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REVIEW: Bash At The Beach 1999: How WCW Spent Their Summer Vacation

Posted: 01 Aug 2019 12:25 AM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/review-bash-beach-1999-wcw-spent-summer-vacation/


Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net, starting today. It could be anything from modern WWE
to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using
letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?
Bash at the Beach 1999

Date: July 11, 1999

Location: National Car Rental Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Attendance: 13,624

Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone
Were going in a new direction at this point in WCW as the promotion has
gone from really boring to freaking insane in the course of a few weeks. A
good chunk of this show was booked within the last few weeks and knowing
the stories isnt likely going to help me get through it. Lets get to it.
Ive actually seen this show far more often than I should as I found it at a Blockbuster for $2 when I was about thirteen. It took many years to
suppress those memories but here we go again.
The opening video is a wordless montage about the four men in the main
event. I mean, if theres one story that doesnt need a verbal explanation,
its one about Savage and Sid trying to kill Nash and then the heroic
champion kidnapping and potentially raping Gorgeous George, causing Savage
to throw her out of their dressing room with a side plot of Sting
potentially driving the Hummer that nearly killed Nash and then Nash
changing the rules of the tag match so that anyone, including his partner,
can pin him for the title. Also for some reason they air the video then
show it about five more times as a very fast speed.
Tony says the tag match tonight started as a tag match. It was once going
to be Sting/Nash vs. Savage/Sid in a tag team match, but its now Sting/Nash
vs. Savage/Sid in a tag team match. No thats not a misprint.
After those words of wisdom, Schiavone explains the junkyard match and the boxing match before throwing it to Gene for a Hotline ad.
Mike Tenay is at the junkyard, which he knows about because his sources
told him where to go. Apparently theres going to be a ring of cars with a
bunch of obstacles to get around and the first person to jump over a fence
and escape wins. This company is rapidly becoming more of a parody of
wrestling than an actual wrestling promotion.
Video on the Cat vs. Disco Inferno. Cat had a kickboxing match with Jerry
Flynn and lost via DQ so Flynn took him down in a brawl after the match. He
and Disco had a dance off a week earlier, making the kickboxing stuff completely pointless.
Disco Inferno vs. The Cat
The original stipulation was the loser could never dance again but that has since been dropped. The lawyers must be working overtime as the match was announced three days ago and the stipulation was never mentioned on
Thunder. Miller rants before the match and wants another dance contest
before we get going. He demands that the people all vote for him or else
hell beat them all up. Tony explains that hell lose because he threatened
the fans because WCW thinks were rather thick headed. Disco dances for
about two seconds before Cat goes after him and were ready to go.
Inferno starts like a kitchen of fire (not enough for a whole house) and
sends Miller sliding out to the floor. Back in and Cat nails a few kicks,
so Disco just tackles him to the mat and hammers away. Some atomic drops
from Disco set up some miscommunication on what looked to be his swinging neckbreaker.
Cat comes back with a kick to the head and walks around as Sonny gets in a
few shots of his own. Those are as effective as you would expect since
Sonny, a legitimately accomplished karate fighter, is a manager and
therefore incapable of hurting anyone. Back in and Disco grabs a quick
sunset flip for two but gets his head kicked off again.
Another kick misses though and Disco legsweeps him down, setting up a
middle rope elbow for two. Cat rakes the eyes and puts on the shoe, only to have Disco take it away and blast him in the face. Sonnys distraction makes
it only a two count though, allowing Cat to put the shoe back on and kick
Disco for about the fifth time for the pin.
Rating: D. This really was the best thing they could think of to start a
show? Its really hard to care about a match with no build, no value and
nothing beyond basic moves. The fact that it had Ernest Miller in there
made things even less interesting. Its not even a horrible match or
anything, but theres just no reason to care about something like that.
Judge Mills Lane wont put up with any garbage tonight and will chase
Bagwell or Piper if need be.
We recap the TV Title match. The video starts with Van Hammer surviving
against Disco Inferno because the referee was down and a handful of tights. Then Flair saved Hammer from getting put through a table by banning
hardcore matches, allowing Hammer to hit Hugh Morrus with a table and drive
him through it. Somehow that earned him a TV Title shot here.
TV Title: Rick Steiner vs. Van Hammer
Keep in mind that there really isnt a face in this match as theres no
reason to like either guy. Steiner comes out first for no apparent reason.
They trade hard shots to the face to start and Steiner is knocked out to
the floor. Steiner goes into his new standard of just driving someone down
to the mat and ripping at their face a lot. Back up and Rick hammers away before taking Hammer outside to send him into the barricade.
Rick hits a horrible looking DDT on the exposed concrete and covers on the floor to continue getting on my nerves. Back in and Hammer hits him low,
only to have Rick punch him in the face to take over again. They head
outside one more time with Hammer nailing him in the head with a chair
before taking him back inside for the Alabama Slam for two. Steiner bites
him between the legs, punts him in the same spot (referee just watches him)
and hits the Steiner Bulldog to retain.
Rating: F. Rick Steiner has reached the point where hes an embarrassment. Between never selling anything from a chair shot to a low blow, theres just nothing Hammer (who isnt the guy you want carrying a bag of groceries, let alone a PPV title match) can do. What WCW saw in him other than name recognition Ill never know, but if someone thinks hes skilled in the ring,
they have no business being in charge of a wrestling company.
We get an overhead view of the junkyard, which really just looks like a
parking lot with a bunch of cars stacked up in a circle. The winner gets a trophy but Tenay cant answer who is going to be in the match because its unsanctioned.
We recap David Flair being named US Champion, meaning we just see the
segment again. Again, werent the Flairs fighting months ago about David
siding with Torrie and having his father hold him down? Now David has ten
women around him (including Torrie) and his dad made him US Title. Thats a
big jump in the span of five months.
US Title: Dean Malenko vs. David Flair
David is defending of course and comes out with Torrie, in a very pushed up tied off top, shirt that might be nine inches long, and a black cowboy hat. Ric, Arn and Asya are here too but Johnny Boone is refereeing. Tony says
David hasnt been impressive in all of his title defenses. You know, all one
of them.
Dean of course throws him down with ease and stomps away in the corner
before planting David with a suplex. Ric comes in but gets decked as Dean
puts on the Cloverleaf. Anderson nails the referee with a spinebuster,
allowing Robinson to take over as referee. Dean Cloverleafs Asya but Ric
nails him with the US Title to give David the pin.
Rating: F. Dang it this was just long enough to grade. As I said in the
Nitro review, I get the idea theyre going for here, but wasnt there another scrub you could put in there instead of Malenko? I know Dean isnt going to
be headlining a PPV anytime soon, but hes the kind of guy that should
actually be the US Champion. This kind of story is good in the right circumstances, but WCW isnt in a place where they can turn yet another
title into a joke and keep beating their midcard guys into the ground, even
in a match that doesnt end anywhere near clean.
Long recap of the Rednecks vs. the No Limit Soldiers, complete with the
full I Hate Rap video. Barry Windham is such a talented drummer that he
just scares the drums into playing themselves because he certainly isnt
hitting them. This includes a lot of shouting HOOTY HOO, which amazingly
enough didnt get the rappers over. Master P. is long gone, apparently
saying that there werent enough of “his people” in the audience for the night the angle took off. That would be in P.s hometown in New Orleans if
you arent big on guys who shout like owls.
No Limit Solders vs. West Texas Rednecks
Swoll, B.A., Rey Mysterio Jr., Konnan
Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, Kendall Windham, Bobby Duncum Jr.
Elimination tag, which I believe is the first explanation of the rules for
this match. The best part of this: the camera comes back to the arena
early, showing ring announcer David Penzer counting the fans down on when
to cheer. Tony fails at covering for him by saying that he was saying hi to
his five family members in the audience. The levels that this company falls
to when trying to cover their mistakes is astounding. Heenan redeems things
a bit by saying that the Soldiers problem could be solved if they just put
a light in their closets. Rey and Konnan make sure to shout a lot before
were ready to go.
Mysterio and Barry get things going with the Cruiserweight Champion getting hammered down in the corner. Rey comes back by sending Barry into the
corner and getting two off a split legged moonsault. Off to Hennig vs. B.A. with Armstrong nailing a dropkick before trying to talk some trash.
Thankfully that goes nowhere as its off to Duncum before the big Swoll
comes in with a bad looking clothesline. Swoll hammers on Duncum but
Kendall comes in with a cheap shot to take over.
Kendall misses a charge into the post so Mysterio comes in without a tag. Naturally the referee is fine with this. Kendall tries to beat the rules
into him but Rey nails him with a springboard seated senton to knock both Kendall and Duncum out to the floor. Back in and its Konnan vs. Hennig
before Rey hits another springboard seated senton on Hennig. Duncum and
Hennig both get hammered in the corner until its Swoll ducking Duncums
cross body for two in an awkward sequence. Rey adds a springboard legdrop
and Swoll pins Bobby.
The other Soldiers, Chase and 44 (who makes Ezekiel Jackson look like David Flair) beat up Duncum in the aisle because theyre heroes. Barry and Konnan hammer away on each other until Curt comes back in for a double
clothesline. Off to BA as the Rednecks keep control with Curt nailing a
quick HennigPlex to make it 3-3. Mysterio tried to dive in for a save but
came in too fast and basically started crawling in slow motion for no
logical reason.
So its Konnan getting beaten down now with Kendall hitting a bad looking
lariat and a slightly better looking slam. He misses a middle rope knee
though and Konnan hits a rolling lariat of his own (called a DDT by Tony), followed by the facebuster for two. Rey dropkicks Kendall into a horrible “rollup” for the pin on Kendall. Barry DDTs Konnan for two as 44 and Chase beat up Kendall.
Everything breaks down with Barry going to the floor..and being carried off
by Chase with Konnan following. For some reason this isnt a DQ and both
guys are counted out. So its Hennig vs. Swoll/Mysterio. Swoll comes in for
some incredibly sloppy offense as Barry comes back in. Curt tries to bail
but 44 stops him in his tracks. Back in and Swoll hits his stupid palm
strike to the chest before bringing in Rey for the Jimmy Snuka/Andre the
Giant big splash off the shoulders for the pin.
Rating: C-. Swoll is horrible. Like hes really, really bad, to the point
that he can barely throw punches correctly. I understand that he was really
new at this, but as WCW should have learned over the years, thats why he shouldnt be on a major show like this. The Soldiers continue to act
entirely like heels here, just like they have for most of this feud.
The announcers chat for a bit about the rest of the card.
We get Haks challenge for the junkyard match.
Junkyard Invitational
Ciclope, Jerry Flynn, Johnny Grunge, Hak, Horace Hogan, Brian Knobs, Hugh Morrus, La Parka, Lord Steven Regal, Fit Finlay, Rocco Rock, Silver King, Squire David Taylor, and Mikey Whipwreck
Theyre in a junkyard, first person to climb over a fence wins. The place is huge so theres almost no way to see more than four or five people at once unless you go to a helicopter shots. Public Enemy (a surprise) flips a car
over as Im only going to be able to call big spots. There are barrels of
fire everywhere. Jerry Flynn puts an electrical cord into an engine to make sparks fly out. Knobbs dives off one car for an elbow onto King on the roof
of a van.
Finlay hits la Parka in the ribs with a bumper as Dave Taylor hits Morrus
in the head with a trashcan lid. The annoyed look on Morrus face as he just keeps walking is rather amusing. The camera shots are only lasting about
ten seconds at most so its hard to call much of anything. Jimmy Hart is
running around in a yellow shirt and a hard hat. Rocco Rock is thrown into
the window of a van. Morrus dives off a car with an elbow onto Rock because theyre already repeating spots.
I think Ciclope dives off a car onto about six guys before they start
throwing things at each other instead of doing anything coherent. Finlay
goes Captain America by blocking a punch with a trashcan lid and hitting
Horace in the face with it. Brian wraps Taylor in a tire as were waiting on someone to try and win. Rocco and Horace make the first trip over with
Horace making a last second save to keep Rock from escaping.
Silver King is bleeding from the arm as this just keeps going. Taylor has
to dance out of a tire before Knobs and Hak put Finlay in a car. A forklift pops up and takes the car over to the crusher but Finlay gets out to
prevent death. Of course the forklift hasnt been seen all match until this point. Then another car blows up and Finlay climbs over the fence to win. Rating: N/A. This wasnt wrestling, and quite frankly Im really not sure
what it was. Why in the world WCW thought this was a good idea is beyond me
and Im sure the live audience is going to be THRILLED after having sat
there for fifteen minutes waiting on this to end. On top of all that,
Finlay would hurt his leg soon after this at a house show (in a hardcore
match of course) and be out for months, making the whole thing worthless. I cant imagine hes the only one to get injured in this mess either.
We recap the Triad vs. Saturn/Benoit. They fought each other, then they
fought each other some more, then they had some singles matches, now theyre having a title match. For some reason we get a bunch of clips of the eight
man tag from Nitro which doesnt seem to be going anywhere, other than a
boxing match. Theyre trying to tie this into the old vs. new feud, which
doesnt even seem to be a thing anymore.
Tag Team Titles: Chris Benoit/Perry Saturn vs. Jersey Triad
The Triad is defending. Kanyon starts on the floor as Saturn and Page slug
it out in the middle. Its Saturn taking over with a bunch of right hands
before knocking Bigelow and Kanyon off the apron for good measure. Off to Bigelow vs. Benoit as the announcers call Benoit an uncrowned champion.
Hasnt he been a three time champion by this point? Bam Bam gets dropped
into the middle buckle and sent out to the floor for a meeting with his partners.
Back in and Kanyon fights out of a suplex from Saturn and knees him down against the ropes. He grabs the referee to block a German attempt, only to
have Benoit chop him into a t-bone. Back to Benoit for the decapitation clothesline followed by a Liontamer (which he used before Jericho). A
double clothesline drops Kanyon for two more as the challengers stay in
full control. Benoit stomps Kanyon down in the corner and starts in on his
leg.
Saturn drops a top rope legdrop for two but Page comes in without a tag to
take over, sending Saturn to the floor for a triple team to take over.
Bigelow comes in for a big suplex and a falling headbutt for two. Back to Kanyon after Bigelow uses Flairs “how much time is left” trick. Kanyon drops a leg for one of the slowest two counts I can remember in a long
time. The fans get distracted by something in the crowd so Bigelow puts
Saturn in a chinlock.
Kanyon comes back in but gets crotched on the top, setting up a belly to
belly superplex from Saturn. Benoit gets the hot tag and goes after
Bigelow, only to have Page take him down with a top rope clothesline. Page
is VERY pleased with this move, running out to the floor and celebrating
like a mad man, even climbing onto the barricade. Back in and Page gets two
off an elbow drop before its off to Bigelow for some fat man offense.
Page comes in again and runs Benoit over for two with Saturn making the
save. We get a front chancery from Page but Benoit drives him into the
corner for the hot tag, which of course the referee doesnt see. That wicked sitout powerbomb from Page is good for two. Benoit finally suplexes Kanyon
down but Bigelow breaks up a hot tag attempt. Bam Bam misses the moonsault though and we FINALLY get the hot tag to Saturn (which the camera doesnt catch).
Saturn cleans house with suplexes and clotheslines Page and Kanyon out to
the floor. Everything breaks down again and Saturn hits a top rope splash, followed by the Swan Dive from Benoit but Page comes in off the top for the save. Saturn loads Page up with the Death Valley Driver but Kanyon throws powder in his face, only to have it get in Pages eyes too, causing him to Diamond Cut Kanyon. Bigelow makes the save but Benoit Germans Page for a
VERY close two. Page throws in a metal trashcan as the referee gets bumped.
He hits Kanyon by mistake but Bigelow comes in for a 3D on Saturn to retain
the titles.
Rating: B+. Give that match a less messy finish and its a classic. There
was a lot of good stuff in here and the majority of it was due to how much
time they were given. Everyone was allowed to get in there for awhile and
the fans bought into the idea of two guys trying to fight against the big cheating team. They gave it a great effort and the whole thing just worked. Really good stuff here, though not enough to save this disaster of the show. Clip of Judge Mills Lane agreeing to referee the boxing match. Thats all of
the recap because there was no reason for this to be a boxing match other
than Piper barely being a wrestler anymore.
Roddy Piper vs. Buff Bagwell
Big time boxing referee Mills Lane is referee here to try to make people
care. In case youve never seen him, just picture Mr. Strickland from Back
to the Future. Piper has Flair in his corner. Buffs gloves are actually
labeled “Buffs Left” and “Buffs Right”. Bagwell sees Flair in Pipers corner, so he has someone to have his back: HIS MOM, “Judge Judy” Bagwell. And I give up. Seriously it was bad enough when this was boxing instead of Piper just doing a freaking job for Bagwell like he should be doing, but
now BUFFS MOM IS HERE???
Flair gives Bagwell a chance to leave but Buff reminds him of the pin off
the Blockbuster a few weeks back. You know, when Flair put Bagwell over in
the middle of the ring in the whole point of this entire story. The rounds
are two minutes long here. Piper sticks his chin out to start until Buff hammers him into the corner. The fans are dead at this point if you couldnt guess. Bagwell tees off on Piper (well, as much as he can BECAUSE HE ISNT A BOXER) to end the first round.
Flair sprays something on Pipers gloves in between the rounds as this
continues to fall apart. Piper hits a few jabs to the face and Bagwells
eyes are burning. He gets punched down in the corner as Judy brings over a sponge to try and clean Buffs eyes out. Back up and Piper wildly swings
until Buff knocks Piper down in the corner in an identical sequence from
Piper vs. Mr. T. thirteen years ago, because thats what this is supposed to be.a tribute to I suppose? Piper gets up as round two ends.
Im going to pause for a second here and give you a bit of context to what
is about to happen. Fifteen months ago, WCW was still in control of the
Monday Night Wars and hadnt lost a night in the ratings in nearly two
years. Their last win was about nine months before this. Yeah they were in trouble, but its not like they were so desperate for something good to
happen that they had to go insane. A few weeks back, Buff Bagwell hit his finishing move and pinned Ric Flair in the middle of the ring on Nitro,
which should have been the start of a huge push for him. After all that, I
give you the third round of this boxing match.
Piper jumps Bagwell in the corner and attacks Bagwell early, so his mother
Judy gets in the ring and bites Pipers ear. She then dumps the spit bucket
over Pipers head as Buff punches Flair off the apron. Buff goes up and hits
the Blockbuster on Piper as Judy holds Flair on the apron, allowing Buff to
pin Piper for the win. Judy chases the President of WCW around the ring
after the match.
Rating: G. As in below an F and for GOOD FREAKING GRIEF THEY REALLY COULDNT COME UP WITH ANYTHING BETTER THAN THIS??? Piper wasnt capable of doing a
five minute match and doing a job for Bagwell? Does WCW really think that
its important enough to protect him from taking a fall in a wrestling match that theyll let him take a fall in a boxing match? Read that sentence back
and see how insane it sounds. Now throw in Judy Bagwell and more hijinks
than an episode of Looney Tunes and you see what happened to WCW in the
summer of 1999.
We recap Nash/Sting vs. Savage/Sid. Savage being a woman beater and Nash potentially raping George is glossed over. On the other hand, the Fake
Sting attacking Nash, causing Nash to go after Sting, even though the real Sting came out to beat up the Fake Sting, is left out with only the Fake
Sting beating Nash down being shown. For some reason Nash wanted this to be
a tag team match where anyone, including his partner, could pin him for the title. Again, this isnt mentioned in the video. Well also ignore Nash
saying he saw Sting driving the Hummer before we see that happening in the package.
WCW World Title: Sid Vicious/Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash/Sting
Nash is defending in what is more like a handicap fatal fourway than a tag match if that makes sense. In theory Sting can only pin Nash for the title, meaning its basically one on one on two. Thankfully Tony mentions the whole Sting can pin Nash and the real Sting coming out during the entrances. Yes, weve reached the point where Tony Schiavone is having to cover for the production teams goofs.
George (living up to the gorgeous moniker tonight) comes out in sunglasses
but takes them off to reveal a black eye as she goes to stand in Nashs
corner. The reason for the black eye isnt explained because that really
wasnt something that should have happened, nor is it even referenced by the announcers. Savage and Sting start but Randy sees George changing corners
and freaks out. Sting uses the chance to deck Savage and the fight is
slowly on.
Off to Sid to face Sting as Tony explains the rules, making this match even more confusing that it was in the first place. Sting quickly knocks Sid out
to the floor but Nash isnt interested in tagging. So in theory, if Nash
doesnt get pinned, he doesnt lose the title? Its not like weve ever gotten
a clear answer to that, though to be fair I doubt WCW thought it that far through. Sid and Savage start double teaming Sting with the big man putting
on a bad looking camel clutch.
Savage comes in and spits at the champ, but thankfully doesnt hit his hair. Sting finally rolls away and makes the tag to Nash for all the usual
offense. He has Savage in trouble but gives Sting a very hard tag to get
out. Sting takes it outside and splashes the barricade before Savage takes
him back inside for some choking. Tony points out that almost no one has
tries to pin Nash yet, making the whole stipulation rather pointless.
Sid hooks one of the lamest chinlocks Ive ever seen on Sting, who is nice enough to go down to the mat in a heap. Granted he might have fainted after hearing some of the nonsense they actually aired on this show. Sting fights
up again and does the falling low blow spot, allowing for the hot tag off
to Nash.
Everything breaks down and the girls come in, only to have Sting splash
both of them plus Sid. Savage and Nash get splashed at the same time,
allowing Sid to plant Sting with a chokeslam. George gets in and low blows
Nash (SHOCK AND AWE, SHOCK AND AWE), setting up the big elbow from Savage
for the pin and the title.
Rating: D-. I wonder if they bothered to tell everyone else in the match
about the whole Sting can pin Nash rule, because it was NEVER attempted and
was a complete non factor. Georges face turn (can you even call it that?) lasted all of twelve minutes, meaning shes picking the woman beater over
the kidnapper and potential rapist. I cant believe I just had to type that,
so Ill wrap it up by saying its a horrible match.
Overall Rating: F. The fact that a REALLY good twenty three minute Tag Team Title match is needed to bring this show up to a failure tells you all you
need to know. This show had eight matches. One of them was a joke with
David Flair needing an army to beat Malenko, one wasnt wrestling because it
was a big fight in a junkyard, and one was a boxing match. Two of the
others were matches that belonged on Thunder at best, another one was a
boring elimination tag, and one MADE NO FREAKING SENSE.
This show blew my mind in ways that I honestly didnt think were possible.
Just let some of this stuff sink in for a few minutes. Roddy Piper
apparently cant be trusted in a five minute match, we cant have a DQ
anymore because Rick Steiner wouldnt be able to have a match break 10
seconds if we did, and we have to drop stipulations that are made less than three days before the match. WCW is dying before our eyes and its kind of amazing to see in a morbid way.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen
over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since
2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

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The post REVIEW: Bash At The Beach 1999: How WCW Spent Their Summer
Vacation appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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KBs Review: A Show In Search Of An Identity

Posted: 01 Aug 2019 12:18 AM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/kbs-review-show-search-identity/


We’re less than two weeks away from Summerslam and the show’s build has been flying by so fast that it’s almost impossible to keep up with what is
on the card. There is so much stuff being thrown onto the show almost
every week (there were four matches added to the show on this week’s Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live alone) that the card is just all over the
place. That shouldn’t be the case for a show as important as Summerslam,
but let’s think about this for a second.

This year’s Summerslam is going to be the thirty second edition of the show and yet, after all this time, I’m not sure what the show’s big draw is supposed to be. Just looking at the other of the Big Four shows, you have
the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series with their namesake matches and WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year. Summerslam is the Biggest
Party of the Summer, but that doesn’t mean much when the rest of the Big
Four could be called the biggest show of the spring, fall and winter. WrestleMania as the Spring Spectacular doesn’t have the best ring to it (though I could certainly go for a new Spring Stampede).

Summerslam has always been the least important of the Big Four Shows. Not
only was it the last one to get started (assuming you count the 1988 Royal Rumble as the first edition, even though it wasn’t on pay per view), but it rarely comes off as all that important. Normally it is four months removed from WrestleMania and there is no big signature match to help carry the
show over the finish line. It is undoubtedly one of the most important and always strongest show of the year, but other than it being old, there isn’t anything that makes it stand out among others.

It started off like this:
[This post contains video, click to play]


So where does that leave Summerslam? That’s what we’re going to look at today. Summerslam was added to the pay per view schedule because it was
clear how much money those things could bring in. That was the case in
1988, but the problem is what came before them. WrestleMania 3 had the
biggest match of all time, Survivor Series 1987 saw the followup between
Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant and WrestleMania 4 featured Hogan vs. Andre
III and the tournament to guarantee a new WWF Champion. The first two Summerslams? Tag matches, including one that focused on the unstoppable
force that was Zeus.

What I find interesting is that this isn’t a new issue. Think back to the first few years of Summerslam. Three of the first five shows were
headlined by tag matches, the WWF Title match main evented one of the first five shows and the title didn’t change hands until the tenth edition. You would get a fair amount of Intercontinental Title changes, but that isn’t
the most important thing in the world. Right away, the show doesn’t
exactly feel all that important.

At the same time, it rarely felt like Summerslam was a show where major
stories culminated. Look back at the first few main events and how many of them were the big blow off to a story? Hogan vs. Andre the Giant had
already wrapped up in 1988, Hogan vs. Zeus wrapped up in December and Hogan
vs. Slaughter was long past done in 1991 (and the show was headlined by a wedding, which started another three months of feuding). It’s like these shows are just stops in the road instead of something that matters in their
own right.

How much of the same thing is true today? Consider some of the bigger Summerslam main events of the last ten years. You have Daniel Bryan
returning to fight the Nexus, which went on for several more months.
Daniel Bryan wins the WWE Title, which turns into another eight months of stories before he FINALLY wins it for good. Brock Lesnar beats a bunch of people, often in a match that is either a one off moment (Randy Orton) or
to set up another match (Undertaker).

That’s not even counting the big random mixture of styles of shows in
between the opening years and the last few years. You have all kinds of stories and matches for Summerslam, which kind of defines the thing as well
as anything else can. There just isn’t anything that stays consistent in
the whole series’ history, which means it’s almost impossible to really have the show running as a traditional major show. When you can go from a glorified house show in the early years to the biggest show of the year in

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