We had coverage of last night’s WWE SummerSlam show. A few of our writers gave their thoughts about the show.
SummerSlam
GG
Show overall rating: Thumbs up
Best Match: John Cena vs. Batista
Worst Match: Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry
I know, I know. I’m supposed to say that the Hell In A Cell match between the Undertaker and Edge was the best match of the night. I thought it was well done and very good. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had more fun watching the slobber knocker that was Cena/Batista I. It was hard hitting and fast paced and I loved the huge power spots. If not for the terrible submissions, I would’ve loved it even more. I think what ruined Edge/Undertaker for me were the chair shots to the face and head. I know they are doing them a lot safer now, but I still get an odd feeling when I see someone getting a chair shot to anywhere above the back.
CC-BY-3.0; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License
1. Jeff Hardy vs. MVP
MVP used a few submissions and Hardy sold for a lot of the match. Hardy made his comeback and hit the “Whisper In The Wind”. He went up top for the swanton, but saw Shelton Benjamin come out and jumped on him. He went back to the top and then missed the swanton. MVP hit the “Shining MVP” for the win. Pretty good opener.
Winner: MVP by pin fall
Santino and Beth Phoenix did an interview with Maria where the gist was that Maria couldn’t have Santino anymore because he was all Beth’s. Maria looks awesome.
Tomorrow night, WWE celebrates 21 years of SummerSlam, the “biggest party of the summer” as they’ve been calling recently. There have been 20 SummerSlam Events since 1988. But were all of them really worthy of being called the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best PPV of the year? Absolutely not. So today I’ve decided to take a look and list what I consider the Top 10 Greatest SummerSlam Pay-Per-Views of All Time! So sit back, relax, and enjoy.
10. SummerSlam 1988
So we begin with the very first SummerSlam in 1988, live on PPV from Madison Square Garden in New York. The whole purpose of the creation of this PPV was for the WWE to compete with NWA’s Great American Bash, hoping to convert wrestling fans to save their hard-earned cash and purchase their show at the end of the summer as opposed to the Bash. This soon became the last of the “Big Four” PPVs, alongside Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, and of course, Wrestlemania. The main event was a highly-anticipated tag team match between Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Randy Savage, collectively known as “The Mega Powers” against Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant, collectively known as “The Mega Bucks”. Savage won a 16-Man Tournament at Wrestlemania IV, last defeating Dibiase to become champion. Hogan had teased prior to the show that Miss Elizabeth would showcase her “eenie, weenie bikini”, which is creepy in retrospect considering she is no longer with us.
Besides that huge match, the most memorable part of this Pay-Per-View was the Ultimate Warrior defeating the longest reigning WWF Intercontinental Champion in history - The Honky Tonk Man. Honky was scheduled to face Brutus Beefcake, but prior to the match, Beefcake was hospitalized by “The Outlaw” Ron Bass. Honky came out on the show and challenged anybody in the building to take the title and the undefeated Warrior came out and pinned him in thirty seconds to take the title, beginning the monster four year run that he would have in the WWF. Tag Team wrestling was definitely one of WWF’s high-points during this era, as Hart Foundation vs. Demolition was easily the best match on the show, followed slightly by the Rougeaus vs. The Bulldogs.
If it weren’t for the fact that SummerSlam, by name, means the biggest summer wrestling PPV of the year, I’m not sure I would consider this weekend’s show all that big of a deal. JBL and the Great Khali are in title matches, neither Chris Jericho or Shawn Michaels are wrestling, and John Cena vs. Batista, a match that should be huge, isn’t all that interesting.
There is one big match and thankfully, Edge has been carrying his feud with the Undertaker. It’s not like the Undertaker has been around recently to help. And while it’s the match that will likely sell the most PPVs, I still feel as if I’ve seen them wrestle enough matches already to last a life time. I understand that this is the big one, a Hell In A Cell match, but I can’t wait for them to move on to other opponents.
With SummerSlam less than a week away, I wanted to post a SummerSlam moment. However, the only thing that came to mind was last year’s skit with Vince McMahon, Teddy Long, William Regal, Jonathan Coachman and Cryme Tyme. This still makes me laugh. Check out William Regal at about the 1:20 mark.
It’s the RAW after the Bash as WWE prepares to head towards SummerSlam, their supposed 2nd biggest PPV of the year (I always thought Survivor Series was #2 and SummerSlam was #3, but oh well).
Loved: Unique Open. Batista in the truck with Kevin Dunn watching the tape just screams “WCW Nitro”, and that’s been a lot of the focus with RAW lately. WWE is trying to shoot things from different perspectives and add new “sets” to things rather than stick with the boring formula of match-angle-match-interview-interview-match-angle-match. Thankfully, RAW is bouncing things around.
Hated: Clusterfuck Intro. How many times does WWE have to start a program after a PPV with every top guy coming out and laying claim to the World Title. Granted, it does make the World Title seem important because everybody is chasing it and trying to get it, but it’s been so overdone and played out that it is ridiculous. Guys coming out and talking all the time is boring. Figure out something else WWE!
If it weren’t for the fact that SummerSlam, by name, means the biggest summer wrestling PPV of the year, I’m not sure I would consider this weekend’s show all that big of a deal. JBL and the Great Khali are in title matches, neither Chris Jericho or Shawn Michaels are wrestling, and John Cena vs. Batista, a match that should be huge, isn’t all that interesting.
