Summerslam 1996 Review

Written By Ben Hercik

The Summerslam the year before I was born emanated from the Gun in Cleveland, Ohio where I am from. This show featured two very interesting matches, the famous Boiler Room Brawl and the infamous Vader vs Shawn Michales match. Other than those two matches, there was nothing really special about this show. All the wrestlers that should’ve won, did win and there was not a lot of story progression.

Owen Hart Vs. Savio Vega

This was a decent little match to open the show. Savio Vega is someone that is very underrated from this time. He was never going to be in the world championship picture, but he was a very good mid card wrestler. Owen was someone who was always undervalued and just outside of the world title picture. There was nothing special about the match, but a very decent opener.

The Smoking Gunn’s (C) Vs. The Bodydonnas Vs. The Godwinns Vs. The New Rockers (WWF Tag Team Championships)

In this era, there was not a lot of tag team focus and its very much like today. One of the few highlights was that the Smoking Guns were able to look good in the match. Other than that, this was a very boring match.

Goldust Vs. Marc Mero

One of the weirdest and most interesting characters in WWE history was Goldust. He was someone that just was able to try and stand out and be different in a sea of talented wrestlers. Marc Maro was someone that was just there to help get Goldust over in the match, which is what he should have been. Goldust got the win, as everyone would expect.

Jerry “The King” Lawler Vs. Jake “The Snake” Lawler

This was a quick match just to get more heat on Lawler. It was obvious that it was going to be this during Lawler's entrance. He came out in a Baltimore Ravens jersey, which are the old Cleveland Browns football team that left in the middle of the night in 1996. It was a very Memphis style match with Lawler acting like the big heel that he was.

The Undertaker Vs. Mankind (Boiler Room Brawl)

The match type might have been weird, but it was the best match on the card. To win, you had to be the first to get to the ring from a boiler room and retrieve the urn from Paul Bearer. This is where the long and ever going story between Undertaker and Paul Bearer got to the next level. Undertaker got to the ring first, but Bearer refused to give him for some reason. He then turned on him and sided with Mankind. On a very lackluster card, and looking at the future ramifications that Bearer turning on Taker had in the future of the WWE, this was a very important match in WWE history.

Shawn Michaels (C) Vs. Vader (WWF Championship)

This match could've been great. Vader was a fantastic wrestler, and became a big name in New Japan and WCW, and this could've been something that helped Vader get to that level in the WWE. But this was the angsty Shawn Michales of the 90's in WWE. This is the match with the infamous spot where Michales was going off the top rope for an elbow drop, and Vader forgot to move and Michales yelled at him to move. Looking back at the match and knowing just how Shawn Michales was in the locker room in the 90's, it was clear that he didn't want to do the job to someone like Vader. Knowing that it really took away from the match for me.

Overall, this show felt like a filler show. There wasn’t a lot of good on this show and had very few good moments. There was important story progression in the Boiler Room Brawl, and had a match that could’ve been good with Vader and Shawn Michales, but it just didn’t click. This is a very skippable show to be honest.

Rating: 4/10