Mr Perfect's involvement in Summerslam the year after dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Bret was an interesting one. He was offering his consultancy services to one of the men in the WWF Championship match tonight. With a running story throughout the night of who's corner he would be in during the match. Vince McMahon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan are on commentary for this match.
The Ultimate Warrior sprints down to the ring, with no sign of Mr Perfect. Although if Perfect was with him I'm not sure he'd have caught up with Warrior before the champion came out. Randy Savage also enters alone. Both men get a great reaction from the crowd. Heenan says it doesn't seem right that Perfect isn't out here. Savage wants a handshake to start but Warrior's unsure, Eventually, he takes it, but neither man trusts enough to let go. It gets weirdly tense as they go back to their corners and take their jackets off.
RANDY SAVAGE © VS. ULTIMATE WARRIOR (WWF CHAMPIONSHIP)
WWF Summerslam (31st August 1992)
They soak in the atmosphere and duelling chants before locking up. Warrior's strength backs Savage up to the ropes, but Savage switches positions last second and breaks clean. They lock up again, Savage can't budge Warrior so Warrior shoves him across the ring. Savage boots Warrior in the gut before knocking him down with a jumping clothesline. Warrior's straight back up but Savage clotheslines him down again from behind. Savage covers but Warrior presses him off immediately. Savage decides to go to the top rope but an axe handle is cut off by Warrior. Warrior lifts Savage for a delayed atomic drop and the fans go nuts. He'd have to do a 720 Tornado satellite DDT to get that reaction nowadays. Warrior carries Savage around the ring before an inverted atomic drop and clotheslines him down for a nearfall. Savage is knocked down with a pair of shoulder blocks but avoids a leaping elbow drop. Savage pounces on Warrior with right hands and a knee drop barely keeping Warrior down for two.
Savage drags Warrior into a chinlock but Warrior quickly breaks out with a jawbreaker. Warrior slams Savage's face into the mat and covers for another 2 count. Warrior sends Savage into the corner and a right hand knocks him down. More right hands keep Savage in the corner before Warrior sends him to the other side. Warrior boots Savage in the ribs and brings him out of the corner with a short arm clothesline. Warrior covers for 2. Savage tries to pull Warrior into the corner but it doesn't come off, it does the second time though, leading to Savage clotheslining Warrior down to the floor. Savage brings Warrior back into the ring and covers, only getting a nearfall. Savage climbs to the top and hits Warrior with an axe handle, but Warrior's still standing! A second axe handle from the top sends Warrior down and Savage hooks the leg, 1, 2, no! Still not enough. Savage climbs to the top for a third time, hoping to put Warrior away but Warrior catches him in midair! Warrior just holds Savage momentarily before dropping him across the knee. Warrior covers for another nearfall.
Warrior sends Savage back and forth between turnbuckles before catching him in a bearhug. Warrior swings him around squeezing his ribs before dropping him to the mat and covering for 2. Warrior hits a sidewalk slam for another nearfall. Savage is brought to his feet and he rolls up Warrior in a small package! 1, 2 no! For the first time in a few minutes, Savage is back on his feet of his own doing. Warrior sends him across the ring but ducks too early, Savage hits a swinging neckbreaker. Randy Savage is slow to cover, his back has taken a lot of damage in this match. Warrior kicks out at 2 again. Savage brings Warrior to his feet and flies over the top rope, snapping Warrior's neck off the top rope before immediately covering. Warrior still kicks out and Savage's back is hurting. Savage tries to lift Warrior for a suplex but he can't do it. Warrior notices the back and assaults it with clubbing blows. Warrior stands with Savage in a front facelock before suplexing him over. Warrior covers and Savage still gets his shoulder up at 2.
Savage crawls away from the cover, just to get some space between himself and Warrior before finally making it to his feet. Warrior charges for a clothesline, but Savage drops sending Warrior over to the floor! Randy Savage moves the referee out of the way and climbs to the top again hitting an axe handle to the outside! Savage breaks the count, which Heenan calls a mistake since he has the champions' advantage. Savage keeps up the attack on the outside, sending Warrior into the steps. Savage keeps breaking the count and McMahon says he guaranteed to beat Warrior 1-2-3 tonight as Savage kicks at him against the ring steps and throws him back inside. Savage covers but he can still only get a 2 count. Flair and Mr Perfect finally arrive at the match as Savage attempts a piledriver, Warrior backdrops him over but Savage is able to hold on for a sunset flip and a nearfall.
Warrior clotheslines Savage down for a nearfall of his own and slams Savage to the mat so we can see Flair and Perfect making the long way down the entrance. Warrior goes out to the apron then decides against it, but Savage was able to lift his knees for the running splash! Savage covers but only gets a nearfall, Savage ducks a clothesline before they collide as Heenan mentions that Ric Flair and Mr Perfect haven't gone to anyone's corner yet. They're in the middle of the apron. Warrior gets to his feet to stop the referee's count then falls onto Savage for a nearfall. Savage crawls over Warrior for a nearfall of his own. Savage runs to the ropes and gets tripped by Perfect from the outside. Savage argues with Perfect completely forgetting about the match as Warrior gets to his feet and clocks Savage with a right hand. Warrior lifts Savage in the air and launches him across the ring, nearly hitting his head on the bottom turnbuckle. Warrior forces Savage into the corner, and instead of sending him across the ring changes his mind and sends him back again, knocking the referee down. Warrior slams Savage down and knocks him down with an axehandle from the top. Warrior gets a phantom pin but Savage officially kicked out at 2.
Ultimate Warrior argues with the referee but Savage takes advantage, hitting him with a knee to the back from behind, sending the referee out of the ring. Savage hits a piledriver on Warrior in the middle of the ring and goes to revive the referee. Perfect sneaks in the ring and tries to revive Warrior... Perfect holds Warrior as Flair decks him with brass knuckles! Savage has the referee back in the ring now and he hits a scoop slam on Warrior. Savage hits an elbow drop from the top rope! He covers Warrior and the referee slowly crawls over to make the count, 1, 2, 2.5... Warrior kicks out! Flair and Perfect confer on the outside as Warrior is getting his second wind. Savage's strikes have no effect as Warrior gets to his feet. He blocks a right hand and knocks Savage down. Three consecutive clotheslines and a flying shoulder block have the same effect. Warrior hits the Gorilla press slam! Perfect tries to trip Warrior but can't, Flair caught him with the chair on the other side! Savage is confused as he comes to. He asks the referee what happened and swipes for Perfect. Savage is a champion with integrity! He puts Warrior in position and climbs to the top rope, but decides to attack Flair instead, Flair is able to move at the last second and hits Savage with the chair! Savage tries to crawl back to the ring but he gets counted out.
WINNER: RANDY SAVAGE (STILL WWF CHAMPION BY COUNTOUT)
After the match Ric Flair and Mr Perfect attack Savage's knee, including Flair locking in a Figure four as Perfect stomps on Savage until Warrior grabs a chair off Flair and runs them both off.
A lot of this match felt the same. Warrior's limited move set and the story over the match made it drag. There were a few flubs but nothing major. Perfect and Flair played their parts well, being pivotal in the match without taking it over, and Savage not wanting to take their help added to his character.Strangely I liked it ending by count out, the last moments showing Savage's urge to win clean. Warrior worked more heelish in this match than Savage, and I believe the company wanted him heel after this match which is one of the reasons he left this time. – Rating: WORK RATE: 3/5 PERSONAL ENJOYMENT: 1.25/5 OVERALL: 4.25/10
I keep forgetting to put in my little outro, showing what will be reviewed next and linking my consecutive Summerslam match reviews together. In the year between Summerslam 1992 & 1993, it was only Mr Perfect that was still with the WWF in an active role. At Summerslam 1993 he would face a young Shawn Michaels trying to recapture the Intercontinental championship.
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