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Over the years, the Summerslam PPV has been the second best WWE PPV of the year, besides Wrestlemania which is the mother of all PPV’s. And it’s no surprise that there have been so many shocking and stunning moments in the past 23 editions of WWE Summerslam. Here is a list of the Top 10 Summerslam Moments:
Chris Benoit became the United States champion at SummerSlam in 2005 by defeating Orlando Jordan. It didn’t take too long for that victory to happen. In fact, Benoit defeated Jordan in about the amount of time it took to write the words in this slide. After only 25.5 seconds, Benoit was United States champion and Jordan’s 173-day reign was over. It’s sad that Benoit is no longer with us.
The two teams gearing up for the match
Last year’s SummerSlam gave us a shocking moment as Daniel Bryan returned to WWE in the seven-on-seven Team Raw Vs Team Nexus main event. Bryan returned to team with John Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, R-Truth and John Morrison to take on the seven members of Nexus. Bryan debuted on the main roster on Raw as a member of the faction for its first night, but was released from his contract after a controversial spot with Justin Roberts, on the same night. Two months later, the seven remaining members of Nexus were taking apart Cena’s hand-picked team one by one. When The Miz offered his services on the night of SummerSlam, he came out to be the last member, only to have Cena announce Bryan as the last member. Bryan made two Nexus members tap out before being attacked by The Miz using his Money in the Bank briefcase.
Bret Hart dejected after losing to the British Bull Dog
SummerSlam 1992 was the first PPV to ever be held outside North America and the only one since. A great card featuring some legends of sports entertainment but really it was all about the main event. This match drew an astounding 80,355 people (the largest real attendance in WWF history up to that point if you factor in the real number they drew at WrestleMania III as opposed to the fake 93,173 attendance reported) to Wembley Stadium to see favorite son Davey Boy Smith take on Bret “The Hitman” Hart for the Intercontinental Title. An Epic match that saw Wembley on its feet and cheering so proudly for Bulldog’s victory, that they were, no doubt, heard all over London. It was arguably the crowning moment of both wrestler’s careers, and made Bulldog into an absolute superstar in the UK for the remainder of his life.
Shawn Michaels arguing with Bret Hart about the chair
SummerSlam 1997′s main event was a very exciting match that was hyped well and did not disappoint. The Undertaker defended his WWF Championship against Bret Hart with the stipulation that Hart would not be able to wrestle in the United States if he did not win the title. What hurt Hart even more is that Shawn Michaels, a rival of Hart’s, was the special guest referee. Imagining that the anti-Amercian Hart would make it out of The Meadowlands with the WWF title was hard to understand. In a frenzy of a match that lasted nearly a half hour, Hart used a steel chair on The Undertaker when Michaels was not watching. Michaels found the chair and confronted Hart about it. Hart would spit on Michaels and The Heartbreak Kid went to use the chair on Hart, only to miss and hit The Undertaker instead. Hart then covered The Undertaker and Michaels counted to three, lingering on that last count. Michaels was angry at the result as Hart was the champion. This would be Hart’s last WWF Championship reign as Michaels would win it from Hart later on that year at Survivor Series in what is known as ‘The Montreal Screwjob’.
Stone Cold after the match
Another famous match from the 1997 Summerslam is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin winning the Intercontinental Championship from Owen Hart. The match itself will always be remembered as a good match, but it all is overshadowed by Austin’s neck injury. Towards the end of the match, Austin broke his neck from a pile-driver given to him by Hart. Video shows Austin’s neck sticking out from the bottom of the pile-driver. Austin still was able to continue the match and win the Intercontinental Championship with a roll-up. Austin would hold the championship officially for about five weeks before the title was officially vacated.
CM Punk’s celebration is cut short as the Undertaker comes out of nowhere
This was one of the best TLC matches in history in my opinion. When Hardy had Swanton Bombed from a 20 foot ladder, onto the announcer’s table I felt for sure that he was done, but he somehow managed to get back into the ring and stop Punk form grabbing the title belt. However that was a short lived reprieve for Hardy as he ended up on the receiving end of a huge punch from Punk that sent Hardy flying and enabled Punk to scale the ladder and claim his 3rd World Heavyweight Championship. But wow, how about the aftermarth of the match when Undertaker appeared and Chokeslammed Punk straight to hell! This lead to CM Punk‘s much publicised feud with the Undertaker in the second half of 2009.
Undertaker Vs Underfaker
For those of you too young to remember, the Undertaker was placed in a casket by Yokozuna at the 1994 Royal Rumble and went off TV for nine months. After many vignettes, Ted Dibiase declared that he’d found the Undertaker. It was a fake. Paul Bearer found the actual one, which led to this Undertaker vs. Undertaker match, which headlined the first event at Chicago’s then-brand new United Center. The match itself was dire, but everything that needed to happen did — the Underfaker tried the Undertaker’s moves, the Undertaker stopped him, tombstoned him, put him in a casket, and sent him on his way.
Randy Orton celebrating after winning his first World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton was destined to be a world champion, but did it a lot earlier than anyone would have predicted it to happen. At just 24 years of age, Orton won the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2004. To this day, no world champion in WWE history has been younger than Orton. Orton defeated Chris Benoit in Benoit’s home country of Canada, which only added to the shock of the moment. This victory sowed the seeds of what Randy Orton has grown on to become today.
Brock Lesnar after winning the title
Speaking of making stars, Brock Lesnar‘s match with The Rock at summerslam 2002, turned “The Next Big Thing” into “The Big Thing”. The vignettes leading up to the match were UFC-style, showing off the training regimens of both wrestlers on their college campuses. The finish was absurd, yet stupendous, with Lesnar stopping a People’s Elbow and giving Rock an F5 to win the WWE Undisputed Championship. It was the last time that the title would be undisputed.
The first ever TLC Match
The TLC match debuted at SummerSlam in 2000 with The Dudley Boyz and Hardy Boyz facing E&C(Edge and Christian). The three teams had a long-running feud with one another that was made famous by this match. The Dudleys loved their tables, The Hardys were experts with ladders and chairs were the weapon of choice for Edge and Christian. Combined, the three weapons and three teams made for a great new match concept. The TLC match became so popular that, now there’s a pay-per-view named after it and each new version of the match tries to outdo the others. But nothing can beat the audacity of the first ever TLC match. Hence it deserves the top spot on this list of the top 10 SummerSlam moments in history.
What do you think about this list? Post your comments and reviews below.
