REVIEW: Summerslam Spectacular 1993: That’s False Advertisement

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over a dozen years and have reviewed over 6,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I post a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net. It can be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies and everything in between. Note that I rate with letters instead of stars and I don’t review matches under three minutes, because how good or bad can something that short be?

Summerslam Spectacular 1993
Date: August 22, 1993
Location: Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Attendance: 3,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Gorilla Monsoon

This is a special used to promote Summerslam and since the 1993 edition is the kind of show that needs all the help it can get. The big match here is The Steiner Brothers defending the Tag Team Titles against Money Inc. in a cage, which has some serious potential. Let’s get started.

Jim Ross welcomes us to the show and discusses the menu.

Yokozuna vs. Jim Duggan

Yokozuna’s WWF Title isn’t on the line, and Jim Cornette isn’t in his corner for some reason. Instead, it’s just Mr. Fuji, which is quite the downgrade. Duggan is in his weird singlet phase here, and it never looks good. We see a quick shot of Duggan holding his newborn daughter while commentary is already switching to Lex Luger. Duggan jumps him from behind to start, hammering away, but the referee takes away the 2×4, allowing Yokozuna to take him down with a superkick.

Yokozuna chokes and sends Duggan to the outside, meaning Duggan’s eyes bulge like they used to. That doesn’t seem to bother Yokozuna as he slams Duggan down and drops the massive leg. Duggan gets caught in a bearhug and we take a break. Back with Duggan biting out of the bearhug, so Yokozuna chokes himself out in the corner again. Yokozuna misses a charge though and Duggan punches away before finally taking the monster down with a clothesline. The three point clothesline is loaded, but Fuji grabs the leg, allowing Yokozuna to land a shot from behind. The Banzai Drop finishes Duggan at 12:01.

Judgement:D+ This was mostly a squash until the end, when it was almost literally a squash. Yokozuna was absolutely amazing at this point and it was a great way to have him destroy Duggan. Duggan is someone who can be sacrificed for America because it’s a story that works so well. This was Duggan’s last match with the company for over a decade, but he would return from time to time.

After the match, Yokozuna is a little tired, so Cornette jumps up to yell that Luger is going to beg Cornette and Fuji to call Yokozuna off at Summerslam. Cornette brought the fire like only he can here.

Video about Ted DiBiase trying to humiliate Razor Ramon with money, which leads to bad results. DiBiase wanted to beat up 1-2-3 Kid to make it better, but got into a big surprise.

Razor Ramon vs Blake Beverly

Blake talks nonsense and gets a toothpick in the face, so Blake punches him in the face. The threat of a right hand sends Blake outside before he comes back for a headlock. Blake pulls on his hair, but Ramon pulls harder to escape. The discus punches shake Blake, but he gets a shot of his own to take Ramon to the ground.

Blake takes the turnbuckle pad off and slams Ramon hard into the steel, because this is WAY more competitive than I would have bet/should be. A powerslam gives Blake two and he clotheslines Ramon right back down. Ramon slams him into the exposed buckle though and finishes with the Razor’s Edge at 6:17.

Judgement:D+. Am I missing something or was this more about Blake than Ramon? I’m not sure why you’d want to push half of a low level TV guy, but this was a pretty weird time for the business. I don’t know what they were trying to accomplish here, but it didn’t do much good to Ramon, who is a bit of a bigger star than Blake Beverly (now Beau would have made sense, but not Blake).

We watch Lex Luger get out of the Lex Express and meet some fans.

Jerry Lawler is in a pink Cadillac with an Elvis impersonator who insists he’s the real deal. He recently had dinner with JFK and talked about how bad it was, which Lawler says is like people like Bret Hart taking shortcuts. It’s time to go for a ride.

Bret Hart is tired of Lawler talking about his family and he doesn’t want his parents to witness this abuse at Summerslam.

Smoking Gunns/Tatanka vs. Reno Riggins/Barry Horowitz/Brooklyn Brawler

Billy knees Riggins to start and Bart comes in to crank the Brawler’s arm. Tatanka comes in to crank the arm as well, but Billy comes back to suplex Riggins down for two. Horowitz gets his own turn and snapmares Billy into a knee drop, because we actually have a face in danger here. Riggins and Horowitz trade blows on Billy in the corner before Brawler rakes the eyes over the top rope. Billy forearms his way to freedom and brings Tatanka back in to clean house. Everything comes crashing down and a high crossbody finishes Riggins at 5:03.

Judgement: C. Another match that doesn’t happen, which has been the case the entire show. The Gunns and Tatanka are warming up for a six-man match against Bam Bam Bigelow and the Headshrinkers, but I’m not sure how successful this was. It didn’t last that long, but Billy was getting beat up for a good portion of the match, which isn’t the most inspiring match.

More about Luger and the fans.

Undertaker comes out to tell us that Giant Gonzalez’s day of judgment is near. He may not have Paul Bearer or Urn, but he has the Creatures Of The Night. As for what a Rest In Peace match entails, it involves him ripping out Gonzalez’s organs to take his soul. I’ll let you make up your own mind as Giant Gonzalez and Harvey Wippleman come out, tell Undertaker he’s going to lose, and then leave.

Luger, again fans.

Intercontinental Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Bob Backlund

Shawn defends and commentary continues their eternal hype of Michaels vs. Mr. Perfect at Summerslam (which went on FOREVER and there was no way they could live up to the hype). Shawn takes him down to start and gets a slam before chilling on the top rope. Backlund is back with a rather delayed slam into a backslide for two and Shawn needs a breather on the floor.

We take a break and come back with Shawn beating Backlund up for two counts and grabbing a front facelock. The comeback is on and there’s the big atomic drop but Diesel grabs the referee. Shawn uses the distraction to grab a small package of briefcases for the pin at 9:54.

Judgement: C-. Backlund was still in his aww shucks period here and Shawn was still on the path to greatness, so they weren’t ready for a really good one. Plus, this was hardly a competitive match, as Shawn dominated most of it before cheating to win. These two could have done something good under better circumstances, but they didn’t have them here.

We get an interview with Lex Luger, who talks about how he was an athletic kid when he was a kid, but then he started training seriously and learning and here he is today. The lesson is to keep working at things and eventually you can achieve your goals. He wants to be an inspiration to everyone, so don’t believe that you can’t do something. Lex Luger tells you to believe that you can do anything. They just let him say that.

Ludwig Borga plans to destroy Marty Jannetty at Summerslam and wants to destroy everyone here.

Marty Jannetty vs. Duane Gill

Jannetty quickly starts cranking the arm and takes him down into an armbar. A superkick sets up a backdrop and we hit the chinlock. Gill fights up and catches him on top, only to get caught in a front flip faceplant (reverse Blockbuster). The top rope fist drop finishes Gill at 3:21.

Judgement:D+. This felt like a bit of a warm-up match, which isn’t something we saw much of tonight. I’m not sure how much value there is in Borga beating Jannetty, but he’ll have to get something out of it. Jannetty was still hot from winning the Intercontinental Title earlier this year, so Borga gets something out of it, but this wasn’t great.

We go to the Summerslam Control Center where Gene Okerlund is handling the card. I miss this kind of stuff and it could still work today.

Tag Team Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Money Inc.

The Steiners defend in a cage with only escape. The Steiners go after DiBiase to start, but IRS’s quick escape attempt is cut off with little trouble. Money Inc. cuts off the champions as well, so DiBiase goes up, only to be pulled down by the tights (I think you know what happens as a result). With the Steiners down, IRS goes up, but Scott catches him and goes over, only to have DiBiase suplex him back. Scott is knocked down again, and Rick’s escape attempt is also cut off. The Steiners are right back with some punches to the face and go up, only to be quickly pulled back.

We take a break and come back with Rick suplexing IRS off the cage and Scott sending DiBiase face first into the cage. DiBiase and Scott fight up top but they switch places with DiBiase pulling Rick down and flipping him upside down for a cool visual. IRS is sent hard into the corner but Scott has to pull him down into an electric chair.

A few rams in the cage see IRS and Scott climb out at the same time, but IRS comes back to pounce on Rick. Scott is not going to be taken in that easily and comes down from the top of the cage with an axe handle to IRS’ head. DiBiase pulls Rick back down by his bridle and we take another swing back. Back with Scott on the floor, leaving Rick behind 2-1. Scott comes back in a second time and watches IRS climb out again as Rick catches DiBiase again.

DiBiase ends up hanging by his feet from the cage, but Rick isn’t smart enough to pick up the win. Even Gorilla doesn’t know why they would do something so stupid, so both Steiners go up at once. That brings IRS back (this cage isn’t much of a deterrent) for another save, but Rick climbs over the top… and comes back to help Scott AGAIN. Rick backs out and IRS tries to escape as well, but Rick catches him on his shoulders. DiBiase escapes and hammers away, but Scott backs out to retain at 25:00.

Judgement: B. There were some weird moments in the thinking, but it didn’t stop at the violence and brawling, which is the idea of ​​a cage match like this. Most of all, this was definitely different, and I kind of like that. This would be it for Money Inc., which made me wonder why this wasn’t on the pay-per-view, because it would have been better than almost anything else on the show.

Men on a Mission and Rapping Randy (Savage) sing some hymns to Lex Luger to close the show.

Overall rating: B-. The main event more than carries it over and while the show felt like a glorified Raw (which it kind of was), it felt like something special. It didn’t exactly make me curious about the pay-per-view, but it had a great main event and covered every match on the show. That’s way better than most commercials and I’ll take that any time.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 60,000 wrestling matches. Since 2009, he has also been a wrestling reviewer, covering over 6,000 full shows. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books.

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