The Best of Times, The Worst of Times… Summerslam

This Sunday is the 30^th installment of the WWF/E’s annual extravaganza and what is traditionally their second biggest show of the year. But what have been the highs and lows of the PPV’s long and storied history? Here we look at the best and the worst with regard to matches, booking decisions, angles and overall PPV experience.

Best Match: Triple H vs Shawn Michaels (Summerslam 2002)

Worst Match: Diesel vs King Mabel- (Summerslam 1995)

The return of Shawn Michaels was something that all wrestling fans had pined for since the talented performer had seemingly called it a day in 1998, stepping out of the ring to deal with severe back issues. Attempts by the Fed to get him back in action in 2001 were unsuccessful due to the personal demons that Michaels was battling but, after finding God and cleaning up his act, the stage was set in 2002 for a well-executed tale of betrayal and redemption. Having teased a DX reunion of sorts in the early summer, a mystery assailant waylaid HBK on an episode of Raw; perhaps unsurprisingly, this attacker turned out to be Triple H who had form for this sort of thing (see Steve Austin in 1999). HBK stoically claimed he had to return to the ring, primarily to show his son that sometimes to be a man, you have to fight. As life lessons go, this one turned out to be on the money, as the returning Michaels fought like a beast, putting in a stellar performance that, as ever, stole the show, surpassing even the most optimistic of fan expectations. His elbow drop from the ladder was the seminal moment of this match: everyone watching realised he still had IT and that this victory would likely lead to further appearances down the road. 90s Michaels was awesome but this performance put him on the path to becoming the undisputed GOAT.

Sadly, Diesel and King Mabel’s 1995 title effort was a dour as Trips and HBK’s battle was uplifting. The go-home Raw closed with an angle in which the British Bulldog turned on Diesel and the PPV proper devoted considerable time to teasing run-ins from Davey Boy and his scorned tag partner Lex Luger in the main event. Such a distraction would have been a welcome addition to the match but bafflingly it was not delivered: viewers made do with a dull, clumsy match which Vince McMahon tried to put over as the most gruelling and gripping title match of all time. It really wasn’t.

Honourable mentions for Best Match: Hart vs Perfect S’Slam ‘91/ Hart vs Bulldog S’Slam ‘92/ TLC S’Slam 2000/ Cena vs Bryan S’Slam 2013

Honourable mentions for Worst Match: Taker vs Taker S’slam 94/ Jake Roberts vs Jerry Lawler S’Slam ‘96/ Kae En Tai vs Oddities S’Slam 1998

Best Booking Decision: Bret Hart wins the Intercontinental Title (Summerslam 1991)

Worst Booking Decision: John Cena defeats the Nexus (Summerslam 2010)

A good booking decision can please a crowd and make one show; a great booking decision can please thousands of punters for years. The ascent of Bret “Hitman” Hart in 1991 was masterful: after dropping the Tag Titles at Wrestlemania 7, Hart began winning singles matches, each week dispatching superior opposition en-route to his career defining battle with “Mr Perfect” Curt Hennig. The timing, venue and opponent was perfect and added layers to the Bret Hart mystique: for many years, Madison Square Garden was referred to as the Hitman’s arena and Summerslam as his event (he was invariably in the match of the night). Subtle touches throughout the contest, like the camera constantly cutting to Stu and Helen Hart, further enhanced the significance of the bout to Hart’s career and established this as the iconic Intercontinental title moment outside of Steamboat and Savage. Giving that a prior push for Bret in the 80s had failed and he was only a few months removed from tag teaming, this big win represented a brave booking decision and one that cemented the status of one of the biggest stars in history.

Such bravery and vision was typical of the younger Vince McMahon; unfortunately by 2010, his desire to play it safe cut the legs out from beneath the Nexus. Although the group featured few grapplers with the potential to become major stars, as a faction they were fresh and relatively over and had they been pushed correctly, their leader Wade Barrett could certainly have been primed for big time matches (as might Skip “Ryback” Sheffield). While Barrett went on to battle Cena and Orton, he lost both rather lukewarm feuds and a planned ‘Mania match with the Undertaker was scrapped. The lack of momentum for the Nexus stemmed from Summerslam: with a 2 on one advantage on John Cena, Nexus should have defeated Team WWE and run roughshod until the rematch at Survivor Series. However, Vince’s conservatism kicked in, Super-Cena reared his head and just like that the run was as good as over.

Honourable mention for Best Booking Decision: Brock Lesnar defeating The Rock to win the WWE title after only 5 months of active competition.

Honourable mention for Worst Booking Decision: Daniel Bryan’s title win ruined by the Triple H heel turn and Randy Orton cash-in at S’Slam 2013

Best angle: Paul Bearer turns on Undertaker (Summerslam 1996)

Worst angle: John Stewart ruins title matches (Summerslam 2015 + 2016)

Summerslam has had its share of scandalous moments: some of which worked and some of which really didn’t. When Paul Bearer turned his back on his charge at the climax of the boiler room brawl at Summerslam 1996, only to turn around and slap and kick the Dead Man, it marked the end of an era. It cemented Mankind’s rising status, it forced Taker to re-think his presentation and it laid the foundations for the rise of Kane. It was an angle that was shocking, effective and significant.

In recent years, WWE has struggled to duplicate the intensity of such angles and has resorted to celebrity involvement with comedian Jon Stewart getting involved in title matches year on year. Now Stewart is a fine broadcaster but he can't swing a steel chair to save his life. Interfering in the World vs US title for title at Summerslam 2015 was bad enough but to return as the fourth member of the New Day was even worse. I’m sure he’ll be back this Sunday: I just hope it’s in the shark-cage with Enzo.

Honourable mention for Best Angle: The Mountie in Jail S’Slam ’91/ Undertaker and Jake Roberts crash the reception of Macho Man and Elizabeth’s wedding S’Slam ‘91/ Tatanka joins the Million Dollar Corporation S’Slam ’94.

Honourable mention for Worst Angle: Two WWE titles on the line in the main event, a match which featured a special ref, a controversial finish, a sudden return of a legend and then a MITB cash-in. Overkill thy name is Summerslam 2011.

Best PPV: Summerslam 1998

Worst PPV:  Summerslam 2004

This show represented peak Attitude Era. Granted, it didn’t have a bon fide classic match and featured one truly awful bout (the aforementioned Kai-En-Tai/ Oddities abomination) but the show dripped with energy and swagger as the WWF strutted into Madison Square Garden like a famed rock band and put on a high octane show that delivered all of the hits. From an opener that saw Val Venis and D-Lo Brown exude personality to the PPV debut of Edge, from Sable bossing her husband in the ring and X-Pac shaving Double J’s head, this undercard was good fun. The mid-card saw Owen Hart put on a wrestling match inside an Octogan as the action cut to the MSG theatre before the New Age Outlaws and Mankind threw out some catch phrases and smashed up some props. It was very late 90s and the crowd loved it for it. The Rock and Triple H both came of age in an underrated ladder match before Austin and Undertaker closed the show in an admittedly mildly disappointing match given the build and yet one which showcased their tremendous star power regardless. Throw in the killer AC/DC soundtrack and this show just feels special.

By stark contrast, Summerslam 2004, emanating from Toronto, lacked the verve and energy that made the Garden card feel so vital. It featured plenty of forgettable action from performers far from their best (Edge was floundering here as were Matt Hardy and Batista while even Chris Jericho seemed out of sorts). JBL’s ordinary title defence against the Undertaker spoke to the lack of excitement in the product at this time; this show felt like it was just there to fill time, performers sleepwalking their way towards something of more consequence. True, there was some half-decent action but nothing really sparked and ignited the audience: Angle vs Guerrero wasn’t close to where it could have been and despite his best efforts, Benoit’s passing of the torch to Orton was tepid. That the only real moment of the show, Orton’s coronation as the youngest world champion of all time, has been whitewashed from history says it all about this better forgotten event.

Honourable mentions for Best PPV: S’Slam ‘89/ S’Slam 2000/ S’Slam 2002

Honourable mentions for Worst PPV: S’slam 93/ S’Slam 2007/ S’Slam 2010

Article by Sean Taylor-Richardson (@GrownManCenaFan)

Opinion: Unanswered Wrestling Mysteries Chapter 3 - What Was In The Lockbox? - Part 1

Chapter One - Who Kidnapped Samoa Joe?
Chapter Two - Who Was the Higher Power of The Nexus?

A lot happened in the WWE in 2016: AJ Styles turned up, the brands got split again, Brock Lesnar got murdered by your Dad's ripped friend, Bill, something called a Wild Card Finals. Despite a year full of big questions and many big answers, there is one question that many people still ask to this very day: What was in that lockbox? Let's take you back to the halcyon days of the 22nd of February 2016. Vince was in the ring to announce the very first Vincent Kennedy McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award which unsurprisingly he awarded to his daughter, the stylish and unlikely to ever get demoted, Stephanie McMahon. When much to everyone's surprise (that's a rare use of that phrase without sarcasm, kids) 'Here Comes The Money' hits and out came Hot Dad Shane himself, big money Shane McMahon to run down the poor business practices of the WWE, his sister and basically leave everything in what I believe the kids would call #rekt. He then announced to Vince he would be battling for control of the company and as collateral, he reminded Vince that he had a lockbox containing a secret Vince wouldn't want to come out. So Vince put him in a match at Wrestlemania against The Undertaker in Hell in a Cell. 

Some more things followed, Shane did the ghost punches, everyone called each other 'bitch' a lot and eventually after a solid ten-fifteen minute match trapped in a forty minute match's body, Taker won and per Vince's stipulation, the lockbox went away and Vince made Shane a Co-CEO because reasons. But here's the thing, you might have expected a Chekhov's lockbox like that to have been opened by now as we have to have hit Act Three of the story by now but no, it went away, never to be mentioned again. Till now. You see, we here at ATPW, don't like leaving a stone unturned so we've put our best minds together and come up with our explanations of what could have been in that lockbox and here they bloody well are...

1. A gritty, Nolan-esque reboot of The Gobbeldy Gooker.

What else could it be? Cast your mind back to 1990, a time when men were men and Fred Ottman was Tugboat. In the lead up to Survivor Series, the question on everybody's lips was 'what is inside that giant egg?' Not in fact the question they should have asked which was 'why is there an egg near this wrestling?' It turns out the obvious answer was Eddie Guererro's brother Hector, dressed as a turkey hatched out of the egg, calling himself The Gobbedly Gooker and proceeded to dance around the ring with 'Mean' Gene Okerlund who had to pretend Thanksgiving hadn't just died for him. The Gooker appeared intermittently over the next few months in the lead up to the Rumble but the fact that everyone seemingly hated it didn't lead to a devastating Gooker heel turn but just for him to disappear completely for about a decade. 

Now, for my theory to have worked, they would have needed to keep that lockbox out post-WrestleMania, by the commentary booth, until Survivor Series. They would have it turn up at Live events, on NXT, even turn up to and EVOLVE show, compete in a Triple Threat with Matt Riddle and Fred Yehi. Come Survivor Series, Hot Dad Shane would be getting a beat down from Braun Strowman when he'd manage to crawl over to this bizarrely human sized lockbox and unleash the gritty, Nolan-esque Gooker 2.0. As played by Shaul Guerrero. Just for legacies sake. It would be a brutal, nihilistic take on the dancing turkey with washed out colour palette and brooding, monotone voice modulation that could be put into just about any storyline and make sense. 

Now, why would Vince want this creation kept locked away? It had a Hans Zimmer-seque entrance theme that made CFO$ weep when they created it. Aiden English was finally able to get some main roster traction by playing on his real-life marriage to Guererro. Sadly, it would never be because they forgot to put air-holes in the box and the stand-ins for Shaul they had (because they couldn't risk injuring any more talent) all passed out and had to be sent to the farm with Randy Orton's multiple fake TV wives. Probably for the best as, like all Nolan creations, it had such a tragic backstory that the writing staff could never capture its depths of emotion. Sadly, all we are left with, is the thought of what could have been and the dreams of what may still.

2. The Scripts from that time Vince wanted to be the father of Stephanie's illegitimate child.

This actually nearly happened. Vincent Kennedy McMantuar actually wanted this to happen. Many people believe this was the moment that Stephanie McMahon realised that her father was more evil than the man he portrayed on television. Even when Mr. McMahon did this:

Luckily for Vince, even if he never got to have a TV Child with his REAL daughter, he did at least get to have that I Quit Match with Steph. That'll teach her to not want to have sex with Dad.

3. Vince's legitimate illegitimate son (aka not Hornswoggle)

Everyone here may remember shortly after dying in a limo crash, there were plans for a storyline about Vince's illegitimate son inheriting his company. Originally slated to be Mr. Kennedy, then revealed to be Hornswoggle (because of some real world shit that presumably we all know about and don't need to discuss again) then revealed to not be Hornswoggle (who was the son of Finlay because... haha Leprechauns) but it was never said who the real son was. Many people have hypothesised who it could be: Brad Maddox, Paul London - the Smiler upon exit, HHH (those people also wanted Vince to be Steph's child's father), Ross Kemp but there's only one person who makes sense: Husky Harris. Think about it, what if Irwin R. Schyster had two children: Bo Dallas and food presenter Mika Rotunda, Vince however had an affair with Stephanie Windham (he liked women called Stephanie) and the result was a third child named Windham who they pretended was not of Vince's lineage. 

As the years went by, he began performing under the name Husky Harris and made his way to Daddy's Own WWE and found himself thrown into the hot angle of the Nexus because Vince wanted all his children to be big names. Now, Harris wasn't quite as well-versed in Wrestling lore as Steph and Shane and quickly found he was floundering, especially within the weak sauce faction The Nexus became. He began hearing voices, a fair maiden named Abigail whispered to him. She told him to follow the buzzards. And he did. And more joined him along the way, they became a terrifying force, well for a while, till the losses started racking up. As the losses happened, so his promos became more tangential and less connected to reality but the question was asked, why would Mr.McMahon want to keep around an insane cult that wish death to his corporate machine? Because he keeps the spirit of his son, Husky Harris inside a lockbox, waiting for the day he can re-connect him to his body and vanquish the villainous spirit of Bray Wyatt once and for all. 

Obviously he didn't want to tell anyone because it's part of a grand plan, we all know that Vince plans everything years ahead right? No decisions made on the fly here.

*Check back at 6.30 GMT tomorrow for a shit load of other possibilities*

Words & Images: Jozef Raczka - (@NotJozefRaczka)

Editing: James Marston - (@IAmNotAlanDale)

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Unanswered Wrestling Mysteries Part 2 - Who Was The Higher Power Behind The Nexus?

In this edition of Unanswered Wrestling Mysteries, ATPW attempts to find out who was the higher power that The Nexus were supposedly working for?

Wade Barrett mentioned on numerous occassion that The Nexus were working for a Higher Power but who could it have possibly been?

Let's see who are prime suspects are

Terry Wogan

Think about it. Think about how Wogan struts around on Children in Need like he owns the place, shouting order a Pudsey. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Wogan who knocked out Pudsey's eye. Damn you, Wogan, you can mess with blokes dressed a bear, but don't you dare mess with Yosh Tatsu! If Wogan was the higher power, I imagine he fell asleep after a tasty Horlicks when he was supposed to make his run in at SummerSlam 2010 to save the guys. Bloody Wogan!

The entire Stoke City football team

The rumour is James Beattie was the ring leader of it all, still pissed off because his England career was a wetter than a tramps beard. He set up the team and tried to get Justin Gabriel to play left wing for a short time, when the squad was struck by injuries, leading to Wade Barrett seizing power, which would explain why the mentions of the higher power stopped pretty quickly.

Voldemort

This might be the most plausible option. Who better to be the higher power of The Nexus than Voldemort himself! The Dark Lord was pulling the string when he heard Ron Weasley had taken a shit in bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and in his haste to catch Weasley Voldemort dropped his palm pilot that had all the details of Skip Sheffield, his main squeeze in the Nexus, so he left the group to rot, like an apple in the wood.

Well I've had my best guesses at who it could have been and provided more answers than WWE ever did on the situation. Job done.