The Case
When this third installment of WWE's Summerslam Anthology begins, a
decade has passed since Vince McMahon debuted his August wrestling extravaganza
and very little was the same from those early years. Gone were those heady days
of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, with their awful matches that still sold
tons of tickets. Gone were the dark days after Vince's steroid trial when they
nearly went bankrupt, but also ushered in a new era of smaller wrestlers and
more athletic matches. Wrestling now had "Attitude," and marketing to
that elusive 18 to 34 demographic meant ramping up the sex, while adding big
falls and weaponry to their wrestlers' repertoires. It also meant huge ratings,
a victory in the Monday Night Wars, and a whole lot of cash in Vince's pocket.
They didn't skimp on the wrestling, either, so let's get to the action in the
ring.
1998
The Attitude Era has already reached its apex and, by now,
has already started to falter, but we're still in the heyday of Stone Cold Steve
Austin, the biggest star of the era by a wide margin. He defends his
championship against the Undertaker in the main event and, while these two
Texans never had the best chemistry together in the ring, the crowd totally eats
the match up. Also on the card are "edgier" characters such as a porn
star named Val Venis ('cause, see, it rhymes with penis); the Oddities, a stable
comprised of two giants and a fat man (who was actually former Hogan rival
Earthquake under a mask) who love to dance; and the oddly successful New Age
Outlaws, featuring Mr. Ass Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg Jesse James, long
veterans of failed gimmicks, who liked to tell people to "suck it."
Really, the change in wrestling the Attitude Era brought about was going from a
kiddie mentality to a juvenile one, which they never did grow up from. As edgy
as all this may have seemed, in '09 it's pretty lame. Of note on the card is the
Lion's Den match, named for the training gym of Ken Shamrock, who had just
finished his first run in UFC and, with MMA in its infancy, Vince wanted a piece
of the action. Overall, the results of that experiment were mixed, but this
match between Shamrock and Owen Hart in a tiny cage is fantastic.
1999
The worst event on this set and one of the lowest moments
in Summerslam history. The company had ridden years of constant success into
laziness and "Attitude" had nearly run its course, though the company
hadn't realized it yet. The show is poor from top to bottom. It ranges from the
boring D'Lo Brown versus Jeff Jarrett opener, to the convoluted and overproduced
Tag Team Turmoil match (six teams wrestling at the same time), to the outright
awful Test versus Shane McMahon match. This waste of three hours is only save by
a good triple threat main event pitting Austin against Mankind and Triple H, who
was beginning to emerge as a major player in the wrestling world. This year's
even takes place in Minneapolis, as well, which naturally means that
newly-elected governor Jesse Ventura officiates the match…classic
Body.
2000
The dawn of the millennium was not the dawn of a new age
of wrestling. If you listened closely in those days, you could hear the death
rattle of Attitude, but Vince still carted that broken horse out there to whip
on. In concept, this year's show is much worse than the '99 debacle, but the
wrestling happens to be a lot better, and there are some early signals that
change is coming. On the side of good, we have the infamous "Tables,
Ladders, and Chairs" match, featuring the Dudley Boyz, Edge and Christian,
and the Hardy Boyz (you knew something was extreme if it gets pluralized with a
"z"), which may be the most injury-defying invention in wrestling
history. Also, the best two-of-three falls match between Chris Jericho and Chris
Benoit is stellar, an absolute classic. On the side of bad, however, we have
some true wrestling atrocities. The match between Right to Censor (in the lamest
ever jab at the perpetually pesky lobby group, Parents Television Council) and
the dancing Too Cool with Rikishi is just simply a god awful display of skill.
Rikishi, who gave new meaning to the words "Gluteus Maximus,"
additionally was the inventor of the move that spawned the match that may be the
lowest moment in the history of women's wrestling. This match pits the Kat and
Terri, ex-wives of Jerry Lawler and Golddust, in a "Thong Stink Face"
match. Dressed in bikinis and ridiculous heels, these poor women can only win
the match when one puts her butt in the other's face, specifically, in the
corner of the ring.
2001
What a difference a year makes. Everything about the 2001
card is so much better than the previous year's, the storylines are much better
thought out, and much of the juvenile humor is toned down. Why? Invasion. The
Monday Night Wars had been won. Vince now owned WCW and extended contracts to
some of their better wrestlers, though not in all cases (Buff Bagwell, I'm
looking at you). Many of these people had never worked with those in WWE and it
allowed for a lot of fresh matchups and positive changes with the in-ring work.
This show is very good top to bottom and is one of the strongest Summerslams in
the history of the show. Particular favorites include Rhyno vs. Chris Jericho
and the WWE Championship match between Steve Austin and rising phenom and former
Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. The only real down moment is the tag team
cage, title unification match. Kane and the Undertaker (accompanied by his wife,
Sara) takes on Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon, one of the most underrated
wrestlers in a long time. On paper, this isn't so bad. It is, however, one of
the dumbest stories they ever tried to force onto their viewers. They tried to
make blue collar hero Page a bad guy so, for no good reason, made him a crazy
stalker trying to get at the Undertaker's wife. Sara Taker, mercifully, wasn't
around too long, but her stretch marked the worst time in the legendary Dead
Man's career since the Corporate Ministry stupidity.
2002
This collection closes out with a very good show, as good
as the previous year's, and maybe better inside the ring. In the months
preceding this Summerslam, the unthinkable had happened. It came on a Monday
Night Raw that Vince emerged to announce the new General Manager of the Raw
brand. That man: Eric Bischoff, former head of WCW and the man that did almost
anything to ruin McMahon. Nearly a decade later, it still seems weird that they
were able to work together, but wrestling's a strange world where no bridges, no
matter what, are ever really burned. The show opens with a phenomenal contest
between Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio that is fast, hard-hitting, and really well
put together. It closes with the destruction of the Rock at the hands of the
Next Big Thing, Brock Lesnar, now ruining his competition as UFC heavyweight
champion. In between, we have a series of fine contests, including the returning
Shawn Michaels taking on his old friend Triple H in a violent and, at the time,
emotional contest with a great ending that really put Triple H over as a
humongous jerk. The only down match is the Test vs. Undertaker contest but how
much can one expect in a match with Test. I didn't expect it to be good and it
didn't disappoint.
WWE's Summerslam: Complete Anthology, Volume 3 is right on par with
the previous two installments of the series and is fine. There are no extras,
but there never are. Audio and video are identical to their original broadcasts.
This is a good slice of the summers of the past twenty years of Summerslam, but
the more that I see again, the more I start to suspect the overall quality of
the pay-per-view over the years.
