In between my last two reviews were WrestleMania 9 and King of the Ring 1993, so if you'd like to keep up with the goings on in the World Wrestling Federation at the time, you can check out my coverage of those two shows here (WrestleMania) and here (King of the Ring).
The biggest story heading into the 1993 SummerSlam was the face turn of Lex Luger, who had debuted as "The Narcissist" at the Royal Rumble, but was called upon by Vince McMahon to step up into the WWF main event scene after the departure of Hulk Hogan. Luger was the new fair haired, all patriotic good guy in the company, and Vince wanted to ensure that the fans would buy in on Lex as the next challenger to Yokozuna and the WWF title. McMahon took a unique approach to building fan support for Lex, first having Luger emerge as the final, and successful, challenger in Yokozuna's "Bodyslam Challenge" on the USS Intrepid, then having Luger tour the United States on the "Lex Express", an obvious bit of pandering to make Lex come across as a more grassroots, down to Earth kind of hero, a stark contrast to Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. It was certainly something different, and I have to appreciate just how much effort Vince put into Luger, but any wrestling historian can tell you that this was destined to be a bust. Luger was capable of holding a main event spot, sure, but the obvious choice of the man to dethrone Yokozuna was Bret Hart. Hart had been screwed out of the WWF title at WrestleMania, both in kayfabe and in shoot, and put together one of the greatest single-night performances in company history at King of the Ring en route to conquering the whole tournament. Instead of taking the top spot that he had worked so hard to earn, Bret was once again stuck in the midcard, feuding with Jerry Lawler over the right to be called "King". It's just one of many missteps that would become so common for Vince's booking as the WWF moved into the mid-90s, with this night proving to be yet another monumental failure in cementing a true company figurehead.
- SummerSlam 1993 comes to you from The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan, about 30 miles outside Detroit. I do love this pay-per-view poster, especially the first subtitle for the show, a wonderfully corny piece of double entendre. You just know Vince was chuckling to himself all day after he realized they could use that one. Speaking of McMahon, he's on the call for this one, alongside Bobby Heenan.
- Our opening contest sees Ted DiBiase, competing in his final WWE match, outside of a brief appearance in a battle royal on Raw in 2007, as he takes on Razor Ramon. Razor is now a babyface, with a turn that began after a shocking defeat to the 1-2-3 Kid on Raw a few months prior, leading to Ramon slowly gaining respect for The Kid, while DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster mocked Razor for the loss. Razor's in-ring style has shifted as a result of his turn, with less of the slow, power submissions like the bearhug he utilized at the Rumble, and more explosive moves being worked in. This match works as a good showcase for what Razor will bring to the table as a face, and the crowd pops big for a couple of his slams, as well as the match-ending Razor's Edge. The actual contest didn't offer much outside of that, though, as DiBiase was obviously on his last legs and couldn't do a whole lot on offense, which is unfortunate, as Ted was in control for most of the 7 minutes allotted. \
- This era of WWE history is noteworthy for Vince McMahon being far more open about working with other companies, forming some tight partnerships with Jerry Lawler's Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association, as well as Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling. The latter business relationship leads to a match here, as the Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) challenge the Steiner Brothers for the WWF tag team titles. Rick and Scott are the big fan favorites here, as they hail from Bay City, Michigan, but are billed from Detroit to get the hometown pop. Outside of the crowd investment, this was a very entertaining match, as Prichard and Del Ray are able to keep up with the Steiners, resulting in a lighting-quick pace throughout. The Heavenly Bodies also throw in some high-flying moves that are well ahead of their time, but ultimately, that costs them a chance to take the gold, as Prichard accidentally hits Del Ray with a moonsault, and Scott strikes with a Frankensteiner.
- On paper, the showdown between Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental title certainly had a chance to be one of the best matches the WWF could put on, and Shawn hypes it up as determining who would earn the right to the claim of greatest Intercontinental Champion ever. Unfortunately, the match never quite got to the level it seemed obvious to reach, as neither man seemed willing to do much for most of it. Instead, they just slowly wear each other down with strikes, and the crowd starts to lose interest. Near the end, Perfect does finally start to get going, but just as it seemed like things were finally getting good, Michaels' bodyguard Diesel interferes, tossing the challenger into the steel steps. Perfect is unable to answer the referee's count, and Shawn wins in the lamest way possible. This wasn't truly awful, no match involving these two men ever could be, but it was a massive letdown, and I have to wonder if real-life friction between the two may have played a part. After Shawn's scheming got Marty Jannetty fired, it was Curt Hennig who stepped in to clear things up, getting Marty's job back and resulting in Jannetty dethroning Michaels for the Intercontinental title on Raw shorty afterward. Obviously, Shawn got past the loss rather easily, and got the gold back almost immediately, but considering how much of an a** he could be at this time, I wouldn't be surprised if he was still holding a grudge, and that contributed to this match falling short of expectations. Saying that, it's also possible both men just didn't click, their styles don't seem like a good fit, and both tended to work better with a much bigger opponent.
- The 1-2-3 Kid, otherwise known as X-Pac, makes his pay-per-view debut up next, as he faces off with IRS. Kid is so different to the rest of the roster at this time, so fluid in the ring and with seemingly boundless athleticism, injecting a ton of life in this match, which was badly needed as Schyster isn't the world's most exciting worker. Kid gets in a few good shots, including a moonsault, but IRS' methodical style eventually pays off in victory, as Kid goes down to a jumping clothesline.
- We were scheduled to see the big grudge match between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler up next, but in a wonderful bit of heeling, Lawler declares that he can't go tonight, as his "crappy" Detroit-made car and an oblivious female driver resulted in a damaging accident. Jerry announces that Bret's opponent will be Doink the Clown instead, which immediately deflated the crowd. Look, Doink can go, and this match with Bret wasn't terrible, but there's no way to take this clash between an obvious parody and the man who was recently WWF Champion seriously. After about 6 minutes of heatless action, Lawler reveals his ruse, blasting Hart in the back with a crutch, as it appears that "The King" has gotten one over on this night. But WWF President Jack Tunney is having none of it, and orders Lawler back into the ring, or face a suspension. Hart and Lawler finally got at it, and we get an absolute slugfest, both men taking every opportunity to batter the other. It gets very violent, especially for this time period, as Jerry chokes Bret with the crutch, drawing all kinds of heat before Hart drops Lawler with a Piledriver, and locks in the Sharpshooter. Lawler quickly submits, but Hart, enraged, will not let go, keeping the hold applied for over 3 minutes as WWF officials, and Bret's brothers Owen and Bruce enter the ring to try to talk Bret into releasing the hold. Finally, Bret lets go, but for Bret's unsportsmanlike behavior, the decision is reversed, as Jerry emerges victorious and cements his claim as the true King of the WWF. Everything after the Doink match worked to perfection for me, as both men got over their disdain for each other and turned this largely uninteresting midcard rivalry into a true blood feud. Just like at the Rumble, we got to see a different side of Bret, an absolute animal that had his killer instincts awoken by a detestable villain that just wouldn't stop antagonizing the Hart Family. I will add that the Sharpshooter spot really didn't need to last as long as it did, it got a bit redundant after the first minute or so, but apparently that was revenge by Bret for Lawler messing up his back at King of the Ring.
- Vince McMahon just won't let go of the anti-American, monster heel archetype that worked so well in the past, as his newest project is Finnish actor and bodybuilder, Ludvig Borga. Borga gets an easy win over Marty Jannetty on this night, lighting up Jannetty with lots of strikes, before finishing him off with a backbreaker submission. Nothing much to this one, Borga doesn't have much of a presence or a whole lot in his arsenal besides punches, none of which look particularly good.
- More big man action awaits, as The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez compete in a rematch from WrestleMania 9, which was long heralded as one of the worst 'Mania matches in history. Needless to say, my expectations weren't high coming in, which is good, as this was another clunker between these two men. At least the story was interesting, with Gonzalez and fellow Harvey Wippleman client, Mr. Hughes, having committed a heinous assault on Paul Bearer in the past, stealing the all-powerful urn in the process. Bearer returns in the middle of this match to a sizeable pop, and spurs Undertaker on to victory. Afterward, Gonzalez turns face by hitting Wippleman with a chokeslam, but considering the Argentine monster would be leaving the company in a few months anyway, I'm not sure what the point of that was.
- Six man tag team action up next, as in a rare sight, "Cowboys" and "Indians" manage to co-exist, with Tatanka and the Smoking Gunns teaming up to defeat Bam Bam Bigelow and the Headshrinkers. Fatu and Samu control most of the match with their power and trademark strong heads, but Tatanka, still in the midst of his undefeated streak, does show some fight with a few chops and a diving crossbody. The heels appear to be closing in on victory when they have Tatanka isolated, but a triple diving headbutt results in all three men crashing and burning, much to the delight of the crowd. Billy and Bart Gunn then get back involved, with Billy hitting an impressive springboard splash to the outside, and Tatanka covers Samu for the win. This wasn't too bad, and the missed triple headbutt spot was some classic heel comeuppance.
- Main event time, as Lex Luger challenges Yokozuna for the WWF Championship. Say what you will about Luger as a performer, or the way Vince went about getting fans to rally behind Lex, but it worked, this crowd is fully invested in seeing the big Samoan/Japanese monster get slayed by America's greatest hero. And you know what, this match wasn't terrible. Luger and Yokozuna keep things simple but bring plenty of intensity, and Lex twice attempting the bodyslam, only to end up getting crushed under Yokozuna's weight, gave the match an obvious story hook and made the fans want that slam more than anything in the world. When the slam finally happens, it's met with a huge roar of approval, and Lex then follows up with his trademark running forearm, which is dangerous despite the order from Jim Cornette, who manages Yokozuna alongside Mr. Fuji, to sheath the forearm with a pad. Cornette jumps onto the apron to distract Luger, and gets sent packing for his troubles. The champion, who fell to the floor after the forearm smash, gets counted out to retain, and Luger celebrates despite failing the literally one objective he had coming in. Confetti and red, white, and blue balloons fall from the ceiling, Luger is hoisted onto the shoulders of Randy Savage, the Steiner Brothers, and others, and that's all she wrote.
- Wow, what a deflating way for Lex Luger's nation-wide tour to come to an end, leaving with no gold and seemingly zero awareness of how the long-established rules of wrestling work. For what it's worth, Lex was apparently supposed to win the belt on this night, but the locker room didn't think he was worthy of that prize, so Vince decided to alter his plans, booking Lex to win here, and hoping that the folks in the back might come around on Luger by WrestleMania 10, where he could actually be crowned champion. That doesn't sound as bad in theory, except Vince never changed the post-match celebration, which made Lex look like a complete dolt. No one looks good here, as Yokozuna is clearly no longer a massive threat, Luger won fair and square, but Lex is now the idiot who didn't realize that the belt can't change hands on a count-out. So the champion is a push-over, his main challenger is a failure, Hogan is gone, Warrior is gone, and Bret is messing around with an effing clown. Welcome to the New Generation.
5/10
Despite the way this show ended, it was actually pretty solid for the most part, though it did end up lacking a true classic match or story to get it above what I consider to be the "average level". I can't say I would recommend watching this, there's nothing that really needs to be seen, but I don't think you would regret the near 3 hours it would take to watch this one, provided you know about the calamity surrounding the main event heading in.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Survivor Series 1993, where the Lex Luger and Yokozuna feud continues, with Luger teaming up with the Steiner Brothers and The Undertaker to battle Yokozuna and the Foreign Fanatics. See you soon.
- Henry
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