Good morning ladies and gents, I am your Local Hero, your Review Guy, Cameron McDonley and it's time for another retro review! With just 48 Hours away until this Sunday's festivities, I bring you a review and retrospective of the most profitable and some say, greatest Summerslam of all time. That's right, we are reviewing Summerslam 1998: The Highway To Hell, which emanates from the hallowed halls of the world famous Madison Square Garden in New York City. So without further ado, let's inject Rest Hold Party with a lethal dose of Attitude!
To kickoff this action-packed event on a hot summer night in late August of 1998, D' Lo Brown defends his European Championship against one of the most memorable characters in the WWF at the time, Val Venis. This was a very even, back and forth matchup between two men who wanted nothing more than to be the European Champion on this night. Over the course of this contest there were a lot of high impact moves and spots. Val Venis at one point in the match jumped off the top rope and got caught by the champion who proceeded to execute a sit-out spinebuster type of maneuver on the challenger only to get a near-fall. Val Venis would go for a T-Bone Suplex as well as a few other moves, but the most devastating part of the match was when D' Lo had him in position for a powerbomb, picked him up and in a very grotesque fashion, dropped the challenger on his neck.
The match would end in a disqualification when Val ripped D' Lo's chest protector off of him, proceeded to go to the top rope where the referee would try to stop him (and succeeded) by accidentally crotching him on the post. Venis would retaliate later by pushing the referee down which would cost him. However not all's lost as the Big Valbowski would scoop slam the ref on the canvas, go to the top rope and execute a devastating Money Shot. Overall an entertaining opener minus the frightening powerbomb. Good way to start the show.
Match Rating: 3/5
Now this next match was not a competitive affair, nor was it advertised to be. It was a match of comedic proportions between a team accompanied to the ring by Insane Clown Posse known as The Oddities and another all-Japanese team that went by the name of Kai En Tai, who were famous for trying to cut off a certain part of Val's anatomy earlier on in the year. Most of this match as you would expect was mainly Taka Michinoku and Dick Togo bumping around like crazy for these tall, huge behemoths that stand between them and victory. It was not a terribly long match either as after 10 minutes or so it ended in a very quick and painless fashion (for the fans watching at least) as Golga stacked every member of the team on top of each other and pinned them all at once for the win. Not much else to say here, as it was certainly far from the best match on this otherwise stacked to the hills card.
Match Rating: 2.5/5
As dull as the last match was, this next battle surely made up for it as it was a rather entertaining affair. It was also a very personal one, as it was billed to be a Hair vs Hair match between Jeff Jarrett and DX Member X-Pac. Earlier on in the night Double J committed a despicable and heinous act in the words of Jim Ross as Jarrett and Southern Justice shaved Howard Finkel's head unrtil he was completely bald. Now I don't know how much hair he had left on his head, but it apparently meant a lot to these people in MSG as they booed JJ and chanted "Jarrett Sucks" for the rest of the segment on Heat.
Now on to the actual PPV match, this one was highly competitive and both men did whatever they could to avoid getting their hair shaved. The future founder of TNA Wrestling tried to cheat his way to victory, but to no avail as it backfired. X-Pac ended up grabbing his all-important guitar, smashed it over his head while the referee could not visibly see what was going on, and ended up getting the three count. You'd think that meant that Jarrett had to suck it up, buttercup and get his head shaved, but nope! In hilarious fashion, the clippers botched and gave out in the middle of cutting his hair so they had to resort to shears to cut whatever they could before taking him to the back to finish the job. Long story short he's not bald, he just has short hair. Fun match I must say.
Match Rating: 3/5
This tag match involving Sable and her opponents Marc Mero & Jacqueline was looking to be a Handicap match as she had not yet revealed who her opponent was, but much to everyone's surprise and the chagrin of her adversaries, she did find a partner, but in the unlikely form of the Rated R SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPERSTARRRRRRRRR (not yet sadly, just barely debuting), EDGE!
Now this match was another short one as it only went 8-10 minutes (a staple of this very romanticized era in wrestling), but it did feature a memorable spot of sorts as Edge leapt over the top rope onto both Mero & Jacqueline before Sable would end it with a TKO to obtain the victory. Edge and Sable also had a really awkward staring contest in the middle of the ring before Edge ran off into the crowd. I guess you could say that on that day, he saw clearly.
Very much a quick and painless match, but not dull in the slightest.
Match Rating: 2.7/5
This next contest was sure to be a knock-down, drag-out war, as Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock were gonna face off in a Lion's Den Match. And sure enough, it was everything it was billed to be as this match was nothing like what anybody was used to seeing in the WWF, even at that time. Instead of a match with a bunch of weapons or brawling into the backstage area, this match was a shoot-style type of affair. Very heavy strikes, brutal moves and using the opponent's head as a battering ram into the beams of the cage were all present in this match, or should I say fight.
I enjoy matches that feel real, and this one definitely felt like a real shoot fight between two wrestlers who honestly probably could've handled themselves rather well had this been an actual shoot. With Ken being a former UFC Superfight Champion and the late Owen Hart being a graduate of the famed Hart Dungeon in Calgary, this was certainly believable and if shown to a non-wrestling fan, I'm sure 85% of it could be seen as legitimate. All in all a great contest and one of the finest outings on this entire PPV.
Match Rating: 3.5/5
Mankind was scheduled to team up with the "Big Red Machine" Kane in this next match with the New Age Outlaws, but Kane refused to team with Mrs. Foley's baby boy, therefore effectively making this a handicap match. This match was a good match for something that's not necessarily a good stipulation. It was still very much engaging as there was a few hope spots in there for the lone tag team champion, but in the end all resistance to defeat proved to be futile, as Road Dogg and Billy Gunn ended up becoming the new WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS OF THE WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRLD.
After the match the New Age Outlaws proceeded to place Mankind in the dumpster where alas, Kane was indeed waiting. He popped out of the dumpster with a sledgehammer in hand, and basically committed attempted murder on Mankind with the sledgehammer. Sounds like that feud is far from over. Overall a good match.
Match Rating: 3/5
After all the great action MSG had seen on August 30th, 1998, it was time for the two main events. The first of which was a Ladder Match for the very historically prestigious Intercontinental Championship between two men who would eventually become two of the biggest stars this business has ever seen. Those men were Triple H and The Rock. And what a matchup this turned out to be.
This long and grueling match started off slow, but as time went on it picked up a lot of steam. Both men vigorously laid into each other, not at all letting up the punishment. Many times the ladder was in play as a weapon, including a spot in the match where The Rock sandwiched HHH's leg in between the ladder and then used a chair in the most vile way possible, further destroying his rival's leg in the process so that way he could not stop Rock from climbing up the ladder and grabbing what he feels is rightfully his. However HHH persevered and continued fighting, even giving The Brahma Bull a dropkick to the face while he was holding the ladder on the outside, giving him a very bloody reciprocal for his callous actions. At the end of the night, the man standing atop of all the carnage and violence was one man, The Game himself. The People's Champion was not the IC Champion anymore.
Not much more to say other than this was certainly Match Of the Night.
Match Rating: 4.5/5
Here we go ladies and gentlemen, this is your main event of the evening! The final stop on the Highway To Hell has finally arrived, and these two megastars will finally collide for the World Wrestling Federation Championship. At the height of the Attitude Era, this was your main event for the highest bought Summerslam of all time. 700,000 buys and it was all for this one match right here.
While this may not have been the best match of the night in many fans' eyes, it was certainly the biggest match you could do on this night. It certainly did not lack in firepower either, as both Stone Cold and the Undertaker came swinging out of the gate and drama was very high for most of this match, including fighting in the crowd and a very memorable spot in the match where The Undertaker placed Austin on the announce table, went to the top rope and landed the biggest legdrop known to man onto Austin. Crazy enough that table did not break, and I'm not sure how their bodies didn't break given the almighty force of that spot. Easily the biggest OMG moment of the night.
After all of those spots and high-drama action points included a thwarted appearance by Kane, the match finally ended when Austin hit the Stunner on the Undertaker, got the pinfall victory and celebrated what was for sure a big win for the champion on this night. When it looked like 'Taker was gonna attack him at the close of the show with title in hand, he decided not to and handed the rightful champion his title belt, walking away and leaving the ring to the Texas Rattlesnake to close the PPV.
Overall a very phenomenal match.
Match Rating: 4/5
Overall Show Rating: 4.5/5
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Well that's it for this review for what was for sure a great show and in my opinion the best Summerslam of All Time.
I am the Local Hero, your Review Guy himself Cameron McDonley and I will see you all again very, very soon!
