WWE Vintage Collection Report: 23rd August 2009
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund

Welcome aboard. We briefly touch upon four SummerSlams today in our final look back at the biggest party of the summer (1997-2000).

For all you history buffs:

1997 was held August 3rd from the Continental Airlines Arena, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

1998 was held August 30th from Madison Square Garden, in New York City.

1999 was held August 22nd at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2000 was held August 27th from the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler handle all of today’s announcing with Vince McMahon joining them for the first match. Four matches, one from each year. Let’s begin.

SummerSlam 1997
Legion of Doom vs The Godwinns
Cousins Henry and Phineas Godwinn had turned heel earlier in the year. Henry also suffered a cracked vertebrae in his neck following a botched LOD Doomsday Device, during an episode of Shotgun Saturday Night. The Godwinns were out for revenge. Joined in progress. Henry and Animal tumble to the floor. Henry runs Animal off the apron into the guardrail. Legendary manager Captain Lou Albano is shown in the front row. Vince speculates that the Captain is scouting both teams. Phineas isolates Animal with a bearhug. Animal claps the head to escape, before avoiding a Henry charge. Animal catches a Phineas aerial attack with a clothesline. Hawk powerslams Henry, then attacks both Godwinns with clotheslines. Hawk gives Henry a neckbreaker. Phineas breaks up a cover. Animal sends Phineas out, but he comes back to save Henry from the Doomsday Device. Hawk dives off the top rope with a clothesline to Phineas. LOD pin Henry following a spike piledriver. Winners: LEGION OF DOOM. The Godwinns went on to enjoy a brief Tag Title run and short partnership with manager Uncle Cletus (Dutch Mantell) before being repackaged as Jeff Jarrett’s bodyguards Southern Justice in 1998. They were released when Henry’s neck injury flared up and he briefly retired. Phineas went on to become Mideon in Undertaker’s Ministry before turning into naked Mideon. Thankfully that gimmick didn’t last. Henry had an unsuccessful tryout in 2006 when he was nearly called up to reform the Godwinns as a trio with Jesse and Festus.

Edge’s introductory vignette airs from mid-1998. Dubbed a tortured soul, the future Rated R Superstar and ultimate opportunist started out as a gothic babyface, not saying much, apart from letting out primal screams dubbed ‘inner rage.’

SummerSlam 1998
Edge & Sable vs Marvelous Marc Mero & Jacqueline
Sable had finally broken free from the jealous Mero, who replaced her with the voluptuous Jacqueline. Edge was Sable’s choice of mystery partner. Once more we join the match in progress with Sable pummeling Jacqueline on the mat. Mero interferes, so Sable gives him a low blow. Jacqueline prevents a Sable bomb, and chokes Sable in the ropes. Sable comes back with a TKO. Mero pulls Sable off of a cover. Sable screams at Mero on the floor, allowing for a Jacqueline sneak attack. Jacqueline mistakenly hits Mero after Sable avoids a charge. Edge clears the top rope with a suicide dive onto Mero, then sends him into the ringsteps. Jacqueline leaps onto Edge’s back, so Edge spanks her across his knee. Edge holds the advantage with a top rope cross body and neckbreaker off the top rope to Mero. Jacqueline saves Mero by putting his foot on the bottom rope. Edge goes after Jacqueline, before Mero crashes into her. Edge nearly wins it with a rollup. Mero manages to reverse an Irish whip and deliver a samoan drop. Dazed, Mero tries going to the top rope, but Edge crotches him. Sable tags in, delivering a top rope hurracanrana to Mero. Jacqueline tries to break up a cover, but Sable moves and Jacqueline lands on top of Mero. Mero and Jacqueline are whipped into each other, with Jacqueline falling headfirst onto Mero’s crotch. Mero walks into a downward spiral from Edge. Sable rolls back, and, with assistance from Edge, pins Mero following a wheelbarrow splash. Winners: EDGE & SABLE. Sable and Jacqueline continued their feud over the Women’s Title, while Edge shortly joined the Brood with Gangrel and Christian. Mero was gone by the end of 1998.

We move to a title vs title match from 1999. On the August 2nd edition of Raw, Jeff Jarrett put his Intercontinental Title up against D’Lo Brown’s European Title. Following a referee bump, the busty Debra tries to distract D’Lo with her assets. D’Lo opts to nail Jarrett with a title and pin him to become the first Euro-Continental champion. Jarrett argues with Debra after. This leads nicely into the rematch.

SummerSlam 1999 – Euro-Continental Title
D’Lo Brown w/Debra vs Jeff Jarrett
Before we get started, Jarrett chews out Debra and banishes her to the back. D’Lo intercepts her backstage and brings her back out. Debra is really busting out of her top here. The crowd wildly chant for D’Lo throughout when they’re not asking for puppies. These were D’Lo’s golden years before WWE dropped the ball and allowed him to be lost in the shuffle. He had a connection with the crowd and was a solid midcarder. D’Lo dominates early with a hiptoss, flying forearm, and two powerslams. Jarrett is caught in mid-air with a sitdown powerbomb. JR notes D’Lo’s dedication in getting his weight down from 400 to 255lbs. Indeed, gone is D’Lo’s gimmicked ‘chest protector.’ Jarrett manages to apply a sleeper, until D’Lo counters with a delayed vertical suplex. D’Lo makes a mistake when Jarrett catches him in mid-air with an elbow to the chest. Jarrett dropkicks D’Lo out of the ring. Debra helps D’Lo up, as Jarrett nails him with a baseball slide before admonishing Debra. Jarrett sends D’Lo into the ringsteps. Following commercials, Jarrett is working over an arm with a single arm DDT and tieup in the ropes. D’Lo drops Jarrett face first into the top turnbuckle as Jarrett is in the mount position. D’Lo hits a running powerbomb, which takes something out of both men. Seeing that move is hard as it still reminds me of Droz and his unfortunate accident. Jarrett runs into a tilt-a-whirl slam. D’Lo follows up with a heel kick, slam, the shaky shaky legdrop and a back suplex. D’Lo misses a frog splash. Debra gets on the apron as Jarrett grabs his guitar. The crowd pop when D’Lo’s running buddy Mark Henry runs in to snatch it away. (D’Lo had been helping Henry lose his excess weight and Henry was starting to get over). Cheers turn to groans though when Henry busts the guitar over the back of D’Lo and Jarrett covers for the 1-2-3. Winner: JEFF JARRETT. Debra and Jarrett embrace as the Russo-rific ruse plays out. One night after winning both titles, Jarrett gave Henry the European Title as a reward. D’Lo beat Henry for it in a matter of weeks at Unforgiven and Henry was turned face again. Jarrett meanwhile started an anti-woman angle before scurrying to WCW when his contract expired in October.

Before our Main Event, we see how it all came about. During the summer of 2000 on Raw, Triple H and Kurt Angle both pin Chris Jericho simultaneously, so commissioner Mick Foley adds them both to the title match with the Rock at SummerSlam. At the same time, Triple H and wife Stephanie are having marriage issues. Complicating matters is Angle’s blossoming friendship with Stephanie. Vince and Shane manage to re-focus Triple H and Angle onto the Rock and the two start working together. However, when Triple H leaves Angle to the Acolytes the truce is off. When Stephanie takes an accidental hit into the ringsteps from Angle, Triple H carries her to the back. After Stephanie convinces him to help Angle, Triple H is the one left alone when Angle sneaks to the back to steal a kiss from an accepting Stephanie.

SummerSlam 2000
Triple Threat Match – WWF Title
The Rock vs Kurt Angle vs Triple H
Stephanie has stayed in the back. Triple H and Angle brawl uninterrupted for several minutes as Rock opts to stay in the back. The heated fight spills outside. A pedigree on the Spanish announce table goes wrong when the table breaks prematurely and Angle receives a bad concussion. Triple H buys time by getting his sledge hammer. This finally brings Rock out and the two go back and forth, while EMT’s tend to Angle, load him onto a stretcher and wheel him away. Triple H methodically works over Rock’s back. Angle’s concussion has clearly thrown a spanner into the match, but the show must go on. Rock makes a comeback with a neckbreaker and superplex. Backstage, Stephanie pleads with Angle to go back out there and help Hunter, and to do it for her. Angle says he’ll do anything for Stephanie. A groggy Angle is pulled back out by Stephanie. Angle trips Rock, which allows Triple H to hit the pedigree. Angle pulls Triple H off of a cover, throws him into the ringsteps and goes into business for himself. Angle and Rock trade belly-to-belly suplexes. Rock catches Angle in a DDT, before sending him into Triple H, who goes face first into the guardrail. Rock Bottom to Angle. Triple H pulls Rock out of the ring, sends him into the ringpost and calls for Stephanie to get him the hammer. Stephanie slides it in, but Angle intercepts it. Stephanie gets into the ring, Angle ducks a Triple H punch and Stephanie gets flattened. Angle leaves Triple H laying next to his wife following a hammer shot to the head. Rock breaks up a cover, disposes of Angle over the top rope and hits the people’s elbow on Triple H for the 1-2-3. Rock retains his title. Despite Angle’s injury, the three worked hard to provide an entertaining finish. Winner: THE ROCK. It’s a shame that the Angle/Triple H/Stephanie love triangle was shut down after this. It had potential.

Okerlund signs off to end the SummerSlam retrospective. A new focus of classic moments begins next week. Thanks for stopping by. Shaun.

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