Best and Worst SummerSlam Moments

[IrishCanadian25]

Let's give our buddy Justin LeBar from the main page a little bit of help, shall we? He runs that video segment "Chair Shot Reality," which despite its production budget is actually fairly well executed and features two guys who seem to know their stuff.

Today, they asked fans to e-mail in what they feel the best and worst moments in the long history of SummerSlam are. I'm game. I think it's a great discussion peice. I'll start.

Best Moments

1. Bulldog beats Bret. The sunset flip reversal, the briliant decision by the commentators (McMahon, specifically) to keep their mouths shut during the 3-count, and the ensuing eruption from the capacity crowd at Wembley. Wow, dude.

The amazing thing about the match was how well booked it was and the fact that somehow, despite the match being given the Main Event time slot, Bret worked so effectively that people doubted whether Davey would win or not. Once again, Bobby Heenan proved why he was one of the best 2 or 3 commentators of all time aftr Bret kicked out of Smith's running powerslam, claiming "if he can't pin him after his own finishing move, he can't beat Bret Hart." I bought it. And this match tops all.

2. Bret beats Perfect. Every story has a beginning and an end. The beginning of Bret's singles career was his SummerSlam win over the seemingly unbeatable Mr. Perfect, featuring Bret's kickout from the PerfectPlex. This match was, in many ways, the end of the great era of Curt Henning, who never really recaptured the magic he had in the AWA and early 90's WWF ever again.

3. Elizabeth drops trou, Powers beat Bucks. Going old school here. In the tag team main event of SummerSlam, the "Mega-Powers" (soon to be bitter enemies Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) defeated the Mega Bucks (arch rivals Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant) when Liz removed her skirt, much to the delight of the crowd and distraction of the bucks. Savage and Hogan pounced, and forced heel referee Jesse Ventura to make the 3-count. Cool stuff.

4. The Street Fight. Shawn Michaels was out of the WWF for years, and in the time he was away, his old buddy Triple H took over. When Shawn returned, olive branch in hand, Hunter was having none of it, and the blood feud began. One of the results was the "Unsanctioned" Street Fight at Summer Slam that showed a) Michaels still had it - and may have somehow gotten better, b) Triple H was a legend, and c) Eric Bischoff was a terrific on-screen Raw General Manager. It set up the first Elimination Chamber and provided one hell of a match.

5. Rock vs Brock. Lesnar may have had the most dominant rookie year in history (we've debated it here many times, whether it was him, Goldberg, or WCW Paul Wight), and it was punctuated with a victory at SummerSlam over none other than The Great One, The Rock. The vignettes leading up were as good as the match - Lesnar and Rock training like madmen, Lesnar eventually submerging himself in a giant tub of pure ice water without a twitch in his eye. Lesnar truly dominated Rocky and won clean - signifying the arrival of the man who could have become the most dominant force in wrestling history.

Worst Moments

1. Undertaker vs Undertaker. Hart vs Hart co-main event notwithstanding, this Summerslam was weak, and it was headlined by The Undertaker versus himself. DiBiase's version vs Bearer's version. It was great to have the Deadman back, but the only thing worse than Taker vs Taker were the deadpan Naken Gun promos for the weeks prior. As if this farce needed to become even more ridiculous.

2. Owen breaks Austin. Literally. I was at this event, as it was in NJ, and even from the cheap seats I saw the impact of Owen's awful tombstone to Austin. The cover-up roll-up - really all Owen's effort - was the best they could muster given Austin's state. It's a reminder that this business has such risk attached to it, but damn, that botch totally ruins Austin's win for me.

3. Can't Fight Against the Youth. I have two problems with Randy Orton's win over Chris Benoit at Summerslam to make him the youngest World Champion in history. 1) his subsequent next-month loss to Triple H cheapened it, and 2) the fact that Orton's first reign was shotgunned to get Lesnar out of the record books cheapened it. I can't get past either issue. At least Orton recovered.

4. Ladder Match for Dominick. Wait - so Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio are having a ladder match to determine - CUSTODY OF A CHILD!? Sorry, no thanks. Too out there. Had they suspended the kid by his left foot above the ladder, then maybe, because at least I'd have had something to snicker about, but the booking here was awful, and took the interest out of a spot fest between two all time great spot monkeys.

There are plenty more options out there - which moments do you rank as the best / worst in Slam history?

 

[RendarSelin]

For the best, I would have to definitely agree with the 5 you submitted, but must add another: Hulk Hogan VS. Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2005. Legend VS. Icon. HBK played the heel role going into SummerSlam and went so far as to give Hulk Hogan Sweet Chin Music after a tag team match to ensure Hogan would accept the match.

However, for worst match, I have to stick with just one of your picks: Rey Mysterio VS. Eddie Guerrero, Ladder Match for custody of Dominick. A ladder match between these two should be able to be an instant classic, however, the terrible story combined with Vickie Guerrero's interference at the end (pushing the ladder over while Eddie was about to grab the custody papers) just made it intolerable.

 

[Judah's Lion]

so far, there are only two responses, counting the OP. hopefully no more come in while i'm typing up mine. i hate when that happens.

i'll go with a combination of the first two responses.

best moments: for sure Bret vs. Bulldog and Bret vs. Perfect. for number three in that spot, though, i'll bump up HBK vs. Triple H. just a really good match and it certainly had the build up. plus, i love the matches and feud that followed and became blood bath after blood bath.
besides those three, i'll add the first TLC, if only for nostalgia sake. i was so sure that the Hardy Boyz would win as it was in their home state, but alas, E & C took this win and now looking back, i can see that it was just perfect booking.

for the worst, i'd definitely have to agree with Rey vs. Eddie. probably the worst part about the match was just the sheer disappointment that an instant classic became a suck-fest. terrible writing.
another bad moment in SummerSlam history would have to be when Warrior threatened to no-show the event and literally held the WWF up for more money. i don't know what really went down, but it still was a bad moment regardless.

 

[crimson_mask]

Highlights, first thing that comes to mind is the Bret vs Owen cage match from '94. Debatable if it's better than their Mania clash that year, but who cares when you've got two of the all-time greats having one of the best cage matches in history. Why oh why did the Taker vs Taker debacle have to main event?

Another one is the Taker/Mankind Boiler Room Brawl at '96. Ok so it's not a technical classic or anything, but it's entertaining as hell and a good indicator of the more hardcore direction the WWF would go with the Attitude era. Some sick spots there too.

Honourable mention to the Rock/Triple H ladder match at '98. Great match

Lowlights, I'm thinking Triple H vs Booker T at '07. Obviously Trips wasn't going to lose this one, but does he have to make Booker look like shit every time? It was more forgiveable than WM19, what with Trips being the face this time round. But still, Booker had a really good year, he didn't need to be made to look like a jobber.

Another shittier SummerSlam moment was '99, Rock vs Billy Gunn in that Kiss My Ass match or whatever. Rocky goes from main-eventing WM that year to facing Mr Ass in a throwaway match, clearly he pissed someone off.

 

[Sharpshooter51]

My pick for best and worst moment actually is pretty much the same moment.


SummerSlam 2000, TLC I,

Best: great spots in the match and IMO, the best of the series 3 matches between those 3 teams

(WM2000: Triangle Ladder, TLC I, TLC II at WM X-7)

Worst: The Hardy Boyz should have won this match, it was in their home town, E&C had already won a match in the series and the Dudley Boys didn't need the titles to be over at the time. The Hardyz losing made this match less enjoyable for me.

 

[The Crock]

I think that the best moment was the TLC match at Summerslam 2000. They put on a helluva show with that match and every time I see highlights from that match I remember how amazing those tag teams were.

The worst moment would have to be Rey vs Eddie for custody of Dominick. It was a terrible storyline and to me it made the feud so cheap. The match wasn't even that good, I expected more from these two superstars.

 

[The Holy One]

My pick for the best moment would be:

Summerslam 2008 - Edge vs The Undertaker Hell In a Cell
At the end of a great fued imo, you had a terrific HIAC match that is on the top five in my list and it was main event of the second biggest PPV of the year but it didn't involve the title just two men who wanted to destroy the other. Also Edge's state of mind at that point was the main reason for watching Smackdown at the time

As for my pick for the worse moment:
Summerslam 1995 - Diesel vs King Mabel for the WWF Championship
Now how could have this been a good idea to have for the main event for the title. The main event for Raw would have been fine but SUMMERSLAM! There is no out of place match more than this one was as a main event. The fact that Mabel was King of the Ring and now challenging for the title showed how bad the WWE was at the time. There could have been no one else to compete against Diesel other than him? They should have had Sid face him instead of Big Daddy V. The event itself was all around terrible save for Micheals/Ramon II.

 

[boozinjedi]

I have to agree with HolyOne on worst one,
That match came right after the HBK/Ramon Ladder Rematch....one AMAZING match!!!
Diesel/Mabel just felt flat after that match...the crowd was damn near dead!

My best moment..the fallout from the '91 NYC Jailhouse match..
Mountie:You want my finger?..HERE'S MY FINGER!!
Might have been the 1st "bird" ever flipped on a WWF/E PPV?
And after they locked him up...
A drunk bum walks up to him.."You want to fight my buddy.There's my buddy!"
A big burly biker comes up on him.."Don't you just love the way leather feels against your skin?"

Then they went back to ringside..Piper put it best...
"I think the Mountie found a new friend!"

I died laughing!!

 

[chainsaw steve]

one of my favorite moments was summer slam 1988 when mean gene was interviewing rick rude and the summer slam sign fell down and mean gene says f**k it clear as day, i still crack up every time i see that.

one of the worst moments was the big boss man vs nailz in a nightstick on a pole match, the match itself was about 4 minutes and nailz just vanishes after it putting a quick end to this feud.

 

[DigIt76]

of course the two Bret matches come to mind from 91 and 92, how bout the Warrior beating Honkey in 30 seconds? that was pretty memorable

 

[Gallops]

One of my favorite matches was Austin vs Taker from Summerslam 98. The Hogan vs HBK match at Summerslam 2005 was entertaining because Michaels made a mockery of Hogan with the blatant overselling of every move Hogan did, all because Hogan wanted a one and done fued with him winning, not the multiple match fued with HBK coming out on top.

Worst for me is the entire Summerslam 2001. The whole invasion storyline killed the ppv. Angle vs Austin was the only match that I feel like was built up well, and then the storyline following it just killed it, when Angle turned on the WWE and sided with The Alliance.

 

[Cena_Yogi]

Worst for me is the entire Summerslam 2001. The whole invasion storyline killed the ppv. Angle vs Austin was the only match that I feel like was built up well, and then the storyline following it just killed it, when Angle turned on the WWE and sided with The Alliance.

*he actually turned on the alliance and joined WWE....but still it was a pretty good match

 

[byrnside]

Most of you have picked what would've been some of my top choices already, so I'll go with something fresh.. How about the Rock vs. Triple H from Summerslam '98 in the ladder match for the IC strap? Not as good as HBK/Razor from WMX, but definitely a good solid match by two future hall of famers, and the build up was perfect as it was in the height of the "gang warfare" part of the Attitude Era. Nation of Domination vs. D-Generation X.

And on that note, one of my least favorite moments has to be HBK v. Razor part 2 at Summerslam '95. Weak build as both of these guys were faces, and clearly Vince was trying to cash in on anything at that point.

 

[PanICattAck313]

best moment was bret hart vs mr. perfect, one of the greatest matches of all time. I also think bulldog vs bret was a top moment too, both these matches were with out a doubt fantastic, evan though bulldog was all cracked out the night before and forgot all his spots. Summerslam 91 was definitly though the best summerslam ever.

Worst moment...... Lex luger vs yokozuna all that build up and he wins by countout WTF!!!! then they all come in the ring and lift him like he won the belt. Big letdown

 

[mayankeagle]

Taker vs Faker wasn't that bad that it would be the worst moment. For me, any Hogan moment would be the worst. BTW, Taker vs Mankind at the boiler room brawl which had Paul Bearer turning heel against Taker was epic - anybody in their right mind who has seen Taker/ Bearer together for 6 straight years would NEVER EVER have imagined that betrayal to happen.

 

[Big Sexy]

Best Moments:

1. HBK returning and beating Triple H. Great build up, great match, and just seeing HBK return to action was an amazing moment in and of itself. No one thought he would ever come back and he came back without losing a step.

2. Bulldog vs Bret. The venue was everything here but that doesn't take away from the moment. It was a great match and the crowd went absolutely nuts when Davey Boy got the win.

3. Ultimate Warrior winning the IC title. Everybody loved Warrior and hated Honky. What better then having a hated, long reigning heel lose his title in about 20 seconds to the second most over face on the roster.

Worst Moments:

1. Taker vs Taker. Nothing really made much sense about this storyline and the match wasn't very good. Bad angle + bad match = bad moment.

2. Diesel vs Mabel. This was for the WWE title and no one gave a shit. How Mabel ended up with a main event match I will never know and the fact that he was going against a guy like Nash meant there was zero chance the match would be watchable.

 

[Total Dolph]

Best
Summerslam 2000.. TLC
loved that match, i was really into the tag team scene back then.. i was wondering how they were gonna top that match, but they did it at WM17 the following year.

Worst
Summerslam 2002.. that awful feud between Lillian Garcia and Howard Finkel
just try watching the full segment.. it's bad.

 

[Jacarr]

Greatest summerslam moment or match? im going to give my opinion on both, moment definetly my hero HBK coming out of retirement, i never got to see the pay per view and was pissed, but oculdnt believe he came back, best match still in my top 3 fave matches of all time was Angle vs Austin- cant believe how bad the match gets overlooked, just because it ended in DQ, greatest show of effort and determination by angle kicking out of 3 stunners, angle slams angle locks near falls god i ripped my hair out

 

[The Brain]

I love SummerSlam and there have been a lot of great moments. The best would have to be in 2002 when Shawn Michaels made his return after being out of action for over four years. This was such a huge match. Everyone wondered whether HBK could still put on a good match. Despite the injury and years away from the ring Shawn didn’t miss a beat. He looked just as good as he did before the injury. I remember hoping Shawn could just put on a respectable match and not get hurt. He ended up putting on one of my favorite matches of all time. The highlight for me was when he did his patented kick up after the forearm. This reminded me of the early/mid 90s when the matches were at their best in my opinion.

I’ll agree with the many that say Taker vs. Taker was one of the worst moments. SummerSlam 94 was the first ppv I attended. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat when the main event was about to be announced in the SummerSlam report. To say I was disappointed with the announcement would be an understatement. I just didn’t care for this angle and found the match very boring. Good thing I got to see the awesome Hart vs. Hart cage match.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Best Moments:

Watching Goldberg steamroll through everyone in the Elimination Chamber was unreal. We all knew Bill would probably dominate, but I surely didn't think he was going to be this viscous. Another shocking moment came towards the end of the match. After watching his destruction, we all probably thought Goldberg was going to be the new World Heavyweight Champion, but after a shot from the sledgehammer, Triple H retained his title. This literally shocked the crowd.

Triple H's return at Summerslam 2007 is one of my favorite wrestling moments ever. The Six Million Dollar man style video WWE used to hype his return before the match was awesome. The match with Booker was pretty solid, but this was a great return for Triple H after his second quad tear.

Bret Hart VS The British Bulldog for the IC title at Summerslam 1992 was another favorite moment of mine. The match was good, and seeing the crowd was just unreal. It was another one of those goosebump moments in wrestling history.

I know Shawn went way overboard with the selling in this match(mainly because he wanted to stick it to Hogan) but seeing Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels in the same ring was just great. WWF's biggest star of the 80's versus one of WWF's biggest stars of the 90's. It was a wrestling fan's dream.

Worst Moments:

Jerry Lawler VS Tazz from Summerslam 2000. Why was this on a ppv? The match was bad, and why would I care about a Lawler VS Tazz feud?

Kane VS Khali from last year's Summerslam is another match that had no business being on a ppv. Slow and boring. That pretty much sums this match up perfectly. At least it was a short match.

Batista VS Booker T is another match I couldn't stand. I know Batista and Booker didn't like each other in real life, but the matches they had were just terrible. Not only was this match bad, but it had a silly ending.

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Best Moments:

Watching Goldberg steamroll through everyone in the Elimination Chamber was unreal. We all knew Bill would probably dominate, but I surely didn't think he was going to be this viscous. Another shocking moment came towards the end of the match. After watching his destruction, we all probably thought Goldberg was going to be the new World Heavyweight Champion, but after a shot from the sledgehammer, Triple H retained his title. This literally shocked the crowd.

Triple H's return at Summerslam 2007 is one of my favorite wrestling moments ever. The Six Million Dollar man style video WWE used to hype his return before the match was awesome. The match with Booker was pretty solid, but this was a great return for Triple H after his second quad tear.

Bret Hart VS The British Bulldog for the IC title at Summerslam 1992 was another favorite moment of mine. The match was good, and seeing the crowd was just unreal. It was another one of those goosebump moments in wrestling history.

I know Shawn went way overboard with the selling in this match(mainly because he wanted to stick it to Hogan) but seeing Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels in the same ring was just great. WWF's biggest star of the 80's versus one of WWF's biggest stars of the 90's. It was a wrestling fan's dream.

Worst Moments:

Jerry Lawler VS Tazz from Summerslam 2000. Why was this on a ppv? The match was bad, and why would I care about a Lawler VS Tazz feud?

Kane VS Khali from last year's Summerslam is another match that had no business being on a ppv. Slow and boring. That pretty much sums this match up perfectly. At least it was a short match.

Batista VS Booker T is another match I couldn't stand. I know Batista and Booker didn't like each other in real life, but the matches they had were just terrible. Not only was this match bad, but it had a silly ending.

I agree I like HHH's Return at Summerslam 2007 and his Match with Booker T was pretty solid. I loved it after he won he fell to both knees and just looked up into the sky like saying Thank U.

Bret Hart/Mr Perfect at Summerslam 1991 is an awesome Match and seeing Bret win his 1st IC Title still gives me chills when I see it. I watched that Whole Summerslam again not too long ago and its still one of my SS PPVs.

Bret Hart/British Bulldog at Summerslam 1992,nuff said on this one as it was just an awesome Match and atmosphere in the UK that night.

Undertaker's Return last year at Summerslam I loved it when the lights went out and he was laying in the Ring and CM Punk looked down in horror,just great stuff.

Goldberg despite losing,going through almost everyone in the Elimination Chamber at Summerslam 2003.

DX's Tank Entrance at last year's Summerslam was just off the page awesome and

So those are just a couple of my Favorite Moments from Summerslam over the years.

 

[Megatron]

Best Moment: HBK returning after 4 years and beating HHH. Was an awesome match and blew everyones expectations away, considering that HBK was gone for as long as he was. HHH smashing him with the sledgehammer after getting beaten was a nice touch, too. Can't say much more that hasn't already been said from other people.

Cena/Orton match from 07 is honorable mention.

Worst: Khali and Batista's abortion of a match at the same event. Not only was it poor quality, but it was short and ended in a crappy DQ. Christian/Regal from 09 would fit in this spot as well. Potential to be a show stealer, instead we get 10 seconds of crap.

 

[CanadianCrippler12]

Best: I would have to choose HBK vs Triple H from Summerslam 2002 because it was Shawn's comeback match had it had a certain aura around it.

TLC I from Summerlam 2000 was new and innovative for it's time and it was fun to watch, and it was a great match, with alot of very good spots like Jeff swantoning through two tables.

Worst: Jeff Hardy vs RVD in a Ladder match for the Hardcore Championship, it was botch after botch and to be honest it wasn't that interesting for an RVD vs Jef Hardy match.

how about the thong stinkface mnatch from Summerslam 2000, two women that couldn't wrestle for crap, but I guess they needed filler before Kane vs Undertaker