WWF SummerSlam 1995

August 27, 1995

From the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, PA

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler

Dean Douglas is backstage in his satellite classroom where he defines the word “dean” and then promises to be conducting “Summer School” all throughout the show.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi

We are shown the clip from today’s “Action Zone” where Barry Horowitz defeated Hakushi after Skip’s failed interference on Hakushi’s behalf. We can see the Stridex blimp floating around the arena. And ring announcer Manny Garcia announced Kid as hailing from “Minnesota, Minneapolis.” They start off fighting over a wrist lock then Kid takes him down with an arm drag and the two end up in a stalemate. Lawler talks about “royal” surprises popping up all night as we get another stalemate after a fast-paced sequence. Neither guy can gain the advantage until Hakushi catches Kid with a throat thrust. Kid counters a powerbomb with an arm drag but ends up getting caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Hakushi hits his handspring elbow smash in the corner and gets some cheers then stomps away in the corner. Hakushi taunts the crowd as we’ve slowed down since a fast-paced start. Hakushi stalks Kid then kicks out his legs a few times. Hakushi slams Kid then uses a Vader Bomb for a two count. Hakushi now works a nerve hold of sorts then skies him with a back drop before kicking him through the ropes. Hakushi then flies out with a Space Flying Tiger Drop. Back inside, Hakushi hits a flying shoulder tackle for a nearfall then slams him before going back up top but he misses a diving headbutt as both men are now down on the mat. Kid wins a slugfest then takes Hakushi outside with a dropkick. Kid then flies out with a springboard plancha and rolls Hakushi back in and hits a slingshot leg drop for two. Kid heads up top now after a slam and hits a frog splash for two but charges and gets caught in a powerbomb as Hakushi gets the win (9:29) ***1/4.

Thoughts: Some excellent stuff here although there was a minute or two where the match struggled as Hakushi seemed lost on offense. These guys worked at a fast pace for most of the match displaying innovative offense. Hakushi, who lost to Horowitz the day this show aired gets a win back over Kid, who has been directionless since returning from injury. Anyway, fun opener that the crowd enjoyed.

Dok Hendrix is backstage jumping up and down like a child asking King Mabel about his royal plan. Mabel tells him he will have to wait like the rest. Mabel then tells Diesel the plan with British Bulldog was not the biggest one and Diesel will have to wait and see. Another corny promo from the King.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob “Spark Plug” Holly

Helmsley is repulsed by Holly being a racing hick from Alabama and stalls but ends up getting slammed. Helmsley ducks between the ropes then cheap shots Holly and chops away in the corner. Holly catches Helmsley with an elbow then charges and is caught with a hotshot in an awkward spot as these two seem to be struggling to get on the same page. Helmsley hammers away in the corner as Lawler says race car drivers are not athletes with Vince saying he wants to see Lawler in a go kart or even a bumper kart. Helmsley whips Holly hard into the corner and gets some cheers then the crowd cheers again as Helmsley stays on the attack. Vince says he has word that British Bulldog is arriving to the arena as Helmsley hits a suplex then drops a knee for a two count. We go split screen and see Bulldog arriving to the arena and heading to the locker room as Helmsley as Holly in an abdominal stretch. Holly reverses but Helmsley takes him over the top rope with a hip toss. Vince brings up Helmsley’s undefeated streak as Holly is dragged back into the ring. Helmsley ducks his head for a back drop and ends up getting hit with a DDT as both men are down. Holly counters out of a tilt-a-whirl and dropkicks Helmsley as both men are down. Vince puts over the Pedigree as Helmsley charges and gets hit with an inverted atomic drop. Holly tries to fire up the crowd and gets a tepid reaction as he now runs wild on Helmsley. Vince talks about Holly “building momentum” but he ducked his head and Helmsley hits the Pedigree for the win (7:12) *. Helmsley even gets some cheers for his win.

Thoughts: This match was disappointing and the crowd did not give two shits about Holly. The only story this had going in was whether or not Helmsley would remain undefeated and considering his opponent I think it was a foregone conclusion. Hell, they seemed more happy with Helmsley’s win than anything else. We also see

We cut to the 1-2-3 Kid at the AOL chat backstage. He’s all smiles despite losing because he gets to talk to all of the great fans or something like that.

We get a video package of the WWF Superstars around the city of Pittsburgh.

Barry Didinsky is in the aisle shilling the new Diesel t-shirt that reads “Big Daddy Cool” on the back that comes with a free three-month subscription of WWF Magazine.

Jacob & Eli Blu w/ Uncle Zebekiah vs. Smoking Gunns

On TV the past week they’ve been hinting that the winner of this match would become the #1 Tag Team Title contenders. Billy starts off as we get the “is it Jacob or Eli” game from the announcers. It was Jacob and he runs over Billy to start. Eli tags and drops a few elbows before tagging back out but Billy takes him down with a cradle for two. The Gunns now take control as Bart is in the match working Eli’s arm. Jacob snaps Bart’s neck off of the top rope as the ref was distracted for some reason then we see Bart come back with a crossbody on Jacob for two. Billy tags in and gets caught with the H Bomb as the front row cheers. Jacob covers after pacing around and gets a two count then places Billy in the tree-of-woe and kicks away. Vince says you need to be a “computer whiz” to keep track of the Blu Twins as Billy gets worked over in the corner. Eli is in now and hits a knee drop for two as the camera pans over to Zebekiah playing with his beard. Eli hits a powerslam for a nearfall as the announcers think that was very close. Billy comes back with a mat slam as both men are down. Jacob tags in but so does Bart and the latter runs wild. Jacob boots Bart down but after that the Blu Twins collide then the Gunns hit the Sidewinder for the win (6:11) *1/2. We then see a replay of the finish and after that the Gunns slap hands heading up the aisle and at one point Gunn holds his hand out and several fans in a row leave him hanging.

Thoughts: Just a basic tag match here with two teams not really featured in anything. I guess with the win that the Gunns will receive a title shot soon but this crowd was not a fan of their act.

We get a video package on the Skip/Barry Horowitz feud.

Skip w/ Sunny vs. Barry Horowitz

Sunny talks on the mic on the way down the aisle and says they were cheated twice but the third time is a charm and even refers to Horowitz as “Horriblewitz.” We now have Horowitz come out for his first entrance with theme music, which is essentially the Casio keyboard version of “Hava Nagila.” Horowitz runs right to the ring and hammers away. Horowitz lands a knee drop then a jawbreaker before taking Skip down with the high knee. Horowitz slides outside and decks Skip then his suspenders hang down and he takes Skip down with a dragon screw before clotheslining him over the top rope. Horowitz slingshots Skip back into the ring but gets tricked in the corner. Skip hammers away but Horowitz escapes and uses a reverse rollup for two. Horowitz then suplexes Skip to the floor and gives himself a pat on the back but Sunny runs into the ring and yells at the ref trying to stop the match, who responds by kicking her out. Sunny leaves the ring as the crowd does not seem to care as Vince all but says this was a dig at the Peter McNeely finish during his fight against Tyson since Sunny is now back to ringside. Skip attacks Horowitz from behind and hits a suplex then uses a flying leg drop but neglects to cover and instead stands over him and flexes. We get a chant for Horowitz as Skip hits a gutwrench suplex then goes to the middle rope for a fist drop. Skip plays around and celebrates with Sunny before choking out Horowitz with his foot. Vince says that a win will guarantee Horowitz a WWF contract as he runs over Skip and covers for two. Sunset flip gets two for Horowitz but he ends up running into a clothesline afterwards. Skip stretches out Horowitz and then catches him with a powerslam and does jumping jacks. Skip hits a few running leg drops then flexes as we see Sunny talk into the camera about the third time being a charm. Skip covers for two then grabs a chin lock as Vince brings up Horowitz making it to a WWF PPV. Horowitz fights back but Skip pokes his eye. Both men end up on the mat after attempting dropkicks at the same time then Skip gets up first and goes up top for a moonsault attempt but Horowitz cuts him off with a dropkick. Horowitz heads up and gets knocked down and Skip hits a flying headbutt for two as he decided to yank Horowitz up as the announcers are shocked. Skip tries a piledriver but Horowitz counters with a back drop. Horowitz then avoids a kick and decks Skip before connecting with a dropkick. Horowitz is dazed then heads up top but Sunny shakes the ropes and he crotches himself. Skip then hits a superplex as the camera once again zooms in on Sunny speaking into the camera. We now see Hakushi head down the aisle as Skip is distracted. Hakushi takes off his hat and jacket and gets up onto the apron. Hakushi springboards over everyone and rolls outside as Skip is dumbfounded but as that happens, Horowitz catches Skip with a small package for the win (11:22) ***. Vince does the “Horowitz wins” call as Horowitz celebrates with the fans going nuts. Horowitz then heads up the aisle and sees Didinsky shill the first Horowitz shirt as Horowitz is ecstatic and even shouts out his mom.

Thoughts: A blast to watch as Skip once again gets his comeuppance and the underdog Horowitz picks up another win and even a WWF contract. With Hakushi now costing Skip a match those two should be doing something going forward. The crowd loved the finish as its a great story everyone can get behind. As far as Horowitz’s theme song,

The Report Card with Dean Douglas. He defines the word “vivify” and goes over the finish of the last match and calls the outcome a travesty. He gives the referee an “F” grade for failing to see Skip being distracted and that Horowitz gets an “S” for “slacker.” This was the same shitty material but the promo was cut more in style of ECW The Franchise Shane Douglas than whatever monotonic teacher he was supposed to be playing.

Todd Pettengill is backstage with Shawn Michaels. We get a clip of some of the ladder falls from the WrestleMania X match as Shawn said his loss in their first ladder match has been eating at him and has everything to lose and nothing to gain but needs this win for himself. Shawn said this title is the most important thing in his life and refers to himself as the greatest Intercontinental Champion ever.

WWF Women’s Title Match: Bertha Faye w/ Harvey Whippleman vs. Alundra Blayze (c)

During Blayze’s entrance Vince said “that’s a she” because Garcia indavertently referred to her as “he.” Bertha and Harvey blow kisses at each other then Blayze avoids Faye and drops her with an enziguiri. Blayze then uses a leg sweep as Lawler makes fat jokes about Faye. More kicks from Blayze until she gets run over a few times. Faye blows a kiss to the crowd as Harvey is smitten. Faye seems to have supposed to catch Blayze with a sleeper but it was way off and they play it up as a hair pull. Faye rakes the eyes then heads to the middle rope but misses a splash. Blayze goes up top and uses a victory roll for two. Blayze uses several knee smashes but Faye fights back and uses a slam. Blayze bridges out of a pin attempt and hits a few clotheslines but Whippleman distracted the ref during the pin attempt. Blayze goes after Whippleman then yanks off his jacket. Blayze then runs inside and uses a crucifix for two. Faye knocks down Blayze but Blayze comes back with a hurricarana for two. Blayze hits a pair of missile dropkicks but whiffs on a third attempt then Faye hits a powerbomb for the win to become the new champion (4:39) *. Lawler now does a “Bertha wins” chant as Harvey gets down on one knee to give Faye the belt. After the match, Jim Ross goes down the aisle to interview Faye & Whippleman and gets yelled at by Whippleman for getting too close to his woman. Faye says she is the beauty and has the belt to put around her “slim fast” waist. This ends with Faye & Whippleman skipping up the aisle.

Thoughts: This was an ice cold match with no actual build shown on TV. In fact, these two haven’t been on TV in months. The ending looked bad and the rest was repetitive. Blayze chasing makes sense but they need to add more women to this division if they want people to care.

Vince plugs the Superstar Line.

We get a video package on the Kama/Undertaker feud.

Casket Match: Kama w/ Ted DiBiase vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer

Undertaker heads right after Kama and beats on him in the corner. Undertaker then drops Kama with a lifting chokehold but wastes time being distracted by DiBiase and gets attacked from behind. Undertaker throws Kama over the top rope and Kama lands on top of the closed casket and freaks out to head right back into the ring. Undertaker regains control and hits his ropewalk attack then the casket opens and we get camera shot of the “coffin camera” as Kama gets tossed into the casket a few times but gets back out. Kama snaps Undertaker’s neck off of the top rope and hits a flying clothesline but Undertaker sits up. Kama sends Undertaker into the corner with a spin kick then catches a corner splash attempt from Undertaker and hits a slam. Undertaker sits up again but Kama kicks him and knocks Undertaker into the casket. Kama then is sent over the top and into the casket as Undertaker makes an attempt to go out and shut the top but DiBiase saves Kama with a distraction. Kama heads back in to attack Undertaker and beats on him for a while. Vince says that Blayze is now on the WWF Superstar Line as Kama continues to hammer away. The crowd chants “rest in peace” as Undertaker avoids a charge but ends up getting clotheslined outside and falls on top of the casket. Kama knocks Undertaker off of the apron where DiBiase puts the boots to him as Bearer yanks off his jacket and runs towards DiBiase while two refs restrain him. Kama heads outside but Undertaker fights back. Undertaker rams Kama’s head off of the stairs but runs into an elbow smash. Kama picks up Undertaker and runs him into the post. Kama then suplexes Undertaker on top of the casket then tries to open the casket like a moron as Undertaker is lying top. Kama uses a baseball slide and lands a few headbutts before trying a piledriver but that ends with Undertaker backdropping him into the ring. Another “rest in peace” chant starts up but Kama is able to catch Undertaker with a powerslam then covers and looks for the ref but again, this is a casket match. Undertaker sits up so Kama puts him back down with a chin lock. Kama puts his feet on the ropes for leverage but Bearer knocks them off and smiles while practically strutting away. Kama grounds Undertaker with the chin lock in the middle of the ring. And this lasts for a while until Undertaker breaks it up with a Saito suplex. Kama is up first then starts working the back. Undertaker avoids a kick and starts delivering kicks of his own until Kama decks him. Undertaker comes back with a flying clothesline then clotheslines Kama over the top rope and also spills over as both men end up in the casket. The coffin cam is all blacked out with both guys inside with the lid shut. Kama is almost out but Undertaker holds on to his leg and drags Kama back inside and punches him out. Kama is in the casket but able to escape and head back into the ring. Kama uses a swinging neckbreaker but after that whiffs on a clothesline and gets dropped with a chokeslam. The crowd goes nuts as Undertaker signals for the tombstone then he hits that and eventually rolls Kama into the casket for the win (16:27) **1/2.

Thoughts: This got a lot of time and I liked it a lot more than I remembered. Take away that lengthy chin lock spot and it would have been even better. The crowd loved Taker and I also thought that Bearer was tremendous on the outside. Despite being stuck in a lot of poor feuds throughout the year Undertaker remains over with the fans as this was also ice cold heading into the PPV.

We see a brief shot of Blayze at the AOL chat as we get a video package hyping the new WWF Fall Season.

A video package hyping Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem airs.

Pettengill is backstage with Bret. He doesn’t care about Yankem and might just knock all of his teeth out. Sadly, we did not get any “The SummerSlam” comments from the Hitman.

Dr. Isaac Yankem DDS vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart

Bret tries a waistlock but Yankem spins him off. Yankem hammers away in the corner. Bret avoids an elbow drop then fires away until Yankem rakes his face. Yankem lands more punches in the corner as Lawler cracks jokes about Stu & Helen Hart. Yankem misses a running elbow smash in the corner then Bret drops him with a clothesline. Bret hits another clothesline and then sends Yankem over the top rope with a clothesline before flying out with a pescado. Bret roughs up Yankem then uses a reverse rollup for a two count. Backslide gets two. The camera cuts to a concerned Lawler on commentary then Yankem catches Bret and drops him throat-first across the top rope. Yankem taunts the fans after whipping Bret hard into the corner as Lawler gives him a standing applause. Yankem drops Bret with a lifting chokehold then chokes him out with his foot. Yankem drops an elbow for two then stretches him out but Bret escapes and uses a rollup for two. Yankem beats Bret down as Lawler rants about the awfulness of tasting Bret’s foot. Yankem gauges Bret’s face then sends him over the top rope with a clothesline. Yankem taunts the fans again as Vince brings up the doctor’s bag Yankem brought to the ring. Yankem heads out to ram Bret into the post. Bret gets up on the apron and Yankem chokes him on the ropes then as Bret is draped over hits a springboard leg drop that barely made contact as that gets two. Bret avoids a few attacks but gets dropped with a clothesline to the back of his neck. Yankem hits another clothesline for a two count as Yankem rolled outside on the kickout. Bret then flies out with a tope and hammers away before sending Yankem into the steps. Back inside, Bret hits a running bulldog for two. Russian leg sweep gets two. Bret hits a backbreaker then drops an elbow from the middle rope before giving the crowd a thumbs up. The crowd goes nuts as Bret turns Yankem over for the Sharpshooter then Lawler leaves the desk and puts Yankem’s hand on the ropes. The ref yells at Lawler then Bret goes back and elbows Yankem. Bret yells at Lawler then sees Yankem charge and backdrops him outside. However, Yankem trips Bret up and drags him outside then sends him into the steps. Yankem rolls Bret inside and heads up top but Bret slams him off then starts punching away. Lawler remains at ringside as Bret slides out and crotches Yankem against the ring post then ties his feet together. Bret heads back in and stomps Yankem as the ref heads out to untie Yankem. Lawler tries a sneak attack then leaves the ring but Bret heads out and beats him down until Yankem flies off of the top with a double axe handle. Yankem rolls Bret back inside but Bret ducks a clothesline and hits a flying forearm. Lawler trips up Bret and distracts him so Yankem could attack from behind. Lawler & Yankem double-team Bret and tie his neck in the ropes and the ref rings the bell for the DQ (16:11) ***. They both choke Bret out as the ref desperately tries to untie Bret from the ropes. A few other officials run out and the goof squad runs out and finally get Bret out as he is now on the mat.

Thoughts: Bret put on a clinic here as Yankem, despite being a rookie for the most part, was able to hold up his end. The finish made sense if the Bret and Yankem feud is continuing as you dont want to have Yankem lose in his debut then continue to feud with Bret. The stuff with Lawler was fun and another match where the crowd was into things. In his biography, Bret put over Yankem for his willingless to learn and listen and told him after the match he should be proud of his performance.

An ad for the next In Your House PPV Airs. It will take place on September 24th.

We come back and Bret is helped to his feet as the crowd cheers. Bret then shakes off the officials and leaves on his own.

Dok is backstage with Razor Ramon. He asks if history will repeat itself as Razor says it will. Dok refers to Shawn as the “Evel Knievel” of the WWF by taking any chance he can but Razor says both Shawn’s body and career is on the line and Shawn’s pain gives him pleasure and if he’s ready to dance, Razor leads. On this show, Dok has been interviewing the heels and Razor has shown more aggressiveness the past few weeks on TV.

WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (c)

We see Barry Didinsky selling the Shawn Michaels Collection with gloves and glasses that come with a poster. We then see the cable drop from the ceiling where the referee clips the belt. Dok has now replaced Lawler on commentary. Both men look up at the belt and walk towards each other to talk trash. They shove each other then slug it out as Razor wins that battle. Razor pulls up on the ropes to avoid the super kick after a fast-paced Irish whip sequence. Shawn fires away in the corner but tries a float over and Razor did not bite as Razor almost hit Shawn with the Razor’s Edge. Shawn fires away but Razor whips him into the corner and Shawn goes up and over to end up on the floor. Razor heads up the aisle for a ladder but Shawn attacks from behind. Shawn brings Razor back to ringside and tries to suplex him back inside but Razor reverses and Shawn takes a brutal flat-back bump on the floor with one leg hitting the guardrail. Holy fucking shit did that look painful. They go back inside where they avoid each others finishers and end up with a double clothesline. They fight up top and that ends with Razor hitting a super fallaway slam as Shawn already taking multiple insane bumps in the first five minutes. Razor brings a ladder to the ring as we see Sid watching backstage on a monitor. Sid faces the winner on the 9/11 Fall Premiere of RAW. Shawn tries to baseball slide the ladder into Razor but misses and gets decked. They head back inside where Shawn finally takes control. He tries to set up the ladder and hits Razor as Vince says it was inadvertently. Shawn climbs and kicks Razor off then tries to reach but Razor tips the ladder over as Shawn’s leg got caught between a rung on the fall. Razor now attacks the knee as we see a replay of the fall. Razor takes Shawn’s knee out with the ladder as Vince seems legit mad and says “I’m not so sure about that” then Razor Slams Shawn so his knees hit the ladder. Razor lays the ladder across the middle turnbuckle then softens up Shawn’s knee but Shawn kicks him off and Razor’s previously injured ribs go right into the ladder. Razor comes back and tosses Shawn’s injured knee off of the ladder and continues to attack the knee. Shawn tries to fight back but Razor catches him with a drop toe hold and goes back to attacking the knee. Vince talks about their WrestleMania X match as Razor climbs the ladder but Shawn knocks him off with a flying double axe handle. Razor gets up first and climbs the ladder but Shawn meets him halfway up and hits a back suplex. Shawn is up first and fires away and sends Razor into the ladder that was leaned up against the corner. Shawn positions the ladder in the other corner and whips Razor again then kicks him down. Shawn slams Razor and now sets up the ladder in the corner to climb and takes Razor down with a moonsault block that did not quite make it all the way but he fired away afterwards and the crowd loves this shit. Shawn heads to the absolute top of the ladder for a splash but Razor rolled away as both men are down again. We get a double feature of the moonsault then see Razor set up the ladder to climb for the belt. Shawn grabs the opposite side of the ladder and the two are on their knees and slowly climb. They slug it out near the top of the ladder and it ends with both tipping over and hitting the ropes as Razor spills outside while Shawn is still in the ring but on the mat. Razor is on the apron then Shawn picks up the ladder to knock him off but Razor moved away and Shawn spills outside. Vince goes on about Gorilla Monsoon giving the fans what they wanted to see by changing the originally scheduled Shawn vs. Sid match to this. Shawn takes the ladder into the ring but Razor pulls another ladder from underneath the apron. Shawn climbs and Razor cuts him off and hits a Razor’s Edge after a struggle as the fans go nuts. Razor sets up the ladder he brought into the ring as Shawn crawls over to the other ladder and stands it up and slowly climbs up. Both men reach then Shawn kicks Razor off of his ladder. The crowd goes shithouse as Shawn leaps and reaches for the belt but misses and crashes to the mat. Razor then tries for the Razor’s Edge but Shawn dumps him over the top rope with a back drop then climbs the ladder again. Shawn once again reaches and pulls but the belt did not come off as Shawn falls. Shawn is visibly pissed and slams the other ladder then dramatically replaces the ladder he climbs and gets the belt and falls down to the mat with it for the win (25:06) ****3/4. After the match, Razor shoves the ref out of the way and takes the belt from Shawn. Dok wants Razor to hit Shawn but Vince yells for him to stop as we just saw an “extraordinarily athletic event.” Razor then gives Shawn the belt and raises his hand and the two hug while fireworks go off.

Thoughts: This was one hell of a match. Before the match, the guys were told they could not use the ladder as a weapon as at the time, Vince was reportedly afraid that the talked about “V Chip” a device inside of a cable box that theoretically would block shows deemed violent for children, would be used on WWF shows. So, the guys came up with the match and apparently Hunter Hearst Helmsley helped the guys lay out a lot of the match as well. Shawn took what seemed like at least a dozen insane bumps here. In his 1995 WWE Timeline with Kayfabe Commentaries, Kevin Nash said the amount of bumps Shawn took here resulted in him becoming crazy with drugs due to the pain. As far as the finish, according to the “Something to Wrestle With” podcast, Bruce Prichard said it was the second leap for the belt was supposed to be the finish of the match but after Shawn could not get the belt to come down he got pissed and finally did it on the third attempt. Prichard also said that it was Pat Patterson’s idea to add a second ladder to the match. The teases of a Razor heel turn and playing off of their first match 17 months prior were all laid out to near perfection.

The Report Card with Dean Douglas. He defines the word “bad” and said tonight the entire world sat in awe as they saw why Razor Ramon is called the “bad” guy and defined the proper definition of the word bad but Razor comes in to interrupt. He tells Douglas he doesn’t need any armchair quarterbacks and how Douglas is all fluff and no stuff. Razor goes to leave and Douglas tries a cheap shot but gets decked. Razor leaves and Douglas responds by angrily raking his nails across the chalkboard. According to Prichard, Vince wanted to strap the rocket to Douglas so to speak as a heel by feuding with Razor. Let’s see how that turned out.

We now learn that WrestleMania XII will take place at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA on March 31st.

Pettengill is with Diesel, who says he does not care about Mabel’s royal plan and promises to get “medieval.”

WWF World Title Match: King Mabel w/ Sir Mo vs. Diesel (c)

Dok says we know that Bulldog is in the building and in a quieter voice says we know that Lex Luger is at home as Vince says he doesn’t know if that’s true. Diesel hammers away to start. Mabel then runs Diesel over a few times as Vince keeps repeating the weight of the competitors. Mabel chops Diesel in the corner before choking him out. Diesel comes back with a pair of clotheslines in the corner then tries a slam but Mabel sends him down with clubbing forearms. Diesel comes back and sends Mabel through the ropes with a flying shoulder tackle. Sir Mo distracts the ref as Mabel paces around on the outside. Diesel then flies out with a plancha and tries to whip Mabel but it gets reversed and Diesel’s back rams into the post. Mabel tries for an avalanche but eats a big boot as Vince tells the cable operators they are taking this show to the “max.” They go back inside where Diesel beats on Mabel in the corner as this crowd couldnt care less. Mabel then plants Diesel with an uranage for two then hits a sit-down splash on Diesel’s back that looked like it absolutely killed and I’ll have more on that in a bit. Mabel uses a chin lock that looks like complete shot as Diesel powers out. Mabel runs Diesel into the corner and uses a slam and now Mo is on the apron for some unknown reason and in the process, Mabel inadvertently knocks the referee through the rope. Mo comes in and helps Mabel attack Diesel. We now see Luger run in to help but it did nothing and Diesel even clotheslines him over the top rope since he is unsure of his alliance with Bulldog. They go outside where Mabel hits a leg drop on the floor. Luger gets up and beats on Mo and they fight up the aisle. Back inside, Mabel hits a belly-to-belly suplex as the ref rolled inside but Diesel is able to kick out at two during the dramatic slow count Mabel goes to the middle rope and misses a splash then Diesel goes to the middle rope for a flying clothesline and that gets the win (9:17) 1/2*.

Thoughts: The crowd was dead and following the ladder match did not help in that department. However, Mabel was not a challenger the fans bought despite efforts on TV and all this talk about the royal plan was a dud. The work was poor and Luger running out he just seemed like a total afterthought and after seeing Bulldog arrive he never even appeared on the show proper. And a shitty flying clothesline as a finish was not ideal but just to end things was good enough for me. And this is the third straight terrible main event title match on a PPV. Going into this match, Diesel was wrestling with a back injury and told Mabel to go easy on his back. Mabel then responded by crushing his back with a sit-down splash and backstage after the show, Diesel was livid and claimed that Vince offered to fire Mabel but that he told Vince it was just a mistake. Prichard said in his podcast that after this match they could not trust Mabel in a top heel spot because even besides this incident he had a rep of injuring talent. Mabel said in his shoot interview with “Pro Wrestling Diaries” that he suggested to Vince he beat Diesel then have Diesel chase him but Vince told Mabel he was being built up so the champ could “slay the giant.” Hey, why not vouch for yourself, right?

Vince now kicks it over to Todd Pettengill as part of “SummerSlam Plus” as I guess this is what Vince meant when he wanted the cable companies to stick to the entire end of the show. We see Todd Pettengill in some sort of conference room set up with WWF Interim President Gorilla Monsoon and the Tag Team Champions, Owen Hart & Yokozuna, along with Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji. The Tag Team belts are placed on a table. Gorilla states that at the next In Your House PPV, the champs will defend the titles against Shawn Michaels & Diesel. Cornette goes off but Gorilla then adds how both the WWF World Title and Intercontinental Titles are also on the line here so for example, if Owen pins Shawn then Owen also becomes the Intercontinental Champion. The heels then smile as we now have our PPV main event before the current PPV broadcast ends.

A video highlight package of the show airs.

Final Thoughts: Sure, there was some crap on this show, particularly the main event, but we also had a classic match and a few other pretty good matches too making this a fun show overall I thought. Shawn came off as the biggest star once again and it showed how the fans still loved Bret and Undertaker and the fans were into much of the show besides a few undercard matches and the main event, unfortunately, but the other stars put on a fun show and the Horowitz win was a genuinely great moment. I recommend this show.

Here is my schedule for the next several days:

Sunday: WWF Superstars 9/2/95, WWF Action Zone 9/3/95

Monday: WWF Superstars 9/9/95, WWF Action Zone 9/10/95

Tuesday: WWF Monday Night RAW 9/11/95

Wednesday: WWF Superstars 9/16/95

Thursday: WWF Monday Night RAW 9/18/95

Friday: WWF Superstars 9/23/95

Saturday: WWF In Your House 3 9/24/95