, in that sense, overcomes his ultra-limited power move set (and matches running only a few minutes) to appear closer to Rude’s in-ring equal.
What’s peculiar is that Bobby Heenan briefly teases some outside interference, but then nothing actually happens. It’s possible that a consummate professional like Heenan wouldn’t upstage Roddy Piper’s own contribution. Accordingly, fans will get a decisive yet hardly surprising end to the first Rude vs. Warrior title feud.
For a nostalgic return to SummerSlam ’89, this WWF Intercontinental Title match deserves re-discovery.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 8 Stars
