SUMMERSLAM 1995
August 27, 1995 Pittsburgh, PA
Civic Arena
It is the worst of times for the WWF and wrestling in general during 1995.
After the success of Bret Hart as WWF Champion for the majority of 1994, Vince decided to hotshot the title on Diesel who had been put on a rocket up the card for most of the year. When Vince put the title on him, he started off solid at the Royal Rumble against Bret but come WrestleMania, and an ill-concieved match with Shawn Michaels in the heavyweight title match, Diesel sank to become one of the lowest drawing champions in history.
Coming into SummerSlam, it was the Vince’s idea to put his floundering champion in the main event with the near 600lb rapper Mabel, who had no talent, no charisma and certainly no drawing power. It went as well as you would expect.
On the undercard, word was the bookers were so worried that this was going to bomb badly, treated us to Shawn/Razor Part 2 as they set about topping themselves in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Title. Good news for Shawn is that it was only the second IC title match in SummerSlam history where the title didn’t change hands. Oddly (or maybe not s much) it was Shawns other match at SS 1993 that was the other match that didn’t feature a change.
Elsewhere, Hakushi was wowing the audiences with his Japanese high-flying moves but sadly his outing here in the opening match against the 1-2-3 Kid would be among his last in the WWF. This also was the SummerSlam debut of Hunter Hearst Helmsley thus heralding the arrival of The Clique.
Providing their thoughts on this PPV are…
Nick Bazar: Making his first appearance in this look back a SummerSlams past, Nick currently comes to you weekly with his Contentious Ten column and is also your regular Smackdown recapper.
Larry Csonka: 411 webmaster and editor of just about everything around these parts. Often hated and always over opinionated, Larry offers his old school, southern thoughts to proceedings.
Scott Rutherford: Longtime 411 stalwart and jack of all trades for over 7 years. Has bounced between most zones as an editor or news columnist. Spends most of his time these days offering music reviews and a Top 5 Wrestling contributor.
The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi Winner: Hakushi via pinfall. Time: 9:28
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob Holly Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley via pinfall. Time: 7:11
Eli & Jacob Blue vs. The Smoking Gunns Winner: The Smoking Gunns via pinfall Time: 6:100
Skip vs. Barry Horowitz Winner: Barry Horowitz via pinfall. Time: 11:21
Womens’s Championship – Alundra Blayze vs. Bertha Fay Winner: Bertha Faye via pinfall. Time: 4:37
Casket Match – The Undertaker vs. Kama Winner: The Undertaker via putting Kama in the casket. Time: 16:21
Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankeem Winner: Bret Hart via DQ. Time: 16:08
Intercontinental Championship: Ladder Match – Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramone Winner: Shawn Michaels via belt retrieval. Time: 25.03
WWF Championship – Diesel vs. Mabel Winner: Diesel via pinfall Time: 9:15
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Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon – Depending on the person and the day, you will get different answers on which is better, the WM ladder match or the SS ladder match. I guess it is like the Godfather and Godfather II in that respect. Even though I was at this one live, I tend to like the WM one a little more, but as the kids say, the match was epic. They took parts of the first match and used them to play off of here, they took ides that they couldn’t use then and used them here, and it was an absolutely fitting sequel of a match. Everyone wants to ride HBK’s nuts, and rightfully so, but Scott Hall needs love too. He was showing why he had developed into a great worker, being smart, doing all the right things at the right time. This match is THE reason to remember the show, and for me, clocked in at ****¾. The good news is that the main event brought the other ¼*… Worst Match: Diesel vs. Mabel – While Diesel vs. Mabel was likely Vince McMahon’s idea of a dream main event, this was just horrible. Slow, plodding, lots of punching, and after the epic ladder match, it appears to be even worse. I mean, I dare you to go back and watch the show and these matches back to back. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But fuck that Shawn Michaels guy, WE HAVE MABEL TO MAIN EVENT! Did I mention that this was shit? No? Well it was. Highlight: Horowitz Wins! Horowitz Wins! Horowitz Wins! – I always liked Horowitz, he knew his job and he did it well. But I also knew he could do better, having seen his work in other companies. The angle with Skip (Chris Candido) was fun, and Candido was a great worker, and he worked well with everyone. Horowitz was able to get over with the crowd during his mini-push, they loved the win, and honestly it is just a shame that it didn’t go much further than it did. MVP: Shawn Michaels & Razor Ramon– Shawn is the showstopper, the main event, the icon. Razor is one of the more underrated performers ever in my opinion, and gets forgotten due to his substance abuse issues. But within a span of a year and a half, they had two matches that became the STANDARD for all ladder matches to come. Co-MVP’s for me are the only way to go. Overall Rating: 5.0 – Man, 1995 was a pretty shit year overall for pro wrestling, and this cad is a good example of that. This isn’t a horrible show, 1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi was a solid opener, Skip vs. Horowitz was a little better than that, Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem exceeded expectations, and the ladder match was sweetness personified. But the rest was either just there, or pure shit, including the horrendous Deisel vs. Mabel main event that will go down in history as one of the worst main events ever. Make sure you own the ladder match, but I cannot recommend the show unless you are a completist and want to own all of them.
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Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon – This is the only great match on the show and depending on your persona tastes, it either is better or not better than their first ladder match at Wrestlemania 10 a year earlier. Things have changed as Michaels is a the babyface IC champion and Razor is just middling around the WWE roster although in this match, he’s treated like a heel by the crowd. The match is a great ladder match and actually has a ton of psychology involved as it builds on their first match. It has more crazy bumps than that one but for me, the fact it was the first major WWE ladder match has it in higher water. On a negative note, if you want to see the pissed off version of ‘ol HBK, look no further than this match. Most notably at the end when he apparently botches the ending, but you live, you learn and he would go on to have a career twice as good as he did up that point so we’ll let that one slide. Worst Match: Diesel vs. King Mabel – Seriously, why they seemed hell bent on pushing Mabel (or as he would later be known, Viscera or Big Daddy V) as a main evener in 1995 after winning the King of the Ring, I’ll never know. He would go on to have some of the worst matches of all-time with Diesel and the Undertaker. In fact, he ended up legitimately crushing part of Undertaker’s face with a leg drop, so I’m sure the dead man wasn’t too thrilled either. The less said aboutt this match the better but it unfortunately was the main event of the show (over the ladder match rematch, yes). Highlight: Barry Horowtiz in the Limelight – One of the most popular enhancement talents in pro wrestling history, Barry Horowitz finally got something of a push in WWE. On their syndicated show, he scored a shocking win over Bodydonna Skip (Chris Candido) which led to the rematch at Summer Slam. The match itself was fine and fundamentally good considering the two guys involved but is most memorable for Horowitz earning his first PPV win. It was nothing major but it was always nice to see guys like Horowitz get a shot to do something besides losing squash matches. Hidden Highlight: Dean Douglas Loses His First Battle with the Kliq – Shane Douglas had made his way around the wrestling world once before heading back to WWF in 1995 as Dean Douglas (a take on Douglas’ real life teaching background), an evil educator set to correct WWE from its whatever the hell. You get the picture. At various points on the show, they would cut to the back and Douglas would talk about something or other with his makeshift chalkboard. After losing the ladder match, Razor Ramon was not to happy with his comments and confronted him. It ended up with Ramon punching Douglas out and the teacher scratching that dirty chalkboard. Whether it was a terrible gimmick or not, Douglas would find a lot of trouble in the WWE’s political waters thanks to the Kliq and he’d be out of the promotion within four months. MVP: Shawn Michaels – This period was shortly after he turned face in the aftermath of Wrestlemania (when Sid destroyed him) and he turned into one of the company’s elite workhorses. Despite what was happening behind the scenes (some may have said he was difficult to work with over the next 2-3 years), when he stepped in the ring, he would routinely steal the show (hence the nickname). Overall Rating:5.0 – The show as a whole was just not good. There are five matches on the show that did not outright suck (Hakushi/1-2-3 Kid, Horowitz/Skip, Undertaker/Kama, Bret/Yankem and the ladder match. Speaking of Bret/Yankem, yes, this was Isaac Yankem DDS’ in-ring debut in the WWF. The man who would go on to reach unbelievable fame as Kane, the Undertaker’s younger brother, was initially Jerry Lawler’s evil dentist. Indeed, the Lawler/Bret feud lasted well over two years and generally it was a fun thing for Bret to be involved in when he was out of the main event picture.
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Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon – This is the match that made me a mark for Shawn Michaels. I actually saw this match before their classic at Wrestlemania. They released this home video compilation of HBK’s singles run up to that point, and his Ladder match with Razor Ramon was one of the main features on it. I watched as a young wrestling fan in awe, and from that point forward, Michaels was my favorite wrestler. It doesn’t really matter which Ladder match is better- they are both fantastic, and this was a standout bout for all of 1995. Worst Match: Diesel vs. Mabel – Well, at least they got the Mabel push out of their system early, and didn’t take it much further than this. The match was awful, especially as the main event of one of the biggest shows of the year. Just unacceptable, but then again, much of what they were offering in 1995 was too. Highlight: Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem – Definitely the highlight of the Isaac Yankem character, and a pretty good match that stood out above some of the filler on this card. Jerry Lawler’s antics were fun, and the action in the ring was above average and pretty cool to look back on. Hidden Highlight: Barry Horowitz – One of the most famous jobbers of all time gets a win…at Summerslam! And hey, the match was pretty good too. Not surprising though as Horowitz was a talented guy and his opponent was the underrated Chris Candido. MVP: Shawn Michaels – As was usually the case in these years, Shawn Michaels stole the show and wasn’t afraid to put his body out there to get a match over. On top of that, it was performances like this that earned him his championship win the next year at Wrestlemania. Overall Rating: 6.0 – Not a great show by any means, put I think it gets a bad rap because of the horrible main event. You have a classic in the Ladder match, a good match in Hart vs. Yankem and some fun stuff in the undercard. Slightly underrated show.
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Best Match: While most will pimp for Shawn and Razor Part 2, I’m going to grade on a curve and say Bret Harts vs. Isaac Yankem. Follow me here…Shawn had a ladder, 25 minutes, the IC title and Razor Ramon to create his match. That is some mighty fine building blocks. Bret had 10 minutes, a crappy angle with an opponent that when he was better known as Kane, even the best of workers can barely get a ** match out of. Bret got a near **** match out of him back when he was SUPER green. While the IC Title match is better, the sheer talent that went into what Hart did gets him my gong for match of the night. Worst Match: Jesus…just…just…the main event. It was a match that no one wanted between two guys that couldn’t work whom hardly anyone gave a crap about. Just utter dreck. Highlight: Barry Horowitz. This is the kind of feel-good moment that you can barely get now. Mind you, it took Barry being a jobber for nearly 15 years to get any pay-0ff but when it came, it was glorious. Hidden Highlight: Hakushi and The Kid. Not a great match but showed what talent can do when given some time to shine. I would have loved a 15-20 minute match of these two going balls to the wall. MVP: Bret Hart. I’ve always been a Bret mark but having gone through each year, card-by-card and seeing just how great he has been makes it hard to go past him as MVP. See my reasoning for best match as why he also appears here. Overall Rating: 7. Most people shit on this card and I can see why, but I can’t help but feel some love here. It has a ****1/2 star match, a near **** match, and a couple that push ***. It’s really not as bad as what you would think. The problem is that bad is REALLY fucking bad and the main event in just diabolical.
