SummerSlam memories (Not 1992!)

[tiger_rick]

SummerSlam less than two weeks away. WWE have done a great job of making this years feel like the PPV it should be. When I was a kid, before the Rumble became the official Road to WrestleMania kick-off, SummerSlam was the 2nd biggest PPV on the calendar. In 1990 and 1991, it was better than WrestleMania overall.

 

No discussion of 1992 - there's a big-arse thread for that elsewhere.

 

My first SummerSlam was 1990. It's still my favourite PPV of all-time to this day. I could watch the Harts/Demos match every day of the year. The Rockers selling like motherfuckers, Texas Tornado upsetting Perfect and that Dusty Rhodes promo were brilliant. The double main event had my salivating although only the cage match is any good. Those chair shots Earthquake takes are brutal though.

 

1991 is just missing a really great main event to stop it being very good. Loved the opener and then Bret/Perfect is possibly the best SummerSlam match ever. The Mountie is awesome and I was into LOD and Virgil's wins a ridiculous amount in hindsight.

 

I was into 1993 big time too because I bought into the Lex Express. It was a huge disappointment though. HBK/Perfect should have been better, the Heavenly Bodies are boring as hell (!), too many matches have no meaning and Lex doesn't even win the belt *sob*. That brilliant Lawler/Bret angle is the only thing worth seeing.

 

1994, 1995 & 1996 are almost one match shows too. Bret/Owen in the cage, Razor/HBK Ladder II and the Boiler Room Brawl are absolutely brilliant. The opener in 1995 between 123 Kid & Hakushi is really decent though. HBK/Vader in 1996 did nothing for me despite it looking great on paper.

 

1997 was a brilliantly promoted PPV and the opener and the main event are fantastic. It suffers overall from HBK being missing and the Austin/Owen match ending up a bit of a crock.

 

1998 was probably the last SummerSlam that, for me, really had that big time aura. Though in fairness, I really struggle to remember the ones since about 2002. The main event and semi were brilliantly built in '98 and really deliver. They didn't always on PPV that year and a lot of PPV's felt like adverts for Raw instead of the other way around but this had a massive feel and a proper ending. The whole card was well built too as it seemed everyone was in some sort of meaningful program back then.

 

The next few were shite with the only value coming in the middle of the card. 2002 is the next good one and features one of my favourite PPV openers and a cracking "passing of the torch" main event between Brock and Rock.

 

My favourite SummerSlam match since is probably that Hogan/Michaels match were HBK just takes the piss. It's hilarious.

 

Favourite memories and matches everyone?

[The Cum Doctor]

When Summerslam memories is a topic, The Coach's heel turn always leaps right into my head. Was sitting watching it with a bunch of mates and every single one of us just had a "what the fuck?!" look of some sorts on our faces. It's probably the one memory that is linked with Summerslam for me.

 

As for favourite match, it HAS to be The Rock vs. Triple H in the ladder match. A total star maker for both guys, it had lots of drama and the crowd, while a bit quiet to start, got more and more into it as it went on to the point that they were going MENTAL for the final few minutes of signature moves and shenanigans galore, and popped BIG for the finish.

 

HHH/HBK isn't far behind.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Summerslam 2002 is one of my all time favourite cards. Kicking off with the fresh, new, dynamic style of Rey Mysterio (for someone who hadn't seen him in WCW) taking on main event star Kurt Angle in the opener, to the brilliant return of HBK, to Lesnar owning Long Island in that main event against Rock. As for the midcard, you had Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Booker T, RVD, Chris Benoit, and The Undertaker... that's a couple of years of HOF classes right there.

 

A lot of the Summerslams in the last decade were pretty average, sadly. I liked the 2005 one, with Cena vs. Jericho, Undertaker vs. Orton, Eddie vs. Rey in a ladder match and Michaels vs. Hogan. The ladder match was marred by a stupid storyline though and Cena/Jericho and Orton/Taker had better outings elsewhere.

 

The 2004 Summerslam was notable for the wacky crowd and Orton winning his first world title, making him the youngest champ ever, beating Lesnar's record. I think that'd be a bigger one historically if Benoit didn't lose his shit.

 

The 2009 edition is well wrestled, with an ace Ziggler/Mysterio opener and a classic Punk/Hardy ladder match in the main event, but I was pretty far removed from the WWE product at the time, so can't really judge it in its context.

 

The jury's out on Summerslam 2013. The big matches of Cena vs. Bryan and Punk vs. Lesnar were incredible, but if neither Punk nor Bryan return, then those big moments and performances lose some impact for me, as it was the best either have done in WWE IMO.

[2Xtreme_lives]

When Summerslam memories is a topic, The Coach's heel turn always leaps right into my head. Was sitting watching it with a bunch of mates and every single one of us just had a "what the fuck?!" look of some sorts on our faces. It's probably the one memory that is linked with Summerslam for me.

 

Memories of that moment was Coach screaming "Shane's Down! Shane's Down!"

 

My biggest memory would be Shawn Michaels return in 2002

 

Kurt Angle vs Rey from the same year was a great opener as well

[garynysmon]

1993 and 1997 are pretty memorable for me.

 

I honestly thought that Lex Luger would win the title, but the WWF really missed their moment by not giving the strap to Luger. By Wrestlemania 10 his momentum had gone. 

Although Undertaker v Gonzales was predictably terrible, as mentioned by Tiger_Rick, its worth watching the show just for Jerry Lawler's performance and even a cameo by Bruce Hart. Brilliant.

 

1997, our Sky was broken for a few months so I had to have a mate record it for me. Having not seen the product for 2-3 months leading up to it, I was shocked at how much the WWF had changed in a short space of time, and the wheels of the Attitude Era were truly in motion. Dude Love diving off the cage on HHH, the famous Austin v Owen match where he broke his neck, and the great finish to HBK v the Undertaker which set off Michaels' heel turn.

[DCW]

Quite liked the 2000 edition,mainly cos I watched it about a thousand times after I won a VHS copy from Forbidden Planet and our Sky had been cut off yet again.Shane vs Blackman with Shane falling off the tron,Benoit v Jericho,the TLC match and the Rock/Angle/HHH main event with the love triangle storyline,and Angle knocked loopy after the table broke were great to teenage me.

 

Summerslam 99 was utter dogshit.Crap main event,Rock vs Billy Gunn kiss my ass match, and a recently debuted Chris Jericho pissing about with DX for an eternity in a terible segment.Test vs Shane was good value though I suppose.

[garynysmon]

Hold on, wasn't Summerslam 99's main event the one where Jesse Ventura refereed the three-way between Mankind, Austin and HHH?

 

*Edit, sorry misread your post. Thought you were referring to the Rock v Billy Gunn as the main event.

[WyattSheepMask]

I'd kind of dropped out of the loop after Summerslam 92. I saw 93 while on holiday and even at aged 8 I thought Lugar looked daft celebrating a count out win the way he did.

I missed 94 completely (only recently watched on the network) so it was Summerslam 95 were I came back in, slap bang in the middle of the New Generation stuff.

* 123 kid v Hakushi is an underrated match in my opinion.

* you get the inring PPV debut of Triple H

* Shawn/Razor have their second ladder match, which personally I prefer. Shame about the botched finish

 

The rest of it is pretty poor though

[TheTagRope]

I remember being ten years old on holiday somewhere in Spain when the hotel bar starting showing Summerslam 2003 live, as a child without the benefit of Sky Sports (or bedtimes after 1am), I had struck gold.

 

I pleaded with my parents to keep drinking until 4am so I could watch it all, which they were more than happy to oblige with. Before the main event, I was convinced that finally Goldberg would rid us all of the Triple H reign of terror inside the Elimination Chamber. I even said that to the bloke sitting next to me, who suspiciously said, "I wouldn't be so sure, I reckon Triple H has this one, just wait and see."

 

What an idiot, right? Of course Goldberg is going to knock the living daylights out of Triple H, he's just punched through a plexiglass door to get to him! Here we go, we're finally going to get a brand new Wor-oh, he's hit him with a sledgehammer. And that was how I was first exposed to the dirtsheets and inner workings of wrestling. 

[Fanny Pack]

A 15 year old Fanny Pack set sail with his family to Portugal in August 2002, I remember being livid that I would miss SummerSlam as the card was stacked and I couldnt wait for my hero (The Rock) to defeat this newcomer (Lesnar) that my mates loved and thought was the future.

 

I made my own SummerSlam debut on the day of the event by losing my virginity to some Diva from Ipswich I had met *high five!*

 

Anyway, feeling like da man I went to the hotel bar to find my dad had made a new best mate, Liverpool great John Aldridge (who owned a villa in the resort we were staying at), and me, my Dad and John watched a good hour of the show together as the hotel bar showed the event on some dicky Portuguese channel. John left after Flair beat Jericho and me and the arl man stayed up to see my hero get his ass kicked.

 

SummerSlam 2002, absolute memories.

[air_raid]

 

1991 is just missing a really great main event to stop it being very good. Loved the opener and then Bret/Perfect is possibly the best SummerSlam match ever. The Mountie is awesome and I was into LOD and Virgil's wins a ridiculous amount in hindsight.

 

I think you're being harsh suggesting that SummerSlam 91 isn't very good even allowing for The Match Made In Hell, which was at least fun and didn't outstay its welcome, even if the result was a total foregone conclusion. That show is a relentless onslaught of feelgood from the four results you mention. With heel champions getting their comeuppance, DiBiase losing his belt and Mountie going to jail, the only way it could have been more perfect would have been if The Brain was still Perfect's manager and thrown a bitchfit after they lost the Intercontinental belt. To my hero. On my birthday. Great days.

 

its worth watching the show just for Jerry Lawler's performance and even a cameo by Bruce Hart. Brilliant.
 

 

 

Wearing a headband that made him look suspiciously like a sub member of High Energy, if memory serves.

[Carbomb]

I've mentioned this one before, but whilst it's not the greatest SS match ever, it is one of my favourites, in that I love to re-watch it: DX vs. Legacy (Rhodes & DiBiase) in 2010.

 

A lot of people preferred their re-match (at Over The Limit? Breaking Point? I forget), but I much prefer this one, as it's just a classic tag match - no stips, no fucking about, just pure storytelling packed with ups and downs, with all four guys putting a shift in. DX's entrance was fuggin' ace as well.

[Fanny Pack]

I've mentioned this one before, but whilst it's not the greatest SS match ever, it is one of my favourites, in that I love to re-watch it: DX vs. Legacy (Rhodes & DiBiase) in 2010.

 

A lot of people preferred their re-match (at Over The Limit? Breaking Point? I forget), but I much prefer this one, as it's just a classic tag match - no stips, no fucking about, just pure storytelling packed with ups and downs, with all four guys putting a shift in. DX's entrance was fuggin' ace as well.

Agreed, think it was 2009 tho.

 

I remember thinking that Rhodes and Di Biase looked like a legit threat to DX which is credit to Hunter and Shawn as they had just been Ortons bitches for the whole year.

 

On a side note, has anybody read the WWE book "My favourite match" because Rhodes is in it basically saying HBK was an utter cunt to him for that whole DX vs Legacy run.

[Reznor]

Summerslam 90 was my first also, and I came out of it with the feeling that it was the best thing since sliced bread. I never saw it again until around 2001 when I got it cheap from the Silvervision sale. When I excitedly went to watch it again, I was sad to find that it I found it to be a load of shite. It was like a SNME with a couple of half arsed house show main events tagged onto it.

 

Nostalgia usually plays a big part in my opinions on events from back in the day, but even with that goodwill, I can barely find anything positive to say about Summerslam 90. Fun promos are one thing, but on a wrestling show, it needs to be underpinned by fun wrestling, and SSlam 90 failed miserably on that part imo. Even the best thing on it required a stretch of your suspension of disbelief that would raise even the eyebrows of even a 7 year old.

 

The following years, in contrast, was awesome, both at the time, and on rewatching with older eyes. The only letdown was the main event as mentioned in the initial post, but the midcard compensates many times over. If only HBK wasn’t injured, it could've been much better also, not that there was anything really wrong with that match and the aftermath with Andre and LOD. And how could you not feel sorry for Cousin Butch after being flattened. It might be the most 'feelgood' wrestling event ever, and certainly one of the best. I'd also have rather had another match than a wedding, but by that point, they could've ran Dino Bravo vs Hillbilly Jim to close off and it wouldn't have effected my thoughts on the show.

 

1993 is my next favourite year in the WWF after 91, and Summerslam was a fun event that done justice to the period. It could have been a brilliant one if Jannetty wasn't squashed and practically buried, HBK and Perfect had a better night and Luger won gold. I know the latter two are the big criticisms levelled at this event, but being such a Jannetty mark, the first was the one that upset me more. Elsewhere, it was class, with the Brilliant Hitman/Doink/King segment, my first view of the wonderful Heavenly Bodies (and a great match too), a 6 man that was a real sleeper match, and a Dibiase sendoff in a decent match as Razor started to pick up momentum as a babyface. Kid/IRS wasn’t up to much, mind. I’d have combined those matches into a tag, especially as Money Inc were an established team anyway.

 

1994 wasn’t great, but it had its moments with the fun cage match, return of bulldog, underrated IC title match w/ HBK, and the Tatanka/Lex angle which was well done, even if the match itself was nothing. I even liked Taker v Taker too. It was a cool way to bring taker back and it’s not like there was a huge selection of other interesting feuds it got in the way off. And it got Frank and Ed on WWF TV. The new arena looked good too, it felt almost like a stadium show.

 

On the flipside, what was the point in taking the titles off the Headshrinkers the previous night? It rendered the opener completely pointless. It’s not like it was an intriguing matchup or an interesting angle without the gold. Similarly, what was the point of Mabel in a singles match? Shouldn’t that have been against the Kid, who would have had issues with Jarrett since KOTR. 1994 felt ‘minimalist’ in a way, like it was a house show crew with half the roster. There were tonnes of absentees and only 7 matches, one of them a womens.

 

I enjoyed what they were doing with the ‘new generation’ in 1995, and Summerslam wasn’t the best but I think I liked it more than most. It definitely was a bit ‘too much, too soon’ in terms of putting unestablished newcomers in top matches, but as long as you weren’t too concerned by business and buyrates,there was still entertainment to be had. Unlike most, I had no problem with Mabel/Diesel. There was a distinct lack of heels back then, hardly anyone for Diesel to face, and I think the Mabel transformation was well done, even if we did have to endure the hell of KOTR to establish him. It was an ok match, and my only criticism is that it closed the show.

 

Obviously the ladder match was epic, and Horowitz/Skip was great stuff, against the backdrop of their feud and tv programme. The opener was pretty hot too. The rest was mostly negative and pointless with a lot of filler that had no place being on the show.

 

1996 was a pretty rotten thanks to the non existent undercard. Again, only 7 matches, and few of them held any interest. The two big matches were decent, although Taker/Mankind was one of their weaker matches (but at least had the big angle and aftermath). The tag division at the time was atrocious and the 4 way reflected that. Owen/Savio was an insomnia curer although I wonder if that would even have made the card had Ahmed been fit to face Faarooq. Goldust/Mero should’ve been a lot better considering how good those two were (the wild thing was a bit of a mark out moment though). To be honest, the only other highlights on the show were Lawlers pre match shenanigans, and the bikini beach blast off, which wasn’t even part of the proper show. The spell prior to Survivor Series 1996 was a shit, stale time in the WWF, but that’s no excuse because King of the Ring was a lot of fun.

 

I wasn’t so keen on 1997, despite it being a hot time. Don’t really have a lot to say for a change, I just wasn’t into it, despite their being (nearly) 3 really good matches. And a key game thingy that was great for obvious reasons. It’s pretty irrational really. HBK was a big loss, and as a Pillman mark, I hated him losing. When you watched RAW with all its variety over the summer, it felt like a lot was missing here.

 

1998 sucked for ending the awesome graphics and theme which had always been an important part of Summerslam for me (although it started getting phased out the previous year) The change to red along with the neat MSG setting and Highway to Hell theme ensured it still had a cool, vibrant feel to it (unlike the next years which was dull and shit ).

 

The action was excellent. Loads of cool stuff going down, with a fresh feel and good mix of established guys and younger newcomers. I wasn’t as keen on the ladder match as most, partly because it looked like you could’ve reached the belt with a decent standing jump, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

 

I generally hated 1999 WWF. By then there had been a noticeable change in style, and I don’t think it was for the better. Nevertheless, I still remember an okayish event which had its moments, even though it looked so shit and lifeless, just like every other PPV in 99. I enjoyed the tag gauntlet as the tag division had been experiencing a bit of a resurgence in mid 99, D-Lo/Jarrett was ok and Shane/Test was fun, maybe even the best thing Test’s ever been involved in – not that the bar’s set particularly high in that regard. Another memory was that Billy Gunn was just awful as a top singles wrestler.

 

2000 was fun, 2001 wasn’t, 2002 was exceptional, and after that I can’t remember what was what.

 

So, thats my initial thoughts on all the Summerslams I grew up with. What it doesn’t mention is 1989. 1989 is a bloody brilliant show. It’s right up there with Summerslam 91 as my fave ever – and that’s without the nostalgia factor. If I had followed the build to that and experienced it at the time as a kid, It would probably be up there with my favourite events ever, never mind fave Summerslam. It was full of great stuff; the No Holds Barred themed main event, the fantastic Rude/Warrior, a couple of cracking 6 mans, a tag match that was still great despite not being for the belts, and just a general good flow and balance to it, where the 3 hrs fly by, even when rewatching

 

Overall, my fave matches would be

1. Hitman vs Perfect

2. HBK vs HHH

3. Rude vs Warrior (’89)

[CleetusVanDamme]

I've mentioned this one before, but whilst it's not the greatest SS match ever, it is one of my favourites, in that I love to re-watch it: DX vs. Legacy (Rhodes & DiBiase) in 2010.

 

A lot of people preferred their re-match (at Over The Limit? Breaking Point? I forget), but I much prefer this one, as it's just a classic tag match - no stips, no fucking about, just pure storytelling packed with ups and downs, with all four guys putting a shift in. DX's entrance was fuggin' ace as well.

 

Yeah, they had a submissions count anywhere match at Breaking Point. I'm sure I liked it and the Summerslam one but I can't remember much of either.

 

Then they had a Hell In A Cell in October. That was the classic-style tag formula, worked logically around the Cell stip. Most of the match had Shawn (doing what he does best) getting the shit beat out of him and playing the face in peril. All building up to Triple H (who'd been taken out and locked out at the start) finally getting the 'hot tag' with a pair of boltcutters to come in and clean house. It was brilliant.