Before I get my inaugural column started here at insidepulse.com I’d like to introduce myself to everyone. My name is Logan Scisco and I’m a college student who has been following professional wrestling since I was eight years old (mostly WWF/E). I consider it a great honor to have been hired here at insidepulse.com to work along great writers like Scott Keith and the like and hope that I can present some interesting columns/material for the wrestling public. Also, if you ever want to contact me with suggestions and comments I welcome them with open arms. However, enough about me as it’s time to kick off my insidepulse.com career with a review of one of my favorite WWF pay-per-views: SummerSlam 1993.
Event Details:
Location: Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, Michigan
Hosts: Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan
Reported Attendance: 23,954 ($215,000)
Welcome to the show where the good ol’ USA faced off against the Land of the Rising Sun in a WWF Championship match fit for its time (and it wasn’t necessarily a good one). This show, as is well documented, pitted Lex Luger, who had recently been turned out of his Narcissist gimmick into an American hero, against WWF Champion Yokozuna who had crushed Hulk Hogan to win back the title at the 1993 King of the Ring. The original booking plan had Bret Hart beating Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX and moving onto bigger things but Hogan wanted another title reign so McMahon negotiated a deal whereby a Hogan vs. Bret match would be signed for SummerSlam. Alas, after getting the belt Hogan reportedly went back on the deal and as a result instead of getting Hogan-Hart in the main event we got Yokozuna-Luger in bizarre form. It just goes to show you how politics backstage can turn any well laid booking plan awry. On with the show…
-Ted DiBiase vs. Razor Ramon:
This was Ramon’s first pay-per-view as a face if I’m not mistaken and was the culmination of a mini-feud over Ramon costing DiBiase a match against the 1-2-3 Kid. DiBiase ambushes Ramon at the opening bell and goes to work with chops but they are far from Flair quality. However, Ramon comes back with a backdrop, fallaway slam, and then a fist so DiBiase bails. When DiBiase gives it another go it still doesn’t work out as he’s clotheslined out of the ring after being briefly brutalized. Ramon jerks DiBiase back in as McMahon and Heenan talk about the interests of money. DiBiase jerks Ramon into the corner by the tights to take the advantage and begins Chokeamania IV right before us. Backbreaker by DiBiase gets two and a clothesline gets two. Crowd isn’t too hot for this opener and the question as to why almost immediately answers itself when DiBiase gets the chinlock. Ramon fights up but gets sent back down with a knee to the gut and a neckbreaker that was like poetry in motion comes off at DiBiase’s hands. DiBiase’s attempt at a Million Dollar Dream is blocked and a Ramon clothesline brings us the double knockdown situation. Ramon tumbles to the floor after a take to the buckle and DiBiase undoes the turnbuckle pad behind the referee’s back. DiBiase tries to take DiBiase in to the exposed steel but it is reversed and a Razor’s Edge (called beautifully with a “Teddy noooooo!!!” and Vince ending it with “naaillled to the canvas!”) gives us the finish at 7:30. Poor DiBiase didn’t learn his lesson with the exposed steel at SummerSlam 1991. By the way, this would be DiBiase’s last WWF match. *½
-Moment of the night nominee as Todd Pettengill interviews the Steiner Brothers mother and sister who breaks kayfabe in calling her brothers “Scott and Rob” as opposed to their wrestling names Scott and Rick
-WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The Steiner Brothers vs. The Heavenly Bodies (accompanied by Jim Cornette):
Bodies keep up the heel run on sneak attacks by going after the Steiners at the opening bell and hitting Rick with a double suplex and double flapjack while continuously knocking Scott to the floor. However, Scott finally gets back into the ring and helps his brother clean up by whipping the Bodies into each other and giving Tom Pritchard a double hiptoss. Rick hits a Steinerline on Jimmy del Ray in the corner and Scott gets an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on Pritchard. Scott hits del Ray with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to send him outside and Cornette throws a temper tantrum as he sees his guys aren’t doing too well. The massacre continues inside as Scott gorilla press slams Pritchard and backdrops del Ray. Rick then comes in and assaults the Bodies with Steinerlines and a slam to del Ray sends him bailing again. Scott gets tagged in and its inverted atomic drops abound until Scott turns his back on Pritchard and gets himself a bulldog. Crowd chants “SOB” in a funny moment (yeah I know what they mean but I wonder why I haven’t heard that in the Attitude era which opted for the “asshole” chant). Pritchard hits Scott with an enzeguri and tosses him to the floor where del Ray hits a cannonball onto him from the apron (called a moonsault by Heenan). Del Ray hits a floatover DDT and Pritchard gets a kneedrop to the back of Scott’s neck after a del Ray drop toe hold and chokes away. Heenan in a hilarious bit says that the Bodies are leading his scorecard on points 1,112 to nine. Del Ray hits a superkick off the ropes for two. Why doesn’t Shawn Michaels try to use that as a way to hit his move instead of the foot stomp? It’d be much more covert. Cornette hits Scott with the racket for cheap heat and the Bodies start choking and cheating. Nice piece of psychology as del Ray tries the floatover DDT again but Scott says “nah sir because you’ve done it to me once already” and gets a Northern lights release suplex to bring us a double knockdown. The Bodies win the race though and Pritchard tries his luck but Scott connects with a double underhook suplex for double knockdown #2. Momentum swinging tag to Rick who has Steinerlines and slams for all and Scott gets another burst of energy with dropkicks. Top rope bulldog by Rick on del Ray yields two as Pritchard interrupts. Rick hits del Ray with a powerslam off the ropes but Pritchard backdrops Scott to the floor when he tries second rope punches and then Pritchard catches the tennis racquet Cornette throws to him in the ring, hitting Rick in the back with it but that only gets two when del Ray covers. Bodies try a weird double-team move where Pritchard holds Rick for a moonsault and del Ray goes to the top for the move but that backfires as Rick moves out of the way. Suddenly, Scott comes back into the picture and just seconds later the Frankensteiner is hit and the Steiners retain the belts at 9:28. Exciting match that showcased some hot moves on both sides and involved little to no resting. This is one of the Steiner Brothers best matches in the WWF and THIS should’ve been the opener. ***½
-Joe Fowler makes his debut as an interviewer and SUCKS BAAAAAAAAD
-Intercontinental Championship Match: Shawn Michaels (accompanied by Diesel) vs. Mr. Perfect:
This match had HUGE expectations for it and a win by Perfect would make him the first three-time Intercontinental champion. I’m surprised they booked two title matches back-to-back here which bolsters my case of why the Steiners-Bodies match should’ve been the opener. Technical takedowns and sequences fill the opening part of the match and Michaels grows frustrated. Striking sequence then ensues and that ends with Perfect hitting a clothesline, resulting in a 360 sell by Michaels, for two. Armbar by Perfect takes some of our time and I guess we’re still in the feel out process nearly four and a half minutes in. Armdrags by Perfect yield a two-count and he keeps up the work on the arm. Perfect slingshots Michaels to the floor and follows but Diesel distracts him, a move that allows Michaels to hit Sweet Chin Music on the outside (but Perfect isn’t dead because it’s pre-middle 1995). Michaels hits an axehandle off the apron onto Perfect and then goes into the rings dropping elbowdrops without mercy into the back. More work on the back by Michaels as perfect yells a “damn it” on-camera. Backbreaker and a hanging backbreaker doesn’t garner a submission as Perfect punches out. Perfect rebounds with a running dropkick, backdrop, running kneelift and inverted atomic drop for two (with Vince pulling the “yes he got him when it was clearly two”). Clothesline by Perfect gets two. Backslide is fought over and turned into the Perfectplex but Diesel takes out Perfect’s leg as the referee counts therefore, breaking up the pinfall. Perfect goes out of the ring and takes on Diesel but that gets him whipped into the post and loses him the match by countout at 11:18. Perfect gets assaulted after the bell when he tries to revenge attack both men and is left laying inside the ring. Poor guy just can’t catch a break. Match was very disappointing as most of it was resting added to a copout finish. **
-IRS vs. 1-2-3 Kid:
Common sense booking has the Kid going over here to add to his list of giant killers. Kid gets a spinning wheel kick off the ropes for two. IRS stalls and comes back with a knee and sends the Kid about 15 feet up in the air before he splatters around on the canvas. IRS tries it again but this time the Kid catches him with a dropkick for two. IRS hits an elbow off the ropes and throws the Kid like a dart to the floor as IRS is hyped a lot by McMahon which makes sense considering how DiBiase was retiring and IRS was heading for a singles career. IRS tries to flip Kid back into the ring but the Kid lands on his feet and gets a schoolboy for two. IRS retakes control and cheats with the abdominal stretch. IRS snaps on the chinlock but the Kid fights up and gets the moonsault but only gets two. Crucifix-type rollup by Kid gets two. Enzeguri from an odd angle gets two. However, IRS hits the Write Off as the Kid comes off the ropes (not called since he never beats anyone with it and the crowd has no idea what it really is) and that’s that at 5:43. The booking purpose of this match made no sense to me and not to a lot of other people either. The match was fine but felt more Superstarish than anything plus, if they kept it up the quick near-fall sequences some more it might have gotten a higher rating. ½*
-King of the Ring Match: Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler:
This was the beginning of the Hart-Lawler feud that would last in the WWF from 1993-1995. Bret won the 1993 King of the Ring tournament (the inaugural version for pay-per-view) and Lawler arrived taking exception. Therefore, the winner of this match would take the title of “Undisputed King of the WWF.” Unfortunately, though, Lawler arrives “injured” because of an automobile accident (Heenan later goes on some hilarious rant to try to convince us that Lawler is telling the truth). In the end, Lawler appoints Doink as his replacement to face Bret and he throws a bucket of water on Owen & Bruce Hart who are seated at ringside. Owen & Bruce come over the ringside barrier to get at Doink but never fear, the evil clown backs into Bret’s hands and he fires away to begin their match.
The match starts poorly for Doink as Bret clotheslines him out of the ring, takes him into the ringpost, and fires away at will. Doink ends up on the floor again and tries to make a comeback but Bret catches him when he goes to the top rope and throws his face right into the canvas. Bret taunts Lawler and continues to treat Doink like a jobber, blocking his offense and pummeling him. Bret goes after Lawler on the floor but that allows Doink to hit him in the back with a kneelift, take him into the steps, and hit him with a double axehandle off the top rope back into the ring. Doink decided to go after Bret’s left knee and after he rams it into the ringpost he gets one. STF applied by Doink and that moves to a chinlock but Bret fights up only to get a knee to the gut. That seems to be the theme for the face chinlock comeback tonight, eh? Stump puller by Doink (which Vince calls correctly!) and the referee breaks it up when Doink grabs the ropes. Doink tries the Whoopie Cushion but that hits knees YEEEEOUUUCCHHHH!!!! Bret fires away, gets a side Russian legsweep, a second rope elbowdrop, and applies the Sharpshooter (“If anyone could counter the Sharpshooter it’d be Doink” -Vince). Suddenly, Lawler runs into the ring, perfectly fine, and smashes Bret in the back of the head with his crutch as Heenan praises the Lord for a miracle. Nevertheless, it appears as if Bret has won the match by disqualification at 8:59…
HOWEVER, WWF President Jack Tunney orders Lawler back into the ring to fight Bret or be forever banned from the federation. Bret helps make Lawler’s mind up early by attacking him and knocking him in the head with Doink’s bucket. Fans go wild as Bret brutalizes Lawler in much of the same way that he did to Doink. I hope Bret got overtime pay for the past two pay-per-view events because now he’s had to wrestle a total of five matches at King of the Ring and here combined. Bret hits Lawler with the crutch back on the floor (DQ?!?!) but then Lawler bails once he’s back inside the ring and attacks and chokes Bret with the crutch as the referee tries to hold back Bruce & Owen who are severely agitated over all this. Lawler crotches the Hitman with the help of the post and continues his assault with the crutch behind the referee’s back. Crowd has finally woken up after being dormant for the better part of the last several matches and they try to rally Bret against Lawler who has turned the tide in his favor. Bret answers their wishes with a mule kick and pounds Lawler with fists, a headbutt, and a backbreaker for two. Bret gives Lawler a taste of his own medicine with a piledriver and then a second rope elbowdrop. Bret does the Roman gladiator “thumbs up, thumbs down” motion in a cool bit and then applies the Sharpshooter to which Lawler submits to at 6:33….
HOWEVER, victory isn’t enough for Bret in this match and he continues to hold the Sharpshooter on Lawler as referee after referee and WWF officials pile into the ring. Crowd continues to go nuts as Bret holds steadfast in not heeding the official’s warnings to break the hold. Heenan nearly loses his voice in offering up conspiracy theories as to why the refs won’t make Bret release the hold. Finally, it takes Owen and Bruce to “convince” Bret to relinquish the hold but it comes at a price as the referee reverses his decision because of Bret’s post-match antics making Lawler the winner. Officials try to restrain Bret after he goes after Lawler again and put him on a stretcher but Bruce now goes after Lawler forcing officials to hurry Lawler to the back with his hand raised in victory. This is great booking 101 and showed the Hart-Lawler feud was far from finished. Nevertheless, if you wonder why Lawler proclaims himself “undisputed King of the WWF” this match is why. I give this entire segment ****
-Marty Jannetty vs. Ludvig Borga:
Guess it didn’t take long to transfer Jannetty from Intercontinental Champion to the JOB Squad. Borga attacks Jannetty after the bell rings out but I can see how its justified because Jannetty turned his back on him after the bell just daring him to do it. Borga does the Street Fighter SNES maneuver by tossing Jannetty into the air after coming off the ropes and then punching him in the gut on his way down. Borga overpowers Jannetty and lays into him with a fighting style reminiscent of Vader but a blind charge eats the corner. Jannetty’s comeback is short-lived, though, and gets treated with no respect. Borga applies a bearhug as Jannetty suddenly wakes up and tries a comeback again but gets bowled over with a lariat inducing the 360 sell. Jannetty goes for a sunset flip and Borga tries to block with a punch as he did the time before but Jannetty slides out from under him causing Borga to hit the mat, gets in two thrust kicks, but a bodypress off the second rope ends in a slam. Borga then gets Jannetty in a rack and that’s all we have at 5:15. I might also add that we got our second “damn it” on camera tonight with referee Danny Davis yelling at the timekeeper “ring the bell damn it!” One word describes this match: jobberific. ½*
-Rest in Peace Match: Giant Gonzalez (accompanied by Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Undertaker:
The premise for this match is that there must be a winner and there is no disqualification or countout. I suppose they couldn’t do a casket match to end the feud because of Gonzalez’s size so they had to go this route instead. Paul Bearer isn’t accompanying Undertaker to the ring as he had “disappeared” from his side at some WWF events before this and I wouldn’t be a good reviewer unless I told you Harvey Wippleman has to urn. Typical stuff from both guys happens in this match with the regular “Gonzalez is so huge and look at how he dwarves the Undertaker” spots. Gonzalez emphasizes the “no rules” aspect of the match for anyone not paying attention by hitting Undertaker with a chair after he took him into the apron and ringsteps. Gonzalez whips Undertaker into the steps and then taunts in the ring as I try to stay awake. Too bad they didn’t try to bust out that spot at WrestleMania IX…guess they worked on it at a house show before this event. Undertaker acts weak so as to show he’s nothing without the urn and Gonzalez toys with him. Suddenly the Undertaker’s music plays again and Paul Bearer comes out with a black wreath and Heenan freaks. MAN I MISS BOBBY HEENAN! Wippleman demonstrates how weak and dumb he is by charging at Bearer who knocks him on his ass getting a louder pop than anything the main guys have done in the match and getting his hands on the urn giving him a bigger pop. This is just soooo sad and sooooo sloooowwww. With the urn now in Undertaker’s possession he makes the comeback and after delivering enough clotheslines to stretch about fifty city blocks plus a flying clothesline he wins the match at 8:03. After the match Gonzalez goes postal on Wippleman, chokeslams him, and puts the wreath Bearer carried down with him on his chest. Oh yeah that’s what Gonzalez needed all along…A FACE TURN. DUD
-Jim Cornette quote of the night nominee as he faces off with Joe Fowler in a Yokozuna promo: “The biggest surprise here was your employment!” Preach it Rev. Jim!
-The Smoking Gunns & Tatanka vs. The Headshrinkers & Bam Bam Bigelow (accompanied by Afa and Luna Vachon):
I always wondered how the Gunns and Tatanka settled out their differences backstage. After all, wasn’t it the cowboys that helped run Native Americans off their tribal lands? Oh well, history never meant much to the WWF top brass BECAUSE THERE WERE BIG BUCKS TO BE MADE DADDY! Six-way brawl opens up with the heels getting a triple-clothesline to the faces and then Bigelow using his bulk against Tatanka but that doesn’t last long as Tatanka makes the generic face comeback and we have a crossbody collision for a double knockdown. Billy Gunn and FatuMakin’ADifferenceRikishi fight it out and Gunn gets a top rope falling clothesline but Fatu resumes control. What was I thinking? Headshrinkers selling? YEAH RIGHT! Samu messes up a hot shot on Billy and Afa nails him when he rolls to the floor. Samu stupidly knocks Billy into the corner which gets Bart into the match and he gets a crossbody for two only to get an elbow to the face off the ropes moments later. Twisting facebuster off the ropes by Samu and Bigelow gets a dropkick for two. Fatu gets a powerslam off the rope for two. Vince ridicules tag team coordination but actually that’s hard when you CAN’T MAKE A TAG! Heels keep the quick tags up on Bart and he comes to understand the use of the term “using your head.” Blind charge by Bigelow that eats buckle leads to a momentum changing tag to Tatanka who cleans house and as well as Bigelow’s clock. Tatanka DDT’s Bigelow and hits a top rope bodypress for two. Tatanka starts to no-sell Bigelow’s offense with his prancing & dancing so Bigelow smartly measures him up and gives him an enzeguri. I have to admit that was pretty smart and hilarious. Samu gets a flying headbutt from the second rope for two until Bart interrupts and that prompts six-way action again that the heels get the better of decisively. The heels double-whip Tatanka into the corner and then the Headshrinkers whip Bigelow into the corner, avalanching Tatanka. The heels nail Tatanka with a triple-headbutt and try a TRIPLE FREAKIN’ FLYING HEADBUTT but Tatanka moves out of the way at the last opportune moment. Damn, if they’d hit that I think Tatanka would be clinically dead. However, the missed move is the undoing of the heels as the Gunns come back in to pescado onto Bigelow and Fatu on the outside of the ring and Tatanka rolls up a dazed Samu for the pin at 13:15. Wild six-man tag team match that had quite the brilliant finish. ***½
-WWF Championship Match: Yokozuna (accompanied by Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. Lex Luger:
Some guy from Japan sings their national anthem and gets heckled. Aaron Neville sings the United States national anthem as “Macho Man” Randy Savage holds the U.S. flag and acts as the ring announcer for Luger’s entrance. This is so patriotic and anti-foreign that liberals would scream because of political correctness issues but you know the WWF, they wouldn’t have it any other way. Staredown between the two happens after the opening bell and Mr. Fuji tries to sneak up behind Luger but he turns around and moves out of the way of a blind charge by Yokozuna. Luger fires away and we are “enlightened” by the bookers through several spots that a) Yokozuna is REALLY big and fat, b) it is hard to take Yokozuna down, and c) it is almost impossible to slam him. Yokozuna misses a legdrop off the ropes so Luger goes after the leg, kicks the middle rope when he tries to leave (crotching him and causing him to fall into the ring), and delivers a big elbowdrop for two. Yokozuna slams Luger off the ropes but an elbowdrop misses and Luger unloads again. However, Luger makes the babyface mistake of telling the referee to get lost while the heel is in the corner and gets knocked down by Yokozuna. Fuji tries to sneak up behind Luger again and throw powder/salt/whatever in his eyes but he blocks it. Luger tries to slam Yokozuna but that’s not happening and Yokozuna tosses Luger to the floor. Cornette teases an attack but Yokozuna decides he’ll take matters into his own hands and chokes away with his sumo gear. Nevertheless, when Yokozuna tries to use a chair on Luger as he’s leaned against the post after avalanching Luger there Luger moves and Yoko hits the post. Luger hits Yokozuna with axehandles from the second and top rope but Yokozuna won’t go down so Luger uses his “loaded” flying forearm from the top rope but it only gets two. Heenan all the while is criticizing McMahon’s play-by-play of “one-two-three he’s got him he’s the new champion….” Luger hits a clothesline to the back of Yokozuna’s head but that only gets two and a double clothesline gives us a double knockdown. Hey, I have to give kudos at this point to Luger for working his butt off to put the crowd on its seat for every near-fall. Back to the match where Cornette distracts the referee and Fuji throws the wooden bucket to Yokozuna who in turn blasts Luger with it. However, Yokozuna’s too tired to make the cover and when he does Luger kicks out at two. Yokozuna gives Luger a belly-to-belly suplex as McMahon is certain it’s over but Luger kicks out at two. Match slows a little as Yokozuna chokes and slowly beats Luger all over the ring. Yokozuna hits a side suplex as Cornette says it has to be over but Luger again kicks out at two. NERVE HOLD “JAPANESE” STYLE is applied by Yokozuna as McMahon and Heenan evaluate Luger’s chances at overcoming the odds. The odds appear to be in Luger’s favor as he gets up but makes the mistake of going for a slam which Yokozuna shifts his weight and crashes onto Luger for two. Legdrop by Yokozuna gets two. Cornette preaches conspiracy as Yokozuna goes for the Banzai Drop but Luger moves and the crowd is just going apeshit. Yokozuna goes back to beating on Luger but a blind charge into the corner misses and Luger finally hits the slam on the comeback. Luger decks Fuji and then hits Yokozuna with the running steel forearm of death sending the champion to the floor and effectively knocking him out. Luger gets ready to grab Yokozuna and bring him back into the ring but Cornette jumps onto the ring apron to distract him and he too gets decked by Luger. However, between all of this chaos and the crowd going 110% wild Yokozuna is still on the outside of the ring and after Luger is done with Cornette the referee has finished counting out the champion at 17:56.
After the match the Steiner Brothers, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Tatanka, and Aaron Neville come into the ring to celebrate Luger’s win although it is virtually meaningless because he didn’t walk away with the belt. The WWF even has a nice video package to end the show for Luger BUT IT IS ALL MEANINGLESS JUNK!!! So why didn’t Luger go over here? It all seems with 20/20 hindsight as one of the worst ways to end a pay-per-view where anything short of a title win would be disaster. Well, the reason the WWF didn’t put the belt on Luger here was (and get this) that Luger just wasn’t over enough to carry the company even with a nationwide Lex Express tour. I find all of that unfortunate because this match would’ve been PERFECT with Luger going over as the crowd was hot, the announcers were on target with the commentary, and the action was enough to keep pace with it all. I hate to see Luger blow another big opportunity here but that’s just the way the chips fell in the summer of 1993.
I’m always a big mark for this matchup and it’s one of my personal favorites from 1993. Even with the ending not being the payoff it should’ve been its still a memorable encounter and is one of Yokozuna’s best matches. ***
OVERALL TAPE RATING (BUST-****): **½ as this tape is filled with goodies towards the end and the less fantastic stuff that fills the early part of the tape is relatively tolerable. The only downside is a lot of the stuff on here isn’t very significant historically other than DiBiase’s last match, the King affair, and Luger blowing the big one again. Nevertheless, the Luger-Yoko match is incredibly decent, the six-man tag is awesome, Bret-Lawler is great (as always), and the Steiner Bros.-Heavenly Bodies stuff is fun too. I’d give this tape a definite look if you can find it at a local rental store. Nuff’ said.
