While WrestleMania 10 served as the true crowning moment for Bret Hart, "The Hitman" still wasn't really the focus of WWF programming, despite an ongoing heated feud with brother Owen. The spotlight instead shifted first to a battle between Jerry "The King" Lawler and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at King of the Ring, and then to the return of The Undertaker. In a storyline that personified the concept of camp, as random citizens apparently saw "The Deadman" purchase donuts and slide down a children's slide, while Ted DiBiase announced that 'Taker was back under his control. Paul Bearer insisted that DiBiase's Undertaker was an imposter and the real 'Taker would return at SummerSlam. I personally adore this storyline, but making the showdown between the two Undertakers the main event over Bret versus Owen was just asking for trouble. How bad was it? Let's find out.
- We're in the brand new United Center in Chicago, which opened just 11 days prior, making this it's first big public event, what a coup for Vince. It's another big win for the future overlord of wrestling, who has just been acquitted during the steroid trial thanks to Nailz, the prosecution's key witness, whose hatred of McMahon made his testimonial unreliable. Vince and Lawler on commentary open proceedings by announcing a tag title change, as Shawn Michaels has finally gotten his hands on the tag straps alongside Diesel.
- The now former champions, The Headshrinkers, are out first as they face Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS of the Million Dollar Corporation. Fatu and Samu are now faces and have added Lou Albano in their corner, which is definitely a bit of an odd fit with Afa still managing them. This match is a very standard tag match, lots of cheating by the heels with assistance from DiBiase, build up to a hot tag, managers distractions, etc. The faces are disqualified after Afa gets involved, leading to them hitting a very impressive triple headbutt during the post-match brawl.
- Bull Nakano signed with the WWF earlier in the year, quickly becoming the biggest heel in the women's division and getting a title shot here against Alundra Blayze. Nakano is a great worker, performing the monster heel role perfectly. I loved the brutality she showed in this match, from tossing the champion around the ring by her hair to the multiple inventive and painful looking submissions she broke out. The crowd is very impressed by Nakano, rightfully so, and that helps get them into the match, getting behind Blayze. The champion is able to dodge the challenger's big diving leg drop and hit the bridging german suplex for the win. This is easily the best singles women's match I've watched to this point, Bull Nakano is quite the athlete.
- In one of the biggest matches of the night, Diesel, with Shawn in his corner, defends the Intercontinental Championship against Razor Ramon, who has legendary Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton on his side. After losing the title unification match at WrestleMania, Shawn helped his bodyguard defeat Ramon for the strap on Superstars, and with the addition of the tag belts, the heels absolutely look like stars here, completely draped in gold. Throwing Kevin Nash, still a little green at this time, into a match of this caliber and asking him to go a solid 15 minutes feels like a huge mistake, but I thought this went pretty well. Razor sells for most of the match and the two men don't do anything too difficult, throwing a lot of strikes and working elongated rest holds. Shawn draws a majority of the heat, seemingly everywhere at once, angering Payton on the outside, removing turnbuckles and even getting in a ridiculous bump when Razor punches him off the apron, leaping onto the barricade and spinning to the floor. The crowd is really into this match, which definitely helps making it much more enjoyable, and they pop big when Payton gets involved. Eventually, the heels hold the upper hand and look to finish Razor off for good, but Shawn accidentally hits Diesel with the superkick, and Payton holds HBK back as the three count is made. A good way to set up the eventual conflict between Diesel and Michaels while giving the crowd a reason to celebrate, even if the match was mostly forgettable.
- Tatanka and Lex Luger have been engaged in one of the most interesting storylines on WWF television in the past few months, a statement I never expected to type. The Lumbee native is accusing Lex of "selling out" to Ted DiBiase, and all signs seem to point towards a heel turn for Luger. The two men have a match here, and it's honestly very bad. Tatanka is okay when he has a good heel to work with who can sell for his offense, but Lex certainly isn't that. After 6 minutes of very boring wrestling, DiBiase emerges from the back to offer Lex some cash, which honestly seems like a pretty dumb move on his part and it immediately backfires. Tatanka scores a roll-up for the win which Lex is furious about, though considering Tatanka's the guy who has been accusing him of turning on the fans for months, this seems like a pretty small offense. After a few tense moments, Tatanka then begins attacking Lex, and the ruse is revealed. The beatdown ends with Tatanka stuffing some bills in Lex's mouth, walking off with his new manager. I thought this swerve was executed well enough, though it did seem a bit of a waste of effort on Tatanka's part to go through this whole rigamarole just to achieve one post match attack. I also think turning Tatanka heel was a really bad idea, he's just not charismatic or intimidating enough to pull off the new role. Still, it's a good payoff to an intriguing storyline that had the potential to create a new star, so I can't hate on it too much.
- In a battle as old as time, country picks up a win over rap on this night, as Jeff Jarrett pins Mabel. The match is bad, which is unfortunate for Double J, who can work but couldn't get anything out of the immobile big man. Mabel attempts to sit on Jarrett, who doges and that's enough for victory, but I'm more than happy to just move on.
- The old school blue steel cage is out, which means it's time for Bret Hart versus Owen Hart Part 2, this time with the WWF title at stake. The match is contested inside of a cage as the WWF seeks to keep the Hart Family from interfering, although the company did invite them all to take front row seats, which is some very confusing messaging. The only way to win is by escaping the cage, either over the top or through the door, and that leads to many, many escape attempts by both men. It does get a bit excessive at times, but it never overshadows the riveting story these two brothers tell in the ring. Their match at WrestleMania was about pride, attempting to determine just how was the better wrestler. That's all out the door by this point, both are now willing to do anything to become champion, and that desperation is felt from the moment both are inside the cage. The brothers sell this war perfectly, literally leaping at any opportunity to escape and never giving the other more than a moment of rest. The biggest spot comes when Bret catches Owen try to escape at the corner of the cage, delivering a heart stopping superplex, bringing all the way back down to the canvas. The crowd pops big for a trading of Sharpshooter attempts, as well as Bret escaping Owen's grasp by launching both of them into the side of the cage. After 32 minutes, the end finally comes with both men climbing down the side nearest the ramp, as Owen's leg is trapped between the bars and Bret leaps to the floor to retain his title. Immediately, Jim Neidhart, who helped Owen become King of the Ring a few months prior, jumps the guardrail and goes after Bret. The two heels lock themselves in the cage and continue to administer a beatdown to Bret while fighting off the other Hart Family members, before Davey Boy Smith finally gets into the ring and Owen and "The Anvil" bolt to the back. What an absolute war this was, an intense and personal battle that I just couldn't look away from. Yes, the multitude of escape attempts were a bit much at times but this match was booked to be a desperate battle for the title and that's exactly what it was. I'm not sure if this was better than the 'Mania 10 bout, but I encourage anyone that hasn't seen either to watch them both and form your own opinion, this quality of wrestling needs to be watched by as many people as possible.
- Main event time, and while the imposter Undertaker storyline may be controversial, this match certainly isn't, and by that I mean it sucked. At least the shenanigans before the match were fun, as Paul Bearer opens up a massive urn to shine a spotlight through the arena that apparently released the spirit of The Undertaker, all while Ted DiBiase gave a great performance, mouth agape and completely stunned at the pure insanity he's witnessing. Then fake 'Taker faces off with real 'Taker, and the size difference between the two is immediately evident. I feel sorry for poor Brian Harris, the future Chainz, who did do a really good job trying to masquerade as The Undertaker, but Mark Calaway dwarfs his imposter and is the only man in the ring who looks like an actual star. Bearer's Undertaker takes down DiBiase's Undertaker is what is mostly just an elongated squash, ending with three Tombstone Piledrivers. Afterwards, Naked Gun stars Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy, who have appeared in some fantastic comedy detective skits throughout the night, find a literally closed briefcase, and that's all she wrote. What a weird way to end a pay-per-view.
7/10
Pretty much everything on offer at SummerSlam 1994 is either forgettable or bad, aside from the steel cage match. That being said, a lot of matches and moments are still entertaining, from the aforementioned Nielsen and Kennedy sketches, both the Intercontinental and Women's Title matches, Tatanka's heel turn, the resurrection of The Undertaker and of course, another classic between Bret and Owen Hart. Not every show needs to be filled with tons of great wrestling to be memorable. If you're looking for spend 3 hours watching the WWF at it's absolute best and absolute worst, you won't be disappointed here.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: I move almost exactly 1 year ahead for SummerSlam 1995, featuring an evil dentist, a casket match, another classic ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon plus main event Mabel. See you soon.
- Henry
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