Reviews

WWE SummerSlam 1994 Review

By John Canton • Published 3rd August 2022

The seventh WWE SummerSlam event took place during that mid-90s period where there were some great moments once in a while, but also some awful crap too.

The WWE Title picture saw the WWE Champion Bret Hart having to defend the gold against his brother Owen in a steel cage match. Owen beat Bret at WrestleMania 10, on the same night, Bret won the WWE Title later in the evening. Then Owen won King of the Ring two months before this, so he went into the match with a lot of momentum.

The other main story was the return of The Undertaker. He was off for about seven months after losing to Yokozuna at Royal Rumble 1994 (thanks to the help of about a dozen other guys). He had a back injury, so it was a way to write him out and allow him to heal up. His original manager Ted Dibiase brought an Undertaker back, but it wasn’t the real guy, so the main event of this show is the real Undertaker against the impostor. Let’s just say they picked the wrong match to go on last.

This was originally written in March 2016. Let’s get to it.

WWE SummerSlam 1994
August 29, 1994
The United Center in Chicago, Illinois

The legendary Randy Savage made his entrance with a microphone as he welcomed us to the show at the brand new United Center in Chicago. He talked about the New Generation era. He passed things off to the announcers Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler. Lawler mentioned that Shawn Michaels and Diesel won the Tag Team Titles one night earlier from the Headshrinkers.

Analysis: Two months after this, Savage was gone from WWE. I was devastated when that happened because he was my favorite. He was 41 years old at this point and not used in the ring much. Savage ended up in WCW in 1995 while never making his way back to WWE.

Bam Bam Bigelow & Irwin R. Schyster vs. The Headshinkers – Samu & Fatu

The heels are Dibiase’s team and as noted the Headshrinkers lost the titles one night earlier. Fatu had more success as Rikishi about six years after this. He wasn’t that fat yet. Superkick by Fatu on Bam Bam that Vince called “what a maneuver” because that’s what he likes to do. Great bump by Bam Bam when he took a clothesline. Double superkick by the Headshrinkers gets two. Back elbow by Bam Bam on Samu, then Irwin got in there and he took a superkick. At the time they didn’t call them superkicks. Samu missed a cross body block and then Irwin’s attack failed, which sent him over the top to the floor. Bigelow pulled the rope down behind the ref’s back leading to the heels working over Fatu. Bigelow ran the ropes and collided with Fatu in a double cross body block spot. Samu got the hot tag, nailed some back body drops, some headbutts, a body slam and a headbutt off the middle rope on Irwin for two. A double face first slam by the Headshrinkers on Irwin. Fatu nailed a huge splash off the top on Irwin. Dibiase distracted the ref to prevent the count. Bigelow went after Albano on the apron. Afa went in the ring to go after Bigelow and the ref called for the bell with a disqualification finish at 7:20.

Winners by disqualification: Bam Bam Bigelow & IRS

Analysis: *1/2 The match was just okay. Everybody in the match was a solid performer. They just didn’t have a good showing. It was turning into a decent match, but that finish was pretty bad. It was as if they knew they didn’t want to put over either team or give them any advantage, so they opted for a finish that helped nobody. The post match brawl led to a pretty good reaction from the crowd at least.

Post match, Afa joined the Headshrinkers to give Bigelow a triple headbutt. Then they knocked Irwin off the apron. The wrestlers brawled up the aisle to end it.

There was a backstage vignette with actor Leslie Neilsen, who was a Canadian comedic actor mostly known from the Naked Gun movies. He was looking for The Undertaker. He thought he found Undertaker, but instead it was his buddy, actor George Kennedy who was also in the Naked Gun movies. They said they’d look for him together.

Analysis: As I said, the Naked Gun movies were amazing. These segments were not that great, but that’s WWE comedy. Sometimes it misses.

WWF Women’s Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano

Blayze (known as Madusa in WCW) is the face champion that they were trying to build a women’s division around. Nakano was a star from Japan. Both women were presented flowers before the match. Nakano overpowered Blayze early on thanks to some powerful hair whips. After some more Nakano offense, Blayze nailed a hurricanrana and then a spin kick. Nakano came back with a choke into a slam. Then Nakano did a submission move on the legs. Nakano did a leg lock and then picked up the upper body of Blayze. That’s the submission that Paige uses called the Paige Tapout these days. The crowd reacted to that in a big way because they hadn’t seen something like that. Luna attacked Blayze behind the ref’s back. Blayze back with three running head slams. Nakano with a back body drop to get control again and then a huge clothesline. Blayze came back with a backslide for two. Nakano nailed a sitout Powerbomb to counter a hurricanrana attempt. Nakano with a slam and then she went to the top rope. Nakano missed her top rope leg drop attempt. Blayze kicked Luna off the apron and then nailed a bridging German Suplex for the pinfall win at 8:10.

Winner by pinfall: Alundra Blayze

Analysis: *** A very good match between two skilled women’s wrestlers. Nakano did well as an overpowering heel that used submission holds to weaken her. Blayze showed a lot of heart in coming back. You almost forget that there were some great WWE women’s matches in this period, but thanks to the talents of Blayze and Nakano they were able to put together some awesome matches. They tried to get this women’s division over, but it didn’t work. A little over a year after this, Blayze went back to WCW and that killed the division for about three years until they pushed Sable.

There was a big post match reaction by the crowd. They cheered a lot. Another reminder of what could have been for the women’s division if they had more women on the roster.

Shawn Michaels and Diesel were interviewed by Todd Pettengill. They’re the Tag Team Champs and Diesel’s the Intercontinental Champion too. They were heels, so Michaels bragged about having so much gold. Diesel said maybe his name should be Midas because everybody he touches turns to gold. He said he likes where they are. He told Razor Ramon it’s not going to happen tonight. Michaels said they’re not worried about NFL Hall of Famer Walter Payton at ringside.

Diesel and Michaels entered. I don’t agree with leaving Michaels off the card in terms of a match because of how good he is. I get why they did it since Ramon had somebody in his corner too. For those that don’t know who Payton is, he was one of the best NFL players ever that played for the Chicago Bears at running back. He received a huge ovation when he walked out with Razor. He had one of the most famous sports nicknames ever as well: Sweetness.

Analysis: It was a smart move by WWE to use Payton for this show. Payton was about 40 years old here, so he was still in great shape. Sadly, he died in 1999 at 45 years of age due to liver disease. He was one of the most well-liked football players ever.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Diesel vs. Razor Ramon

It’s probably obvious from reading it, but Diesel’s the heel against Razor the face. Diesel was in control early on with power moves. The crowd was so hot that they booed loudly when Michaels was yanking on Razor’s hair. Diesel put on a sleeper and Razor hit a back suplex as Vince just said “unbelievable” instead of calling the move. Diesel sent Razor over the top to the floor. Michaels took the turnbuckle pad off one of the corners while the ref was checking on Razor on the floor. Michaels nailed Ramon with a clothesline outside the ring while outsmarting Payton. When the ref Earl Hebner spotted the exposed turnbuckle, he stood in front of it to prevent Diesel from whipping Ramon into it. Then the ref yelled at Shawn, so Diesel whipped Ramon back first into the exposed turnbuckle and got a nearfall soon after. More cheating by Michaels as Diesel splashed the back of Ramon against the ropes. Ramon tried a comeback, but Diesel stopped it with a boot to the face. More offense by Diesel. Ramon shoved Diesel sternum first into the exposed turnbuckle and then a rollup gets two. Ramon made his comeback with fists followed by a move where he yanked the legs of Diesel so that his groin hit the post. Bulldog off the middle rope gets two for Ramon. Good nearfall there. Michaels was on the apron, so Ramon punched him to knock him down. Diesel nailed a back elbow to prevent a Ramon attack and then Ramon with a back body drop. Shoulder block by Diesel. He didn’t do that move that often. Michaels grabbed the IC Title, but Payton yanked it from him. The ref admonished Payton. Michaels went into the ring, Diesel held Ramon, who moved and Michaels nailed Diesel with a Superkick after Ramon moved. Huge spot right there. With Diesel out on his back, Ramon put his arm over the chest and covered for the pinfall win at 15:02.

Winner by pinfall and New Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon

Analysis: *** A good match that I had forgotten about after not seeing it for many years. They worked well together. Ramon was having great matches during his run in 1994/95. While Diesel wasn’t known for being a great in-ring performer, he had a few solid matches in his WWE run. They told a basic story with Diesel in control for much of the match, Ramon fighting back and finding a way to win. It was the perfect time for a title change too because of the presence of Payton at ringside. Payton didn’t do much other than preventing Michaels from cheering at the end. The crowd treated this as a major title change because Payton was there to support Ramon. Good booking for a solid match.

Post match, Diesel was mad at Michaels for kicking him in the face by accident. That was the start of their problems that would escalate over the coming months leading to Diesel’s face turn and eventual WWE Title win as well.

The “Macho Man” Randy Savage was shown on camera again congratulating Razor for the IC Title win.

Tatanka and Lex Luger were interviewed by Pettengill in the locker room. He read some WWE opinion poll on the hotline with 54% of the people thinking that Luger sold out to Ted Dibiase. Tatanka said everybody’s going to find out Luger sold out. They showed clips of things that happened in the build to the match with Tatanka saying that Luger sold out to Dibiase. He left for their match while Luger said he didn’t sell out.

Analysis: I remember going into this thinking I had no idea what they were going to do. I was definitely surprised by what they did in the match. There was a good long-term build up to this.

Tatanka vs. Lex Luger

Both guys are faces going into it. Slow pace early with Luger hitting a shoulder block to knock him down. Tatanka got a cross body block for two and Luger with a small package for two. There’s a hiptoss by Luger followed by a suplex for two. Powerslam for Tatanka and then he connected on some chops to the head. A suplex of his own. Chop off the top by Tatanka gets two. When he tried it again, Luger moved out of the way. Luger nailed clotheslines on Tatanka and then a powerslam as Dibiase walked down to ringside with a bag of money in his hands. Luger was distracted by that, so Tatanka did the ROLLUP OF DEATH~! for the pinfall win at 6:01.

Winner by pinfall: Tatanka

Analysis: * A very slow-paced match that was pretty boring. It was a short match for a PPV and it wasn’t that memorable either. This is a case of the story being much more important than the match. Of course the ROLLUP OF DEATH~! worked as the finish. That shouldn’t surprise you.

Post match, Luger argued with Tatanka. As Luger argued with Dibiase and even kicked the money away, Tatanka attacked Luger from behind with punches and chops. Vince: “It was a setup.” Lawler denied it. Tatanka hit his “End of the Trail” Samoan Drop finisher on Luger two times. Dibiase hugged Tatanka as the crowd booed them. Dibiase was laughing about it while Lawler said he was the smartest man in wrestling. Luger sold the beating in a big way even though Tatanka’s offense was pretty weak. Then Tatanka went back in the ring and put the Million Dollar Dream on Luger.

Analysis: There’s the shocking turn. The best thing about it was the build they did leading up to it because it took months to get to this point. These days, they rush those kinds of things. Long term, Tatanka was awful as a heel. He wasn’t really going anywhere as a face, but that heel turn was a bad move for him. At this time, though, the turn was a big deal.

Gorilla Monsoon was shown on the WWF Hotline awaiting Tatanka and Dibiase.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel (w/Oscar)

Jarrett’s the heel that was in the early part of his initial WWE run. Oscar did a rap on the way to the ring for Mabel the face, so the idea is it’s country (Jarrett) vs. rap (Mabel). Mabel was aggressive early on using his power advantage with some elbow drops and a clothesline that sent Jarrett to the floor. Jarrett shoved Oscar into the steps, then he tripped up Mabel and hit a fist drop that looked awful. Double axehandle by Jarrett a couple of times, but then Mabel caught him when he tried it again. When Jarrett applied a sleeper, Mabel backed him into the corner to break free and then Jarrett did it again. Spin kick by Mabel gets two. Hey, there’s Abe Knuckleball Schwartz (Brooklyn Brawler) with a sign saying he’s on strike. The baseball strike was going at this time. Slam by Mabel gets two as Jarrett gets to the ropes. Oscar got a slap in on Jarrett outside the ring. Mabel with a running splash against the post outside the ring. Mabel went to the middle rope and missed a splash due to Jarrett moving. Mabel missed a sitdown splash, so Jarrett went on top, grabbed his leg and covered for the win at 5:47.

Winner by pinfall: Jeff Jarrett

Analysis: * Bad match although they did the best they could considering how limited Mabel was based on his size. At least the crowd seemed to care about it more than I did. A year later, Mabel headlined SummerSlam against Diesel. That match was awful too. The moral of the story? Vince McMahon loved pushing big guys. Never forget it.

The search for Undertaker continued with Neilsen and Kennedy by the entrance. They turned around to see a purple light teasing that it was Taker. Then they went to the back again.

There were videos that aired showing the build up to Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart going back to Survivor Series 1993. It also showed King of the Ring 1994 when Owen won that tournament while Jim Neidhart helped him win and helped Bret keep his title so that Owen could beat him. That’s nine months of build to this WWE Title match. They aired promos from both guys as well.

The cage surrounding the ring is the blue cage that is easier to climb up compared to the silver steel cage that has been used more often. It was shown being constructed.

Analysis: I like the silver steel cage more in terms of the way it sounds and looks, but I think wrestlers probably like the blue one better because it’s much easier to climb. Either one is fine with me.

Vince interviewed Stu & Helen Hart at ringside with Lawler saying the entire family kept Owen down his whole life. Davey Boy Smith aka the British Bulldog was shown with his wife Diana Hart as well. This was his return to WWE after being in WCW for a bit. Jim Neidhart was sitting in the crowd as well with Vince interviewing him. He said we’ll see that Owen is the next WWE Champion.

Analysis: A nice way to fill time as they set up the cage while also getting thoughts of family members.

The WWE Champion Bret Hart was interviewed by Todd Pettengill. It was noted that Bret had strep throat. Bret said he doesn’t hate Owen and he never did. The problem is that Owen is jealous and it’s a horrible thing. Bret thinks that it was Jim Neidhart that started all this stuff. Bret said it’s like they are caged animals now, so this thing has to end. Bret spoke about how he’s tried to end it, but now he sees this is it. He ended it by saying he’s going to beat Owen and he hopes that Owen can live with it.

Analysis: That was a pretty good promo from Bret. I know people get on him for not being a great talker, but I think when the storylines were good he usually delivered. In this case, after all this buildup for about nine months he was effective in getting his point across.

There are only two ways to win the match: When either man exits the cage either by going through the door or climbing the cage, scaling over the top and hitting the floor.

Analysis: These are the best rules for a cage match – escape only. In current day WWE, they have four ways to end a match with pinfall and submission added into it, which hurts the match when there are so many ways to win.

Owen made his entrance first to boos. Bret was hugged by several family members while Lawler pointed out that nobody hugged Owen on his way to the ring. Bret gave his shades to the baby of one of his brothers.

Steel Cage Match For The WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart

Owen attacked Bret as soon as he entered the ring. Bret came back with an atomic drop and a clothesline. Bret nailed a DDT. I liked the way their gear looked together too. Bret’s gear had more pink than black while Owen had more black than pink. There’s the first climb by Bret, but Owen stopped it and nailed an enziguri kick to the head. Bret gave Owen a back suplex off the top rope when he tried to climb out. After Owen whipped Bret into the turnbuckle, Bret came back with a bulldog. Each guy tried to get out the door, but neither man was successful. Nice mullet on referee Mike Chioda at ringside. Bret tried to climb, but Owen stopped that by slamming him off the top. Owen climbed up, Bret got him on the top rope, Owen kicked him off and nailed a perfect missile dropkick. Owen with a kip-up followed by another climb that Bret blocked. They were on the top rope again, Owen slammed Owen’s back into the cage and then they were back at it in the ring while the camera showed Stu & Helen looking concerned at ringside. They both ran the ropes leading to a collision spot in the ring so both of them were down in the ring while Neidhart was shown looking on. Bret tried another climb that was unsuccessful when Owen yanked the leg and Bret was crotched on the top. Big spot there.

Owen tried to climb out, but Bret grabbed his leg to stop him and hit a headbutt to the stomach. Bret missed an elbow drop off the middle rope as Vince pointed out how well they know eachother’s moves, which is a good point in a match with brothers. Owen climbed up, Bret brought him back in and slammed him off the top rope. Bret’s turn to climb, the crowd went wild and Owen stopped him, put him on his shoulders and dropped him with a Samoan Drop. The crowd was really into this match, that’s for sure. Bret slammed Owen face first into the side of the cage. Owen with a back suplex with him on the middle ropes while Bret was on the top rope. Owen nailed a piledriver in the center of the ring. Owen was tired, but he still tried to climb out when Bret showed up to break it up. Owen punched Bret off the top rope, but then Owen slipped and crotched himself on the top. Great spot there. Bret tried to climb out only for Owen to stop him by grabbing a boot. They had a struggle by the door. Then Bret pounded Owen. Bret’s hand hit the floor, but Owen grabbed his feet to keep him in. Bret gave Owen a slingshot into the cage. Bret crawled to the wrong corner where he thought the door was. Then he went to the right corner, so Owen did this huge leap to prevent him. That was great by Bret because it puts over the idea that he’s so tired he didn’t know where he was. Owen whipped Bret hard into the turnbuckle.

Owen tried to slam Bret into the cage, but Bret dropped down and Owen went face first into the cage. Meanwhile, Bret was grabbing his left knee after hitting the cage. Owen got up to his feet, then staggered back down because he was exhausted. Bret climbed up, Owen grabbed him by the head and pulled him back into the ring. Spinning heel kick by Owen. He went to climb over the top, but Bret brought him back into the ring by pulling hair, which is what Owen just did to him. As they battled on the top rope, Bret kicked Owen to knock him down. Owen did a running forearm on Bret although Owen collapsed to the mat too. Owen climbed up on the corner of the cage, Bret stopped him there and Bret gave Owen a suplex off the top of the cage! Wow! What a spot that was. That was huge in 1994 and it’s huge today. I remember everybody was going wild at that point because it was such a big moment. They should have replayed it, but they didn’t do it right away. Bret tried to climb out, so Owen grabbed his foot to block it. Owen applied the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring. Bret grabbed his foot and reversed the hold into a Sharpshooter of his own. Bret tried to climb out, Owen grabbed him by the hair to stop him, he punched Bret and they both took a big bump off the top rope. They both climbed over the cage so that they were both on the outside. Owen noticeably hooked his leg in the inside of the cage. Bret slammed him face first into the cage, Owen was upside down and Bret dropped to the floor to win the match. The official match time was 32:22.

Winner by escaping the cage: Bret Hart

Analysis: ***** That’s a five-star match. That’s as high as the star rating scale goes. It’s one of the best matches in WWE history. They were given over 30 minutes to have a classic and that’s what they did. It’s not easy to do that in a cage where you are limited by what you can do since you can’t go outside the ring, but Bret and Owen made it work. They had a lot of spots where they climbed the cage making it look like it might end, but then the other guy prevented it from happening. You won’t see many cage matches like that where the competitors work such a technical classic within the confines of the cage. At the same time, they were able to brawl as well. A lot of people focus on the moves that guys do in a match, but what made this match so great was the art of selling. Bret and Owen were selling exhaustion so much in the second half of the match, which is why the crowd bought into it so much. Bret has said many times that selling is the most important part of having a good match and he’s right. There were times in the match where one guy was down, then the other man could have won the match, but instead, they sold exhaustion by collapsing in order to tell the story of both guys being tired. It’s simple storytelling that works. As for the finish, it fit the match because the whole match was pretty even, so it made sense for them to have an ending where Bret barely won rather than winning in some dominant manner. Please go watch this match if you never have. If you’ve seen it before, it’s worth another watch to appreciate the amazing story Bret and Owen told.

Post match, Jim Neidhart shoved Davey Boy Smith over the railing with Diana Hart Smith (Davey’s wife) bumping over the railing too. Neidhart went after Bret at ringside and then rolled Bret into the cage along with Owen. Neidhart locked the cage door. The Hart brothers were outside the ring trying to get in with Owen and Neidhart knocking them down. Smith tried to get in too. Owen kept on knocking guys off the cage while Lawler said this was the greatest thing. Bulldog went back up again, punched Owen several times and knocked him down. Owen ended up climbing out along with Neidhart to avoid getting attacked while the other brothers checked on Bret in the ring.

Analysis: That was a great post match angle too. It was one of those scenes that worked because there was the believability factor of Owen as the jealous brother while Neidhart was jealous of Bret since they were a former tag team. Then there were the brothers trying to climb the cage to break it up yet they were unable to do it. The segment was also an effective way to welcome back the British Bulldog to WWE.

In the backstage area, Pettingill tried to interview Owen and Neidhart. Owen complained about how everybody has been against him. Neidhart threatened Bret. Owen said they were going to celebrate the victory.

Analysis: It was a way to keep the story hot. They had Owen team up with Neidhart against Bret and Bulldog several times in the months that followed.

A commercial aired for Survivor Series 1994 on Thanksgiving Eve.

They showed videos leading up to Undertaker vs. Undertaker. As I mentioned earlier, he was put in a casket by Yokozuna and friends at Royal Rumble 1994 and wasn’t on WWE TV for the next seven months. I’m not summarizing the whole thing. The story is that Ted Dibiase brought in a fake Undertaker and then Bearer realized it was a fake Undertaker. So here’s the confrontation.

Ted Dibiase made his entrance and introduced The Undertaker. Paul Bearer made his entrance with “the one, the only Undertaker” (according to announcer Howard Finkel). Bearer had some druids bring out a casket that they brought to the ring. When the casket opened, Bearer brought out an urn with Lawler saying he doesn’t have an Undertaker.

The lights went out. Bearer opened the urn as a light came out from the urn. The real Undertaker entered for the match.

Just for clarification, I’ll say “Undertaker” or “Taker” for the real one and then Underfaker or “Faker” for the fake one. The fake Undertaker was a guy named Brian Lee, who was later a part of the Disciples of Apocalypse group.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker aka Underfaker (w/Ted Dibiase)

They made it easy on the viewers because the real Undertaker had purple gloves while the fake one had grey gloves. Taker did a suplex on Faker. He went for a choke and tossed Faker over the top to the floor. Faker choked Undertaker on the top rope to stun him. The crowd didn’t know how to react to this. Faker set up for the Undertaker rope walk, but Taker tossed him down. Taker did his top rope walk followed by the punch to the arm. Faker tried to stun Taker on the top rope, but they messed it up pretty bad. There’s no crowd reaction so Vince says the crowd is in awe. Faker ducked, so Taker went to the floor. There’s Vince noting the silence from the crowd saying they are stunned. No Vince, they know this is crap and reacting to it like the crap that it is. Faker nailed a Chokeslam although it’s different from a usual Chokeslam because he dropped to his knees as he delivered the move. Taker sat up to barely a reaction. Faker nailed a Tombstone. Taker sat up to a better reaction. Then Taker countered a Tombstone into one of his own that connected. There’s a second Tombstone by Taker. Then Taker hit a third Tombstone leading to the arms folding for the pinfall win at 8:57.

Winner by pinfall: The Undertaker

Analysis: -* That’s a minus star because this was an awful match. This was a horrible match that was a spectacle more than anything. They weren’t able to tell an interesting story. The whole thing was really cheesy even for 1994 WWF storylines. I remember it being pretty bad back then and it’s still just as bad. There’s a reason why WWE almost never mentions this story when talking about his history. They knew it was bad too. It really was one of the worst matches in WWE history and a terrible choice to main event the show. I know the return of Taker was a big deal, but this was a big miss in my opinion.

Post match, Dibiase ran away while the druids came back out.

Taker put Faker into the casket at ringside and that was the end of him.

Randy Savage spoke about how the WWF never ceases to amaze him as Undertaker and Paul Bearer left.

The shot went backstage Nielsen and Kennedy backstage. They opened the casket to see there was nothing inside. Then Kennedy pointed out a case and told Nielsen that the case was closed. That’s the end of the show.

Analysis: The Naked Gun movies were way funnier than these vignettes were. Trust me.

The show had a runtime of 2:48:46 on WWE Network.

FIVE RANDOM THOUGHTS

– The difference in match quality between the WWE Title match and the main event is so far apart that I wonder if Vince McMahon realized he made a mistake in terms of what match he put on last. I get wanting Undertaker to get his moment as a top face, but it was a bad decision to end the show with that.

– Two straight terrible matches for Undertaker at SummerSlam with this match against Faker and the year before against Giant Gonzalez. Do you think he went to Vince to say this has to change? I hope so. He did end up having some great matches with better opponents.

– I liked the Razor/Diesel match quite a bit. I had forgotten how good it was. Michaels was great as a manager while Payton didn’t do anything except preventing that final interference by Michaels. It worked really well.

– Good job by Madusa and Nakano as well. Women’s wrestling can be great if you allow them the time to have big matches like they did here.

– The Tatanka heel turn was about the only other newsworthy thing on the show. It was a big deal at the moment, but as I said he didn’t really work out that well as a heel.

Show rating (out of 10): 5

It was the highs and lows of mid-1990s WWE. You had one of the best matches ever with one of the worst main events ever on the same show. It was the greatness that was Bret vs. Owen and then the silliness involved in the dueling Undertaker match. The wrong match went on last because the crowd was so dead for the main event after being so energetic for the Bret/Owen cage match.

FIVE STARS