Reliving Summerslam 1993: Twenty-five years on
The WWF's Summerslam 1993 event found the company in transition following the decade-long Hulk Hogan era.
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Hogan had left the company weeks earlier, after his act had grown stale and the WWF audience had tired of him and his passe "say your prayers and take your vitamins" catchphrase which had seemingly taken on a whole new meaning when Hogan was caught up in the steroid scandal that was engulfing the company at the time.
However, strangely despite the WWF fanbase's lack of enthusiasm for Hogan's act, Vince McMahon decided to copy the blueprint to the letter and push Lex Luger as a Hogan-style Real American hero.
In fact, although the experiment was not successful, it achieved far more than it should have done, considering Luger's limitations in the ring and his lack of Hogan-dynamism on the microphone.
Luger was pitted against the enormous sumo-wrestler WWF Champion, Yokozuna who had dethroned Hogan at King of the Ring, two months earlier.
Luger had the fans behind him enough that he elicited the desired reaction in the top liner against Yokozuna. The finish came when Luger clotheslined the champion out of the ring and Yokozuna was knocked out cold and therefore unable to answer the ten count. Luger was the winner via countout but not the champion.
Perplexingly, confetti and balloons fell from the ceiling and the WWF babyface roster put Luger on their shoulders as if he was a conquering hero, despite the fact he had failed to win the title. It was a result which was the death knell for Luger forming a money making attachment to the WWF's audience.
Underneath, the man who fans would decide was the biggest star in the company, Bret Hart was embroiled in a deeply personal feud with Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Lawler had attacked Hart after he won the King of the Ring tournament and declared himself the only King of the WWF. However, Lawler had no wish to face Hart in a fair fight and declared himself injured.
Hart had to face Doink the Clown instead. After locking Doink in the sharpshooter, Lawler made a miraculous recovery, smashing Hart over the head with a crutch. WWF officials realising Lawler had faked his injury, demanded he face Hart one on one. He did and Hart pasted Lawler for the victory. Hart's fire and aggression engaged the audience with him in a way that never occurred with Luger. Hart was the chosen one.
The highlight of the card from an in-ring perspective was the Steiner Brothers' successful Tag Team Championship defence against the Heavenly Bodies in a 10-minute thriller, which was highlighted by the match-winning Frankensteiner from Scott Steiner on Jimmy Del Ray.
In other notable action, Shawn Michaels contested an average matchup with Mr Perfect, which did not live up to the lofty expectations placed upon it.
Finally, the opening match is the answer to a trivia question. Who was Ted Dibiase's final WWF opponent? The answer, Razor Ramon. Ramon had turned face, following his famous upset loss to the 1-2-3 Kid on Raw months earlier. Ramon won, setting up his Intercontinental Title victory later in 1993, which in turn set up his much more famous win over Shawn Michaels in the first ever (televised) Ladder match at Wrestlemania X, the following year. Dibiase was forced to retire due to injury a few months later.
Summerslam 1993 wasn't the greatest Summerslam of all time but hosted enough memorable moments for the card to stick in the mind a quarter of a century later. It's a card, Lex Luger will never forget, when he considers what might have been.