Best Summerslam ever? 2002!

[kurt_angle_no1fan]

Just watched Summerslam 2002 and have to say this is one of my favourites and probably the best ever. 2 awesome main events of HBK/Triple H and Rock/Brock and the mid card was very strong aswell...Rey/Angle, RVD/Benoit, Jericho/Flair, Eddie/Edge.

I wont go into to much detail but a few things I would liuke to point out about this event.

Cole & Tazz - Awesome work from these 2. I used to love Smackdown around this time, not just because it had the stronger roster but because of Coles enthusiasm. I preffered these to King & JR. Why is Cole such a dullard nowadays?

Kurt Angle - He was about to hit his prime around this time (2003 was his year for me). He looks huge at this event.

Undertaker - His American Bad Ass character! I actually preffered this to his Dead Man character. It is much more believable and it allows Taker to have personality, his promos are actually very good with the shackles of the Dead Man off!

Chris Jericho - The Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla. I dont like Jericho nowadays, much preffered his "Rock Star" gimmick.

HBK vs Triple H - What a match for HBK to return to. It was brutal and probably the best match these 2 ever had against each other. A great co main event. Triple H also as a heel, where he belongs....oh and as The Game!

Rock vs Brock - The Rock passes the torch to Brock. For 2 big men, this was very fast paced. It was great to see The Rock put Brock over cleanly. The crowd were split on Rock! He got his ass booed! Kinda reminded me of Hart vs Austin from WM13. The face got booed, the heel got cheered. Rock was a tad stale at this stage, he left juts after and returned a new man. He was awesome as a heel in 2003.

The Crowd - Long Island were hot that night!

So is this the best Summerslam ever?

More indepth review here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SummerSlam_(2002)

The Card was so good there was no room for The Hardy Boys, Kane, Big Show and Hulk Hogan!!!

 

[mrbrownstone]

Without a doubt this is the best Summerslam ever it is an absolutely stacked card from RVD/Benoit through Brock/Rock to Rey/Angle (when that is your opener you know you have a great PPV) to the amazing return and match of the night that was HHH/HBK. This Summerslam will proably never be surpassed in terms of both match quality and the people in those matches, you have some of the biggest superstars in history on that show from Flair to Hunter.

 

[The Deadly Viper]

Haha Kurt_angle_no1fan you have a point however. They were letting other people have "a turn" at making a card special I think. However the card was quite amazing and as you have pointed out with HBK/HHH and Rock/Brock as main events wow I was amazed at how great it was. I loved this one and it deserves to be best.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

This is a pretty darn good choice as the greatest Summerslam of all-time. Much like Wrestlemania X-7 and XIX, match-wise, this may be the best Summerslam ever.

In addition to the two classic main event matches (HBK/HHH and Lesnar/Rock), you also had one of the best opening matches on a major ppv ever with the first (to my knowledge) matchup between Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio which was just a phenomenal match. I haven't watched the event in awhile, but to the best of my recollection, I considered it the 2nd best match of the night (even better than Rock/Lesnar). Jericho and Flair was also a solid matchup as well. Then you had two great mid-card matches between Benoit and RVD, and Guerrero and Edge. Match-wise, you're right this is quite possibly the best Summerslam ever.


But before I talk about the one Summerslam that may have 02 matched up as far as quality of matches goes, I would like to mention two of my favorite Summerslam events ever.


The first one being Summerslam 91. Now I'll admit I am biased as hell towards this event. This was the first ppv event I ever got and I had so much excitement and anticipation for it. Madison Square Garden provided a wonderful setting, and the commentary for it was excellent/entertaining as well with Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, and Roddy Piper. Now while the event only produced one classic matchup (Bret Hart/Mr. Perfect), each match in it's own right were entertaining and had great build-ups/storylines going for them. The "Match Made in Hell" was a great main event featuring the top two babyfaces (Hogan and Warrior) going up against the most hated bad guy in the company and his goons (Sgt. Slaughter). While this storyline was waning it still provided for a fun main event. Also the major debut of Sid in the company and as a young kid not knowing who he would side with as the special guest referree was memorable.

The LOD/Nasty Boys feud was great and the matchup though short was memorable as it as the first No-DQ match I ever saw. And seeing LOD win the titles was great.

And while the Bossman/Mountie match looking back wasn't all that great, the feud and story was fantastic, and the segments with the Mountie in jail throughout the show were hilarious to me as a kid.

And of course we all know about the classic I-C title matchup between Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect which tore the house down and created one of the biggest stars of the '90s in Bret Hart.

And of course you had the wedding of Macho Man and Elizabeth which was the start of the Jake Roberts/Macho Man feud, which was quite possibly the best feud of 1991 for the WWF.

The 1991 Summerslam certainly wasn't one of the best wrestling events ever put on, but it does hold a special place in my wrestling heart.


Summerslam 92 was an even better show with one of the all-time greatest matches (Bret Hart/British Bulldog) and one of the best matches of that year (Randy Savage/Ultimate Warrior). The setting in London at Wembley Stadium was a one of a kind setting for a WWF show and still makes it one of the best settings in WWF history. The rest of the matches on the card weren't bonafide classics, but each match had good stories and feuds leading up to them. The HBK/Martel match was a unique matchup with the no hitting to the face rule, and with Sherri on the outside not knowing who to cheer for, it provided for a very entertaining matchup. Taker and Kamala had a good feud going and also produced one of Taker's first memorable entrances (in the hearse). LOD also had a memorable entrance coming out on motorcycles. You had Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan on commentary. Another good ppv event.


Those are two of my favorites as they represented my first few years of watching wrestling. But admittedly they're not at the same level of quality as the 2002 Summerslam.

But, one Summerslam event that is though, is the 1997 Summerslam. This was when the company was arguably at their creative peak. The show was centered on the Hart Foundation vs. the USA/babyfaces of the WWF. Each match on the show had a great feud/background and purpose behind the matchup. While none of the matches are amongst the greatest matches in history, many of the matches were amongst the finest of the year and were still great matches. Taker/Hart as the main event may have been the best match the two ever had. And with the brilliant storyline of HBK as the special ref, and the stipulation of Bret Hart never wrestling again in America if he lost, you just had a dynamic, classic of a wrestling match on your hands.

Stone Cold and Owen Hart was another major match on the card with a great stipulation (Austin kissing Owen's ass if he lost), and the match was a damn good match up until the botched pildriver.

Then you had the Bulldog against Ken Shamrock in another solid matchup.

Then you had Goldust and Brian Pillman in another solid matchup that produced the great segments of Pillman wearing a dress over the following weeks and continued their great feud.

And then you had a phenomanal cage matchup between Triple H and Mick Foley (as Mankind). This was quite possibly the best matchup they had that year and easily one of the 5 best matches the two ever had against each other.


The card didn't produce any matches as good as HBK/HHH from '02, or Angle/Mysterio, but the card was just as solid as the 02 card, and creatively speaking (storyline wise, match build-up) it was for my money a better show than the 02 event. But I think at this stage from a creative perspective the WWF was better in the summer of 1997 than in the summer of 2002.


So to me, the 1997 and 2002 Summerslam events are the two best Summerslam events ever. I'm not sure which one I'd pick out as the best. But I just mainly wanted to point out that the 02 Summerslam isn't clearly the best ever. The 1997 event gives it pretty darn good competition in my eyes.

 

[Da Prophet]

I loved this PPV and is one of many favourites ever.It had m favourite wrestler at the time Brock lesnar in the Main Event against the The Rock.The whole card had something special, you had Triple H vs Shawn Michaels in his return match.Angle and Mysterio match was Awesome and had the mat game by Angle and Rey with the opposite which made for a great match.But Brock and Rock was a great match and had one of the best moments of that year.The fans turning on Rock about half way into the match.The fans cheered Rock and then as Brock got the upper hand and started to shine they joined he band wagon.It was a great moment and made the PPV special for the time the fans turned on the Great One for the Next Big Thing.

 

[fraserbee]

I guess, from a quality top-to-bottom standpoint, 2002 is the best Summer Slam. On a personal level though, I am going to put i a word for 1998.

The event was built around the huge Austin vs Undertaker match. Although many people were disappointed with this match, I thought it was scrappy, but in a good way. An exciting match and huge fun.

Further down the card, Rock and HHH had a very good big-man ladder match which told a great story and went a very long way in lifting the two of them towards the main event which they would both achieve within months. My only complaint is that they both took a really unrelistically long time to climb the ladder at times.

X-Pac had a good match with Jeff Jarrett which led to Jarrett's hair getting shorter which improved his outlook immedately.

The opener with D'Lo Brown and Val Venis was an absolute cracker. Watching it back now and hearing the reaction both men got througout the match, it is simply amazing that neither man really had a great deal of success in the end - they had so much potential here.

The thing that made this event, however, was the atmosphere in MSG and the way this had been built up so well for months. The whole thing drew me in, I loved it and still love this show now. It might not have the quality of 2002 but to me it is the greater show.

 

[patriotjay]

2002 was stacked and WWE picked the perfect time for Brock vs Rock,nobody really knew if a rookie in Brock could beat the great one.HBK and Triple H's match was awesome and the level that Shawn worked at that nite was unbelievable,then the sledge to the back of Michaels from an enraged Triple H after losing to HBK.Good shit for certain.91' and 92' were both classics and I was a kid then so everything had that certain magic about it.The 98 SS was great with the ladder match for the ic title HHH vs The Rock and Taker vs Austin

 

[The Brain]

A few weeks ago I posted my SummerSlam rankings in the spam zone and 2002 was at the top of the list. In my opinion it is unquestionably the best SummerSlam. The matches have already been mentioned so I don’t need to go over the card again. It was stacked from top to bottom. The highlight of course was the return of HBK. HBK vs. HHH is one of my all time favorite matches. I missed seeing HBK in the ring, but didn’t really realize how much until this match. His style was sorely missed during the attitude era.

I’m with dd23 about some others too. I think 1997 was easily second best while 1991 comes in third for me. 1991 is an underrated event that was entertaining from start to finish. I would have done something different for the main event, but that’s a discussion for another day (actually a past day as I’ve posted my opinions before).

In my opinion we haven’t had a great SummerSlam since 2005. 2008 and 2009 were decent, but 2006 and 2007 were pretty bad. Unfortunately I don’t see much reason to be excited about 2010. Hopefully I’m wrong.

 

[INDYjon22]

Man, 2002 was a great Summerslam and definitely one of my favorites but in all honesty I thought that every Summerslam from 1999 up until 2002 were hella good. Now, I am not really trying to start an argument over which one was best, because to be honest I do believe 2002 is one of the greatest ever, and better then those from 1999 to 2001, but I did prefer the 1999 and 2001 Summerslan's to the 2002 event. As entertaining as 2002 was I found the Invasion storyline in 2001 more interesting and just enjoyed the 1999 event more. Not to mention in 2000 there was the TLC which is a match I enjoy more then any of the matches on the 2002 card. While the matches were better in 2002 I found the events as a whole more entertaining in 1999 and 2001.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

2002 was a breakthrough year for the E.
I mean the attack (and demise) of the nWo was huge.
Hogan came in then and had some matches all wrestling fans wanted to see.
A new breakthrough star emerged in Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, for me, hit the big time this year.
The greatest feud of the last decade started in HHH/HBK

What a year man, and I'm glad I caught almost every moment of it.

Coming back to SS02.
I have long said that is one of the best PPVs of all time and so was Survivor Series 2002.
However, the Summerslam matches were just so electric and the 2 main event just exceeded expectations.
HHH/HBK, I feel, was the best street fight ever and the Rock-Brock match was just incredible and only the 2nd match in pro-wrestling history where a double turn happened.
so SS02 is THE best Summerslam ever, I'd give a shout out to SS98 but it wasn't as stellar in match quality. (The Oddities wrestled...'NUFF SAID!)

 

[CyDeez]

I find myself slightly agreeing with you. While I don't think it's a clear cut winner. It is hard to argue otherwise to be honest.

Brock Vs. The Rock puts it over for me. 2 of my favorite wrestlers ever, BAR NONE!

I also give an honorable mention to 98. The Ladder Match with The Rock Vs. Triple H for The Intercontinental Championship is one of my favorite matches EVER! Steve Austin Vs. The Undertaker for The WWF Championship.

Also, I like a few of the older Summerslams as well. 88 was a classic if not just for being the first one. The Main Event was The Mega Powers (Hogan & Savage) with Ms. Elizabeth Vs. The Mega Bucks (Ted Dibiase & Andre The Giant). Jesse "The Body" Ventura was the special guest referee. The Ultimate Warrior squashed The Honky Tonk Man for The Intercontinental Championship. I also liked Demolition Vs. The Hart Foundation for The Tag Team Championships.

89 has a special place in my heart. LOL. Hogan and Beefcake w/ Elizabeth Vs. Savage & Zeus w/ Sherri. I remember it like it was yesterday. The hype around Zeus being a "Human Wrecking Machine" and impervious to pain was huge! Plus it was a continuation of The Hogan/Savage Feud and I was really into that one. Contrary to most people's opinions, I LOVED Warrior Vs. Rick Rude for The Intercontinental Championship. I know I know, Warrior sucks in the ring. Whatever! When I was a kid, I loved the guy. He was robbed at Wrestlemania 5 by Rude and Heenan and this was his chance to get his title back. There were other matches on the card that I enjoyed, The Hart Foundation Vs. The Brainbusters was great. Tito Santana finally got his hands on Rick Martel, even though it was briefly. That was another thing I had been waiting for since Wrestlemania 5. That was a 6 man tag team match. Tito and The Rockers against Martel and The Rougeaos (I butchered their name for sure).

Also 92 has one of the best matches ever, Bret Hart Vs. The British Bulldog for The Intercontinental Championship. As well as 91 has another classic Hitman match.... Bret Hart Vs. Mr Perfect, another IC Title Match.

The more I think about it, damn The IC Title has played a big role in SS. Another shitty moment to post about this year's SS. The IC Title Match with Dolph and Kofi was absolutely RUINED by the ultimate losers of the night, The Nexus! The WWE could have kept an IC Title tradition going this year with 2 pretty good in ring performers!