Installment #3 SummerSlam '93

I still have this on CHV. Not a bad SSlam but nowhere near my favorite list. My thoughts...

Razor Ramon over Ted Dibiase- Razor just turned face and Dibiase was pretty much done after this. No surprise who won. Ok opener

Steiners vs The Bodies for the WWF Tag Titles- Not a bad tag match here but this should've been Steiners/Money Inc. in the blowoff.

HBK vs Mr. Perfect for IC Title- A match that had classic written all over turned out to be below average. These two just didn't click at all and it showed. I gotta mention HBK was actually a little fat here as well which also contributed to the match not delivering. He would be suspended not long after this.

IRS vs 123 Kid- A nothing special 5 minute match.

Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler/Doink- The best feud of 93 in the WWF IMO. King was on fire as a heel. The match with Doink and Bret was actual decent for what it was. Post match stuff was very well done. Just a great feud overall.

Ludvig Borga vs Marty Jannetty- Squash. I liked Borga it's a shame he got hurt so early in his run. He definitely had top potential IMO.

Undertaker vs Giant Gonzales in a ''RIP'' match. Just as bad as their WM 9 match if not worst. The Gonzales face turn post match went nowhere as he left not long after. Let's move on...

Tatanka/Gunns vs Bigelow/Headshrinkers- A standard 6 man tag with the face team winning. Pretty much filler.

Yokozuna vs Lex Luger for the WWF Title- They built this feud up all Summer and when the match happens Luger wins!!!....by countout. IMO that killed his main event run cold. He could never quite recover from this. And man for a guy near 600s lbs Yoko could move. I enjoyed his run as champion

Joe Fowler ughhhhhh. He actually replaced Mean Gene on All American briefly after this. He was bland as hell and had no personality whatsoever. No wonder he was gone by the end of the year.

This is not one of my favorite PPV's, but I do think the shift Bret Hart put in here is one of his more underrated. I swear you could literally ask Brek Hart to wrestle five times a night and he would have made it work.

I thought the whole stars and stripes theme of the PPV was pretty cool, but like everyone else on the planet, the ending was dumb, like really, really dumb! Luger looked like such a moron celebrating the way that he did.

This was one of the first, of many, PPVs I ordered at the time. I was a kid and really enjoyed the show. I thought it was solid from top to bottom. Now, I still enjoy it but a few of the matches could've been changed and it be a little better.
What confuses me to this day is the hotline segment where a fan asked Undertaker about the WM 8 match with Jake Roberts. Obviously Undertaker is all about the kayfabe even in 2017 so in 1993 he is completely in character. He just repeats "Jake" a few times and I swear he says "ice cream man" a few times, too.

For people that say "Oh well SummerSlam 95 was the worst" I always point to this PPV. You paid twenty plus dollars for a pay per view that had two titles matches end in count outs, two squash matches, and two Bret Hart matches that ended in DQ. Sure Hitman had the matches won but they ended in DQ. Plus you got a Giant Gonzalez match.

Ted Dibiase Vs. Razor Ramon
Ted is in terrible ring shape as you can tell that he is blown up less than half way into an eight minute match. This would be his last match as a performer for the WWF. He had requested time off prior to this match to fix his marriage. That is what he said in his book but it is interesting to point out that this pay per view took place on August 30th and he would be in All Japan wrestling a match on September 3rd so there is some dispute to his claims. He would join Mr. Perfect and Rick Rude in the Lloyd's of London Class of 94, cashing out on a policy and never wrestling again. Not really anything special but I did like the finished with the exposed turnbuckle into the Razor's Edge. The Razor's Edge is one of those moves that you really can't perform from out of nowhere so it's nice to see it in a match like this. It reminds me of the way Sid took the Tombstone at Mania 13 against Taker. Overall it's an ok match but nothing great.

The Steiners Vs. Heavenly Bodies
This is the match of the night for me. The Bodies and Steiners put on a better match than what Money Inc and the Steiners could have put on so I actually like the call to end the Money Inc feud prior to SummerSlam. Plus with Ted leaving the company you don't have to saddle IRS with a loss. Huge pop from the crowd when Rick kicks out of a pin fall attempt after the Bodies used the tennis racket. Overall the four men did a great job. Really stole the show.

"He has done everything in his life backwards, why wouldn't he climb the ropes backwards?" - Bobby Heenan on Rick Steiner

Mr. Perfect Vs Shawn Michaels
Historically and on paper this should have been the match to steal the show. It's just sloppy by the standards of Perfect and Michaels. At one point they botch what looks like a clothesline but neither man knows who should do it and it looks terrible. At one point Michaels put Mr. Perfect in an over the knee back breaker submission and it's sloppy and poorly executed as his knee is no where near Perfects back, more like his shoulders and neck. The brawl after the match in the back was so much better than anything they did in the match. This would be the last pay per view appearance for Mr. Perfect as an active wrestler in the WWF until 2002. He would cash out on his Lloyd's of London policy, like I mentioned before, in 94.

IRS Vs 1-2-3 Kid
Squash match. The Kid got some high spots in but it's nothing special. When the match is over there is no crowd response the people in the crowd did not care one bit about this match.

"He knocked him so hard he hit three zits right off his cheek." - Bobby Heenan after IRS hits 1-2-3 Kid

Bret Hart Vs. Doink/Lawler
Lawler was such a great heel and it really shows here. I loved Heel Doink and the match with Bret was good but not great. I hated how long Bret took to put the sharpshooter on, it was almost like he turned into Hulk Hogan and was just look around to the crowd like come off it. Bruce Hart didn't know that Doink was going to hit him with water which I find hilarious. This would be Matt Osbornes last pay per view for the WWF. He would eventually turn face as Doink but was eventually fired by the WWF. Matt Osborne claims that Bam Bam ratted him out for smoking pot because Bam Bam didn't like that the company was having him job to a clown. The heel clown was great though. So yeah Ted Dibiase, Mr. Perfect, and now Matt Osborne. Could there be another superstar who would never have a pay per view appearance after this on the same card? ...yes Giant Gonzalez.

Borga Vs. Marty Party Jannety
Another squash match as they were building Borga up to go against Lex Lugar. Nothing really to this match.


The Undertaker Vs Giant Gonzalez
Yep...Giant Gonzalez would wrestle one more match for the company after this and it was against Randy Savage.

Six Man Tag
Second best match of the night in my opinion. All six men were working hard and really it looked like they knew this pay per view sucked and they wanted to save it but they just couldn't.

Lex Luger Vs Yokozuna
So much has been said about this match and it's just incredible this story. Touring around the country to end up winning by count out and having balloons drop...it's incredible. The match was bad. I think it was Bruce Prichard that said that Lex was going to win up until maybe a week before the show and Vince just didn't want to take the belt of Yoko. He said that it was either because Yokozuna was still getting strong reactions whenever he went out and the other part being that he felt that the fans would get behind Lex even more in the build up to Mania X but by the time it rolled around Vince had cooled off on Luger.


It may not be the worst but it may be the worst.

So do you guys want to continue with these? And if so which event do you want next?

I'll throw my vote in for Fall Brawl 97. The last good War Games match.

They seriously played the ''You were my hero'' music video ever week on SStars and Challenge prior to SSlam. It still boggles my mind after all that hype they didn't put the belt on em in the end. 24 years later and it still doesn't make sense.

Am I the only one who's gonna bring up that Hogan would've lost to Bret and dropped the title here instead of KOTR?