wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: The Summerslam Anthology — Summerslam ’94
August 19, 2009 | Posted by
7.5
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| Summerslam ’94 by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 The Headshrinkers are actually babyfaces here. You can guess how well that dynamic worked. The crowd is all over IRS with the “Irwin” chant. He misses a dive and goes over the top. Bigelow slams Fatu’s head into the briefcase to give the heels the advantage. Samu is able to get the hot tag after a Bigeow/Fatu collision. The Shrinkers get the double Stroke, and Fatu seems poised to get the win off a splash, but the ref is busy with Dibiase. Bigelow goes after Lou, and that brings in Afa for the DQ at 7:19. Not sure what the point of the finish was. It’s not like they needed to protect either team. The match actually isn’t that bad. **1/4 The WWF women’s division in 1995 rivals (and probably surpasses) the quality of the Knockout’s Division today. Of course, back then, there were only two or three women in the division at a time, but we’re talking per capita here. Blayze was at her peak here, and Nakano is one of the best women’s wrestlers ever, so this turned out to be pretty good. It’s highlighted by Nakano’s sickening one-handed Boston Crab and the Scorpion Crossface (only she uses the hair and has to break it or be disqualified. This is kind of like a distaff version of Flair vs. Vader. Nakano misses the guillotine legdrop allowing Blayze to make the big comeback. The Bridging German Suplex (whoa!) gets the win at 8:18. Not quite AJW, but then we’re not picky about our women’s wrestling on this side of the Pacific. It’s still miles ahead of what would happen with the title’s resurrection a few years after this. *** This is an offshoot from the ladder match feud as the Dies was rapidly growing in popularity, and since he was big, he got bumped up over Shawn Michaels for a world title run. This being a clique match, they work pretty hard to get each other over. Diesel was probably at his peak as a performer here too. Shawn steals the show, though, interfering with glee whenever possible and taking the biggest bump of the match off the apron and into the ringside barrier. Diesel sets up for the Jackknife, but Ramon backdrops out of it and signals for the Razor’s Edge. Shawn distracts him long enough for Diesel to recover and hit a shoulderblock. The ref gets tied up in an argument with Walter Payton, so the heels try a doubleteam, and wouldn’t you know it – Shawn accidentally superkicks Diesel. Payton pulls Shawn down as Razor crawls over and gets the pin and another IC Title reign at 15:02. This was really like a Rock ‘n’ Rolls vs. Midnights match with Razor playing the face-in-peril getting doubleteamed, only there was no one on the apron to tag! The crowd really got into Razor as a babyface too. *** No one in the crowd buys that Luger is the one who sold out, which makes slogging through this match for the ‘swerve’ even more tedious. If you’re recall, these two trudged through a 15-minute draw at The 1993 King of the Ring when Luger was a heel and Tatanka thought he might be somebody. By this time, it was clear Luger wasn’t going to be given the ball, and Tatanka… well, there’s only so far you can go as a “proud Native American.” This isn’t 1976. Thankfully, this is only six minutes, but it’s still pretty slow. Tatanka catches Lex with a powerslam and a series of chops. Ted Dibiase comes down to cackle, distracting Luger long enough for Tatanka to schoolboy him for the win at 6:03. Luger refuses Dibiase’s money after the match, so Tatanka attacks him from behind, revealing that Tatanka has actually sold out. Too bad Russo wasn’t writing for them at this point because this is one feud that could have used a character-motivation rewrite. Tatanka getting bought off by Dibiase only puts Dibiase (the manager) over. We never really got a reason for Tatanka selling out other than “him have much wampum.” How about this – Lex is the embodiment of America, and America destroyed Tatanka’s people and culture? That’s good motivation. And, if he could cut a promo, I’m sure he’d say, “What better way to get my revenge on Amerika than to destroy its greatest hero using its own filthy device – capitalism!” Anyway, that didn’t happen, and I can’t tell you a single significant thing Tatanka did after this. * Before there was “rap vs. country” in WCW, there was evil country singer Jeff Jarrett versus Big Daddy Grape. Jarrett tries really hard here, but this is just a bad mismatch of styles. We see Abe “Knuckleball” Schwarz (Steve Lombardi) on strike in the crowd. See, Major League Baseball was on strike, so Vince had the bright idea of capitalizing on it with a baseball gimmick… of a Jew in the 1930s. I guess, for Vince, baseball died when they dissolved the Negro Leagues. Jarrett can’t actually hurt Mabel due to Mabel’s considerable girth, so he actually has to wait for the big guy to miss a butt splash and gets the pin at 5:57. And out of these two, Mabel got a main-event push in 1995. * This is commonly referred to as the greatest escape rules cage match in history, and I can’t find any reason to argue. Sure, it’s the same crawl-to-the-door-get-yanked-back match that we always see. What separates it, though, is hard work and intensity. Everything is done at top speed – punches are stiffer, shots to the cage are harder, suplexes have more snap. The fans finally have something to get invested in after a half hour of crap, so they’re freaking out when Owen makes it over the top of the cage. Bret has to pull him back in by the hair. A Samoan Drop puts both guys down, and gives us time to catch up with Jim Neidhart and Bruce Hart arguing in the audience. Bret reaches the floor with his hands, but that doesn’t count, and Owen is able to drag him back in. Bret fights him off but crawls to the wrong corner. Bret messes up his knee, allowing Owen to slap on the Sharpshooter. Vince explains that Owen is trying to incapacitate Bret so he can get out of the ring without resistance. Works for me. Bret reverses the hold, though, putting the pressure on Owen. Oh, he’s been hoisted on his own Jean-Luc Petard. This time Owen pulls Bret in by the hair, but they both go over and fight on the wall of the cage! In the fracas, Owen’s foot gets caught in the cage, leaving him dangling, and Bret is able to drop down for the win at 32:17. One of the all-time great matches with fantastic storytelling, old-school hatred, and amazing execution. Pretty easily the best of its kind. ***** Dibiase’s Undertaker is Brian Lee, aka Chainz. Oddly enough, Lee would adopt a biker gimmick in 1997 and then the Undertaker would resurface in 2000 doing a biker gimmick. Turnabout is fair play, as Gorilla used to say. Bearer has to uncork the urn to unleash the spirit of the real Undertaker. Goofy but fun. The managers go about preparing their respective Undertaker’s in mirrorlike fashion. That’s pretty cool. The match itself is horrible, and many consider it to be one of the worst in Summerslam history. Lee gets the Tombstone, but the Undertaker sits up. Lee tries another, but the Undertaker reverses to his own. That’s not good enough, so Taker gives him two more to finish him off at 9:09. Wrestling purists may balk, but I get a kick out of weird stuff like this. It’s like when Jushin Lyger got his mask ripped off to reveal Muta paint or when Kevin Sullivan summoned the Purple Haze from the bottom of the ocean. After the match, it was dropped and barely mentioned, although Dibiase would spend the next few years trying to take down the Undertaker. ** |
The 411: The cage match is a must, and the Intercontinental Title match is pretty good. Even the women's match is worth a look. The main event is a guilty pleasure, although I have more pleasure than guilt when I watch it, so just relax and take it in the spirit in which it's intended. Everything else was inoffensive, so this gets a recommendation. Thumbs up. |
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| Final Score: 7.5 [ Good ] legend |
