COUNTDOWN: Ranking Every Summerslam Match EVER!!

204. Divas Battle Royal(07)
Butt load of hot chicks, scrapping in a battle royal. Enough said.

203. Jerry Lawler vs Jake Roberts(96)
I was never a fan of the whole “real life alcoholic playing an alcoholic as a character” deal. I didn’t like it when they did it with Hawk & I didn’t like it with Jake. Lawler was at the top of his game as a heel though, trying to force Jake to drink whiskey, but overall, this just left an unsettled feeling. I just hated the angle. Match barely went 4 minutes & I only rank it this high due to Lawler being a great heel.



202. HHH vs Great Khali(08)
Had it not been for me going to a SD prior to this Summerslam, I wouldn’t have ranked it as high, but Triple H was the one, aside from Cena, who got the best out of Khali, which I realize isn’t saying much, but just take that as a compliment. Wasn’t a great match, but it wasn’t terrible either. Can’t say much more than that, Trips won via Pedigree, which wasn’t pretty, but got the job done.



201. Ken Shamrock vs Steve Blackman(99)
This feud was weird, Blackman would beat the shit out of Shamrock on TV, to the point of Shamrock getting busted open internally, but then when they’d fight on PPV, Shamrock would beat the shit out of Blackman. The battle of guys who could legit beat the piss out of you led to the Lion’s Den match with weapons. It was a pretty tame match (get it, Lion puns!) as they used some weapons, but Shamrock gained the upper hand & started beating the holy hell out of the Lethal Weapon. For the 2nd PPV in a row (the first being an Iron Circle match the month prior, which was basically a match surrounded by cars), Shamrock wins.



200. Dino Bravo vs Don Muraco (88)
Out of all the matches at Wrestlemania 4 to have rematches of, this was the one we got. Two juiced up guys who could hit a few moves & that’s about it. I suppose I could just cut & paste my write up from the Mania rankings, but quite frankly, I’m too lazy.



199. Ryback vs Big Show vs The Miz(15)
My goodness did this feud suck. If you wanted to hear crickets, look no further as the Ryback IC title reign wasn’t good at all, but it also has to do with him primarily feuding with Miz & Big Show for almost the entire duration. There were no redeeming qualities in this thing. Terrible, boring match to a terrible, boring feud.



198. Diesel vs Mabel(95)
You know how Ryback, Del Rio, Sheamus & Swagger could be considered very “hurty”? Mabel was the poster boy for being “hurty”, except he did it in 95. Ahmed Johnson filled that role during 1997, but this year belonged to King Mabel. In a shoot interview with Kevin Nash, he said that Mabel hurt Fatu in a match & when you hurt a Samoan, you know something’s up. Nash said he told Mabel to not go after his back, which was hurt, so Mabel stood over the top of him & sat right down on his back. Vince was apparently going to fire Mabel, but Nash said no. Mabel would stick around a few more months, but this could’ve been it for the King. One of the worst main event matches in Summerslam history, but really it’s not a slight against these two, it’s just they didn’t wrestle well with one another, especially since Nash was legit hurt.



197. Greg Valentine vs Hercules(89)
Rugged Ronnie Garvin playing the role of Howard Finkel in this one & apparently the referee as well. Valentine won via cheating, but Garvin announced Herc the winner. Garvin was awful & took away what little happened in this match. Luckily Valentine cracked him with a stiff shot during the match, but Garvin, in his slippery dress shoes, was having none of it. Herc I guess got the win, I’m still confused as to who actually won. But I’ll never go back & watch this match again even if you paid me. Well, maybe if you paid me. Hell, I’ll sit through anything if you paid me enough! Does that make me a money whore? You bet your sweet ass it does!



196. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Orton(06)
In one corner, the Immobile Hulk Hogan, who could barely bump to save his life & in the other, you have Randy Orton, just reaching the prime of his career. Of course Hogan had to beat him, because he’s Hogan & he friggin sucks. The more matches I watch of Hogan as I grow up, the more annoyed I get with him. Ok, so your ego wouldn’t let Shawn Michaels beat you the year earlier (which gets a huge bump in the rankings because of HBK’s overselling), but to beat Orton if ri-God damn-diculous. Hope it made you happy Terry, luckily Orton bounced back & Hogan would leave soon after this atrocity. Orton deserved so much better. If only he had started using the punt to the head in 2006. I would’ve been an Orton fan for life had a laid one in on the Hulkster.



195. Ivory vs Tori(99)
At least this match didn’t involve pudding or gravy. It was as close you’d get to actual women’s wrestling match in 1999. The match was brilliant for 1999’s standards, but pretty bad if you compare it to really good women’s wrestling. King was fawning over both ladies the majority of the match (classic Uncle Jerry), which ended with Tori going for a sunset flip, getting it, Ivory kicked out. They did the same spot again & Ivory sat down on Tori’s chest immediately & got the pin. Dumb ending as Tori just got right up to her knees immediately after the pin. Lame.



194. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff(03)
The image of Eric Bischoff making out with Linda McMahon still haunts my dreams. I mean, Vince making out with Trish was pretty friggin gross, but this was much worse IMO. So Shane came to his mothers defense & we got a brawl between these two non-wrestlers (though Shane could turn it on against top level guys). However, Shane hadn’t wrestled in a few years & Eric sucked. So we got our typical Shane high spots, but then came the heel turn no one expected & what turned out to be pretty great. Jonathan Coachman turned heel & I’ll be perfectly honest, I never saw it coming. It was dumb & pointless at the time, but damn it worked out. Heel Coach was fantastic & it made me a fan of his. Plus it gave Bischoff a lackey when necessary & we got a heel announcer. Coach was someone to eat a Stunner too, which he did this night. Shane wins a very forgettable match, but gets revenge on Bischoff for smooching his mother, gross.



193. I.R.S. vs Greg Valentine(91)
I liked IRS as a wrestler & character, but holy smokes was this match boring. It was watching paint dry boring. Greg Valentine still making PPV appearances & the whole “It takes Valentine at least 15 minutes to get warmed up” thing luckily didn’t take place, as I don’t know how I could’ve watched this match had it gone 15. Seven minute match that felt like 20. Valentine, like usual in 1991, always went for the Figure Four way too much, to the point where it cost him the match. It happened with Earthquake at WM & it happened here with IRS, who grabbed the hair & got a small package for the 3 count. There was nothing wrong with the match, two established workers, but just a painfully boring match.



192. Undertaker vs Kane(00)
American Badass Taker is by far & away my least favorite incarnation of his character. He was so out of shape during this run & this feud just seemed to be just thrown out there for the sake of having a match. Kane was popular in 99-2000, so when he randomly turned heel before Summerslam, it made zero sense. This match sucked pretty bad, as the denim Taker ripped off the mask of Kane as he rushed to the back. Slow, boring, probably these two worst match against one another. You’d think these two would have a better match, but it definitely wasn’t good. If you’re going to watch a series of Taker/Kane matches, I’d honestly recommend their feud from 2010, underrated, underappreciated & both dudes were slugging as it was essentially the end of their long feud.



191. Ludvig Borga vs Marty Jannetty(93)
So the whole Anti-American gimmick was perfect in 1993, as Vince was in love with Made in the USA Lex Luger & needed someone to feud with him after Yokozuna, even though Yoko was champ, but Luger won by countout….ah, we’ll cover it pretty soon, I digress. So Ludvig Borga’s vignettes reeked of 93, as he walked on the rubble & rocks talking about how pathetic the USA was & how he’d crush everything in his path. That’s all fine & good, but the problem was, Borga sucked as a wrestler. So he didn’t put on many good matches. This night though, he fought Marty Jannetty, who could sell his ass off & he did just that. Borga looked good in a squash & I liked the end when he launched Marty in the air & punched him in the stomach on the way down. He won with, oddly enough, a Torture Rack, for the victory. His one & only PPV victory.



190. Smoking Gunns vs Blu Brothers(95)
Action Zone-level match, with the Cowboys beating the Mountain Men. That’s literally all there is to say about this match. It was one of those late 80s/early 90s matches on a PPV that didn’t accomplish anything as these two teams had been around for a while, so it was good guys over the bad guys. No title shots on the line, nothing, so I can’t really say much about this. I think this was it for the Blu Brothers, before they’d be repackaged a year or two later. Sidewinder for the Gunns was a great finisher though.



189. Jerry Lawler vs Tazz(00)
This was the 2nd time this year that a match ended with a candy jar to the head. The 1st being the botched ending of the Wrestlemania Hardcore Battle Royal when Hardcore Holly hit Crash too early, but on this night, the honor belonged to Good Ol’ JR, who helped out his broadcast partner. Tazz had a very forgettable career unfortunately in the WWF. He was so over in ECW & just wasted within months in the WWF. So when he randomly turned heel & started attacking people & becoming a bully, it wasn’t that great, but his feud with Jerry Lawler was arguably the most memorable feud he had in his WWF run as a performer. Tazz & Lawler made it seem like they legit hated one another, which was fantastic as it made the match solid. So when Tazz egged JR on during the match & locked in the Tazz-mission, the sound of JR getting up from commentary, coming over & smashing the candy jar onto Tazz’s head was awesome. One of the times JR & King stood triumphant & I dug it.



188. New Age Outlaws vs Mankind(98)
This was a slaughter of Mick Foley in the world’s most famous arena. It was weird, DX were babyfaces, but this match they were booed by some & cheered by others. Mankind, after his Hell in a Cell with Taker, was beloved by fans no matter who he was feuding with, so when the time came for he & Kane to face the Outlaws for the tag titles in MSG. Kane didn’t show up, so the Outlaws beat the piss out of Mankind. Sure, Mick got his shots in, throwing I believe Billy Gunn through a table & cracking Road Dogg with some good shots, but in the end, it was the Outlaws who hit a spike piledriver for the pin. They tossed Mankind into a dumpster & miraculously, Kane was in the dumpster! Bravo to them being able to hide Kane, who is over 300 pounds & nearly 7 feet tall. People were right there ringside & didn’t see him. But the end was silly with Kane driving a sledgehammer down onto Mankind, which we never saw. Instead he just raised it up & drove it down, to which Jim Ross sold it like a million bucks. Liked the match, but it was too silly of a finish. Especially since we had seen Mick be thrown off a cage just a few months earlier.



187. Edge & Sable vs Marc Mero & Jacqueline(98)
Why in the hell did Edge, the guy who lived in the shadows & was a virtual unknown, decide to be Sable’s tag team partner? I’ll never know, as nothing came out of this other than Edge getting a PPV debut win & getting to team with the hottest woman in wrestling at this time. The feud with Mero, Jackie & Sable was entertaining, but the addition of Edge was just weird. I guess since Sable had been hanging out with the Oddities (even more WTF?!?!?), I’m grasping straws. Mero was weird, yet amusing in this role as his job was to get beat up by Sable, rough life. Edge & Sable won with a pretty cool looking roll/splash thingy to finish off Jackie & the Marvelous One. No harm no foul, just an odd choice of partner.



186. Barry Horowitz vs Skip(95)
The whole Horowitz Wins saga was pretty funny when it started. Him winning in a random match against Skip was just like the 123 Kid & Razor, no one saw it coming. The whole thing went on a few months too long, but I liked the whole idea. They made him come out to Hava Nagila as his entrance though, which, c’mon. However, Barry won the first match, won the 2nd match in surviving 10 minutes with Skip & now; he beat him for his 1st PPV win ever. They made Horowitz a nerd after this, but for the 1st month of his push, Barry Horowitz was super over with the fans. Chalk that up to a testament of not just Barry, but Chris Candido as well. Fine match, fine feud, well done.



185. Umaga vs Carlito vs Mr. Kennedy(07)
This was one of the most mediocre triple threats I can remember. Who the hell is there to cheer for in this one? I think this was the Summerslam that You-Mang-guh was supposed to wrestle the Jackass boys, but that got scrapped. Instead we got a very boring triple threat. Kennedy had lost a lot of steam, Carlito was just treading water & Umaga was a monster, so if anyone else won, it’d be just bad. Instead, Umaga hit the spike, yada, yada, yada. Snoozer. It’s weird, this was an IC title match, yet all 3 guys I felt deserved better.

164. Tatanka vs Lex Luger(94)
As a kid, I never saw this heel turn coming, but as I watch it again, it’s as clear as day what was going to happen. Tatanka’s gimmick was super stale at this time & he needed something different, so aligning with Ted Dibiase, who claimed it was Lex Luger that had sold out was really well done. Very odd feud for Luger to be in, seeing as Luger was Vince’s golden boy a year prior, but while the matches weren’t all that great, it was still an entertaining concept to a simple feud, that both guys executed really well. Tatanka never got more than a month or two push, then just became another Dibiase guy, Luger meanwhile, the wheels totally came off the ol’ Lex Express at this point & he was left laying with money in his mouth, which Tatanka promptly picked up on his way out. So now, Dibiase had Nikolai Volkoff, IRS, Bam Bam Bigelow, The Underfaker & Tatanka in his Corporation. Not really a group of super intimidating guys looking back, but in 1994, eh, it was alright.

163. Big Boss Man vs Mountie(91)
The loser spends the night in the NYC slammer. The whole concept was executed perfectly. The Mountie was the perfect guy to feud with Boss Man. Even with the cheesy sound effects of the Shock Stick, it was Boss Man who just rolled to his side & caused Mountie to miss. Ending was cool because Mountie went for a piledriver, but Boss Man turned it into an Alabama Slam for the pin. Watching this back, they literally covered everything you’d expect out of a resisting criminal. Kicking & screaming before being thrown in a paddy wagon. Refusing to take his finger prints (even flipping off the officers). Finally we see Mountie thrown into a cell, where waiting for him is a giant man in leather portraying the worst “gay biker” you’ve ever seen, with the line delivered in an effeminate tone “don’t you just love the way leather feels against your skin?” To which Mountie screamed in horror, so we’re to believe The Mountie was “prison pounded” by that gentleman I assume? Poor Jacques Rougeau, at least he got a 2 day IC title run in the following months. Way to take one for the team.

162. Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio vs Miz, R-Truth, Alberto Del Rio(11)
This match would be in Teddy Long’s Top 10 Summerslam matches for sure, holla holla. Not going deep into this match as it was mainly 6 guys feuding with each other, but they couldn’t have 3 separate matches, so they just threw them out there in a solid 6 man tag in which Mysterio pinned Miz, who, just a few months prior, was main eventing Wrestlemania, now taking the loss in the Summerslam opener. I never realized how quickly his push ended.

161. PCB vs Team BAD vs Team Bella(15)
If the last match was a Teddy Long favorite, this was his dream match. 9 Diva tag match! He was probably the only one who truly enjoyed this clusterfuck of a feud, storyline, match, you name it. Paige, Becky, Sasha are all excellent wrestlers. Charlotte is really good in certain matches, but otherwise an ok wrestler at this point. Nikki has gotten a lot better, but still isn’t on the level of the other girls, same could be said for Naomi & Foxy. Tamina I’ve never been a fan of & Brie Bella had the Layla-syndrome where she regressed in the ring over time. This whole showcase of the “Divas Revolution” was like watching paint dry. The team names to push merchandise, the overall high school bitchyness of all 6 girls, it was terribly executed. The only reason I ranked it this high was because certain times in the match, there were good spots, but they were few & far between. I did like they gave Becky the win, because no one really saw that coming.

160. Dudleys & Test vs APA & Spike Dudley(01)
I get it, more multi-man matches, but I won’t make a Teddy Long joke here, instead this was The Alliance vs WWF. I hated The Alliance storyline so much, because, despite the fact they didn’t get A-level guys, they just screwed it up royally from the start. It became about the WWF guys who were essentially parading around in Alliance shirts. Which was the case in this one. The reason I liked this so much was Shane McMahon, someone in the main event level, came to the ring to interfere in a throwaway six man, cracking Bradshaw with a chair leading to the Alliance getting the win. No matter how low on the card his guys were, Shane wasn’t opposed to helping out his team. Harmless 7 minute tag & I liked it.

159. Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart(98)
So this was the rematch after we had one of the more memorable matches in the Dungeon Match with Owen getting the win. After that match, we found out that Dan Severn was aligned with Owen & together, they were going to take out Shamrock once & for all. So we go to the Lions Den, which was the Octogon & it took place in like a side room of MSG or the lobby it seemed. Dan Severn was in Owen's corner & they did some pretty cool moves in this one, Owen using the cage to his advantage. But in the end, Shamrock locked in the ankle lock & Severn threw in the towel & walked out on Owen! Shamrock gets the win & the crowd who saw this match went nuts. I always liked the Owen/Shamrock feud & thought they did a great job of using different environments in their unique matches.

158. Big Boss Man vs Koko B. Ware (88)
The PPV debut for Big Boss Man was a fantastic squash match as Koko was super over with the fans, still riding the Piledriver wave, so this match allowed Boss Man to just beat the crap out of him with Slick by his side. This made him look like a monster as he destroyed Koko for a while, but then got too cocky & Koko made a comeback before being flattened. This established Boss Man in his first upper level match & was then put immediately into the main event picture.

157. Goldust vs Brian Pillman(97)
The feud between Goldust & Brian Pillman was really entertaining. Here you have Pillman, a lunatic, obsessed with his actual ex in Marlena, but Goldust came to her rescue. So the stip was if Goldust lost, Pillman gets Marlena, but it Pillman lost, he had to wear a dress. So, long story short, Pillman lost this one, so he went ballistic when he had to wear a dress, so all that is great. The match however, was pretty bad. The end came when Pillman was too far out as Goldust did a sunset flip from the apron into the ring, but they awkwardly just stayed still as Pillman slowly pulled both guys back over to the ropes to allow Marlena to slap Pillman back & Goldust rolled him up for the win. The storyline was great, but match, not so much.

156. HHH vs Eugene(04)
So the whole Eugene character was charming for a while in 2004, as Nick Dinsmore portrayed, no other way around it, the “special” nephew of Eric Bischoff. He was a super fan & actually was part of the main event picture, but it was when he started falling for Triple H’s mind games, until he cost Trips the world title. Then things got a little unsettling. Now, I know Nick Dinsmore isn’t “special”, but the whole image of Triple H beating up violently someone who was portraying a person who was, was pretty messed up. Was it necessary for Trips to bloody up Eugene? Was it necessary for him to have to beat Eugene in a PPV match? The match just seemed like nothing more than a chance for the bully to stand tall. So while Eugene got some offense in, it was Triple H who dominated the match & the crowd, really didn’t care all that much. Too weird & awkward for my taste.

155. Kane & Undertaker vs DDP & Kanyon(01)
We next go to an equally creepy storyline as DDP was revealed to be the stalker to the Undertaker’s wife, Sara. Now, I’ll never say a bad word about Taker, but DDP choosing to stalk Taker’s wife, after being married to a smokeshow like Kimberly, seemed just odd. DDP did this so Taker would “make him famous” however, like most of the guys who came over from WCW; they just ended up getting absolutely annihilated by the WWF guys. That was the case in this match as it was a tag team cage match which saw Kane & Taker destroy DDP & Kanyon, like it went on too damn long. The fact that this was also for the tag titles meant nothing (since they had like 47 titles during this time), but it seemed like the WCW guys got zero to little offense. Poor DDP, who was such a great talent in WCW, be relegated to being Undertaker’s bitch. DDP got nothing out of this feud & was even stuck in the battle royal at Survivor Series that year. Thankfully DDP is a positive person, because there was nothing positive that came from this feud.

154. Jim Duggan & Demolition vs Akeem, Big Boss Man & Andre the Giant(89)
The biggest six man team ever in the Twin Towers & Andre taking on the weirdest with a face painted King Hacksaw & Demolition. Duggan as the king of the WWF was just odd during this time, but the funny part was aside from the red, white & blue face paint, he had a mini crown on his 2x4. Simple 6 man with the good guys getting the win, by cheating with using the 2x4. Not much to say, other than the fact that Andre & the Twin Towers were visually awesome.

153. Right To Censor vs Too Cool(00)
The RTC was such a great gimmick for the Attitude Era & one that should’ve honestly stuck around longer had it not been for the Invasion angle that dominated WWF programming. Bull Buchanan as the muscle to Steven Richards was pretty good, but it was the simplest heel turn of a name of The Goodfather that was hilarious. The pimp turned heel by doing what else, attacking his hoes (Victoria being one of them). Richards trying to censor the disgusting ass of Rikishi was really all we needed for this to be an entertaining feud. Too Cool were still super over during this time & this would end up being around the last time they’d be on PPV as a face team since Rikishi was about to turn heel just a month or two later. The RTC was fresh & new, so they absolutely needed to steal a win here, which they did, so it was done perfectly. To the ring attire, the annoying entrance theme, everything was done very well.

152. R-Truth & Kofi Kingston vs Prime Time Players(12)
Not really much to say about this one, the Prime Time Players were fresh off the dropping of Abraham Washington as their manager, after he screwed up making a Kobe rape joke on the air. So Young & Titus didn’t have their manager, so this was pretty much a match that should’ve happened on Main Event or Superstars & not Summerslam. Kofi & Truth were a decent team, I preferred Kofi & Bourne more, but this was a harmless match, good guys got the win.

151. Undertaker vs A-Train(03)
Another Summerslam where Undertaker wrestles a monster, only this time, he got to wrestle a monster who could actually work really well & was a good wrestler. This was a simple feud, A-Train wanted to bang Sable, who was using her “womanly ways” to get A-Train to do what she wanted, which, in this case, was beat up Taker, who I guess disrespected Vince I assume? I have no idea; all I remember at one point in the match, Stephanie came out to fight with Sable. Taker then defeated A-Train soon after as Taker successfully defeated both T&A members in consecutive years. We’ll get to the other one in a bit, as I liked that match more than this one. Taker wins again at Summerslam though.

150. Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior vs Slaughter, Adnan & Mustafa(91)
What would’ve happened had Vince not gave into Warrior’s demands for more money? He held up the WWF & said he wouldn’t go out there had Vince not given him a ridiculous amount of cash. I know Slaughter & Hogan wanted to break Warrior’s legs, but Vince said no. Would Hogan & Sid have teamed up? Would Hogan have just destroyed all 3 guys? I’m more inclined to believe the latter. Anyway, the match was Saturday Night’s Main Event caliber as this whole feud was pretty much finished at Wrestlemania with Hogan defeating the Iraqi turncoat in Slaughter. So this feud still going at Summerslam seemed more like filler than anything. Essentially this was all about the end shot of Hogan & Sid doing a pose down with each other.

149. Sycho Sid vs British Bulldog(96)
1996 was my favorite year for the Bulldog, I honestly would’ve never assumed he’d thrive as much as he did as a heel more than he did as a face. Having Cornette by his side, he was a completely different talent & I really enjoyed his heel run as a singles star & then of course when he started teaming with Owen later in the year. Sid had just returned (again) the month before, so this was an upper card match that was pretty much buried on a good Summerslam show (you wouldn’t think it, but we’ll get to the other matches later). So this was a power vs power match that saw Sid win in 6 minutes. That, I totally disagree with, as I know you have to make Sid look strong, but to have Bulldog lose that quickly when he was still a contender for the title.

148. Ted Dibiase vs Jimmy Snuka(89)
What a waste of a show for Ted Dibiase. He’d been in the main event picture for pretty much all of 1988 & sort of fell off in 1989, when he absolutely shouldn’t have. Nothing against the Superfly, but he hadn’t done anything in the upper card in years, so this was pretty much a way to get just Dibiase a win. Fine match, but Snuka was so juiced up, it was unsettling how jacked he was. Dibiase wins a simple match, no harm no foul, but Dibiase deserved so much more than this.

147. MVP vs Jack Swagger(09)
I don’t remember why these guys were feuding other than maybe they did a Beat the Clock & both guys were involved in it? Regardless, this match took me back to the late 80s Summerslams as this was a filler match. MVP won via his finish, nothing big at all, except that his Playmaker finish was so terrible. I’m not going to waste anymore time babbling about this match when I barely remember it.

146. Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio(12)
I actually remember this one though, so we’re back on track. Sheamus won, but by controversy as Del Rio had his foot on the rope & the ref didn’t see it. So Del Rio had a legit argument that he didn’t officially lose this match. I actually liked the chemistry these two had in the ring. Sheamus was pretty over & Del Rio was a good heel, so giving this match over 10 minutes was fine by me. For a World Heavyweight Title match on Summerslam, it’s not the best, but it’s certainly not the worst. It’s a match you’ve seen a whole bunch, only this time, it was on a big name show.

145. Virgil vs Ted Dibiase(91)
Dibiase carried Virgil at Wrestlemania & he carried him at Summerslam. Only thing that made this match better than Mania was the addition of Sherri, who was my favorite heel valet of all time. She got involved at any chance she got & ended up getting tossed. So Dibiase was on his own & became way too cocky, just toying with Virgil before he got rolled up & lost the Million Dollar title, to which the crowd in MSG exploded for Virgil, which is a sentence I can’t believe I’m writing, but they did. Virgil wasn’t terrible, he was perfectly capable of having a good match, but it depended on his opponent, which, in this case, was a guarantee this match was going to be good. Dibiase deserves a bonus because this reaction from the crowd would’ve been nothing had it not been for his masterful heel work in this feud. Always overlooked in regards to talking about all time great heels if you ask me.

144. Bret Hart vs Doink(93)
So you would think that Bret Hart vs a “crippled” Jerry Lawler wouldn’t be eons better than a healthy Doink vs Bret Hart, but it was. Lawler faked an injury & sent out his court jester, Doink, to do his bidding for him, so Bret had to wrestle the evil clown in a not so good match to get his Summerslam underway. Boring 10 minute match between these two which saw Bret win & afterward, Lawler attacked, so we’ll get to that match much MUCH later in the rankings, but this one, not the way Bret envisioned this show going I’m sure, seeing as at one point he was supposed to be wrestling Hogan for the title. Instead he has to wrestle a clown, who had just tossed water on his brother Bruce in the front row. Come to think of it, doing that made Doink a babyface in my book! For someone who has had some of the best Summerslam matches in history, this one was very forgettable for the Hitman.


143. Hulk Hogan vs Brutus Beefcake vs Randy Savage & Zeus(89)
So Zeus couldn’t wrestle a lick, but oddly, they built this as a showdown of historic significance when Zeus essentially came out of a movie to feud with Hogan. Aside from choking & punching, I literally remember nothing about what Zeus did offensively in this match. However, Hogan & Brutus sold his offense like death. The key to this match was Savage, who was the workhorse during this entire feud. 1 below average worker in Hogan, 1 average worker in Beefer & 1 terrible tag partner, needless to say Savage was on his A-game on this night. Faces prevailed as a returning Elizabeth took out Sherri to allow Hogan & Beefcake to get the victory. Post match they cut the obviously fake ponytail off of Sherri as the heels retreated. Exactly what you’d expect in a Hogan main event in the 80s.



142. Kane vs RVD(03)
So the whole Kane unmasking thing was oddly done, just randomly Triple H won a match & Kane had to unmask & in doing so, he was, what many called, a horribly disfigured creature. When in reality it was just a giant wig & Kane shaved some patches into his hair & put on black face paint. THE HORROR! Anyways, this caused Kane to turn on his tag partner RVD & become this demonic heel. All because he lost his mask? It was weird. Kane beat the shit out of RVD in this match & it just seemed like RVD was there to be a crash test dummy. Can’t really rank this match higher as honestly, despite not being a bad match, I just thought it’d be better.



141. DX vs Shane & Vince McMahon(06)
This feud felt like it went on for forever & quite frankly, it did. From feuding with Shawn Michaels & God, to feuding with the Spirit Squad, to feuding with the McMahons themselves (remember, Vince Loves Cock), this one was no different than what we’d got all year essentially. Except this time, McMahon had a bunch of heels come out to beat up DX. Not even Regal, Finlay, Kennedy, Big Show & Umaga could stop DX from beating Vince & Shane, which is even more ridiculous to think about than it is to type. DX survived the beating & beat up the McMahons…..again. This feud would continue the next month, when Vince would have his head shoved up Big Show's ass. Mooooving on.



140. Crush vs Repo Man (92)
Battle of the former Demolition members, as this was a showcase for the newly repackaged Kona Crush. Repo was awesome in his role of jobber with a gimmick in this match. He got in his offense, but sold like crazy as Crush tossed him all over the ring. Heenan on commentary, keeping up with the times, referenced a Billy Ray Cyrus song in that Crush had an Achy Breaky Back. Crush pretty much toyed with Repo for most of the match, before locking in the cranium crush for the victory.



139. The Rock vs Billy Gunn(99)
The loser must kiss the winners ass was the stip in this one. This was the Attitude Era, so they could say the word ass instead of the stupid Kiss My Arse match we got with Sheamus & Ziggler last year. So this was pretty much Billy Gunn’s only high profile match following his King of the Ring victory this year. Maybe had this just been a singles match & Billy stole a win might’ve boosted his push a hell of a lot more than it did. Instead, Mr. Ass lost a pretty decent match with The Rock & in result, had his face smushed into a large lady’s ass (you think this dame has this listed on her resume?). It was gross, it was disgusting, it was what to be expected in a match with such a stipulation, so it made sense in a weird way. It was odd, because Rock seemed to be slumming it on this show with everyone else in the main event pretty much. Forgettable match for The Rock, but I wish Billy Gunn got more of a push following this, but instead, he just got his face pushed….into a large woman’s ass. Boom.



138. Chyna & Eddie Guerrero vs Val Venis & Trish Stratus(00)
2000 was the hottest year for Chyna IMO. Sure I loved her early DX days, but I absolutely couldn’t get enough of Eddie & Mamacita. From the promos, the interaction in the ring, everything those two did was fantastic. Meanwhile, Trish Stratus, in her first year in the WWF, was incredible. She was that blonde bombshell that was something the WWF was missing. Sure there were other blonde, chesty valets, but Trish brought something completely different to the table. This was a mixed tag & whoever got pinned became the IC champ. I’ll always remember this match due to Chyna’s shorts snapping during the match & her pressing Trish high in the air to become the IC champ. I didn’t think they’d put the IC title back on Chyna, but it was important in doing so, because it was what drove the wedge between her & Eddie. Heel Eddie was great, as the jealous boyfriend. So this was essentially the catalyst to that turn. Val Venis was a very good IC champ & I think they did all they could with the serious version of him aligned with Trish and T&A, so this was a good match to have a change. Very good little mix tag match.



137. Batista vs JBL(05)
This was a decent World title match with No Holds Barred stips, which meant, pretty much, these two beat the piss out of each other for about 10 minutes. Batista wasn’t losing, no way, but JBL was the former WWE champ, so with Batista coming over to Smackdown, this feud made total sense. It was the refresher the World title picture needed. I liked these two guys chemistry, as JBL cut great promos, Dave wasn’t a bad talker & they got in the ring and like I said, beat the hell out of one another. JBL got a bunch of offense using weapons, but in the end, Big Dave hit a Batista Bomb on steel steps to get the win. Batista was the new champ on the block & JBL was the top heel, so this was fine. If anything, Shawn & Hogan shouldn’t have gotten as much time as they did & this one was the match that got shafted on time because of it.

136. Steiner Brothers vs Heavenly Bodies(93)
I’m going to be completely honest, this was an average tag team match, however, I ranked it so high because of one man, Bobby Heenan on commentary. It was cringeworthy when Todd Pettingill interviewed the mother & daughter of the Steiners as Todd kissed their ass saying “which ones the mother & daughter, they look so good”, which is insulting to the sister if you ask me. He asked the mom if she ever said “no Frankensteiners on the couch?” to which she said “Yes, whatever you say.” Even Mama Steiner couldn’t stand Todd, which made me a fan of hers, because Pettingill sucked. Anyways, the match was fine, pretty sloppy to be honest, but had this been anyone else with Vince on commentary, it would’ve been ranked lower. Heenan called a somersault senton by Del Ray a moonsault, but I can forgive him, because he’s the Brain.



135. Miz vs Rey Mysterio(12)
Best way to describe this match (honestly you could do it with a bunch of these) would be this was a RAW match without the commercial break. Nothing bad about it, nothing memorable either though. One of those matches you enjoy while it’s happening & then 20 minutes later, you’ve already forgotten it had happened. Miz was a fine IC champ, but his reigns mesh together in my mind, nothing really stands out, aside from his current run, because the pairing of him & Maryse is perfect. However, Maryse unfortunately wasn’t here this night, so it was pretty forgettable. Miz getting a win over a relatively healthy Mysterio (which you couldn’t say a lot during this time) was impressive though. Average IC title match. It’s a match where if you looked at the Summerslam 2012 card, you’d go “oh, Miz fought Mysterio?”



134. British Bulldog vs Ken Shamrock(97)
If the Bulldog lost, he would’ve had to eat dog food. However, the tables were turned a bit in this one, as after a little bit of wrestling, Bulldog smashed a handful of dog food into Shamrock’s face, then, Shamrock snapped. He choked the hell out of Bulldog & kept it on for a long time until officials & agents had to tear him off. Shamrock popped up & stared down officials before hitting a belly to belly on Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco & a few officials. The crowd popped huge as Shamrock looked out to the fans before screaming loudly. This night pretty much showed Vince & everyone that Shamrock could be an upper level guy, as he’d go on to feud with The Rock for the IC title for much of 98, but this night, damn, Shamrock looked scary, living up to the World’s Most Dangerous Man moniker.



133. Rusev vs Jack Swagger(14)
Arguably the most over Jack Swagger has been was in the beginning stages of his feud with Rusev. Everyone knew Swagger wasn’t going to be the one to defeat Rusev for the first time, mainly because Swagger hadn’t been used for at least a year on PPV in a singles match, however, the crowd was firmly behind him in this one. From the awesome patriotic entrance, to attacking the ankle before the match, Swagger had a chance & it was believable. However, it was flipped, because Rusev was the one cry & refusing to quit, wouldn’t that be what you’d want in your American? It was oddly booked, but regardless, I really enjoyed this match. Granted they’ve ran this feud into the ground, dug it up & ran it into the ground again, so I’m fine not seeing this again, but on this night, Swagger was super over & Rusev was (and still is) a fantastic heel. Lana looked delightful as well, which isn’t surprising to anyone.



132. Undertaker vs Test(02)
I said I liked Taker’s match against the other member of T&A more & here we are. Test put on some of his best matches of his career in late 2001-2002. The whole “immunity” from being fired after winning the battle royal at Survivor Series would come up from time to time in storyline, so he could do whatever he wanted. Aligning himself with the Un-Americans was perfect as he got to be with Christian, Storm & Regal, as he was the muscle of the group & who else better to face at Summerslam than the American Badass? Taker was back to being a face (sort of hated the Red Devil evil biker late 01-early 02 version of Taker) & he was in great shape during this time too. Looking back on it, I know this wasn’t a defining win in Taker’s career, but at the time, the Un-Americans were super hot as heels, so Taker winning here was a big win. Hard to believe that this is the worst match on the best Summerslam card of all time (you’ll see why as we continue the countdown).



131. Mr. Perfect vs Red Rooster(89)
Terry Taylor vs Curt Hennig, two established & talented wrestlers, getting time on a PPV to do what they do best. Hennig was really just getting going with the Mr. Perfect character & who else to have a match with than the chicken boy of the WWF? Now, I know what you might be thinking, this match was incredible short, so why is it ranked so high? Easy, because both guys, for the little time they were given, made the most out of it. Perfect hit his dropkick & Perfect Plex, but at the same time, Rooster got offense in. 3 minutes might not seem like much (and it isn’t), but instead of being hampered by how little time they got, they took advantage. It was the perfect little 3 minute match, pun intended.



130. MVP vs Jeff Hardy(08)
Both guys, very solid workers, I always liked watching MVP in the WWE, just seemed like he reached his ceiling early & they never intended on doing anything more with him than US title guy, so when he reached his limit, everything else he did there seemed underwhelming. Hardy would be on the verge of getting his biggest push of his career later this year, so having him lose via distraction by Shelton Benjamin, was a little odd. However, MVP gets a big win here & they did stay in the main event picture on Smackdown for a least another month, with that dumb Scramble match coming up, but it never seemed like MVP was a legit contender, even if he did with this one, which sucks, because I think he could’ve had a run, even a few months, on Smackdown. Unfortunately this was during the time Triple H was champ & feuding with Khali, so MVP never stood a chance.

129. Tatanka & Smoking Gunns vs Bam Bam Bigelow & Headshrinkers(93)
Cowboys & the Indian vs the Samoans &….well, a guy from Jersey. With all 6 of these guys feuding, this one made total sense to lump together on this card. The match itself is exactly what you’d expect, as Tatanka got his shots in on Bam Bam & the Gunns on Samu & Fatu. The oddities of Luna & Afa on the outside was almost as entertaining as the match itself. Your typical six man with the faces winning in around 10 minutes. Not much more I can say, a good match to get the crowd going before the main event, seeing as Undertaker vs Gonzales put them to sleep prior to this one.



128. HHH vs Bob Holly(95)
Fun fact I can’t remember if I told in past Countdowns, but I got to see Triple H’s debut on WWF TV when they filmed a 6 hour TV taping in my hometown in 1995. For the months leading up to this one, Trips was winning squash matches & this one was his real first test as Bob Holly was an established name. This was a pretty darn good little match. On a rather bad Summerslam card (only 2 matches truly stand out), this is one of those little gems I’d recommend watching. Holly did his job great & Trips looked like a strong new kid on the block. The blue blood with the victory over the race car driver. Exactly what you’d expect.



127. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man(99)
So all the Hardcore matches in 1999-2000 were pretty great. I was a sucker for the wild & crazy brawls that took place all over & outside of the arena & in this case, took place across the street at restaurants. This one went all over & seeing guys slip on spilled drinks just to slam their opponent into whatever or whoever was standing close by, I loved it. Having Boss Man & Al Snow feud was perfect (before Boss Man murdered Al’s dog & fed it to him, oh Attitude Era, I miss you). However, Road Dogg (in his khaki shorts & fanny pack) was doing hilarious commentary for this one. At one point Boss Man grabbed the dog kennel & talked to what we assumed was Pepper in the kennel, before tossing it down. We learned Pepper wasn’t in the kennel at all, so, who the hell was Boss Man talking to if nothing was in that kennel? I digress, trying to make sense of that is pointless. They did everything in this one, smash urinal cakes in each other’s faces, Al did a moonsault off the bar & ended up pinning Boss Man on a pool table after smashing two pool balls into Boss Man’s nuts. Great Hardcore match.



126. Goldust vs Marc Mero(96)
This was a strange feud that saw Goldust & Marlena become infatuated with Sable. There was even Mankind getting into it, screaming “Mommy!”, which I guess was par for the course with Mankind. However, the creep factor here was Sable in tears as Goldust crawled over to her as she checked on Mero, who had lost courtesy of a Curtain Call by Goldust. Sable was backed into a corner & Mero got up & attacked Goldust…….by crotching him on the ropes? Weird choice if you ask me, but Mero luckily went after Goldust on the ramp as he crawled to the back. We never really knew why Goldust & Marlena were after Sable, that feud never got a pay off. We got a fine match, Goldust kicked out of a Wild Thing, shooting star press, but Mero didn’t kick out of Goldust’s finish for the W.



125. Bret Hart vs Isaac Yankem(95)
Any other year, the gimmick of Isaac Yankem, evil dentist, wouldn’t have fit in, but in WWF’s “New Generation” where clowns, evil teachers, evil bodybuilders, trash men, tax men, hog farmers & cowboys were all characters, it was long overdue if you think about it. The future Kane wasn’t bad in the ring, he was just green & being put in there with Bret from the get go, he stayed protected, but it wasn’t a mind blowing performance either. Then again, had he not been such a good hand, he might’ve never gotten the Kane role to begin with, so maybe Isaac Yankem was a blessing in disguise? Anyway, the vignettes for Yankem’s debut were hilarious because of Jerry Lawler getting such joy in watching Yankem torture his patients. The match itself wasn’t bad & it furthered the never ending Lawler/Hart feud. 16 minute match with Yankem getting DQ’d as the heels put the boots to a hung up Bret, who was hanging by his neck in the ropes (ala Mick Foley).

124. IRS & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Headshrinkers(94)
Probably would’ve been a better tag match had it not been for the Headshrinkers losing their tag titles right before this show to Diesel & HBK. So this was just a regular tag team match & one that I actually really enjoyed. No reason I should’ve enjoyed it as much as I did, I get that, but IRS & Bigelow were a solid team together, one I wish would’ve stuck together longer. Headshrinkers were good brawlers & this was the start of the Ted Dibiase overkill this night as he did his best Bobby Heenan impression, by managing like half the heel roster. Strong opener, hot crowd being the first time a big show was in the newly built United Center. Sure it ended in a garbage ending with Afa interfering & getting his guys DQ’d, so they all brawled to the back, but I liked it.



123. Jeri-Show vs Cryme Tyme(09)
Cryme Tyme was a fine team during this time, but they were a comedy act, so having them as tag champs, wouldn’t really fit. Although, the division was super shallow, so then again, what the hell do I know, they could’ve made them champs. On the other hand, Jeri-Show was such an awesome combo. Jericho could run his mouth & have a muscle in Big Show do the dirty work. I wish they were a team in a different time though. They were a pair when the tag division wasn’t that entirely great. Would’ve loved to have seen them in the tag team boom. This was a fine tag match that was only benefitted by Jeri-Show’s great chemistry as a team. Case & point, with Jericho applying the Walls of Jericho, one of Cryme Tyme got to the ropes; referee broke the submission & Show KO’d his opponent, allowing Jericho to get the pin. Simple, yet perfect booking for a combo of two former World champs. Only thing missing was the current Jericho scarf & he could’ve gotten Show to wear one too. The gift of Jeri-Show, drink it in maaaaannnn!



122. Kane vs Finlay(07)
I really liked Finlay’s run from 06-08 on Smackdown. Sure he had a leprechaun with him, but when it came to the ring, he was all business. His name is Finlay & he loves to fight, just like the theme says. So Kane is one of those underrated guys when it comes to Summerslam, his matches won’t be in the all time greats list, but they’re always, for the most part, pretty darn good matches, I guess depending on his opponent. Morale of the story, Kane is always reliable to deliver on his end. Finlay was a great opponent too, because Kane was selling bad ribs in this one & with the help of Hornswoggle, Finlay whacked him in the ribs with the shillelagh, but it wasn’t enough, as Kane won a hard hitting opener with a huge chokeslam for the win. I dug it. Said it before, not one of the best openers, but a solid start to the PPV.



121. Hulk Hogan vs Earthquake(90)
Earthquake was a monster when he first came into the WWF, he dropped the “Canadian” part of his name & just started squashing everyone in his path. So when Hogan had to take time off to shoot Suburban Commando, it made perfect sense for him to get flattened by Quake on the Brother Love Show. Little kids around the world thought Hogan was down for good (eye roll), but thanks to his “good friend” Tugboat, who was urging kids & fans to send the Hulkster fanmail (which I would bet a good amount of money Hogan himself never even saw) wishing him well. So dumb. Anyways, shooting wrapped & Hogan made his comeback to take on the walking Natural Disaster. This is your prototypical Hogan vs a big guy (not Ryback) match, only this time, Quake’s back got absolutely worked after Hogan waffled him with chair shots. His back was a mess, which made this pretty awesome. Hogan stood tall & Quake lost via countout, so they could keep the feud going. No harm, no foul, however it shocked me that this wasn’t the main event. Hogan not in a main event match in the early 90s, absolutely shocking. I could've put a better picture here, but with my dislike of Hogan during the early 90s, I couldn't pass up posting a picture of him getting teabagged by a 400 pounder. Sorry, brother.



120. Kane vs Matt Hardy(04)
This match honestly should’ve taken place in the fictional town of Salem & have people like John Black, Marlena, Bo, Hope & Stefano all at ringside. Ok, I might know way too much about Days of our Lives, shut up, but that’s exactly what this was. Kane became obsessed with Lita, kidnapped her, impregnated her, then Matt Hardy tried to get revenge & in doing so, we of course had a match. Lita made the match of all people, whoever wins, gets to marry her, instead of you know, just saying, buzz off Kane, I’m going to have you arrested, since you IMPREGNATED ME!! Oh wrestling storylines, you never cease to amaze me. Anyways, you know what happened next, Kane won the match. Now, this dumb angle should’ve caused this match to be ranked a lot lower & I agree, however, the finish was friggin awesome. Matt Hardy took a chokeslam off the top rope! Lita had to marry Kane & she ran to the back in horror. HOW THE WORLD COULD ANYONE FEEL SORRY FOR LITA?!?!?! She made the match, so it’s her own damn fault. King had a great line “what color dress do you think Lita’s going to wear at the wedding? You know it’s not going to be white!”



119. JBL vs Undertaker(04)
I might be in the minority here, but I actually really liked JBL’s World title run. He had lackey’s like Orlando Jordan by his side, he could cut a great promo & he was a chicken shit heel champ, it was perfect. He was a great heel champ during the time of the brand split & having Undertaker, the face of Smackdown, challenge was a no brainer. So this match is memorable mainly in part because of a drunk fan jumping up on JBL’s limo during the match. Little did we know, this was a bigger no-no than usual, because it was a gimmicked top of the limo, since JBL was going to be chokeslammed through it later. Cameras didn’t stay on the guy long enough, but damn, it would’ve been funny had his drunk ass fallen through the top of the limo. Anyways, it didn’t, unfortunately, but this match was one of the first tests for JBL after winning the title, which I thought he did great at. Hit & run, like any good heel champ should do. Taker didn’t win the title & JBL hightailed it, or at least tried to, before getting chokeslammed through the roof, a pretty rad bump.



118. Ric Flair vs Mick Foley(06)
Some people hated this feud, I dug it, as it was based off of real life tension & comments made by Flair about Foley being a glorified stuntman. I never got that, because yes, Mick threw himself off cages, got walloped with chairs, wrestled in barbed wire, but Ric Flair could sneeze & he’d be busted open. Just saying, it’s not like Flair wrestled a soft career. He wrestled his ass off night in & night out in the 70s, 80s & early 90s. However he busted himself open so much. I legit wasn’t sure who was the heel & who was the face in this feud. Fans loved both guys, but I assume Flair was heel? But it was a wild I Quit match as both dudes bled & bled A LOT. Love him or hate him, Flair put his body through hell during 2006, taking some crazy bumps & bleeding buckets in certain matches. These two used barbed wire baseball bats, you name it. Melina, who had befriended Foley (odd part of this story), wanted the match stopped since Mick was out cold, but Flair, covered in blood screamed that it wasn’t over until Mick said he quit. So, it took Melina throwing in the towel & literally laying on top of Foley (high five for that Mick!) to cause Flair to back off. All this & then Melina eventually turned on Foley anyway with a punch to the ol’ grapefruits. Poor Mick.



117. Batista vs Booker T(06)
The King Booker character was awesome, I’m sorry, the King BOO-KAH character was awesome. If anyone played a role to a tee, it was Booker, who absolutely thrived as the KOTR. It was back to tradition as Booker won the KOTR, then went on to beat Mysterio for the World title & we were off and running. Enter Batista, who was the babyface of the Smackdown brand & he had just returned, ready to get back his title, one he had to forfeit due to injury. So this was prior to their real life brawl backstage I believe, so there was a little less intensity in this one than their Survivor Series match, but still, I liked this one. Not overlong, 10 minutes, with Booker retaining the title after Queen Sharmell interfered causing a DQ & Batista gets screwed out of winning the belt, traditional booking here. It would’ve been very disappointing had Booker lost the title this quickly into his new character change.



116. Jeff Jarrett vs D’Lo Brown(99)
Poor D’Lo, he fell prey to the puppies of Debra. Jarrett & Debra had a falling out right before this match & foolish D’Lo, told Debra to come with him to the ring. So out came Debra in her insanely hot PPV gear, this month it was blue, but holy smokes, her PPV attire for 1999 was incredible. Anyways, D’Lo & Jarrett had a really good back & forth opener with both the European & IC titles on the line. D’Lo was probably his most over during this time & legit I thought could’ve won this, had it not been for one Sexual Chocolate, his buddy Mark Henry, who came to the ring & turned on D’Lo, allowing Jarrett to win both titles (eventually giving the lesser title, the European title, to Mark Henry, who promptly lost it back to D’Lo). It was all a ruse by Debra & Jarrett, who celebrated with Henry as it took 3 people to defeat D’Lo. This was way overbooked looking back at it, but it took me this long to realize it as I was distracted this whole time by Debra’s puppies. Which, I mean, look at her, do you blame me? Very good opener & a great showing for D’Lo, as this was pretty much his highest level match he’d get on PPV.



115. La Resistance vs The Dudley Boyz(03)
La Resistance was a perfect heel tag team. I wasn’t a big fan of Sylvan in the ring, but you could tell Rene Dupree, for just being 19 years old, had something special. He was a guy I wish they’d done more with & also wish he would’ve stayed clean, because his potential was insane. Regardless, he & Sylvan feuding with the Dudleys was a good feud for the tag division on Raw. I can’t remember when the bump took place, but either leading up to this show or Unforgiven, La Resistance did an absolutely crazy table bump on poor little Spike, who got launched out of the ring & smacked his head on the table, completely missing it, except his skull, ugh, such a bummer to see that. Anyways, back to this match, it was nothing special, however, I liked the finish a lot, with the fake cameraman being Rob Conway & aligning with the champs. I dug the feud itself & thought they ended it rather early & just went with the Dudleys again as champs at Unforgiven, which sort of sucked. This match thought was good.



114. Stephanie McMahon vs Brie Bella(14)
One of the most entertaining WWE women’s feuds in recent memory (with the exception of Sasha/Bayley, but that’s NXT). This wasn’t embarrassing like the Charlotte/Paige feud that ended RAW last year. This feud between Steph/Brie deserved to end a RAW, because it was by far & away the hottest feud they had going at the time. Steph was making Brie & Daniel Bryan’s life a living hell over the course of 2014, so when Bryan went out with an injury, Brie was left on her own against the dastardly heel that is Stephanie McMahon. The promos these two ladies cut were awesome, the whole Steph getting arrested, Steph laying her out with a pedigree, this was one of the most anticipated matches of Summerslam & for good reason, these two busted their asses. The match itself, wasn’t too shabby either. Steph, for not wrestling in over 10 years, looked pretty damn good & Brie looked very good as well (which she regressed horribly the last year or 2 of her WWE run). So the match ends after Nikki turns on Brie & starts the worst women’s feud I’ve seen in a very long time. Luckily it wasn’t the Bellas wrestling on this one, although we did get the brilliant gif of Triple H gawking at Nikki’s chest as he nodded his approval. God bless ya, Trips!



113. Hulk Hogan vs Shawn Michaels(05)
This was the equivalent of Shawn Michaels having a match with a broomstick. If that broomstick had a mustache & silky blonde hair & weighed 300 pounds. Shawn Michaels losing to Hogan on this show was a travesty. Michaels was putting on main event quality matches against Orton, Batista, Trips, Jericho, KURT ANGLE, you name it, but he had to lay down for Hulk friggin Hogan. This wasn’t the 2002 awesome Hogan either, this was 2005, barely mobile Hogan. If this match was with anyone else, it’d be so far down the rankings, but Shawn’s performance here was hilarious, amazing, you name it. The bump he took from the big boot remains one of my favorite bumps ever, because you knew he was mugging for the camera, that he knew this was bullshit. A lot of people hated Shawn for doing that, but he shouldn’t have lost to begin with. This match was over 20 minutes, which is insane knowing how little Hogan could move around. I’ve stated my dislike of Hogan throughout all these Countdown’s, but this one could be my least favorite, as we know wrestling is pre-determined, but if you ask even a casual wrestling fan, there’s no way in hell Shawn Michaels loses to Hulk Hogan. Maybe in 2000 when Shawn wasn’t in such great shape & mindset, but 2005, Shawn was incredible & showed, on this night, he could wrestle with anyone. In this case, an elderly gentleman with a huge ego, brother.



112. Texas Tornado vs Mr. Perfect(90)
For a brief 5 minute match, this one was awesome for a variety of reasons. Perfect & Heenan’s pre-match promo was a thing of beauty (like usual), but Hennig bumped his ass off for Tornado, who was built up being this unstoppable force when he first came into the WWF. So him winning the title this quickly off Perfect, who was a strong IC champ during the summer, was a major upset. Granted Perfect would win it back by year’s end, but this night belonged to the Tornado, as this was one of the few (perhaps only) major highlight in his WWF run. Perfect was the guy you needed to be the IC champ though, so it’s totally understandable they put the title back on him. For shock value & Mr. Perfect’s sheer awesomeness, that’s why this brief match is ranked so high.



111. Natural Disasters vs Beverly Brothers (92)
I know, this match shouldn’t be ranked this high, but you all should know by now, I’m a sucker for early 90s tag teams, especially in 1992, my all time favorite year. No way were the Beverly Brothers legit contenders to win the titles, let alone defeat the over 800 pound team of Earthquake & Typhoon, however, I enjoyed this match. The Bevs isolated Typhoon early on, tag champs got the hot tag, but the Bevs turned the tables & worked over Typhoon before the final hot tag & then Beau & Blake got their asses kicked. Even The Genius got beat up, so this night belonged to the new tag champs in Quake & Typhoon, who had won them just recently. If there was ever a team that belonged together, it was the Natural Disasters. Happy they got a brief run with the tag titles as I enjoyed them as a duo in 92. Beau & Blake were a great heel team, but never a threat though, which, WWF had a bunch of in the early 90s. They’re miles better than The Bushwhackers, but I’d say well below Money Inc. If that makes any sense, eh, whatever, I get it. The Bevs being from Shaker Heights, OH, was one of my favorites too.



110. Sheamus vs Randy Orton(15)
One of the 2 Sheamus vs RKO matches in this list & honestly the other one isn’t that far behind, however, that isn’t a slight. I like Sheamus vs RKO whenever they fought, it just seemed like they did it 900 times. It’s the Cena/Orton feud, over & over again. Although, when these two wrestle, they beat the shit out of one another, so anyone who dislikes either guy, you should be happy on that point. This time, Sheamus with the Mohawk wasn’t that over (regardless of his MITB win), but he still managed to steal a win here, which didn’t mean much, but it was the way of making him more of a main event guy. Despite feuding with Lucha Dragons in the coming months, but I guess they want us to forget about that. Anyways, this was a solid opener & it’ll no doubt be forgot about, but still, I liked it. Liked their other one more though, we’ll get to that.

109. John Cena vs Booker T(04)
The beginning of the Best of 5 series on the Smackdown brand for the US title wasn’t nearly as good as the Benoit/Booker Best of 7 classic during the WCW days, however it did help establish Cena in the US title picture, which would only be beneficial for him in the long run. There was really nothing special about this match & luckily the WWE knew that as this wasn’t a long match, 6 minutes, which, you’d think this would be longer, but it didn’t need to be. Harmless, Booker hits a scissors kick & Cena ends up hitting a FU for the win. Really can’t bullshit my way through this match, it was short & Cena won, nothing more to say. Match didn’t suck, I’d watch it again if I saw it on the Network, so that’s more than I can say for a lot of the other matches.



108. Kurt Angle vs Eugene(05)
So why the hell would I have a brief 4 minute Eugene match this high up, almost in the Top 100? Oh, I know, maybe because he was wrestling the raddest version of Kurt Angle during his entire WWE run? Vicious & violent shooter Angle was by far my favorite as he was unstoppable. Watch on YouTube the match he had with Roderick Strong, it was a 5 minute Angle Invitational & Kurt was so intense in this one & in this Summerslam match it boosts the entire thing up so much more. Angle took a few shots by Eugene, who was cheered on by Christy Hemme of all people, but aside from that, holy smokes Kurt was a man possessed. I know I talked about how I didn’t really like Triple H beating Eugene to a pulp, but this one was different. Kurt didn’t need 14 minutes; he got in there, beat his opponent up badly & got out. Watch this Kurt Angle, mid 2005, so intense, so awesome. Really taking full advantage of one of those 3 I’s.

107. CM Punk vs JBL(08)
It sucks the first CM Punk World title reign was pretty much shoved to the side for its duration. It was like Punk was the IC champ, but instead, he was the World champ, just wouldn’t main event cards, which makes zero sense. From the title reign, to how he lost it (at least Punk didn’t have to wrestle in one of those atrocious Scramble matches), everything flopped & it wasn’t Punk’s fault, it was backstage douchebags who didn’t think he deserved the belt at the time. Luckily he at least got to defend the title against the standard heel, the guy who you pretty much had to beat if you were champion on any brand, JBL. Only problem with this one was, JBL dominated this match, a match that went on FOURTH! The World title match went on in the middle of the show. Savage/Warrior this was not, so none of this mumbo jumbo of World title could go on in the middle of the show, not buying it. The match itself, was actually pretty damn good. JBL I’ve said earlier how much I enjoyed his heel work, but here we were 3 years after his main event run, so this wasn’t the top level guy Punk should’ve been feuding with on a big show like this. Punk won via GTS & retained his title, something I’m sure was bugging the top brass a great deal. Why make him champ in the first place if you’re just going to bury him?



106. IRS vs 123 Kid(93)
Totally understand this match shouldn’t be ranked this high, but this is the match that gave us the most awkward babyface promo pre-match by the Kid, as new backstage interviewer Joe Fowler talked about the challenge that IRS possesses for the Kid in his upcoming match. Joe Fowler says “I’m being told IRS is in the ring, this is it Kid, this is your time” to which the Kid, fresh off saying he’s fighting the butterflies in his stomach says “Thanks Joe, I better, I better get out of here.” The promo was hilarious & reading that doesn’t do it justice. The match is your typical RAW match, with Kid bumping around like he does, but the ending lariat that IRS hits, his Write Off, was so rad. The Kid didn’t do anything flashy like spin in the air, but he just took it flush & IRS pinned him, clean, no cheating or anything. IRS rarely got PPV wins, clean wins via his finisher at that, so I bumped it up a few spots.



105. Ric Flair vs Chris Jericho(02)
We’re nearing the Top 100 matches in Summerslam history & this is only the second match on the 2002 Summerslam card, which goes to show you how incredible that show was. 2002 was the year Ric Flair had to get his confidence back in the WWE & realize that he’s the f’n Nature Boy & could still contribute a hell of a lot to the product. This was right before he turned heel & became Trips right hand man, but prior to that, his brief feud with Chris Jericho was something I legit never thought I’d get to see, so I was all for this. Jericho was one of the best heels in wrestling in 2002, running his mouth at every chance he could & would run down Flair right & left until finally Naitch couldn’t take it anymore & it resulted in a good match here. Flair was still getting going & didn’t look that great, but Jericho is the MVP of this match as his overall arrogance is what made me enjoy this match as much as I did. I feel I ranked this one a little too high, but after having just watched this show again the past week, maybe that’s why, but I’m not changing it.

104. Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper(15)
I don’t hate Roman Reigns the wrestler, I hate the push Roman Reigns’ super push that’s put him in the World title position, despite not being over with the fans. It’s Vince’s boy & that’s all that matters, which isn’t Roman’s fault at all. The only thing I dislike is the stale moveset, while Reigns can turn it on in big match situations, his moves are old & he needs a revamped look, not the same stuff he’s worn since 2012. I digress, this match was yet another match between the Wyatts & the Shield boys, as there’s really nothing new brought to this match, aside from the questioning whether Reigns would turn heel on Ambrose in this one (remember when people thought Reigns was going to turn on him? Never gonna happen). Wyatt & Harper, like usual, built the match up great, only to be beaten on PPV, you know, the usual. 10 minute match, it was fine, Ambrose went crazy, Roman hit his 3 moves of doom & Wyatt and Harper were creepy awesome. Match went exactly as you’d expect & exactly how you’d seen it on multiple Raw’s beforehand.



103. Undertaker & Big Show vs X-Pac & Kane(99)
The Unholy Alliance between Show & Taker could’ve been so much more, instead it was Show acting like Undertaker’s bitch pretty much. At one time we even were told both men drove out to the desert & Taker left Show there to walk back on his own. Find the promo online, it’s so odd, even for Taker & that’s saying something. Kane & X-Pac were the best team during the summer of 99 as they had an equally odd partnership, but at least that sort of made sense. Anyways, X-Pac was in the land of the giants in this one, but held his own for the most part. Sure, Taker & Show won the tag titles, but X-Pac’s neck was worked over by his opponents for most of the match. Summerslam 99 is a very forgettable show for the most part, but aside from maybe 2 other matches, this would be a match I’d recommend watching, as it was a pretty good little tag match.



102. Randy Orton vs John Cena(09)
2009 dickhead Randy Orton was my favorite. Over the 2008-09 time span when he was such an amazing villain was the best. Maybe Legend Killer 2003-04 was a close second, but this was main eventer, willing to do anything to anyone to retain his title, psychopath Orton. I think this was match #340 between these two (we’ll get to the other match between these two later down the list, which I liked a LOT more). The feud between Sheamus/Orton was like this one, just knock off about 240 matches. It’ll get there though, I have no doubt. Anyways, the played up the ol’ “fan interference” deal with this one, second time I believe Orton has been a part of a Summerslam match when a “fan” got involved. One time it was against Undertaker & the fan was his father and in this case, it was against Cena and the fan was Brett Dibaise. I always wondered why Brett wasn’t part of Legacy & why they didn’t do more with them as a stable. Instead they just made Rhodes, Ted & briefly Manu & Deuce his lackeys. I guess that was fine, but it just felt like it was missing something. Orton stole the match & retained the title & these two would go on to have good matches the rest of the year (and the next & the next, at least it seemed like it). This was only the beginning of these twos feud.



101. Randy Orton vs Sheamus(10)
Now, this is the Sheamus & Orton I liked more, basically because their characters weren’t stale & Sheamus was still in his rookie year & Orton wasn’t boring at this time. This was also a hard hitting & well put together match, where this was Orton’s “Last Chance”. Nearly 20 minute match & I wasn’t bored by it at all, in fact, I liked this a lot more than their 2015 one. Like I said when talking about the other match, these two always had good matches, it’s just that it happened so much that they tend to blend together & run on the boring side. This wasn’t one of those matches luckily as if I were to suggest watching an Orton vs Sheamus match, this would probably be it.



100. New Day vs Prime Time Players vs Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores(15)
Don’t you dare be sour that this match is ranked this high, but The New Day against 3 below average teams (Kalisto gets a pass, he’s great) still ranks this high, why? Because, New Day Rocks! This was pre-Francesca, pre-unicorn horns & most of all, pre-Booty-O’s, so we had Woods, Kofi & Big Wool all sing their way down the aisle to the tune of New York State of Mind “Let’s hear it for Newwwww Daaaaay!” So it lead to a pretty damn good 4 way here, just enough chaos & just enough group spots not to be overbooked or sloppy, it was just right. New Day used the blind tag to their advantage to steal a pin, the win & the titles and, as of this writing; they’ve been tag champs ever since & rightfully so. No other tag team (with the exception of the BC & Enzo/Cass) pose any sort of threat to them, so they absolutely should be tag champs this long. We got enough high flying in this one from the Matadores & the Dragons, the Prime Time Players put up enough of a fight as champs going into this & it would’ve honestly been a disaster had any team other than New Day won, they were the most over & they’re still the most over.



99. The Mega Powers vs Andre the Giant & Ted Dibiase (88)
When you think of the name Miss Elizabeth in the WWF, you think elegance, the first lady of wrestling, she was dressed in these gorgeous dresses & looked incredible every night leading Savage to the ring. Now, how do you use her to your advantage in a match? Distraction of course & how do you distract an entire arena? By having Miss Elizabeth take her skirt off! The plan of The Mega Powers worked as it got them a victory over The Mega Bucks. Of course Hogan had to get the pin on Dibiase after Andre was knocked out of the ring, despite Savage being World Champ, but that’s Hulk being Hulk. Jesse Ventura being the blatant crooked official made things interesting in this the first Summerslam main event in history. It’s a very watchable match to this day as everyone played their part well & Elizabeth took her skirt off, did I mention that?



98. Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero(07)
Fresh off an injury, this was a big return for Rey, as he was coming back from a 10 month absence. So who else better to have a match with than Chavo, as these two had a never-ending feud on the Smackdown brand. These two have always had great chemistry in the ring & this was no different, however, when one person is drenched in silver body paint & it starts sweating off during the match, it becomes incredibly distracting. This was not a good look for Mysterio as there was paint all over the place. I wanted to really get into this match, but I couldn’t. Now, they have another match in the rankings (their match from the previous year) that I liked much more, we’ll get there. This match though, was fine, but forgettable.



97. Cody Rhodes vs Damien Sandow(13)
Rhodes Scholars were such a great tag team & honestly got cut short super early if you ask me. Granted I always wanted Cody to get a main event push, this was a great team for him & Sandow. Both guys played off each other well & when MITB rolled around, they feuded over the incredible looking briefcase Sandow had won (remember that, Sandow won MITB & lost to Cena on RAW, after Cena had the hell beaten out of him, so stupid). Anyways, the mustachioed-less Cody took on Sandow in an unfortunately forgettable match, however it shouldn’t be, because it was very good for the little time it was given. This was a very entertaining feud & a 7 minute match is ridiculous, this should’ve been a match for the briefcase & given 14 minutes. Make the briefcase mean something & in doing so, you make the feud & competitors involved mean something. It’s not rocket science. Both men deserved so much better in their time in the WWE & hopefully find success elsewhere, because you want to talk about missed boats, these 2 were both the complete package as singles wrestlers. I digress, a match that should’ve been given more, but these two are pros & made the most out of what little they were given.



96. Kaientai vs Oddities(98)
Why the hell is this in the Top 100 matches in Summerslam history you ask? Easy, go back & watch it, try not to laugh, I dare you. It’s impossible. Why? Because this could be one of the all time funniest comedy/squash matches. If there’s one thing Kaientai knows how to do, its wrestle…..and bump for giants. The mocking of The Oddities, the forming of a human pyramid to try to be as tall as Giant Silva, the choppy choppy motion, the crying of Yamaguchi-San at ringside when he lost a shoe & The Oddities poured water into it, friggin brilliant! This was The Oddities finest hour if you ask me, as MSG was eating this up. ICP was ringside, which, whatever, I’m not a big fan, but they got the crowd on their feet, so job well done. Kaientai played their roll perfectly & what we got was a flawless squash match. I can’t say enough good things about this match. WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN’T! You won’t be sorry & you’ll get a good chuckle.



95. X-Pac vs Tajiri(01)
Was the Light Heavyweight Title a completely forgotten title in the time of the Invasion? Absolutely, but this was at least a title vs title match as X-Pac was the WCW CW champion, despite being a WWF guy (whole storyline made zero sense, so many damn titles). Anyways, the match between two of the best cruiserweights in the world was exactly what you’d expect for a match with the caliber of these guys & given 7 minutes. X-Pac wasn’t used barely at all during the invasion & Tajiri luckily was, but at least these two got to wrestle a few times while they were in the WWF at the same time. X-Pac was still running buddies with Albert during this time, after Justin Credible bailed on X-Factor. Tajiri spit mist into Albert’s face & Pac got the pin with his finish. Nothing mind blowing, but still, a very good match & an underrated one on the 2001 PPV. And judge me if you want, but X-Factor’s theme song was rad as hell.



94. Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston(10)
Granted this match only went about 7 minutes until Nexus came out to beat both guys up, until then though, Kofi & Ziggler made the most of their time & it was pretty darn good. These two, all things considered, got a LOT of stuff in for the little time they were allotted. I know this show was about the Nexus (aside from the bullshit finish of this PPV), so it sort of made sense having them attack guys right from the get go as it set the stage for later on in the night. These two had wrestled a ton over this year, so they of course knew each other well to put on a great little match. Ziggler bumped his ass off, Kofi flew around, what more could you want in a fast paced opener? You know, aside from a finish.



93. Power & Glory vs Rockers(90)
When Shawn Michaels gets a knee injury right before this PPV, how do you salvage it? Easy, you whack him in the knee with Hercules’ chain & proceed to beat the piss out of Marty Jannetty the entire match. This was a showcase for one of my favorite teams in the early 90s, Power & Glory. Both Hercules & Paul Roma complimented each other incredibly well & were unfortunately there at a time the Legion of Doom & Nasty Boys had just came in & became an afterthought, though they clearly deserved at least a couple month tag title run. This was about a 6 minute exhibition for Slick’s men as Jannetty got in some shots, but ultimately fell to the coolest tag team finisher of all time, the Power-Plex. The superplex/top rope splash combo. When hit at the right time & not delayed, it was a thing of beauty. This was the Summerslam opener too & easily Power & Glory’s biggest win as a team in the WWF, which is a shame looking back. My admiration of this team is what bumps it up as it was a great beatdown. Sorry Marty.



92. Paige vs AJ Lee(14)
So this feud was creepy in an awesome way, why, because I’m a guy & seeing Paige and AJ essentially hit on each other as they tried to play “mind games” with one another ranks in the awesome category. The other reason being these two could actually wrestle great, which is a lot more than you can say for about everyone not named Natalya & Emma on the Divas roster during this time. So this match went 8 minutes & Paige won the title, very good back & forth match as you could tell both these girls wanted to put on one & not some crappy bathroom break match. If only AJ would’ve been in the WWE long enough to work with girls like Becky, Bayley or Sasha, it wasn’t in the cards though. If you want a good women’s match that’s not sloppy as shit or a total clusterfuck, I suggest this one, or this next one…..



91. Alundra Blayze vs Bull Nakano(94)
I get it, being the best women’s match in Summerslam history isn’t saying a whole lot, but that’s what this was. On an incredibly underwhelming card, this match would be probably considered a hidden little gem as Nakano was all kinds of awesome & Madusa, like I said before, suffered in the WWF by having essentially only Nakano to feud with & no one else. Once Bull was gone, Madusa had no one good left. Anyways, Luna was at ringside, briefly causing distraction, but Madusa overcame it, moved after Bull missed a legdrop off the top & got the win. Women’s title deserved to be more during this time, but clearly Vince lost interest quickly & that’s a shame. 8 minutes for a women’s match in 94 though seems like a friggin miracle. Happy they got at least this & it was a good back and forth with the champ overcoming the odds. Watch that match if you want, it’s not too shabby.



90. John Morrison vs CM Punk(07)
These two had much better matches over the summer of 2007 & both guys have admitted such. They had longer matches, ones they didn’t have to cram 16 minutes into barely 7 like in this match. However, whatever they say about their matches, I for one liked this. Punk & Morrison was really the first wrestling feud on the ECW-WE brand as prior to this, champs like Big Show & Lashley never really had wrestling matches more so than brawls. So this was a great feud for the C brand at the time. Morrison had established himself as a singles guy & it seemed every match CM Punk wasn’t on RAW or Smackdown would piss off the internet (myself included) so after every match he’d have for ECW, I’d think, damn, put him on a main show already, but it happened like 6 months later. Anyways, this match got as much time as the Divas battle royal, let that one sink in. Pretty shitty if you ask me. These two deserved more time, but worked with what they were given.



89. Acolytes vs Holly Cousins vs Edge/Christian vs Droz/Albert vs Mideon/Viscera vs New Brood(99)
17 minutes for 6 teams to go out their & do what they do best. The storytelling behind this match was very well done, as up to this point, we never got too many tag team turmoil matches in the WWF, I can’t seem to remember any off the top of my head to be quite honest. We started with Edge & Christian vs The New Brood and you could tell these four were poised for something huge, as they had been feuding for the previous few months & it would lead to the infamous T.I.T (Terri Invitational Tournament). So Edge & Christian got the win, then were beaten to shit by Mideon & Viscera for a bit until E&C got the pin out of nowhere. Beaten down, out next came Droz & Albert, who again, beat the hell out of E&C before miraculously getting another pin, three in a row for them. Then came the APA, who absolutely annihilated E&C, ending their mini Cinderella story in this one. Finally, Crash & Hardcore Holly, one of my favorite teams came out for the end and bickered & argued almost the whole time, leading to the APA getting the win. Very entertaining, different styles of teams & I really enjoyed it. Watch it if you have the time.



88. D’Lo Brown vs Val Venis(98)
Granted D’Lo had been with the Nation for about a year, he had only recently started getting a singles push as European champion, so I’m going to say that both guys were fresh new faces in the WWF & they let them go at it on a huge show during the Attitude Era. Both of them delivered as this match was fantastic, very underrated when talking about Summerslam openers. 15 minutes, but it never seemed to drag, as the only down point of this whole thing was the ending with Val getting DQ’d seemingly out of nowhere. He’s a wrestler who never had a mean streak & all of a sudden he just clobbered the ref for the finish. Granted he gave him a Money Shot with D’Lo’s chest protector on after the match, but still, would it had been so bad if Val took a pin loss here? I know he was still new, but if he had a grueling 15 minute match, he wouldn’t have lost much in the way of momentum. Regardless of the finish, this was a back & forth match with two young guns in the WWF & one of the best matches on this card. There was a spot where D'Lo pretty much dropped Val on his head going for a powerbomb, which, knowing what happened to Droz a year later, makes this incredibly cringing to watch.



87. Edge vs Matt Hardy(05)
This is as real as real life gets in this feud, as Lita cheated on Matt Hardy in real life with Edge. However, the odd part was, Edge got a main event push & Matt got fired, ain’t that some shit. Over time though, fans began really chanting for Matt Hardy until Vince McMahon had no choice but to bring Matt back…..and get beaten & bloodied by Edge on this night. Now, these two had a cage match the following month that blew this one out of the park, in fact, this was the match to set the stage for that one, as this barely went 5 minutes & it resulted in Edge busting Matt open on the ring post & he attacked viciously until Matt could barely stand up. Ref called for the bell as Matt couldn’t defend himself & Edge got the win. Brutal brief encounter that would only get more intense as the months went on. Edge would become a Hall of Famer while Matt Hardy is in TNA feuding for the 100th time with BROTHER NEEEEERO.



86. Chris Jericho vs Rhyno(01)
The Stephanie McMahon/Chris Jericho feud from 2000-2001 could be one of the best feuds the WWF had going for them. Every week Jericho would insult Steph even worse than before & once Daddy’s Little Girl got some….enhancements…that was all the firepower that Jericho needed for his new insults. Bring on the Hooters jokes, the vision of Jericho making fun of Steph & her slowly looking down at her chest, absolutely hysterical. So when Rhyno got involved & started beating the hell out of Jericho, Steph loved it. I really enjoyed this match as these two meshed well together in the ring. Rhyno was the enforcer of the Alliance & could always be counted on to do the bidding of Shane, Steph or Heyman, unfortunately he’d get hurt a few months later, but for the time he was in the Invasion storyline, Rhyno made his time count. Great match which saw Y2J lay a smooch on Steph & made Rhyno tap out. Big night for Jericho as Steph was left with egg on her face once again. This was back in the day when male wrestlers got over on Stephanie & not constantly emasculated like usual these days. I miss the old Steph.



85. HHH vs Booker T(07)
First match for Trips back from injuring his quad early in the year & it was against King Booker, who was on his way out of the company. While this match wasn’t as good as their match at WM19 four years prior, it was still a good return match for The Game & also, despite being absolutely wasted in 2007, a good showing for King Booker as well. Book had to build this match on his own as he claimed to be better than the King of Kings, which I was fine with. I just wish Booker got something more out of this in return than being the guy who essentially got mowed over by Triple H. Did I want a win for Booker, of course not, but something after this would’ve been nice, unfortunately he & Sharmell were out of there just a short time later. Long live King Boooookah, it was fun while it lasted & a role that Book thrived in. That’s why he’s a hall of fame performer, no matter what shit they gave him, the guy made it work.

64. Batista vs John Cena(08)
The match that should’ve happened years earlier, finally took place in 2008 as the face of Raw from 05-08 took on the face of Smackdown from 05-08. This was a face vs face battle though, as Batista hadn’t turned heel just yet, as that would come much later. I liked the heel Batista more, but I was just happy these two finally faced off at a big show. Fans were split between the two & the ending was awesome as Cena tried for his legdrop off the top, but Batista countered into the Batista Bomb that ended up jacking Cena’s neck up for good. After he hit his finish again, Batista pinned Cena clean. Pretty shocking since Cena was absolutely dominant, but it was a nice change up this card needed. I liked this match, the two had good chemistry & while I’m not always in favor of face vs face, this did the job just fine.



63. Randy Orton vs Undertaker(05)
I liked these twos match at Mania much better, but this match until the ending I thought was very good. The ending of course, was when a “fan” jumped into the ring & went after Undertaker, allowing Orton to his a RKO for the finish. The fan was Bob Orton as father & son celebrated at the ramp with a pissed off Taker in the ring. I hate how Orton has won multiple matches at Summerslam with the whole “fan” interfering thing. It’s lazy booking by creative. All that said, Orton was a great dick character (granted he didn’t have the best reputation in real life at this time, so that might’ve helped), so his cocky, arrogant attitude was perfect, because it made you want Taker to friggin rip his head off. They didn’t give it to us on this night, instead, they added another element to their feud with Cowboy Bob. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Taker vs Ortons feud, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. I’d much prefer Taker feuding with Randy Orton & his father than I would him feuding with people like Heidenreich.



62. The Rock vs Booker T(01)
The Rock hadn’t been seen since getting his ass handed to him by the Two Men Power Trip the night after WM17. So when the Invasion happened & Trips was hurt and Austin was a heel, he had to work with someone when he came back, so Booker T was the most likely person, seeing as they were saving the Austin/Rock showdown for Survivor Series that year. Booker T was one of the very few bright spots of WCW from 2000 onward. His ring work in the dying days of the company gets completely overshadowed by the company running itself into the ground. I was thrilled when Booker got a shot in the WWF & even more thrilled when he fought Rocky on this night. Booker was the face of the WCW brand that had invaded WCW, so The Rock fighting him only helped him out. While others were buried because of the Invasion, I thought Booker was one of the few that looked good during it. This was a good back & forth match that both men looked solid in. Rocky looked a little rusty, but that would go away quickly as these two worked together more. Booker held his own with one of the best in the business & that only benefitted WCW.



61. Legion of Doom vs Nasty Boys(91)
If this were two different teams in this situation, a Street Fight match, I might not have ranked it this high, but when you have the LOD & Nastys, two teams notorious for beating the living shit out of their opponents, going to war, I’m ranking it high, because it delivered. My only complaint was it was like 7 minutes! That’s a damn travesty, because they should’ve beaten each other up at least 10 more minutes. Was the IRS/Valentine match necessary? Did Virgil/Dibiase need to go 13 minutes? That’s a big no on both questions, but I can at least say, this was good while it lasted. I cringed when the LOD lifted up Sags to take the Doomsday Device, but the LOD won the titles and were the first (and only) team to ever win the NWA, AWA & WWF tag team titles. Nastys had a decent little tag team reign in the summer, which, had it not been for them & LOD coming into the WWF, I wish the reign would’ve been given to Power & Glory, but eh, whatever.



60. Shawn Michaels vs Mr. Perfect(93)
This was weird, on paper, this would’ve been in my Top 10, maybe Top 5. Two of my all time favorite wrestlers, wrestling over the belt that really launched both men’s solo careers in the WWF. While this match was good, it wasn’t nearly up to par of what I thought it could’ve been. I’ve heard interviews with HBK saying it’s just one of those situations where you think you’re going to gel a lot better than you actually do & this was one of those cases. I couldn’t agree more. In no way did this match stink, or would I even label it as decent or ok. It was a good match, it just wasn’t a great match & that was what I was hoping for. It’s a very watchable match, but it seemed more like a Prime Time Wrestling match (which I realize the show wasn’t on anymore) than a Summerslam PPV match for the IC title. Granted, Diesel got involved & that led to the finish, but it wasn’t really about the countout loss that Perfect took. I guess I have to look at the bright side, it’s better to have gotten this match on a PPV than to never have gotten it at all. The whole “what if” thing doesn’t haven’t to be brought up. I just wish the chemistry between these two would’ve been better.



59. Steve Austin vs Undertaker(98)
The culmination of the Highway to Hell took us to MSG & to be perfectly honest, a very long & rather average match between Taker & Austin. It was decent, but this was the Attitude Era, two of the company’s most popular stars, going to war for the WWF title, you just expected more. It felt like both men gassed & we ended up getting botched move after botched move, which is rare for both guys. Taker did an insane spot where he did a legdrop off the top rope through a table, but he overshot Austin, let me say that again, legdrop from the TOP ROPE TO THE ANNOUNCE TABLE & HE OVERSHOT AUSTIN. Needless to say the table never totally broke. We then got a botched Stunner attempt & a botched Choke Slam before Austin hit a Stunner for the win, but Taker got right up & nearly no sold the move! Austin got the 3, Taker popped up, grabbed the belt & handed it to Austin. Very strange match for two of the best in the company. Not sure why this match wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. Crowd was hot at the start, but they even fell off too. Maybe they were burnt out from one of the best matches in Summerslam history which was before this? We’ll get to that match later though.



58. Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar(15)
On the rarest of occasions do long main event matches, in which I’ve completely checked out of in terms of interest, turned me around in one brief moment. This is one of those matches, as I was watching this match & its fine and everything, but then, Brock & Taker are down in the middle of the ring, both men sit up, Brock starts laughing & Taker starts laughing BACK AT LESNAR! It was one of the craziest sights I had seen in WWE in ages! I literally was watching & went from “meh” to “HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME!” the crowd woke up & went from watching to being super into it. He may only wrestle from time to time, but damn, Taker’s ability to draw the fans in just with one little moment like that, damn, he’s incredible. So the ending of the match however, was awful I thought at first, then when I saw it play out, I thought it was decent. Taker locked in the Kimura, secretly submits out of the eye sight of the referee, Paul E celebrates like Mania 30 & Brock lets go of the hold. Refs attention is diverted & Taker hits the low blow and gets the controversial win. Very different finish, which is only a positive, but I was more blown away by the face off mid match than the ending. Still though, for being 2015, Taker could still bring it. I just wish this win over Brock didn’t make him look like such a wimp. It’d be different if this had led to a brief little heel turn, but it felt like such a desperate move by a character that was anything but. I could see it both ways.



57. Dudley Boyz vs Rey Mysterio, Kidman & Paul London(04)
The Spike Dudley heel turn was simple yet awesome. All these years he was the runt of the Dudley litter & now, he’s transformed himself into The Boss of the family. He turned on Rey Mysterio & won the CW title with the help from his brothers, who turned into henchman for their little brother. Great change for the Dudleys, who grew so incredibly stale over the past year, they needed a major shakeup. Kidman & London were a fantastic team while they lasted, but it just wasn’t meant to be. They seemed like a great fit, so when they teamed with Mysterio, it was a great team. This was a hot opener in front of what would turn out to be a very odd Canadian crowd on this night. How else would you get over Spike as a new heel? By his brothers doing the work & him reaping the rewards, which is exactly what happened as the Dudleys hit a 3D on Kidman I believe and Spike got the pin. It wasn’t long, it wasn’t drawn out, it was the exact amount of chaos you’d want in a 6 man tag & it had the high flyers doing what they did best. Excellent opener & one of the rare times the Dudleys as a complete family, stood tall, as heels no less.



56. Steve Blackman vs Shane McMahon(00)
This was a one spot match, but man, it was one hell of a spot, so this is all I’m talking about in this. People had seen Shane McMahon jump off the top rope through the announce table before, but no one could’ve seen this spot coming, which saw Shane run from Steve Blackman, who was hot on his trails. Shane starts climbing the big set structure & he keeps climbing & climbing & CLIMBING. Blackman started climbing after him, with a kendo stick, until Shane had nowhere else to run. Blackman with shot after shot to the back of Shane, until Shane McMahon, fell back off the huge set & crashed down below. This & the Mick Foley 1st cell bump, are spots I had to rewind (good ol’ VHS) over & over again. I literally couldn’t believe what I just saw when Shane took the bump. It was & still is, incredible. Now we expect Shane to jump off the highest spot, but this was really the first, still my favorite of all of his stunts (though his match with Kurt is my all time favorite Shane match). Anyone who questioned Shane’s toughness or willingness to make the crowd pop, could promptly shut the hell up, because he silenced all the critics on this night. Blackman did an elbow drop off the structure too, but not before climbing down a few feet. Still impressive, but this belonged to Shane O’Mac



55. Chris Jericho vs Dolph Ziggler(12)
I’d say 2012-2013 were my favorite years for Dolph Ziggler as a heel. His pairing with Vickie Guerrero actually was incredibly entertaining, as Vickie worked great with anybody (as of this writing, she just came back briefly last week & I honestly had missed her, she’s a great heel character). So when Jericho & Dolph had their feud, I really liked the pair as Ziggler loves to bump & Jericho is an incredible storyteller. Lots of people, myself included, thought Ziggler was winning this one, so in terms of Summerslam openers, it was a pleasant surprise, since Jericho you knew was leaving soon & Ziggler should’ve been higher on the card. Instead they threw a curveball & Jericho took it with a Walls of Jericho. Of course the following night Ziggler would get the win back & Jericho would be “fired” from the company allowing Dolph to move onto bigger & better things. At a time when you see the same matches over & over again, I could watch these two wrestle a bunch, because they’re both so damn good. To open Summerslam 2012, we were all treated, to the Gift of Jericho, drink it in maaaaaaaannnnn!



54. John Cena vs Randy Orton(07)
So Randy Orton wasn’t the psychopath punt everyone in his path Legacy leader just yet, but he was still arrogant, cocky & as confident as ever heading into this match with Cena. Orton was always in the main event picture on RAW, but never truly got a one on one with Cena for the title just yet, which is baffling, considering these two have wrestled around 1,600 times since then. This match is so much better than their 2009 Summerslam match, it isn’t even close. This wasn’t overbooked, this was simple, Cena good guy, Orton bad guy, now wrestle. Sometimes simple is better & that was the case in this one as no one interfered as a “fan” & they put on a very good 20 minute main event to a Summerslam PPV. What more could you honestly want? It was also refreshing seeing as the co-main event was the barnburner between Batista & The Great Khali! After kicking out of a RKO, Cena hit a FU for the win in a strong main event. I’d absolutely suggest watching this match, but seeing as these two have wrestled each other so damn much, there’s really nothing groundbreaking about this one, other than it happened early in these twos feud.



53. Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit vs Tajiri vs Rhyno(03)
Not sure if you guys knew this or not, but Eddie Guerrero ruled, shocking news I know. Eddie as a babyface was great, but Eddie as a babyface who had heel tendencies, was friggin brilliant. Lying, Cheating & Stealing his way to the US title when he beat Chris Benoit at Vengeance after Rhyno turned heel. So you have Rhyno & Benoit with bad blood and also Tajiri & Eddie had recently been tag champs, so it all worked out well. This match only went 10 minutes, but beggars can’t be choosers, at least it didn’t get royally shafted & get like 6 minutes or something. As Benoit locked in a Crossface, Eddie with a Lasso From El Paso & Tajiri with a Tarantula, Eddie cheated, of course, whacking Rhyno with the title. Tajiri & Benoit spilled to the floor allowing Eddie to hit a Frog Splash on Rhyno for the victory. It wasn’t overbooked, it was just right. All 4 men worked well & that’s all you can ask of 4 great wrestlers fighting for the US title on a big show like this. Eddie’s brief US title reign was so great, I know it led him eventually to the World title, but this was really when he started getting going as a top babyface for the SD brand.



52. Owen Hart vs Savio Vega(96)
Some might think this is the most overrated match in this list in terms of its ranking. Honestly, I love this match; it’s a hidden gem on a garbage show that was Summerslam 1996. Only 2 other matches I thought were better, but I was such a fan of this match because of Owen’s storytelling. He had a “broken hand” in this one & had the old Bob Orton cast on, trying immediately to smack Savio with it, but the ref made sure to stop him. This was probably Savio’s best match as this was two solid workers going out there & just flat out doing what they did best. Savio as the face & Owen as the sneaky heel. Finally we saw an ending that was a little wonky as Tim White was watching as Owen took off his cast, trying to hide it as much as possible, but he smacked Savio with the cast right in front of the referee, who sort of fell back after Vega fell down. Owen locked in the sharpshooter on an unconscious Savio for the win. It wasn’t a huge win, but it was a PPV for Owen & he cheated his way to victory, the only way to truly do it. This is as solid of a Summerslam opener as you’ll get. Sure there’s been better ones, much better in fact, but I really enjoyed this one. I suggest watching it on the Network.



51. CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show(12)
The match was simple, big guy beats up both opponents, until both opponents gang up & beat up the big guy. There’s really nothing that stands out in this match, other than both Cena & Punk locked in their submissions on Show, who submitted, sending AJ Lee out to restart the match. Luckily Cena didn’t win, because had Punk lost the title without being pinned/submitted would’ve been awful. Cena hit a FU on Show, but Punk picked up the pieces by tossing Cena to the floor & pinned Show. Punk would go on to become an awesome heel with Paul Heyman & feud with Cena a few more months, while Show fell out of the main event picture before starting a feud with Sheamus. I was fine with this match as anything Punk did from 11-12 I was glued to the TV for, as his character was one of the few bright spots for otherwise lackluster programming. Good, solid, watchable triple threat that, as I’ve said many times before, wasn’t overbooked, which is all you can ask for in a multi-man match.