All 27 WWE SummerSlam Opening Matches - Ranked

3. The Hart Foundation Vs. The Brain Busters - 1989

kurt angle vs rey mysterio
WWE.com

I love everything about this match. Absolutely everything. The WWF tag team division at the time was stellar, and these two teams could quite rightly be considered the work horses. The Busters were the champions, fresh off defeating Demolition, but for some reason this was a non-title match. Aside from that, I really have no complaints about the match. It goes long, and the Harts dominate for long stretches with one of the main stories being that the Busters just can’t tag in and out. Eventually the heels take control, and their intelligence shines through. Tully Blanchard is criminally underrated, and Arn Anderson is Arn Anderson.

Bobby Heenan is at ringside being the greatest of all time, and even the commentary is fantastic. Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are the voices, and whilst Schiavone wasn’t ever fantastic he is more than competent here, with Ventura performing particularly well in his heel roll. The Brain Busters get the win after a top rope double axe handle from Anderson on a prone Bret Hart. The Harts look good in defeat, the Busters look strong, the crowd were mental the entire time.

Also, heel teams with no entrance music? Love it.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.