[7] The main feud heading into SummerSlam pitted WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake against "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Zeus.

Hogan starred as the hero Rip, a popular professional wrestler, while Tom Lister played the villain Zeus.

The main singles match on the card was between Ravishing Rick Rude versus The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship.

They had a "Super Posedown" at the Royal Rumble in January 1989 which was won by Warrior, prompting Rude to angrily attack him with a steel workout bar.

[11] This led to their title match at WrestleMania V, where Warrior lost the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship to Rude.

[13] Before the event began airing live on pay-per-view, Dino Bravo defeated Koko B. Ware in a dark match.

[1] The first match of the pay-per-view was a non-title tag team match between the WWF Tag Team Champions The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), accompanied to the ring by Bobby Heenan, and The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart).

Heenan stopped distracting the referee who turned to see the pin and began the count without realizing that Anderson was not the legal man in the match.

The second match of the evening was between Dusty Rhodes and The Honky Tonk Man, who was managed by Jimmy Hart.

This allowed The Honky Tonk Man to grab Hart's megaphone and ram it into Rhodes' midsection.

A still dazed Honky, thinking he was Elvis and that Jimmy Hart was "Cilla", asked Mooney where the stage was.

Near the end of the match, Jimmy Hart, who had accompanied The Rougeaus and Martel to the ring, distracted Jannetty, who was hit from behind by Jacques.

Before the match a video was aired showing that in the weeks prior to SummerSlam, members of The Heenan Family including Haku and André the Giant had attempted to take the Warrior 'out' in order to help Rude keep his title.

He continued to have the advantage until Rude was able to thwart an offensive maneuver by pushing The Warrior from the top rope onto the turnbuckle.

Following the match, commentator Jesse Ventura claimed that the Warrior should cut the belt in half and give the rest to Piper.

Jim Duggan and Demolition (Smash and Ax) defeated André the Giant and The Twin Towers (Big Boss Man and Akeem) (with Bobby Heenan and Slick).

Garvin repeatedly announced Hercules as the winner by disqualification (even though Valentine had officially won the match).

[1][7][14] Following the match, Snuka delivered a flying headbutt to DiBiase, knocking him out of the ring before headbutting and slamming Virgil and performing his Superfly Splash on the prone bodyguard.

In the main event, WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake faced Randy Savage and Zeus.

Hogan took advantage and hit Zeus with Sherri's loaded purse, followed by a scoop slam and a leg drop for the victory.

The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) defended the WWF Tag Team Championship until losing the belts back to Demolition in October 1989.

[17] The title change took place at a television taping for the WWF's syndicated Superstars of Wrestling, and did not air until the weekend of November 4, 1989; until the airing of the title match on Superstars, Anderson and Blanchard competed at WWF events as the champions, but were frequently not announced as such.

Meanwhile, Ultimate Warrior defended his title primarily against André the Giant, regularly squashing the "Eighth Wonder of the World" in less than 30 seconds at house shows across the country (and at least once during a televised match from Madison Square Garden in New York City).

André's feud with Ultimate Warrior and placement in the tag team with Haku were ways of keeping the aging "Eighth Wonder of the World" in the spotlight, as his health was continuing to decline.

The Red Rooster would appear in the 1990 Royal Rumble before leaving the WWF for WCW in mid 1990 and would return to his Terry Taylor persona, while Curt "Mr.