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It certainly did not start out that way from a storyline perspective, for in its formative years it was merely a way to cash in on what had already been featured at Wrestlemania. If the Royal Rumble eventually became the set-up PPV for Wrestlemania, then Summerslam would’ve had to have been called the step-down event. From its start in 1988 all the way until 1993, Summerslam was used to further the main-eventing/headlining feuds from previous Manias. Hulk Hogan continued his feud with Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant by teaming with Macho Man Randy Savage in the Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks tag match. Hogan then teamed with Brutus the Barber to keep his beef(cake) with Savage (and Zeus) alive the following year. Then, Rick Rude tried to parlay a victory at Wrestlemania 5 over the Warrior into a steel cage match victory that would’ve given him Ultimate’s WWE Championship. The Hulkster called upon the Ultimate Warrior to help him take down the Iraqi supporters a year later, after Hulk had taken down the forces of the evil doing Sgt. Slaughter at Mania VII. Warrior then hooked up with Savage for a rematch of their Mania VII classic some eighteen months later in 1992. It was not until the champion, Yokozuna, went toe-to-toe with the Luger led Lex Express that Summerslam featured its first-ever totally unique match-up that had not been done (at least in some way) before. Luger vs. Yoko was nothing to write home about, certainly, but it did start a trend for Summerslam that has, for the most part, continued ever since. ’94, ’95, ’00 (sort of), ’03, ’04 (sort of), ’08 (sort of) were exceptions, but for the most part Summerslam took on its own identity in the mid-to-late 90’s and never looked back. HBK vs. Vader and Undertaker vs. Mankind was a solid summer line-up in 1996 and it didn’t ride the coattails of Mania whatsoever. Neither did the Hart Foundation’s quest to wrestle the title away from Undertaker despite HBK being the referee potentially standing in the way the next year. Or the following year when Taker vs. Stone Cold happened at MSG and was supported by the Rock and Triple H elevating themselves toward the main-event (that could’ve been the main-event line-up for Mania). A year later, Triple H burst onto the scene in the main-event and would help cement his legend three years after with his involvement in HBK’s return from a four-plus year hiatus. WWF vs. WCW hit its crescendo at Summerslam. Brock Lesnar truly became the Next Big Thing the year that followed. Randy Orton became the youngest World Champion in history at Summerslam, HBK faced Hulk Hogan in an Icon vs. Legend match at Summerslam, John Cena’s first epic matches with Edge/Orton/Batista happened at Summerslam, Edge vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell went down at Summerslam. That’s some epic stuff. This event is special. Wrestlemania often holds the rights to the biggest of the big matches. Yearlong stories have been built to bring us to some of the most anticipated battles of all-time. The fact that those matches occurred at Mania certainly helped their causes, but I believe that there have unquestionably been some monumental Summerslam matches that could have easily been top billed bouts at the Show of Shows. The first that comes to mind is Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan. Mr. Wrestlemania vs. Hulkamania (which built Wrestlemania) would undoubtedly have been a match that the millions of people around the world that look forward to Mania each year would’ve salivated over. Given how well the storyline played out and how good the match ended up being, I think it would’ve fit just perfectly onto a Mania like the one in Houston in ’09 or Chicago in ’06. Randy Orton vs. John Cena and John Cena vs. Batista provide two more recent examples of major matches that arguably should have been done first at Mania to capitalize on their effectiveness. Cena, by Summerslam ’07, was definitely the top star in the industry and the foil that Orton’s heel character provided him would have been a perfect fit for either of the two Wrestlemanias that proceeded it. The same could be said for the Cena feud with Batista, which was so thrown together in 2008 and much better handled two years later at Wrestlemania XXVI. Imagine if the great feud that took place in 2010 actually led to the initial encounter between those two guys. Buyrates dropping below 900K may not have been a problem. Undertaker vs. Steve Austin, Bret Hart vs. Undertaker, the return of Shawn Michaels to face Triple H, and even to a lesser extent CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (since that storyline was just so damn good) could’ve all been main-events or headlining matches at Wrestlemanias, but instead served to elevate Summerslam. It just goes to show that Summerslam is a high priority for the WWE, as well. Many of its most memorable moments came when Summerslam played host to classic battles over the Intercontinental title. Wrestlemania has had a few IC title matches that blew everyone’s socks off (i.e. Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper, and Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon in the Ladder Match), but if there is one event where the IC title has shined the brightest, it’s been Summerslam. That trend began in 1991 when Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect had their exquisite battle for the strap at MSG. The Hitman took it to the next level with arguably the greatest match of all-time when he carried British Bulldog to an outstanding bout literally calling out sequences in number that he’d had Bulldog memorize during the week leading up to the PPV. Michaels and Ramon’s second ladder match was certainly not its predecessor, but it was still excellent. It’s difficult to find such high quality in title matches across a four year stretch even at the Granddaddy of Them All. Three four-five star classic matches over one title in just five tries? Impressive. If you factor in what was going to be a four-star match between Steve Austin and Owen Hart before the accidentally horrific neck injury cut the match short of classic status and then follow that up with a ladder match between Rock and Triple H that was ridiculously good for two guys that didn’t belong in a ladder match…that’s 5 in 7 tries. Damned impressive run for the Intercontinental belt, eh? The run would continue with such impressive, albeit less spectacular bouts such as Edge vs. Lance Storm, Chris Benoit vs. Rob Van Dam, and eventually Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler. The IC title has always been based on simple plots and that’s often why it has worked so well at Summerslam. The WWE aren’t trying quite so hard. The WWE always seems to try its hardest during the build-up to Wrestlemania since they know that event is their big cash cow of the year. Sometimes, that works to the detriment of the quality of the PPV. Matches set to feature celebrities and gimmicky things to lure in business from new avenues can work against those Manias, in terms of quality. Summerslam has often been the place where quality came back into play and trumped that of its more heralded cohort. The first Summerslam that I can remember being flat out better than Wrestlemania was 1997 (CMV1 note – Summerslam did a better buyrate than Mania that year, too. The first and only time that’s happened). If the WWE had flip flopped the cards, the event would’ve been remembered as one of the better Manias instead of one of the worst. The same could be said for Summerslam and Wrestlemania 2000, in which interestingly the first official TLC match would’ve taken place at Mania instead of the first-ever, yet unofficial TLC match (the Triangle Ladder match). 2002’s Summerslam was the best WWE PPV of all-time and trumped Rock vs. Hogan; not much you can do about that. 2005 was an excellent Summerslam, as well, and was better than Wrestlemania 21, in overall quality. Summerslam ’06 was right on par with Mania 22. I’m pretty sure most fans would’ve been happier with Summerslam ’09 than Mania 25, sans for Taker-HBK, of course. 1991, 1992, 1998, 2001, and 2008 were all years in which Summerslam and Mania were neck and neck with one another. So, since we’re six weeks from Summerslam, I thought I would just remind everyone that Summerslam can be a pretty bad ass wrestling event. From the glory of the IC title to the Match Made in Heaven to the Hart family to the Highway to Hell to rise of new stars (Hart, Foley, Austin, Trips, Rock, Brock, Angle, Orton, and Punk to name a few) to TLC to the WCW/ECW Alliance vs. WWE to the slam dunk at the Nassau Coliseum (’02) to the first and only match between Hogan and Michaels to the chapters in four of Cena’s biggest rivalries to the last chapter of the Taker-Edge rivalry to the Nexus, Summerslam has provided us with more memories than any other event than Wrestlemania. The Biggest Party of the Summer is coming…pop the top of a beer, park yourself in a comfortable chair, and let’s enjoy the ride… Group A HBK vs. Triple H – 6 pts (38-6 differential) Austin vs. Angle – 6 pts (30-14) Warrior vs. Macho – 0 pts (14-30) Nexus vs. WWE – 0 pts (6-38) Group B Bret vs. Bulldog – 6 pts (31-13) Eddie vs. Mysterio – 6 pts (29-15) Rock-HHH-Angle – 0 pts (16-28) Cena vs. Jericho – 0 pts (12-32) Group C Edge vs. Taker – 6 pts (26-18) Benoit vs. Orton – 3 pts (23-21) HBK vs. Razor – 3 pts (20-24) Eddie vs. Angle – 0 pts (19-25) (CMV1 note – Still the most hotly contested group. This is one of the groups where the final match of the group stage will have a huge bearing on who advances to the next round. The differential is theoretically close enough that Angle vs. Eddie could win and still advance despite having no points, yet. We know that Edge vs. Taker will advance, but what goes with it is still very much in question) Group D TLC 1 – 6 pts (35-9) Bret vs. Taker – 3 pts (28-16) RVD vs. Benoit – 3 pts (16-28) Orton vs. Cena – 0 pts (9-35) (CMV1 note – We’ve got our first big upset of this tournament, with Benoit vs. RVD narrowly upsetting Bret vs. Taker, 9-8 in the voting. To say that I’m surprised by that would be an understatement. Bret vs. Taker is holding on by voting differential, but it is now a prime target to miss out on the knockout stage unless it puts together what would at this point be an unexpected solid showing against TLC in phase 3 of the group stage) Group E Bret vs. Owen – 6 pts (31-12) HBK vs. Hogan – 6 pts (25-19) Hardy vs. RVD – 0 pts (17-27) Taker vs. Orton – 0 pts (14-29) Group F The Rock vs. Brock – 6 pts (34-10) CM Punk vs. Hardy – 6 pts (34-10) Mankind vs. Trips – 0 pts (11-32) Edge vs. John Cena – 0 pts (9-36) (CMV1 note – It now comes down to which match will win the group. They are tied in voting differential, so it all just comes down to which match wins in the final pairings of the group stage. I will be very intrigued to see which one comes out on top. The winner avoids a likely date with Taker vs. Edge in the Round of 16) Group G Mr. Perfect vs. Bret – 6 pts (29-15) Mysterio vs. Angle – 3 pts (23-21) Austin vs. Undertaker – 3 pts (20-24) DX vs. Legacy – 0 pts (16-28) (CMV1 note – Wow! Mysterio vs. Angle smoked Taker vs. Austin 13-4! With that victory, it would take a sheer miracle for what I consider to be one of the biggest main-events in Summerslam history to advance past the group stage. Angle vs. Mysterio is what I voted for, simply because I think that’s one of the most underrated matches in history, but I never expected the majority – especially not the large majority – to vote the same) Group H Brock vs. Angle – 6 pts (36-8) Rock vs. Triple H – 6 pts (29-15) Owen vs. Austin – 0 pts (15-29) Cena vs. Batista – 0 pts (8-36) Group Stage Game Threes Shawn Michaels-Triple H in a Non-Sanctioned Street Fight ('02) VS. Kurt Angle-Stone Cold Steve Austin (’01) Ultimate Warrior-Macho Man Randy Savage ('92) VS. Nexus-Team WWE (’10) Bret Hart-The British Bulldog ('92) VS. Rey Mysterio - Eddie Guerrero in a Ladder Match ('05) Chris Jericho - John Cena ('05) VS. Triple H-The Rock-Kurt Angle ('00) Undertaker - Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match ('08) VS. Randy Orton - Chris Benoit ('04) Shawn Michaels - Razor Ramon in a Ladder Match ('95) VS. Kurt Angle - Eddie Guerrero ('04) The Hardy Boyz - The Dudley Boyz - Edge and Christian in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match ('00) VS. Bret Hart - Undertaker ('97) Randy Orton - John Cena ('07) VS. Chris Benoit - Rob Van Dam ('02) Bret Hart -Owen Hart in a Steel Cage Match ('94) VS. Shawn Michaels - Hulk Hogan ('05) Jeff Hardy - Rob Van Dam in a Ladder Match (’01) VS. Undertaker - Randy Orton ('05) Jeff Hardy - CM Punk in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match (’09) VS. The Rock - Brock Lesnar ('02) Edge - John Cena ('06) VS. Hunter Hearst Helmsley - Mankind in a Steel Cage Match ('97) Bret Hart - Mr. Perfect ('91) VS. Undertaker - Stone Cold Steve Austin ('98) Degeneration X - Legacy (’09) VS. Kurt Angle - Rey Mysterio ('02) Triple H - The Rock in a Ladder Match ('98) VS. Kurt Angle -Brock Lesnar ('03) John Cena - Batista ('08) VS. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Owen Hart ('97)
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