Post by DiBiase is Good on Jul 22, 2008 22:20:01 GMT -5
As we approach this years SummerSlam, I thought I'd review a few SummerSlams from yesteryear.
And the first (of a few) is SummerSlam 1994.
Lets look into what was happening around the WWF at the time...
At King of the Ring that year, Bret Hart had lost a match to Diesel by DQ but held onto his belt. The person who caused that DQ was Bret's brother in law, Jim The Anvil Neidhart who was accompanying Bret to the ring that night to counter the outside interference of Shawn Michaels.
Owen Hart had become the King of the Ring with a little help from Neidhart, who allied himself with Owen. Owen would challenge his brother for the WWF title and the match would take place at SummerSlam in a Steel Cage match.
The Headshrinkers were the Tag Team Champs and were scheduled to take on the new team of IRS and Bam Bam Bigelow for the titles (I think) but days before the event, Shawn Michaels and Diesel would win the tag titles from the Headshrinkers.
Speaking of Diesel, he had won the Intercontinental title from Razor Ramon a few months earlier with help from Michaels (and an exposed turnbuckle pad). Ramon would get his title shot at SummerSlam. Ramon would be accompanied by Chicago Bears legend, Walter Payton.
Ted DiBiase had recently returned to the WWF and was starting his own stable, the Million Dollar Corporation. As well as Bigelow and IRS he also had Nikolai Volkoff and was looking to add Lex Luger to his stable. He would interfere in Luger's matches and try and bribe Luger into the corporation. Luger's long time friend, Tatanka was convinced Luger was going to take the money and turn his back on the fans and so challenged Luger to a match at SummerSlam.
And there's one more piece of business. The Undertaker had not been seen since losing his casket match to Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble earlier that year. There were several vignettes taped with members of the public claiming they had seen the Undertaker in various places. DiBiase claimed he had found Taker and would be bringing him back as a member of a corporation. Upon his debut, DiBiase's Undertaker or as everyone would know him, the Underfaker certainly looked the part and had all the mannerisms of Taker, both in and out of the ring. However, Taker's long-time manager Paul Bearer claimed that he was a fake and that he had located the real Undertaker and the two would have a match at SummerSlam. The WWF had also brought in Leslie Nielsen to try and solve the case of the Undertaker and were airing various skits hyping this.
And with all that out of the way, lets get to the event proper. Macho Man Randy Savage is our host but who's that he shakes hands with on the way to the ring? He looks familiar. He hands it to Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon who tell us that the Headshrinkers have lost the tag titles and we're ready to go.
Up first is the Headshrinkers vs IRS and Bam Bam. If you're not familiar with the Shrinkers, then I urge you to watch some of their stuff. They were a great team who were both big guys but were very agile and capable of flying all over the place. I always think it's a shame that Samu got injured and he was replaced by Sionne (the Barbarian) as the team was doomed by that point. Anyway, we all know how great Bigelow was and IRS was no slouch, so this is a pretty decent match and a good choice for the opener. Bigelow sells like crazy but eventually turns the tide and they work over Fatu for bit. I should note that 6 years before he would return as Rikishi, Fatu whilst nowhere near as heavy as he would get, still has a massive arse. Eventually Samu gets the hot tag and cleans house. Bigelow is bumped to the outside and the Shrinkers hit their beautiful top rope splash on IRS but a brawl erupts. Lou Albano gets on the apron and Bigelow knocks him down causing Afa to get in the ring and do over Bam Bam, causing the Shrinkers to be disqualified. After the match Fatu hits Bam Bam with a beautiful reverse thrust kick which Bam Bam sells beautifully. A dumb finish maybe, but a good match nonetheless.
It's backstage for our first Leslie Nielsen skit and he meets up with his Naked Gun co-star George Kennedy.
Next up is the womens title match where Champion Alundra Blayze faces challenger Bull Nakano. We all know Alundra (or Madusa if you will) is a great wrestler but I cannot emphasise enough how great Bull Nakano is. She is a big woman but is capable of some really good high-flying stuff. And it shows because these two have one hell of a match. Nakano basically beats up Blayze for most of the match with Blayze getting in some offence every now and again. At one point Nakano hooks in one of the most painful looking submission moves ever, it's like a half sharpshooter/half Camel Clutch. Eventually Nakano goes for her finisher (a leg drop from the top rope) but misses and Blayze hits a quick German Suplex and gets the victory to end an awesome match. This match is quite possibly the best womens singles match I have ever seen.
And now it's time for the IC Title match. As Diesel walks down the aisle, Shawn jumps in front of him to steal the spotlight (setting the seeds for a Diesel/HBK feud down the line). Razor enters and Walter Payton gets a massive pop from the Chicago crowd. The match is underway and nobody gets the upper hand. Shawn gets chased around the ringside area by Payton but whilst the ref is distracted with Payton, Shawn jumps in the ring and removes the turnbuckle pad. Diesel gets the upper hand and Razor ends up outside the ring where Shawn hits a nice clothesline off the steel steps. Diesel works over Razor for a large part of the match and uses the exposed turnbuckle to do damage to Razor's back. Eventually Razor makes the comeback and Turnbuckle to his advantage shoving Diesel into it. A nice middle rope bulldog from Razor gets 2. Diesel makes a comeback and goes for the jackknife but Ramon backdrops out of it. Again the ref id distracted by Payton and Shawn goes to hit Razor with the sweet chin music whilst Diesel holds Ramon, but Razor ducks out of the way at the last minute and Diesel takes the full force of the kick. Eventually Payton gets hold of Shawn and Razor covers the unconscious Diesel for the 1,2,3 and Razor is once again Intercontinental Champ. Diesel is pissed at Shawn and they argue back to the locker room. A good match and the crowd was really into it.
Up next is Luger/Tatanka. Tatanka comes out first and Luger arrives to some mixed reactions. Lawler and Vince hype up the fact that in a poll 54% of fans thought Luger was gonna sell out. The match gets going and after a bif of arguing between the two, no-one really gets an upper hand. Luger gets the better eventually but a missed elbow drop lets Tatanka back in. Tatanka continues the beatdown with some tomahawk chops and a beautiful suplex. A tomahawk chop off the top gets a 2 count, but he misses with the second one allowing Luger to make the comeback. DiBiase then wanders down to ringside with a bag of money and distracts Luger, Tatanks seizes the opportunity to roll up Luger for the 3 count. Luger is stunned at Tatanka and Teddy gets in the ring. Luger kicks the bag of money away but Tatanka jumps him from behind. Tatanka hits a few Samoan Drops and then hugs DiBiase. Eventually they leave the ring but DiBiase instructs Tatanka to go back into the ring and "give him a little more". Tatanka hooks the Million Dollar Dream and stuffs some money into Luger's mouth.
A lot of people say this was a shocking heel turn but I saw it coming a mile off. I kept telling anyone who would listen that Tatanka would align with DiBiase, shame I never put any money on it.
And the first (of a few) is SummerSlam 1994.
Lets look into what was happening around the WWF at the time...
At King of the Ring that year, Bret Hart had lost a match to Diesel by DQ but held onto his belt. The person who caused that DQ was Bret's brother in law, Jim The Anvil Neidhart who was accompanying Bret to the ring that night to counter the outside interference of Shawn Michaels.
Owen Hart had become the King of the Ring with a little help from Neidhart, who allied himself with Owen. Owen would challenge his brother for the WWF title and the match would take place at SummerSlam in a Steel Cage match.
The Headshrinkers were the Tag Team Champs and were scheduled to take on the new team of IRS and Bam Bam Bigelow for the titles (I think) but days before the event, Shawn Michaels and Diesel would win the tag titles from the Headshrinkers.
Speaking of Diesel, he had won the Intercontinental title from Razor Ramon a few months earlier with help from Michaels (and an exposed turnbuckle pad). Ramon would get his title shot at SummerSlam. Ramon would be accompanied by Chicago Bears legend, Walter Payton.
Ted DiBiase had recently returned to the WWF and was starting his own stable, the Million Dollar Corporation. As well as Bigelow and IRS he also had Nikolai Volkoff and was looking to add Lex Luger to his stable. He would interfere in Luger's matches and try and bribe Luger into the corporation. Luger's long time friend, Tatanka was convinced Luger was going to take the money and turn his back on the fans and so challenged Luger to a match at SummerSlam.
And there's one more piece of business. The Undertaker had not been seen since losing his casket match to Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble earlier that year. There were several vignettes taped with members of the public claiming they had seen the Undertaker in various places. DiBiase claimed he had found Taker and would be bringing him back as a member of a corporation. Upon his debut, DiBiase's Undertaker or as everyone would know him, the Underfaker certainly looked the part and had all the mannerisms of Taker, both in and out of the ring. However, Taker's long-time manager Paul Bearer claimed that he was a fake and that he had located the real Undertaker and the two would have a match at SummerSlam. The WWF had also brought in Leslie Nielsen to try and solve the case of the Undertaker and were airing various skits hyping this.
And with all that out of the way, lets get to the event proper. Macho Man Randy Savage is our host but who's that he shakes hands with on the way to the ring? He looks familiar. He hands it to Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon who tell us that the Headshrinkers have lost the tag titles and we're ready to go.
Up first is the Headshrinkers vs IRS and Bam Bam. If you're not familiar with the Shrinkers, then I urge you to watch some of their stuff. They were a great team who were both big guys but were very agile and capable of flying all over the place. I always think it's a shame that Samu got injured and he was replaced by Sionne (the Barbarian) as the team was doomed by that point. Anyway, we all know how great Bigelow was and IRS was no slouch, so this is a pretty decent match and a good choice for the opener. Bigelow sells like crazy but eventually turns the tide and they work over Fatu for bit. I should note that 6 years before he would return as Rikishi, Fatu whilst nowhere near as heavy as he would get, still has a massive arse. Eventually Samu gets the hot tag and cleans house. Bigelow is bumped to the outside and the Shrinkers hit their beautiful top rope splash on IRS but a brawl erupts. Lou Albano gets on the apron and Bigelow knocks him down causing Afa to get in the ring and do over Bam Bam, causing the Shrinkers to be disqualified. After the match Fatu hits Bam Bam with a beautiful reverse thrust kick which Bam Bam sells beautifully. A dumb finish maybe, but a good match nonetheless.
It's backstage for our first Leslie Nielsen skit and he meets up with his Naked Gun co-star George Kennedy.
Next up is the womens title match where Champion Alundra Blayze faces challenger Bull Nakano. We all know Alundra (or Madusa if you will) is a great wrestler but I cannot emphasise enough how great Bull Nakano is. She is a big woman but is capable of some really good high-flying stuff. And it shows because these two have one hell of a match. Nakano basically beats up Blayze for most of the match with Blayze getting in some offence every now and again. At one point Nakano hooks in one of the most painful looking submission moves ever, it's like a half sharpshooter/half Camel Clutch. Eventually Nakano goes for her finisher (a leg drop from the top rope) but misses and Blayze hits a quick German Suplex and gets the victory to end an awesome match. This match is quite possibly the best womens singles match I have ever seen.
And now it's time for the IC Title match. As Diesel walks down the aisle, Shawn jumps in front of him to steal the spotlight (setting the seeds for a Diesel/HBK feud down the line). Razor enters and Walter Payton gets a massive pop from the Chicago crowd. The match is underway and nobody gets the upper hand. Shawn gets chased around the ringside area by Payton but whilst the ref is distracted with Payton, Shawn jumps in the ring and removes the turnbuckle pad. Diesel gets the upper hand and Razor ends up outside the ring where Shawn hits a nice clothesline off the steel steps. Diesel works over Razor for a large part of the match and uses the exposed turnbuckle to do damage to Razor's back. Eventually Razor makes the comeback and Turnbuckle to his advantage shoving Diesel into it. A nice middle rope bulldog from Razor gets 2. Diesel makes a comeback and goes for the jackknife but Ramon backdrops out of it. Again the ref id distracted by Payton and Shawn goes to hit Razor with the sweet chin music whilst Diesel holds Ramon, but Razor ducks out of the way at the last minute and Diesel takes the full force of the kick. Eventually Payton gets hold of Shawn and Razor covers the unconscious Diesel for the 1,2,3 and Razor is once again Intercontinental Champ. Diesel is pissed at Shawn and they argue back to the locker room. A good match and the crowd was really into it.
Up next is Luger/Tatanka. Tatanka comes out first and Luger arrives to some mixed reactions. Lawler and Vince hype up the fact that in a poll 54% of fans thought Luger was gonna sell out. The match gets going and after a bif of arguing between the two, no-one really gets an upper hand. Luger gets the better eventually but a missed elbow drop lets Tatanka back in. Tatanka continues the beatdown with some tomahawk chops and a beautiful suplex. A tomahawk chop off the top gets a 2 count, but he misses with the second one allowing Luger to make the comeback. DiBiase then wanders down to ringside with a bag of money and distracts Luger, Tatanks seizes the opportunity to roll up Luger for the 3 count. Luger is stunned at Tatanka and Teddy gets in the ring. Luger kicks the bag of money away but Tatanka jumps him from behind. Tatanka hits a few Samoan Drops and then hugs DiBiase. Eventually they leave the ring but DiBiase instructs Tatanka to go back into the ring and "give him a little more". Tatanka hooks the Million Dollar Dream and stuffs some money into Luger's mouth.
A lot of people say this was a shocking heel turn but I saw it coming a mile off. I kept telling anyone who would listen that Tatanka would align with DiBiase, shame I never put any money on it.
