SUMMERSLAM 2006
August 20th Boston, Massachusetts
TD Banknorth Garden
This was the year where everything started looking the same.
Main event matches consisting of Edge, John Cena, Batista or Randy Orton…check.
DX going over the whole roster…check.
Worthless ECW title match…check.
Complete and utter disregard for the secondary singles and tag team titles…check.
While SummerSlam 2006 had some good moments, the card overall was hit and miss. With three major singles titles, two sets of tag team titles, two secondary titles and a woman titles all to consider it seemed be there would be an abundance of riches but there wasn’t. Rather than try and give every title some time, the bookers just started to ignore their existence and went down a road they have yet to drive back from.
John Cena was solidly entrenched as the number one star of the WWE at this point and he remains in the main event to this day. Here he was still fresh and no quite “Super” Cena as he succumbed to Edge who was in full stride as a heel. Booker T was World Champion after getting himself so over with the King Booker gimmick that he forced the hand of the WWE. While his reign was relatively successful you could always sense he was a placeholder for Batista, with Booker only winning here by DQ.
HHH and Shawn Michaels had reformed DX and while they spent the majority of their time feuding with The McMahons and The Spirit Squad, it was hard to not notice they were basically booked to be unstoppable going over essentially 11 people in their match on this card.
Old warhorses Ric Flair and Mick Foley turned back the clock and engaged in a good old fashion blood feud and had a gloriously bloody I Quit match playing off their long standing personal feud.
Here to provide their thoughts are…
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.
Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero. Winner: Chavo via pinfall Time: 10:59
ECW Heavyweight Title: The Big Show vs. Sabu Winner: The Big Show via pinfall Time: 8:32
Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton Winner: Hogan via legdrop Time: 10:57
“I Quit” Match: Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley. Winner: Flair via Foley quitting Time: 13:14
World Heavyweight Title: Booker T (w/Sharmell) vs. Batista. Winner: Batista via DQ Time: 10:30
D-Generation X vs. Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon. Winner: DX via pinfall Time:13:03
WWE Heavyweight Title: Edge (w/Lita) vs. John Cena. Winner: Edge via pinfall Time: 15:41
COLIN RINEHARTsize=+2>
Best Match: Edge vs. John Cena (WWE Title) – This was one of the first big PPV Edge/Cena matches, and they went out there an delivered a very good match that totally exceeded most people’s expectations for them. It’s not a classic or anything, but on an otherwise forgettable show it’s enough to earn match of the night honors. Worst Match: Big Show vs. Sabu – This was a bad choice for the ECW title match at Summerslam, and it wound up being nearly 10 minutes of both guys falling into their worst and laziest habits. Typical spot-rest-spot Sabu formula that he used whenever he wasn’t motivated, and Show spends more time jawing with the fans then actually wreaking havoc like a giant should be. Really bad match. Highlight: The Edge/Cena Feud Sizzles On – Before his program with CM Punk in 2011, this was probably Cena’s best feud in his career as he and Edge had great chemistry together and had a slew of matches ranging from damn good to excellent. Another chapter in a great feud. Hidden Highlight: Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley (I Quit Match) – It’s quick and the finish didn’t seem to go over as well as they had planned, but this was still way better than it had any right being. Flair and Foley had enough intense hatred in the ring together that it was almost tangible. MVP: Edge – I’m really torn on this one as there’s just no real standout performance by anyone that makes you think “MVP” easily. Edge retained the WWE title here though, so he gets the nod. Overall Rating: 6.0 – This is an okay show. There’s nothing here that’s a blowaway classic or anything like that and you probably wouldn’t be missing much if you’ve never seen it, but there are still a few really solid matches that make this a somewhat enjoyable show. Just a slight Thumbs Up here.
AARON FRAMEsize=+2>
Best Match: Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley – I liked this match. It was a kind of nostalgic throwback for me watching two of my all time favorites face off. I remember watching the 06 SS and looking forward mostly to this match. The rest of the card was pretty much nothing I had interest in. As painful as it was to watch these two veterans in the ring, mostly because of slow work, it was still a pretty good match from a pure storyline standpoint. Definitely an entertaining bout. But I’ll be honest and say it’s not a match I would suggest watching again over other classics. Oh my god, did I really just pick that as the best match? Damn, I did. Worst Match: HHH/HBK vs. The McMahons – As much as I was enjoying watching the McMahons get what they deserve as I did since the attitude era, this match was a stinker. It was supposed to be the gratifying match that you get on a PPV card every once in a while. Like the times when Stone Cold got a PPV match against Vince. Like St. Valentines Day Massacre. Which also say Big Show debut. Back on topic, as I was saying, this match not being a classic in ring match should have been expected. Purely a storyline driven match. Which I’d like to say is okay, and it is, but compared to the rest of the card this was the worst match. Highlight: Edge vs. Cena – Easily Cena’s best feud before Punk. Well, to be fair his feud with Nexus was pretty awesome, too. But the feud that was behind this match was definitely the highlight of this SummerSlam. It was the hottest feud at the time. Well, to me at least. As much as I remember. Of course, it wasn’t really until October that I got to catch up from the beginning of July. But I do remember how good the exchanges between the two were compared to the rest of everything at the time. Hidden Highlight: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton – I don’t know why but this match had a lot more behind it than I think most people saw. If memory serves me correctly, this was the first time that Orton had lost to a legend on his legend killer “tour”. It was nice seeing the arrogant Orton put in his place by the legend of legends. It was a sweet kind of thing to see and it was one of those things that if you were able to be emotionally invested in the match, you were left happy with the results. MVP: Big Show – You know, this was a tough one and I decided to give this to someone who had it the roughest but still did the best he could. He was the champion of a dieing brand and he had to defend that championship against Sabu of all people. He did it without killing himself or Sabu in a fit or rage over bullshit. Kudos to him. I know there are one or two other people deserving of this, but this is my opinion. Overall Rating:5.5 – The show sucked. That’s about all I can say. Plain and simple. It had it’s matches that were able to suck someone in to the show, but at the same time these matches weren’t anything to really be impressed with. Maybe I’m underrating it a bit, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the show.
SCOTT RUTHERFORDsize=+2>
Best Match: There is a couple of choices here but I would settle for Flair and Foley. They have so much back story to this and heapings of genuine dislike that even if the match was sucky, they still would pull out something special. However, these two know how to work a match and work with within their limitations and managed to put on a sick bloodbath, old school-style. Worst Match: Booker T and Batista. Forgettable, wrong type of finish and pretty fucking boring. These guys should have had a passable match but for whatever reason they didn’t gel even though they had a legit rivalry happening behind the scenes as well. Highlight: Like I said in the Best Match pick, the violence in the I Quit match is off the chart but the big highlight of that was Flair’s intensity. I mean, he just beats the piss out of Foley and the spot here he’s trying to rack out Foley’s eyes with barbed wire is just insane. You could have easily slipped in the “the match is a work but this spot is a shoot” train of thought. Bonus points also go to Flair for taking the thumbtack bump. Hidden Highlight: During the Hogan/Orton match, when Hulk’s making a comeback, Randy ducks the big boot and hits a swank dropkick. Not sure why, but that little spot just sticks in my mind. MVP: Edge. Has a fantastic main event with John Cena and worked super hard to get the DQ and you lose the title stip over. The booking helped him out tremendously, but if the worker can’t make us believe the stip will actually pay off, then there ain’t no use actually doing it. This was worth it. Plus the match ending shot to the back of the head is just plain awesome. Overall Rating: 7.5 – Extremely shitty first half but from the Foley/Flair match onwards it’s either great violence, great entertainment or a great match. I could understand those that don’t like it because the first half is just that shitty, but I think the back half saved it in spades.
