Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

18. WWE SummerSlam 1994

• Bam Bam Bigelow & Irwin R. Schyster def. The Headshrinkers by DQ
• Alundra Blayze def. Bull Nakano to retain the WWE Women’s Championship
• Razor Ramon def. Diesel to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Tatanka def. Lex Luger
• Jeff Jarrett def. Mabel
• Bret Hart def. Owen Hart to retain the WWE Championship (Steel Cage Match)
• The Undertaker def. The Undertaker

The 1994 edition of SummerSlam was another one where the wrong match closed out the show — and this one wasn’t even close. But more on that in a minute. SummerSlam ’94 was a very difficult one to rank as there are a few horrible matches on this card that made it hard to put it into the top 20. However, the strength of the penultimate match combined with some other nice bouts helped solidify things a bit.

The opener started nicely enough but the DQ finish was pretty lame. Luckily, the WWE Women’s Championship Match that followed was able to erase some of that as Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano, who was a big star in Japan, put on one of the better matches from the division for that era. The women’s division was pretty weak at this point in time in WWE but Alundra was really trying to make things better and this match was part of that.

They didn’t get a ton of time, only around eight minutes or so, but it was a battle. Nakano was a powerhouse who tried to use her strength to win but Alundra fought back nicely and picked up the win. It was rare to see the women get such an ovation back then but the Chicago crowd, as they usually are, got pretty loud here.

The future Outsiders would go next as Diesel defended his Intercontinental Championship against Razor Ramon. Shawn Michaels was out with Nash (they were also tag champs at the time) and Hall had legendary Bears running back Walter Payton out with him, which obviously pleased the Windy City crowd.

Diesel was in control for the majority of the match but lost his title after HBK got into it a bit with Payton. Michaels had the title, Payton snatched it from him and while the ref was tending to Sweetness, HBK accidentally hit Diesel with Sweet Chin Music. Razor draped the arm and the celebration was on. This was one of Nash’s better matches in WWE.

Tatanka and Lex Luger ruined the momentum with a snoozefest and Jeff Jarrett and Mabel didn’t help matters. But again, the horrible taste from these two matches was taken away by what is still considered by many to be one of the best matches in SummerSlam history, Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship. The two had been feuding for a long time and put on a clinic at WrestleMania X to open the show, a match where Owen came out on top. After Bret won the title later that night, Owen felt he deserved a shot and this was the closest he ever came.

What a match this was. For more than half an hour, the two brothers went at it with both men coming so close to winning. And that suplex from the top of the cage — unbelievable. It was such a fantastic blend of great wrestling, excellent storytelling and what you could sense as some real animosity with the jealousy angle. This all played out perfectly as Bret escaped the blue cage while Owen dangled and watched. This is about as close to perfect as you can get. And this is why this event made it into the top 20.

Oh yeah, The Undertaker taking on a fake version of himself closed the show. Don’t ask, and if you haven’t, don’t watch. Remember how bad I said Mabel vs. Diesel was? This is just as bad.