BRAIN BUSTERS VS. HART FOUNDATION

 The Brain Busters are the WWF Tag Team Champions, but because the match was signed before they won the titles, they will not be on the line. Some fantastic managing from Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and a reason for fans to buy the return matches. Tony Schiavone is the first voice we hear on a WWF event, and that sentence just doesn’t seem right. Jesse Ventura takes credit for bringing Schiavone in and getting Heenan away from the announce table before calling tonight’s main event for Randy Savage and Zeus.
  The introduction video switches between summer activities and finishers before we hear The Hart Foundation’s entrance theme. The Brain Busters follow, jogging to the ring.
Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiovane are on commentary for this match. Howard Finkel is our ring announcer

BRAIN BUSTERS VS. HART FOUNDATION

WWF SummerSlam 1989 (29^th August 1989)

  Tully Blanchard and Bret Hart start, they lock up and Bret shoves Tully away. As they go for the second lockup, Tully Blanchard puts Hart in the headlock but is sent off the ropes into arm drags.
  Bret Hart brings Tully down with a wristlock and connects with strikes. Tully tries to counter before tagging in Anderson. Tully tried to keep hold of Bret, but Bret was able to escape, Arn Anderson runs into a kick to the midsection but sends Bret off the ropes to escape a headlock, bringing him down with a drop toehold. Anderson dives onto Bret for a headlock on the mat but it’s countered into a hammerlock. Bret Hart drives his knee into Anderson’s left arm before slamming him onto it. Jim Neidhart gets the tag and continues targeting the arm with an ax handle and a wristlock, we see Anderson flipped over as the camera looks over Heenan’s shoulder but Anderson is able to get to his feet and tries to fight out of it. Neidhart takes Anderson down, stopping the tag. Anderson is dragged across the ring for a tag from the Hart Foundation, Bret hits a leg drop on the arm before tying it in the ropes for some shots. Neidhart back in and it starts a tug of war between the bigger men in each team. Tully reaches for the tag but had his foot on the bottom rope so Joey Marella doesn’t allow it.

  Jim Neidhart brings Anderson back to the Hart Foundation’s corner and tags in Bret. Bret connects with a headbutt to the midsection and goes back to the arm, he brings Anderson down in the wristlock but is caught in a headscissors until he kicks out. Tully Blanchard gets the tag and tries to get a cheap shot on Bret Hart, but Bret catches his leg and tags in Neidhart, who kicks Tully’s hamstring. Jim Neidhart tries going back to the wristlock and Tully counters, grabbing Neidhart’s beard and forcing him back into the ropes. Blanchard knees Neidhart in the midsection to fight out of it and sends him off the ropes, he tries a hip toss but Neidhart powers him down. Tully Blanchard is flipped over in the wristlock and dragged for a tag to Bret. Tully Blanchard is able to kick his way across the ring and reaches his foot out for the tag but it’s not allowed again. Jim Neidhart comes in without a tag but referees believe anything so the match continues. He also bit Tully’s hand, so we have some variation with the wristlock.
  Tully Blanchard gets to his feet and grabs Neidhart’s beard again, he lays in overhand chops but Neidhart doesn’t even acknowledge them before a forearm shot sends Tully back into the corner. Tully is sent across the ring, hitting the turnbuckles. Neidhart tags out and Bret puts Tully Blanchard in a hammerlock on the mat. The fans chant “Weasel” at Heenan and I suddenly remember yesterday was the  35^th Anniversary of that match. Anyway, Blanchard fights to his feet and counters into a top wristlock before knees to Bret’s midsection start to turn the tide. Bret Hart is forced down to the mat but he is able to bridge onto his neck. Headbutts from Blanchard force Hart’s shoulders down but he springs back into the bridge at 1 before getting back to his feet. Arn Anderson makes it into the ring but Bret reverses a double top wristlock, using his opponents to backflip and sending them both to the floor with a Japanese arm drag.
  Jim Neidhart sends Blanchard back into the ring to exchange shots with Bret, Tully bails again and takes a jog around the ring as Bret gives chase. Arn Anderson gets the tag, which Bret realises once he’s clocked from behind. Arn Anderson connects with an ax handle and scoop slam but the Vader Bomb lands on knees. Jim Neidhart cuts off the interference and both Brain Busters go out to the floor for a time-out with their weasel manager. Bret brings Tully Blanchard in the ring because tags don’t mean anything and Blanchard reverses an irish whip, Bret takes Blanchard down and stomps around the midsection. Blanchard’s head meets Neidhart’s boot before The Anvil tags in. Tully Blanchard is sent into the corner, but he jumps to the middle rope and a jumping fuck-all has him land in a bearhug before Jim Neidhart forces him into the corner.
  Jim Neidhart connects with forearms in the corner, Anderson has had enough and jumps into the fight but Bret knocks him to the apron. Blanchard is sent into the corner as Anderson gets back to their tag rope. Bret Hart tries to send his own partner into Tully Blanchard in the corner but Anderson pulls Tully out of the corner just in time. Arn Anderson is in the ring, he connects with a knee drop to Neidhart before stomping on him. Tully Blanchard holds out his knee to assist Anderson and tags back in, hitting an elbow drop from the top rope and sitting on Neidhart’s back with a reverse chinlock. Jim Neidhart gets to his feet with Tully on his back, but the Brain Busters can reach for a tag. Arn Anderson measures up Neidhart for a free shot as he’s carrying Blanchard and Schiavone confirms that it’s legal. I wonder if he’d say that without the Jim Crockett Promotions link…? Jim Neidhart is sent off the ropes into a shot to the midsection, Anderson covers but is bench pressed and sent across the ring. Although that does mean Anderson has it easier to get to his feet and he scrapes his boot across Neidhart’s face, which also meets Tully Blanchard’s knee.
  Tully Blanchard gets the tag for a quick series of right hands in the corner but turns it back over to Arn Anderson. Neidhart fights out of the corner and grabs a headlock but is sent off the ropes and they knock heads for a double-down. Arn Anderson rakes Neidhart in the face, stopping the tag and gets sent across the ring, running into Bret Hart’s knee. Tully Blanchard gets the tag for his team but pushes Bret into a tag on the other side. Bret Hart backs Blanchard into the corner with right hands, then sends him across the ring into the turnbuckles. Tully stumbles out into a back elbow. Both Brain Busters take a slam and a clothesline, Bret knocks Anderson down with a dropkick and slams Tully again, setting up the forearm from the middle rope. Commentary says Bret should have pinned but he hits a suplex on Tully first. Bret Hart gets to his feet at 2 because Anderson is stood next to the pinfall and knocks him back into the turnbuckles with right hands. Jim Neidhart has Tully Blanchard on the other side of the ring, Arn Anderson reverses the irish whip so Bret clotheslines Tully Blanchard down, Arn Anderson is knocked out of the ring with a football tackle from Neidhart and they brawl on the floor as Bret hits an inverted atomic drop on Tully in the ring. Neidhart avoids a clothesline so Anderson sends himself into the ring post. Jim Neidhart gets back on the apron as Blanchard is sent across the ring, Bret slingshots Neidhart in the ring to hit a flying shoulder tackle.

  Jim Neidhart slams Blanchard as Bret climbs to the middle rope, Bret is slammed onto Tully Blanchard by his own partner and Joey Marella decides that’s long enough, Arn Anderson hits an ax handle from the middle rope onto the cover and Bret as the referee turns around and makes the count.

WINNERS: THE BRAIN BUSTERS

This was tag team wrestling done right. Anyone that has seen any of these teams will know that already but it’s always worth repeating. It went over 15 minutes but flew by, the champions stole the win at the last second after having any advantage cut off for the whole match. Tully Blanchard seemed to be costing his team in a few spots so I do wonder if they were planning to split the team, but that could be my modern expectations. The crowd were behind The Hart Foundation had the crowd behind them at every turn and Heenan was a Heatseeker just with his presence at ringside. [****] 8/10