Summerslam 1994 Review

Tonight im writing a review for the WWF's 1994 edition of Summerslam. Machoman Randy Savage in his last WWF ppv appearance introduces us to the event live from Chicago and hands us off to Vince McMahon and Jerry The King Lawler on Commentary.


Match #1

Tag Team Match

The Headshrinkers w Afa and Captain Lou Albano Vs Irwin R Shyster and Bam Bam Bigelow w Ted Dibiasie


This was going to be a tag title match but the Shrinkers lost the belts to Shawn Michaels and Diesel just the night before. There not defending the belts by the way so they kinda wasted the belts by downgrading a title match and giving it to the top two kliq goons who wouldn't be defending them anyway. Standard tag match. Bigelow misses a charge in the corner and gets superkicked by Fatu. Fatu makes a mistake and Bigelow goes up top but misses the diving headbutt then the Shrinkers quick tag on Bigelow. Samu makes a mistake and IRS tags in but gets repeatedly slammed by Samu, Samu misses a high cross body and both teams are making quite a few mistakes so nobody is getting a longterm advantage. Shrinkers double team IRS for a moment. Fatu gets to play face in peril until Samu gets the hottag and it eventually breaks down when the managers interfere and Bigelow nails Albano and Afa takes matters into his own hands and attacks Bammer. Ref draws the DQ at 6:11 and Bigelow and IRS get the win. Didn't care for it, 1 1/2 star.


Match #2


Womens Title Match


Alundra Blayze Vs Bull Nakano w Luna Vachon


Bull beats the tar out of Blayze right from the start. The audience seems impressed with their ringwork. Bull slaps on a painful looking octopus stretch that probably could only be used in the womens division. Bull slams Blayze and goes for a pin but once again can only get a two. Blayze has done next to nothing. Alundra almost gets her with a suprise backslide and a couple of quick fall attempts follow. Bull drops Blayze then goes up top but misses a guilotine legdrop from the top rope and Blayze kicks Luna for good measure then gets Nakano with the german suplex pin at 8:16. Good stuff. One of the better womens matches ive seen from the WWF. Ill go 3 stars.


Match #3


Intercontinental Title Match

Diesel w Shawn Michaels Vs Razor Ramon w Walter Peyton

Looking back I think Diesel was an odd choice to hold the IC belt. Right after their stellar match at Mania 10 Diesel basically walked right in and beat a still hurt Razor for the IC title. This is the start of Diesel inching his way to a face turn. It's weird watching this match and now knowing about the backstage stuff to think these two had a heated feud in 94. Ah the days of a mark. Razor toothpicks Diesel then punches him a couple of times and he bails outside and Diesel regroups with Shawn. Back inside Diesel goes to work and puts on a sleeper resthold 4 minutes into the match. Razor breaks it and things end up outside where Peyton starts stalking Michaels. Ref stops him and Shawn takes the opportunity to hit a flying clothesline off the steps on Razor. Uh oh, somebody uncovered one of the turnbuckles and Peyton points it out to the ref before Diesel can whip Razor into it. Diesel gives Razor snake eyes in the opposite corner. Diesel with a chinlock but Razor fights out of it but gets a big boot from Diesel. Diesel goes for a pin but Razor touches the ropes. Abdominal stretch by Diesel. Diesel grabs the ropes when he can. Ref eventually catches him and breaks the hold. Razor puts on his own abdominal stretch which Diesel powers out of easily. Diesel goes for snake eyes on the exposed turnbuckle and Razor outmaneuvers him and pushes Diesel sternom first into the buckle and gets a rollup for 2. Razor shoots Diesel to the corner and Diesel picks up his feet to meet Razor on the way in who dodges then slides outside, trips Diesel and crotches him on the bottom of the post. Shawn up on the apron? Shawn down off the apron thanks to a Ramon punch. Diesel takes over and tries jacknifing Razor but he backdrops Diesel then signals for the razors edge. Shawn jumps up again and distracts Razor so Diesel can nail him. Peyton chases Michaels and the ref tries to stop them but while he argues with Peyton, Shawn jumps in the ring and goes to superkick Razor but kills Diesel instead and while Peyton chases Shawn around Razor crawls over and pins Diesel at 13:51 to regain the IC title. Diesel is pissed to say the least. 3 stars.


Match #4


Singles Match


Lex Luger Vs Tatanka


Weeks of buildup to this match as Ted Dibiasie insists one of them will sellout and join his corporation. The majority of the fanbase think Lex will join the corp. Both guys jawing at eachother accusing the other of taking money and the crowd seems to be behind Tatanka. Luger takes the early advantage until he misses an elbow and Tatanka starts chopping away. Tatanka slams Luger then goes for a pin, but only 2. Tatanka goes up top and hits a tomahawk chop on Luger. He suplexes Luger tehn gets another close 2. Tatanka goes up again for a tomahawk chop but gets decked on the way down. Just then Ted Dibiasie comes out with a travel bag full of money and Luger gets distracted and Tatanka pins him at 6:24. Luger argues with Dibiasie and Tatanka attacks Luger. Oh no Tatanka sold out!!! Figures. Tatanka kicks the s*** out of Luger and they leave him laying. I didn't find the match anything special but it was more for closure or for the start of the Luger/Tatanka feud. I guess ill go 2 stars. Back then I figured they would pull a Summerslam 92 Savage/Warrior where they hinted at a heel turn but neither guy turned in the end, so it suprised me that either guy sold out.


Match #5


Singles Match


Jeff Jarrett Vs Mabel w Oscar


Filler. I guess they were trying to push Mabel as a singles guy here. Actually he had a singles match at KOTR so they were planning on a singles run for him over a year before he actually got it. Im in the minority in that I liked Jarretts gaudy outfits. Mabel on size and power, Jarrett on quickness. Jarrett acts like his cocky dumass self and pays for it. Jarrett takes down Mabel then hits a fist drop off the top rope that looks like he didn't even touch Mabel. Jarrett tries a sleeper to take down Grimace but Mabel just squashes him in the corner. Jarrett back to the sleeper and he gets squashed again. Mabel slams Jarrett and gets a two count. Jarrett off the ropes with a highcross body and Mabel just drops him strait down in a powerslam. Jarrett outside and he goes after Oscar and Mabel holds him so Oscar can slap Jarrett. Mabel has Jarrett down and he goes to the second rope and misses a big splash and Jarrett covers for 2 and Mabel power lifts out of the pin. Mabel shoots Jarrett to the ropes and Jarrett sunset flips and Mabel tries to butt drop on him but Jarrett gets out of the way and pins the stunned purple monster at 5:43. 1 1/2 star.

We get another segment where Leslie Nielson and George Kennedy are looking for the Undertaker. Id rather not go into detail.



Match #6

World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match


Bret The Hitman Hart Vs The King Of Harts Owen Hart


This is the make it or break it match for this ppv. This is Bret's first ppv with his most famous entrance music. Before the match McMahon interviews the Hart family at ringside that includes Stu and Helen aswell as The British Bulldog who hadn't been seen in over a year and a half in the WWF aswell as Jim Neidhart who is sitting behind the rest of the family and he gets into an arguement with Bruce Hart when Bruce acuses him of backing Owen on his heelish antics. Owen jumps Bret as he gets into the ring but Bret turns that around. Bret knocks down Owen then goes for the door but Owen grabs a leg. Bret bulldogs Owen out of the corner then he goes for the door again but once again Owen stops him. Both guys making leaps for the door early on. Bret tries climbing up the cage but Owen slams him off the top rope. Owen goes up and almost gets out but Bret stops him with a handful of hair. Owen kicks Bret off then missle dropkicks Bret. Owen kipups runs and leaps onto the cage and ALMOST gets to the floor but Bret stops him once again. Both guys have spent the entire match making near attempts at escaping the cage. Bret makes an attempt of climbing out but Owen stops him and crotches him in a nasty bump on the top rope. Owen goes up again and gets caught by Bret who slams him off the the top rope. Bret is halfway over the top and Owen pulls him back in again. Owen suplexes him off the cage. Owen hits a nice piledriver on Bret but is too exhausted to make an escape attempt. Owen tries climbing out but Bret interrupts him then Owen kicks him off but looses his balance and crotches himself on the ropes. Owen makes a break for the door and almost out again, Bret drags him back and slingshots him into the cage. Once again Bret makes a race for the door but Owen drags him back in. It's been a rinse and repeat cycle nonstop for the first 15 minutes atleast. Bret climbs up top again and Owen holds him back and Bret gets hung upside down. Owen pulls him down and shoots him to the ropes and drops him with a spinning heel kick. Owen up the cage and Bret stops him after he comes dangerously close to escaping then both guys fight on the ropes and Bret kicks Owen off the ropes. Owen drops Bret then tries climbing out once again and Bret catches him in the corner and superduperuberplexes him off the cage and they lay dead on the mat for a moment. Bret wakes up first and crawls for the door but Owen catches him and goes for the sharpshooter. Bret manages to reverse it and holds it until he thinks Owen has nothing left. Bret climbs up and Owen follows. Both guys battle on the outside of the cage where Bret hangs up Owen then he drops to the floor to win it at 32:07. Bulldog and the rest of the Harts celebrate until Anvil sneak attacks and knocks Bulldog and his wife over the guardrail then helps Owen beat up Bret. Anvil locks himself Owen and Bret inside the cage so they can work over Bret real good. The Hart family try climbing in but keep getting knocked off the cage. Bulldog climbs up and fights his way in and makes the save and the crowd goes nuts. Totally bats*** ending to a back and forth match. Although I think they overdid it on the escape attempts. 80% of the match was either guy trying to escape with the otehr dragging him back in. But....hm. Ill go....3 1/2 stars. I would of gone 4 stars but the escape attempts over actual fighting got annoying. Too much time devoted to teasing at escape attempts.


Match #7


Singles Match


The Undertaker w Paul Bearer Vs The Underfaker w Ted Dibiasie


Undertaker dissapeared after that wrestlecrap match at the 94 Rumble. Over the months people had reported sightings like Elvis and in the weeks leading up to Summerslam Dibiasie said he would bring back the Undertaker. Bearer came out and argued that only he could bring back the Undertaker. Which leadds us to this trainwreck. Dibiasie brings out the Underfaker and then Paul Bearer comes out with the druids and the double size casket which contains a new urn which looks like a spitoon. Bearer picks it up and takes it inside the ring and the stupidity really kicks in as he takes the lid off and light comes out of it and he stumbles around and then the real Undertaker with new music and purple and a black and purple outfit makes his way to ringside. Sure they look similar except the Underfaker is about 2 inches shorter and The Undertaker owns pretty much the entire match. Faker tries walking the top rope but Taker pulls him off then does his "oldschool" routine. Faker did get a chokeslam and tombestone but he went for another tombestone and Taker reversed it into his own and planted Faker, Taker actually jumped 2 feet into the air and delivered the move which was unique. Then Taker follows up with two more and pinned him in about 8:50. The druids put Faker in the casket and haul him away never to be seen again. A flop of a main event. 1 star.



Overall Opinion: Well? Aside from the bomb of a main event it was an overall decent card. The womens match, cage match, and the ic title match were my favorites. A couple of boring stinkers here and there.


Final Score: On a scale of 0.1 to 10.0? Ill go 5.6. A little better from last year but so-so.