Review: WWF/WWE Summerslam 1995 DVD

Brett Mix’s- WWF Summerslam 1995 Review:
 

 

“LOOONG LIVE THE KING…..HAHAHAHA………..” -King Mabel
 

 

 
1) Opening Contest- The 1-2-3 Kid vs Hakushi

Hakushi and The 1-2-3 Kid both have put on Great Matches with The Hitman and they have some natural chemistry with each other here as well. It starts with both guys feeling out each other, Hakushi dodged some kicks by The 1-2-3 Kid and he hit some drop kicks, arm drag take down’s after Hakushi hit a series of arm bars and wrist locks on The Kid. This was a quick match that was a good choice for the opening contest of the show, especially given the weaker card of this event. A lot of back and forth action in this match between these two unique competitors. Both guys got a share of offense in, in the first half. Then in the spot of the match Hakushi performed an UNBELIEVABLE (Which Vince was actually right for a change) back flip from inside the ring to outside the ring on Waltman. It didn’t take long for him to go up to the top rope again and hit the The 1-2-3 Kid with another shot from up in the air and it was a flying forerarm inside the ring after he threw him back in. The Japanese sensation Hakushi hitting his aerial offense. The 1-2-3 Kid battled back with a drop kick of his own and some high risk moves himself, all quick!

He flew over the top rope to the outside on top of Hakushi belly first then came back in with a leg drop, followed by a frog splash, three in a row but only got a two count. The 1-2-3 Kid lost to Hakushi at 9:27 when Hakushi hit The 1-2-3 Kid with a nice suplex for the three count right after some of The 1-2-3 Kid’s offense but it wasn’t enough. This was a good fast paced match here that the fans were into for sure.

Pretty nice opener here overall, especially for 1995.
 

** 1/2 

2) Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs “Spark Plug” Bob Holly

Start your engines, it’s Spark Plug Bob Fucking Holly! No wonder he gets pissed off with rookies who get a decent gimmick at the beginning of there careers. Helmsley on the other hand got a blue blood/rich snob gimmick at the start of his WWF career and despite his de-push after the MSG incident in 1996, I liked the gimmick. He played it well and I thought it generated a nice amount of heat from the crowd, even my brother back in these days was a HHH mark with this gimmick and I never minded him despite rooting on the faces he faced back then. Hunter and Bob Holly go one on one here at Summerslam 1995 in the 2nd match on the card. Helmsley at the beginning of the match made it seem as if he didn’t want to be in the same ring as The Spark Plug and relentlessly attacked him, with blows and offense where he threw him over his own shoulder. When the Spark Plug even tried to get offense in at the minute mark, Hunter returned the favor and reversed anything he’d throw at him. Hunter gave Bob Holly blows in the corner and kept choking him out after a series of punches then an AMAZINGLY hard irish whip to the other turnbuckle which hurts his back! Helmsley with a hard abdominal stretch and he held onto the ropes for leverage and McMahon asks for the ref to DQ him. Holly reverses it momentarily until Trips throws him over the top rope to the outside. Holly back in the ring gets irish whipped to the ropes but BOB actually comes off with an offensive move and hits a DDT to Hunter! Triple H somehow gets up first but even so recieves a dropkick. Hunter got an atomic drop from Holly and the fans are to there feet as the Spark Plug is dominating Helmsley for a change and he hit an irish whip to the buckle with a back body drop, then another whip to the buckle followed by a dropkick as Holly is building up more then momentum in this back and forth contest. Bob Holly went for a back drop but it didn’t work out so well….Helmsley put Holly away at 8:10 with a pedigree after he reversed a back drop. This actually was a pretty nice back and forth match for what it was even though there was no psychology, just a simple back and forth match that never really got boring but was never really GOOD in the true sense of the word.

 

* 3/4
 

 

3) The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart) vs The Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli) (W/Uncle Zebekiah)

Billy hit what would soon be his finisher as Mr. Ass, the “FameAsser” to either Jacob or Eli, I don’t really give a fuck which one is in the ring so I’m just going to clarify if Billy or Bart are in for one spot in paticular. Of course The Blu Brother kicks out. The Gunns in control as Bart gets tagged in and goes to work on The Blu Brothers quite a bit until Billy gets tagged in and hits a hard clothesline. Nice tag work by The Gunns. The Blu Brothers did get back in control when they hit a double team move on Billy Gunn behind the officials back when he was making sure Bart was outside on the ring apron. Jacob or Eli was then stomping on Billy in the corner who was hung upside down. Eli irish whipped Billy into the corner and came off hard. Eventually it wasn’t long before The Gunns turned the tide of the match back into there favor and they got back in control with some double team offense. The Finish came at 6:09 when Billy hit a leg drop from the rop rope to Jacob while Bart held his body up in the air with there finishing move.

Solid tag match, nothing special but at least it wasn’t overly long.
 

* 1/2
 
 

 

4) Barry Horowitz vs Skip (W/Sunny)
 
Yeah this match actually had build up….yeah….Barry Horrowitz defeated Skip after he was doing push-up’s on Skip, Barry had beaten Skip twice in a one month span and Sunny has never been so humiliated so they decided to go one on one with him at Summerslam. Sunny promises that third time’s a charm here tonight. Barry then hit Skip with a ton of offense in the early going as the fans cheered on and Vince sounded like he was actually marking out. Only lasted a little while till the offense went back and forth, Skip did get some shots in but Barry stayed in control and suplexed him from inside the ring to the outside Mat. Sunny came in after this good spot and argued with Earl Hebner and until he kickers out and the fans booed. Funny. Horowitz irish whipped Skip to the ropes but Skip came off with a blow before he choked him on the side ropes and Sunny came back not caring what the official said apparently and Vince points this out on commentary. Skip hits a nice suplex to Barry in the ring before going up to the top with a nice leg drop from up high.

Skip now wants to punish Horowitz to teach him a lesson, A hard arm drag take down, then suplex as the fans chanted “BARRY, BARRY, BARRY”, quite hillarious. Skip continued to choke him out on the side ropes on the middle rope. A gut wrench suplex followed by Skip going to the top and hitting a knee on the head of Barry as Skip started to get cocky and RAN around the squared circle. Barry came off the ropes with a shoulder block to Skip after he was showing off, Barry Horowitz hit a sunset flip and Sunny was going crazy because she couldn’t afford to have her man lose to Barry Horowitz again but he kicked out and went right back to work. Barry got an abdominal stretch by Skip on the side of the ring. Skip with a boot to Barry’s face and the fans chanted “BAARRRY, BARRRRRY, BARRRY” some more and he hit a drop kick to Skip, until Skip came back with a power slam then started to do jumping jacks. Skip got a two and King said it was a slow count. This has been a good mid-lower card match I guess you could say, so far the best one of the night besides the opener.

Skip with a headlock until Horowitz came out of it with right hands to Skip as Sunny screamed on the outside. Skip with a leap frog over Horowitz then came back with a drop kick and both men fell to there back as this match is getting quite a bit of time here. Skip went to the top rope and came off with a high knee. Skip gets a two count on Barry Horowitz. Skip gets a back body drop by Horowitz and then he hits him with a drop kick. Barry Horowitz hits a drop kick to Skip while Sunny continued to bang on the ring apron trying to encourage Skip. Barry went to the top ropes while Sunny shook them and Barry Horowitz landed crotch first and then Hakushi came to the ring and with Skip’s back turned Hakushi took off his hat and Barry Horowitz came from behind and jumped over both of them which distracted Skip.  Barry Horriblewitz then did the unthinkable at 11:21 when he defeated Skip at Summerslam with a roll-up! A victory on PPV for Barry Horowitz! And to think the WWF was going to start losing in the ratings war, I’m shocked! In reality this was a GOOD match though and Barry goes 3-0 in the month of August in 1995 against Skip.

Vince says “Anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation!”
 

**
 

5) Bertha Faye (W/Harvey Wippleman) vs Alundra Blayze (c) for the WWF women’s Championship
 
What do you need to know here?

Not much.

Blayze dominated for a bit.

Bertha Faye then got back in control for some reason.

At 4:37 INeedtogiveBertha Faye became the new Women’s champion when defeating Alundra Blayze after a powerbomb and the crowd was stunned silent.
The King calls it the best victory in the history of Summerslam.

She should have kept the title to save embarassment for Vince McMahon as ironic as that sounds.

1/2 *
 

 

6) The Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer) vs Kama (W/Ted DiBiase) In a CASKET MATCH
 

The 2nd straight Summerslam that The Undertaker went against an opponent managed by The Million Dollar man himself.
This time it wasn’t a clone, it was the man you all know as Papa Shango, or the Godfather, or the Goodfather, or simply Kama Moustafa, or just plain KAMA here in Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Corporation.

Dibiase had been taking down Taker all year with IRS, King Kong Bundy at the RR 95 and WM 11 PPV’s respectively so it only made sense to have Kama try and finish him off in a Casket match here in the Summer of 1995.

The Undertaker who is slow as hell at this point wasted no time attacking Kama though here!
The Undertaker went RIGHT for him with hard shots to the head of Kama and then an irish whip to the outside and Kama landed right on the top of the casket. Kama turned around and caught a hard right hand by The Undertaker. Kama though resilient and came back with some blows of his own, despite getting a reverse throw into the corner and Taker jumped on Kama.

Wow this might have been as quick as Taker ever was at this point. This is a lot slower then he`d be today but for back then he was amazingly faster in this match and he started to get fast on a regular basis in 1996 in his matches with Mankind after the Diesel feud.

Kama REALLY slowed the pace down here with this headlock. It`s unfortunate because had it not been for these slow spots this might have been a fine match but this was the type of matcht that didn`t need to be stretched out. If it was more quality over time it would of came off a lot better. Taker with a bear hug on Kama and he eventually drove Kama to the canvas after a very boring 2 minutes of a whole lot of nothing. Kama did come back and irish whipped Taker but The Deadman came right back and hit a boot to the mid-section of Kama until he got whipped to the ropes and came off with his signature flying clothesline. This really was a back and forth Casket match. A clothesline over the top and both men fall in the casket!

With both men inside the Casket the Coffin Cam was all black. Taker then pulled Kama into the coffin and gave him hard right hands. Kama came out of the casket again and Taker felt a reverse neck braker from Kama! Kama then dragged a beaten Dead Man and picked him up and Kama got a chokeslam out of no where! The fans got to there feet here and Taker signalled for the lid to be raised and Taker looked around as the place was going crazy and Taker signalled for the Tombstone.

Taker then had him up and hit a tombstone!

In the end at 16:26 The Undertaker defeated Kama in the Casket Match by placing him in the Coffin and shutting the lid after the tombstone and the place popped as expected.

A lot longer then it should have been which actually brought the rating of this otherwise pretty good casket match down by AT LEAST a star. No excuse for the boring spots but the action in 16 and a half could have been done in half the time at 8 and I might have given it around three stars to be honest. Instead it gets much lower.

 

* 3/4
 

7) Bret Hart vs Isaac Yankem D.D.S. (W/Jerry “The King” Lawler)

This is the match Jerry Lawler had been waiting for due to the two year feud between Lawler and The Hitman.

Vince was just trying to build up Yankem up huge and they showed in a build up video that Lawler hired Yankem since he was his dentist to take out The Hitman.
When Yankem came to the ring with bad teeth and that horrible Dentist theme you just knew it was 1995. What in gods name were 18, 000 fans thinking here at this moment I`ve wondered…..

Kudos to Bret for trying to make this seem as real as possible.

Bret gets a HUGE POP.

Bret played the babyface character so damn well with the fans and everybody loved him, the ladies wouldn`t stop screaming here during his entrance you`d think he was The Rock.

Bret and Yankem went toe to toe and immediately you see the size difference as the main picture as Yankem beats him down in the corner.

Interesting seeing The Hitman go one on one with…KANE as he battled back.

Issac Yankem as you all know is Glen Jacobs and this is an interesting match because picturing Kane and Bret wrestle is a little strange despite them both being in the WWF together for one full month of Kane’s career.

Yankem choked out Bret on the top rope and then caught Bret in mid-air and slammed him to the canvas but missed an elbow drop. Bret got caught with a poke to the eye after he hit some blows to Isaac but he whipped Bret hard to the buckle then drove the elbow to Bret Hart. Bret then hit an atomic drop to Isaac Yankem followed by a set of two clotheslines! Bret Hart then with a third clothesline this time sending him over the top rope to the outside! Bret then grabbed the top rope and flew to the outside after Yankem and beat him down and continued to stomp on Isaac Yankem. Bret hit Isaac Yankem with a blow from the middle rope, a clothesline which we`d see from Diesel a little later in the night. Bret`s sharpshooter attempt went wrong and Isaac Yankem got out of it but Bret roled up D.D.S and almost got the three as it sounded like Lawler was going to have a panic attack and Isaac Yankem was flat on his back but kept kicking out as The Hitman took it to Isaac Yankem after some blows here and there. Isaac Yankem though of course got back in control as he was a man of size and power and threw Bret into the buckle and then The King stands up and applauds. The Vince calls Bret the best technical wrestler in the history of the World Wrestling Federation. Isaac Yankem dropped an elbow to the head of The Hitman. Only gets a two and he gets pissed at the official. Isaac Yankem then grabbed Bret with a Dentist Pull but the Hitman rolled him up and got a two. You could tell Bret was trying to make the most of what he had here and Glen Jacobs isn`t a bad worker as we all know here but when he`s not in the Kane suit the action looks considerably worse. Thank god for gimmicks right…… Isaac Yankem  then argued with Mike Keota and then hit the Hitman with a huge clothesline over the top rope as The King screamed out for joy. Isaac Yankem  continued to beat on Bret on the outside and then scooped him up outside the ring drilling his back into the ring post. Isaac Yankem then with Bret hanging his head over the top rope hit a flying kick to The Hitman. It looked a little strange but still a little impressive with his balance. Isaac Yankem continued the attack on Bret inside the ring as the fans chanted `Lets Go Bret`. The Hitman then dove out through the ropes and was furious and fired everything he had at Isaac Yankem. Bret Hart sent him head first into the steel steps. Bret then got him in the ring and hit a Bulldog! 1…2….and No. Bret Hart had the fans behind him in this comeback and sent Isaac Yankem to the ropes and delivered a blow with a side russian leg sweep. An elbow from the middle rope and then put him in the Sharpshooter but The King helped him reach the ropes. Isaac Yankem then on the outside of the ring after he had boughten himself some time due to Bret chasing Lawler threw Bret into the steps. Bret then got himself some time as Isaac Yankem figured it`d be a count out came back in the ring and viciously went for Yankem and then had his legs tied around the ring post. A preview of his creative big man work against Diesel at the Survivor Series that year. Bret then looked like he`d get DQ`d with his beating. In the end, “The HITMAN” Bret Hart defeated Isaac Yankem by DQ at 16:07 when Isaac Yankem had him tied up in the ring ropes head first and Lawler beat him down as did Isaac Yankem. The fans booed and it was a bad ending to a pretty bad match. Bret did what he could with what he had but the match wasn`t booked from a Hitman point of view, it was booked from a Big Man point of view with the story so there`s not a lot he could do. Others might enjoy this more then me because it wasn`t absolutely terrible but I was not a fan.
 

 

* 1/2 
 

 

8 ) “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels (c) vs “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon in a Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
 

Razor and Shawn get things going quickly from the get go and the feeling out process is even entertaining and we`re in for a good one! Razor went for the Razor`s edge early and when Shawn went for The Bad Guy`s arm he reversed the tide and went for Shawn`s, until HBK countered that and went to throw Razor into the turnbuckle after a few blows, but then Razor countered THAT and threw him hard into the buckle and he flipped over to the floor. The Counters made these matches fun to watch. Not just the counters but the rivalry, the chemistry and how they blended off each other was so wonderful. Razor beat on Shawn some more with a suplex to the outside and Shawn hit his leg on the steel barricade as well as falling to the floor. Just before that Shawn attacked Razor in the entrance way, after a bit of time more ducks and reversals and Razor ducked a Shawn Superkick. Razor irish whipped HBK hard into the buckle twice more.
Ramon kicked Michaels in the stomach as he was on the top and then hit a samoan drop from the top turnbuckle! Amazing move.
Both men look beaten down early especially HBK which I felt helped this ladder match`s credibility more then the orignal. The pacing was more brutal, more enthralling overall here it felt.

Sid is watching from the back. Uh-Oh. Razor levelled Shawn with a big right hand on the outside while he threw a Ladder in the ring. Razor set it up and then climbed to the top but Shawn pushed it over and Razor fell off for the first false spot of the Ladder Match. HBK then picked up the Ladder and set the sides together so it is one piece and swung it into Razor`s stomach as a weapon! He set the ladder back up and began to climb until Ramon grabbed HBK`s leg and then pulled his tights down a little and the ladies screamed. Razor then grabbed Shawn and his leg twisted inside the ladder in a cool looking spot as him and the ladder both fell down. For Razor, by taking out the leg-knee area it would also make it harder for HBK to not only perform his finishing super kick but it would not let him be able to win the Ladder match as the object is to climb the ladder using those parts of your body obvioussly.

That`s why it was all so smart.

Razor dropped the ladder on HBK`s bad leg again then with Shawn on the outside Razor climbed the ladder, out of desperation Shawn from the outside managed to make it to the top turnbuckle as he is a flyer and dropkicked Razor off the ladder. Bought himself some time. Shawn pushed Ramon into the ladder once Hall made it to his feet to buy himself some more time as he continued to sell the bad left leg.

Razor Ramon then to his feet first obvioussly began climbing but HBK was underneath him so it was very believable he could catch up. With HBK climbing right behind Razor he delivered a suplex off the top of the ladder to Razor Ramon.

I love it when a guy gets back in control after he`s been worked on and it`s realistic. That`s exactly what this was.
Shawn then hammered Razor with rights once Razor got to his feet and Razor this time went face first into the ladder that was standing vertical by the ring post. Michaels in control now and he threw Razor`s back into the ladder yet again! Shawn scooped Hall up and slammed him! What a match this is from every point of view so far. HBK set up the ladder in the corner of the ring and hit a moonsault onto Razor in the corner to keep him down. With Razor down, Michaels climbed up high and in a familiar spot from Wrestlemania X he climbed to the top to hit a splash but Razor had that move well scouted and moved out of the way.
 

Both men now down for a longer period of time and the fans are going crazy as we`ve seen a war, a well fought battle between two warriors with great psychology, bumps, moves and pace. EVerything you could ask for pretty much.
Razor began to set the ladder up and Shawn tried to get back to his feet at the very same time. Both men climbed each side ever so slowly to make it all the more dramatic as Razor hit Shawn with some right hands as did Shawn to Razor Ramon at the very top of the ladder as both men were in reach of the Ladder. Both men then fell to the side and landed crotch first onto the top rope, only Razor fell to the outside while Shawn was down inside the ring and both men sell this and catch a breather yet again.

Michaels then dove out of the ring with the ladder trying to attack Razor who at the very same time was getting INSIDE the ring but he moved and caught a bit of him and now both men were OUTSIDE the ring with the ladder. Razor got to his feet first and then grabbed another ladder that was underneath the ring. Michaels set up a ladder in the ring and Razor grabbed another. Michaels climbed the ladder in the middle of the ring and Razor went for the Razor`s Edge and hit it! The fans cheered as Shawn just felt the Razor`s Edge from the top of the ladder!

Great stuff.

Razor Ramon of course the first to his feet this time around as it`d be plain ridiculous for him not to be. Razor Ramon nursing some other injuries took his time to set up the 2nd ladder in the middle of the ring. Shawn then began turning over and Razor watched for that. Timing is so important in ladder matches in paticular. Shawn climbed one ladder while Razor climbed the other and Shawn kicked Razor over but then missed himself when going for it. Vince says he thought he had seen it all in the first ladder match but obvioussly hadn`t. Shawn then threw Razor to the outside.
Shawn then missed the belt and threw a tantrum when missing it the first time.

Shawn made up for it I guess by getting it the 2nd time. That didn`t effect the match in my eyes.

IT HAPPENS….get over it.

Michaels won this time around at 25:03 when he captured the Intercontinental Championship.

Razor shook hands with Shawn after the 3rd  best Ladder Match ever to Benoit-Jericho for me and the WM X match.

A True Classic.
 
 

**** 3/4

 

 

 

9) Main Event- King Mabel (W/Sir Mo) vs “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel for the WWF Championship
 
Mabel got it started early and sent Diesel to the ropes and he came off and caught Mabel`s big body. Mabel then slammed Diesel`s head into the top of the turnbuckle and hit him with some chops in the corner. King Mabel then in control for awhile until Diesel reversed the tide and sent King Mabel into the other corner. Diesel came off with a hard charge and did his regular corner routine consisting of elbow shots to the head, knees to the gut, etc. King Mabel though wasn`t very phased as this was his big shot and and tried to pound on the back of Diesel.

Big Daddy Cool would have none of that and went to the ropes and hit a shoulder block to King Mabel and he went to the outside. The WWF Champion Diesel walked around in control of the match while King Mabel took a breather on the outside before getting back in the ring. Diesel flew over the top rope though and landed on King Mabel. Not a bad pace here so far but not GREAT either as expected. Diesel threw King Mabel but in the knick of time he reversed the irish whip on the outside and sent Diesel into the ring post! King Mabel took his precious time going over to Diesel and he met a big black boot and took a shot to the kisser on the outside. Diesel sent him back in the ring and King Mabel didn`t want any punishment. Diesel hit him with hard right hands and this is when the action slowed down a bit. Diesel in the corner with more shots to Mabel more methodically as the action had took it a bit out of both men. It still went back and forth though and Mabel after a whip to the buckle pinned Diesel and then squashed him but only got a two. Diesel then looked to be in a camel clutch from King Mabel. King Mabel then to his feet hit a scoop slam on Diesel. Whemn King Mabel attempted an elbow drop to Big Daddy Cool who was layed out in the center of the ring he moved out of the way just in time. With the ref down Mo came in and it was a 2 on 1 attack. All of the Sudden Lex Luger came in and Diesel hit him in the face right as h came in. LMFAO. King Mabel clotheslinesd Diesel to the outside. Mabel then hit a leg drop on Diesel on the outside of the ring then went back in. Luger and Mo fought to the back area. Mabel with a belly to belly suplex on Diesel and he kicked out. Hendrix screams that he can`t believe it. King Mabel went upstairs and missed a big splash from the top rope. The finish came at 9:14 when Diesel jumped off the second ring rope and came off hitting Big King Mabel with a BIG DADDY COOL Clothesline to retain his World Wrestling Federation Championship.

Not as bad as I remembered because it was kept relatively short with NOT MANY slow moments but still pretty bad overall for sure.
 

* 1/4
 
 

——————————————————————

Final Rating for WWF Summerslam 1995 = 4.5/10
This show is the only Summerslam to this point to JUST fail on the grading scale. And I emphasize JUST FAIL because there was enough good on the show to give it a 4.5 but unfortunately one of the worst rosters in 1995 made the show have a lot more bad then good. I was dissapointed going back and watching this one match card and it was NOT enough to save it. I do NOT suggest a viewing of this event unless you want to see a bad show for some strange reason or of course the classic ladder match that gives the show most of its 4.5 rating.