No stop signs or speed limit nobody gonna slow me down. One of the most famous songs and promo videos in WWF history. We are at the peak of Austin and Undertaker has aligned himself with Vince McMahon. The crowd is on fire and my goodness at the amount of signs in the crowd. This should be a great crowd as it’s in New York. We have Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler as the commentators for this show. We open the show with Val Venis and absolutely love the set with the superstars coming through the “Gates of hell”. Let’s get to our first match.
Val Venis vs. D’Lo Brown (European Title): Venis opens this match with a promo and the cameramen get shots of women who are totally digging the guy. I must say of all people the first person that comes to mind when you say European Championship is D’Lo Brown. We open this show with both men rolling around the ring ropes a bit with neither being able to gain control. There seems to be a lot of fog coming through around and in the ring. Lawler and Ross comment about D’Lo’s chest protected and just as much as he’s synonymous with the European title, I can’t remember him wrestling without that chest protector. D’Lo hits an awesome looking DDT as Venis sells it very well. While this match isn’t bad I feel it’s dragging a bit and just a little long. Venis ends up getting the chest protector on and throws the referee down while going for the big splash. Our first match ends in a disqualification. This match which went a little long to begin with now has no payoff. Ugh… after the match Venis drops the referee and hits him with the Money Shot.
Kai En Tai vs. The Oddities (Handicap Match): I’m just watching the entrances and this is a mess. The oddities and just dancing around in the ring. Many people talk so highly about the attitude era vs. today however put this shit on a Summerslam card in 2017 and watch your twitter. Golga opens the match head butting everyone. Now the oddities are smelling Yamaguchi San’s shoe and then throws water in his face with the shoe. Yes everything I just typed is real and happened at Summerslam. Taka takes a crazy bump from a press slam over the top rope. This match finally ends when all four members of Kai En Tai get chokeslammed and Golga hits a splash on all four. They cut away IMMEDIATELY after the match does anyone recall if that happened live?
Jeff Jarrett vs. X-Pac (Hair vs. Hair Match): Jeff Jarrett is out with his guitar and Southern Justice. I’m at such a low after that last match however now I get two great workers in a match. X-Pac’s video package goes on way to long before he comes out. Howard Finkel is out with X-Pac in a Degeneration-X shirt and hits the worst cross chops of all time. X-Pac cuts a promo calling Jarrett a biatch and he and Finkel tell him to suck it. They show why Finkel is out for this match as Jarrett and Southern Justice shaved his head on Heat a week ago. So what you will about the X-Pac character the dude could work in the ring and we see a cool springboard crossbody to the outside to start the match. Wow X-Pac is only twenty six in this match think about that for a minute. I still wonder what Jarrett’s WWF tenure would have been like had he stayed the first go ‘round and been given a feud with Bret Hart. Jarrett has X-Pac locked in the figure four in the laziest looking version i’ve ever seen. Dennis Knight gets on the ring apron with the guitar and misses X-Pac however X-Pac grabs the guitar and blasts Jarrett with it. After the match the Outlaws are out to keep Southern Justice away. Droz and the Headbangers are out as well to hold Jarrett in a chair and X-Pac begins to shave Jarrett’s hair.
Marc Mero & Jacqueline vs. Edge & Sable: After watching the previous year’s Summerslam’s and getting so many in a row and remembering how big this year’s was I was so excited to watch it. Three matches in and while two weren’t awful they don’t hold up to some year’s prior that’s for sure. Mero and Jacqueline enter together and then Sable gets her own individual entrance and the crowd is kind of flat. Pairing this version of edge with Sable at this point makes almost no sense from a character perspective. Maybe the writers are trying to sprinkle some Sable dust on Edge. Edge works the majority of this match with Jacqueline helping interfere when the referee is distracted. Mero actually has a really good look here and is by far the best version of him since Johnny B Badd. The women get tagged in as Edge does a very lazy hot tag. Sable’s offense is limited however the most over thing in this match yet. Sable kicks Mero below the belt in front of the referee and he does nothing both Jacqueline and Mero are in the ring getting the upperhand. Edge is like you got this i’m going to hang out over here. Edge drops Mero and he and Sable hit a double team move and Sable grabs the pin. Sable at this point is where Lana is today.
Ken Shamrock vs. Owen Hart (Lion’s Den Match): So we have these two guys “shooting wrestling” in a small circular cage. This is done at the Theatre at MSG and I wonder if they sold separate tickets to this if so good business for WWF. Shamrock is treating this match like a UFC fight and Owen is doing irish whips into the cage. We get some offense with Owen’s shirt choking Owen. Owen is bleeding fairly early in this match. Owen Hart’s haircut is atrocious right now and his ring gear is shit. Owen’s enzuigiri is still a thing of beauty no matter where it’s done. Owen Hart is in the Ankle Lock and Owen Hart is tapping out we have a winner via submission. This match was good for Shamrock as the fans loved seeing him in the cage however Owen was a bit of a fish out of water.
Mankind vs. New Age Outlaws(Handicap Tag Titles): We get an awkward dynamic here as the heel is the sympathetic character and the faces are in the role of power. We get an extremely long entrance for Mankind and this is a no disqualification match. The outlaws wheel out a trash bin of weapons. Billy and Mankind go dueling chairs until Roaddog grabs the chair away from Mankind. Now they both start to put the boots to him and beat him with cookie sheets. Mankind finally gets the upperhand back and hits the running knee in the corner with a cookie sheet and Roaddogg is concerned about his mouth after. The Outlaws hit a spike piledriver in a match I could never get into as the dynamic was hard to get behind. After the match the Roaddogg does his schtick and the Outlaws throw Mankind in the dumpster and a guy in the front row is giving it a thumbs down. Wait…Kane shows up in the dumpster after the match and appears to sledgehammer Mankind in the dumpster.
HHH vs. The Rock (IC Title Ladder Match): We get HHH played to the ring by a live band. Question is will HHH/Rock live up to the bar HBK/Razor set just a few years prior. Oh wow they set up the drumset set and everything inside the ring and HHH ends up carrying the lead singer on his shoulders while he is singing. After hte performance the band and HHH destroy the drum set. The Rock is out with Mark Henry and Chyna has accompanied HHH. By the way I think Chyna looks great here and the Rock climbs the ladder and shows off the title. You can feel the intensity before the match starts like both men are trying to climb the ladder to the top not just for this title. I really like just having one ladder outside that they have to get and bring into the ring and not four hundred and seventy three around the ring. HHH and Rock battle just to get the ladder with even HHH throwing the Rock back in to dish out some more punishment before getting the ladder. I love the psychology of believing you have gotten the upperhand on your opponent and dished out enough damage before bringing the ladder in. We get about half-way through the match before either man attempts a ladder climb kudos to them great psychology. I love the way both men use the ladder not just as a prop but a way to enhance their offense. This a great match and both men are bumping all over the place for each other and now we have two ladders in the ring. HHH is disorientated and Mark Henry helps stop HHH while the Rock is climbing the ladder until Chyna drops Henry. HHH shoves the ladder over and the Rock ends up on the outside of the ring. The Rock gets busted open when the ladder hits Rock right in the face from a baseball slide. We get the fans on the edge of their seat cheering both men however firmly behind HHH. They utilize both ladders well and take some great bumps off the ladder. We have both men climbing the ladder and Chyna slides in and gives Rock a low blow and HHH has won the Intercontinental title. Very good match and will certainly be the match of the night. Not as good as HBK/Razor but it is certainly well worth it to go back and watch this match.
Steve Austin vs. Undertaker (WWF Title Match): I love this entrance music for Undertaker it’s hands down my favorite of his. We get a Goldberg is the man sign caught on camera and I wonder what Vince and Kevin Dunn thought about that. Austin comes out and gets the fans on their feet and I forgot all about the smoking skull title. We get both men kind of feeling each other out to start the match and neither man able to gain full control early. Sometimes you get two guys in the ring and it just looks right this is one of those times where I like the visual dynamic of Austin and Undertaker. Undertaker gets control of the match and starts using his power to beat down Austin. The crowd right now is actually kind of flat I wonder if they are spent from the ladder match. Austin tries to work on the big man’s legs again good psychology in a match. These two men bring the crowd back to life and end up brawling into the crowd which was a staple in 1998. We get the men back in the ring and Undertaker gets control of the match back. AN INCREDIBLE SPOT WITH UNDERTAKER DROPPING A LEG OFF THE TOP ROPE THROUGH A TABLE WITH AUSTIN ON IT! Undertaker gets Austin back in and tries to pick-up the win. Austin kicks out and Undertaker has that look on his face like he doesn’t know what he needs to do to finish off the rattlesnake. Just think about it last year Austin had just had his neck broken and now he’s in the main event against Undertaker as the biggest thing in wrestling. Austin hits the stunner to an INSANE pop and picks up the win. This match is great and really fun. After the match Undertaker somehow gets ahold of the title that’s just lying on the mat and he hands the title to Austin out of respect. Has Undertaker turned face? This feud between them is over and Undertaker has just in front of everyone gave him his nod of confidence. This PPV is over and I wish it would have started as well as it ended.
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Overall this PPV is not very good. I wouldn’t call it ‘93 bad but it certainly is at the bottom of the list and worst than every Summerslam since ‘93. This is a two match card with the two big title matches being the only things worth watching. The match of the night is certainly the ladder match between The Rock and HHH. I’m glad I finished this one and until Summerslam ‘99 be awesome.
