Happy Wednesday Everyone!
I’m still finding shows I think will be interesting in this format so I’m sticking with it for the time being before I can stumble across something new to do on Wednesday’s. I mean, WrestleCrap has been doing this sort of feature for years already of course, so it’s not like I’m treading new ground or anything, but hopefully you’re all enjoying reading them.
Today we’ve got SummerSlam 1993, a show best known for Lex Luger “Doing A Luger” by failing to win the WWF Title in the Main Event in a pretty infamous example of the company deciding not to strike whilst the iron was hot and thus cooling off the guy who was supposed to be the new Hulk Hogan.
Today I’ll take a bash at the event to see if I can rustle up a fun show. SummerSlam 93 wasn’t a particularly bad show from an in-ring perspective, just some of the booking and finishes left a bit to be desired, so it’s hardly like it’s a terrible effort that something like Great American Bash 1991 already was. This is a show where there is good potential for me to ruin with my tinkering, as at least most of the other shows I’ve written about were recognised as being generally bad, so it wasn’t like I could make an already bad show any worse.
SummerSlam 93 is mostly alright though, so there’s a real chance I could get this badly wrong. Let’s see if I do! It’ll add an interesting to wrinkle if nothing else I guess.
If you’d like reminding on the real life card, I’ll post it below;
Card « WWF SummerSlam 1993 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database
So the first big change is that Lex Luger is out of the Main Event, with his babyface turn never taking place. This is because keeping the Main Event as is and just putting Luger over feels almost too easy a solution, and probably not the most interesting of reads, so I’ve decided to challenge myself a bit and try someone else in the role.
This is where you think I’ve either made a good choice or gone bonkers. For you see, the wrestler I’ve selected to body slam Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid is none other than Crush. Yes, shaka brah, the man from Kona, Hawaii himself. Don’t make kids cry in his presence brah!
I’ve actually sat through the entire body slam challenge on the WWE Network (No, I don’t know why either), and Crush got by far one of the biggest reactions from the crowd and he almost managed to slam Yoko, so in this continuity we’ll let Crush get the slam and then we’ll pair him up with Randy Savage as his friend/second so that he has help with his promos. Hopefully the fans will take to Crush (I don’t think we’ll bother with the bus thing like the WWF did with Luger, although the “Crush Bus” doesn’t sound too awful) and by the time we hit SummerSlam in August the amassed crowd will be fired up to see Crush take the belt from the evil faux-Japanese sumo.
With Lex Luger remaining Heel, we’ll return to his feud with Mr. Perfect so we can add another chapter to that. They didn’t have an especially great match at WrestleMania IX, but hopefully they can do a bit better this time.
Perfect’s match with Shawn Michaels was a bit of a let-down, so we’ll go with Shawn cockily challenging 1-2-3 Kid instead. We also won’t bother with Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez stretching their feud out here. We’ll have Taker beat him on Raw or Superstars and then send Jorge on his way. Undertaker can struggle with Mr. Hughes on this one, which should be ever so slightly less rubbish an opponent.
Chunks of the card we’ll keep the same, because some of this show is quite good. Right, let’s have a look at how the new event shapes up.
Opening Match
Ted Dibiase Vs Razor Ramon
7 Minutes
This is fine as an opener, so we’ll keep it the same. Razor wins and Ted goes off to All Japan.
Match Two
WWF Tag Team Titles
Champs: The Steiner Brothers Vs The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette
10 Minutes
Another match we’ll keep the same. The Steiner’s pick up the win and their home state fans enjoy it.
Match Three
Lex Luger Vs Mr. Perfect
12 Minutes
Our first change of the evening sees Luger and Perfect renewing their rivalry that started at the beginning of the year. Luger won at WrestleMania IX, so Perfect picks up the win here when Luger tries the old back slide trick again but the referee catches him and Perfect uses that as a chance to snatch a pin of his own, thus setting up a rubber match down the line.
Match Four
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champ: Shawn Michaels w/ Diesel Vs The 1-2-3 Kid w/ Marty Jannetty
10 Minutes
The story for this one is that Michaels challenges Kid on the TV building up to this, because he’s cocky and thinks it will be an easy match, but then Kid gives him an almighty fright and almost wins the belt before Diesel has to intervene. It should be a hot match and I’m hoping the crowd will get really into Kid’s near falls. It’s also a better use of Kid’s momentum than having him do a job for IRS, as who really cares about IRS?
Match Five
Doink The Clown Vs Bret Hart
9 Minutes
As in real life
Match Six
Jerry The King Lawler Vs Bret Hart
7 Minutes
Again, we stick with real life here, as this whole Lawler/Hart section of the show is gold and great fun.
Match Seven
Casket Match
Mr. Hughes w/ Harvey Whippleman Vs The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
8 Minutes
They were doing an angle where Hughes stole the urn, so Taker brawls with him here and then sends him packing from the WWF. It’s hardly going to be a good match but it should at least be better than the Giant Gonzalez match due to Hughes at least bordering on the realm of competent, and the fact he doesn’t have to get pinned to lose should hopefully keep his whinging to a minimum.
Match Eight
Genichiro Tenryu w/ Mr. Fuji Vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan
5 Minutes
I’m not bothering with Ludvig Borga so let’s bring in Tenryu instead and push him with some wins. The WWF had a relationship with SWS/WAR at the time I believe, so it shouldn’t have been too difficult to get Tenryu in for some matches, especially if he was allowed to get wins. He can send Duggan packing from the territory here by getting the win with his elbow drop from the top rope, as I’m not sure Duggan would be up for getting Powerbombed or Brain Busted. He’s a potential opponent for someone like Bret Hart or Crush in the autumn or winter, and we can keep him aligned with Yokozuna and occasionally have him bring some WAR guys in to tag with.
Match Nine
Bam Bam Bigelow, Fatu and Samu w/ Luna and Afa Vs Tatanka, Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn
12 Minutes
We’ll keep this one as it was in real life, as it’s a really fun match and the live crowd loved it.
Main Event
WWF Title
Champ: Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette Vs Crush w/ Macho Man Randy Savage
10 Minutes
You don’t need to stretch this one out to 15+ minutes. Yoko and Crush will both suit a shorter match better, and ten minutes is plenty for Crush to get his shine, for Yoko to work some heat and for Crush to make the big gallant comeback. You don’t need to have Crush get the submission win with the Cranium Crunch, but I think he should definitely slam Yoko once again and then maybe drop a big elbow or something to pick up the clean win. Hopefully if Crush has been kept strong over the summer and Savage has done a good job gassing him up in promos, the fans should be happy to see Crush win and you’ve got a new star. Let the balloons and confetti fall, let the babyfaces come down for the big celebration, and have Crush make a big show of thanking Savage for all his help.
In Conclusion
Going with Crush will probably be the most controversial idea here, and I can totally get why some will think I’m crazy, but in my opinion I just think he would have been as good an option as Luger, especially as we’re pairing him up with Savage. Ultimately the goal here is to still do Crush Vs Savage at Mania X, except with it being for the belt. You can either have Crush get jealous of his mentor and turn on him Larry Z style, or you can go the Mr. Wrestling II route with Savage and have him go evil on his friend and protégé. Both of those stories work, and you can see how crowds react to the ongoing relationship between the two in order to decide upon which direction to go in.
Doink not doing a clean job means you can theoretically give him some wins and then have him challenge Crush at some point due to them having the backstory of Doink defeating Crush at WrestleMania. Ultimately I want to do a feud between Doink and Undertaker because I think the evil clown taking on the undead zombie would be an interesting story. No one is going to really buy Doink as a physical threat to Undertaker, but you could play up that he might be one of the few people who is actually a match for him psychologically. You can have both Doink and Taker get involved in each other’s business, perhaps with Taker thwarting a Doink attempt at doing the “Twin Doinks” trick again when challenging Crush for the Title?
Other potential challengers for Crush could be Shawn Michaels, due to the two having prior history with one another, Tenryu is an option and you can probably get some rematches out of Yoko as well. Michaels and Doink having previous victories over Crush would make them the obvious choices for Title matches at some stage as it would allow Crush to avenge his previous defeats in order to establish him as a worthy Champion. Tenryu if he’s built properly and available for enough bookings could make a solid challenger as well.
Luger and Perfect are now tied at one win apiece on pay per view, so you can potentially run it again or maybe start a more organic babyface turn for Luger where he gains respect for Perfect over the course of their battles and eventually helps him out to go babyface? I know some knock Luger as a babyface, but once Crush is done with Yoko you could still realistically go with Luger turning Face and then taking on Yoko at Mania X in an All-American Vs Foreign Menace match.
Just loosely based off this, my Mania X card wouldn’t be too different from real life, but I’d just have some of the matches in a different order;
Main Event
WWF Title
Champ: Crush Vs Randy Savage
Jeff Jarrett, The Headshrinkers, IRS and Adam Bomb Vs The 1-2-3 Kid, Men on a Mission, Bob Holly and The Earthquake
Semi-Main
Ladder Match for the WWF Title
Champ: Razor Ramon Vs Shawn Michaels
Doink The Clown Vs The Undertaker
WWF Tag Titles
Champs: The Quebecers Vs The Steiner Brothers
Yokozuna Vs Lex Luger
Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vs Tatanka and Alundra Blaze
Owen Hart Vs Bret Hart
We still get Owen/Bret and Shawn/Razor, so the show should hopefully still be a thumbs up even if the Main Event isn’t amazing from an in-ring perspective.
I think my version of SummerSlam 1993 sets the table well for a few things going forward, but I can completely understand if some of you think I’ve done a worse job than what the WWF put on the table. Like I’ve said previously, outside of some questionable finishes the original isn’t too bad of a show, so it’s not like there was much that really needed changing outside of fixing some of the finishes. Maybe Crush will succeed in being the next Hogan in a way Luger couldn’t or maybe he’ll crash and burn, but I’d be intrigued to see how things would go for the WWF had this been the real SummerSlam 1993 card.
Please feel free to share your own booking ideas and opinions in the comments section and I’ll see you all next week!