Wembley Stadium in London, England hosts WWE SummerSlam in 1992 (Picture: WWE)
In WWE’s first Premium Live Event in Britain, London’s Wembley Stadium held SummerSlam in 1992 and 30 years later, the United Kingdom will once again host a huge WWE stadium show on September 4. This time, Cardiff has received the right to give their fans a night to remember.
The WWE Universe expands globally and audiences outside of the United States have always encouraged the company to hold important Premium Live Events in their regions. WWE listened to their international fans and the announcement of Clash at the Castle has received a widespread of positive reactions.
The show will emanate from Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on September 4 at 3am AEST on the WWE Network. As it stands, Roman Reigns will defend his Undisputed Universal Championship in the main event against Drew McIntyre.
As we look forward to the event, The Inner Sanctum will take you through the last time a stadium show took place in the United Kingdom; SummerSlam, 1992.
The fifth edition of the biggest party of the summer was not originally scheduled to be held at Wembley Stadium in London, but WWF was booming in this part of the world at the time. Vince McMahon saw it as a huge opportunity to strike and in return, over 80,000 people attended the event.
It was the first major WWE stadium event hosted outside of North America and although the event took place on August 29, it aired on television two days later.
The show was headlined by Bret Hart defending the Intercontinental Championship against his brother-in-law and local hero, The British Bulldog. This match featured many swings and changes in momentum, but the outcome remains iconic and Vince McMahon even called it one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time.
The crowd was always favored to cheer for the challenger, but were conflicted since the champion was also much-loved by the fans. This dynamic created a brilliant spectacle and allowed the attendance to be fully invested in the match.
Although the wide expectation was The British Bulldog winning this match, it started to look doubtful as Hart applied a sleeper hold to his opponent that saw Davey Boy Smith nearly pass out. The challenger then fought back and hit Hart with a powerslam that nearly ended the contest.
Following a sharpshooter from the champion to the challenger, Bulldog eventually countered a sunset flip from the Intercontinental Champion into a pinfall.
It was a 25 minute classic and in no surprise, The British Bulldog won the bout to become the new Intercontinental Champion. He received a large standing ovation from the 80,000 fans in attendance and shared an emotional moment post-match with his opponent and wife.
Bret Hart was hesitant at first in shaking Smith’s hand to the angst of the audience. However, he had second thoughts and followed through to loud cheers from the fans. It was a heartfelt night for the new champion and U.K crowd.
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The other match that spearheaded SummerSlam in 1992 was The Ultimate Warrior vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage for the WWF Championship. The contest ended in controversy, as Mr. Perfect and Ric Flair involved themselves in the match.
Perfect and Flair made their way to the ring and attacked The Ultimate Warrior, before the latter laid out the defending champion with a steel chair shot on the outside. As a result, a count-out was declared and although Savage lost the match, he retained the title due to the champion’s advantage.
Other matches that occurred included The Undertaker defeating Kamala by disqualification, Shawn Michaels vs Rick Martel ending in a double-count out and The Natural Disasters defeating The Beverly Brothers to retain the Tag Team Championships.
Although there were multiple matches with unclean finishes, SummerSlam 1992 still serves as a memorable show, largely because of the main event.
Clash at the Castle might produce a similar ending, as the expectation amongst the WWE Universe is that Drew McIntyre will finally dethrone Roman Reigns and end his monster reign as world champion. The Scottish Warrior was one that pushed for a United Kingdom show and is desperate to receive a huge coronation in front of fans.
Other matches that have been announced for the event in Cardiff are Liv Morgan vs Shayna Baszler for the Smackdown Women’s Championship, and a 6-woman tag with Bianca Belair, Asuka and Alexa Bliss joining forces to take on Bayley, IO SKY and Dakota Kai.
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