FEEL THE HEAT: It's the 2022 SummerSlam Rewatch thread

[King Kamala]

Andre did not wrestle for anyone for about six months in ‘91. I can’t imagine he was in any condition to actually work at summerslam even if he wanted to.

yeah I mean. He was barely hobbling around on crutches.

Now I want to fantasy book Andre in '91-'92 WWF. Andre in the '92 Rumble! Andre Vs (or teaming with!) Undertaker

 

[HarleyQuinn]

As a kid, I was into pirate dude stealing Bret's jacket and getting his ass kicked for it b/c pirates do plunder and as a kid, I didn't need Inception level adult booking. But the dentistry stuff with Isaac Yankem was really stupid, not helped that Jerry Lawler was great but the side piece to it all when it should've been another Bret/Lawler match IMO.

People forget that WWF in the 90s was still targeted at kids so trying to judge it through adult glasses, of course it was usually stupid and the matches weren't good. A lot of cherry picking gets done regarding the greatness of the 80s/90s ignoring that was like 15% of the whole of those eras. Look back and stuff like Earthquake squashing a snake or Undertaker putting opponents in bags at the end of matches is pretty stupid on a surface level but fit the gimmicks of the time.

 

[King Kamala]

I agree wrestling is for kids but it should be OLDER kids (like 10 to 12). I can't remember if somebody said it here or somewhere else* but most people discover wrestling through an older sibling/relative/kid watching it. Fact that wrestling normally aired alongside or right after Saturday morning cartoons fits that. Problem with New Generation era WWF is it had the explicit look and feel of a Saturday morning cartoon. Anyone that had experienced puberty and wasn't already a hardcore fan was turned off. Not helping matters was you could turn the channel to TBS and say "Hey. This looks and sounds like the WWF when it was good and has a lot of the same guys."

Fake edit-(Actually this exact thing was discussed on a recent episode of the OVP Podcast and I agreed and parroted their thoughts on '95 WWF Vs '95 WCW)

 

[Valeyard]

1995-96 WCW is one of my favorite periods because even when it was hilariously bad, there was greatness. WCW might have had the Dungeon of Doom or DDP killing Evad Sullivan's rabbit, but it also had Flair trying to kill Savage's dad and bang his ex wife just because he was Flair or Luger's peak character work as the asshole tweener. It was a lot like the WWF during the Flair run where they legit mastered PG, but not really (kind of a TMNT vs TMNT 2 feel, if that makes sense).

Meanwhile I'd turn on Superstars at my grandparents and immediately notice that I'm having to justify being interested in a giant zombie fighting an evil hog farmer to two older people who loved Thesz, Verne, and Dusty.

 

[King Kamala]

Even when it wasn't very good, you could feel like things were happening in '93-'96 WCW (I think you might even argue as far back as the Kip Frye era with the Bill Watts period just being a bad detour) and it was a company that was growing while it was obvious that WWF was declining. As someone who started watching during the New Generation era, I'd rent old tapes or see when they showed clips of WrestleMania III or WrestleMania VI then go back to RAWs from high school gymnasiums and wonder "What the heck happened?"

 

[Valeyard]

It didn't hit me how bad things were until I got my first WWF magazine right before Summerslam and it had an article about how Taker/Diesel was a dream match. Had pictures of a house show where they shook hands and it was literally just a school gym. These two huge stars, talked up as being the money match, having their big Mega Powers moment in some shitty gym with less people than a WCW taping.

 

[alkeiper]

We talked about WCCW recently and it's amazing how they went from Kerry/Flair in '84 to whatever they were in just three years. It's amazing how quickly those crowds can disappear.

 

[King Kamala]

ECW drawing its biggest audiences ever then going out of business six months late. Yeah, popularity can crash almost literally overnight in wrestling.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Summerslam 88!!! I had a dubbed CHV of this as a kid, so I watched this approximately 3200 times.
- Bulldogs/Rougeaus -Kid is the crankiest looking babyface this side of Swede Hanson
- Patera and BN Brown had no chemistry and blew a few spots. The MSG fans were also not interested in Patera as a face in the least. Kenny was trying to do babyface fire stuff and the crowd was dead.
- Mega Powers promo - Hogan and Savage are looking at the wrong camera oddly enough and Liz misses her que and has to repeat her "kiss of death" spot in the promo.
- Rick Rude had to wrestle himself as the JYD was immobile. Rude misses the hard cam for the big Cheryl Roberts tights pose. By the time the camera switches, Jake is in the ring and pummeling Rude.
- Paul Jones' Army (Baron and the PoPain) smash the Bolsheviks. Barbarian really was a stand out with his athleticism and fire.
- The Brother Love show was allegedly supposed to be the spot for Flair to debut, so Love has to cover for the "special" guest not being special. Duggan and Love have a house show heat interview segment about patriotism and Dino Bravo.
- The awesome Honky/Warrior match is next. Great booking. Mean Gene knew earlier who Honky was supposed to face, but Finkel does not. Titanic pop for the chicken shit FINALLY getting his comeuppance after 14 months!!
- Heenan joins the commentary team to try and save a Dino Bravo stinker vs Muraco.
- Demolition gets a decent amount of cheers coming out to face the Hart Foundation. Really enjoyable match. Bret does the work, Anvil gets the hot tag and clears the ring to a huge pop. Hart then springs Jim over the top and down onto the Demos on the floor. Heel shenanigans and the Harts get screwed.
- Sounds like the music was picked up from the MSG speakers and not fed through the PPV feed as several themes are washed out.
- Bubba/Koko Bossman likely drew from his matches with the RnR Express to learn to work the little man/big man hope spots. Crowd explodes for Ware's flying dropkick. Did the fans really buy that as the finish? Fun match.
- The babyfaces surround the Warrior for his victory promo. He starts screaming about how it was his destiny to ride the rocket ship to parts unknown. JYD's eyes go wide as he wonders what kind of good shit this guy's on. By the time Warrior finishes ranting the babyfaces have all wandered away. Unintentional comedy.
Jake/Hercules - Jake works smart in the opening mins to overcome Herc's limitations. Both guys do rest holds for a bit and the crowd just wants to get to the main event. Snake builds to a DDT tease and the crowd eats it up. Herc avoids the DDT and a knee lift but ultimately gets tagged with a flash DDT during a reversal for a great finish!
- I guess the big pop Jesse got for posing at WM 4 made Vince decide to add him to the mix for Summerslam?
- Dibiase does all the work for the heels to cover for Andre. Hulk takes Andre down with one punch to start setting up the finish.
Andre is the only heel who has the brains to worry about the Mega Powers on the floor as everyone else loses their mind at Liz wearing a bikini bottom. Mega Power Handshake powers up the heroes. Andre takes a big bump to the floor and Dibiase eats a double finisher to end it.
- Great crowd reactions and a Pat Patterson booked finish ends the night with a bang.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Herb's 1996 summer Tidbits!
- The alternative universe NWO:

There's lots of talk still suggesting that "Blood Runs Cold" will be
a three man ninja team, with Bryan "Crush" Adams and Hakushi being named as
two of the three guys. The Observer reports that Adams says he's not going
to WCW and that Hakushi going is unlikely. It also reports that David
Ashford Smith (previously Yoshi Kwan and Chris Champion of the New Breed)
will be one of the threesome.

- Bulldog is trying to quit WWF. Smith has been a main event player for the past year, did he really want to go be a bench player for WCW?
(Oh... Herb clarifies that the new signees like Mero have perks that the established guys do not).
- HBK making friends and having meh main events:

The Observer writes about the Shawn Michaels vs. Davey Boy Smith
match from In Your House, "The finish that aired, the double pin
finish, was the planned finish for the PPV match. However, neither Michaels
nor Smith supposedly knew that their match in Florence was airing on the
PPV and thought they were simply doing a house show match and would be
doing a different finished than planned. The real match would take place
two days later as part of the make-good show. At one point during the
match, the signal got to referee Earl Hebner, who informed both wrestlers
that the match was airing, that there would be no rematch on Tuesday and
that they were to change the match, shorten the match to it into the PPV
window and go back to the double pin finish. by this time, they had already
done a number of restholds building to a longer match. Because of the power
outage, the crowd live wasn't as responsive as expected and Michaels by
this point already knew the match was below par and apparently felt it was
beyond redemption. In addition, some of his concentration on the match was
taken away by a heckling fan at ringside, and his swearing at the fan
calling her a fat cow while being held in a headlock by Smith wound up
turing other fans in her ringside section on him. This only frustrated him
more, with him eventually exploding at the guy who cued the music in a
post-match outburst that was aired originally but was edited out of the
replay. It was a two-way street, as Smith was also apparently frustrated by
everything that was going on. Both Michaels and Smith were said to have
been upset with the quality of the match and the decision not to have a
rematch on Tuesday."

- Owen Hart may want to leave WWF as well.
- Jim Neidhart is set to debut as an unknown gimmick, WHO knows?
- Shawn vs Hennig is expected to carry the WWF post KotR to Survivor Series.
Who's the 3rd man? The Mountie?

The identity of the third man that will team with the ex-WWF guys is
unknown and it's suggested in the Observer that it will be kept a secret
right up until the show. Because of WWF contracts, it cannot be Jeff
Jarrett, Bam Bam Bigelow, or Ted DiBiase. Other former WWFers that are
coming in to WCW include Pierre Oullette & Jacques Rougeau (The Quebecers)
and Mo & Mabel (Men On a Mission). Those that are criticizing the "Hostile
Takeover" angle forget that all of the above seven guys are coming in,
bringing the "invaders" team up to a minimum size of ten.

- WWF is planning to run Toronto's stadium with Shawn vs Vader in Aug. (Later Herb says Sid vs Vader and Shawn vs Goldust)
- Has Herb come around on Undertaker yet?

The lowlight for me was, you guessed it, the
Undertaker match finish. Maybe we'll get lucky at a boiler will explode in
their "boiler room match" on the next show; I'm almost that desperate to
never have to see the Undertaker again.

Undertaker's gimmick DOA?

Many people are reporting that this card will mark the end of the
Undertaker gimmick.

- Even with Bret not under contract, Hart vs Shawn is penciled in for Wrestlemania
- The Harris Boys will give up their ECW push to make more money as a WWF jabroni team.
Herb reviews Summerslam:

WWF's SummerSlam has the exact opposite summary: lousy undercard, pretty
good main event. Boy, have things turned around from the mid-1980s. The
undercard was filled with ** matches, some because the wrestlers involved
were physically unable to work (Skip), some because the wrestlers involved
can't work (Jake Roberts, Sid), and some because the wrestlers involved
don't feel like working (Owen Hart, Goldust). The only standouts in the
undercard were Sunny, who has tremendous star presence and is easily the
top woman in the big two because of it, and Marc Mero. There was a fan at
ringside dressed like Goldust and another dressed like Shawn Michaels.

During Mero's match with Goldust, Mankind came out and called Sable "Mommy"
before scurrying to the back, so maybe this is Mero's next opponent.
Mankind's boiler room match with Undertaker was pretty lousy. The early
portion of the match was pre-taped to avoid any mistakes and they did an
expert job of splicing that with the real action when the wrestlers burst
through the boiler room doorway. It was nonsensical brawling for the most
part, with Mankind taking some of his trademark bumps, including the
"Nestea plunge" bump from the apron. The strong storyline at the finish had
Paul Bearer turn on Undertaker after a six-year-long relationship. They
dragged this out way too long for my tastes and followed it up by having a
group of druids come out from the back to carry the Undertaker away. At
least he didn't levitate again. This whole storyline might be entertaining
to ten year olds, I suppose.

The main event of Shawn Michaels vs. Vader was
about as good as you'd expect, although the finish with two restarts was a
little weak. Still, the main event is enough for me to give this show a
thumbs up. During one of the pull-aparts between restarts, Shawn Michaels
echoed the words of so many before him, telling Pat Patterson to "get [his]
hands off of [him]."

- Herb mentions Austin is verballing attacking Bret on TV, but also writes that he hears Hart may come back as a heel.

 

[snuffbox]

I still love that Koko B Ware dropkick from 1988.

 

[Valeyard]

The main event is one of my favorite matches ever and I think would be much more highly thought of with better commentary. Everyone worked smart, and I love how the Mega Bucks feel like a very credible threat until Liz wins the match.

Jake/Hercules is one of my least favorite matches ever, though. Total slog and neither guy looks good, especially poor Herc.

Koko/Bossman is awesome, and the tag title match is good stuff. Bulldogs/Rougeaus is very good but I just could never get into it, especially compared to Harts/Busters from the next year (which is a GOAT opener).

 

[King Kamala]

The main event is one of my favorite matches ever and I think would be much more highly thought of with better commentary. Everyone worked smart, and I love how the Mega Bucks feel like a very credible threat until Liz wins the match.

I feel like it's one of the definitive matches of the era even with the dumpy commentary.

 

[snuffbox]

I was at the Superstars taping that set up Bucks-Powers but was 4 years old and don't really remember much of it.

 

[Valeyard]

It gets slept on I think because of the rest of the Mega Powers run just overshadowed it. But it's some of the best work for all involved as far as just sports entertainment. Hell it might be the last great Andre match.

 

[Valeyard]

Also I'm fucking bitter there wasn't a Mega Powers/Demolition series

 

[King Kamala]

Absolutely. I think there was more juice to be squeezed out of the Demos as heels. Maybe have them in the Twin Towers role and do the double turn with the PoP sometime in build to WrestleMania V (have Fuji turn on them cause they can't beat the Mega Powers?)

 

[Valeyard]

It'd have been a great SNME match at the least.

 

[Gert]

It's really amazing to me how match card turnover there was between 1988 & 89 Summerslam. 13 of the 28 guys were not on the 89 card. Now a lot of them were still with the company, but it is interesting to see the difference by the year.

I started watching wrestling in 1990, so I don't have the "real time" reference, but every time I watch SummerSlam 1988, it seemed like so many matches were randomly thrown together, like it was a supersized SNME.

 

[Valeyard]

The way the production changed is what hits me. 89 is just so much clearer and easier to watch while 88 has the classic soupiness. Add in how fresh and motivated Tony and Jesse sound and it's a different level.

 

[King Kamala]

'89 does really feel kind of like the first show of the '90s with how the show looks and sounds. IIRC, it's the first PPV where almost everyone has theme music.

That group of runken, rowdy businessmen in the front row really demonstrate how mainstream and cool WWF had become. Is there any other era where you'd get dudes in suits, drinking beers and high fiving at a North American wrestling show? Attitude Era was white hot but it had a very low brow feel.

 

[Valeyard]

Honestly? Maybe right now.

 

[King Kamala]

That late '89/early '90 stretch is fascinating cause it seems like WWF is poised to surge into the '90s but already subtle signs of decline are there (ZEUS!). By SummerSlam '90, it definitely feels like WWF isn't as good as it used to be.

 

[Valeyard]

Era is represented by Middle Aged Superfly Fan at the 1990 Rumble. Ugh ugh.

 

[King Kamala]

GOAT segment in WWF history but this isn't a Rumble rewatch thread so I will try not to go on too much about it but---

My favorite is the guy who thinks Ax is going to win cause he's the only one who can beat Andre The Giant.

 

[Valeyard]

"Bulldog will win whether he wants to or not" kid is up there for the transition period though.

 

[King Kamala]

One of best/only good moments of 2020 was revelation that the "Bulldog is gonna win whether he wants to or not" kid was/is a female.

I'm jealous of all of the SummerSlam '92 30th Anniversary stuff the UK fans are getting.

 

[strummer]

Summerslam 92 is a weird one for me as it was the same night our family dog died (that my parents had since before I was born). She was out in the living room with us as my father set a makeshift type bed for her

 

[King Kamala]

It's crazy that SummerSlam '92 aired two days later on tape delay in the USA. That's maybe last year where internet was not any sort of major factor. Looked it up and they REALLY got in under the wire as internet didn't become widely commercially available in the UK till 1993.

Were the UK exclusive matches (that aired on Prime Time Wrestling in North America) hyped at all on TV?

 

[Mental Lee ILL]

I usually re-watch SummerSlam 1991 and 1994. I also like SummerSlam 2000. But I haven't watched that year's PPV in years, because of all the shit HHH pulled, despite the fact how "good" he used to be back then.