WWF SummerSlam 1996 (Version II)

Original Airdate: August 18, 1996

From Cleveland, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect

Opening Match: Owen Hart v Savio Vega: Savio objects to the cast on Owen's hand as the bell sounds, but really, he knew that going in. If it was going to be a problem for you, then talk about it in the back. What is he expecting the referee to do about it now? Owen tries to sneak attack with the cast, but the referee busts him, and Savio just kind of stands there and acts all offended, like a dork. No wonder he never got higher up the card. You think ol' Stone Cold would just stand there looking indignant? Vega goes after the cast covered arm early on, as we split screen to Vader warming up in the back. Calm down guys, Nitro isn't on the other channel tonight. We don't need you to constantly cut to something else to keep us glued to the screen. Criss cross ends in Savio hitting a monkeyflip, and a hiptoss follows, then an armdrag for two. He works an armbar next, but Owen escapes, so Vega whips him into the corner, and hooks a rollup for two. Owen sends him shoulder-first into the post on the kick out, however, and he tosses Savio shoulder-first into the turnbuckles next. Hart works the part on the mat, and uses a single-arm DDT for two, in between armbars. Savio tries biting at him to buy time, but that gets him tied up in the ropes, and Hart abuses the shoulder. Owen keeps working the shoulder, as Clarence Mason observes from the aisle. Or, well, I think that's him. A spotlight would help. Hart misses a dropkick, so Savio tries a spinheel kick, but Owen ducks. Owen tries one of his own, but now Savio ducks, and he throws a bodypress for two. That was a fun little sequence. Hart with a leg-feed enzuigiri for two, as Mason finally finds some light. Vega with a small package for two, but a charge in the corner misses, and Owen uses a leveraged pin for two. He argues the count, allowing Savio to schoolboy for two, so Owen cracks him with a spinheel kick for two. Boy, this is really heating up now! Owen tries to charge in the corner, but Savio is ready with a spinkick to block, and he uses an inverted atomic drop to kick off his comeback! Bodyslam sets up a legdrop for two, and a sidewalk slam is worth two. Savio's lucky Gorilla Monsoon moved on to politics, because he'd still be going off on him for how nonchalant that first cover was today. From beyond the grave. Owen returns fire with a neckbreaker when Vega tries a backdrop, and Hart goes up with a missile dropkick for two. Owen goes up again, but Savio crotches him on the top turnbuckle this time, and brings him down to earth with a side superplex! Owen actually recovers first because Vega's head landing on the cast during the move, and Hart bashes Vega with the cast again, this time deliberately - knocking his ass out cold for the Sharpshooter to finish off at 13:21. Took a few minutes to find itself, but it was fun once it did. Overall, a better than average night for Savio, but a worse than average night for Owen. Afterwards, Mason celebrates with Owen, and Justin Bradshaw shows up to beat up Vega in the aisle. ** ½ (Original rating: *)

WWF Tag Team Title Four Corners Elimination Match: The Smoking Gunns v The Godwinns v The Bodydonnas v The New Rockers: Only two guys allowed in the ring at a time, and it's elimination rules. Skip is wearing a neck brace here, as a result of a legitimate injury he suffered in the ring not long before this show. Even though Owen's injury is kayfabe, it's not a good look for the promotion to have multiple guys working matches with such noticeable injuries. Sunny is looking unbelievably hot here. Her peak didn't last long, but man, it was great while it did. Billy Gunn starts with Henry Godwinn, and it looks like you can add Billy to the list of guys working hurt, as he's got a big brace on his left hand. Henry hits him with a wheelbarrow facebuster, so Billy tags out to Zip, and Henry passes to Phineas Godwinn. Sunny starts mocking them both to delay the proceedings, and literally the entire first few rows are just staring at her, and completely ignoring the match. Phineas and Zip respond to the taunting by tagging both Billy and Bart Gunn in, but they refuse to engage, and Bart tags out to Zip. Zip knocks him around, but gets tripped up by Marty Jannetty, and Billy pins him at 4:01. Not surprisingly, Skip never even tagged in. Sunny celebrates the elimination by shaking it in front of Mr. Perfect, as the dust settles on Henry and Leif Cassidy. The New Rockers double up on Henry, cutting the ring in half, until Leif decides to pass to Billy. Poor Henry gets worked over by both teams, but Cassidy accidentally collides with Billy, thus ending that partnership. As they scuffle, Henry is able to tag Phineas, and the Godwinns clean house. Henry isolates Marty, and the Slop Drop sends them home at 7:20. Neither guy was legal in the ring, but whatever. Bart jumps Henry after the fall, but misses a charge in the corner, and Godwinn levels him with a lariat. Tag to Billy to keep the Gunns in control, as the match just grinds to a halt. Like, seriously, their offense has consisted of long blank spaces, punctuated by a punch here and a kick there. I guess the idea is that the Gunns are having issues working as a team, but it's coming off so badly. Billy tries a stinger splash, but Henry catches him in a slam, and there's the hot tag to Phineas. Finally... that segment felt endless. Roseanne Barr the door, and Phineas looks to finish Billy off with the Slop Drop, but Bart comes off the top with a dive as the referee is caught up with Hillbilly Jim and Sunny, and the Gunns retain at 12:29. I feel like these four teams could have had a much better version of this match, but the four-way style was still a brand new concept in 1996, and it felt like they didn't quite know how to properly work it yet, coming off more like a weird Survivor Series style match. ½* (Original rating: ½*)

Davey Boy Smith v Sycho Sid: I guess they figured WCW was making so much money in 1993, that it would make sense to run some of their matches. Well, much like WCW, they ran these two against each other, then a bunch of other unrelated stuff happened, and then three years later, BAM, they're making big money. Sid dominates to start, and hits a bodyslam for two, but telegraphs a backdrop, and Bulldog counters with a hanging vertical suplex. I thought that was setting up a pop-up no-sell from Sid, but nope. Bulldog puts the boots to him before covering for two, and it's chinlock time. Bulldog sends him to the outside and throws a clothesline to knock him off the apron, as we get another split screen of Vader warming up. I don't know if it still counts as a warm-up if it takes longer than the performance. Davey drops Sid front-first across the top rope on the way back in, but the big man escapes another chinlock, and hits a stinger splash. Again, but this time Davey dodges, and drops him with the Running Powerslam. No cover, however, as Smith gets distracted by Jim Cornette and Clarence Mason bickering on the outside. Once he turns his attention back to Sid, the big man has recovered enough to chokeslam him, and the Powerbomb finishes at 6:24. TV level match with a TV level finish. ¾* (Original rating: *)

Goldust v Marc Mero: The angle to set this up has been really weird, as it started out with Marlena making lesbian advances on Sable, but then that aspect was quickly dropped, and now apparently the issue is that Goldust has been making advances on Mero's valet. I guess they got cold feet running another angle that could potentially be seen at homophobic after all the bad press Goldust got earlier in the year. If that's the case, you have to wonder why they even started down that path again to begin with. Goldust stalls at bit to start, but Mero makes him criss cross, and dominates with armdrags until Goldust retreats into the ropes. Goldust goes to the eyes to allow him to pound Marc, but another criss cross sees Mero hit a bodypress for two, and he uses a drop-toehold to ground Goldust in an armbar. He works the arm for a while, but Goldust throws elbows to escape a hammerlock, and he backdrops Mero over the top. That almost ended very badly, with Marc nearly landing on the apron with his neck there. Goldust sends him into the post out there, then drops him across the guardrail, and hey, I'm pretty sure this show inspired Sable's Jakks action figure from the period. I always thought it was kind of random that her figure was wearing an evening gown as opposed to her usual leather outfits, but I guess it was actually based on this. As Goldust holds Mero in a chinlock, Mankind suddenly shows up, stalking Sable around the ring until officials can intervene. Goldust tries a cross corner whip, but Mero springboard back at him with a hip attack, and the Wildman starts making a comeback. He tries a ten-punch, but Goldust powers him off, and both guys end up tumbling over the top. Mero is up first, and dives with a somersault suicida, followed by a slingshot legdrop on the way back inside. Bodyslam sets up the Wild Thing (in its debut), but Marlena is distracting the referee, and it only gets two by the time he counts. Goldust tries a charge, but Mero is ready with a powerslam for two. Whip into the corner, but Goldust reverses, and the Curtain Call finishes at 10:58. I'm really surprised Mero wasn't booked to go over here, especially with that hot new finisher. Kind of stupid to debut it, but not have it get the pin. Afterwards, Goldust tries to show Sable his action figure, but Mero saves. * ¼ (Original rating: ¼*)

Todd Pettengill brings Faarooq and Sunny out for an in-ring interview to talk about Ahmed Johnson's injury, and forfeiture of the WWF Intercontinental title. Basically, Faarooq feels they should just give him the belt, instead of wasting everyone's time with a tournament. And, well, actually, that's it. That's all he has to say. I have no idea why this needed to be an in-ring segment. Absolutely nothing here that couldn't have been delivered in a quick backstage promo. I also wonder, if they'd done the Johnson match here as scheduled, would they have put the belt on Faarooq? Feels like it would be too soon to take it off of Ahmed, but you also probably wouldn't want to job Faarooq in his first big match. That was likely headed for some kind of screwy finish, though I wouldn't be completely surprised if Faarooq actually picked up the belt to counterbalance babyface Shawn on top

Jake Roberts v Jerry Lawler: Mark Henry is out for guest commentary on this one. This show has been rough from a match quality standpoint thus far, and I don't have very high hopes that this one will be the turning point. Lawler's extended promo on Jake and the crowd before the match is certainly entertaining, though. Jake throws the snake at him to kick off his opening salvo, and King ends up getting bodyslammed on the floor, then sent into the post. Lawler steals a drink from a fan to throw in Roberts' eyes to buy time, and that allows Jerry to get him tied up in the ropes. Lawler grabs a bottle of booze to pour down Jake's throat, but Roberts escapes the ropes before he can. DDT, but Lawler counters with a backdrop, and he goes for the bottle again. Jake fights him off, and hits a short-clothesline, but Jerry grabs hold of the referee to block the DDT. He grabs the bottle and jabs Jake in the throat with it from there, and that's enough for the pin at 3:18. Afterwards, Lawler pours the booze down Jake's throat. What a weird way to cap off that feud. Like, not only does the heel win, but the babyface doesn't even get him back after the match? I guess that gives you a pretty clear idea of where their confidence was with Jake at this point. Mark Henry eventually chases him away, so at least it's not a total loss. This was barely a match, really. A fired up Jake going after a trouble causing Lawler sounds fun, but both guys were well past their glory days by 1996. And even that could have worked if Jake had actually showed up to build the match, but he was largely absent in the weeks leading up to this, leaving Lawler to build the whole feud by himself. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Boiler Room Brawl: Undertaker v Mankind: They start in a boiler room, and the idea is that they have to get to the ring, where the first person to take possession of the urn from Paul Bearer wins. In hindsight, that pretty obviously sets up his heel turn, though I certainly didn't see it coming at the time. The boiler room portions are all pre-taped, and air for the fans on (much too tiny) screens out in the arena. We start with Undertaker walking around the boiler room searching for Mankind, like he's in a horror movie, or something. I can't even imagine how annoying this match would be to watch for the live crowd. Like, not only are they watching on tiny screens, but the boiler room is so dimly lit that they arena lights glare must be making even whatever tiny image there is on the screens impossible to see. Mankind pops out with a pipe to attack, and he beats Undertaker down with it for a bit. This whole thing is presented without a referee or commentary, so it's basically like watching an extended fight sequence from a bad movie. Undertaker fights him off with a trashcan lid, but Mankind hits a stunner across a sawhorse to turn it back into his favor, and we get some 'transmission difficulties,' which is their way of masking cuts and edits. Mankind opens a steam valve to keep Undertaker at bay, but charging him with a trashcan backfires, and Undertaker beats on him with the weapon. Mankind gets him against a garage door for a running kneesmash, and he dumps him into the sawhorse again, then climbs a ladder for a flying elbowdrop on the concrete. He tries something that vaguely resembles a double-arm DDT next, but they just kind of collapse in a heap, and it looked terrible. We get a really slow sequence next with Mankind having to drag him over to another area, and thankfully more 'production difficulties' allow us to skip ahead, after a solid two minutes of dragging. Back with Mankind bodyslamming him on the floor, but he climbs another ladder, and this time gets tipped over for a bump onto some piping. Undertaker has no follow-up, so Mankind beats him with a steel chain, and they finally start heading for the exit, nearly twenty minutes into this thing. Undertaker fights off an attack with a brick by using a fire extinguisher, and they spill out of the boiler room, and into the arena's hallway. Mankind tries to block him in with a bunch of plunder, but Undertaker busts through, where a bunch of other workers are hanging out in the halls, making cameos as these two brawl by. Mankind throws coffee at him to buy distance, and he's first out into the arena, but Undertaker is on him before he can get down the aisle. They brawl to ringside, where Mankind steals one of the monitors they have set up for the fans to watch (much to the dismay of the poor A/V crew guys), the pulls up the floor mats for a piledriver on the concrete. He heads in to go for the urn, but Undertaker cuts him off, and Mankind takes a nasty plunge off of the apron, and down onto the exposed floor! Undertaker is in, and bows before Bearer to receive the urn - only for Paul to refuse to give it to him! That allows Mankind to recover with the Mandible Claw, and a gleeful Bearer joins in on the beating, before giving Mankind the urn at 27:01. Damn. Makes you wonder how long the uncut version of this thing is. That would be a cool thing for the Network to put up on Hidden Gems someday. Not that I'd watch it, but still. This thing really had no business going on for longer than ten or twelve minutes, let alone nearly thirty. It's not really 'horrible,' but the extreme length really made it boring after the first few minutes. There's a reason hardcore matches are usually not very long. Afterwards, once Mankind and Bearer have left, the lights go out, and a pack of druids come out to carry Undertaker away. Well, you could never say he wasn't theatrical. I think we can generously call this one a DUD (Original rating: ¼*)

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Vader: Vader tees off on him to start, and it looks like he's working pretty stiff here. Short-clothesline hits, but Shawn counters a big boot with a legsweep, and throws a seated dropkick, before unloading on Vader with a barrage of strikes. Criss cross sees Vader try a slam, but Shawn slips free, and starts firing off kidney punches. Michaels dumps him to the outside for a baseball slide, and the champ dives with a tope suicida - stopping to mock Hulk Hogan after hitting the move. Michaels with a flying axehandle on the way back inside, and he busts out a rana on the massive Mastodon. Victory roll sends Vader tumbling over the top, so Shawn tries a plancha, but gets caught with a powerbomb on the floor! Michaels isn't so quick getting up from that one, and Vader shows no mercy as he forces the champ back into the ring. Vader goes to town in the corner, and a vertical suplex follows, as Vince's commentary gets increasingly worse by the minute. No wonder he was actively considering stepping away from the job during this period. I don't dislike him as a commentator as much as a lot of other people do, but sometimes he can be really terrible. Vader uses a corner whip to send Michaels flipping over the top to the floor, and the challenger brings him back in for a backdrop. Side suplex, but Shawn starts throwing rights to block, so Vader decks him. He tries the suplex again, but Shawn back flips onto his feet, and throws fists again. He gets some traction, but sending Vader into the corner backfires when the big man rebounds with a clothesline. Vertical suplex, but Shawn slips free, so Vader tosses him over the top. Shawn skins the cat to try pulling him over the top with a headscissors, but Vader powers into a block, and casually drops Michaels to the mat for two. Vader grabs a clutch next, and Vince is already writing off Shawn's title reign. Shawn slugs free, but Vader absorbs Michaels' attempts at a comeback - only to have a sitdown splash blocked with knees. That allows Shawn to finally take him down with a clothesline, and the champ goes up with a flying elbowdrop - only to reroute, and start angrily stomping Vader in the face instead. That's the infamous spot where Shawn's throwing a legitimate tantrum because Vader was out of position for the elbowdrop. Honestly, watching it, he's not even that far out of position. Like, I could see that throwing a rookie, but a master level worker like Michaels probably could have easily adjusted his dive. Such unprofessional behavior here. I mean, stomping him in the head for what, because he was a little out of position? What an asshole! They quickly get their shit together, and take a spill to the outside, where Shawn is still taking out his frustrations over a nothing spot, this time on the camera man. Ass! Vader doesn't give him much time to mope, however, press-dropping Michaels across the rail, and getting the countout victory at 13:52. Well, nice to see the fat guy on the other side of that for once at SummerSlam, I guess. Okay, so Vader wins by countout, but Shawn retains and... oh wait, Jim Cornette has the microphone. He don't want it like that! He calls Shawn a coward, and goads him into restarting the match, and here we go again! Vader and Cornette beat on Shawn out on the floor, and Vader hits an avalanche into a belly-to-belly suplex for two on the way in. Powerbomb, but Shawn hammers him with rights on the way up to block, and a criss cross sees Michaels hit a jumping forearm! That sets up another go at the flying elbowdrop, and thankfully Vader is in position this time. Superkick, so Cornette goes after him, but Shawn gets the tennis racket away from him, and starts unloading on Vader for the DQ at 16:01. He beats up Cornette as well for good measure, so Vader goes out to get a chair, and looks like we're done here. Oh, but wait, Cornette has that mic again, and it looks like we're starting up again. This stop/start stuff would be great on TV, but it's just completely killing the flow of this thing. Shawn goes at him, and takes him down for another flying elbowdrop, and this time sticks the Superkick... for two. The crowd was losing their shit on that one. Shawn regroups, but the referee gets bumped, and Vader drops him with a powerbomb. No referee to count, so another runs in, and we get a dramatic two count. Oh shit, two referees out there. Don't tell me they're going to do a second main event Dusty Finish on a 1996 WWF PPV. Vadersault, but Shawn dodges. Honestly, he was out of position anyway. Maybe he should throw a tantrum at himself. Shawn goes up with a flying moonsault press from there, and he gets him with it at 18:58. Every time I watch this one, I get lost in that hot start, and think I'm going to like it more this time around, but ultimately it's too flawed. It's a good match, but the stop/starts and Shawn's unprofessionalism hurt it a lot. I also really hated how close together they booked those stop/starts. They needed to be spaced out a little bit more. *** ¼ (Original rating: *** ¼)

BUExperience: This is pretty bad. The main event is good, but pretty much everything else isn’t, and the atmosphere feels like the wrestling equivalent of a rainy Sunday afternoon. Everything just feels so sleepy, unenthusiastic, and underpowered. I’d even call this the second worst SummerSlam to that point, behind 1990.

DUD