WWE hypes SSlam 95 by bashing boxing.

[fg]

During the hype for SSlam 95, the Tyson/McNeely boxing match took place. That match was HEAVILY hyped and promoted being that it was Mike’s first bout since his prison term. The fight happens…and it ends in a damp squid. People were furious since they shelled out $$$ for this match that was on PPV.

After the fight was over, WWE had a field day with this. For programming that was not already in the can at the time (remember WWE’s old taping schedule) They said “We always deliver. This is not going to be a Tyson/McNeely fight.” Sure you always deliver WWE.Sure…and I’m Michael Jordan. The buy rate for that SSlam was apparently very low. Not surprising since the main event was Kevin Nash vs Nelson Fraser. Smell the…lack of fans caring.

Ironically, WWE would do business with Tyson three years later and because of that, business would go through the roof.

[XIII]

Even as a kid I knew that Peter McNeely was a jobber squash for Mike, not sure what anyone was complaining about on that one. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Spider2024]

Oddly enough, Diesel putting the squid on Mable in a one-sided squash match would have probably been more entertaining than the match we actually got.

[Mozenrath]

WWE were arguably right, that when handled correctly, wrestling does have that advantage over combat sports. However, the reality is that doesn't work if you have a shitty lineup like WWE did at the time. Some of that is on Diesel having relatively little experience in marquee matches at that point, but a lot of it is more the general lack of depth of stars at the time. I get what they saw in Mabel, but good lord was he not ready. Makes me wonder what kind of career he'd have had if they had properly groomed him for the spot.

Like, if you wanted to have Mabel as a singles guy and were serious about it, send him to the USWA or somewhere else to get him some more singles experience, as well as putting distance between him and Men on a Mission. Bring him back in big fashion, probably with a makeover and new name.

[James Fabiano]

Jun 28, 2022 0:16:46 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

WWE were arguably right, that when handled correctly, wrestling does have that advantage over combat sports. However, the reality is that doesn't work if you have a shitty lineup like WWE did at the time. Some of that is on Diesel having relatively little experience in marquee matches at that point, but a lot of it is more the general lack of depth of stars at the time. I get what they saw in Mabel, but good lord was he not ready. Makes me wonder what kind of career he'd have had if they had properly groomed him for the spot.

Like, if you wanted to have Mabel as a singles guy and were serious about it, send him to the USWA or somewhere else to get him some more singles experience, as well as putting distance between him and Men on a Mission. Bring him back in big fashion, probably with a makeover and new name.

Presumably with white contacts and a name shared with human innards. That should work.

[jason1980s]

That summerslam had some pretty crappy matches, they were more suited for Superstars or Action Zone than a PPV.
They should have kept Kid/Hakushi and then Bertha/Alundra through the main event.

Jeff Jarrett and Roadie were slated for a singles match. I thought there was a dark match with Bam Bam and Savio v. Yoko and Owen but it doesn't look like it now. The tag champs weren't even on the show.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Jun 27, 2022 17:42:29 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

Oddly enough, Diesel putting the squid on Mable in a one-sided squash match would have probably been more entertaining than the match we actually got.

What you didn't like Mabel almost crippling Diesel by putting all his weight on Diesel's spine?

[Ben Wyatt]

I *think* WCW did the same thing with one of their PPVs around that time.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

The thing with wrestling's 'advantage' over combat sports is that while it is there and while it probably pulls some people in to prefer wrestling for the consistency of narrative and the general guarantee something will be interesting maybe, the inverse hasn't really hurt combat sports' drawing power at all. UFC On Fox 1 was a one match main card that ended a minute into the first round and led to the awkward gap filling of the rest of a whole television hour by the UFC broadcast team. It's not like UFC on Fox/its eventual branding into UFC Fight Night ate any problems over that, and now they run a TV card almost every week there isn't a numbered UFC PPV on. Tyson in OP's example had a fight that sucked but that didn't hurt the drawing power and crossover appeal of Tyson a couple years later. It takes a special kind of farce for a bad fight to actually do that kind of damage.

[Georgina's Fancy Water]

The 90s were a magic time cause you could go on a whole rant about how other sports are boring and gay and immediately follow it with The Stalker vs. Michael Morbius for 20 minutes

[DiBiase is Good]

Jun 26, 2022 15:07:31 GMT -5 fg said:

During the hype for SSlam 95, the Tyson/McNeely boxing match took place. That match was HEAVILY hyped and promoted being that it was Mike’s first bout since his prison term. The fight happens…and it ends in a damp squid. People were furious since they shelled out $$$ for this match that was on PPV.

Damp squid?

[fg]

Jun 28, 2022 9:31:37 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

That summerslam had some pretty crappy matches, they were more suited for Superstars or Action Zone than a PPV.
They should have kept Kid/Hakushi and then Bertha/Alundra through the main event.

Jeff Jarrett and Roadie were slated for a singles match. I thought there was a dark match with Bam Bam and Savio v. Yoko and Owen but it doesn't look like it now. The tag champs weren't even on the show.

The Kid/Hakushi and wonens matches DID make the card. WWE didn’t change their minds.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Jun 28, 2022 10:23:54 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

The thing with wrestling's 'advantage' over combat sports is that while it is there and while it probably pulls some people in to prefer wrestling for the consistency of narrative and the general guarantee something will be interesting maybe, the inverse hasn't really hurt combat sports' drawing power at all. UFC On Fox 1 was a one match main card that ended a minute into the first round and led to the awkward gap filling of the rest of a whole television hour by the UFC broadcast team. It's not like UFC on Fox/its eventual branding into UFC Fight Night ate any problems over that, and now they run a TV card almost every week there isn't a numbered UFC PPV on. Tyson in OP's example had a fight that sucked but that didn't hurt the drawing power and crossover appeal of Tyson a couple years later. It takes a special kind of farce for a bad fight to actually do that kind of damage.

I remember watching that and even I knew what a bad and hilarious decision it was to have no backup plan in case of that

[smokinvokoun86]

They did the same thing with WrestleMania VI. I remember Mean Gene saying during the control centers that this wasn’t gonna be one of those Mike Tyson PPVs where most likely it would be over in seconds. Though in this case, it was kind of a wash because Tyson just lost his title to Buster Douglas in a historic match, (one which ironically cost Tyson his spot as a guest referee for a Hogan vs Savage match) and Hogan vs Warrior was a classic match. And WrestleMania VI was a great Mania so it did probably have more value than seeing just one Tyson match where you don’t know how long it will last. But that’s why having a great lineup and roster can do for value. WrestleMania VI had it, SummerSlam 95, didn’t.

[Wardlow on Wardlow 54]

Jun 28, 2022 14:49:56 GMT -5 fg said:

Jun 28, 2022 9:31:37 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

That summerslam had some pretty crappy matches, they were more suited for Superstars or Action Zone than a PPV.
They should have kept Kid/Hakushi and then Bertha/Alundra through the main event.

Jeff Jarrett and Roadie were slated for a singles match. I thought there was a dark match with Bam Bam and Savio v. Yoko and Owen but it doesn't look like it now. The tag champs weren't even on the show.

The Kid/Hakushi and wonens matches DID make the card. WWE didn’t change their minds.

I think what they were trying to say was that they should've cut the matches between Kid/Hakushi and the Women's Title. Which were HHH/Holly, Blus/Gunns and Horowitz/Skip. Horowitz/Skip wasn't getting left off the show, that was their big feel-good storyline of the summer. Helmsley was going to be facing someone, since he was a big star-on-the-rise at that time. Might as well have had it be Holly, since he was reliable and not bad in the ring at all. That tag match can f*** off, though. Not sure what you replace it with, though. They broke up Bulldog and Luger six days earlier. The Gunns had lost a shit-ton to Yoko and Owen by that time. Were there even any other regular face teams to challenge them? Since the Bam Bam/Vega example was never actually a team on the main shows and I don't think HOG had begun teaming with Bam Bam yet.