SummerSlam 1996 Review

Sunday, August 18th, 1996
Gund Arena
Cleveland, Ohio

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

We get a good intro video featuring the two main events, Mankind vs. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels vs. Vader. They highlight the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Jacobs Field and Gund Arena before going to Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect and Jim Ross inside Gund Arena. This was one of the shows that I actually ordered at my house, but in a bit of a twist, I had to order the replay and stayed up until about 1 am to finish the show. We were at a family gathering and we didn't get home until well after the start time, so my parents let me get the replay instead. 

Savio Vega vs. Owen Hart

I don't believe there was any storyline here other than they thought these two could maybe be a good opening match. Jim Cornette is not out with Owen and is noted by Vince. Owen is still wearing his cast and the referee is all over it before they lock up. Savio then goes after the injured arm by slamming it on the turnbuckles. There is definitely a contingent of Owen fans in the crowd tonight. They show Cornette backstage watching Vader lift weights and Vince thinks that Owen should feel slighted. Savio hits a monkey flip and some hip tosses before going back to work on the arm. Savio gets a roll up in but Owen kicks out and Savio's shoulder flies into the ring post. Perfect and JR bring up how Perfect lost to Bret back in 1991 at SummerSlam. Owen works on the shoulder and they show Clarence Mason in front of the screen at the entrance. We get a close call by Savio and then Owen hitting the enzuigiri and a nice sell by Savio. Savio gets a inside cradle for a 2 and Vince talks about Mason maybe moving into Cornette's territory. Owen almost steals one with his feet on the ropes and then hits a nice spin kick for another 2. Savio catches a charging Owen with a spin kick of his own. Inverted atomic drop and a couple of clotheslines from Savio prompts JR to gives us his "government mule" line. Owen catches Savio with his head down too soon and hits a neckbreaker. Owen climbs up top and hits the missile dropkick but Savio kicks out. Owen climbs up top again but Savio kicks his legs out and hits a super back suplex. The back of Savio's head on the way down fell on top of Owen's cast. Owen sneaks off his cast and hits Savio in the head with it. Somehow the ref didn't see that one. He slaps on the Sharpshooter and picks up the victory. I thought this was a pretty good opener. Owen was just so good, he's impossible to not like. Mason comes in the ring and celebrates with Owen. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

After the match, Justin Bradshaw and Uncle Zeb are out yelling at the announce team. He then clubs a limping Savio from behind and the referee assisting him also takes a spill from it. 

We now go to Todd Pettengill in the boiler room and he does a good job of hyping up the creepiness of the area. Mankind is sitting on the floor in there saying there's "There is no place like home". He starts licking part of it and with the darkness you can't tell that he actually did it, but with Mick, you know he did. 

Four-Way Elimination Match For The WWF Tag Team Championships
New Rockers vs. Body Donnas vs. Godwinns vs. Smoking Gunns

Billy and Henry are the two to start things off. Billy has a cast on for his injured thumb. Henry hits a huge hip toss and hits that wheelbarrow move that more people should use. We get a spot where Bart is tagged in and they have to make contact, so all the other teams refuse to tag. This all just leads to Marty Jannetty tripping up Zip and he's eliminated. Was Skip legit hurt and that's why they were out so quickly? Marty is at his absolute dorkiest here. We are still pre-Attitude era but he still just looks really out of place. We get a little bit of chaos and that leads to a Slop Drop on Marty and they are gone. We are pretty much just at the match we probably should have had with Godwinns vs. Gunns. Loser has to lose an "n" from their last name. It should be noted that the crowd doesn't really care about this at all. Billy leaps in the corner, but Henry catches him and hits a slam. Phineas gets the hot tag and takes care of both opponents. Henry clotheslines Bart over the top rope and Phineas hits the Slop Drop. Hillbilly Jim and Sunny distract the referee and Bart hits Phineas from the top rope and that allows Billy to make the pin for the win. Honestly, I remembered this being awful, but it wasn't offensive or anything. Just heatless. 

Match Rating: *

After the match, Sunny announce the Gunns as the winners and makes fun of all the fat women before unveiling a big banner photo of her above the ring. 

Vince then talks about Cleveland or something and he does this weird thing where he refuses to look at the camera. I feel like he would fire someone else if they did this. This leads to a video package of the Godwinns taking a train against the Smoking Gunns taking a horse to see who would get to the Gund Arena quicker. Todd is narrating the whole thing. To the surprise of no one, the Godwinns and train wins. Whose terrible idea was this? They then go to Jacobs Field and they show Jerry Lawler at batting practice. He wants to know how to learn how to throw the spitball. He fails. They show him throwing out an opening pitch before sitting in the worst seats in the house. Then they show WWF Superstars painting buildings. Paul Bearer and Undertaker gave away a funeral? Stridex then threw a party with autograph signings. I can't believe they thought people who paid $30 for a show would want to see something this long. 

British Bulldog vs. Sid

Cornette is naturally not out with Bulldog here as well. Sid cuts a quick promo with Dok Hendrix and he says that the people wanted him back and now he's here to stay. Since Sid took the spot of Ultimate Warrior on the house show I went to, he kind of ended up becoming one of my favorites. I did always like him in his Sid Justice era as a kid also. It's all Sid in the early going, with Bulldog not able to overpower him. Sid is quite over here too. Bulldog is able to hit his vertical suplex and then slows things down. Clarence Mason is out again for this one too. Sid hits a shoulder in the corner, but then misses with a second one. Bulldog scoops him up and hits the running powerslam. Out comes Cornette to argue with Mason and that distracts Bulldog. Sid hits a chokeslam and then follows it up with a powerbomb for the victory. This was a nothing match to just get Sid a meaningful victory. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

We get a cheesy alien themed commercial for In Your House.

Goldust vs. Marc Mero

Todd interviews Mero and Sable. They show Mankind calling Sable "mommy" on Superstars this weekend. Mero is tired of the mind games and tells Goldust that he's going to be a falling star. The first big move of the match is a back body drop by Goldust that sends Mero over the top and to the floor. Goldust gets Mero back on the apron and hits him from behind and sends him flying into the guardrail. Out comes Mankind and he stalks Sable before a bunch of referees come out and he runs away. This was the match I was most looking forward to as a kid outside of the double main event and so far it is not delivering the goods. Mero makes a comeback and hits an inverted atomic drop. Perfect calls him Maro, which must have been a note from Todd. Mero goes for the 10 punches in the corner, but Goldust lifts him up. Mero does an ugly kind of body scissors to take Goldust over the top. That sets up his somersault dive to the floor and then a catapult leg drop into the ring. Mero sets up Goldust so he can go up top and he hits the Wild Thing but a distraction from Marlena allows Goldust to kick out at 2. Goldust comes back and goes for the Curtain Call and nails it for the victory. This was kind of a styles clash for whatever reason. The ending was fun with the Wild Thing being something we hadn't seen up to this point in WWF. After the match, Goldust stalks Sable and she's screaming while Mero is in pain. He grabs her and Sable gets in a slap. This allows Mero to attack and he crotches Goldust on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor. Mero clotheslines him up the aisle and officials break it up. Just none of this storyline is working.

Match Rating: **

We get an interview of Ahmed Johson in a robe that leads to a video package of the Faarooq storyline. They show Ahmed narrowly winning a battle royal to become the #1 contender for the WWF Championship. He did legit get hurt and they show him at the doctors. Gorilla Monsoon had to make the decision to make the Intercontinental Championship vacant. There will be a tournament that begins tomorrow night on Raw. They say if his kidney stops bleeding, he will be back in a few months. If it doesn't, they will have to remove it and he won't be able to wrestle again. Ahmed says he will do whatever it takes to come back. Gorilla is having the final four participants in a sudden death match to take Ahmed's spot as #1 contender. This leads to an in ring interview with Sunny and Faarooq. Faarooq is adamant about Gorilla handing over the Intercontinental title to him since he's the one who took Ahmed out. This combination of him and Sunny is just such an odd fit. This was pretty pointless. 

Speaking of pointless, now it's time for the buildup for Jerry Lawler/Jake Roberts. Mark Henry then joins the announce team for this match. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Jake Roberts

Lawler is out in a Ravens jersey and waives a pennant. This leads to a Lawler standup routine. He does his favorite joke, which is bringing out Jake's favorite tag team partners, Jim Beam and Jack Daniels. He then makes fun of Mark Henry for not winning any medals at the Olympics. Jake's music finally hits to a decent ovation, but not as big as you would expect. I have been dreading this for so long. Lawler brings out a huge bottle and then fights with the referee over it and that allows Jake to put Revelations on Lawler. I would write about this "wrestling" match, but honestly it is horrible. Lawler jabs the bottle into Jake's throat and then we get one of the worst covers in wrestling history for the win. Absolutely one of the worst matches in WWF pay per view history up to this point. These two legends have done a lot of amazing things in this business. This is not one of them. After the match, Jake is grabbing his throat and Lawler says his throat is dry and starts dumping alcohol all over him. That prompts Mark Henry to get up and go after Lawler. Lawler runs to the aisle and celebrates as Henry checks on Jake. Henry helps Jake to the back. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Let's focus some more on some of our young Superstars by showing Bob Backlund in the crowd. 

Next up, it's time for a Mankind/Undertaker video package. 

Boiler Room Brawl
Undertaker vs. Mankind

Paul Bearer makes his way to the ring, as you have to grab the urn from him to win the match. We then see Undertaker backstage walking to the boiler room. He pauses at the door and then slowly walks in. JR makes a good point about feeling bad for the cameraman assigned to this one. Taker looks around for a while until Mankind attacks him from behind with some aluminum. He rips off a piece of a pallet and runs it into Taker's head. Taker is able to fight him off with a trash can lid and then hits him with some more unconvincing weapons. Mankind is able to snap Taker's head on some sawhorses. It should be noted that the announcers aren't really calling the match. They are just giving reactions here and there, but very minimally. We get some "technical difficulties" and then more attacks from Mankind. Mankind uses a pipe to hit Taker below the belt, which gives us the biggest audible crowd noise so far. He then chucks Taker into an overhead door and then hits him with a knee. Mankind climbs a ladder on the wall and falls off to hit an elbow drop. We get more technical difficulties and another ladder climb from Mankind. Taker sits up when he is climbing it and he pulls the ladder off the wall and he falls onto a box but not like one we'd have set up here in 2026. This part of the match has just been going on for too long. There just isn't enough to this one area to make it interesting for this long of a time. Taker sprays Mankind with a fire extinguisher. Mankind is able to get out of the boiler room and closes the door on Taker despite his best efforts. Mankind gets to the next door and tries stacking as much stuff in front of the door as he can. Taker struggles but is able to push it open and knock over Mankind in the process. We see a bunch of the locker room back there watching, which honestly is the highlight so far. Mankind rams a cart into the face of Taker and then grabs some coffee and pours it on Taker. Mankind heads through the entranceway and Taker isn't too far behind. Taker runs and hits him with a clothesline and then smacks him in the back with a piece of wood. Taker gets to the ring first, but Mankind grabs him before he can enter. Mankind pulls up the blue mats and hits his variation of the piledriver on the concrete. They battle on the apron and Taker sends Mankind to the exposed concrete. Taker enters the ring and gets on one knee to Paul Bearer. Bearer doesn't give him the urn though and Mankind comes in and puts on the Mandible Claw while Bearer laughs. Taker is out cold but before Mankind gets the urn, he sits up. Mankind puts the Mandible Claw on again and sits up Taker so Bearer can get some cheap shots on Taker. Taker crawls to Bearer and Bearer hits Taker with the urn in the head. Honestly, that should have just happened the first time. Mankind gets the urn and picks up the victory. This is a really hard match to rate. The worst part of the Boiler Room Brawl was the part in the boiler room. The ending wasn't that well executed in my opinion either. After the match, the lights go out and the druids carry Taker to the back. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Vader and Jim Cornette are with Dok with a very old school feeling interview (in a good way). 

WWF Championship Match
Vader vs. Shawn Michaels

Shawn is able to get Vader to the ground pretty quickly and hits him with a low dropkick. He is able to dump Vader to the floor and hits a baseball slide. Michaels then hits the dive over the top and hits some right hands. Michaels hits a hurricanrana back in the ring. He jumps on Vader's shoulders and again dumps Vader to the floor. He goes for a potential hurricanrana, but Vader catches him and hits the powerbomb to the floor. Vader puts Michaels on his shoulder and carries him up the steps and dumps him in the ring. Vader whips Michaels into the corners and the second one sends Michaels to the floor this time. Vader levels Michaels with a clothesline, which looked awesome. I know he's working with Michaels and I know people say this isn't peak Vader in his WWF run, but he looks really good here. Michaels slides under Vader, but Vader puts his boot on his chest. He goes for a splash, but Michaels gets his knees up. Michaels goes up top and this is the infamous spot where Vader messes up and Michaels throws a fit and stomps on his head. I'm a big fan of Michaels, but this was one of those reasons he got the reputation he did. Michaels hits a crossbody that sends both men to the floor and then Michaels shoves away the cameraman. Vader drops Michaels on the guardrail and gets back in the ring to win by countout. What is this, SummerSlam '93? Cornette gets on the mic and says that they came here to win the title and they want a winner. I mean, he could have just told Vader to roll back out of the ring and extend the count. Cornette continues to egg Michaels on and then the referee just decides for them saying that the match will continue. Vader immediately attacks Michaels outside the ring and then Cornette hits Michaels with the tennis racket in the back. Vader hits a belly to belly suplex and goes for a powerbomb, but Michaels fights out of it. He hits the leaping forearm and goes up top for the elbow drop. He tunes up the band, but Cornette grabs his leg. Cornette throws in the racket, but Michaels gets it and hits Vader with multiple shots and then moves to Cornette. The bell rings and Vader is announced the winner by disqualification. Cornette gets back on the mic and here we go again. This time Gorilla is out and they announce the match will continue. The action gets started quickly and Michaels hits the forearm again. He hits the top rope elbow drop again and tunes up the band. He hits the Sweet Chin Music but Vader kicks out. The crowd totally fell for that one. Vader shoves Michaels into the referee and then hits a powerbomb. He covers him but there is no official. A new one comes out and Michaels kicks out. Vader drags Michaels to the corner and climbs the ropes. Cornette tells Vader to go to the top, which makes no sense because Shawn is way too close to the corner for him to hit it. Michaels moves anyways and Vader misses. Michaels climbs up and he hits a moonsault for the victory. I do like this match more than most people. This time around, the funky ending didn't do it for me as much as it had in previous viewings, but I still really enjoyed this match. The false finish was definitely a highlight. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

This is a good example of where nostalgia doesn't really help you enjoy something more. I watched this show quite a bit as a kid but it truly is not a great show. You don't have Bobby Heenan and Gorilla on commentary to help it in that regard either. The main event is very good, the Mankind match is unique and the opener is solid but the rest is pretty atrocious. 

Overall Rating: 46%