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Worst in the World: Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989

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Well, it's finally here; the last match on the list for the Worst in the World! Yes, this nine-month journey through some of the worst professional wrestling has to offer comes to a close after this entry. It's been one hell of a ride, but this is it. The final match in the series is Dusty Rhodes vs the Honky Tonk Man from SummerSlam 1989. Dusty had just come into the WWF after his main event run in Jim Crockett Promotions, and in only his third match in the WWF, he faced off against the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time in the Honky Tonk Man. It's too legends, so it can't be that bad. Let's get into this.
The two dance around the ring before locking up. Dusty back body drops Honky and goes for the Bionic Elbow,  but Honky avoids it and bails from the ring. Dusty locks in a wristlock before tussling Honky's hair and hitting an atomic drop followed by a Bionic Elbow. Dusty gets 10 punches in the corner before locking in...something:
He's twisting his ankle, but he's kind of standing there while Honky lays on his back. There's nothing actually preventing him from just getting out of this. It just kind of looks like the world's laziest ankle lock.
Honky is able to fight out and locks in a headlock, but Dusty reverses it, only to get tripped up by Honky's manager Jimmy Hart. Dusty chases Hart into the ring, where Hart distracts the referee long enough to allow Honky to hit Dusty in the stomach with Hart's megaphone. Honky stomps away at Dusty before locking in a headlock, but Dusty fights out, only to receive a knee to the gut. Honky goes back to the headlock for ages and the referee raises Dusty's arm three times, but Dusty keeps his hand up the third time. Dusty fights out of the headlock and bodyslams Honky, only for Honky to dodge an elbow drop and regain control.
Honky goes...ugh...BACK TO THE HEADLOCK. Jesus, why was this guy Intercontinental Champion for over a year? Wasn't that title like, the workhorse title in WWF and they gave it to the guys who could have great matches. Steamboat, Savage, Hart, Perfect. All Honky can do is a headlock. It's boring. Dusty fights out and hits Honky with the rope-a-dope punches before Irish whipping him into the corner. Honky dodges and throws Dusty into the referee. Honky brings Dusty to the ropes and calls for Hart to smash a guitar over Dusty's head. Dusty dodges and Hart smashes Honky over the head with the guitar. Hart takes a pratfall off the apron for no reason and Dusty hits an elbow drop on Honky. The referee comes too and counts the pin for the win.

The Verdict

Pretty boring match. Honky had the majority of the "offense" and he's not an exciting wrestler to watch whatsoever. He just did headlocks the entire time. I'd avoid this match if you're looking for something interesting to watch.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  3. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  4. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  5. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  6. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  7. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  8. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  9. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  10. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  11. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  12. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  13. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  14. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  15. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  16. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  17. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  18. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  19. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  20. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  21. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  22. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  23. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  24. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  25. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  26. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  27. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  28. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  29. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  30. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  31. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  32. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  33. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  34. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  35. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  36. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  37. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  38. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  39. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  40. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  41. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  42. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  43. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  44. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  45. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  46. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  47. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  48. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  49. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  50. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  51. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  52. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  53. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  54. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  55. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  56. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  57. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  58. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  59.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  60. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  61. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  62. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  63. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  64. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  65. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  66. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  67. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  68. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  69. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  70. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  71. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  72. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  73. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  74. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  75. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  76. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  77. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  78. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  79. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
  80. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  81. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  82. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  83. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  84. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  85. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  86. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  87. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
  88. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  89. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  90. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  91. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  92. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/10)
  93. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  94. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  95. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  96. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  97. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  98. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  99. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
And that's it. That's the last match in the Worst in the World! I guess I gotta think of something new to do now...I'll think of something. Stay tuned.
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