Summerslam 1992
August 29, 1992
Wembley Stadium — London, England
Announcers: Vince McMahon & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
The Setup
This was the first stadium show the company had taken on in well over two years, since WrestleMania VI at SkyDome. Babyface Randy Savage defended against babyface Ultimate Warrior in a WWF title match over a year after their epic retirement match at Mania VII. Home country babyface British Bulldog was also challenging babyface IC champion Bret Hart. Interestingly, they went so heavy on the babyfaces; meanwhile, Ric Flair didn’t have a match.
The Business
Wrestlenomics lists the show at 280,000 buys, the lowest SummerSlam had ever drawn to that point for the third consecutive show, which accurately reflects the wrestling business as a whole during that span. The fact that the show was taped didn’t appear to hurt the buys in the slightest, except for the few hundred people calling the Observer hotline in this era. Imagine that crew right there.
Prowrestlinghistory is going with the official number of 78,927, which may or may not be a record they didn’t beat until the Dallas WrestleMania. That was good for a $2.2 million gate, which translates to almost $5.3 million in 2026 money. It clicked locally, even if it didn’t resonate with the fans across the US in the same way.
The Results
The Legion of Doom (Animal & Hawk) def. Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) in 12:00 **3/4
Nailz def. Virgil in 3:17 DUD
Shawn Michaels vs. Rick Martel ended in a Double Count-Out in 8:06 ***
WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon) (C) def. The Beverly Brothers (Beau Beverly & Blake Beverly) in 10:30 **1/4
Crush def. Repo Man in 4:02 *1/2
WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: The Ultimate Warrior def. Randy Savage (C) by Count-Out in 26:15 ***1/2
The Undertaker def. Kamala by Disqualification in 3:39 1/2*
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The British Bulldog def. Bret Hart (C) in 25:40 ****1/2
Notable Happenings
Bulldog winning the title in the main event was easily the highlight of his entire career. They got nothing out of it outside of this night, but this one night alone was an incredible accomplishment most never actually get.
Hennig teased being in both Savage and Warrior’s corners for the WWF title match, but he and Flair interfered against both men. Savage went for Flair off the top to the floor after he attacked Warrior, and Flair blasted his knee with a chair. That would lead to a worked injury that saw Savage drop the title to Flair.
Taker and Kamala started as a fun match with athletic guys, but it turned into a huge fucking nothing right away. Both characters only really made sense when they could dominate someone rather than be dominated.
I’m sure I’m overrating the Beverly Brothers, but for a cold match, they had a solid bout the crowd got into.
The Michaels vs. Martel heel-vs.-heel match, where neither could punch the other in the face, was so well worked, including Sherri. All three got the absolute most out of that they could.
Fans cheered Warrior a lot more than Savage in their babyface match.
Roddy Piper appeared in front of the live crowd to play the bagpipes with a regular group.
Rating: 9.0/10.0
I love the look and atmosphere of this show. From a wrestling standpoint, the main event and WWF title match were the only two that got prolonged time, and they were easily the two best on paper going in. I thought LOD and Mondy Inc., and then Shawn and Martel, were both good, plus the Beverly Brothers were working hard to make a good match where Typhoon had to sell a lot. This has always been one of my favorites of the early Summerslams. The main event wasn’t just the best early match in the event’s history, but it also felt like the biggest moment the event had ever had until that point. Great stuff.
The Video
