SummerSlam 1995 Review

Sunday, August 27th, 1995
Civic Arena
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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It's only fitting that my 900th post is the first pay per view that I ordered when becoming a fan again in 1995. This show is often panned because of the infamous main event, but I have always defended this as an underrated show. Let's see how it holds up. 

Oh, good. Dean Douglas is doing a live classroom from Pittsburgh.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi

I kind of love that it's still the old school SummerSlam banner around the ring here in 1995. We get some solid wrestling and athleticism to start and the crowd is appreciative of it. After some 50/50 stuff until Hakushi is able to hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Hakushi hits the cartwheel elbow in the corner and gets some cheers. Hakushi hits the big splash in the corner and a back body drop. Kid gets knocked outside and Hakushi hits the cartwheel moonsault over the top rope. He throws him back in the ring and hits a top rope shoulder tackle for a 2 count. Kid makes his comeback and hits a diving crossbody to the outside. He follows it up with a leg drop and a frog splash, both for nearfalls. Hakushi catches a spin kick from Kid and slams him down for the victory. The crowd loved this and so did I. This is one of those personal favorite matches of mine and it still holds up. 

Match Rating: ****

Dok Hendrix is with Mabel backstage talking about the royal plan. Yeah, sure. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob Holly

This is Hunter's pay per view debut and it's in a match with no build. He's gotten a little bit more shine than some of the other newcomers, but he is among the many with no direction as of yet. Helmsley catches a charging Holly and drops his throat on the top rope. He sends Holly in the corner with an Irish whip and gets an awesome noise out of the impact there. The crowd cheers that, as the fans at ringside are liking the heels so far. The show British Bulldog arriving to the arena as Helmsley slaps on the abdominal stretch and uses the rope for leverage. Holly reverses it, but then Helmsley hits a hip toss that sends Holly over the top and to the floor. Back in the ring, Holly catches Helmsley's head down too early and hits a DDT. Holly hits a dropkick Holly hits an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline. Holly hits another dropkick. Holly then makes the mistake of putting his head down too early and that leads to a Pedigree and a victory for Helmsley. This was actually more fun than I remembered. 

Match Rating: **1/4

It wouldn't be a SummerSlam without having some pointless contest that they make a bigger deal than it probably was. It was a tug of war between Pittsburgh fire fighters and WWF Superstars. 

Jacob & Eli Blu vs. Smoking Gunns

The Blu twins have actually been better than I remembered. Probably because 8 Ball and Skull sucked so bad. Both teams get a little bit of shine to begin, with the Gunns using combos to take down the big man. The Blu twins then hit a double chokeslam type move behind the referee's back and again the front rows are cheering the heels. We get a really close call on a powerslam by one of the twins, almost to the point where it looked like a mistake. Bart gets the hot tag and hits a couple of body slams before running into a big boot. The Blu twins have a miscommunication and it ends up with Gunns hitting the Sidewinder for the victory. The action was good even if the ending was a little abrupt. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Skip vs. Barry Horowitz

Barry gets music and suspenders for his big feature match debut. Barry is all over Skip to begin and he hits a clothesline over the top rope. Barry brings him in the hard way, but runs into a kick to the gut. Barry falls outside, but then he hits a suplex on Skip that sends him over the top rope and to the floor. Sunny comes into the ring to try and stop the match, but it doesn't work. The referee gets in the middle of some action and it allows Sunny to trip Barry up. Skip hits a second rope leg drop and then flexes over him. They do a nice job of having Skip dominate and Barry getting in small moments here and there. Skip hits a splash off the second rope, but decides to pull up Barry's shoulders at 2. Barry makes a comeback and climbs to the top rope. Sunny shakes the ropes and that allows Skip to hit a superplex. Hakushi is now out to the ring. He leaps over both men and that distraction allows Barry to roll Skip up and get the big win. This was a cool moment and still holds up to me knowing Barry's history as a jobber. They did a solid job of telling a story here and the action was pretty good. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Isn't it bad enough that we have to watch Dean Douglas on free TV? Vivify is the word today. He shows the ending of Skip and Barry and rambles on forever. He then sends it to Vince at ringside, but that's wrong and we go to Todd Pettengill instead. He's with Shawn Michaels and he talks about how his loss at WrestleMania X has been eating him alive. He then admits that he's got nothing in his life other than that title. 

WWF Women's Championship Match
Bertha Faye vs. Alundra Blayze

Blayze plays the underdog role, as you would expect here. She's able to move out of the way of a second rope splash and then goes up on her shoulders for a pin attempt. She hits some more offense until Harvey Wippleman distracts the referee. Blayze goes after him and rips off his jacket. Back in the ring, she gets a 2 count with a crucifix. She hits a hurricanrana and gets another 2 count. Blayze hits two second rope missile dropkicks, but misses with the third one. Bertha hits the sit down powerbomb and that's all. That was extremely abrupt and pretty anti-climatic. Jim Ross interviews Bertha and Harvey on their way to the back. He tells Ross that he can look, but he can't touch.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Casket Match
Kama vs. Undertaker

We get a pretty short entrance by Undertaker standards. We did get a pretty lengthy hype video for it. I mean to think that for some reason this feud started like 4 months ago is wild to me. If you aren't a fan of Vince as an announcer (we all know he's a garbage human), this match won't change your mind. This is just Vince doing his high yell every time someone gets in the casket. It's a Kama match, so it's lots of punching and kicking. Kama hits a clothesline to Undertaker on the apron and he falls on top of the casket. Then for some reason, he just kind of lets him get up instead of capitalizing on it. Ted DiBiase gets in a few cheap shot and that enrages Paul Bearer. He takes off his jacket, but officials are able to hold him back. Kama is able to drive Taker into the ring post and then gives Undertaker a vertical suplex onto the casket. Kama hits a big powerslam in the ring and then goes for a cover like an idiot. I mean in all honesty, I don't get why the rest of the Million Dollar Corporation don't come down and throw him in the casket. Although, other than Sid, who is even left any more? Taker makes his comeback and hits the leaping clothesline. Both men tumble into the casket with the door shut. Kama starts climbing out, but Taker is able to drag him back in. Taker hits him with some right hands, crawls out, but can't get to the lid before Kama crawls out. You know, for a guy that is so weird about words, Vince sure is calling the casket a coffin a lot. Probably because it is a coffin and not a casket. The crowd hits a Tombstone and the crowd loves it. Taker rolls Kama into the casket and closes the door for the victory. That was far from great, but it wasn't as bad as you would have expected either. It just didn't need to be as long as it was.

Match Rating: **

Isaac Yankem vs. Bret Hart

After a lengthy hype video, Jerry Lawler is in the ring to introduce Isaac Yankem. I'm not sure what's worse, the wrestler or the entrance theme. You're right, it's definitely the wrestler. We get a quick interview with Bret while the crowd is stuck listening to the drill over and over. Bret then says that Lawler can send a chiropractor after him, he doesn't care. Don't go giving them any more bad ideas, Bret. For those who think Bret was good enough to wrestle a broomstick to 3 stars, Glenn Jacobs is about as close as it gets to a broomstick. The broomstick has the higher IQ though. For weeks and weeks we have been forced to watch vignettes on this guy about how sick and twisted he is. Meanwhile, in the ring he's about as intimidating as a naked mole rat. Bret brought the intensity at least, hitting a dive to the outside. Yankem kind of lifts him up over his head and then screws up dropping him on the top rope. Yankem is choking Bret on the ropes, so the referee pulls him off by his hair for some reason. Yankem then clotheslines Bret out to the floor. Yankem drapes Bret over the top rope, climbs the top rope, almost falls and then barely grazes the back of Bret with a leg drop. Bret seems like he's tired of this crappy match, so he hits a dive through the ropes and then throws Yankem into the steps. Back in the ring, Bret hits the bulldog and a side Russian leg sweep. He slaps on the Sharpshooter, but Lawler jumps up and helps him grab the bottom rope. Bret dumps Yankem to the floor, but he lands on his feet. He grabs Bret and throws him into the steps with the first ounce of intensity he has shown the entire match. He climbs the top rope again and Bret throws him off the top. Bret drags him to the corner and ties his legs up with a cable. He starts kicking him in the back of the head while the referee tries to untie him. Lawler jumps up on the apron and Bret goes after him. He gets to him, but then Kane hits him with a double ax handle off the top rope. Back in the ring, Bret comes back with a leaping forearm. He goes off the ropes again and this time Lawler trips him up. The distraction works again, as Yankem squashes the back of his head. They tie Bret's head up in the top two ropes and the referee calls for the bell. They continue to pull him by his legs until officials come down to break it up. Bret pushes off the help and walks himself to the back. There's your proof that Bret was a miracle worker as he had a good match with one of the worst successful wrestlers of all time. 

Match Rating: ***

Dok Hendrix is with Razor Ramon, who says history has a way of repeating itself. 

Ladder Match For The Intercontinental Championship 
Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels

We get some good action to start and rather than recap it, I'm just enjoying it. The first big spot of the match is when Razor suplexes Michaels from the apron to the floor, with Michaels leg hitting the guardrail. They both get a chance to go for their finishers, with both men avoiding them and then hitting a double clothesline. Razor then hits a fall away slam from the second rope and heads out for a ladder. They show Sid in the back watching the match. Razor starts climbing, but Shawn sprints in and knocks the ladder and Razor over. Shawn then suffers a similar fate, with his knee falling awkwardly into the ladder. Razor goes to work on the injured knee, slamming it into the ladder in multiple ways. I can't believe that I slept on Razor as a worker as much as I did. I always liked him, but I have truly enjoyed watching his WWF run from 1992 to this point. Razor is just relentless on the knee, slamming it into the ring post. Razor starts climbing and Michaels digs down deep to leap off the second rope to knock him off. Michaels hits an Irish whip on Razor into the ladder and sends him over the top. The pacing and intensity in this match has been fantastic. Michaels sets up the ladder in the corner and hits a moonsault. He climbs up again, this time to the very top and misses with the big splash. Both men climb the ladder and start trading right hands near the top. Razor hits a headbutt and the ladder tips over, with Razor going to the floor. Razor is up on the apron, so Michaels charges at him with the ladder. Razor moves out of the way and Michaels falls through the ropes. Razor goes under the ring and pulls out another ladder while Michaels sets the other one up in the ring. Razor goes behind Michaels and grabs him for the Razor's Edge. We eventually get both ladders up again and both men climbing. Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels tries to reach it by leaping and misses. Razor goes for the Razor's Edge, but Michaels hits a back body drop to the floor. Michaels climbs the ladder and grabs the belt, but he falls to the mat. An angered Michaels throws the ladder down and climbs the other one to grab the title and win what was an amazing match. Razor goes into the ring and grabs the title belt and spins Michaels around. He then hands him the belt and shakes his hand. While modern ladder matches are car crashes way beyond this, they are much more contrived. This was more realistic and whatever happened, happened. This is just phenomenal stuff, almost as good as the original. 

Match Rating: ****3/4

Coming off of a nearly perfect match, what is the best way to switch things up? Make us listen to Dean Douglas, of course. He talks about the definition of the word "bad". In comes Razor to interrupt saying that he doesn't need some armchair quarterback. He says he is all bluff and no stuff. Razor nails him with a right hand, while Douglas just sits there and breathes heavily. I can't believe he didn't get over. 

WWF Championship Match
King Mabel vs. Diesel

Diesel gets interviewed by Todd while Mabel is on his way to the ring. He says he's going to get medieval on Mabel, baby. They go at it right away and Mabel knocks him down with a shoulder tackle. Diesel comes back with a clothesline in the corner and follows it up with another, this time with a big running start. Diesel makes the mistake of going for the body slam. Diesel is able to come back and hit two clotheslines, but Mabel is still on his feet. Diesel hits a shoulder tackle from behind that sends him through the ropes and to the floor. Diesel then hits a dangerous looking leap over the top rope to the floor. Mabel then is able to throw Diesel into the ring post. Mabel charges at him, but Diesel is able to get the boot up into Mabel's face. Back in the ring, Mabel is able to squash Diesel on the back and then does a weak looking Camel Clutch. The announcers note that the top turnbuckle has been removed by Mo. Mabel runs the ropes and looks to intentionally run into the referee, knocking him out of the ring. Mo is now in the ring and they double team Diesel. Out comes Lex Luger to help make the save, but Diesel clotheslines him over the top rope. Mabel then does the same to Diesel and the attack continues. Luger is back up and goes after Mo all the way to the back. In the ring, Mabel hits a belly to belly suplex and the referee is back to count to 2. Mabel climbs to the second rope and just barely misses the splash. Diesel now goes to the second rope and hits a forearm. He rolls Mabel over and that's it? Honestly, the match is nowhere near as bad as its reputation. The finish is extremely poor though. I get that no one wanted to see Mabel here, but he didn't do that bad of a job and the match was more than watchable. It was way better than Undertaker vs. Undertaker. You would have thought they would have come up with a way to get British Bulldog involved, but I guess not. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Go ahead and take away my good taste card, but I liked this show when it happened and I still like it 29 years later. Hakushi/Kid is an underrated gem and Razor/Michaels is one of the best ladder matches in history. That alone is good enough to make this a thumbs up for me. There is some enjoyable stuff scattered throughout and the main event is nowhere near as bad as people will tell you it is. 

Overall Rating: 80%