From the Bowery: SummerSlam ’95

From the Bowery: SummerSlam 1995
-Aug 27, 1995
-Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

-Quick note as this was the very first PPV in Pittsburgh, and sadly I was not there. The reason was that I was only 14, couldn’t drive, and couldn’t get a ride with anyone else.

Announce Team: Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler

-Lawler and McMahon throw things to Dean Douglas in the back. He promises to teach summer school for the rest of the night. More from him later!

Hakushi vs. The 1-2-3 Kid

-I was always a fan of Hakushi when he debuted because of his look and the way he carried himself. I was always hopeful he would be the WWF’s answer to Muta, but never happened. Kid controls early as they work a hammerlock to a side headlock. Hakushi goes to the hair and that draws a noticeable cheer from the crowd. Kid blocks a second attempt at the hair, and gets an armdrag to fluster Hakushi. Kid gets mowed down with a shoulder, but gets a hiptoss. Both men kip up and we have a stalemate that draws applause from the crowd. They have another exchange that ends in a draw and again the crowd is right there with them. Hakushi gains the advantage with a thrust to the throat and then fires the Kid into the buckles. The Kid rushes into a tilt a whirl backbreaker, but Hakushi opts not to cover. Kid gets whipped again into the corner, and Hakushi hits the handspring elbow to draw more cheers from the crowd. Seems I wasn’t the only one that was big into Hakushi at this time. Hakushi hits the broncobuster (without the extra humping), and I guess that’s where Kid got the idea. Not really, but still was kind of cool! Some stiff kicks to the quads and a knee to the back of the head follow as Kid is taking a grade A ass kicking here. A slam in the corner, and Hakushi gets a two count off a springing Vader Bomb. Kid gets sent flying with a backdrop, and a kick sends him to the floor. The crowd pops huge as Hakushi hits the fucking Space Flying Tiger Drop. Nice! We get a replay of the SFTD and I miss Vince on commentary just calling something “what a maneuver.” The Kid gets fired back in the ring and Hakushi comes off the top with a shoulder for two. That crowd seemed annoyed by that 2 count. Back to the top, but this time, Kid rolls out of the way from the flying headbutt. Now the Kid makes his comeback as he counters a flapjack with a dropkick. Hakushi bails to the floor, but Kid simply follows with a springboard from the middle rope to the outside and hits a somersault crossbody. Back in the ring we go as the Kid gets a two count off a slingshot leg drop and follows that up with a frog splash that also gets two. The Kid tries for the spinwheel kick, but Hakushi catches him with a nasty powerbomb for the pin at 9:27.

Winner: Hakushi via pin at 9:27
-Sweet ass opener here as Hakushi was getting some serious face pops for the shit he was hitting. The Kid also stepped things up at the end, and what we get is a great way to open this show. This match did exactly what it needed to do. Just a shame Hakushi didn’t stick around longer. I think had he debuted in the current WWE set-up he would have had at least a brief run with either the WWE or World Title. ***

-Dok Hendrix catches up with Mabel as he promises to unveil his master plan to win the title from Diesel.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob “Sparkplug” Holly

-Hunter was undefeated at this point, and nothing than a clique hanger on. Funny how the low man on that totem pole is the one that is the heir apparent to McMahon’s throne. This is just so weird to see and what’s even weirder to hear are the females squealing as Hunter takes off his shirt. Is that a Cena match? Holly controls early with a hiptoss and Helmsley stalls before getting in a cheap shot. He fires off some Flair chops in the corner, and some in the crowd WOOO when appropriate. Holly gets caught in the corner and gets dropped with a Stun Gun. Helmsley pounds away in the corner as McMahon and Lawler argue if race car drivers are really athletes. Hunter stays in control with a backbreaker and that gets him the first two count of the match. He follows with a suplex and drops the Harley Race knee. It’s fun seeing what HHH would keep in his repertoire and what he would ditch as he made his way up the card. A cut-in box shows that The British Bulldog has arrived, but he has no comment for the camera in regards to the WWF Title match. Holly stops the onslaught with a desperation DDT, but Helmsley gets to his feet first. Holly delivers his patented dropkick and that will probably be his lone highlight for the night. Helmsley charges into an atomic drop and then gets sent flying with a backdrop. Holly lights up his world with a second dropkick as he apparently wants to kill the guy. Holly makes the mistake of setting too early though and eats a Pedigree for the pin at 7:10. The heels are now 2-0 and in each case the crowd popped for the finish. Since when did the Steel City become a haven for heels?

Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley via pin at 7:10
-Nothing really to see here unless you want to check HHH out when he could have been a cruiserweight. *1/2

Jacob and Eli Blu (w/ Uncle Zebekiah) vs. The Smoking Gunns

-Most of you know that the Blue Twins are Ron and Don Harris who have bounced around the WWF, WCW, and TNA at various points. Vince says this should be an extraordinary match up with a straight face. One of the Blu Twins run through Billy (and his porno mustache) before making the tag to Jacob (fI think, but we will go with it). Billy moves out of the way of an elbow and makes the tag to Bart. He gets tossed into the corner, and then hung up on the top rope by Eli on the apron. The tag is made to Eli, but he misses a clothesline and Bart gets a crossbody for two. The Gunns (not be confused with the Machine variety) double team Eli, but Jacob breaks the pin attempt. In the chaos that follows Billy gets crushed with a double chokeslam (kind of) to a pop from the fans in the first few rows that seem determined to cheer every heel on the card. Billy is your future degenerate in peril as he crawls to Bart, but Eli decks Bart for good measure. Billy tries to punch his way back into the match, but gets caught with a powerslam for two. Finally Billy counters a hold and gets the lukewarm tag to Bart. He takes care of both Blu Twins, but celebrates to early and ends up eating a big boot. The Blu Twins ends up running into each other which sends one to the floor and the other gets got with the Side Winder for the pin at 6:09.

Winners: The Smoking Gunns via pin at 6:09
-That seemed a hell of a lot longer than 6 minutes. 1/2*

-Recap of Barry Horowitz upsetting Skip on the Action Zone and then lasting a full 5 minutes with him a few weeks later.

Skip (w/ Sunny) vs. Barry Horowitz

-It needs to be sad that Sunny is smoking hot, and really isn’t as shock that she ended up being a bigger star in the WWF than everyone else in the match. This was a pretty cool deal at the time with a perennial jobber getting his 15 minutes of fame and a PPV match. Horowitz hits the ring in a full sprint and jumps Skip before the bell. He catches him off guard with a jawbreaker, and then does the Boss Man sliding uppercut on the floor. A leg whip follows and then Skip gets sent to the floor with a clothesline. He gets brought back in the hard way, but finally gets on track after begging off in the corner. Horowitz continues to stay one step ahead though and gets a two count off a roll-up. Horowitz suplexes Skip from the inside to the floor in a nice spot, and that draws Sunny into the ring to throw in the towel. Hebnar is having none of that though and tells her to get out of the ring. Skip regains control after Sunny grabs Barry’s leg to trip him. Horowitz now takes his normal shit kicking, but in this instance the crowd starts a chant to rally him. That doesn’t work well however as Skip continues the onslaught with a top rope fist drop. Horowitz gets a few fluke near falls to keep the crowd in the match, but gets mowed down with a clothesline to disappointment of the crowd. Barry chants ring loud in the arena and he shows some life, but a powerslam kills that comeback. Skips drops a leg three times, but he’s no Hogan as Horowitz is able to kick-out at two. They start exchanging blows in the corner, and that goes in the favor of Barry, so Skip just thumbs him in the eye. Each man tries a dropkick and that leaves them both out. Skip gets to his feet first and for some reason heads up top for a moonsault I guess, but Horowitz dropkicks him to send him crashing nut first. Skip elbows his way out of a back suplex attempt and hits a top rope headbutt, but pulls Horowitz up at the count of two. Sure, that won’t come back to bit him in the ass. Horowitz backdrops out of a piledriver, and hits a nice dropkick as the camera seems to enjoy giving us shots of Sunny bending over the ring apron. Now that anyone would be complaining. Sunny distracts Horowitz and that leads to Skip hitting a superplex. Hakushi makes his way to the ring as he has some beef with Skip over a loss he suffered a week or so prior. Hakushi just serves as a distraction as he springs over Skip and when he turns around Horowitz catches him with a small package for the win at 11:21. In a nice character touch, Horowitz hugs the ref and then marks out as they show off his very first t-shirt. Nice!

Winner: Barry Horowitz via pin at 11:21
-This would be the pinnacle of Horowitz-mania, and it was fun while it lasted. The match itself was perfectly acceptable wrestling. **1/2

-Dean Douglas defines vivify for us, and he is none too pleased with the result of the last match. He gives the ref a grade of F and Horowitz a grade of S for slacker.

-Pettengill interviews Shawn and he puts over that only he and Ramon can pull off this ladder match. He promises to retain and continue being the greatest IC Champ ever.

WWF Woman’s Championship: Alundra Blayze vs. Bertha Faye (w/ Harvey Wippleman)

-Faye was brought in as comic relief when that was the last thing the Women’s division needed. They should have let her keep her monster gimmick and use her power offense, but just wasn’t in the cards I guess. The original plan was for her to also feud with Bull Nakano, but that went out the window when Nakano got busted with cocaine. Vince immediately starts with the fat jokes so what is happening with Vickie is nothing new. As Punk stated no bigger bully in the WWE than Vince McMahon. Lawler even joins in on the fat jokes which is weird as he is full heel here and not the drooling, diva obsessed character he is today. Faye dominates early with her size and gets a two count off a delayed leg drop. Blayze tries to fight from underneath, but has no luck. A second rope splash misses, and Blayze gets a victory roll for two. She delivers some knees, but Faye takes her back to the mat with a double leg takedown. Blayze bridges out of a pin attempt, and takes Faye down three times, but no ref as he is with Wippleman. Alundra gives chase on the floor before heading back in the ring. She tries a German Suplex, but no way in hell she is pulling that off. An ugly backslide gets two as does a hurricanrana. Blayze hits 2 dropkicks off the middle rope, but she misses a third one. Bertha casually hits a sit-out powerbomb for the win and title at 4:37. Jim Ross catches up with Faye in the aisle as they really didn’t have much for him to do on PPVs at this point.

Winner and New WWF Woman’s Champion: Bertha Faye via pin at 4:37
-A few nice moves and some sloppy crap as well. Faye would drops the strap about 6 weeks later and Blayze would show up on Nitro to toss in a can later that year. *1/4

-Recap for Kama and the Undertaker feud. Basically same as most Taker feuds around this time as Kama stole the urn at WrestleMania XI, with the small twist being that the urn was melted into a gold chain.

Casket Match: Kama (w/ Ted Dibiase) vs. The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)

-This is also all an off shoot of Dibiase’s feud with the Undertaker that started over a year ago with the fake Undertaker storyline. Taker is rather pissed to start and mauls Kama in the corner. He sends Kama over the top and onto the casket. That scares the shit out of Kama as scurries back into the ring. So while Kama isn’t afraid of Taker, he is afraid of the casket. Not Yet Old School follows, and Taker calls for the casket to be opened. We have a camera in the casket in a nice touch, but Kama quickly escapes. Taker goes in a second time to shut the lid, but Kama clotheslines him in the top rope. He heads up top and delivers a clothesline, but we get out first zombie sit-up. Take tries a splash in the corner, but gets caught and ears a powerslam. A second zombie sit-up, but Kama just kicks him in the face to stop that noise. They fight by the casket and Kama ends up getting tossed in, but Dibiase distracts Taker enough for Kama to fight his way back into the ring. Kama takes over with his punch and kick offense and the crowd is just gone at this point. Dibiase apparently realizes this as well as he starts jawing with the crowd and it helps start a lukewarm Rest in Peace chant. Taker gets sent to the floor at the feet of Dibiase so he casually lays in some kicks. That draws the ire of Paul Bearer who has to be restrained by the outside referees. On the other side of the floor, Taker gets some offense, but again Dibiase distracts him with the chain. He ends up getting caught in a bear hug and run back first into the post. In a nice spot Kama suplexes Taker onto the casket causing the lid to split. They fight on the casket and now Kama looks for a piledriver, but Taker counters with a backdrop that sends Kama back into the ring. Now the crowd is back into this thing which is nice to see. Taker runs flush into another powerslam and Kama goes for a pin. Obviously that’s not going to work in a casket match, but I kind of like that touch. It shows Kama’s inexperience in the match and that he is getting flustered. Kama grounds Taker with a side headlock and uses the ropes for added leverage since this is no DQ. Even Vince admits that it is a smart move on Kama’s part. Taker fights back to his feet and breaks the headlock with a belly to back suplex. Kama is the first to his feet and lays in some kicks to the small of the back. He fires Taker into the corner, but gets caught charging in with a boot. Kama tries to snuff out that rally, but Taker hits the leaping clothesline and then clotheslines Kama over the top sending both men into the casket. Kama crawls out, but Taker drags him back in kicking and screaming in a nice visual. They head back into the ring and Taker gets dropped with a swinging neckbreaker. Taker ducks a clothesline attempt and drills Kama with a chokeslam to pop the crowd. The place explodes as he calls for the Tombstone and Kama gets planted on his head before being rolled into the casket to end this at 16:26.

Winner: The Undertaker via casket closing at 16:26
-Kind of long with some lulls, but had some decent psychology and some nice spots. It was definitely hard hitting and not nearly as bad as I remembered it as a kid. **

-Speaking of long running feuds, the next match continues the Lawler/Hart feud that has been on and off for over two years. In this case, Lawler loses a “kiss my foot” match at King of the Ring and gets his deranged dentist to pay Bret back.

Isaac Yankem, DDS vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart

-Seeing Jacobs with a full head of hair is rather odd. He controls Bret early with a choke in the corner as he is already fighting like Taker 2 years before becoming his brother. Bret fights back with some right hands, but a slugfest is not the smartest thing here. He tries to use some speed, but gets caught with a slam. Yankem misses an elbow and Bret goes back to the right hands and again, that ends badly for him. Bret takes a hard whip into the buckles and eats a running elbow in the corner. He tries the same thing in the opposite corner, but Bret moves and delivers a reverse atomic drop. He follows up with a few clotheslines to send Yankem to the floor. Bret follows with a slingshot crossbody over the top. They head back into the ring where Bret hits the middle rope elbow and looks for the Sharpshooter. Yankem is too strong still, so Bret just drops a headbutt to the midsection. A roll-up nets Bret the first near fall, and he gets a second one off a backslide. Yankem regains control and Bret takes his customary chest first corner bump that always looks so damn impressive. Lawler cheering for Yankem on commentary and telling corny dental jokes is fun at times, but not nearly as good as Heenan during a Flair match. Bret continues to take an ass kicking as the ref has to forcefully pull Yankem off a Bret in the ropes. The action spills to the floor and Bret gets sent back first into the post. That looked pretty painfully actually and Bret is drawing some fantastic sympathy here. Bret gets hung up on the top rope and Yankem comes off the top with a leg drop to the back of the head. Nice! Someone is certainly looking to make a good first impression here. Bret gets mowed down with a clothesline as the crowd tries to keep him in the match. Yankem gets sent to the floor after Bret kicks out of a pin, and Bret follows him with a suicide dive. Now Bret seems to be in a foul mood as he delivers some heavy blows on the floor. They head back in the ring and Bret starts running through the Five Moves of Doom in rapid fire succession. He calls for the Sharpshooter, but Lawler leaves the announce table to help Yankem get to the bottom rope. Yankem charges and gets low bridged to the floor, but he calmly lands on his feet and pulls Bret to the floor with him. He tosses Bret into the ring steps before firing him back into the ring. Yankem heads to the top, but Bret was goldbricking as he hops up and slams Yankem to the mat. Sweet! Bret sends Yankem into the corner, and then hogties him to the ring post with cable. Hart now goes after Lawler on the floor, but Yankem makes the save as he comes off the top with a double axe handle. Back in the ring and Yankem misses a clothesline and Bret gets one of his one. Lawler again runs interference as he trips Bret coming off the ropes. Now Lawler just flat out helps Yankem hang Bret between the top and middle ropes as the ref just calls for the bell at 16:07. Lawler and Yankem the assault as officials pour into the ring to pull them off the Hitman. Bret does one hell of a sell job with the look on his face following the attempted strangulation.

Winner: Bret Hart via DQ @ 16:07
-Very solid match here with Yankem showing a lot of promise and Bret doing all he could to make him look like a monster. I have no doubt Bret knew that he had to do whatever he could to try to steal the show knowing what match was following him. While that was next to impossible I commend him for trying. ***

-Vince tosses it to a commercial for the next In Your House PPV and when we come back Bret is rather pissed as he makes it back to his feet.

-Doc interviews Razor Ramon and he promises that what happened at WrestleMania X will happen again. In a awesome moment that foreshadowed the future of wrestling, Bret gets helped by officials as he walks through Ramon’s promo and Razor just shrugs his shoulders and says this is a new era. Awesome!

WWF Intercontinental Title: Ladder Match: Shawn Michaels © vs. Razor Ramon

-Originally we were to get Shawn vs. Sid, but Vince looked at the card and said fuck if people will pay for Sid, Mable, and Nash being involved in my 2 main title matches. So things were changed and thus Pittsburgh gets to host this classic instead. We thank you for that Vince. Though to be fair, Shawn and Sid had a damn fine WWF Title Match at Survivor Series a little over a year later. This is face vs. face here, but Ramon has no problem going heel since he isn’t getting all the screams from the kids and women. Doc Hendrix joins Vince on commentary since Lawler is in the back with Yankem. What is shocking to me watching this now compared to what I have seen from Shawn in his later years is that he just carried himself as a cocky douche bag back then. I much prefer the more humbled Shawn we got in the later part of his career. They have problems from the start as the belt is hung the wrong way and Shawn yells at Vince to get some to bring it back down so they can fix it. Stay classy Shawn! Shawn personally fixes the belt himself and then orders it to be lifted back up. Wow, he really was such an ass that I am hoping he takes a shit kicking here. Shawn leaps over Ramon twice and looks to deliver Sweet Chin Music, but Ramon holds onto the ropes to avoid. Just a few seconds later Ramon tries to the Razor’s Edge, but Shawn is quickly out the back door. Shawn takes his first crazy ass bump of the match as he gets whipped to the corner and goes flying over the top to the floor. Ramon heads for the ladder, but Shawn tracks him down and they head back in the ring. That doesn’t last for long though as Razor suplexes Shawn from the inside to the floor, and on the way down Shawn’s leg catches the guard rail. That was rather nasty as it also threw off the way he landed as he took it all on his tailbone. Again, Razor looks for the Edge, but Shawn slides out and looks for Sweet Chin Music. Razor ducks that and they clothesline each other to leave them both down and out. Good times! Shawn gets tossed around like a ragdoll, and gets dropped with a fall away slam from the middle rope. Doc mentions that Sid gets the winner on RAW on Sept 11th (where on Nitro Bischoff gave away the result of the match. I miss the Monday Night Wars). Ramon retrieves the ladder and he makes the first climb, but Shawn pushes him and the ladder over to stop that attempt. Shawn grabs the ladder and “inadvertently” hits Razor as he tries to set it up. Ramon grabs the tights to stop Shawn and the crowd freaks out as his bare ass is exposed. Thankfully the camera doesn’t show us, but really who hasn’t seen Shawn’s ass at this point considering his first run with DX. Razor knocks the ladder over and Shawn’s knee gets wrenched on the way down. That didn’t look good at all. Ramon immediately capitalizes as be targets the knee with the ladder. Whereas it looked like Shawn accidentally hit Razor with the ladder, Razor is taking joy out of destroying Shawn with it. I appreciate that! Shawn’s knee continues to take a beating, but he creates distance by kicking Razor off and sending him into the ladder. In a sick spot, Ramon drops Shawn knee first onto the wedged ladder in the corner. How could you not side with Ramon in this one? I mean unless you were a teenage girl. Shawn’s knee gets wrapped around the post a few times for shits and giggles. They start trading blows in the ring, but Razor goes right back to the knee whenever it looks like Shawn is building steam. The males in the crowd start a Razor chant as I feel like I am watching a John Cena match. Ramon stands up the ladder and just calmly lets it fall on Shawn’s bad knee. Fantastic! What really made it was the “oh well” look on Ramon’s face. He tries to climb, but Shawn comes off the top rope to stop that attempt. Ramon looks for a slam, but Shawn slides off and pushes Ramon into the ladder. Both men fight on one side of the ladder and it ends with Shawn bringing Razor down with a belly to back suplex. Now Shawn wants to use the ladder as a weapon as he props it up in the corner. They play off the reversal spot from Mania as this time, Razor is the one that eats the ladder and spills to the floor. Shawn has apparently forgotten about the knee as he comes off the ladder with a moonsault press. Some boos from the males in the crowd can be heard between the screams of the women. Shawn comes off the top of the ladder with the splash, but Ramon rolls out of the way in another play off their WrestleMania X match. They have a race to climb the ladder and then start trading blows as they reach the top. The ladder topples over and each man gets crotched on the top rope. Realistically, Shawn got the better of the deal as he landed in the ring while Razor hit the floor. Shawn tries to ram Razor with the ladder, but he ducks and Shawn ends up crashing through the ropes and to the floor. Razor crawls around the ring and pulls out a second ladder. That crowd comes to their feet as this way before we got 25 ladders in a match at one time. Shawn climbs, but that leaves him in perfect position for Ramon as he drops him with the Razor’s Edge. Each man sets up a ladder and they each climb in another race to the top. Shawn kind of hits Sweet Chin Music to send Razor to the floor, but Shawn isn’t close enough to grab the belt. He opts to make a leap for it, and that does as well as expected as he crashes to the mat. Razor looks for the Edge again, but Shawn backdrops him to the floor. Shawn makes the climb again, and again he is just a little too far away. He tries to yank the belt with him as he falls, but it stays in place. That was to be the finish as Shawn doesn’t hide his frustration very well with his temper tantrum in the middle of the ring. Finally he sets the ladder in the right spot and he retrieves the title at 25:03. Razor rips the title out of his hands and fakes being pissed, but instead hands him the title and shakes his hand. I kind of wish Ramon would have decked him.

Winner and still WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels via belt retrieval at 25:03
-The match at WrestleMania is the more influential match and goes down in history as more famous, but I enjoy this match more. The ending sequence hurt things a little with Shawn fucking things up, but that’s a minor quibble. I loved Ramon’s constant abuse of the knee and all the callbacks to the first ladder match. That had a tough task living up to the expectations of the WM X match, and kudos to them for delivering a classic. ****3/4

-Dean Douglas defines “Bad” for us and looks to dissect Ramon’s loss, but Razor interrupts. Douglas eats a right hand to set up that feud. It was that feud that gave Douglas more ammunition to use against the Clique when he returned to South Philadelphia.

WWF Title: Diesel © vs. King Mabel (w/ Sir Mo)

-If this card had taken place, a Divas match would have followed Shawn/Razor to kind of give the crowd a chance to catch their breath before the Main Event. Instead Shawn’s best friend has to follow him against someone like Mabel. All night long we have heard about Mabel’s royal plan for winning the WWF Title. The British Bulldog had turned heel against Diesel leading up to this match, and now the question was what his tag partner, Lex Luger, was going to do. Slugfest to start and Mabel mows down Diesel with a shoulder. He screams that he is ready to be the first black champion. Somewhere in Georgia, Ron Simmons was watching at home screaming “Damn.” Diesel reverses a whip to the corner and hits a running clothesline. He fires off some elbows in the corner and tries for a slam, but much like Hogan in most of his matches, he can’t the big man off his feet. He does land a leaping shoulder though and that sends Mabel to the floor. Mom distracts Diesel for a brief second, but nothing comes from it. Diesel apparently knows what he has to follow as he leaps over the top rope to the floor onto Mabel. Lucha Nash! Mabel charges on the floor, but runs flush into a big boot. Between the running corner clothesline, failed slam attempt, and now big boot is it any wonder why people had Diesel pegged as Vince’s attempt to find a new Hogan. They head back in the ring and Mabel gets a near fall off a side slam. He drops his big ass on Diesel’s back and hooks in a weak looking camel clutch. It’s like Sheik/Hogan all over again. The ref gets mowed down by Mabel and that brings Mo into the ring. Luger hits the ring and Diesel is taking no chances as he decks him with a forearm. On the floor Mabel drops a leg, and as Mo sends him back in the ring, Luger decks him from behind. Luger chases Mo up the apron as he’s made his intentions know now. Mabel hits a belly to belly suplex, but Diesel is out at two. A splash from the second rope misses and Diesel comes off the middle rope with a clothesline for the pin at 9:14.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Diesel via pin at 9:14
-That was a horrible as one would thing though Diesel really was trying all he could, but it just wasn’t happening. The shit with Luger went nowhere as he showed up on the debut edition of Nitro 8 days later, but that’s what they get for not getting him to sign a new deal before putting him in the Main Event mix. 1/4*

-As a bonus we get taken to Todd Pettengill with SummerSlam Plus. Monsoon is in the back with the Cornette, Fuji, and the tag champions: Hart and Yokozuna. They make the Main Event for the next PPV: Hart/Yoko vs. Diesel/Shawn with all the titles on the line.

-A video package recapping the show ends things. The SummerSlam rap theme is horrible.

The 411: The ladder match is fantastic and the title match is horrible, so they basically cancel each other out. There isn't enough good to make this a good show, but Ramon, Shawn, and Bret sure tried to save this thing. Thankfully the Monday Night Wars were coming soon and it would light a fire under the WWF's ass.
Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]