[1989-08-29-WWF-Summerslam '89] Tito Santana & The Rockers vs Rick Martel & Jacques & Raymond Rougeau

[Superstar Sleeze]

Rick Martel & Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart & Slick vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam 89

It is Quebec's All-Star has been assembled to crush Tito Santana and his allies, The Rockers. If you add Dino Bravo, you would have a pretty badass Survivor Series Team. Also, they should have stuck Martel with Hart. He had all the other Quebecois at this point and he has the bitchin as all hell Quebec jacket. The story is cntered Ricky and Tito after the fallout from Wrestlemania V. From my understanding, they were running an angle around the horn where Martel would attack Tito from behind during his entrance. The referee would rule that the bout would have to take place later. Then Martel would usually win a short match (under minutes) by some sort of nefarious tactic. I was pretty disappointed to discover this because I was excited for a bevy of 10+ minute Tito vs Martel matches. At Summerslam '89, STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES~!

The babyfaces start off hot with some double teaming. The Rockers slingshot Tito who does a cross body on Raymond and Martel. The Meadowlands is rocking for this match. The first bit of Martel we see if him high stepping while punching Marty. The announcers inform me he does a cartwheel, but the camera work is a bit shoddy. Gone are all the cool spots, in their place is a cocky heel with a great right. Tito gets the tag and Martel fucking dives out of the ring to tag Raymond. Tito gets distracted by Jacques allowing for Raymond to hit a high knee from behind.This is one of better Tito face in perils I have seen as everyone worked really well here. Ricky Martel helps do a double hotshot onto Tito and now he comes in. Tony is indignant about the abject cowardice of Martel while Jesse defends him. This is actually some pretty good stuff between the two. Tony blows every WWF announcer out of the water at this point as he sound genuinely excited about the product and makes you believe in all of Tito's hope spots. Jacques lets out a big "Woo-hoo" after a sweet dropkick. When Tito starts to mount a comeback on Martel, Jacques runs over and pulls his hair so that Martel can reestablish his advantage. "SUNSET FLIP!" by Tito and the crowd loves Tito. Raymond applies a Boston Crab and Jacques with a big knee drop on Tito as the crowd gasps, but it only gets two. . The crowd chants for Tito during the abdominal stretch. Desperation cross body by Tito for 2 on Jacques. Jacques accidentally hits a high-knee on Raymond while Tito got out of the way. Shawn is in and cleans house on all three men. Katie bar the door because a pier-six brawl has erupted. TITO BLASTS MARTEL WITH A FLYING BURRITO!!! In the confusion, Martel clobbers Marty on a rollup-attempt to win the match.

It is clear that Vince had big plans for Martel as he is letting him pick up wins in the Tito feud albeit protecting Tito with the surrounding angle and Martel picked up the win here. This is a really fun popcorn match where the Nordiques play excellent dastardly heels who use every trick in the book to keep Tito down. Martel is reveling in besting his former partner Tito. However, one of these nefarious tricks backfires on the Nordiques allowing for the Rockers to come to aid of their friend. Tito getting to hit Martel with his finish was supposed to be the feel-good climax, but future booking plans necessitated that Martel be kept strong while Tito was beginning his descent down the card. Martel is a fun heel with all his antics, but do miss his big spots. This is one helluva performance from Tito and the Rougeaus really hit their stride in 1989 after some awful years. It is too bad tag wrestling was pretty much dead in the water in a scant few months. This is a fun match that people should check out if they never had. ****