Review: WWF/WWE Summerslam 1994 DVD

Brett Mix’s- WWF Summerslam 1994 Review:

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“I will beat you again Bret…then the WHOLE FAMILY WILL JUMP ON MY BANDWAGON!” – Owen Hart During a Dark In Ring promo inside a cage with Vince and The Anvil

-Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler do the commentary.

-This is the last Summerslam for Randy MACHO MAN Savage as he served as master of ceremonies.

–WWF Summerslam 1994 took place on Sunday, August 29th, 1994 at the at the newly-opened United Center in Chicago, Illinois, which had opened just eleven days earlier.

-This was the 7th Annual Summerslam PPV event.

–The tagline for the event was “So HOT….It’s SCARY.”

-Now onto the PPV……………

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1) Opening Contest- The Head Shrinkers (Fatu and Samu-W/Afa) (W/Captain Lou Albano and Afa) vs Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS (W/”The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase)

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This is the third time Ted Dibiase’s music hit at the beginning of Summerslam’s opening….(If you ignore Randy Savage welcoming everyone to the show)
Bam Bam and IRS made for a unique heel combination here because Rotunda’s technical skill was a good mix for Bam Bam’s high risk big man, agile offense.
On the other end The Headshrinkers were now a babyface team and they had just lost the tag team straps the night before on a House Show to Diesel and Michaels.
They began the match aggressively as McMahon and Lawler predicted and took it to

Bam Bam and IRS in the early going.

Both teams had there share of time in control and Samu’s kicks to the head of IRS followed by that devistating power slam looked real convincing.
Fatu known as Rikishi looked in the camera and simply said “From the Island of SAMOA”! And Vince asked for a translation.

Bam Bam didn’t look on his A Game here, he kind of looked distracted in all honesty but his offense is nothing short of amazing no matter if he brings his B or C game to the dance. Fatu and Samu controlled the action for a great deal of time before Dibiase’s clan took over in mid-match.

The pace went back and forth and while we saw some good wrestling moves in the match, a good wrestling story wasn’t told unfortunately.

This was your standard basic tag team opener and given who was in the ring you didn’t expect a great deal but it was actually below my expectations strictly from memory alone.

The ending was kind of a clusterfuck. Dibiase got involved as did both of the Shrinkers managers and at 6:45 of the match Dibiase’s Million Dollar team were declared the winners by DQ and the fans weren’t happy as they headed towards the exits. (The

Million Dollar team not the fans, they wouldn’t head towards the exits till the main event.) 😉

Pretty standard as said, but underwhelming overall….

* 1/2

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2) Alundra Blayze (c) vs Bull Nakano (with Luna Vachon) for the WWF Women’s Championship

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These girls had a good Monday night match around this time. (Can be seen on “Greatest of the 90’s” DVD)

Alundra Blayze, before she was throwing Vince’s ladies title into the trash in World Championship Wrestling was Vince’s golden jewel of the ladies division. She was Vince’s knew Wendi Richter or better yet Trish Stratus even if before her time and with lesser, natural looks. King making fun of Alundra Blayze’s face never got old though, this of course before he would constantly obsess over divas bodies.
This was kind of a slower ladies match but it was a pretty decent one for sure.

Bull Nakano had her size and power and she loved throwing Alundra Blayze around the ring by the hair, a spot repeated quite often during the match up.
Alundra Blayze did the same to her when in control but this match was booked so Blayze would look vulnerable to the power and size and the intimidating presence of the challenger Nakano.
Simple story telling here and both ladies did a fine job. It’s pretty funny how you seem to notice the Women in the audience cheering louder and more noticably when it’s for another Woman.
Nakano’s hair stood like Marge Simpson’s up high and when Alundra Blayze went for a piledriver, The King yelled out hillariously “You’ll wreck her hair!” which was good comedy.
Alundra Blayze came back for the win and in what some would even call an upset even though she retained the title in a solid ladies match at 8:10 with a nice suplex-bridge pinning combination.

**

3) “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon (with Walter Payton) vs “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel (c) (with “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Diesel after his impressive 1994 Royal Rumble performance was as cocky as ever. To make matters worse he had Shawn Michaels by his wide feeding each other’s ego’s and the two had just won the tag team titles the night before over The Headshrinkers at A House Show.

In addition to the tag team titles, Diesel was the IC Champion here a belt that was usually carried before and after this by Michaels and acted as a transitional champion of sorts to get the belt to and from Razor in his two year off and on feud with Michaels for the title.

Diesel and Razor battle here before they were Hall and Nash the Outsiders, the soon to be nWo and the reigning Clique which is kind of neat to see.
Razor got the better of Diesel at the beginning which Shawn then put an end to as he encouraged Diesel to go to the outside for some pointers. Diesel got them and they payed off.

Whatever Shawn said to Diesel must have worked as Big Daddy Cool came back in the ring and put the pounding on Razor with an elbow drop, and blows to the back. As Razor bounced off the side ropes he came with an uppercut but it didn’t phase Diesel as he levelled him down again. Razor then hit a clothesline out of no where on Diesel but he got right back up and drilled an elbow in Hall’s head. This was already better then there matches in WCW.

Diesel choking out Hall in the corner with his big boot as HBK pulled on Hall’s hair from the outside. Talk about double teaming, and Walter Payton doesen’t look impressed.

Diesel then wore down The Bad Guy with a sleeper hold. Hall battled out of that predicament and hit a back body suplex to Nash.
Diesel not selling anything because he’s obvioussly a MONSTER then clotheslined Hall to the outside mat over the top ropes.

On the outsie Shawn got in Razor’s face but then Payton got in his until referee Earl

Hebner slid outside the ring and made sure Walter backed off and then Shawn hit Razor with a cheap shot behind his back.

Shawn and Diesel then celebrate in the corner as they feel Hall is going to be counted out. He isn’t so Diesel then is pissed and drives some elbows into Razor’s head in the corner with some knees to the guy to boot.

Diesel with a hard irish whip to the corner followed by a sidewalk slam. Razor kicked out. Diesel then picked up The Bad Guy over his shoulders and dropped his head on the top turnbuckle as he then fell to the mat looking dazed. Razor looking drunk? That’s new. Shawn then choked Razor on the side rope sbehind the officials back while Diesel ran and dropped the big leg on the high shoulders of Razor Ramon. Hall doesen’t look like he can sustain the pressure as Nash dropped the knee and boots and then a reverse chin lock.

Razor Ramon then battled out of the chin lock, ducked a clothesline but ran into the big boot by Diesel so he remained in control but only got a two.
Diesel then slapped on abdominal stretch to Razor Ramon who looks like a beaten challenger.

Diesel then sent Razor to the ropes after he battled out of that hold and what’s this? Razor slaps on one of his own until Diesel has none of that and just kind of irish whips Razor over and then scoops him up and as he attempts to ram Razor’s head off the top rope, Razor slides down and pushes Diesel into the corner and then rolls him up for a two. Razor then with a round house right to Big Daddy Cool a couple more times to gain some momentum after he looked pretty much beaten to shit.

Razor slid underneath the ring and grabbed Diesel’s big legs and pulled him against the post. Back in the ring a running bulldog off the top onto Diesel but only a two as Chicago is very much into the match.

Razor scoops up Nash and slams him down, as Shawn tries to interfere Razor knocks him off the apron. Despite that spot buying Diesel some time to get back in the match, Razor looked to be in control until Diesel whaled him with an elbow near the corner of the ring. Diesel signalled for the Jackknife Powerbomb but Razor countered it into a back body drop. Michaels again distracts Hall in the ring and Nash clotheslines him and both guys go down. Michaels goes for the IC title but Payton grabs onto it to make sure he can’t go in the ring with it. HBK does get in the ring and he goes to superkick Hall who Nash holds up but Razor ducks and he hits Nash. Always a cool spot in matches and it was seen a lot less back in these days so it was pretty memorable.

At 13:55 of the match, Razor Ramon pinned Diesel after that superkick by Shawn accidentally and as Shawn tried to sneak in the ring Payton pulled on his legs from the outside making sure Razor would get the three count.

Good IC title match here, nicely worked but Razor could have dominated more, I hate when the heel is in COMPLETE control and one little accident changes the outcome of the entire match. Makes the last 10-15 minutes seem pointless.

Still fun though.

** 1/2

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4) Tatanka vs Lex Luger

Ahhhhhhhh yes. A Re-Match of the 1993 “King of the Ring” Quarter Final Classic-Time limit draw. Who is REALLY better? Tatanka…or Lex Luger. A question THAT STILL keeps me up at night. No, it wasn’t REALLY about that though. It had more to do with the storyline of Tatanka claiming Lex Luger had sold out to Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Corporation team. Prepare for the swerve of a life time…..(sarcastic emotion/) Nah, it really was kind of shocking at the time despite it not mattering all that much, OR making any kind of sense at all…54% of people think Lex Luger sold out to Dibiase before the match. Lex and Tatanka finally go at it after two minutes of arguing face to face and by that time I hardly care anymore. For over five minutes Luger does a nice job with power moves while Tatanka hits some nice high risk offense and the pace goes back and forth nothing really top notch with near falls, but nothing slow or boring. Just a basic mid-card match here.

In the end at 6:00 on the dot, Tatanka defeated Lex Luger when Dibiase was in the corner of the ring distracting Luger and then Dibiase and Tatanka both PLAYED SHOCKED but it was there plan all along. Luger and Tatanka argue in the ring as Tatanka jumped Luger from behind when Luger hits the money out of Dibiase’s hands. Tatanka joins Team Dibiase; turns heel. I feel so betrayed. Tatanka hugs Dibiase as they kick the shit out of Luger and the fans boo and Vince screams “WHAAAAAT A SET UP!!!!!!”
Solid match, nothing more. Well I’ll add 1/4* for the swerve I guess to make it a solid two stars.

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**

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5) “Double J” Jeff Jarrett vs Mabel (with Oscar)

Ugh this is pretty terrible but good thing it was kept short. Double J got dominated by Mable despite throwing in offense the odd time which would look kind of out place considering where the match was headed. I’m definately not going to go in depth here as I’m going to be honest, Nobody wants to read about Double J and fucking Mabel.

Hell, I don’t know if anyone is reading what I’m saying right now considering who is in the match. Double J won the match in the end at 5:45 when he jumped on top of a distracted Mable and landed on the upperhalf getting the three.

The King was funny throughout, “COME ON DOUBLE J!!!” I’d love it when he’d say that all the time as if Jarrett should be doing better. The Soon to be King Mable gets pinned here in nothing but a terrible filler match, if I can be quite honest.

1/2 *

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6) Bret “Hitman” Hart (c) vs “The King of Harts” Owen Hart in a Steel Cage Match for the World Wrestling Federation Championship
Here we go!

I think the safe consensus is that the Wrestlemania X match between these two is five stars, it is for me and it is the best match of all time from where I stand from a pure wrestling stand-point.
This Cage match was rated 5 stars by Dave Meltzer. This match was rated five stars by WF member McQueen and others have this fifteen foot high steel cage match for the WWF title at 5 stars.

The knock on this match is that it feels like two brothers playing jungle gym for a half an hour and it is boring.

Well The Fink says before the match that there are only two ways to win this bout and that is to climb over the cage door or through the door.
So the two brothers rather then tried to kill each other simply obeyed that strategy and tried to one up the other by using that formula trying to ground the other man making sure they were beaten inside the ring to make sure one man could exit the cage safe and sound with the title.

You might seriously believe Owen Hart had a legit chance at the WWF title here, I did, after all this was his chance.
Bret got a great ovation as Champion and then got in the ring with Owen in the cage and the stage was set.

Owen hopped on The Hitman with the lights out after he gave his shades to a youngster outside the ring and The King of Harts wasted no time attacking Bret Hart and the bell rang.
Owen had just won the King of the Ring and was at his peak as a professional defeating Bret in the five star attraction at Mania.
Owen hit him with a number of blows then drove Bret’s face into the canvas, then the turnbuckle. Bret got hit with rights and lefts as Owen screams in his ears on the top of the turnbuckle.

Owen with a slap to Bret then he relentlessly kicked on him inside the squared circle wrapped with blue caging on the four sides. The Hitman turned the tide with an atomic drop and a clothesline as the fans cheer.

King points out he’d love to see the reactions of Stu and Helen after each move which is obvioussly typical hillarious Lawler when discussing the Harts.

Owen remained in control despite sustaining that clothesline and attempted to smash Bret’s head into the cage but Bret levelled him with a blow and then a DDT. She clapped when Bret hit a leg drop on Owen. Which was a good spot as the camera caught Helen Hart clapping on Bret. Bret tried to climb the cage but Owen caught him in the first attempt at escaping of the match, he then hit Bret with a spinning heel kick. Owen then climbed up the cage some more and Bret grabbed his leg just in time.
Bret Hart then picked up Owen who was on the top ropes and came off with a suplex back to the mat! Awesome suplex by the Hitman says McMahon! It was.
Great stuff thus far, setting the pace of the match, a little back and forth action and both men trying to escape.

Bret goes for the door but Owen Kicks at him and then irish whips him hard into the buckle. Bret kicks Owen in the mid-section as he comes near by then a running Bulldog. Bret then continued to crawl towards the cage door and then owen, smartly hopped overtop of him outside the cage door but both Brothers kept dragging the other as it looked pretty suspensful at times.

Both men to there feet again and and this time Bret goes to escape the cage on the side and he gets half way up when Owen grabs onto his ankle and then his pink tights and then flips Bret over by the hair and gets him down. Owen Hart the only guy up then climbs the turnbuckle and what made this Cage match great is the emotion of the crowd whenever one guy would climb the cage as they legitimately thought the match could end each time. Owen made it over the first side of the cage but Bret caught him by the head and dragged him over one side as the two exchanged blows. Owen then hit a drop kick to Bret Hart from the top turnbuckle, Owen flipped up and proceeded to climb the other side of the cage amazingly quick but Bret got up and pulled him over once more. Bret then from the top of the cage caught a series of right hands from Owen Hart. Owen had Bret at the top of the Cage and while Bret tried to hang on he kept recieving shots from his little brother Owen. The King pointed how it wasn’t fair because everyone was against Owen. Owen Hart then back on the canvas with Bret tried to perform a pile driver but got a back body drop from The Hitman. The two ducked each others clothesline off the ropes then knocked into each other as both men went down as they cut to a shot of a worried Stu and Helen Hart. They they showed the Anvil stroaking his beard extremely curious and while Owen went to escape the cage door Bret grabbed him by the hair and dragged him to the middle where he gave him a big forearm shot. Then drove the elbow into the head of The Rocket, or the King of Harts. Bret climbed the top turnbuckle and put one leg over the side of the cage but Owen grabbed onto the remaining leg on the INSIDE of the cage and dragged him back in. Owen Hart with one leg pulled Bret in and he landed crotch first on the top rope and this looks to be a huge break for Owen. Hart as in Owen however, took his time sliding to the door and Bret caught him, dragged him back in and nailed him head first in the groin. Owen caught Bret once up to there feet with a headbutt and while Owen attempted escaping the cage over the top, Bret once again caught him by the hair and dragged him over one side, to the other where he landed on the top of the ropes and was flipped over head first onto the canvas. Owen then caught Bret with one leg and flipped him over upside down and into a Samoan Drop onto the canvas!

Great wrestling each time one brother tried to escape a side.

Bret rammed Owen head first into the side of the cage while they caught a glimpse of Bruce Hart on the outside cheering it on. Bret was looking to escape yet again as all the kids screamed in excitement but Owen caught him at the last moment in dramatic fashion from the outside and slammed him in the ring once more. Back in the ring Owen Hart hit Bret with a terrific looking Pile Driver!

Bret looked to be out after that out but Owen for some reason took his time getting to his feet, he was selling previous blows surely and Bret just caught up to him in time yet again. Owen and Bret battled it out at the top of the cage till The Hitman fell to the canvas but as falling he dragged Owen with him so he fell after. Both men exhausted on the canvas floor as Bret crawled towards the exit door and Owen just grabbed onto The Hitman`s pink tights in time. Bret then desperately tried to escape in excting spot but Owen wouldn`t let him. Therefore Bret went with the flow and back in the ring and hammered away on Owen`s head then tried to get out again but then Owen and Bret rolled on top of the other with right and left hands.

They turned over and over and over with each Hart brother on top for a different part of the match and they both went for the cage door about 6 or 7 times without being successful of course. King yells `WHAT A WAR`! Bret then sling shotted Owen into the side of the cage and Bret just catching his breath went for the door again but Owen pounced hard on the Hitman making sure he stayed in the ring. Owen then irish whipped The Hitman into the buckle hard. This is a very good war and by this time in the match both brothers Felt the effects of the Steel Cage match for sure. Bret back to his feet went for a scoop slam but Owen reversed it and sent Bret right into the cage and his knee struck the cage.

That same bad knee Bret sold earlier in the year came back into play in this match and Bret sold like a pro limping, and despite Owen down fro fatigue Bret slowly climbed the cage but Owen Hart JUUUUST made it to the top to make sure he couldn`t escape yet again! Amazing. Owen grabbed Bret by the hair and the back of his tights pulled him hard into the ring and then sent him for the ride and came off with a hard clothesline. Both men down as the crowd cheered on Bret but Owen got to his feet first this time. The King of Harts slowly started to climb the side of the cage as Owen when doing this seemed a lot more cautious then Bret however Owen when trying to escape the side door was a lot quicker. Bret of course caught up to his little brother and once again dragged him over by the Hair and the two standing on the ropes elbowed each other as well as exchanged blows with one another. Bret was starting to fall down but he made sure Owen caught a high knee to the face. Owen fell to the canvas but even still when Bret began to climb the cage with one leg over Owen got to his feet in time to drag the Hitman back inside the ring. Owen hit a forearm to Bret. Owen then sent Bret for the ride and came off with a clothesline as both men fell to the canvas. King was sure at this point Owen would become the new WWF Champion.
Chicago chanted `Lets Go Bret` as Owen climbed over to the top turnbuckle and Davey Boy Smith was yelling from the outside.

This is a memorable spot.

Owen in the corner up high but Bret came off with an unbelievable vertical suplex from the top of the cage and Vince yells “UNBEEEELIEVABLE!“ as it most certainly was.

The Harts look on in disbelief and no move on this entire event got as much of a reaction as that one just did. Owen being afraid of heights decided to take that fall and Bret protected him well as that was his main concern obvioussly and The Hitman was a master at protecting his opponents and at the same time making it look real.

While Bret Hart took his time escaping the cage Owen grabbed onto the legs and locked on a sharpshooter! The King screamed as Bret reversed Owen`s Sharpshooter into a Sharpshooter of his own! Bret climbed one side of the cage and got both legs over this time but in the kick of time Owen leaped over and caught The Hitman by the hair. Owen and Bret once again both on the top rope and they both fell back to the canvas back first together as both men are down.
What a WAR!

Owen Hart then tried to make his way out on the side of the cage facing the family but Bret caught up to him on the top of the cage and Bret went out with him.

Good looking shot here as Bret and Owen were both on the outside and it was a matter of who was going to make it out first!

With Owen`s legs caught in the middle of the cage, Bret made it to the outside first.
Bret finally escaped the Cage and defeated his brother at 32:17 to retain the WWF Championship and Chicago went wild. Bret would put on an even better match at Wrestlemania 13 from this very city less then three years later.

The Anvil then jumped from the outside and attacked Bret after the match.

Owen and The Anvil went to work on Bret Hart as The Anvil locked the cage door. Owen took off one of his boots and hillariously hit Bret with it repeatedly. Davey Boy Smith then started to climb the cage but Owen hit him with that same boot! Hillarious. The King says the whole family is trying to climb in but the Anvil and Owen kept fighting them off! Awesome.

This kind of thing kept up for awhile and Jerry Lawler said this is the greatest thing he has ever seen.

The Bulldog and Owen then battled at the top of the cage and owen fell down and The Bulldog came in as Owen and The Anvil escaped the Cage area and Bret was beaten down but still the WWF Champion.

Well after that marathon of a match I am now convinced these guys did a much better job at making a CAGE match more believable given the object of the match.

This was story telling at its finest and the two did an absolute superb job. I don`t think there`s much wrong with the match and I am going to boost it up at least a half a star from my original rating of *** 3-4 as of right now.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of this match is how NATURAL The Hitman and The King of Harts made everything look inside that cage. It was like they had practiced a million times with how crisp that action was inside there and it was extremely compelling!

Amazing endurance and a Classic for sure.

**** 1/4

7) Main Event: (Unfortunately) The Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer) vs The Fake Undertaker (W/Ted Dibiase)

Yeah, UNFORTUNATELY this is the Main Event.

With pretty good build up going back to the dissapearance of The Undertaker at RR 1994 many couldn`t really expect an amazing match here though, the payoff wasn`t going to be amazing, rather just unique.
If you go into this match with those expectations you can STILL be dissapointed.

I went into this one NOT expecting a five star classic and I was just expecting something DECENT but what I got was about a million times worse.

I can`t believe they decided to show this embrassment again on WWE Confidential in the year 2002 in a FROM THE VAULT Classic on a Saturday Night. Yawn. I do need to give credit to the build up though as there was nothing really like it at the time.

The match doesen`t deserve credit though.

I understand why it was slow…I get all that. It just wasn`t a good match to show after a half an hour of excitement.

I believe this is when The Undertaker debut`d his purple gloves but don`t hold me to that as I could be wrong, if it wasn`t here it wasn`t long before.

Taker sent fake Taker to the ride as he ducked a clothesline and the two matched up. Brian Lee who was known as Nailz in the DOA was Dibiase`s fake Taker did an okay job acting like the REAL Undertaker but it still looked goofy and phony.

The action was slow, dull and boring.

The crowd was more dead for this match then either of the gimmicks were supposed to be combined!

I`m not pointing out any SPECIFIC moves in this shit fest. Signature blows, clotheslines, old school moves, all of which are boring and McMahon simply calls it… STRANGE.

At 8:57 the madness ends at The REAL Undertaker hits the tombstone on the Imposter and gets the victory and not surprisingly we never see the fake version again.

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Yet the WWE 12 years later does the same thing with Kane and it bombs even worse proving they never learn.

Should have ended the show with the Cage match.

The spot I love in this match is Vince`s quote half way through after a boring chant.

Vince: `This capacity crowd in AWE…they don`t quite know what to expect…there`s 2 Undertaker`s. Your can hear the silence. THERE STUNNED.`

Vince then sends the camera to Randy Savage.

Randy Savage says that the show is going to end with Leslie Nielson looking for The Undertaker. It ends like that with an empty casket…..?and a briefcase. It is closed and Leslie Nielson ends the show with a line…. `The case is closed.“ Corny but suitable.

DUD

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Fnal Rating for WWF Summerslam 1994 = 6/10

This show ended on a good note in the fact where The Undertaker was back and had eliminated the Fake one. But the match was horrid. Not just that some other matches on this card were bad or underwhelming, but this PPV also had some good matches and The awesome Cage match which is difficult to ignore when rating this PPV as a whole.

When anyone talks about the 1994 Summerslam, I always think of the Cage match and get happy so on that note with a solid Woman`s match, Tatankta vs Luger and especially a SOLID IC title match I have to give this PPV a 6 if not more. A one match card when it comes down to it though. One match is worth remembering, this isn`t a Summerslam I`d reccomend but it`s special for that reason if only that reason.