SummerSlam 95' kicks off with a strong opener - The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi. Waltman had had a series of strong matches since joining the WWE in 93' and this is another one that deserves mention as Hakushi is equally game to dazzle the crowd. Highlights included an insane handspring dive onto the arena floor from Hakushi and a cool frog splash out of the Kid. I would've preferred a stronger finish rather than the counter-into-a-side slam that ends up giving Hakushi the win, but this was still an above average bout. (3/5)
Unfortunately, the show comes to a bit of a dead halt as Hunter Hearst Helmsley takes on Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly. The Bob Holly name never really added up to me as, if I remember correctly, he was originally just called "Sparky Plugg" (which would explain why there are two gs in Plugg), but then just went by his real name anyway. Regardless of all the name changes, he was just not over at all and the future Triple H wasn't over either. The crowd is dead for this because of that reason even though Helmsley and Holly try their best. There's just no chemistry between them and Helmsley, at this point in his career, wasn't a captivating in-ring performer and needed more interesting, more physical workers to pinball off of (as he'd eventually find in not only Foley but also Henry Godwinn in their underrated series). (1/5)
The Smoking Gunns took on The Blu Brothers in another stinker on this show. I'm guessing the idea here was to rebuild the Gunns after dropping the tag titles against Yoko and Owen at WrestleMania, but the Blu Brothers (Harris Twins) are boring workers and the Gunns weren't very entertaining either. The best thing that can be said about this dull match was that it only went 5 minutes or so but this really had no place being on a pay-per-view card, especially as the next couple bouts went quite long. (0.5/5)
The next match is one of the more memorable feuds from this era of WWE history - Barry Horowitz vs. Skip (with Sunny at his side). The build to this match was all about Barry Horowitz shocking the world by defeating Skip and then "going the distance" in a 10-minute time limit rematch. As Skip was never going to be a major heel, its not like losing to Horowitz was going to crush his credibility, though, at the same time, it never makes much sense to introduce a character just so he can lose to a jobber. Unfortunately, the WWE had also basically just run a similar storyline with the 1-2-3 Kid (who famously upset Razor Ramon on an episode of Raw) and was in desperate need of credible midcard heels who could actually get a reaction from the crowd - something Helmsley couldn't do yet - and Candido and Sunny could (plus, with Hakushi essentially turning babyface in this match and Jeff Jarrett leaving the company a month prior, the WWE's heel ranks were thinning rapidly). Horowitz is also just not that interesting of a worker while Skip and Sunny were a good act that could've been an interesting challenge for Michaels rather than just relegated to the lower midcard. Anyway, the match itself isn't too bad, but it goes a bit long to me. The crowd is into it, though, so I won't grade it too harshly. I'm not sure why this needed to go longer than 10 minutes when you don't even get a clean finish. (2.5/5)
The WWE Women's Championship is on the line next with Alundra Blayze defending the title against Bertha Faye. If the Barry Horowitz/Skip storyline is remembered as "feel good," this would be the exact opposite as Blayze puts over Bertha Faye, aka Rhonda Singh, aka the Monster Ripper, who was treated like a total joke rather than as the vicious monster she once was. Granted, Singh had let herself go by this time in her career and the WWE was never going to let her do the type of wrestling she had done in Puerto Rico and Japan, but if you're going to bring in someone who specializes in the viciousness that Singh was capable of, you really need to go all the way with it. Instead, Faye and Harvey Wippelman are a mean-spirited, unfunny comedy act and Blayze is essentially squashed in under 5 minutes. Another disappointing contest and its amazing that they got less time than the Gunns/Blu Brothers match or the Helmsley/Holly match, neither of which even had a storyline going into them as far as I could tell. (1/5)
The Undertaker vs. Kama in a Casket Match is next. The story coming into this match is that Kama had stolen the urn and melted it down into a gold chain that he wore around his neck and then, subsequently, attacked one of the Undertaker's fans (known as the Creatures of the Night). I'm not sure why this match goes close to 20 minutes, but the fact that it does makes this match very, very strange, almost like the Undertaker wanted to prove that he could put on a lengthier match with more back-and-forth action or wanted to (admirably) prove he could get Kama over as a legit monster. Unfortunately, Kama's booking prior to this really hurt that story from being told no matter how dominant he looks at times here. In the months before this match took place, instead of building up Kama with decisive victories over top talent, he was crushing jobbers but losing tag team matches and, at the King of the Ring, went to a time limit draw with Shawn Michaels when a victory would've been a tremendous boon. It also didn't help that, by this point, the Million Dollar Corporation no longer resembled anything close to a major threat (despite them basically dominating the top heel position for over a year, headlining both SummerSlam 94' and WrestleMania XI), giving this match a stale vibe despite it being surprisingly good. The crowd is very much into this, at least for most of it, and the Undertaker does bump and sell for his real-life buddy even if the finish itself is never really in question. There are some cool visual moments too, including a spot where both men end up in the casket and Kama escapes only to get dragged back in by the Deadman. The Undertaker also busts out a chokeslam and manages to get Kama up for the Tombstone, both impressive feats of strength. Still, this match could've used 2-3 less hope spot/cut-off moments as going 15+ minutes didn't play to either guy's strengths. (2.5/5)
If you didn't get enough of the Lawler/Bret Hart feud in 93', the WWE basically re-ran it in 1995 only with Lawler's evil dentist, Isaac Yankem DDS, in place of Lawler himself (or Doink depending on how you look at it). Like so much of what Bret and Taker had to endure, the failure of this match has a ton more do with the nauseating gimmicks and lame storyline than it does with what we actually get in the ring. Bret doesn't get a great match out of Yankem like he did with Nash - but its also hard to discount the effect of the lame evil dentist gimmick on the overall presentation. Bret works hard and while Glen Jacobs would have much greater success as Kane in the years that followed, its not like he's woefully terrible here. In fact, he's kinda just like Kane always is - a bit too bland for my liking. I'm not sure where Vince thought he could go with an evil dentist character but Yankem somehow made it another 9+ months with this act despite how paper thin and stupid it was. Lawler gets involved and the match eventually gets thrown out because Vince thought it was worth protecting Yankem even though Bret Hart was a multi-time former WWE Champion. Like the match that precedes it, this one goes a bit too long for me. (2.5/5)
If there's any match on this show that has a reputation for being worth checking out, it is definitely the next one up - Shawn Michaels defending against Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship in a sequel to their WrestleMania X classic. There are many who believe this is the superior ladder match compared to their first, though the original will always have that distinction of being the company's "first" (even if it wasn't) kinda like how the second TLC match is technically better than the first with bigger spots and more twists and turns but the first is the one that gets name-checked more. The key difference in this match, aside from Michaels coming in as champion, is that while Ramon wasn't technically a heel, Vince was clearly positioning Michaels as the company's next top babyface, going ga-ga over him on commentary so much that even before Michaels was given that top spot one could predict a bit of a backlash (which reached its apex at the Survivor Series 96' show). Like he worked against Jarrett at the previous month's In Your House show, Michaels takes a huge and dangerous bump over the post and onto the floor, the kind of thing that you just did not see happening in the WWE or anywhere (and still don't see too often) and proceeds to pinball for Razor throughout. Unlike that match, though, it feels a bit more earned here because of the size difference. Speaking of Razor, his subtle heel work is brilliant here and, as other reviewers have noted, I like how there are multiple nods to the more famous spots from their first ladder match sprinkled throughout the match (including Shawn missing the big splash from the top of the ladder that he hit at Mania). Ramon works on Shawn's knee every chance he gets so the audience is naturally inclined to start rooting for Shawn even more as the underdog (even if his pre-match prancing and preening is remarkably too arrogant and cocky for a babyface in hindsight). A second ladder gets brought into the match, but they really don't do much with this new element, or at least nothing like what future wrestlers would do when multiple ladders started appearing. The first of two "botches" happens when Shawn delivers a poorly-executed superkick on Hall as he climbed the ladder. One would imagine this was supposed to be a big spot but ended up lacking the right "oomph" because, well, its probably damn near impossible to hit a great-looking Sweet Chin Music when you're trying to also balance on a ladder. Moments later, Razor ends up spilled on the outside and Shawn tries to retrieve the title but slips. Whoops. He climbs back up and gets the W around the 25-minute mark. Overall, a very, very good match, one of Hall's best performances, but not quite at the transcendent level that some fans claim it to be due to the predictable finish (which is telegraphed throughout the match by Vince's commentary and Razor working to get booed so that Michaels' victory is more crowd-pleasing). (4/5)
Main event time - Diesel defending the WWE Championship against Mabel. Coming after a match like Shawn/Razor, one has to consider that Vince was already planting the seeds for Diesel to get turned-on (not "turned on") by the fans as this match is just as boring as one would imagine. Kudos to Kevin Nash for working as hard as he could to give some excitement to this match by hitting a plancha early on, but Mabel's offense is weak and Diesel couldn't even get him up for what should've been a big bodyslam spot. Luger does a run-in and there's teasing of a Luger/Diesel issue, but Lex ends up helping Diesel and the match ends with a shoulder block. Bad in multiple ways. This would end up being Luger's last appearance in the WWE. I understand that Luger flopped in 94', but in 95', a heel turn could've made him relevant in a way tagging with Davey Boy clearly couldn't and wouldn't. In the end, Bulldog got that spot and while he was a better technician than Luger, he wasn't as big a name. (1/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.0-out-of-5, SummerSlam 95' is only barely saved from being one of the worst WWE pay-per-views ever by a very strong ladder match and the magic of Bret Hart and The Undertaker, who take should-be guaranteed stinkers and make them quite watchable. Unfortunately, these matches also run at least 4-5 minutes longer than they should - as does the Horowitz/Skip match. Throughout the show, the crowd is undeniably hot, enough to explain why Vince was booking this style of show with ludicrous, one-dimensional characters that could only appeal to children.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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