From the Bowery: SummerSlam ’94

From the Bowery: SummerSlam ‘94
-August 24, 1994
-United Center, Chicago, IL

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

-Randy Savage (R.I.P.) starts things out and welcomes everyone to the brand new United Center and to SummerSlam. Funny hearing Savage saying this is brought to you by the new WWF Generation and he was off to WCW in just a few months. He introduces Lawler and McMahon, and they run down the card.

IRS and Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Ted Dibiase) vs. The Headshrinkers (w/ Afa and Capt Lou Albano)

-This was supposed to be for the WWF Tag Titles, but The Shrinkers lost the titles the night before at a house show in Indianapolis to Diesel and Shawn. The Shrinkers are Samu and Fatu with the latter being guy who would be known as Rikishi. Bigelow starts with Fatu, and we get some nice power wrestling to start. Fatu tries for a slam, but can’t be Bigelow up. Bam Bam hits an enziguiri but misses the top rope headbutt. Fatu delivers a nice clothesline that turns Bigelow inside out. Samu gets the tag, but walks into a back elbow allowing the tag to be made to IRS. He has no luck though and ends up eating a super kick. A splash misses, but IRS misses a charge and ends up crashing to the floor. Fatu meets him down there and sends him into the stairs before tossing him back into the ring. Samu gets a near fall, and then the Shrinkers start to double team IRS. Fatu ducks a clothesline, but Bigelow pulls down the rope from the apron. Fatu ends up crashing to the floor and the heels finally have control here. That doesn’t last long however as Bigelow and Fatu each hit a clothesline leaving both men down. They each crawl to their corners and make the tag. Samu dominates both men and hits an impressive backdrop on Bigelow. All four men brawl in the ring, and in the chaos Samu gets a two count off a middle rope headbutt. Bigelow gets sent to the floor and the Shrinkers abuse poor IRS. Fatu comes off the top with the big ass splash, but Dibiase distracts the ref. Bigelow makes the save and then takes a shot at Albano on the apron. Afa heads in the ring and hits Bigelow with a headbutt to cause a DQ. The Million Dollar Team decides to hit the floor, but the brawl continues. Dibiase has had enough however and just walks out as his team brawls with the Shrinkers.

Winners: Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS via DQ at 6:45
-Not really much here, but no rest holds make me a happy reviewer. They played to their strengths with a power match, but just didn’t get enough time to do much of anything. The ending didn’t do either team any favors either. *1/2

-The late Leslie Nielsen continues to search for the Undertaker, but instead finds George Kennedy. They agree to work together to solve the case.

WWF Women’s Championship: Alundra Blayze © vs. Bull Nakano (w/ Luna Vachon)

-The title was inactive from 1990 until 1993 when it was brought back and won by Blayze in a tournament. Two little girls present each lady with some roses before the match, and Luna opts to toss Nakano’s flowers at Blayze. Bull offers a handshake, and then kicks Alundra in the stomach. Blayze escapes a powerbomb attempt and hits a dropkick. She tries a second one, but Bull just swats her down. She grabs Blayze by the hair and tosses her across the ring, and that draws some awes from the crowd. Nakano drops a leg for a two count, and the crowd reaction here is already better than what we get from today’s women’s division. Bull hooks in a reverse chinlock, but the champ gets to the ropes to break. The crowd starts a USA chant, but only pisses Bull off as he continues the onslaught. Blayze rallies and gets a modified hurricanrana for two, but gets caught in a chokebomb. Nakano hooks in a deep Boston (Japanese?) Crab, but modifies it by using one hand to hook both legs. Blayze crawls to the ropes, and Bull releases the hold. She immediately targets the back, and locks in another submission, but is forced to break the hold as she was holding onto the hair. Luna gets in a few cheap shots to draw some heat from the crowd. Alundra gets a fluke roll-up, but Bull is out at two and locks in a cross armbreaker. She lets the champ up, and that proves to be a mistake as Alundra hits several hooking clotheslines for two. She preps for a powerbomb, but Bull is too big and easily backdrops out of the hold. She gets a slam, but Blayze slides out at two, and then just killed with a clothesline. Bull gets caught in a back slide, but she escapes. Blayze charges and gets caught with a powerbomb for two as the crowd is really getting into this match. Bull heads up top, but misses the butt splash. Alundra decks Luna for good measure and hits the German Suplex to get the win at 8:10.

Winner and Still WWF Women’s Champion: Alundra Blayze via pin at 8:10
-Alundra gets the win, but Bull looked like a monster here. This was a very good match that shows how down the divisions are in TNA and the WWE today. Bull would win the title in November and hold the strap for 5 months, but dropped the strap back to Blayze and was fired when she was found with cocaine in her car. ***1/4

-Shawn and Diesel give an interview backstage hyping their Tag Title win, and then threatening Razor Ramon and Walter Payton.

WWF Intercontinental Title: Diesel © (w/ Shawn Michaels) vs. Razor Ramon (w/ Walter Payton)

-Diesel won the title from Razor on an episode of Superstars in April, and this is the rematch. Obviously everyone knows the history and friendship between these three guys, and generally a Clique match produces good results. As mentioned earlier Shawn and Diesel had just won the tag titles, and thus Diesel is a double champion. Payton is in Razor’s corner to offset Shawn, and for that extra pop from the crowd in Chicago. This match has great heat to start as the crowd is jacked for Razor. The man was on fire as a face at the point, and in today’s WWE he would have been a multi-time World Champion with the brand split. This just has a big match feel and that is refreshing to see in a match involving the IC Title. Secondary titles can be meaningful and sadly that is being lost in today’s wrestling world. Shawn talks shit to Walter Payton from the opening bell, and we will see how that ends up playing out for Michaels. Ramon controls early with some right hands as he rocks the big man. Diesel is a little slow to keep up and hits the floor to regroup with Shawn. Diesel heads back into the ring and this time he catches Razor with a knee. He immediately goes to work on the back with heavy forearms. Razor starts to fight back, but gets caught with a clothesline. Diesel misses a boot and Razor looks to take advantage but a blind charge ends up eating an elbow. They head to the corner and Diesel chokes away with his boot while Shawn holds Razor’s hair form good measure. Razor reverses a whip and sets for a backdrop, but Diesel casually slams him face first into the canvas. Diesel locks in a sleeper, but Razor rallies thanks to the crowd and escapes with a belly to back suplex. Razor makes the mistake of charging however, and ends up getting tossed over the top to the floor. Payton checks on Razor and while the ref is distracted, Shawn removes the turnbuckle cover in a call back to the initial title change. Payton chases after Shawn, but the ref holds him back. That gives Shawn his opening as he delivers a flying forearm to Razor on the floor. Diesel thinks he has things locked up via count-out, but Razor drags himself back into the ring. Razor gets trapped in the corner and eats some heavy blows. Diesel looks to send Razor into the exposed buckle, but the ref sees what is happening and prevents it from happening. Shawn fakes getting into the ring to distract the ref, and that gives Diesel the chance to whip Razor into the exposed steel. Razor staggers out and walks into a sidewalk slam for two. Snake eyes follow, and that also only gets a two count. Diesel continues to work the back in fine fashion as he drops an elbow for two. Razor gets a small adrenaline rush thanks to the crowd, but runs into a big boot. Diesel gets a two count off that as Razor just gets his foot on the bottom rope. The back work continues as Diesel hooks an abdominal stretch and uses the top rope for leverage. The ref finally catches the shenanigans and makes Diesel break the hold. Razor ducks a clothesline and gets a brief abdominal stretch of his own, but Diesel breaks with relative ease. Snake Eyes is tried again on the exposed steel, but Razor slides out and shoves Diesel into the steel for two. Now Razor starts his comeback with some hard right hands, and then posts Diesel ball first into the ring post. Effective! A bulldog off the middle rope nets a two count as the crowd is way into this match now. Razor shows some power with a slam and that gets two. Shawn gets a little close and eats a right hand for shits and giggles. Diesel uses the distraction to regain the advantage and preps for the Jackknife, but Ramon backdrops out of the hold. Shawn distracts once again as Payton is proving to be useless at this point. Shawn grabs the IC Title, but Payton finally does something as he pulls the title away. The ref heads to the floor to retrieve the belt from Payton, and that gives Shawn another opening. He heads into the ring and looks for Sweet Chin Music, but Razor ducks and Diesel ends up eating the kick. Razor crawls over for the pin and is your New Intercontinental Champion at 13:55. Diesel is rather pissed off as you would expect and Shawn just blows him off as he heads to the back. Back in the ring Razor celebrates with Walter and his son.

Winner and New Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon via pin at 13:55
-Good match between these two with some great booking. The crowd was jacked from the start, and Shawn played his role perfectly. Good stuff all around here. ***1/2

-Pettengill interviews Luger and Tatanka in the back as they go over the Opinion Poll from the fans. 54% of the fans believe that Luger has sold out to Dibiase. Today it is rather clear that Tatanka was playing the heel here and you could see what was coming a mile away, but as a 13 year old kid, I wasn’t expecting what was coming.

Lex Luger vs. Tatanka

-The fact that even heel commentator Lawler is positive Luger sold out should have tipped everyone off that we were getting a swerve. The reaction to Luger is a little mixed as either some have bought into the angle, or fans were just sick of “Made in the USA” Lex Luger. Thankfully this match has a decent angle around it as the match itself doesn’t look to promising. Vince wonders if this will be a scientific match with Lex being the aggressor. Think about that for a second. Luger and scientific doesn’t often go together very often. Aggressive tie-up to start and the ref has to separate the two in the corner. The intensity is certainly there to start. Luger controls with a side headlock, and then mows Tatanka down with a shoulder. They take turns trading wristlocks, and Tatanka gets the advantage as he switches to an armbar. Tatanka nets the first two count of a crossbody, and then lights up Luger’s chest with a chop. Apparently Tatanka doesn’t know Luger’s chest is immune to that thanks to the wars with Flair. Tatanka gets another near fall off a powerslam and then starts his war dance to Native American-up as it were. He lands a few chops to get another two count, and then delivers a suplex. He comes off top with another chop, but Luger is out at two. Tatanka hits a slam and heads up once more, but this time Luger moves out of the way. Now Luger starts rolling with some clotheslines and that brings Dibiase down with a bag full of money. In the ring Luger hits a powerslam and calls for the finish. Dibiase distracts Luger and Tatanka gets the roll-up for the pin at 6:00. Luger is a little pissed that Tatanka took that opening, but then he turns his attention to Dibiase. He kicks the bag out of Dibiase’s hands, but before he can get to him, Tatanka jumps Luger from behind. The crowd goes dead silent as they realize that Tatanka is the one that has sold out. Dibiase and Tatanka hug and now the crowd is rather pissed at what they are seeing. Tatanka puts Luger out with the Million Dollar Dream and shoves some cash down his throat for good measure.

Winner: Tatanka via pin at 6:00
-This was a bland match as it was all carried by the angle. Tatanka as a heel was a good idea in theory, but they didn’t follow up in the right way. Instead of a new character, he was just an angry Indian, and that wasn’t going to work in any significant way. Again the match was nothing, but the post match beat down was quite good. **

Mabel (w/ Oscar) vs. Jeff Jarrett

-For those that loved the West Texas Rednecks/No Limit Soldiers feud in WCW, you should be thrilled with this match. For the record I am a fan of both types of music and look forward to the day when Tim McGraw does a song with Eminem. Oscar spits some rhymes that I can’t make out, but he’s sure full of energy at least. Hearing Vince say “rap master” with a straight face is pretty jarring. Jarrett tries to keep his distance to start and struts at every opportunity. Mabel gets pissed and lifts Jarrett off the mat with a choke and then drops an elbow. A slam follows, and a clothesline sends Jarrett over the top to the floor. Oscar talks shit on the floor, so Jarrett tosses him into the steps. Mabel tries to head to the floor, but Jarrett trips him in the rings to ground the big man. Jarrett hits a rather ugly looking fist drop off the middle rope and then connects with a double axe. He heads to the middle rope again, and hits another double axe that leaves Mabel rocking. Jarrett decides to head up top, but gets caught in a bear hug coming down. He escapes with his life, and then looks for a sleeper. That doesn’t go well the first time as Mabel rams him into the buckle to break. Jarrett hooks the hold again, but Mable finally breaks and hits a spin wheel kick for two. I was always impressed with that move by such a big man. Jarrett gets caught and squashed, but gets his boot on the bottom rope to break the count. Jarrett heads after Oscar on the floor, but Mabel saves. The brawl on the floor for a few seconds and then once back in Mabel tries a splash off the middle rope. Jarrett rolls out of the way as Mabel hits with a splat. Jarrett tries to get a sunset flip, but Mabel is a fat ass. Mabel looks to drop his girth, but Jarrett moves again and gets the pin at 5:45.

Winner: Jeff Jarrett via pin at 5:45
-This was horrible and felt a lot longer than 6 minutes. 1/2*

-More fun with Nielsen and Kennedy as they don’t see a silhouette of the Undertaker behind them in the entrance way.

-The Hart feud is recapped in great detail as it gives the crew a chance to set up the cage. Lawler and McMahon interview the Hart clan at ringside. Everyone seems to be pulling for a happy reunion, but Neidhart is firmly a member of Team Owen as he keeps stirring the pot.

WWF Title: Steel Cage Match: Bret Hart © vs. Owen Hart

-This the old school blue bar steel cage, and also this match is escape rules. I know wrestlers said the blue bar cage was a bitch to work with, but I always enjoyed seeing it. It’s certainly a lot easier to climb than the mesh cage that is used today. Owen jumps Bret as soon as he walks through the door, and pounds away in the corner. Bret gets sent into the corner, and Owen pounds away with some right hands as he talks shit. Bret finally stops the momentum with a reverse atomic drop and hits a running clothesline. He can’t follow up in a timely manner though and Owen goes back to the work with some more right hands. Bret avoids being sent into the cage, and hits a DDT. The two men trade blows in the middle of the ring, but Bret gains the advantage. He drops a leg and then starts to make the climb up the cage. Owen pulls him back to the canvas and delivers the enziguiri. He tries to escape over the top, but Bret pulls him back in, and hits a belly to back suplex off the top rope. Sweet! Bret calls for the door to be open, but Owen grabs a leg and pulls him back into the middle of the ring. Bret gets whipped into the opposite corner and it seems all the more painful thanks to the cage shaking on impact. They do a nice sequence where they take turns teasing escape through the door, and Owen gets closest as his hands reach the floor. Owen gets dragged back into the ring and Bret drops a nasty looking elbow to the back of the head. Now Bret looks to climb again, but Owen grabs the ankle and slams Bret off the top rope to the mat. Owen is the one to climb and the crowd freaks out as Owen gets over the top, but Bret is able to grab him by the hair. He brings Owen back into the cage, and they fight on the top turnbuckle. Bret takes the spill to the mat and Owen follows with a swank missile dropkick that even had the crowd impressed. Owen kips up and tries to escape once more, but Bret meets him for another battle on the cage. Owen gets the worst of this exchange as he gets rammed into the cage and falls to the mat. Bret gets a backdrop and follows up with a side headlock. Owen fires him off and after a criss cross sequence they crack heads, leaving both men out in the middle of the ring. Owen is the closest to the door and crawls for it, but Bret makes the save again. Bret drops another elbow and then decides to head up the cage, but Owen grabs an ankle to make the save. Bret kicks off to escape, but Owen Is relentless as he grabs the leg again. This time he yanks Bret off the cage and that causes him to land nuts first on the top rope. That was a rather nasty bump there. Owen crawls for the door again, but Bret pulls him back in and drops a headbutt to the midsection. Lawler questions why the Bulldog would be cheering for Bret considering what happened between the two at SummerSlam 92. Bret misses the elbow from the second rope, and both men are out once again. Owen is the first to stir and the crowd heat is insane with each attempt to escape. Bret makes the save it seems, but Own breaks and gets on the outside of the cage, but Bret holds him by his hair. There is a nice visual of Owen dangling by his hair before Bret pulls him back into the cage. Now Bret gets his shot, but Owen makes the desperation save. He pulls Bret back into the cage and drops him with a modified suplex. Owen now has his best chance to escape, but again Bret makes the save at the last second. Bret blocks getting sent into the steel, and tosses Owen head first into the cage before he tries to escape again. Bret gets himself outside the cage as the crowd goes nuts, but he can’t drop to the floor as Owen grabs the hair. Bret gets brought back down to earth with a belly to back suplex. Owen hits a sick looking piledriver, and stumbles to his feet as he begins to climb once again. The crowd is urging Bret to move and again, he makes the save at the last second. The drama in this match has been terrific as they crowd is buying every escape attempt. Owen sends Bret to the mat and seems to have a clear path, but loses his balance and crashes. Bret is now close enough to the door, but Owen hangs onto his legs for all that he’s worth. Bret fires off machine gun right hands and dives for the floor again, but no dice as Owen makes the save again. Owen gets caught in a catapult and sent into the cage as the crowd is really rocking at this point. Bret crawls for the door, but in a nice touch, he gets confused and heads to the wrong corner. That slight loss of ring awareness is the opening Owen needs as he catches Bret and fires him into the corner. Both men stagger to their feet and Owen escapes a slam. He looks to ram Bret into the cage, but Bret ducks and Owen ends up eating the cage. In the process Bret damages his knee on the cage, but limps his way up the cage. Owen grabs an arm, and Bret gets caught hanging upside down on the cage. They both get back in the ring as Owen delivers a spinwheel kick. Once again both men are down and the crowd erupts as they try to rally Bret. Owen opts to climb the cage instead of walk through the door, and nearly gets to the floor, but Bret saves his title again. They fight on the cage again, and Bret blocks being sent into the steel. Owen fires off some right hands as he tries to pound Bret back down to the canvas. Bret kicks away at Owen’s hands, causing him to the fall to the canvas, but can’t escape as Owen grabs the tights to save. They collide head first for a second time and again; we have both men out in the center of the ring. Owen gets to his feet first and climbs in the corner, but Bret meets him up there and delivers a superplex off the cage to the mat below. Damn! Bret crawls for the door, but Owen pulls him back and locks in the Sharpshooter to the horror of the crowd. Bret wiggles himself into position and counters to his own Sharpshooter much to the delight of the crowd. Bret releases the hold and climbs once again and seemingly has a clear path, but Owen lunges to grab as much hair as he can. He pulls Bret back into the ring and both men end up falling off the cage to the mat. Owen seems to be in better shape as he climbs, but Bret is hot on his heels. Both men get out of the cage and it’s a race to see who can hit the floor first. Bret rams Owen into the cage and he ends up getting his foot caught. Bret then drops to the floor to retain the title at 32:17. After the match Neidhart blasts the Bulldog from behind and that sends him and Diana over the railing in what was a nasty looking bump for Diana. Owen and The Anvil toss Bret back into the cage, padlock the door, and beat the piss out of our champion. The rest of the Hart brothers start climbing the cage, but Owen and Neidhart knock them off at every turn. The Bulldog finally climbs over the top and gets into the cage. Neidhart and Owen immediately climb out and ran off to a chorus of boos.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Bret Hart via escape at 32:17
-Fantastic cage match with great heat. They used the escape only rules to perfection, and sucked everyone into the multiple false finishes. The only down spot was that it seemed like they were running out of things to do as they had to fill some time. Still, this was a great match and the post match angle only further enhanced this feud. ****1/2

-Video recap of the Undertaker/Undertaker saga. Taker was placed in a casket by Yokozuna and a small army of the 94 Rumble. After the match he ascended to heaven, and then wasn’t seen from. Ted Dibiase, who originally brought Taker to WWE, claimed that Taker had sold out to him. That Undertaker soon showed up, and Paul Bearer claimed it wasn’t the real Undertaker. He promised the real Taker would return at SummerSlam and thus we have the following match.

The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker (w/ Ted Dibiase)

-Dibiase brings his Undertaker (Brian Lee doing a pretty damn fine Undertaker impersonation) to the ring, and Paul Bearer comes to the ring with Druids and the Rumble 94 casket. The lid opens and Bearer removes a fat ass urn that shines a spotlight through the arena. The real Undertaker makes his triumphant return with purple gloves and boots. The two Takers go face to face and the true Taker is just a smidge taller, and has a few new tats it seems. The fact each man has on different colors in a brilliant way for people to keep track of who the hell is who. I will just go with the color scheme here to tell who is who and this: Purple Taker is real and Gray taker is the impostor. I am getting a WCW vibe with parts of this show thanks to the Rap vs. Country feud, Hall vs. Nash, and Dibiase being part of an angle where a guy fakes being someone else (similar to Sting vs. n.W.o Sting). Purple Taker delivers a big boot and sends the Gray one of the top to the floor with a chop. He then stalks after Bearer, but Purple Taker makes the save by pulling him onto the apron by the hair. Purple Taker brings Gray Taker back into the ring with a suplex, and we get out first Zombie sit-up of the match. The two Takers brawl on the floor with the Purple one controlling the action. The quiet seems kind of shocked as they still aren’t sure what to make of this concept. The Gray Taker gains the advantage and goes for the Rope Walk, but Purple Taker isn’t having any of that as he tosses him off the top rope. We get a second Zombie sit-up and now the Purple Taker does walk the ropes with the flying forearm. They botch a stun-gun spot, and then start trading blows with each other. Even McMahon mentions that they crowd has no idea how to react to what they are seeing. The Gray Taker misses an elbow, and ends up eating some right hands. The Purple Taker misses a clothesline and ends up flying over the top to the floor. The Gray Taker gives chase and sends Purple Taker into the post and steps. They head back into the ring and the Gray Taker starts to get frustrated (something Purple Taker never did) that Purple Taker won’t stay down. The Gray Taker does hit a chokeslam, but Zombie sit-up #3 follows. The Gray Taker delivers a pretty good looking Tombstone (much better than what Kane did on his debut), but we get another zombie sit-up (#4). The Gray Taker looks for a second Tombstone, but Purple Taker reverses to a jumping Tombstone (much like what ended Shawn’s career). He isn’t satisfied though and opts to kill him dead with a second one. That apparently still isn’t enough as he hits one more Tombstone, and that is enough for the win at 8:57. After the match the Gray Taker gets rolled into the casket and the druids take presumably wheel it to SMW.

Winner: The Undertaker (Paul Bearer’s) via pin at 8:57
-Well, this was surely something. The WWE almost had it figured out here, but it would take a few more years. They knew they needed a character that could compete with Taker on that kind of level, and eventually Kane was born. This was basically a squash as it should have been. I do give props to Lee for going all out with the chance he was given. ** for the entire spectacle as I have certainly seen worse close a PPV.

-The Macho Man throws things to Kennedy and Nielsen in the back. They locate the casket and find that it is empty. Next they find a briefcase on the floor and this is really funny…it’s closed. You see what they did there.

The 411: This was a solid show in an era that was still trying to define itself following the end of Hulk-a-mania. The cage match is a classic, and the other 2 title matches were very good. The Main Event is not for everyone's tastes, but I didn't feel it was that horrible all things considered. A fun show with some memorable moments.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]