Following the epic Hogan/Warrior showdown of Wrestlemania VI, the WWF entered a bit of an awkward period. They couldn't push Hogan as hard as they had in the past, and the Warrior didn't prove to have much staying power. As such, this SummerSlam event ended up being a hodgepodge of awkward (though perhaps not terrible) matches.For example...-Texas Tornado being the one to snap Mr. Perfect's streak. Texas Tornado?! -Hogan vs. Earthquake in the penultimate match. It's one thing for five minutes of Hogan strutting when he's the champion. Doing it after a lackluster victory over a completely airless rival is quite another. Almost a little sickening. -The "big finale" sees Warrior and Rick Rude unable to put on much of a show in the steel cage. One has to think that the WWF was pretty panicked at this point, as the bloom went off the Warrior rose so quickly.The two quality matches in this event were:-Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (with new teammate Smash). I can't remember exactly, but I have a feeling Bret Hart will be going solo pretty soon, as he puts on too good of a show to be stuck in a tag team format. -Jake Roberts vs. Bad News Brown. During this era, could anyone energize an arena more than "The Snake"? He brings his A game pretty much every single time.Overall, then, SummerSlam '90 was an even event to judge. It wasn't completely bereft of talent or excitement, but it just felt so odd and awkward at the same time. Very much a transition period (but clearly the transition hadn't happened yet and perhaps no goal was even in sight).

There had been a big shift in the professional wrestling landscape since The Ultimate Warriors upset win over Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI. Warrior had surrendered the Intercontinental Title, allowing Mr Perfect to win a tournament and become IC Champion. In the meantime the Warrior had been challenged by Rick Rude, the man who ended his winning streak at Wrestlemania V, to a match for the WWE Title.Hulk Hogan had been destroyed by Earthquake not long after his loss at Wrestlemania VI, but the prayers and letters from his Hulkamaniacs had given him the strength to come back and he would make a play for revenge tonight on Earthquake and Heenan.But first let's start the night with Paul Roma and Hercules aka Power and Glory defeating the Rockers Shawn Micheals and Marty Janetty. Well they beat Janetty anyway, Micheals was hit by HErcules and blew out his knee before the match. Fictional as far as I know. Marty puts up a fight for about 6 minutes, but falls to the mighty Hercules.Mean Gene gets some words with IC Champion Mr Perfect and Bobby Heenan, and then with his opponent Kerry Von Erich, the Texas Tornado. Von Erich defeated Perfect, winning a short match. The crowd went wild and this was a great moment. Tragically, Von Erich failed a drug test, was fired, and took his own life about a year later. A talented performer, his death was a huge loss for professional wrestling.Sapphire didn't turn up for her match with Queen Sherri. Sherri had the ref declare her winner by forfeit and forced him to raise her hand. It turned out that Sapphire, Dusty Rhodes' favourite woman had been bought out by the Million Dollar Man, turning on Rhodes.Next up Warlord defeated Tito Santana in a short match, Mean Gene then interviewed WWE tag Team Champions Demolition and the Hart Foundation about their upcoming two out of three falls championship match. Tonight Demolition was made up of Smash and Cruch, who have the same weird face paint which they use to cheat at various times in the match. They split the first two falls. The end comes with the Legion of Doom drawing Smash out of the ring, giving the Hart Foundation the chance to double team Crush and get the pin. Your winners and new WWE Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation.Next up we get a series of interviews before Jake the Snake Roberts defeats Bad News Brown by DQ In Brown's final match in the WWE. Brown jabs Snake in the ribs with a steel chair to get the match thrown out.Next up we have Sgt Slaughter telling us all that Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the rest of America has gone soft by being welcoming to Russians. He brings this up to set up his defection to Iraq and also because Hacksaw is siding with Russian Nikolai Volkoff in the next match.Well, Duggan and Volkoff have little trouble dispatching the Orient Express in a very short match. Tanaka eats the pin.This is followed by a other short match with Randy Savage ending his feud with Dusty Rhodes with a victory. Rhodes had just found doubt before the match that Sapphire had turned on him and allied herself with DiBiase. He was easily distracted by Queen Sherri who slipped a loaded purse to Savage for the Macho King to knock him out get the pin.This leads us to the big match of the night, Hulk Hogans taking on the man who had sideline him earlier in the year Earthquake. Earthquake hits some devastating moves on Hogan, including two splashes, BUt HOgan hulks up and brawls with Earthquake outside the ring, slipping back into beat a 10 count and claiming a count out victory. Hulkamania was back, but the magic would be largely absent this time unfortunately.Next comes the interviews with Rick Rude and Ultimate Warrior and finally our Main Event as Warrior puts the WWE Championship on the line inside a steel cage. This match is a little more one sided than some of their earlier matches. Rude come off the top of the cage a few times, but Warrior calls down the powers, hits guerrilla press slam and climbs out of the cage. Not a long, or as memorable, as some of their earlier matches.Well, Hulkamania was back, though diluted, and Warrior continued along his merry way as champion. Just where was all this going? Well, we'd have to wait till Survivor Series to find out.

*SPOILERS*In some ways, this one was terrible. Santana vs. Warlord, Bad News Brown vs. Jake, and Savage vs. Rhodes were just painful to watch. Savage and Rhodes actually had a great match months later on Saturday Night's Main Event (Dustin Rhodes' first tv appearance). The late Sapphire vs. Scary Sherri, potentially the worst match in SummerSlam history, didn't even happen.Marty Jannetty vs. Hercules and Paul Roma wasn't actually that bad. Marty actually came very close to winning. I'm sure they wanted to include Michaels in the match, but they had to stage the knee injury that occurred days before the event. Notice how Marty and Shawn walk to the ring rather than run.Mr. Perfect really started jobbing after WM VI. This was Kerry Von Erich's single WWF highlight. He was a fantastic person (I met him once in Honolulu), but he used even fewer wrestling moves than the Ultimate Warrior. After this, he would lose several times to Perfect, and besides winning a non-televised feud with DiBiase, his WWF career went nowhere.Hacksaw Jim Duggan sure made quite a career out of SummerSlam tag team matches. Before this, the Orient Express had a great string of countout wins over the Rockers, and, yes, even Demolition. This was the beginning of their downfall.The Hart Foundation-"Demolition" match was superior to their match from '88, and almost as good as Bret and Jim's match against the Brain Busters the year before. I don't know about any of you, but Ax and Smash look nothing alike. We really had to suspend our disbelief here. The Hart Foundation cemented their place here as the best tag team ever. We had lots of talented teams, but LOD, the Bulldogs, and the Steiners had disappointing careers. The Harts always did great, winning almost all their feuds: the Bulldogs, Killer Bees, Strike Force, Rougeaus, Rhythm & Blues (twice), Hercules and Paul Roma, and the Powers of Pain. Plus quick wins over the Orient Express and Bolsheviks. Strangely, the only team they never beat was the Rockers.Both of the main event matches were surprisingly good. I like how the referee allowed all the cheating in the Hogan-Earthquake match. And Rick Rude was fine in his last big WWF match. Strangely, he lost all his feuds: Jake the Snake, the Ultimate Warrior, and Roddy Piper.So watch the show, but know where to fast-forward. Especially the Jake-Bad News match. But the Harts-Demolition match and the main events are great.

In the spring of 1990, Hulk Hogan's career was in jeopardy. Weeks after a brutal encounter with the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania, Hogan was attacked by the 500-pound Earthquake, who repeated squashed Hogan enough times to send him to the hospital. Inspired by cards and letters from his Hulkamanics, Hogan returned to announce he had signed to fact Earthquake at SummerSlam 1990. Although Hogan did not get the revenge he wanted - Jimmy Hart and Dino Bravo interfered on Earthquake's behalf to give Hogan the DQ win - it was clear that Hogan and Hulkamania were back, and better than ever! SummerSlam '90 capped the bitter feud between the Ultimate Warrior and `Ravishing' Rick Rude when Warrior defeated Rude in a steel cage to retain the WWE Championship. Two title changes also took place: The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition in a best-of-three falls match to become WWE Tag Team Champions, and Kerry Von Erich - `The Texas Tornado' - defeated Mr. Perfect to win the Intercontinental Championship. Power and Glory defeated the Rockers Sensational Sherri defeated Sapphire when Sapphire never showed up The Warlord pinned Tito Santana Jake "the Snake" Roberts pinned Bad News Brown (Big Boss Man was guest ref) Nikolai Volkoff & "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def. the Orient Express Randy Savage pinned Dusty Rhodes The Texas Tornado pinned Mr. Perfect to win the Intercontinental Title The Hart Foundation defeated Demolition in a best-of-three-falls match to win the Tag Team Championship Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake by DQ WWE Champion The Ultimate Warrior defeating Rick Rude in a cage matchOverall Mark: B