411's Roundtable Review: Summerslam 1995
Posted by Ryan Byers on 08.15.2006
Isaac Yankem, The Blu Twins, The Bodydonnas, Bertha Faye, and King Mabel on the same show? It's like they were trying to bomb!
And now it's time for 1995. Summerslam 1995, that is. After trucking through the late 1980's and the early 1990's, we have landed here, amid the darkest days of the World Wrestling Federation. It takes a special type of wrestling fan to get through a show like this, and we've got three of that breed here today to help you out.
- Up first, it's my man and yours, Stuart Carapola. He's here every week until the end, and he's also here weekly with This Week in Hardcore and That Was Then.
- Joining Stuart this time around is Larry Csonka, our fearless leader. I would link to everything that he writes, but I'd be guaranteed a case of carpal tunnel syndrome for even attmepting it.
- And finally, it's Roundtable Review debutant Brad Garoon, the man whose last name sounds oddly like a pair of syllables that the Great Kahli would yell out during a promo. Check out his video review archive here.
These three are going to take on Summerslam 1995, one of the few pay per views in history in which the WWF realized that they had a stinker of a card on their hands before it aired, shuffling the card a little bit just so there would be a better series of matches. That shuffling involved pulling Sid from the show and thus creating a ladder re-match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon . . . one of the few instances of a charge changing that you will not hear fans complaining about. Elsewhere on the show, Bret Hart was given the task of carrying an unknown commodity to a good match, Alundra Blayze had an opportunity to live up to her surprisingly good women's match from the previous year, and Diesel and Mabel locked it up in a match that absolutely nobody was willing to give a chance.
Match Number One: Hakushi vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
Larry Csonka: A perfect choice to open the show in my opinion. When you have guys that can go at the level of Waltman (back then) and Hakushi, you let them do what the do best. They did some crazy shit, especially at the time, including Hakushi debuting the Space Flying Tiger Drop to the North American PPV audience. This was 9-minutes of great action, very different for most of the WWF audience and something that was cool as shit to see live. If Hakushi would have done the praying powerbomb, this would have been perfect.
Stuart Carapola: Great match. I look back at matches like this and bemoan the fact that neither guy really got a major singles push back then. Hakushi got the win, but he'd soon become a semi-jobber while the Kid got a decent push in a feud with Razor Ramon.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick alert: Tattooed Japanese Warrior and Future Drug Addict. This match was the same day that Barry Horowitz, my brother from another mother, beat Hakushi after Skip distracted him. You've got to dig the double talk that is Lawler trying to sell the marks on Hakushi's body as both tattoos and unique to each match. They do a rope-running segment that I'm sure was impressive at the time but pretty standard today. Now I don't recall much of Waltman's moveset from this era, but Hakushi does what may be the original incarnation of the Bronco Buster in this match. He hits the Space Flying Tiger Driver as well. I can't think of an earlier match featuring that move either. Hakushi picks up the win by reversing a leg lariat to a powerbomb. This match was just loaded with high risk moves that I'm sure were rare for the time, but the curse of the spot-fest reared it's ugly head as the crowd cheered the moves but nothing in between. Rating: **¾
Match Number Two: Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Bob Holly
Larry Csonka: If this match happened now I figure it would be much better, but at this time it wasn't. Holly was stuck in the Racecar driver gimmick and was devoid of personality at the time. HHH was far from being the cerebral assassin and was extremely limited of offense. It was about what you would expect from these guys in 1995, bad, and the only thing that happened of consequence was that my friend almost got kicked out after tossing a drink at HHH after his match.
Stuart Carapola: This is the PPV debut of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who you know today as Triple H. Not much to say here other than that, Helmsley beat Bob Holly with the Pedigree.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Rich Snob and Race Car Driver. Helmsley was undefeated here. His win-loss record these days isn't too far off from that. It's still a trip to look back at how skinny Triple H, and to a lesser extent Bob Holly, were eleven years ago. Not much goes on in the match, mostly just Hunter dominating with dull offense, and the commentators are more interested in the arrival of the British Bulldog, who hates Diesel and is not scheduled to be on the Pay Per View. A surprisingly big bump comes when Hunter hiptosses Holly over the top rope to the floor. He comes back with a DDT and what was not yet the best dropkick in the world. Helmsley picks up the win by blocking a back bodydrop and hitting the Pedigree. That's two matches in a row that saw the finish come as part of a reversal, and I dig it. Rating: *½
Match Number Three: The Smoking Gunns vs. The Blu Twins
Larry Csonka: This match was nothing more than a match to get the Smoking Guns over. This match was a big piss break for about half of the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. This was boring, slow, sloppy and felt like it lasted all of eternity; when in actuality it was maybe 6-minutes. Nothing to see here, move along.
Stuart Carapola: I was surprised at the outcome of this one, because the Gunns had been mostly forgotten in the wake of their loss of the Tag Team Title to Owen & Yokozuna, while the Blu Twins (Ron & Don Harris) were being treated as a fairly big deal. Of course, a couple of months later the Gunns would have the tag title back and the Blue Twins would be gone from the WWF, so I guess that just goes to show what I know.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Cowboys and Mountain Men. The Blus are famous Neo Nazis the Harris Brothers. Billy Gunn this the Rocker Dropper very early in the match, and moves on from it in a way that would never make you think he'd one day use it as a finisher. The Gunns do some cool double-teaming of one of the Blus. They come back with the H-Bomb, but that too is not yet a finisher. The Gunns pick up the win with a guillotine legdrop. This was shockingly solid for a six-minute match. Rating: **
Match Number Four: Barry Horowitz vs. Skip
Larry Csonka: Thankfully we were treated to some damn fine wrestling action! Since I was a fan of the GWF, I always had a love of Barry Horowitz. Horowitz was a career jobber for, well, about 98% of his career but got the chance here on PPV due to getting a "fluke win" off of Skip (Chris Candido) on Superstars or one of those shows from back in the day. This was about 11-minutes of really solid wrestling, with Horowitz playing the under dog to perfection and getting another "shocking" win. Unfortunately his push was done at this point, which was a shame because I think he had some good mid-card mileage, and possibly even a IC title feud. Fun live match as well.
Stuart Carapola: The story was that, after years of never getting a single win in his career, finally scored his first victory in what basically amounted to a fluke, over Skip. Skip was incensed, and challenged Horowitz to a rematch where he said he could beat Horowitz in less than ten minutes. Horowitz went the full ten minutes and officially won a second match. The third match was here, and despite Sunny throwing in the towel (a joke based on a Mike Tyson fight from days earlier), Skip stayed in it. Unfortunately for Skip, Hakushi came back out to the ring. Skip had accidentally caused Hakushi to lose to Horowitz as well, and Hakushi distracted Skip long enough for Horowitz to pin him yet again. I thought this was great stuff, but unfortunately Horowitz never got a serious push and was gone from the WWF by 1996.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Fitness Guru and Loser Jew. Horowitz takes offense to Sunny's promo and charges the ring, taking control over skip. The crowd is heavily behind Horowitz, showing that the WWF really could get anyone over when they least expect it. The big bumps continue as Horowitz suplexes Skip from the apron to the floor. Sunny tries to throw in the towel but Hebner is having none of it. He says it's not boxing, but the whole point of having a corner person is to decide if their wrestler can't continue. The match is mostly Candido choking and such until both men go for dropkicks. Skip makes the classic heel mistake of lifting Horowitz up at 2 after having a sure fire win, and sure enough Horowitz picks up the win with a small package when Hakushi distracts Skip. Bad match, good angle. Rating: ½*
Match Number Five: Alundra Blayze (c) vs. Bertha Faye for the WWF Women's Championship
Larry Csonka: Bertha was no Bull Nakano. This match was ass to the assest degree and the WWF Women's division was dead at this point. Alundra would win the title back quickly after this, but then make the trip to WCW where she trashed the belt on Live Nitro. Another bathroom break for the Civic Arena faithful.
Stuart Carapola: This surprised me, but I don't have much to say other than that. Blayze got the title back a couple of months later, then took the belt to WCW Monday Nitro and threw it in the trash on live TV, which caused McMahon to orchestrate the Montreal Screwjob so it wouldn't happen again. I guess maybe this DID have some significance.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Female Wrestlers.
Blaze uses her kicks to get Faye off her feet. Faye starts to use her size to take control. The rest of the basically consists of fat wrestler moves. Faye picks up the win and the title when she dodges a dropkick and hits a sit-out powerbomb. The match, much like Faye's entire gimmick, was pretty much a joke. Rating: *
Match Number Six: The Undertaker vs. Kama in a Casket Match
Larry Csonka: If you have never been at a live event in which the Undertaker makes his live entrance, you are missing something. While it comes across today as very hokey, it was tremendous as a younger wrestling fan. Also at the time I really dug the "Kama: The Supreme Fighting Machine" gimmick as he looked bad ass. This was of course off of the heels of Kama stealing the urn and making it into some BLING~! For a Taker casket match, this was actually quite good as they played up the psychology of Kama being afraid of the casket and Kama destroying the back of the Undertaker. The match went way too long, but popped the crowd huge and I loved the entire thing back then.
Stuart Carapola: Slow, plodding casket match that everybody knew Taker was going to win. The Undertaker was suffering from some serious career stagnation at this point.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Zombie and Karate Champion. Undertaker's catchphrase being "rest in peace" has always confused me. If he hates Kama for hurting his creatures of the night then why would he want his soul to rest without being tormented? The match goes on for a few minutes without anything of note until the casket it opened for the first time and we get to see the casket cam. Undertaker actually hurricanranas Kama into the casket at one point, sort of. Paul Bearer wins moment of the match when he forcefully charges at Ted DiBiase who was beating the Undertaker on the floor. Taker is insanely over here. Kama wisely tries to choke Undertaker out so that he can roll him into the casket. Undertaker hits a Cactus clothesline and both men fall into the casket. The lid closes and the match should really be over as a draw at this point. The cheaply made casket then pretty much falls apart. Moments later Taker hits the chokeslam and the tombstone piledriver and then rolls Kama into the casket for the win. This was long, dull, and the clothesline spot was stupid. Rating: ¼*
Match Number Seven: Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem
Larry Csonka: Isaac Yankem DDS, the personal dentist for Jerry Lawler sent for revenge against Bret Hart. The crowd hated the DQ finish as we wanted to see Bret win, but again we were treated to a really good match as Bret had the working boots on in a big way. Lawler was great at ringside, heeling it up, and he had the crowd in his hands. Glen Jacobs showed that he had promise in disguise of a bad gimmick, and thankfully would later find success as Kane.
Stuart Carapola: Not a knock on Yankem, who's a good worker and all, but an evil dentist?? Even a 16 year old mark like me thought it was pretty ridiculous, even though calling his DDT the DDS was pretty funny. Bret won by disqualification when Jerry Lawler interfered, because I guess you can't have a former two-time World Champion beating a dentist in their first meeting. You have to build to something like that, you know? By the way, Isaac Yankem is now known as Kane on Raw.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Dentist and Canadian CrybabyThis was part of the Hart/Jerry Lawler feud that started at King of the Ring 1993, got put on hold while Bret was champion, and then started again at King of the Ring 1995. I believe that this is Glen Jacobs' first match ever with the WWF. It probably would have been funnier if Kane's horror movie had turned out to be The Dentist 3. Yankem is moving ten times faster here than he does today as Kane. In the middle of the match he drapes Hart over the top rope and comes down on him with a top rope legdrop. Lawler gets involved in the match but it's not enough to stop Hart. He ties Yankem's feet around the post and goes to work on him. He beats Lawler on the floor but Yankem comes off the top turnbuckle with a double ax handle. Yankem and Lawler tie Bret's head between the top and middle ropes and Yankem gets disqualified. Lousy finish aside, this was a good debut for Yankem, but it was against Bret Hart as part of a hot feud so it would have been asking a lot to keep his momentum going. Rating: ***
Match Number Eight: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinetal Championship in a Ladder Match
Larry Csonka: Now this is the shit that we are talking about. I remember being excited to be going to a WWF PPV, but when they announced this match I was totally sold. Their WrestleMania match is legendary and that was a lot to live up to, but they busted their asses and put on a match worthy of the first one. While not the ***** classic of the first match, it was such a spectacle to be there live and witness this back then. It is one of my three awesome live experiences, right up there with Foley vs. taker in HIAC and the Radicalz WWF debut.
Stuart Carapola: This was another excellent match with even more innovative spots, and pretty much was everybody's match of the year by default. This time Michaels came out the winner, and thank Gary we got this instead of the originally planned Michaels-Sid match. We did get Michaels-Sid weeks later on Raw, and in all fairness it wasn't too bad, but it was also the source of the famous "he beats the big guy with three superkicks" line from Eric Bischoff which pretty much set the Monday Night War off.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Effeminate Pretty Boy and Greasy Puerto Rican. HBK was in phenomenal shape here, and not at all in need of the haircut that he so desperately should get today. Well, the mullet is lame, but he's not balding is what I mean. I'll say this about Ramon, he threw one hell of a punch. The matches first great touch comes when HBK desperately attacks Ramon the first time he goes for the ladder, playing off their first match where he was left helpless hung in the ropes as he watches Ramon take the title. Ramon then suplexes him from the apron to the floor, but his foot slams against the barricade on the way down. The momentum stays strong as they dodge each other's finishers and clothesline each other down. Everything in this match is just flowing so well. HBK takes another nasty bump to his leg when Razor tries to knock him off the ladder and his foot slips into it as he falls. Michael's selling is top notch, not even being able to run the ropes. Razor goes to town on the leg, hitting a shinbreaker on the ladder amongst other things. One of those other things is Razor straight dropping the ladder on Michael's knee like as an afterthought jerk. As HBK back suplexes Razor off the ladder it becomes apparent that the winner will have to stand on the very top rung of the ladder to reach the belt. Unfortunately a knock against the match comes up when, after all the great leg work HBK suddenly and completely stops selling. Also some of the spots look forced, like HBK and Razor nudging the ladder so that it falls as they fight on top of it. Back on the positive side, Ramon pulling Michaels off the ladder with the Razor's Edge is awesome. Michaels almost kills himself going for the belt, missing it and hitting his shoulder on a downed ladder on his landing. The finish gets botched when Michaels positions the ladder poorly and falls while trying to grab the belt, but Razor is down on the floor long enough after a backdrop to the floor for Michaels to have a tantrum and then get the belt on his second try. The match was pretty great, but a far cry from the original. The finish was weak and they fell into a few ladder match traps, but it still destroys everything else on this show. Rating: ****
Match Number Nine: Diesel (c) vs. King Mabel for the WWF Championship
Larry Csonka: Quite honestly this was one of the worst matches I have ever seen live, and I've been on the Indy scene and even wrestled in some of those bad matches! Diesel as champion, while not a great financial deal, wasn't that bad as the dominant world champion. King Mabel on the other hand was a horrible challenger and should have never been put into the place of having to work a PPV main event. Totally the wrong way to end the show, and I can remember leaving feeling as if my wallet was just raped.
Stuart Carapola: Now, this match was particularly consternating for me, because I got some bad info before the show. I was at this comic shop where the guy who ran the place was a big wrestling fan. He supposedly had some inside knowledge of what was going to happen over the next few weeks, and told me that Mabel would beat Diesel for the WWF Title at Summerslam and Michaels would lose the IC Title to Razor, then a couple weeks later on Raw Michaels was going to beat Mabel to get the WWF Title. Just goes to show what that guy knew. Anyway, Diesel beat Mabel to retain and Mabel went back to being fat.
Brad Garoon: Gimmick Alert: Man-Truck and Fat Rapper. I have to note that earlier in the show Mabel screwed up the "fool me once" saying. He got this title shot on the strength of his King of the Ring tournament win. His mohawk is out of control here. Speaking of things that are out of control, Mabel is totally useless here. I honestly think that Diesel could have had the exact same match with some guy he found on the street that day. Mabel takes out the referee so that Mo can interfere. Lex Luger runs out to get his shots in on Diesel but actually has less luck than Mo. Mabel hits a legdrop on the floor and then Luger fights with Mo to the back. Well, that's certainly a confusing situation. Diesel picks up the win when he dodges a second rope splash and hits a second rope shoulder block. What a joke of a main event. Rating: DUD
Final Thoughts
Stuart Carapola: Summerslam 1995, while not a blowaway show or anything, was a better show than it is given credit for. There was some dumb stuff, yes, but overall I thought, and still think to this day, that it was a fun show. Not much in the way of ***** matches, to be sure, but to this day it inexplicably remains one of the most memorable PPVs for me.
Brad Garoon: The main event is a complete bust, that's a given. As for the rest of the show things start out well enough but then it hits a streak of awful. The Bret and Shawn try to save things near the end, but when you finish things off with one of the worst main events in SummerSlam history then you've run into an uphill battle.
