#9.) WWF SUMMERSLAM 1994

PROFFIT’S PILEDRIVER TOP 10 WWE SUMMER SLAM’S

#9

 

Summer Slam 1994

Date: August 29^TH 1994

City: Chicago, IL

Venue: The United Center

Combined Attendance: 23,000

Sub-Theme: “So Hot, Its Scary”

In the Summer of 1994, Chicago, IL open the doors for the first time of the new home of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, replacing the Chicago Stadium is the brand new United Center. However, before Michael Jordan or Jeremy Roenick could step to the court of the ice, the World Wrestling Federation would be the first sporting event to take place in the brand new arena.

This Summer Slam would be the final conclusion to the mystery of The Undertaker. Back at the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker loss his match as he challenged Yokozuna for the WWF Championship in a casket match. Takers loss lead to him going into exile for a while. However, in the early part of the Summer, The Million Dollar Man, ted Dibiase would reveal that he actually has been in contact with The Undertaker and would produce the Undertaker. Sure enough Diabiase lived up to his word and brought the Undertaker back on Raw in early June. But Paul Barrer denied that that was the real Undertaker and the real Undertaker will be at Summer Slam. So if that’s not really Taker, then who is the man in the ring with Dibiase? Lets find out.

For a card with only 8 matches, these were 8 very meaningful matches, that all were coming to either a close or would be the start of a new beginning of new rivalries and storylines. To add to this, unbeknownst to the WWF audience, a title change occurred, the night before in Hammond, IN. Diesel and Shawn Micheals defeated The Headshrinkers to win the WWF Tag Team Titles. Diesel was now the Intercontinental Champion and one half of the Tag Team Champions. Like what he said in his promo, he had the touch of Midas. Diesel was defending his title against Razor Ramon and both him and Shawn looked absolutely electric with all of their championship gold they had draped on them. However, Razor did not allow that to obscure his vision, as he was dead set on taking one of those belts from the two. Razor had an answer for Shawn being in Diesel corner, and Razor had along with him, Chicago Bears legend, Walter Payton. Having a Superbowl legend in your corner is the advantage that is unanswered as Razor Ramon would overcome the 7ft monster and win the WWF Intercontinental Championship

The WWF Championship would be on the line, to follow up from their epic battle from earlier in the year from Wrestlemania 10, Bret “The Hitman” Hart would defend the World Wrestling Federation Championship against “The King of Harts” Owen Hart in a steel cage match. While Bret was dealing with The Flu, both men also had to deal with the fact that the entire hart family  was sitting at ringside watching the match. Back at the King of The Ring, Bret brought back his old Tag Team Partner, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, but it would be Owen that Jim would pledge his allegiance to. With the cage environment and Jim watching his back, Bret was in the disadvantage and Owen could taste championship victory happening very soon. Along with the rest of the Harts at ringside was The British Bulldog, returning, who happens to be their brother in law. Bret and Owen took it to each other and gave the cage a run for its money as both men tested every area of that cage to the limits and beyond. If we watched a clinic at Mania, we got the healthcare system at Summer Slam where we saw some of the best innovative moves. Bret was just one step ahead of his younger brother and gain him the escape and scored the win to retain the championship.

The night concluded with the mystery of The Undertaker  finally being solved. Such a big issue that even super sleuth Leslie Neisen got involved to figure out the mystery! Ted Dibiase entered the ring and introduced The Undertaker. The man that we have been seeing for the last couple of months enters the arena/ring. Dibiase still doesn’t know who Berrer will produce as he has the real Undertaker. Paul Bearrer comes out with an over sized urn, which he opens in the ring and looks more like a glorified flashlight, to let us know that “the power” of the undertaker is among us and is here. After months of questions, months of speculation and months of doubt, the familiar tones of the “gong” ring ever so loud through the United, but it was a different tone though. With a different  theme, a splash of color added and having a distinct height advantage, it was clear that this was the real Undertaker. The questions were no more and it was officially on. This match was complete short work for the real undertaker as he did not show any signs of being at the disadvantage to the fake Undertaker at all. A tombstone later, the fake Undertaker was done. And the Real Undertaker was back.

Wrestlemania XII (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 12

 
Date: March 31st, 1996
City: Anaheim, California
Venue: Arrowhead Pond
Combined Attendance: 18,853
Sub-Theme: n/a
Celebrities:  n/a
 
Wrestlemania 12 was back in California and looking to be the rebound Wrestlemania. The Main event was announced on an episode of Monday Night Raw, that for the World Wrestling Federation Championship; Bret “The Hitman” Hart would defend the title against “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels in an 1 hour Iron Man match. The winner of the match would be the man with the most decisions over a 60 min period. Shawn won the 1996 Royal Rumble in January (first back to back winner since Hulk Hogan in 1990 and 1991) and earned the spot to wrestle the champion at wrestlemania. Bret and Shawn have had history in the past, main eventing two Survivor Series PPV’s (1992 and 1993) and also being the first to introduce the ladder match to the WWF. For those who are familiar with their past, this was a fantastic match to look forward to. Especially considering the fact that the WWF never did an iron match before. This was more prevalent in the NWA and WCW.
 
The show was an overall hit and a blatant rebound from the previous year. This Wrestlemania would be Steve Austin’s wrestlemania debut. He wrestled Savio Vega in a grudge match with Austin winning.
 
The Ultimate Warrior made his in ring return to the WWF to wrestle Hunter Hurst Helmsley. The last time the Warrior was in the WWF was in Oct 1992. When he was announced that he would be making his return, it just added to the already beefed up card. Warrior Returned with the full head of steam that we are so used to seeing him have, with a bit more of a modern look to him. He defeated Hunter in about a min and a half, in typical Warrior way.
 
Undertaker Note: The Undertaker faced Big Daddy Cool Diesel in a one on one match. Physical match of the battle of the big men; but Taker was just too much for Diesel as he defeated him with the Tombstone piledriver. This would be Diesel’s last Wrestlemania for the next 6 years. Undertaker is now 5-0 at wrestlemania.

 

 
Goldust and Rowdy Roddy Piper fought in what was called a Hollywood back lot brawl. They started their match, earlier in the evening, in the “back lot” of the Arrowhead Pond, in what looked to be a shoot fight. Both men gave each other potatoes and receipts, as there seemed to be legit blood. Goldust took off in his Gold Cadillac and Piper followed and chased him in his White Bronco. The WWF production did a parody of the OJ Simpson police chase, due to this. Later in the evening after the Undertaker match, both men “made it back” to the arena and finished the match in the ring, with Piper being victorious.
 
It was now time for the main event. The 1 hour Iron Man Match. Both men went back to their home towns to train for this match. We’ve seen weeks and weeks of footage of Shawn training at Jose Lothario’s gym and Bret Training with his father Stu Hart in the dungeon and in Calgary in general. Shawn entered the match in an overtop elaborate way of entering the ring, from doing a zip line from the very top of the Arrow Head pond and slid down all the way to ringside. Very impressive. Bret had the traditional entrance to the ring. The match build was so intense for this match, that even the mere going over the rule of the match, heightened the anticipation. Two year prior, both of these men stole the show in their matches at Wrestlemania 10 and here we are, 12 years later in what is to be looked upon as an epic. Let the classic begin.

 
As soon as the bell rang, the crowd sits down, to enjoy this story that was going to be told to them for the next hour. Bret and Shawn went at each other, and we see a more technical side to Shawn Michaels, that we’ve never seen before. We’re used to Shawn being more so in attack mode, but due to his endurance needing to be taken into consideration, he ground based his offense considerably. Bret on the other hand was a countering master. Not letting Shawn’s unseen style get the best of him, Bret made sure to capitalize on all any and all counters that he could onto Shawn, to make sure that Bret had very close holds on him. For the most part, that is what the match was, very close very tight between the two. They did a great job in breaking up the monotony and not making the match dull at all. There were parts in the match where we saw an immediate burst of energy. Shawn unexpectedly hits Bret with a flying cross body block to the outside of the ring. Shawn meaning to superkick Bret, accidently superkicks the time keeper at ringside, due to Bret ducking and moving. The match had many surprises from both men and kept the match going. At the final minutes of the film, we see Shawn getting a new surge of energy in him, after being dominated by the champ for a while; however, the score is still 0-0. Shawn goes for his patent moves for fly elbow off the ropes and flying elbow drops off from the top turnbuckles. We were seeing the Shawn Michaels that we are all familiar with, until the closing minute, Bret, counters one of Shawn’s offenses and turns the counters into the Sharpshooter. Bret locked the sharpshooter on perfectly and Shawn was left there screaming in pain. The clock continued to clock down until the final seconds and then the buzzer sounded. 60 min have past and the match was over with a tied score of 0-0. Bret “The Hitman” Hart was still the champion and leaves the ring. However, Interim President Gorilla Monsoon comes to ringside and orders that the match to continue and for it to be sudden death overtime. Bret was besides himself as he couldn’t understand as to why this was the decision, since the original rules were “60 Min Match”. Bret voiced his disagreement with the ref, but with no choice, the bell rang and Bret went back after Shawn. This was not the Bret that we saw for the last hour, but a more aggressive unorthodox Bret, who was attacking Michaels lower back with punches and with back body drops. When Bret went to throw Shawn into the turnbuckle; Shawn leaped over Bret when Bret came in to run in for the offense, but when Bret turned around POW, Shawn hits Bret with the superkick. But not thinking it was enough, Shawn prepares for a more set and on the money superkick, measures him and hits Bret Hart spot on.

 Shawn goes for the cover; and for the first time ever, Shawn Michaels defeats Bret Hart and wins his first World Wrestling Federation Championship.
 

 
Personally, I thought this wrestlemania was great to watch and went back to being a epic level event. It felt like a mega event again, unlike the year before. I was not a Shawn Michaels fan, I was (and still am) a mega Bret Hart fan, and I was convinced that Bret would win the match and retain the title, since he beat Shawn before, but that wasn’t the fact though. For the rest of the year, I had to watch my WWF weekly programs without one of my wrestling heroes on the show, and I despised the companies champion, since he was the sole reason why Bret was no longer on the show. But as I got older, I learned to appreciate the match and I can see how and why it is regarded as the best match in the company history. 
 
 
Match Card
 
– The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) (with Sunny) defeated The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) (with Hillbilly Jim) to win the vacant WWF Tag Team Championships (Finals of Tournament)
 
– Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog) (with Jim Cornette) defeated Yokozuna, Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson (with Mr. Fuji)
 
-Steve Austin (with Ted DiBiase) defeated Savio Vega
 
-The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Sable)
 
– Roddy Piper defeated Goldust (with Marlena)
 
– Shawn Michaels (with Jose Lothario) defeated Bret Hart (c) 1-0 to win the 1 hour Iron Man Match to win the World Wrestling Federation Championship.
 
 
 
 

Wrestlemania XI (Written by: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 11

 

Date: April 2nd 1995

City: Hartford, Connecticut

Venue: Hartford Civic Center

Combined Attendance: 16,305

Sub-Theme: ????

Celebrities: Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Nick Tutouro, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Salt N Pepa, Lawrence Taylor and a bunch of NFL players (Ken Norton Jr., Chris Spielman, Rickey Jackson, Carl Banks, Reggie White and Steve “Mongo” McMichael)

 

Personally, two of my favorite matches on the card, involved the Hart Brothers. One match was for the WWF Tag Team Championship, Owen Hart and Yokozuna vs The Smoking Gunns (champions). Owen and Yoko defeated the Gunns and won the Tag Team titles (the only title to change hands at Mania). The 2nd match would be Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs Bob Backlund. This was one of their final encounters as they have essentially been having a 5 month feud, going back to their first mach on WWF Superstars Oct 1994. This was the match were Bob “snapped” on Bret after Bret defeated him. The next month the two had a rematch for the WWF Championship at the 1994 Survivor Series and Bob defeated Bret to win the championship (and lost it to Diesel 2 days later). But this would be the proverbial rubber match and this time it would be an “I Quit” match. Rowdy Roddy Piper is the special guest Ref for the match. Solid technical match in which Bret ended up winning.

 

Undertaker Note: The Undertaker made his wrestlemania return at this ppv and went against King Kong Bundy. Bundy threatened to pin the Undertaker for the 5 count, due to him not believing that Take could survive the avalanche splash. But it wouldn’t be enough to put the dead man away. The Undertaker defeated King Kong Bundy. Undertaker is 4-0 at wrestlemania.

 

 The WWF Championship match saw challenger Shawn Michaels (due to winning the 1995 Royal Rumble) face off against this former best friend Diesel (champion). Originally Pamela Anderson was supposed o escort Shawn down to ringside, but Shawn “fired” her for those responsibilities and instead Jenny McCarthy (to her credit looked like she was having the time of her life and just having a ton of fun) escorted him to ringside along with his bodyguard Sid. But when Diesel came out, he wasn’t alone, he had the blonde bombshell herself under his arms, Pamela Anderson (to much chagrin looked like she couldn’t care less and was just waiting to get paid and get the hell outta there) . Good match, Michaels relied on quickness and agility to get the advantage in this, and Diesel attempted to slow him down with pure strength. Shawn was close to winning then gold when he hit Diesel with the super kick, but Sid had the ref tied up, and for this reason, Diesel took advantage, went for the jackknife power bomb and covered him for the victory, to retain the WWF Championship.

 

The headlining main event was Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow was a pure veteran of the WWF, so he was the most trusted and reliable man to be able to carry this match and work with Taylor. Taylor went for some stiff shots on Bigelow and looked pretty impressive in the match. Taylor has a very strong and measurable size, so he match well with Bam Bam (physically). Back n forth match it was and Bigelow went for his flying head butt from the top rope. However he was unable to pin the NY Giant! With Taylor getting his last gust of wind, he climb to the 2nd rope and hit Bam Bam with a forward flying forearm and covered and pinned Bam Bam for the 1-2-3 victory.

 

Personally, I remember watching this, and I remember thinking that it wasn’t as strong as Wrestlemania 10 in terms of match booking and quality. I didn’t believe that Shawn had a chance at beating Diesel. (at the time) I wasn’t an NFL fan, so I’m like “Who the F is Lawrence Taylor?” And I didn’t understand why the WWF Championship match wasn’t closing the show! The only match that I was looking forward to was the Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund match because (to me) that was the only match that had a solid story. Neither man has ever utter the words “I quit”. Just 11 years earlier Backlund lost the WWF title due to his manager “throwing in the towel”. Just some month earlier, the same thing happened with Bret Hart when his mother threw in the towel. So the story line for the I Quit match was very compelling, and the resolution would be a great pay off. I can say the same thing for the Undertakers match. It was a match I was very much looking forward to and was satisfied with the resolution. Owen’s match was a pleasant surprise. But I can’t really say the same about the rest. And also what was annoying, that is seemed as if the WWF was kissing a lot of Hollywood ass. Granted, Wrestlemania has always had celebrities there, but the celebs in the past played more of a footnote to the event. This year, the celebs WERE the event and as a guy who just wanted to watch some cool matches and resolve a storyline here and there, that was more distracting than anything. And I always hated Jonathon Taylor Thomas. I wanted to kick him in the dick.

Match Card

– The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and The British Bulldog) defeated The Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli) (with Uncle Zebekiah)

– Razor Ramon (with The 1–2–3 Kid) defeated Jeff Jarrett (c) (with The Roadie) by disqualification. Jeff Jarrett still held on to the World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship.

– The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated King Kong Bundy (with Ted DiBiase)

– Owen Hart and Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated The Smoking Gunns (c) (Billy and Bart) And won the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championships

– Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund in an “I Quit Match”

– Diesel (c) (with Pamela Anderson) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Sid and Jenny McCarthy) to retain the World Wrestling Federation Championship

– Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (with Ted DiBiase)