In 1991 the wrestling landscape was very different. Still a good while away from the Attitude era, and still largely mired in the late '80s cartoonish xenophobia and schmaltzy soap opera tropes that characterised much of pro wrestling at the time, Summerslam '91 had a unique double main event. The first was a handicap tag team match involving main event mainstay Hulk Hogan, already past his best, teaming with Ultimate Warrior (who was in the middle of a financial dispute that saw him fired following the show) against Sgt. Slaughter, an unlikely top-liner in 1991 having seen his best days in the '80s, alongside General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa. Their gimmick was being Iraqi sympathisers. During the first Iraqi conflict. The mind-numbingly talentless Sid Justice was the special guest referee. The whole thing was a nightmare, and one with a crushingly inevitable Hogan leg drop outcome. It was an insult to fans everywhere. Luckily the second part of the main event was a wedding. Yes. At one of the biggest wrestling events of the year we were given a headline wedding. OK, so it was the wedding of Randy Savage to Miss Elizabeth so at least we had that mentalist Macho Man to look at but....it was still a wedding. There wasn't even a run-in (until the reception). While all of this could just be considered shoddy booking and lazy work from the creative team at the time it felt more like a laugh in the face of the fans from Mr McMahon.
Originally from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, now residing in East London with my wife and cat. I'm a member of Ghost Carriage Phantoms, co-owner of Marketstall Records, Editor of #flatoutfucked fanzine, a regular contributor to various music/culture websites and the co-author of a couple of scripts, mired in the endless hell of pre-production.
