Hart Foundation vs. Brain Busters
SummerSlam
August 1989
This match took place at the 1989 SummerSlam. Its referee was the late Joey Morella and the action was called by Tony Schiovanne and Jesse Ventura. The Brainbusters were champions and managed by Bobby Heenan. The Brainbusters do not put the belts on the line, though.
The match began with the Anvil taking off Bret’s sunglasses. After that, Bret and Tully Blanchard began squabbling which led to two Hitman arm-drag take-downs. Bret then twisted the arm and pounded away at it. Tully tags in Arn Anderson who winds up giving Bret a leg take-down. The Hitman reversed into an arm bar, though. Bret tags in the Anvil and he begins to tear away at Arn’s arm. Anderson gives the Anvil a few knee shots, but the Anvil tags out and Bret delivers a leg drop to Arn’s arm. Bret then pounds away at the arm and then tags in Neidhart. Jim continues attacking the arm, but Arn moves his way over to his corner and tags Blanchard. Tully is not allowed in the ring by referee Joey Morella, though. Anderson is pushed back into the Hart’s corner. The Hitman comes back into the ring and is put into a leg scissors by Arn. Bret does a flip to get up and both me back away towards their corners. Tully comes in to let Arn rest. Blanchard tried for a cheap shot kick and got his leg caught by Bret. The Anvil came into the ring and kicked Tully right in the hamstring. Neidhart then grabbed the arm but was stopped when Blanchard grabbed his beard! Neidhart got thrown into the ropes and Tully attempted a hip toss, but the Anvil just shoved his face into the ground. Tully is then taken down by the wrist and Bret is brought in to twist on the wrist. Arn comes in to complain, but it only results in the Anvil coming back and beating on the arm. Tully worked his way up off the mat and began slapping at Neidhart’s chest. These slaps had no effect as Neidhart laid a forearm into Tully’s chest and then swung him across the ring, face-first into the opposite turnbuckle. Bret is tagged in and he begins to work on the arm, again. A chant of Weasel is started by the fans. Tully moved into a top wrist lock and tries to take the Hitman down.
Bret goes into a bridge, but Arn comes in to help Tully and winds up on the receiving end of a double arm drag which led to the Brainbusters running out of the ring. Heenan tries to tell his men to calm down, but Neidhart throws Tully back into the ring. Bret throws him out the other side and chases him around the ring until he enters again from the Brainbuster’s corner. As Bret threw Tully into the ropes, Arn came in and delivered a double axe-handle to the back of the Hitman’s head. Arn goes to work on Bret, but is stopped when he comes down on Bret’s knees as he jumped of the second turnbuckle. All four men enter the ring and begin beating on each other as the Hart Foundation puts the Brainbusters out of the ring.
Anderson calls for a time-out and is told by Heenan that they are the champions and that there is nothing here. Bret grabs Tully and drags him into the ring with a shot to the chest. Bret threw Tully into the ropes, but was reversed to no avail as the Hitman grabbed Tully’s leg and delivered a stomp to the midsection. Blanchard is put face first into the Anvil’s boot and the Anvil comes in. Neidhart picks up Blanchard and throws him into the opposite corner, but before Tully got there he jumped onto the second turnbuckle and tried a reverse flip onto the Anvil. Neidhart caught him and planted him into the corner. From there he deliver a barrage of blows to Tully. Blanchard was saved when Arn put a knee right in the back of Neidhart. Bret came in and beat out Anderson while the Anvil put Tully in the opposite corner. From the outside, Arn grabbed a hold of Tully and moved him out of the way before the Anvil, being thrown by the Hitman, could land on him.
Both men lay on the mat as Arn is tagged in and begins to beat on the Anvil. Tully is tagged in a gives an elbow to the back of Neidhart. Tully puts on a chinlock, but Neidhart continues to get up. Tully winds up riding the Anvil as he drove back to his corner, but was stopped as Arn came up around him and gave him a shoot to the face. Arn picked up Neidhart and gave him punch to the belly. Anderson goes for the cover but is thrown across the ring as the Anvil kicked out. Anderson put the Anvil in Tully’s knee. Tully then comes in the ring and hits the Anvil with a series of closed fists and elbows. Arn is tagged in, but Neidhart begins to beat on Anderson. The two men collide into each other and hit the mat. Anderson gets up first and throws Neidhart into the ropes, but Bret hits Anderson with a knee that sends him down. Both Neidhart and Anderson make their tags and the Hitman begins to beat on Tully. Bret takes care of both Brainbusters with a series of bodyslams and an elbow on Tully. The Hitman gives Tully a suplex. All four men enter the ring and pair off in opposite corners. The Hitman and Tully wind up colliding and the Anvil chases off Anderson. Bret gives Tully a reversed atomic drop. Bret then throws Tully into the rope and sends Neidhart air mail into Tully’s chest. Neidhart then bodyslams Tully and sends Bret via a backwards slam into Tully for the pin, but the referee is being distracted by Heenan. Anderson flies off the ropes and gives Bret a double axehandle to the head. Anderson, the illegal man, rolls up Bret for the one-two-three.
An overall great match. If you have this match on tape, watch it again. This is what tag team wrestling is supposed to be.