SummerSlam 1991: Bret Hart Breaks Out; Virgil Gets Even; the Main Event Gets in the Way

The six-man opener is exactly what this card needs: recognizable babyfaces, enough athletic variety to keep the crowd moving and no expectation that anyone has to invent a complicated reason for the match to exist. Ricky Steamboat gives the early exchanges polish, Davey Boy Smith supplies the power, and Kerry Von Erich provides the uncomplicated crowd connection. On the other side, Warlord and Hercules create the size contrast while Paul Roma is the worker most capable of matching the babyfaces' pace.

The match becomes messy once all six men start cycling through late sequences, but the energy never disappears. Steamboat's presence gives the bout more technical credibility than the heel side might otherwise support, and the babyface victory is the obvious correct choice for an MSG opener.

Meltzer's reproduced rating is 2.25 stars, while Cagematch currently has the matchguide in the mid-fives. WrestleFile goes B / 7.6 because the match accomplishes its job cleanly and remains enjoyable without pretending to be more important than it is. It is also Steamboat's last significant WWF PPV appearance of this run, which adds historical texture without changing the grade.

Bret Hart versus Mr. Perfect is the match where WWF stops asking whether Bret can become a singles star and simply behaves as though the answer has already arrived. Perfect enters with a badly compromised back, but the match never asks the audience to grade on a curve. He bumps violently, controls long stretches with precision and gives Bret the sort of opponent whose reputation makes the victory immediately meaningful.

The storytelling is direct. Bret survives the Perfect-Plex, refuses to let Perfect walk out, attacks the legs and eventually catches the attempted leg drop into the Sharpshooter. Perfect gives up immediately, which makes the submission feel less like an extended dramatic pose and more like a hold applied to a body that has finally reached its limit.

WWE still treats the match as one of the defining Intercontinental Championship bouts in company history. Meltzer gave it four stars, Leighty also goes four, while Cagematch currently sits at 8.76 from more than 400 votes. WrestleFile lands at A+ / 9.6. It stops below the 9.8 A-plus club because some transitions are abrupt and the finish arrives faster than the match's legend sometimes remembers. The importance, chemistry and execution remain elite.

Natural Disasters versus Bushwhackers is six minutes of WWF discovering that four broad characters do not automatically create broad entertainment. The Bushwhackers spend the opening trying comedy offense, Earthquake and Typhoon eventually take control, and Andre the Giant's presence at ringside provides more emotional interest than anything happening between the ropes.

There is a basic story in the size mismatch, but the match never generates enough movement or jeopardy to make the outcome interesting. Earthquake ultimately flattens Butch with the splash, which is the logical result and mercifully the end.

Meltzer's reproduced rating is 0.75 stars, Cagematch currently has it barely above two out of ten, and both Canton and Leighty identify it as one of the show's obvious low points. WrestleFile lands at D- / 4.4 because it is not technically broken; it is simply slow, obvious and devoid of replay value. Andre's appearance gives historians a reason to preserve the segment. The match itself gives everyone else a reason to use chapter select.

Virgil versus DiBiase succeeds because Madison Square Garden has already done the emotional arithmetic. The audience does not need Virgil to outwrestle Ted DiBiase. It needs him to survive, frustrate the man who controlled him for years, and eventually take something DiBiase values. Every simple comeback therefore lands harder than a more elaborate sequence might have.

DiBiase carries the structure, Sherri creates the expected complications and Virgil keeps the offense basic enough that the crowd never loses the story. The final stretch creates real suspense before Virgil gets the pin and the Million Dollar Championship. The celebration matters more than technical polish because this is a revenge story reaching its cleanest payoff.

Meltzer gave it 3.25 stars, Leighty also goes 3.25 and calls the simplicity exactly right, while Cagematch sits a little above six. WrestleFile lands at A- / 8.5 because the crowd investment and narrative payoff elevate good wrestling into a genuinely memorable match. This is what happens when months of character work make a basic pinfall feel expensive.

Boss Man versus Mountie is an average match attached to an excellent punishment gimmick. The stipulation is simple: loser spends the night in jail. That gives every near fall an obvious consequence even when the wrestling itself remains ordinary. Mountie works slowly, Boss Man supplies the heavier offense and Jimmy Hart provides the expected distraction without overwhelming the central idea.

Boss Man eventually wins with the Alabama Slam, and the match immediately becomes less important than what happens afterward. Mountie is cuffed, transported, fingerprinted and processed while protesting with increasing outrage. WWF keeps returning to the jailhouse footage through the broadcast, turning one midcard match into an evening-long humiliation angle.

Meltzer gave the match 1.5 stars; Canton 1.75; Cagematch currently sits below five. WrestleFile lands at C+ / 6.8 because the complete segment is much better than the bell-to-bell portion. The match is merely functional. The stipulation payoff is the reason anybody remembers it.

The tag-title street fight has one structural problem immediately: it still spends much of the match behaving like an ordinary tag match. The Nasty Boys isolate Hawk, partners wait in corners and refereeing conventions linger even though the stipulation theoretically removes most of them. That keeps the match from becoming the chaotic title fight the label promises.

What rescues it is the crowd and the destination. Madison Square Garden is ready for Legion of Doom to win, and every comeback builds toward the moment Hawk and Animal finally capture WWF tag gold. The Doomsday Device gets the expected eruption, and the title change gives the match far more historical weight than the preceding seven minutes earn on pure wrestling.

Meltzer gave it 2.5 stars, while Canton and Leighty are both colder on the actual work. Cagematch currently lives in the mid-fours. WrestleFile goes B / 7.7 because the championship moment is excellent and the crowd carries the finish. If this were truly worked like a street fight, the ceiling would have been much higher.

IRS versus Greg Valentine is seven minutes of wrestling positioned exactly where seven minutes of wrestling should not be. The show has already delivered Bret's breakthrough, Virgil's revenge, Mountie's jail sentence and Legion of Doom's title win. What it needs now is acceleration toward the main event. Instead, it gets tax-season chinlocks.

Both men are competent enough that nothing collapses. Valentine works his familiar heavy strikes, IRS settles into methodical control and the match reaches the predictable heel victory without incident. The problem is not execution so much as necessity. This could have happened on television with no loss to the pay-per-view.

Meltzer gave it 1.25 stars, and Cagematch currently has it in the low threes. WrestleFile lands at D+ / 5.3 because the match is professional and almost completely forgettable. On a weaker show, it might pass unnoticed. On a card already relying heavily on moments rather than sustained wrestling quality, it becomes another reminder that editing is a booking skill.

The 'Match Made in Hell' is a perfect title in the accidental-review sense. Hogan and Warrior are overwhelmingly favored, Slaughter does nearly all of the credible heel wrestling, and Mustafa and Adnan exist mostly to make the handicap numbers look threatening on paper. Sid Justice referees because the match apparently needs one more famous person standing near it.

The crowd remains loud because Hogan and Warrior can still generate extraordinary reactions. That heat disguises how little suspense the match contains. Slaughter bumps, Hogan sells, Warrior gets the hot stretches, and the babyfaces eventually win exactly as everyone expects. The political story is also exhausted by this point; WrestleMania VII already delivered the championship climax months earlier.

Meltzer gave the match 1.25 stars, Canton goes two stars and Leighty only half a star despite enjoying most of the show. WrestleFile lands at C / 6.2 because the crowd and star presence prevent outright failure. As a pay-per-view main event, though, it is dramatically inferior to several matches and angles that came before it.