The Best Of The Rest 8.12.08: Volume 54 – SummerSlam

Hello all and welcome back. Coming this Sunday is SummerSlam. The E’s 2nd biggest event of the year. It’s the event that have given us such memorable moments as Shane O’ Mac falling 50+ feet, the Ultimate Warrior dethroning the great Intercontinental champion of all time, Steve Austin breaking his neck, Chris Benoit passing the torch to Randy Orton, and of course the original mega tag match between Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage and Andre & Ted DiBiase. It’s a big night for the E and their coming in with a big card this year. For this weeks “Best Of The Rest” I’ll take a look at this year’s card as well as my favorite matches from the past years. Let’s get down to it!

WWE SummerSlam 2008 Preview
The Undertaker Vs. Edge – Hell In A Cell
As much as I absolutely despise Edge, he and the Taker have a history of putting on great matches. These two have had a great angle that has last quite a while and has yet to grow stale. The feud is cashing in at its height. And not only that but if we take a trip down memory lane we remember that Edge screwed Taker out of his title dreams in a HIAC match last November. This has always been Taker’s way of getting revenge and punishing his opponent and this one should be no exception. I expect this one to headline and for Taker to go over in a dominant fashion. And so we begin the road to the Trips-Taker showdown.

Triple H Vs. The Great Khali
This should be painful to watch at best. Expect this one to be short and semi-sweet. This match is just a pass-the-time affair to keep the strap on Trips while still making it seem like he is taking on big threats to his title. Look for Trips to retain, somewhere under the 15 minute mark.

CM Punk Vs. JBL
An odd pairing for one of the main events of the 2nd biggest show of the year, but I think it can deliver. JBL can always deliver when he wants to, and Punk can usually have a good match with damn near anyone. What this match will determine is how serious the E takes Punk and his title run. Up ’til now most have assumed that the E just gave Punk the title to pass the time and haven’t taken his run seriously, but a clean win over JBL at a big show like SummerSlam could erase all that. I think that that will be the case and Punk will pick up a clean win and truly begin his title run.

John Cena Vs. Batista
I still can’t believe that this is a “first time ever” affair. With that being the case, the E should have really made more of this. While this will not be an Angle-Michaels classic, the E could have made bank on this is marketed right and drawn out over a period of time. Plus the whole element of putting the tag belts on the two has just cheapened the angle. At this point I don’t expect much from this one and I expect Cena to pick up the win here.

Mark Henry Vs. Matt Hardy
I’m actually expecting to see a new champion here. I think the since the E brought Matt back into the fold they wanted to make him a main player somewhere, they just didn’t have any room. Well now since they have moved him to “ECW,” they may have a brand where they can make him a main attraction. I think Henry just got the title off a technicality and now they have found someone that could truly be the champion of a brand. Because of this I think that Matt will take the title at SummerSlam and start a lead role on “ECW.”

MVP Vs. Jeff Hardy
Another “let’s put Jeff Hardy over someone on a PPV but it won’t really mean anything” match. Much like I said with the Trips-Khali match, expect this one to not go on too long and expect the big babyface to pick up a rather pointless win on the road to something bigger.

Beth Phoenix & Santino Vs. Mickie James & Kofi Kingston
Should be a fun little mixed tag match with some solid action. Mickie and Beth are the two best womens wrestlers that the E has and Kofi and Santino are very entertaining in their own right. I don’t expect anything amazing from this one, but it should be entertaining to say the least. I expect the winner to take all and a title change here with Beth & Santino becoming the power couple on Raw.

From looking at the present to looking at the past, in light of the mega event that is SummerSlam I’d like to countdown my favorite SummerSlam matches. Let’s get down to it!

Honorable Mention:
Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. Kurt Angle – 2001
It was rare that these two would get in the ring together and no produce greatness and this one was no exception. This was just wonderful story telling by both men, and the intensity Kurt showed in this one truly made it memorable. It was a great pro wrestling match with a not so great ending but is still one of the best matches in SummerSlam history.

Bret Hart Vs. Owen Hart – 1994
Some hold this match in high regard, like myself, and others say it was a lame cage match that was a let down. I think if you understand what the wrestlers were trying to do you’d appreciate the match a lot more. The whole point of this match was to have “no place to go” for either man, to wrestle in the confines of the caged ring. Like Bret said on his DVD, they wanted to show people that a great cage match didn’t have to be a blood bath and I think they effectively got their point across.

Chris Jericho Vs. Chris Benoit – 2000
Much like Austin-Angle it was damn near impossible for these two to have a bad match. In fact one of my top three all time favorites was their bout from Fall Brawl 1996. Anyway. This two out of three falls match was what you would have expected from these two, non-stop great wrestling. This match is often overlooked because of the other great matches that happened on the card, but this one was truly a SummerSlam great.

Shawn Michaels Vs. Razor Ramon – 1995
The only reason I didn’t include this in my top ten is because I always tend to favor their WrestleMania X bout as being the superior one worthy of more recognition, but that’s not to say that this one isn’t a classic. I remember jumping around the room this entire match hoping that my then hero Shawn would win the match, it was just that exciting. By today’s standards this would be a rather tame ladder match but for the time was shocking and brutal and definitely one of the defining matches in SummerSlam’s history.

Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. The Undertaker – 1998
This was truly a mega-match in ’98. This was the two biggest stars in the E clashing at one of the biggest shows of the year after nearly a half year of build at the world’s most famous arena. This was when the E was at their highest and they capitalized on that swelled audience with this match. Many tuned in to see what would happen. The match wasn’t as good as it could have been, due to Austin getting knocked silly in the early going, but was still a very solid main event.

Alex Mattis’ Top Ten SummerSlam Matches
10. Kerry Von Erich Vs. Mr. Perfect – 1990
The more time that goes by, the more I appreciate this match. Being a native Texan and a student WCCW and its history I have come to hold the Von Erich’s up as icons. This match was the culmination of all of the Von Erich’s hard work and tragedy. One of their boys won one of the biggest titles in the biz on one of the biggest stages around and he did it over one of the best of all time. While this match wasn’t as good as it could have been before Kerry’s accident, it was still a solid encounter and one that, if you know the history, was very emotion and meant a great deal.

9. John Cena Vs. Randy Orton – 2007
Granted this took place only a year ago, but this one earned a place in my top ten list. While I may debate Cena’s wrestling ability until the end of time I can’t deny his ability to put on an exciting, memorable match and this was one of his best. The live crowd was absolutely electric for this match, as where my friends and I. The crowd anti-Cena crowd was into every little move that Orton made and prayed that Cena would lose. Well each man gave the other everything they had, but in the end Cena held onto the gold. Like I said, I will debate Cena’s wrestling ability to the end of time but he has the ability to create the big match feel and he did just that with this one. The excitement, crowd, everything was there in this one and it just worked.

8. Shawn Michaels Vs. Vader – 1996
This one holds a special place into my heart as it was the first wrestling PPV I ever attended live, but looking back this really was a classic encounter. I’ve heard that the original plan was for Vader to go over, and in a sense he did but this was during the peak of HBK’s run as well as his asshole-ness so that wasn’t what happened. Vader is possible the best big man that has ever step into the ring and Shawn… well we all know how great HBK can be in the ring, these two meshed great and told a great big man-little man story.

7. Shawn Michaels Vs. Mr. Perfect – 1993
Actually wrestling was on a decline in the E at this point. It was all Lex and Yoko and new guys like Ludwig Vorga threaten to dismiss actually wrestling, then guys like Shawn and Curt came along and stole the show and reminded people why they were there in the first place. The ’93 SummerSlam card was nothing to write home about, these two went out and put on quite the memorable encounter. In an all time amazing Bobby Hennan quote to sum up this match “these two are showing you more moves than a go-go dancer!”

6. Bret Hart Vs. The Undertaker – 1997
While this was a fantastic one, this match could also be regarded as a curse because it set in to motion what would become the “Montreal Screw Job” but at the time this was a hell of a battle. This was arguably at the peak of Taker’s career in terms of his physical ability, and Bret was on still on fire here. The two mixed for a memorable encounter. The build to the match was great, the addition of HBK as the special ref added to it. When this match arrived every American and Canadian wrestling fan was jakked as could be and the match didn’t disappoint. The ending of the match was one that incited the crowd and American fans alike. Up until that point in my young life, this was the most memorable ending to any SummerSlam.

5. Bret Hart Vs. Davey Boy Smith – 1992
Face Vs. Face encounters don’t get much better than this one. The company’s top face taking on a home-town country’s top face. It’s rare that emotion runs this high in a pro wrestling bout, but this one was something special. Two of the best of their time gave us everything that had and produced one of the best matches of the ’90’s. The record setting crowd in Wembley Stadium watched as Bret did the job and gave Davey Boy the crowning moment of his entire career.

4. Shawn Michaels Vs. Triple H – 2002
As much dislike as I hold for these two today, I can’t deny that my excitement and enjoyment was about as high as it has ever gotten for a wrestling match. The build was there and the match more than delivered. This, of course, was during Trips’ reign of terror and I didn’t think there was a chance that HBK was going to go over him. So imagine my delight when HBK pinned HHH’s shoulders to the match. Given how great the build, entrances, match, and the post match drama was I think we could label this more as a memorable SummerSlam “spectacle” more than a match.

3. Bret Hart Vs. Mr. Perfect – 1991
What can you say about this match that hasn’t already been said? These were two of the best that have ever laced up boots and they had one of their best outings ever here. I’ve heard that Curt was very hurt going into this match but wanted to put on a great match for Bret and wanted to hand the IC title over to him. If that’s the case then I’m truly glad he did because these two produced one of the greatest matches in SummerSlam history.

2. The Hardy Boyz Vs. Edge & Christian Vs. The Dudley Boyz – 2000
This stole the show at what was an amazing SummerSlam in 2000. I sat in awe at these 6 men that put their lives on line in the first ever TLC match. I think at the time I wanted the Hardy’s to win, but after about 7 minutes I didn’t care because I just kept thinking “this is so awesome!” This match really raised the bar, and still holds a high precedent in the E. The feud between these three teams made 6 stars, and while their later outing may have topped SummeSlam ’00 no one can deny the amazing performance they gave on 8-27-2000.

1. Triple H Vs. The Rock – 1998
I know this may be an odd one to some as the list topper, but this has to be my all time favorite. Two of the best ever in their early days putting everything they had on the line to make a statement. This was the perfect ladder match. There wasn’t any unneeded spots, they used the ladder for what it was there for. It was an amazing match at the time, and still stands the test of time. Sometimes you can just know that something is special, and this match truly was.

Well, that’s all for me this week. I’ll see you back here next time with my thoughts on the event.

Until then, take care.

Remember feedback, as always, is welcome at [email protected]

*This Week’s YouTube Sendoff*

-Alex