Summerslam (1993) Online

Live from Auburn Hills, MI

Attendance 23,954

Your commentators are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan

Razor Ramon Vs Ted Dibiase

The crowd is red hot for Razor. This is also notable for being Dibiase's last match ever due to back issues. Razor wins with the Razor's Edge. Not bad overall and an OK way to get the crowd going. Dibiase was a solid choice to jumpstart Razor's face push.

** out of 5

We get a cringe worthy segment of Scott Steiner's Mother and Sister trying to act like Rick and Scott are really brothers. The Mother looks so embarrassed.

Tag Team Titles

The Steiner Brothers (C) Vs The Heavenly Bodies

The Steiner Brothers win. Pretty fun match here. Really fast-paced with a lot of exciting action. And there were a couple of moments where you might think The Heavenly Bodies had it.

***1/4 out of 5

Intercontinental Title

Shawn Michaels (C) Vs Mr. Perfect

Michaels wins by count-out after Diesel interferes. Definitely a solid match. That's a given with these two...but they were both really off as well. The timing wasn't right and there were some botched spots. It also felt rushed. Criticism aside, it's still worth a look for sure.



**3/4 out of 5

The 1-2-3 Kid Vs I.R.S

IRS wins with the flying clothesline. Watchable, simply due to the 1-2-3 Kid. Rotunda is mediocre and always has been. Much better than I could do...but I've never been a fan of his and the IRS gimmick was the worst. What purpose did an IRS win serve here? This show is horribly booked.

**1/2 out of 5

Bret Hart Vs Doink

Jerry Lawler feigns a knee injury and names Doink as a replacement. He babbled incessantly and I barely paid attention. Never been a fan of Lawler's. Not because he's a great heel...because he's super annoying and overrated. Bret has the match won...but Lawler uses his crutch to cause the DQ. Pretty boring stuff.

*1/2 out of 5

Bret Hart Vs Jerry "The King" Lawler

Jack Tunney demands Lawler face Bret. If Lawler doesn't come back, he'll be banned from the WWF for life. Normally, I wouldn't complain about two Bret matches...but Lawler and Doink are not ideal opponents. Bret wins the match with The Sharpshooter, but Bret refuses to let go of the hold. The decision is reversed and Jerry Lawler is the "undisputed" King of the Ring. Pretty poor booking here.

** out of 5

Ludvig Borga Vs Marty Jannetty

Borga wins with the Torture Rack. If this didn't telegraph his feud with Luger, I'm not sure what else would. Borga wouldn't amount to much anyway.

*1/2 out of 5

Rest in Peace Match (No DQ, No Countout)

The Undertaker Vs Giant Gonzalez

The Undertaker wins with a flying clothesline from the top. TERRIBLE! Even worse than their Wrestlemania 9 match, which is truly saying something. Vince McMahon is a masochist and a sick puppy. Harvey Wippleman berates Gonzalez after the match and turns Gonzalez face. Gonzalez was supposed to feud with Adam Bomb, but he left the WWF.

DUD

Tatanka & The Smoking Gunns Vs Bam Bam Bigelow & The Headshrinkers

Tatanka and the Smoking Gunns win. One of the best matches on the show so far. Rather fun. Not great...but fun.

**1/2 out of 5

Randy Savage comes out with Aaron Neville to get the crowd to pop. He's the guest ring announcer.

WWF Championship

Yokozuna (C) Vs Lex Luger

Luger wins by count-out after knocking Yokozuna to the floor with that loaded forearm. The wrestlers come into celebrate to sell it as a "Moral" victory. I've actually come to appreciate Luger, but he was so out-of-place as the next coming of Hogan. They had a chance early on to make Luger a legitimately popular top babyface, but they blew that here. All that ridiculous hype down the drain. What was Vince thinking? He put all his cards here and he decided this? I guess Vince thought Luger's star power could last long enough to give Luger the all important WWF Title win at Wrestlemania 10. But fans were already growing weary of Luger's forced push. They should have given Luger the title here for a few month trial at least. Average match overall.

** out of 5

One of my least favorite Summerslams. Even Michaels and Perfect is underwhelming for their standards. I'd give it a pass, if I were you.

4/10

In terms of overall drama and pacing, SummerSlam 1993 is actually a pretty successful event. It has it's share of stinkers, but also a good deal of entertainment.

The Good: -Razor Ramon as an established superstar (taking on Ted DiBiase). - Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels (budding star) vs. Mr. Perfect (on the way out) - The 1-2-3 Kid gimmick is actually kind of cool...taking a "jobber" and flipping the script. -Bret Hart vs. Doink the Clown. Once you get past all the Jerry Lawler crutches nonsense, the match is actually pretty good.

The Bad: -WWF couldn't buy a good tag team at this point. Smokin' Guns? Heavenly Bodies? Headshrinkers? Yikes. -With the knowledge that the Hulk Hogan era was finally over, Vince McMahon tries to replace him with...a clone of himself (in Lex Luger). Unforgivable. Can't just have another cut guy to wave the flag. -Fat guys (like Yokozuna) just don't make good headliners. They just can't move well enough to carry a match.

The Ugly: -Undertaker (always a good performance) vs. Giant Gonzalez (maybe the worst "wrestler" I've ever seen. The guy could hardly walk!)

So, overall I was basically entertained by SummerSlam 1993. Besides some clunkiness and awkwardness, there are some really fun moments. It's too bad that Vince McMahon was still so enamored by the roided-up guys and Hogan clones that he couldn't adapt as fast as happened later. However, with WCW still a little ways off from mounting a challenge, the WWF could pretty much put any level of talent on the air and get eyeballs.

We start with "Hero" compilation of Lex Luger. That's so embarrassing beginning.

1. Ted DiBiase Vs. Razor Ramon - Razor:fan favorite from heel, nice. 6/10

2. Tag Team Championship: Heavenly Boddies Vs. Champs-Steiner Brothers - Outstanding match. These suplexes from Scotty are legendary 8/10

3. Intercontinental Championship: Champ-Shawn Michaels Vs. Mr. Perfect - I like, how asshole Nash stands in the shadow of Shawn. At all good match, but another screwing with Mr. Perfect makes me sick. 7/10

4. 1-2-3 Kid Vs. I.R.S. - Decent match. I'm surprised, that they let Rorunda won. 6/10

5. Bret Hart Vs. Doink the Clown - Nothing special 6/10

6. Bret Hart Vs. Jerry Lawler - Better match than previous, Jerry is still the King by title. 7/10

7. Marty Jannetty Vs. Ludvig Borga - Marty again lose with totally idiotic Borga, that cannot wrestle much (maybe boxing is his domena) Jannetty laid again, pff, get him outta my face, he's like Iaukea in WCW, useless... 5/10

8. Giant "Stiff" Gonzáles Vs. The Undertaker - This is one of the worst feuds I've ever seen and it's mostly because of doll Gonzáles. I give 5* only for defeated that non-wrestler. 5/10

9. Smoking Guns/Tatanka Vs. Headshrinkers/Bam Bam Bigelow - I laughed hard when Tatanka start his idiotic dance across the ring like always and BBB took him down with head-kick :D This was the brightest moment, next that Yipee Indian won again. Blah... 5.5/10

10. WWF Championship: Lex Luger Vs. Champ-Yokozuna - We started with pathetic American disrespect for everything from Japan because of Yoko. Signing Japanese anthem accompanied with boos. Next on program was clumsy match, and Luger won by count out. 5/10

This was the first PPV in a new era for the WWE as Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair and Sherri Martel had all left. A new crop of talent needed to be pushed. And this all started with Lex Luger, a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion being given a title shot against Yokozuna. Lex travelled all over the US in a bus called the Lex Express to inspire Americans into rallying behind him in his bid to beat the Japanese monster (who was actually Samoan) and get the WWE Championship back into American hands. As such there was much anticipation for this match.

But every good PPV needs an undercard and this had some good stuff.

The night started off with Razor Ramon defeating Ted DiBiase in a good match. The story going into this was that DiBiase had picked on Ramon and even offered him a job as a slave after his shock loss to the 1-2-3 Kid on RAW in July. Ramon, angry, had then teamed with the 1-2-3 Kid against the Money Inc tag team of Ted DiBiase and Irwin R Shyster. To settle their differences they were both given one on one matches DiBiase vs Ramon and Shyster vs The Kid. Razor was able to settle his side of the deal after hitting a Razor's Edge.

Next up came the Steiner Brothers putting the WWE Tag Team Titles on the line against The Heavenly Bodies. Depsite the interference of "The Bodies" Manager Jim Cornette, who hit Scott Steiner in the throat with a tennis racket, they were able to pull out the win in a decent match.

Shawn Michaels and Mr Perfect had been feuding since Wrestlemania IX when Shawn Michaels confronted Perfect after his loss to Lex Luger. Perfect had then cost Michaels the Intercontinental Championship when he distracted him in a title match against Marty Janetty. Michaels had won the title back and was putting it on the line against Mr Perfect, but Michaels now had a powerful ally in his corner in his 7 foot bodyguard Diesel. Micheals and Perfect had an excellent match here, but it was Diesel who proved the difference maker, pulling Perfect out of the ring and throwing him into the steel steps for Shawn to win by count out.

Irwin R Shyster avenged the loss of his tag team partner earlier in the night, easily accounting for the 1-2-3 Kid.

Next came one of the big matches of the night as Bret Hart prepared to battle Jerry Lawler for the title of undisputed King of the WWE. But Lawler came out with crutches, saying he'd been injured in a car accident earlier that day and that he'd arranged another opponent for Hart: Doink the Clown. Hart and Doink had a passable match which Hart won with a sharpshooter. He was then jumped from behind by Lawler. This bought WWE President Jack Tunney to the ring who told Lawler that he would receive a lifetime ban if he didn't wrestle Hart. Hart then destroyed Lawler, winning with the sharpshooter, but Hart refused to let go of the hold and the referee reversed his decision. So after all that Lawler was named the undisputed King of the WWE. This match was followed by Ludvig Borda destroying Marty Janetty in a short match.

The Undertaker finished his long rivalry with Harvey Wippleman, which had started in 1992 when the Undertaker had defeated Wippleman's client Kamala at Summerslam and continued when Wippleman's latest monster The Giant Gonzales had destroyed Taker at the Rumble and then again at Wrestlemania, with a decisive victory over Gonzales here. Gonzales then turned on Wippleman, chokeslamming him after a poor match.

Next it was time for six man tag action as the Smoking Gunns (Bart and BIlly) and Tatanka defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) and Bam Bam Bigelow with Tatanka pinning Samu.

This brings us to the main event with Yokozuna, flanked by Jim Cornette and Mr Fuji, putting the WWE Title on the line against Lex Luger and it was all on board the Lex Express. Lex came out attacking, but Yokozuna took control. Lex came back though as he was able to avoid a banzai drop and then body slam Yokozuna before knocking him out of the ring. Luger then attacked Cornette and Fuji as Yokozuna was counted out. Luger had won a fine match!!!!! Balloons fell from the ceiling. The heroes all came out to congratulate him on his win. Yokozuna may have retained the title, but Luger had proved he could be beaten. The only question was, who could beat him in the ring and get that title off him?

*SPOILERS*

This is only the second pay-per-view I've given a perfect 10, the first being the 1991 Royal Rumble. It was full of exciting matches that weren't memorable, just disposable fun. And that's why I love it.

The opening match between Razor and DiBiase, as well as Ludvig Borga vs. Marty Jannetty were the only low points. They were OK matches, but DiBiase deserved better in his final pay per view match. These days, a match like this would have run-ins and a bigger climax for Razor's first major babyface push. And Jannetty, fresh off a Intercontinental title run, could have had a better match with Borga. But I don't think anyone really cared. They just needed a Borga push on pay per view television.

IRS and The Kid were great, as were Michaels and Perfect. I wish Perfect could have won, but Michaels lies down for no one. Notice how right after this, he left the WWF so he wouldn't have to job to Razor. Bret Hart had two great brawls with Doink (notice how everyone's best match is against the Hit-man) and then Lawler. Their rivalry was a classic; that's why that year's Feud of the Year was a no-brainer. How often do you see two legends win Feud of the Year this late in their careers?

The Steiners-Heavenly Bodies match was one of the best of the year. Who knew the Bodies could hold their own against one of the best teams ever?

Many say that the Undertaker-Giant Gonzalez match was a waste of time. But I loved it. Remember, what made the old WWF (as in, pre-WWE) great was the mix of athleticism and freak show. Is there a soul out there who didn't like Akeem?

The main event wasn't bad, although nowhere near match of the year status. They put Lex Luger over well, but made a wise choice in having Yokozuna keep the belt. He was the first heel since Superstar Graham to hold the belt for more than two months. Nowadays, heels are champions all the time. But from the beginning of the WWWF through the WWF of the 90s, if you blinked, you missed a heel title reign.

As an old school wrestling fan, this one and SummerSlam '88 are my favorites.

On July 4, 1993, aboard the USS Intrepid, Yokozuna was making a mockery out of America by issuing a challenge to any American strong enough to bodyslam the 500-pound behemoth. The American efforts were futile, until Lex Luger made a dramatic entrance from a helicopter to the Intrepid, and proceeded to bodyslam Yokozuna! The events aboard the Intrepid earned Luger a shot for Yokozuna's WWE Championship at SummerSlam 1993. Touring the country via the `Lex Express,' Luger generated the support of an entire country, but he also knew the odds were against him. Not only did Luger have to pin the champion or make him submit, Yokozuna's manager, Jim Cornette, added a clause in the contract that this would be the one and only shot Luger would ever receive at Yokozuna's championship. Luger defeated Yokozuna - and celebrated with the rest of America - but the win was by countout. Therefore, Yokozuna was still WWE Champion. Only thanks an unusual set of circumstances heading into WrestleMania X did Luger receive a second shot at Yokozuna and the WWE Championship.

Razor Ramon pinned Ted DiBiase Tag Team Champions the Steiner Brothers defeated the Heavenly Bodies Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Mr. Perfect by countout Irwin R. Shyster pinned 1-2-3 Kid Bret Hart defeated Doink the Clown by DQ Jerry Lawler defeated Bret Hart by reverse decision Ludvig Borga defeated Marty Janetty by submission The Undertaker pinned Giant Gonzalez in a Rest in Peace Match Tatanka & the Smoking Gunns defeated the Headshrinkers & Bam Bam Bigelow Lex Luger defeated WWE Champion Yokozuna by countout

Overall Mark: B

SummerSlam made it's debut in 1988 and in my opinion it has always been an average event. It's never been in the same league as WrestleMania, Royal Rumble or Survivor Series. This event was one of the better SummerSlams.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)Lex Luger faced monster heel Yokosuna in the main event for the WWF belt. Luger was really popular at the time and the fans were behind him throughout the match. He had a good match but it was a bit of an anti-climax to see the match end in a count out.

There were some decent undercard matches as well such as Shawn Michaels defending his Intercontinental Title against Mr Perfect. Razor Ramon had a reasonable match with the capable Ted DiBiase. Another great match pitted the Steiner Brothers against the Heavenly Bodies.

One of my favourites pitted The Undertaker against the really tall Giant Gonzalez. None of these guys could ever have a five star match but it was great to see the Undertaker vanquish the seemingly invincible Gonzalez.

Bret Hart was on the card too facing Doink the Clown and Jerry "The King" Lawler in superb matches. As was the norm during his WWF days, Bret put on a good show.

I give a huge thumbs up to SummerSlam '93.