Summerslam

SummerSlam '96 was a decent wrestling card with pretty good matches throughout-not the greatest SummerSlam event or WWF PPV ever but watchable enough.

During 1996, the WWF were losing against WCW when it came to PPV buy rates and TV ratings. However, the WWF still put on some good events even though WCW events were better.

There aren't any bad matches on this event really with the exception of the four corners tag team match. This PPV is memorable in some ways-for starters Jake "The Snake" Roberts makes his first SummerSlam appearance since SummerSlam '91 (where he disrupted the wedding of the Macho Man and Elizabeth). Jake was a Christian in 1996 and whilst he didn't have the killer instinct he had had from 1986-1992, he was still a decent performance.

There are four matches that really stand out for me. The late Owen Hart faces Savio Vega in a strong opening match. Sycho Sid faced the late British Bulldog in a powerful battle between two powermen. However, it's the last two matches that were fantastic.

The Undertaker faced tough rival Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl-it was a heated match which ended in a shocker when the Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer (who had been with the 'Taker for nearly six years)turned on him and joined Mankind.

The main event stole the show. Talented WWF champion Shawn Michaels faced monster heel Vader (a wrestler who the WWF never capitalised on) in a strong match far superior to the outings they had had on the road leading up to SummerSlam.

All in all, a strong SummerSlam event.

I have been a keen WWF fan for a long time now and i have seen many paper views and i can not think of an event that was better than this one. I loved the Owen Hart cast gimic, he was so funny in this match. The tag team contest wasn't great, at the time I really waned to the smoking guns to loose their tag titles because I felt that other teams would of been better with the gold. The Mero and Goldust fued was great and the match was brilliant as well. Sid v Bulldog was nothing fancy but a solid match, I thought Sid was great at the start of the match when he was warming up the crowd.

The boiler room brawl was brilliant! I was really shocked when paul bearer turned on taker I usually see face turns happening a mile off, but this time I was stunned. The split up of taker and paul bearer streched the becoming tiresome feud between Mankind and The Undertaker and made wrestling much more fun to watch. I thought it was amazing when Foley flew onto the floor from the ring apron.

The title match was one of Shawn Michaels best matches. He hit his high flying moves perfectly and put down Vader with a different move which was refreshing to see. I thought Vader and Michaels both did a great job.

So any fan should go watch this paper view because its just great!

WWE Champion Shawn Michaels defended against the 400-pound Vader in the main event of SummerSlam 1996, billed as "Opposites Attack!" Michaels pinned the mastodon following a moonsault to retain his championship. The successful title defense came in the midst of an eight-month championship reign for the Heartbreak Kid -- the longest WWE Championship reign in almost a decade

Owen Hart pinned Savio Vega Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated the Body Donnas, the New Rockers and the Godwinns in a Fatal Fourway Match Sycho Sid pinned the British Bulldog Goldust pinned Marc Mero Jerry Lawler pinned Jake "The Snake" Roberts Mankind defeated Undertaker in a Boiler Room Brawl WWE Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Vader

Overall Mark: B

The best thing one can say about Summerslam 1996 is that the overall card is pretty balanced. No gaping holes or absolutely atrocious pairings. Unfortunately, none of those matchups really generate all that much excitement.

A few examples:

-Owen Hart vs. Savio Vega is a pretty good technical match, but really no heat behind either figure. -Sycho Sid vs. Bulldog suffers from the same malady, with both guys being on the way out rather than up. -Goldust losing his luster a bit against Marc Mero. How many times can the enigmatic figure be cast as the "weird fella" that the macho guys beat up on? -Lawler vs. Roberts is a little sad, with Jake clearly past his prime and Lawler's mic skills having to carry the whole encounter.

Mankind vs. Undertaker in the "boiler room brawl" is inventive, but I'll argue these two are much better when allowed to create havoc in the ring with their risk-taking ways. Confining them to an enclosed space didn't really seem to work out all that well.

The Michaels/Vader finale is probably a better match than it gets credit for, but Michaels is a better "challenger than champion", if you will, and really is only covering for Bret Hart's absence at this point. Vader is an odd duck who never got the push with WWE that he did with WCW. So no really excitement behind this pairing despite a match that is decently watchable.

Overall, then, the theme of SS '96 is decent pairings of talent with little reason or excitement behind them. This is a general improvement for the WWE compared to previous years, but doesn't make this specific card any more exciting, either.