WWF Wrestling Challenge – August 16th, 1992

August 16, 1992

From the Portland Civic Center in Portland, ME

Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

The Ultimate Warrior interview from the 8/8 edition of “Superstars” is shown

Gorilla goads Heenan to say what’s going on with Mr. Perfect but Heenan declines to answer.

We now see the Randy Savage interview from this week’s “Superstars.”

Back to the hosts as we learn that Bret Hart and Nailz are in action this week.

Nailz vs. Phil Apollo

Nailz chokes out Apollo to start. Nailz then boots Apollo in the ribs and gauges his eyes as Heenan calls out Bossman for letting his friend Virgil face Nailz at SummerSlam. Gorilla then tells Heenan the match was signed before we learned of Bossman’s return and Nailz uses a choke hold for the win (1:34). After the match we see Nailz beat down Apollo with the nightstick. The camera then shows Nailz as his mouth is bleeding.

Thoughts: Its weird that they randomly have Bossman and Virgil as these supposed great friends to sell this SummerSlam match. I get not wanting to go to the match right away but the only real connection between Virgil and Bossman was that they teamed as part of an 8-man tag at WrestleMania VIII.

Mike Bell & Tony Devito vs. Natural Disasters

The Disasters beat on Devito to start. The announcers talk about the Disasters defending their titles at SummerSlam against the Beverly Brothers then the Beverly Brothers are shown in an insert vowing to become the next champions. The Disasters stay in control and then run Bell over and toss him outside before putting Devito away after a pair of splashes (3:32).

Thoughts: A long, dull squash match as they try to make people care about the Tag Title match at SummerSlam.

Kamala w/ Harvey Whippleman & Kimchee vs. John Armstrong

Kamala beats on Armstrong as the announcers talk about the Kamala vs. Undertaker match at SummerSlam. Kamala stays in control then hits a splash but needs a lot of prompting to turn Armstrong over on his back then covers for the win (1:49).

Thoughts: Kamala is still being presented as a moron as he heads into his match at SummerSlam against Undertaker.

We hear from Bruce Hart as he talks about the Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog match at SummerSlam. He is sitting outside on a ring and wearing British Bulldog t-shirt. Bruce says that Bret’s ego is so big that it makes him unable to grasp reality and feels he is in for a surprise. Bruce is picking Bulldog to win at SummerSlam. After that, Gorilla accuses Bruce of jealously. Bruce is the perfect choice to go against his own brother.

Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Bob Bradley

Gorilla says that Bruce has a problem with everyone in his family. Heenan makes fun of the Hart family as Bradley takes control of the match. Bret fights back as the announcers now talk about ICOPRO then we hear from Bulldog in an insert promo asking Bret to leave the family out of their match and just see who is the better man. Bret stays in control then uses a sharpshooter for the win (2:54).

Thoughts: They’ve done a good job building tension for this match. I felt it was creative way to get heat between two babyfaces.

SummerSlam Report airs.

Papa Shango vs. Paul Vandale

As pointed out to me in the comments, Vandale is the father of current WWE Superstar Carmella. Shango backs Vandale into the corner then beats him down. Shango stays in control as Heenan and Gorilla talk about the SummerSlam main event and Mr. Perfect’s involvement. Shango busts out a dropkick then soon after that uses a reverse shoulderbreaker for the win (2:33).

Thoughts: No mention of Shango and Warrior feud here as that was just about wrapped up on the house show circuit. However, a new feud will soon be teased for Shango.

Next week in action are High Energy, The Mountie, Virgil, and Razor Ramon. Plus, the featured match of Skinner vs. Tatanka.

Final Thoughts: Most of this show focused on previous interview segments surrounding the SummerSlam main event so if you had already seen that then you could easily skip this show.