Post by Rated [R] NinJa on Aug 19, 2017 2:00:12 GMT -5
Mods, feel free to move this to the Classic Wrestling board if it's in the wrong place.
On to the topic, so I just realised that 16 years ago today I watched my first ever WWE PPV live which happened to be SummerSlam 2001 which to this day is one of my favourite PPV's ever despite being during the Invasion storyline and this got me thinking what are some of your favourite SummerSlam moments? I'll start.
SummerSlam 2001: The Rock wins the WCW Championship
I'm genuinely unsure if I watched any of the RAW and SmackDowns leading up to SummerSlam 2001 but I doubt I needed to because The Rock was my undisputed favourite wrestler. The guy had so much exposure from being inside and outside of the ring and I'm pretty sure I owned a Jakks TTL Rock figure before I even watched any wrestling on a regular basis. The pre-match promo alone had me 100% backing The Rock going into SummerSlam especially with WWE billing this as The Rock's return to PPV and after multiple Shane McMahon interferences, a Bradshaw clothesline from hell, Rock Bottom and People's elbow, it was pretty cool seeing someone from the WWF winning the Alliance's main title.
SummerSlam 2002: The Heartbreak Kid Returns
Before the Network and even YouTube, the only way to watch any old school wrestling was via VHS and DVDs so going into Shawn Michaels' return against Triple H I had never ever seen him wrestle apart from the clips shown on the promos building up to the match. I don't know why or how I became a Shawn Michaels fan but the buzz that everyone had with him returning to the ring after 4 years was infectious and his first match back was nothing short of spectacular!
SummerSlam 2004: "Bizarro World"/Youngest World Heavyweight Champion
SummerSlam 2004 was probably the first time (atleast from what I remember) where I experienced a crowd like this. I was so confused at why good guys were being booed and bad guys were being cheered, most notably Edge's reaction despite being from Canada. I guess this is the first time I remember seeing a "smark" crowd lol.
Randy Orton, despite being a heel was one of my favourite wrestlers mainly because of moves such as the RKO, DDT on the ropes, the delayed standing suplex into a neckbreaker he used to do and the in-adverted backbreaker. Other than that I was a big fan of his look in general (I used to want an 8-pack at the age of 11, I still haven't managed to get one at 24 lol), his kickass Evolution theme music, entrance pose with the pyro and loved his Intercontinental title run and Legend Killer character so when he won the title and was the youngest champion ever, it was great to see.
SummerSlam 2014: 16 German Suplexes
I had absolutely 0 interest going into this match as I dislike Lesnar's wrestling style since returning compared to his 2002-2004 run, also I wasn't a big fan of their Extreme Rules 2012 match. But Jesus, this match didn't go the way I would ever think seeing John Cena be absolutely dominated and thrown around 16 times. Whilst this was amazing to see, it lead up to Lesnar's boring german suplex/F-5 only moveset that has been rinsed and repeated for 3 years now.
So those are some of mine, atleast what immediately comes to mind when thinking of SummerSlam (also if anyone is wondering why anything pre-2001 isn't mentioned, it's because I haven't watched any lol). Feel free to contribute and share your favourite SummerSlam moments!
On to the topic, so I just realised that 16 years ago today I watched my first ever WWE PPV live which happened to be SummerSlam 2001 which to this day is one of my favourite PPV's ever despite being during the Invasion storyline and this got me thinking what are some of your favourite SummerSlam moments? I'll start.
SummerSlam 2001: The Rock wins the WCW Championship
I'm genuinely unsure if I watched any of the RAW and SmackDowns leading up to SummerSlam 2001 but I doubt I needed to because The Rock was my undisputed favourite wrestler. The guy had so much exposure from being inside and outside of the ring and I'm pretty sure I owned a Jakks TTL Rock figure before I even watched any wrestling on a regular basis. The pre-match promo alone had me 100% backing The Rock going into SummerSlam especially with WWE billing this as The Rock's return to PPV and after multiple Shane McMahon interferences, a Bradshaw clothesline from hell, Rock Bottom and People's elbow, it was pretty cool seeing someone from the WWF winning the Alliance's main title.
SummerSlam 2002: The Heartbreak Kid Returns
Before the Network and even YouTube, the only way to watch any old school wrestling was via VHS and DVDs so going into Shawn Michaels' return against Triple H I had never ever seen him wrestle apart from the clips shown on the promos building up to the match. I don't know why or how I became a Shawn Michaels fan but the buzz that everyone had with him returning to the ring after 4 years was infectious and his first match back was nothing short of spectacular!
SummerSlam 2004: "Bizarro World"/Youngest World Heavyweight Champion
SummerSlam 2004 was probably the first time (atleast from what I remember) where I experienced a crowd like this. I was so confused at why good guys were being booed and bad guys were being cheered, most notably Edge's reaction despite being from Canada. I guess this is the first time I remember seeing a "smark" crowd lol.
Randy Orton, despite being a heel was one of my favourite wrestlers mainly because of moves such as the RKO, DDT on the ropes, the delayed standing suplex into a neckbreaker he used to do and the in-adverted backbreaker. Other than that I was a big fan of his look in general (I used to want an 8-pack at the age of 11, I still haven't managed to get one at 24 lol), his kickass Evolution theme music, entrance pose with the pyro and loved his Intercontinental title run and Legend Killer character so when he won the title and was the youngest champion ever, it was great to see.
SummerSlam 2014: 16 German Suplexes
I had absolutely 0 interest going into this match as I dislike Lesnar's wrestling style since returning compared to his 2002-2004 run, also I wasn't a big fan of their Extreme Rules 2012 match. But Jesus, this match didn't go the way I would ever think seeing John Cena be absolutely dominated and thrown around 16 times. Whilst this was amazing to see, it lead up to Lesnar's boring german suplex/F-5 only moveset that has been rinsed and repeated for 3 years now.
So those are some of mine, atleast what immediately comes to mind when thinking of SummerSlam (also if anyone is wondering why anything pre-2001 isn't mentioned, it's because I haven't watched any lol). Feel free to contribute and share your favourite SummerSlam moments!