One of my two favorite SummerSlam events (to date).
The event kicked off with a thrilling Cage Match between Mankind and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H), a unique choice. But it was a hot rivalry coming out of King of the Ring as they were the two finalists in that tournament. What couldn't be known then is just how deep and bitter this feud would run for the next 2.5 years.
If you read Mick's first auto-bio book, you will learn quite a few interesting (and hilarious) details about this match e.g. what he thought about Chyna's punch to his rather ample buttocks to prevent his ecaping the ring, how the slamming of the cage door gave him a legit knock that caused him mental disconnects during the match, and his descision to do a tribute at the end to a famous MSG match he saw as a teenager (and the match that helped him decide wrestling was what he wanted to do).
This was a fantastic match in a year of many fantastic matches; great storytelling, and a cool persona-changing finish.
(Goldust/Pillman--loser has to wear drag on RAW the next night: PASS, thanks!)
The next match featured Legion of Doom trying (and suceeding handily) to reassert their awesomeness in the WWE at this point (after a five-year absence), entering into a feud with the Godwinns that would lead to Tag Team Title gold two months later. Just a great physical bout here, but the overall point here is that LOD were on their swansong tour, having spent the majority of their success in WCW. (Yes, the team would remain active through Hawk's passing in 2003, and then be briefly re-invented in the WWE with Animal and Heidenreich). One thing that was great about LOD is the energy they pumped into the crowd, making them a great team to place early on the card to fan that energy into flame.
Following this was another powerhouse match between Bulldog and Shamrock for the European Championship. Both these guys were always so intense and were playing supporting roles in the Hitman/Austin feud that was starting to engulf the whole federation. Bulldog was a guy probably underrated, but he was injured so often that it was tough to raise him above mid-card status or the tag team division. Shamrock was a legit rising star that I always really liked. This was only his second PPV match since coming in as a referee in the Austin/Hitman Submission Match at 'Mania.
In any case, a real fun match to watch and a preview of what fans could expect from The World's Most Dangerous Man in what would turn out to be a WWE career that lasted only as long as the Attitude Era.
(Los Boricuas/Disciples of Apocalypse 8-Man: NEXT...)
Next up was the next phase of the Austin/Hart Family rivalry. Austin really established his megastar status and unprecedented fan popularity (since the Hulkamania and Hitman eras) in his feud with Bret Hart. At this point Owen had cemented himself as a solid mid-card highlight, and would remain on the proverbial outskirts of the top tier level for the rest of his career.
This is the infamous match where Owen would execute a botched inverted piledriver on Austin, causing the Rattlesnake serious neck problems that would ultimately shorten his legendary career by several years. (He nearly retired in late '99 due to the injury but would return after successful surgery and rehab for the Fall 2000.)
That one terrible moment shouldn't take away from what was a fantastic match that was well-paced and was really building to something special. The injury makes this one a little tough to rank; it was on its way to being something special for the histories of the IC title and SummerSlam--especially the combo of those two.
The point is, it isn't fair to remember this match just for the injury. Stone Cold and Owen had told their story for over fifteen minutes at the point of the derailment, so the match was well into its final act anyway. At the very least, this match serves as a testament to two professional athletes trying to make the best of a real bad situation being one of the headline match-ups on the card.
Which leads us to the main event of the night: The Undertaker challenging The Hitman for his WWE Title--with HBK as the special guest referee. This is the first time that Bret and Shawn were in the same competitive ring together since the Iron Man Match seventeen months earlier.
I am usually not a big fan of special guest referees, but this is probably one of the rare times that having Shawn there really added a wildcard element to the match. Not only did Michaels have a serious problem with The Hitman, but he was hardly on good terms with The Undertaker. And Shawn likely knew that whoever lost the match would be the man he would have to go through for a title shot; and the winner the likely person he would have to beat to regain the title. So this really was a no-win for Shawn, and that's why it works. Too often special refs are clearly biased to one side. Not here.
The action and storytelling here is superb--no surprise given that you had three of the best storytellers in the history of the WWE, and two of the best resprensentatives of their respective wrestling styles, in the same ring--and all at the peak of their game. Plus Bret always seemed to wrestle many of his best matches against 'big men' (see any of his matches with Diesel, or his match against 'Taker at the Royal Rumble in '96). This match is one of my favorite SummerSlam matches of all-time, as well as one of my favorites as a forever Hitman mark. Is The Hitman 'Mr. SummerSlam'? Maybe. He certainly makes a great case for it here...
GRADE: A
Recent Comments