WWF SummerSlam 1993
August 30, 1993
Auburn Hills, MI
Palace at Auburn Hills

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Yokozuna (6/13/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (6/6/1993)
World Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers (6/16/1993)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan.

• Razor Ramon vs. Ted DiBiase
  

After Razor lost to the 1-2-3 Kid in an upset back in May, DiBiase started to make fun of him and offered him a job as his personal servant since he obviously didn’t have a future in wrestling, causing Ramon to turn face and befriend The Kid to take on Money Inc. DiBiase attacks Razor from behind before he even gets his jacket off. Razor comes back and hits the Fallaway Slam. DiBiase takes a clothesline out to the floor and gets flipped back in from the apron. He begs off, but he’s just setting Razor up to yank him in the corner. Backbreaker gets two. Razor elbows out of a chinlock, but runs into a knee. DiBiase delivers a swinging neckbreaker and calls for the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM, but Razor elbows him away. DiBiase dumps Razor out and exposes a turnbuckle. Back in, Razor blocks the turnbuckle smash and gives one to Teddy instead. RAZORS EDGE! It’s over. (7:32) A fine little match. Razor looked like a star in this one. On the other hand, this would prove to be DiBiase’s last WWF match of his career due to his nagging injuries. **

• WWF World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers vs. The Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette)
  

This is the more well-known Pritchard/Del Ray combination of the Heavenly Bodies. In one of those minor details that Cornette pays attention to like all great wrestling minds do, Cornette sells an injury from SMW and wears a neck brace to continue the illusion for the few hundred SMW fans. I personally didn’t pay much attention to SMW until around 1995 when Brad Armstrong was the big fish in the little pond. Well, as big a fish as Brad Armstrong can be in a regional independent wrestling promotion. Great fed though if you like your southern ‘rasslin and New Jack mixed together. Anyways, we’re in Detroit where the Steiners are royalty. This is the second match in a row where the heels do a Pearl Harbor job to start the match. Scott gets thrown out so the Bodies can double-suplex Rick. Ouch! Double-Flapjack to Rick. That didn’t land well. Scott makes the save and whips the Bodies into each other. Scott monkey-flips Del Ray across the ring, followed by a double-hiptoss by the Steiners on Pritchard. Pritchard ducks a Steinerline from Rick, but Del Ray does not. Instead, Pritchard walks right into a Release Belly-to-Belly Suplex from Scott. He follows that up with a Tilt-a-whirl Slam on Del Ray! Awesome segment there. We now go from there to a normal tag match. Scott press slams Pritchard and backdrops Del Ray. Rick tags in and clotheslines the heels out to the floor as they change up their gameplan with Corny. Back in, Scott delivers a pair of atomic drops on the Bodies, but doesn’t see Pritchard coming up from behind with a bulldog. Nice! Pritchard dumps Scott out to allow Del Ray to cannonball onto him off the apron! Del Ray tags in and hits a SWEET hurricane DDT on Scott. The Bodies deliver a drop toehold/knee drop combo. Del Ray hits a Superkick and boy am I enjoying this Jimmy Del Ray guy in a completely heterosexual way, of course. Cover, 1-2-NO! Pritchard tags and chokes Scott in the ropes. When the ref backs him away, Cornette jabs him in the mouth with his tennis racket. Del Ray tags and tries another hurricane DDT, but Scott counters with a release Northern Lights throw. Pritchard cuts off the tag, but ducks low off a whip and takes a double underhook slam. HOT TAG TO RICK! He goes STEINERLINE CRAZY! Steiner Bulldog to Del Ray! Cover, 1-2-NO! Uh oh, Pritchard throws Scott off to the floor when he tries a ten-count corner punch. Meanwhile, Rick hits a Powerslam on Del Ray! Cornette throws in the tennis racket right in front of Rick’s face. He still gets WHACKED with the racket from behind by Pritchard. Del Ray covers for 1-2-NO! MOONSAULT PRESS by Del Ray, but Rick moves and Pritchard takes the blow instead. Scott comes in and gives the FRANKENSTEINER to Del Ray for the win! (9:29) GOOD tag team wrestling like this makes me feel good inside. Is that weird? ***½

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) vs. Mr. Perfect
  

It’s the battle of the greatest IC champions of all-time. This is the second time a feud over this claim has happened in six years. The first of course was between Randy Savage and the Honky Tonk Man in late ’87. As far as Diesel goes, he’s just a big guy at this point who looks out for his buddy Shawn. Quick start as both guys counters each other a bunch. Perfect works the arm as much as he can. He even armdrags HBK off the top, which was pretty cool. Perfect catapults Michaels out to the floor. He follows him out, but Diesel distracts him and causes Perfect to turn around into a superkick. Back in the ring, Shawn goes to work on the back. He whips Perfect from corner to corner and applies a backbreaker. Perfect punches out and starts his comeback. They fight over a backslide as Perfect flips Shawn over into the PERFECTPLEX for 1-2-NO! Diesel pulls Perfect out to the floor and pays for it by receiving some right hands. Perfect turns around and catches HBK in the gut as he comes off the apron. Perfect tosses him back in the ring into ref Earl Hebner, so Diesel takes advantage and sends Perfect into the ringpost to get him counted out. (11:19) Well the finish isn’t satisfying considering the buildup, but the match itself isn’t as bad as everyone says it is. With the huge egos that were griping over how Vince was handling the IC belt at the time, the finish is exactly how you would expect it to go down. Arguably, this was Hennig’s final match that had any real drawing power. Perfect attacks Diesel backstage, which kick-starts Diesel’s WWF career. ***¼

• 1-2-3 Kid vs. Irwin R. Schyster
  

This is 1-2-3 Kid’s PPV debut. IRS launches Kid up in the air a time or two before he counters with a dropkick in mid-move. He screws around with the Kid and gets rolled up out of nowhere for two. The Rope-Assisted Ab Stretch is applied, which is the standard for all Mike Rotunda matches. Kid elbows out of a chinlock, kicks away at IRS in the corner, and hits the MOONSAULT PRESS that got him the upset win over Ramon for 1-2-NO! La Majistral cradle gets two on IRS. Enziguri connects, but IRS hits the WRITE-OFF (jumping lariat) for the win. (5:45) A total squash that really didn’t need to be. *½

For this next match, Owen and Bruce Hart have front row seats. Anybody seen the Memphis/USWA reactions to the Bret/Lawler feud? Owen Hart was the main event heel USWA unified champion who defends his brother Bret, while Lawler is of course the god of Memphis who can do no wrong. I recommend you check it out on YouTube sometime. Anyways, Lawler comes down to the ring on crutches and an iced-up knee. He goes on to say that he can’t wrestle tonight because some old blue-haired lady pulled out in front of him on the way to the show and caused a ten car pile-up. Heenan ~ “Probably Helen Hart.” Yeah, probably so. He sends his court jester to wrestle in his place. That court jester is none other than Doink the Clown!

• Bret Hart vs. Doink the Clown (w/Jerry Lawler)
  

Lucky for us, it’s still the great Matt Borne edition. Doink tosses confetti at the crowd out of a tin pail. That is until he gets over to Bruce Hart who gets a pail full of water thrown at him. Bret beats Doink in and out of the ring for several minutes. He starts to chase Lawler away, but gets nailed from behind by Doink and then eats the steel steps. In the ring, Doink goes after the leg. He hits a shin breaker and wraps the leg around the post for two. STFU! Wow, so John Cena gets his wrestling technique from watching Doink matches? Who woulda thunk it? Bret elbows out, but gets stuck in the STUMP PULLER! Doink grabs the ropes and the hold gets broken to set up the WHOOPIE CUSHION! Oh wait, Bret gets the knees up to block. Russian legsweep! Flying elbow drop! SHARPSHOOTER! Then all of a sudden, Jerry Lawler seems to be completely healed. It’s a miracle! He hops in the ring and blasts Bret with a crutch to break the hold. (8:57) No bell, but I’m guessing that’s a DQ win for Bret. Owen and Bruce are being held back by referees and security. Lawler continues to beat the heck out of Bret and heads back to the dressing room with Doink until WWF President Jack Tunney stands in their way. If Jerry Lawler doesn’t return to the ring to face Bret Hart, he’ll be banned from the WWF 4-LIFE. You know, I would love to see Tunney do the nWo 4-LIFE hand signal. So far, so good. ***

• Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
  

Bret BEATS Lawler back to the ring. He drops a headbutt right to the “lower abdominal region” or as Dr. Dre might say, “deez nuts”. They go to the floor where Bret nails him in the back with the other crutch. Lawler leads Bret around the ring and then pops Bret in the gut with the crutch to gain a breather. He continues to choke him down with it as well. Back in the ring, Lawler antagonizes Bruce and Owen to turn the ref’s attention away so he can jab Bret in the throat with the crutch. Bret’s trick knee acts up and Lawler receives a low-blow to turn the tide. DOWN COME THE STRAPS! Bret fires away. NOW LAWLER’S STRAPS COME DOWN! Backbreaker from Bret gets two. Piledriver gets followed up by a flying elbow. SHARPSHOOTER! (6:34) Lawler gives up, but Bret refuses to release the hold. The longer he leaves it on, the louder the crowd gets. A fleet of referees, security, Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco combined can’t get Bret off Lawler. Bruce and Owen finally come in the ring and only then does Bret release the hold. Because of Bret’s post-match actions, ref Bill Alfonso reverses the decision in Lawler’s favor. Lawler does the stretcher job, allowing Bruce and Owen to get in some free licks on his way to the back. Just a perfectly booked feud. Definitely the best of 1993. Of course, even this is only the beginning. ***½

• Ludvig Borga vs. Marty Jannetty
  

Talk about your highs and your lows. Jannetty was the IC champ a few months ago and now he’s about to get eaten alive by the new Finnish guy on the block. Borga’s been in the WWF for around two months and he’s undefeated. He looks like a shorter, beefed up version of Heidenreich. He’s pretty impressive in my opinion. Not a draw or anything, but he’s pretty good in the ring. He launches Marty up in the air and PUNCHES him on the way down. Jannetty hits a pair of superkicks, but that’s as close as he comes to taking Borga off his feet. TORTURE RACK gets the submission win for Borga. (5:15) Borga would hang around in the WWF until January, then he becomes a boxer, and later on a successful politician in his homeland. America’s not the only place where anything is possible. *

• The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales (w/Harvey Wippleman) – ‘Rest in Peace’ Match
  

The rules are simple: no DQ, no countout, must be a winner. Wippleman has the urn to begins things and there is no Paul Bearer around just yet to take it back. Taker tries to put him down with clotheslines, but that’s no good. They go to the floor where Taker meets the steps head-first. Gonzales finds a chair and cracks it across Taker’s back. Taker gets whipped into the steps for the knees-first bump. Back in, Taker tries to crawl towards the urn, but Gonzales stands in his way. Paul Bearer makes his return and starts walking towards the ring with a black funeral wreath. Wippleman apparently takes offense to Bearer being at ringside, but runs into the fat which knocks him down. Bearer reclaims the urn and raises it high in the air to revive the Undertaker. He hits a bunch more clotheslines, but a flying clothesline is the only thing that will take Gonzales off his feet. Cover, 1-2-3. (8:05) Afterwards, Gonzales gets rid of Harvey Wippleman with a CHOKESLAM. At least it was better than their WrestleMania match. Lucky for me, there’s no more Giant Gonzales/El Gigante matches to recap ever again. ½*

• The Headshrinkers & Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Afa & Luna Vachon) vs. The Smokin’ Gunns & Tatanka
  

Heenan lets us know that Shawn Michaels has left the building. Thanks, Bobby. We get Tatanka vs. Bigelow to start. They both think crossbody blocks at the same time, leading to a Billy and Fatu switch. Billy hits a flying clothesline, but gets run down with a shoulderblock. Samu kicks Billy over to Bart for a tag. Bart becomes our lovable-cowboy-in-peril and gets passed around for a while. Typical Samoan stuff – headbutts, shoulderblocks and powerslams. Solid action though. Bigelow misses a corner charge to set up the HOT TAG TO TATANKA! He SLAMS Bigelow and hits a Flying Bodypress for 1-2-NO! Bigelow starts pounding away, but Tatanka starts up the War Dance. An enziguri kick will put a stop to that, Bam Bam. See, told ya. Samu tags and hits a Flying Headbutt for 1-2-NO! The Gunns are cleared out of the ring, leaving Tatanka all by himself with the heels. Bigelow gets whipped into the corner for a splash to set up a TRIPLE HEADBUTT! Now they all head up top for a TRIFECTA OF FLYING HEADBUTTS, but Tatanka sits up and avoids them all. The Gunns are back in as Fatu and Bigelow roll out for STEREO PESCADOS! Meanwhile, Tatanka rolls up Samu for 1-2-3! (11:16) Everybody was feeling it here and what we got was another great match on this card. Must be something in the water. ***

Randy Savage makes his SummerSlam appearance by holding the American flag while Aaron Neville sings the national anthem.

• WWF World Champion Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) vs. Lex Luger
  

So Luger goes from being a narcissistic prick to Captain America in the span of a couple weeks. He slams Yokozuna on a ship and travels the country in the Lex Express bus hanging out with sick children and making them smile leading up to his WWF title shot. That’s pretty much the last two months of Luger’s life in a nutshell. Oh yeah, and he now wears a protective forearm pad so as to not have an advantage over his opponents because of the steel plate in his forearm. Because cheating and getting caught for it would be un-American, right? During the face-off, Fuji tries to sneak in on Luger from behind, but the eyes in the back of his head sees him coming. Yoko elbows Luger away when he tries to roll him up off the ropes (what was Lex thinking?), but he misses the Legdrop. Luger starts kicking away at the leg and hits the jumping elbow drop for two. Wow he NEVER hits that. Luger hits a corner clothesline and follows up with the ten-count corner punch. Once that’s over, Yokozuna chops him in the throat and chokes him down in the corner. When the ref pushes him away, Fuji climbs up to the apron to literally throw salt in Luger’s game. Good thing Lex has those eyes in the back of his head, because they come in quite handy again in this match. Lex punches Yoko and tries to slam him, but that’s not going to work just yet. Yoko superkicks him down instead and takes him to the floor for some splashing up against the ringpost. Luger avoids a chairshot and comes back with a pair of flying double ax-handles back in the ring. A third leap off the top is a flying forearm, which finally puts Yokozuna down. Cover, 1-2-NO! Luger clotheslines Yoko down from behind for 1-2-NO! Double-KO spot happens next. Cornette hops up on the apron as Fuji rolls a wooden (?) pail into the ring. WHAM! Yoko nails Luger right in the face with it! Yoko crawls over for 1-2-NO! Belly-to-Belly Suplex gets two. Yoko chokes Lex in the ropes and then delivers a Morishima-like backdrop suplex! Cover, 1-2-NO! Now Yoko grabs the nerve hold. Luger elbows out and tries to slam Yokozuna again, but Yoko falls on top for 1-2-NO! Yoko hits the Legdrop for 1-2-NO! Luger avoids the BANZAI DROP and the butt splash in the corner leading to the eventual slam on Yoko. Heenan ~ “HIPLOCK! HIPLOCK!” Fuji gets nailed and OFF COMES THE FOREARM PAD! Luger hits Yoko with the BIONIC FOREARM, which knocks him clear through the ropes and to the floor. He’s totally KO’ed and gets counted out to give Luger the win. (18:00) Definitely Yokozuna’s longest match to date, and not a bad one at that. You have to hand it to Yokozuna for sticking it out and not relying on so many restholds. The Steiners, Tatanka and Randy Savage all come down to celebrate with Luger like he actually just became champion or something. Red, white and blue balloons drop from the ceiling – the whole shebang, American style. It’s so cheesy and overly patriotic, I think it would probably even make Jim Duggan blush. **½

Final Thoughts: What a fun show filled with hard work and great booking for the most part. The next several months would prove to Vince that Bret Hart was his new guy for 1994 and that he didn’t need a Hulk Hogan prototype. I’m so glad Bret didn’t get the title shot here because then the Bret/Lawler feud leading into the Bret/Owen feud might never have happened or at least been as awesome as they were. Overall, a thoroughly entertaining show. Thumbs up for an often times overlooked and underrated SummerSlam 1993.