- The HITMAN383 Rant for WWF SummerSlam 1998! Well, it’s a
few days late, but here it is SummerSlam ’98. Considered by many a VERY kick
ass show, and rightly so. Lets see how well it holds up, eh? (This
one was originally written in 2000)
- BTW, I use this system: ***** - Excellent **** - Great ***
- Good **- Okay * - Decent DUD - Awful.
- Live from New
York, New York (in
the Garden).
- Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler.
- Opening Match, WWF European Title: D-lo Brown vs. Val
Venis: Val on NYC: I came … I saw … I came again. Okay. Well the
13-year-olds in the audience marked out, that’s for sure. Lock up to start,
which no one wins, so they do it again with the same results. On the third, Val
sneaks a forearm shot, but it hits D-lo’s chest protector. Brown hits a chest
bump, and then a weak Stinger Splash, all utilizing the chest protector. Charge
misses, and Val goes to work with a Russian Leg Sweep. D-lo bails out, so Venis
slingshots him in, and a long criss cross follows, ending in a Val spinebuster.
My G-D that was a long sequence. A shorter one follows, with Val winning again,
but D-low side suplexes out of a sleeper. The action is pretty fast here, but
MSG is GONE! Slugfest, leads to a suplex by Val, but Brown comes back with a
clothesline, and a slam. His patented leg drop follows for two. Heel kick hits
the chest, as opposed to face, and he goes to the 2nd rope, and hits the Bret
Hart elbow for two. Venis blocks a suplex, so D-lo trips him, and gets a Texas
Cloverleaf. He lets off quickly, however, and tries a 2nd rope senton, which
misses. Both guys are dead, but Val gets up first and hits his short knee’s,
and a backdrop. Val goes up top and leaps, so D-lo hits a powerbomb for two.
Whoa. Big DDT for two. He heads up, but Venis gets a powerslam for two! Double
arm suplex, and a slam look to set up the Money Shot, but it hits the knees.
Val should go back to these tights, BTW. His suck. White boots and trunks? In
the year 2000? D-lo screws up a powerbomb, badly, which could have ended badly.
He then pisses me off by repeating the spot! Frog splash misses, and the crowd
wakes up while Val murders him and takes the protector off. Val puts it on and
heads to the top, but the ref. tries to stop him, getting him crotched. Val
still atomic drops him, and tries to go up again, but the ref. gets in the way again!
Venis shoves him (and rightly so), causing a DQ win for D-lo at 15:24. Bad
ending. Val agrees with me, and Money Shots the ref! Match was okay, ** ¼. (Quite
a long match for this period, actually)
- Michael Cole finds Mankind next to the hearse that Steve
Austin destroyed on Heat. Everyone figured that Kane and/or UT were in there,
but it was Mick. He vows revenge.
- Handicap Match, The Oddities vs. Kai En Tai: ICP
raps the freaks to the ring, and Kai En Tai get no rapping? Anyway, this is
three against four, and the Oddities STILL outweigh them! Taka and Golga start,
which doesn’t really go anywhere, and all four heels go down. Anyway Mr.
Yamaguchi’s shoes get stolen, and some Russo-ish comedy goes down. Kurrgan gets
in with Funaki, and knells down … making them the same height. No shit. (No shit?
No shit!) He Bossman slams him, and all the heels run in for abuse.
Human tug of war ensues, and Kurrgan outsmarts them (?!?) letting go while
they’re all pulling. He has a brain? Anyway, Silva gets in there, and all of
Kai En Tai bail. I mean, I would too … If someone with that bad of workrate
wanted to wrestle ME, I’d run away! He manhandles all four, with Andre The
Giant type offense. They do bump well though. Silva then press slams Taka to
the floor, in an admittedly cool spot. Golga goes with Togo, and
controls (DUH!), but a double team gets him down and all 4 hit frog splashes on
him, then all hit elbows. Camel Clutch dropkick keeps control, but a quadruple
clothesline turns the tide. Kurrgan’s back in, and kills everyone, but a big
brawl breaks out (managers included), and the giants hit chokeslams on
everyone, and Golga gets the pin at 10:10. Match was what you would expect, but
the Oddities tried REALLY hard, despite sucking, and Kai En Tai was Kai En Tai,
so ¾ *.
- Hair vs. Hair Match, Jeff Jarrett vs. X-Pac: See,
Jeff and “Southern Justice” (The Godwinns) were going around shaving peoples
hair off, so X-Pac is getting revenge for them, basically. He has Howard Finkel
with him, too, because he got his head shaved on Heat. Remember when Sean was
really over, and didn’t suck? Jeff jumps him from behind, but X-Pac comes back,
and then goes through a long wrestling sequence ending in an X-Pac spin heel,
and then hits a springboard bodypress to the floor! Jeff gets a series of
dropkicks to put Sean on the floor, and he posts him. Ouch. He then sells (!!)
and gets a 9 count. Back in, and Jarrett murders him, from post to post, and a
powerslam gets two. Tornado DDT (from the 2nd rope) gets two for X-Pac, as the
fans chant “Lets go X-Pac.” Sleeper gets hooked by Jarrett, which gets two arm
drops, and X-Pac gets his own, but Jarrett gets out quickly, and tries a
side-superplex, but Sean fights out and tries a flying cross body which misses.
It gets Double J two. Figure Four applied, and X-Pac struggles to reverse. It
doesn’t work though, and X-Pac makes the ropes. Jeff then channels Benoit, and
drags him to the middle of the ring (… and chokes him to death before hanging
himself), and tries again! (Oh… my bad then) It backfires
though, and Sean kicks him away. He hits a huge side suplex, but both guys are
dead. X-Pac recovers first, and gets a BroncoBuster (when it still had big
heat), and then a powerbomb gets him two. Pin fall reversal sequence gets both
guys some two counts, and then Finkel gets involved, so Jarrett decks him to
big heel heat. X-factor out of no where gets two, so Southern Justice swings a
guitar, but miss, so Sean clobbers Jeff for three, and a big pop at 11:11. All
the jobbers who had their haircut then run out, and they all shave Jeff’s head,
to his current style, which he kept to this day. Match was damn good, too, ***
¼.
- Michael Cole talks with The Rock (a heel but drawing face
pops) about his attack on Triple H on Heat. Rock says he doesn’t give a crap,
and that he’s gonna retain the IC belt in the Ladder Match TONIGHT!
- Mixed Tag Team Match, Marc Mero and Jackie vs. Sable
and ???: Sable calls out her partner: EDGE, who comes through the crowd and
was basically a mysterious new comer gothic freak at this point. He starts with
Marc, and Mero hammers away. Edge gets a flying head scissors, and a series of
overhead arm drags, and Jackie gets tagged. As soon as Sable gets in, she jails
and tags Marc. Edge hits a flapjack, but Jackie distracts him, allowing Mero a
running knee lift. He tries a TKO, but Edge gets a DDT out of it, and both are
out. Both tag out, and Sable takes her down and kicks ass to a big pop. Hair
slam spot, and she decks hubby. Mero gets in, so Sable goes to Sable bomb him,
but Jackie saves. Nash-esqe choking spot, but Sable gets a TKO out of no where
for two, due to Mero. Jackie attacks, but a heel miscommunication spot allows
Sable a solid right, and Edge is in and hits a no hands dive to the floor.
Jackie attacks him in the isle, so he spanks her … literally. Why does Edge
always spank people in MSG? Here, and at Royal Rumble 2000 on Crash Holly. (That
New York air
makes him feel frisky, obviously) Edge controls and a roll up gets two.
Mero comes back with a Samoan Drop, and heads up stairs, but gets crotched.
Sable tags in, and hits a rana off the top. Okay that was nice. It gets two,
when Jackie stops the count. A big brawl breaks out, and Edge hits the Downward
Spiral and allows Sable to get the pin at 8:26. Whoa, the match DIDN’T suck!
But it didn’t rule, either. **.
- Cole catches up with Mankind backstage, and informs him
that his partner Kane isn’t here. Foley doesn’t know what to do against the
Outlaws, so Vince shows up and convinces him that if he defends the belts alone
in MSG, he’ll make history. Vince is pretty damn convincing … I guess that’s
how he got people to go through gimmicks like Bastion Booger, or The Red
Rooster. I can see it now, “Terry, if you go out there and act like a Rooster,
it’ll make history! You’ll be a legend here in the WWF.”
- Lion’s Den Match, Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock: This
is held at the Paramount Theater at MSG, as the arena doesn’t have room for
this. They start with a wrestling sequence, which Ken wins, and Owen rams him
to the cage, and slams him. Ken rolls thorough and hammers away, and hits a
side suplex. Man, this structure is VICIOUS. Low blow by Owen, and he pounds
him, then whips him to the mesh. Ken gets some knee lifts in, and clotheslines
the King of Harts. Snapmare, and Ken chokes him with his own shirt, as we see
Owen has bled (hardway) from his mouth. Ken springboards off the cage for a
clothesline, and powerslams him. Owen plants him to the steel a few times, and
kicks the crap out of Shamrock as the fans chant “Shamrock.” Enzuguri, and then
he hits a stun gun type move into the cage. Ouch. Backbreaker, and Owen pounds.
Man, he’s great even out of his element. Slugfest ensues, and Owen gets an uppercut,
but Ken powerbombs him. Big lariat, and a springboard elbow! Big kick puts Owen
down, and Ken tries the springboard again, but gets powerslamed. Belly to
belly, and Owen gets the Sharpshooter, but Ken reaches the cage, and climbs
WHILE IN THE HOLD! That breaks the move, and he hits a tornado DDT. He goes
through some offense, and hits a nice spin heel. Owen rams him to the cage,
however, and hooks a Dragon sleeper, which Ken flips out of, and hooks the
Ankle Lock to end the match, and get a great pop at 9:16. Damn, that match
rocked! ****. (I downgraded it to *** in the BUExperience, but no doubt this was both
unique and awesome in every way)
- Cole (who’s damn busy tonight) talks with WWF Champion
Steve Austin, who declares he doesn’t give a crap weather or not UT plans on
doing it alone, or using Kane, he’s keeping the damn belt!
- Handicap Match, Falls count Anywhere, WWF Tag Team
Titles: Mankind vs. The New Age Outlaws: Mick’s defending alone tonight.
Remember when the Outlaws were over? Foley attacks with weapons to start, and
then they do dueling chairs (Mick wins), but a double team turns the tide. The
Outlaws use cooking sheets to destroy him, and then both hit a shot at the same
time (think Edge and Christian on Jeff Hardy with a chair a few weeks back on
RAW.) Mankind gets control, and hits a neckbreaker to Gunn on the floor for
two. He tries to suplex Jesse, but Gunn stops him, and they hit a double
Russian Leg Sweep to the garbage dumpster they brought out with them. They try
to put Mick through a table in the ring, but no way in hell Mick’s gonna lets a
pretty boy like Billy Gunn do that, and reverses it! (Billy Gunn… pretty boy…?) He
clotheslines James, but then they get Mick in a double neckbreaker for two.
They set two chairs up, and powerbomb him through them, in a vicious spot, as a
“Foley” chant breaks out. It gets two, amazingly. They get frustrated and put a
tag belt in the ring, and spike piledriver him on it for three, and the belts
at 5:16. Mick took a hell of a beating here … Ouch. Match was okay, but not
special. ** ¼. The Outlaws then dump Mick in the dumpster, and Kane pops up
inside with a sledgehammer, and bashes Mick’s skull in. Does poor old Mick
Foley EVER get a break?
- Ladder Match, WWF Intercontinental Title: The Rock vs.
Triple H: Yes, it’s that famous match that made both men’s careers.
Anyway, Triple H gets played down to ringside live by the DX band, and is
pumped for this match, after a hell of a feud leading to it. Rock is a heel,
but doesn’t draw huge heel heat, as the fans were pretty in to him in a face
way. He’d turn very shortly after. Rock starts by swearing up a storm, and then
they go through a criss cross, which Hunter gets a clothesline off of, and
hammers. He then USES THE KNEE with a face buster, but the Rock comes back with
rights. He backdrops the future Game to the floor off of a Pedigree attempt,
and heads out for the ladder. He also does the RAW sell, acting DEAD on the way
to the ladder after about a minute of action. Hunter jumps him in the isle, and
kicks his ass six ways from Sunday. He dumps him back in, and another criss
cross leads to a high knee. I’ll let you guess who did that move. HHH goes for
the ladder, but Rock attacks and the ladder falls over as a “Rocky Sucks” chant
starts up. He tosses Hunter into it, and heads in to get the belt. He gets
about ½ way up and Hunter dives at him to knock him off, but irony shows
itself, and the ladder falls on HHH. Hunter recovers, however, and kills him
with the ladder as JR and the King argue over weather Sammy Sosa or Mark Mguire
is better. (Wrestling announcers discussing guys on steroids? Nothing new there)
Rock gets control and pounds the bad knee he attacked on Heat. Good psychology
there. He does some Razor/Shawn spots from SummerSlam ’95 with the ladder on
the knee. Just a thought: if Rocky takes the knee away, HHH’s moveset will be
down to little. Miavia dumps him outside, and starts to climb, and almost makes
it when Hunter shoves him off. Man, the heat is HUGE at this point. The action
spills to the floor, and Rock slingshots him into the ladder, in a nice spot.
Rock then stalks him on the outside with the ladder, but a timely kick
downstairs turns the tide. He tries a Pedigree on the ladder, but Rock
backdrops him on it. Ouch! A second ladder gets involved, and Rock climbs the
new one, and almost makes it as Mark Henry holds Hunter back. Triple H BARELY
makes it, and pushes the ladder over, dropping Rocky to the floor. Hunter then
channels Shawn Michaels, and baseball slides the ladder into him. Hunter climbs
and gets ¾ the way, when Rock spears the ladder down. Another nice bump there.
Rock’s face is now covered in blood, BTW. Rock gets a SOLID DDT, and both are
out. Rock recovers first, and climbs, as Hunter climbs the other side. They
trade right blows, and Rock throws him off, but Hunter makes sure to push Rock
over too, before falling down. Good character there, showing how he wants it so
much. Hunter gets a chair and goes medieval on his ass, putting the ladder on
him and assaulting with the chair. Rock comes back with a slam on the ladder,
and does the People’s Elbow (to a big pop) on the ladder. Hunter climbs up, and
dives at him, but gets caught in the Rock Bottom! Rock climbs, but Hunter pulls
his tights down, and Pedigree’s him. Hunter tries to recover, and Mark Henry
tosses powder in his eyes, but Hunter won’t quit! Both guys climb, and Rock is
gonna win when Chyna hits him with a low blow, allowing Hunter to climb and get
the belt at 26:01 to a mammoth pop! Great match there, **** ¼. Still, I think
people overate this … I mean, it was very good, but not on Shawn/Razor level.
- JR and Jerry hype the main event. You gotta know Russo’s
booking, when Lawler uses the term “Swerve” to describe part of the angle. (Yeah,
just like when he started in WCW, and suddenly Tony Schiavone was throwing
around words like ‘gimmick’ and ‘bump’)
- Main Event, WWF Title: Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker:
Today, this match would be lucky to get a “DUD” rating. Austin gets a mammoth pop upon entering the
arena, which still sends shivers down my spine. The story here is that they
don’t like eachother, but don’t HATE eachother either, and UT promised that he
would do it alone without Kane. Brawl to start, which no one really wins, and
then they WRESTLE!?! Steve gets a beautiful roll up out of an Irish whip for
two, and then a drop toehold. Crowd is dead, BTW. UT gets a suplex, and a
series of elbows. One misses, but he gets a stun gun out of a Thesz Press
attempt. It gets two. UT controls for a while, but Austin comesback and takes the knees out. He
then goes into ass whoop mode, but ‘Taker gets a high flying clothesline, and
chokes away. UT works the shoulder, but gets slammed off the rope walk spot.
Steve pounds the knee to follow up, and out comes Kane! He is about to climb in
the ring, when UT sends him back. Austin and ‘Taker
brawl, which Austin
wins this time, and keeps targeting the knee. UT gets a chokeslam out of
nowhere to wake up the crowd, but can’t cover. Steve clotheslines him to the
floor, and blitz’s him out there. They go into the crowd, with Austin battering him, and UT half-assing the
sell job. ‘Taker gets control, and backdrops Austin out there, who properly sells. They go
back to the ringside, and Austin
takes an ugly bump on his neck. Back in, and Steve almost gets the stunner, but
UT bails. Austin
follows, but gets rammed to the post. He puts Steve on the announce table, and
then heads to the top rope, and hits a sweet ass leg drop through the table
(!!!) Oh. My. G-D. Once they get back in, it only gets two. ‘Taker misses a
Stinger Splash, but it doesn’t even slow him down, as he continues to kick ass.
Criss cross to a double KO spot, but both get up and have a slugfest. Austin wins that. Steve
then actually shocks me and does some Texan Violence (!), and a Thesz Press. He
tries a stunner, but doesn’t execute properly and gets two. Another chokeslam
by UT out of nowhere, and he calls for the tombstone. He gets him up, but Austin escapes, and gets
crotched for his efforts. UT hits a Russian Leg Sweep, and tries the rope walk
spot again (and fails), allowing Austin
a Stunner for three, and the WWF title at 20:52. Both guys had their working
boots on that night, and tried really hard. I definitely appreciate that, but
it still wasn’t a classic. ** ¾. (For Undertaker/Austin, that pretty much IS
a classic) Afterwards, UT teases a heel turn, but then hands the title
to Steve and heads to the isle and stands with Kane looking on.
- Bottom Line: Well, this show really rocks! I mean,
every match is at ** or up (minus the Kai En Tai/Oddities match), including the
****+ Owen/Ken, and Rock/Hunter matches. Everything else was pretty damn on,
including a very good X-Pac/Jarrett match, and a good WWF title match. Can’t
really complain with that!
Highly Recommended.
- One note though: Anyone notice how many gimmick matches
were on here? Two handicap matches, one hair vs. hair match, a mixed tag team
match, a Lion’s Den match, and a Ladder match. Whoa! 
(Yeah, there were tons of gimmick matches, but
they actually gave guys time to work on this show, and it really came out well for
them, as pretty much everything was good, and the show had a great atmosphere)
(Yeah, there were tons of gimmick matches, but
they actually gave guys time to work on this show, and it really came out well for
them, as pretty much everything was good, and the show had a great atmosphere)
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