SummerSlam 1994 Review

Monday, August 29th, 1994
United Center
Chicago, Illinois

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This is one of those rare early 90s pay-per-views that I have only seen one time, so I'm happy to be getting another viewing. The show kicks off with Randy Savage coming down the aisle and he introduces SummerSlam in a strange fashion. They also kind of give away British Bulldog being there, as he is seen giving Savage a high five. We go to Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon and they announce that the Headshrinkers are no longer the Tag Team Champions and that Shawn Michaels and Diesel now have the titles. This of course makes no sense heading into a pay-per-view. 

IRS & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Headshrinkers

This match had just about no build and now has no stakes. The Shrinkers start off hot and hit a double superkick on Bam Bam for a 2 count. IRS tries to come in with a hot tag, but suffers the same fate until he's able to duck a crossbody. Samu does the same and IRS ends up outside the ring. Bam Bam and Fatu end up colliding in the middle of the ring and both men are down. They both are able to make tags and Samu hits a back body drop on his opponents. He hits a second rope headbutt on IRS, but he's able to kick out at 2. Fatu hits the top rope splash, but Ted DiBiase is distracting the ref. Lou Albano is on the apron and Bam Bam slugs him. In comes Afa to attack Bam Bam and it results in a DQ. The Million Dollar Corporation is already dead and somehow it lasts forever. All four men start brawling in the aisle and to the backstage. This was decent, but felt like a TV match. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We go to a Leslie Nielsen skit. I'd rather just see more wrestling. 

WWF Women's Championship Match
Bull Nakano vs. Alundra Blayze

Alundra misses with a dropkick and Bull tosses her around the ring with her hair. Alundra is able to sneak in a hurricanrana and a spin kick, but Bull ends up right back in control after the small flurry of offense. Bull puts Blayze in a Boston Crab in the center of the ring. Alundra picks up the pace and gets in some more offense before getting hit with a sit down powerbomb. We get some distractions from Luna Vachon, which leads to Alundra hitting a German suplex for the victory. They get a good reaction too, which is pretty surprising due to how little they are on TV. Anyway, this match was really solid and they did a good job of telling a story that made sense. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Todd Pettengill is with Shawn Michaels and Diesel. Michaels does most of the talking in his mid-90s cheesy talking. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels

Walter Payton is out wearing his ugly Razor shirt and is out to a good pop. Razor starts off hot and this one has the big fight feel that was pretty rare for the undercard during this time period. Diesel regroups outside the ring and hits a short arm clothesline. Razor fights back, but gets hit with a reverse elbow. Diesel slaps on the sleeper hold, but Razor counters out of it with a back suplex that leaves both men down. Razor is up and charges at Diesel, but he sidesteps him and Razor goes flying out of the ring. Shawn is able to remove the top turnbuckle pad behind the referee's back while he is distracted by Payton. The distraction also allows Shawn to hit a running clothesline off the steps. Payton points out the exposed turnbuckle and the referee blocks it. He runs over to Shawn which of course allows Diesel to throw Razor into it. Razor tries to fight back, but runs into a huge boot and we have another nearfall. Diesel goes for Snake Eyes on the exposed turnbuckle, but Razor escapes and pushes Diesel into it. He then slides under Diesel's big boot in the corner and crotches him on the ring post. He hits a bulldog off the top rope and they have the crowd in the palm of their hands here. Razor sets Diesel up on the top rope, but Diesel elbows him off before he can hit the suplex. Diesel sets up for the Jackknife, but Razor hits a back body drop. Razor calls for the Razor's Edge, but Shawn distracts him and Diesel hits a leaping shoulder block, leaving both men down again. Shawn goes and grabs the Intercontinental Championship. Walter Payton is able to grab it, once again distracting the ref. Michaels goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Razor ducks and he hits Diesel. Payton chases Shawn around the ring and pulls him from interfering. Razor crawls on Diesel and the ref runs back in the ring and counts to 3. We have a new Intercontinental Champion and the crowd absolutely loves it. Razor was absolutely awesome here in 1994. This was a great match that really gets overlooked. After the match, Diesel is furious with Shawn. 

Match Rating: ****

We go to Todd Pettengill with Lex Luger and Tatanka. Todd tells us that 54% of the people who called in, think that Luger sold out. Tatanka shows us all the proof and Luger continues to deny it. 

Tatanka vs. Lex Luger

They start things off hesitantly and it turns into a back and forth match. Luger misses with an elbow drop and Tatanka hits a body slam. Tatanka hits a couple of chops, but Luger kicks out. Tatanka hits a top rope chop, but again Luger kicks out. Tatanka misses with the top rope crossbody and Luger hits two running clotheslines. Out comes Ted DiBiase with a bag of money. Luger is distracted and Tatanka rolls him up to get the victory. Luger and Tatanka argue after the match and DiBiase comes in with the money. Luger kicks the money away and Tatanka attacks him from behind. He and DiBiase embrace to some boos. They should have just had Luger join DiBiase in retrospect. Luger was always better as a heel and could have faced Undertaker at WrestleMania instead of King Kong Bundy. There really wasn't much to the match. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel

Wow, two hot feuds back-to-back. Jarrett ducks a bunch of Mabel's offense, but his gloating gets the best of him and Mabel clotheslines him over the top rope. Oscar gets in Jarrett's face and he gets pushed into the steps. Jarrett trips up Mabel and hits an ugly top rope fist. He hits a couple of second rope ax handles, but Mabel catches him on the third one. Jarrett is able to escape and jumps on his back for a sleeper. Mabel backs him into the corner, but Jarrett jumps back on and this time Mabel is down to a knee. Mabel gets out and hits his spin kick for a 2 count. Out comes Abe Schwartz with a sign saying he is on strike. 1994, everyone. Jarrett goes after Oscar for some reason, but Mabel grabs him and the referee allows Oscar to slap him. Back in the ring, Mabel misses a second rope splash. Jarrett goes for a sunset flip, but moves when Mabel tries to squash him. Jarrett rolls him up for the pin and gets the victory. It's kind of crazy to think that Mabel would headline SummerSlam just a year later. Jarrett worked really hard here to try to pull a halfway decent match out of Mabel.

Match Rating: *1/2

Vince brings out Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy for some reason and then they just walk back. 

Vince and Lawler then interview the Hart family, including the British Bulldog in his glasses. Jim Neidhart is sitting with them for some reason. Bruce then yells at Neidhart for splitting up the family. We go to Todd and Bret Hart, who is recovering from strep throat. Bret says that this will be a dog fight, but he will walk out the champion.

Steel Cage Match For The WWF Championship
Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart

Owen attacks Bret as soon as he walks in and hits him with a series of right hands. Bret is able to hit a clothesline, but Owen rakes the eyes to regain control. Bret hits a DDT and they exchange right hands. Bret tries to climb out, but Owen grabs him and hits an enzuigiri. Owen then makes his first attempt to escape, but Bret hits a back suplex. They both trade attempts to crawl out of the cage door in a fun spot. Owen is able to climb over the top of the cage, but Bret is up there to pull him back in. They start fighting on the top rope and Owen is able to knock him down. Owen hits a missile dropkick and kips up. He runs and jumps up towards the cage and again gets over the top. This time Bret gets the better of Owen and knocks him off the top rope. Bret runs off the ropes and they end up colliding in the center of the ring, leaving both men stunned. Bret again climbs and Owen yanks his leg convincingly and crotches Bret, leaving Neidhart happy. Owen is able to get over the top again, but it ends with Bret slamming him off again. Bret gets a leg over, but Owen grabs him and hits a Samoan Drop. Bret throws Owen into the cage and again gets close, but Owen hits a back suplex. Owen hits a piledriver and again begins to climb. Owen knocks Bret off, but loses his balance and crotches himself on the top rope. Bret begins to crawl towards the door, but Owen grabs his ankle. Bret tries to kick him off and then just starts hammering away before trying to crawl out again. Owen now does the same and Bret slingshots him into the steel cage. British Bulldog looks like he's auditioning for a Right Guard commercial. Anything less, would be uncivilized. Owen tries to push Bret into the cage, but he ducks and Owen's head goes straight into it. Bret starts to climb, but Owen grabs his arm and pulls him back in. Owen throws him off the ropes and hits a spin kick. Owen again comes very close and it leads to a battle on the top rope. Bret kicks Owen away, but then Owen pulls Bret down and hits some uppercuts. Owen climbs up the corner, but Bret meets him up there and hits a superplex from the top. Bret again tries to climb out the door, but Owen grabs him and slaps on the Sharpshooter. Bret is able to get out of it and reverse the hold. Bret releases and tries to climb again and they both end up falling off the top rope. They climb again and this time they both make it over the top. Bret slams Owen's head into the cage and his leg gets trapped, allowing Bret to drop to the floor. After the match, Neidhart clotheslines both British Bulldog and Diana over the railing. Neidhart and Owen drag Bret back into the ring and lock the cage door. Bulldog attempts to try and climb in, but Owen hits him on his way up. Other members of the Hart family also try to climb. Bulldog eventually gets in and Neidhart and Owen escape. Todd Pettengill chases down Owen and Neidhart backstage and Owen acts as if Bulldog interfered and cost him the match. The match was very good even though it only relied on the escape aspect of the match. I would have liked to see the actual cage come into play a little bit more. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Underfaker vs. Undertaker

Paul Bearer comes down with a casket and the debut of the giant urn. He opens the urn and a light shines out. Out comes the real Undertaker. Seeing them face-to-face, it is more than obvious how little the imposter looks like the actual Undertaker. The imposter tries to do Old School, but Taker throws him off the top rope. The crowd already doesn't care about this, but can you blame them? Taker hits Old School to almost no reaction at all. The imposter tries to do the Stun Gun, but they botch it and Vince claims that the crowd is in awe. The imposter ducks a charging Undertaker and he falls slowly to the floor. Again, Vince mentions the virtual silence from the capacity crowd. I don't know how else to say it, but this match is horrendous. The imposter hits a chokeslam, but doesn't go for a pin. He puts him up for the Tombstone and hits it. DiBiase tells him to pin him, but he takes too long and Taker sits up. He goes for another one, but Taker reverses it and hits one of his own. Taker pulls him back up and hits him with another one, but that's not enough. He picks him up again and hits a third Tombstone to finally put us all out of our misery. DiBiase bolts to the back and the druids are out to put the imposter in the casket and wheel him away. This was embarrassing. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Randy Savage tries to tell us how amazing all of this was. Leslie Nielsen is in the back and opens it to find nothing inside. They find a briefcase and it leads to them telling us the case is closed. Sigh. 

This is a tough one to rate. Up until the stinker of a main event, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Even the matches that weren't as good were kept short and the crowd was into them. The main event might as well have been an empty arena match. It wasn't overly long at least, but it really left you with a bad taste in your mouth. I try not to let one bad match completely affect my score, but it certainly lowers it a few points. 

Overall Rating: 77%