What the World Was Watching: WWF SummerSlam Spectacular (1993)

Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon provide commentary, taped from Poughkeepsie, New York, the same location as the recent Monday Night RAW.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Yokozuna (WWF Champion w/Mr. Fuji) (24-2) beats Hacksaw Jim Duggan (15-2) after the Banzai Drop at 8:18 shown:

These two had a hot feud to start the year. It had run its course by this point but the match provides a televised blowoff for fans who did not see the house show matches between them. The crowd is invested throughout even though the only offense Duggan can muster are fists. Yokozuna is not moving as easily as he did the previous year, showing some of the ill effects of his weight gain. At the seven-minute mark Duggan knocks Yokozuna down with three clotheslines. He sets up for the three-point stance version but Fuji trips him, a distraction that allows Yokozuna to avalanche Duggan and hit his finisher afterward. After nearly a year on the roster, Ross finally gives Yokozuna’s finisher a name: the Banzai Drop. This was a decent big man match and was a great exhibit in how to work a crowd with few moves. Just like Yokozuna ended Hulk Hogan’s WWF run, this ended Duggan’s six-year tenure with the company. He was told to wait until they had something new for him to do but the call never came and Duggan ended up working for WCW the following year. Rating: **

After the bell, Yokozuna gets ready to do a second Banzai Drop but WWF officials race into the ring to prevent that.

Jim Cornette greets the victorious champion and Fuji in the locker room. All three are interviewed by Vince McMahon. Cornette gives an amazing promo about how Lex Luger has turned Yokozuna into a rabid dog and that Luger has taken things too far to earn any mercy from the champion at SummerSlam.

Monsoon makes a funny comment that SummerSlam might be Yokozuna’s “last supper” before Ross hypes the SummerSlam Hotline. Call 1-900-420-SLAM to hear daily interviews with WWF superstars and play the WWF Championship Challenge Game for 99 cents per minute!

There is a video recap of the Razor Ramon-Ted DiBiase feud.

Razor Ramon (20-3-2) pins Blake Beverly (1-4) after the Razor’s Edge at 6:08:

It is revealed that Aaron Neville will be singing the national anthem at SummerSlam. Blake uses some new tights, inverting the Beverly Brothers colors so that white is the primary color and purple is a secondary one. After fighting over a wristlock and test of strength, Blake backdrops Ramon over the top rope and removes the corner turnbuckle, whipping Ramon into the exposed steel to get the advantage. Blake is not able to do much with it, though, and Ramon reverses another whip into the corner and transitions that into the Razor’s Edge. Ramon needs to break this habit in feature matches of taking a bunch of punishment and only doing his finisher to win. Rating: *½

Jerry Lawler does an “on location” King’s Court, sitting with an Elvis impersonators in a pink Cadillac. They talk about what it is like for people to try to impersonate them, with Lawler ranting about Bret claiming to be the King of the WWF. He promises to break Bret Hart in half at SummerSlam.

To rebut Lawler’s segment, Ross does a satellite interview with Bret. He repeats his desire to avenge his family and calls Lawler a “phony king.” Bret has shown good fire in his promos for this feud and Lawler’s creative jokes about his family have set the stage for a heated encounter at SummerSlam.

The Smoking Gunns & Tatanka defeat Reno Riggins, Barry Horowitz & the Brooklyn Brawler when Tatanka pins Riggins with a body press off the ropes at 7:05:

The babyfaces are facing an all-star squad of enhancement talents tonight. Instead of having the babyfaces bowl over the team to hype their chances at SummerSlam, it is played out like a competitive bout and Billy ends up in peril. Monsoon is flummoxed over the booking, calling out the babyfaces for not being prepared. Billy avoids getting pinned by a Horowitz Northern Lights suplex, Riggins jawbreaker, and Horowitz knee drop, and when the hot tag occurs, Tatanka clears house and finishes Riggins with a body press off the ropes. There were lots of questionable decisions in the match layout and one wonders why Tatanka decided not to use his finisher. Rating: *½

Gene Okerlund does an in-ring interview with the Undertaker. He says that the RIP match is when he takes Giant Gonzalez’s flesh and extracts his organs. Gonzalez makes his first appearance in more than a month, coming to the ring with Harvey Wippleman. The big man tells the Undertaker that he will rest in peace at SummerSlam. The Undertaker removes his coat and hat but by the time he is done, Gonzalez and Wippleman have left the ring. Booking Gonzalez as a cowardly heel is lame as it is unbecoming of someone with a massive height advantage over the Undertaker.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Shawn Michaels (Champion w/Diesel) (22-5-1) beats Bob Backlund (13-3-1) with a roll up and using the tights at 6:12 shown:

Backlund must have been embarrassed over Doink the Clown outwrestling him on the June 20 edition of Wrestling Challenge as he has not appeared on television since. Despite that, he is given an Intercontinental title shot tonight. His 1970s power style works well as Michaels bumps generously for it. Michaels’ time in control is not exciting as he works a long front facelock. Backlund gets a close near-fall from a swinging neckbreaker and Diesel hops on the apron when Backlund delivers to his old atomic drop finisher. When Backlund breaks the cover to confront Diesel, Michaels rolls him up and uses the tights to retain. Rating: **½

A new “Who is Lex Luger?” video package discusses how it is not his choice about being a role model and he wants to be someone that people can emulate. He also tells young fans that they should never let someone tell them that they cannot do something.

McMahon interviews Ludvig Borga, who declares that he is in the WWF to destroy everyone and make them feel pain. That starts with Marty Jannetty at SummerSlam.

Marty Jannetty (16-3-1) pins Duane Gill after the flying fist drop at 3:15:

Jannetty ends a busy week on WWF television by outmaneuvering Gill with a flying headscissors, superkick, DDT, and the flying fist drop.

Cage Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (Champions) (30-0) beat Money Incorporated (12-3) after escaping the cage at 18:00 shown:

This serves as the blowoff for the Steiners-Money Incorporated feud. Conventional tag team rules do not apply as all four men are in the ring at the same time and the winner is the first team to get both of its members out of the cage. Going through the door is not an option. The teams make a lot of escape attempts, probably too many as it prevents a lot of sustained action as everyone keeps trying to run out like a glitch in a video game. When he tries to escape, Scott keeps getting the worse for wear, taking a suplex near the top of the structure from DiBiase and then taking a bigger superplex from Irwin R. Schyster. After Scott and IRS inadvertently whip their tag team partners into each other, they climb out of the cage, leaving Ted DiBiase and Rick inside. When Rick gets up first, IRS decides to re-enter the ring to go after Rick to give the challengers a two-on-one advantage. That leads to Scott coming off the top of the cage with a flying axe handle to IRS. A two-on-one advantage is exchanged several times after that spot. The Steiners look like they are on the verge of winning after putting DiBiase in a Tree of Woe but IRS gets back in the cage to keep the champions from escaping. Late in the match, Scott fights off both members of Money Incorporated, making Rick decide not to re-enter. Then Rick cuts off IRS’ escape by putting him on his shoulders in an electric chair position. That produces a creative, hot finish where Rick keeps IRS on his shoulders despite DiBiase getting to the floor and desperately hitting him over and over. Scott escapes to the floor before Rick gives out thereby allowing the Steiners to keep the titles. This may not have had as many conventional moves and it did take a while to get going but the successful escapes and re-entries continued to build drama to the point that the crowd was in a frenzy. It is easily one of the best WWF cage matches. Rating: ****¼

The Last Word: The steel cage match at the end was a fitting end to the Steiners-Money Incorporated feud and stole the show. The opener between Yokozuna and Hacksaw Jim Duggan was good in its own way, as was Shawn Michaels’ title defense against Bob Backlund. The show tried to build interest for the big SummerSlam matches but that only succeeded with the main event as Giant Gonzalez looked terrible in his segment and Mr. Perfect was barely discussed when Michaels wrestled Backlund. Also, why would anyone think the Heavenly Bodies were going to beat the Steiner Brothers after they won a war like the main event? It is too bad that Ted DiBiase’s exit meant that the WWF wanted to use him to build up Razor Ramon because doing the tag team cage match at SummerSlam in front of a Michigan crowd would have generated an insane amount of heat.

After the WWF held television tapings they went to the West Coast with their consolidated touring group. Here were the results of one of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

San Francisco, California – The Cow Palace – August 20, 1993 (4,700): The 1-2-3 Kid beat Doink the Clown…Bastion Booger defeated Owen Hart…Giant Gonzalez beat Randy Savage via disqualification when Savage used a chair. Mr. Hughes attacked Savage after the match…The Undertaker pinned Mr. Hughes after a chokeslam…WWF Champion Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart in a cage match after Mr. Fuji threw salt in Bret’s eyes, allowing Yokozuna to leave via the door…WWF Tag Team Champions the Steiner Brothers beat the Headshrinkers…Mr. Perfect, Marty Jannetty & Tatanka defeated Shawn Michaels, Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow in an elimination match when Perfect was the sole survivor after pinning Shawn Michaels with a slingshot into the ring post. Earlier eliminations saw Diesel pin Jannetty after a punch, Tatanka and Bigelow eliminate each other with a double count out, and Diesel get disqualified after breaking up a Perfect pin attempt on Michaels.

Backstage News*: The WWF drew its largest crowd for a regular house show on August 21 when 15,000 fans attended a seven-match show at the Anaheim Pond in Anaheim, California. The card was headlined by a Yokozuna-Bret Hart cage match. The show drew a $155,000 gate. That was less than the recent Madison Square Garden show that drew a $225,000 gate but it is more proof that the consolidated touring idea has legs. Due to that schedule change, the WWF had to cancel shows for a Canadian touring look in Thunder Bay, Ontario; Winnipeg, Ontario; and Brandon, Manitoba.

-The Justice Department brought former WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd in for grand jury testimony in their investigation of Vince McMahon. He was questioned about Tully Blanchard’s firing from the WWF in 1989 for a failed drug test and WCW’s subsequent revocation of a $250,000-per year deal to Blanchard. Herd denied that McMahon or Pat Patterson communicated with him about Blanchard’s termination, which Blanchard has long held was retaliation for trying to get a dozen wrestlers to go to WCW after Survivor Series.

-The Undertaker missed some house show matches this week from a rib injury due to playing softball.

-In talent relations news, Gene Okerlund will finish working for the WWF after SummerSlam. Okerlund has had a strained relationship with Vince McMahon in recent years, was not happy with a new deal that he was offered, and was not wanting to live in Connecticut. He is going to be heading for WCW, who are reportedly offering him a $250,000 contract and 35% of the revenue generated by WCW’s 900 number. WCW was originally going to get a package deal of Okerlund and Bobby Heenan but Heenan backed out before negotiations got serious.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for August 30.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for August 28!