Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

26. WWE SummerSlam 1996

• Owen Hart def. Savio Vega
• The Smoking Gunns def. The New Rockers, The Godwinns and The Bodydonnas to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship (4-Way Elimination Tag Match)
• Sycho Sid def. The British Bulldog
• Goldust def. Marc Mero
• Jerry Lawler def. Jake Roberts
• Mankind def. The Undertaker (Boiler Room Brawl)
• Shawn Michaels def. Vader to retain the WWE Championship

While everything obviously worked out okay for him, it was interesting not to see Stone Cold Steve Austin featured on the main card. He had cut the famous “Austin 3:16” promo earlier in the summer after winning King of the Ring and it would have made sense to have him in a match here but he instead was put on what was the kickoff show then, Free For All, and got a win over Yokozuna.

There were only seven matches on the main card, a card that produced the lowest buy rate in SummerSlam history, and only the last two were really worth talking about. Of course, the 1996 edition of SummerSlam took place just a few weeks after Hulk Hogan’s shocking heel turn in WCW at Bash at the Beach, which marked the formation of the nWo, and people just weren’t really caring as much about WWE at the time.

Owen Hart got a win over Savio Vega in what was probably the best of the first five matches, but that isn’t saying much given the bouts that followed. The Four-Way Elimination Tag Match was very boring. Sycho Sid dominated Davey Boy Smith in a quick match. Goldust and Marc Mero put on a dud and WWE Hall of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler and Jake “The Snake” Roberts put on one of the worst matches in SummerSlam history.

But the last two matches certainly did their best to save the night. The Undertaker and Mankind engaged in a Boiler Room Brawl, a lot of which was taped the previous night, before heading into the arena for the finish. The match as a whole went over 25 minutes and while it’s not the “great” category, it was very good and showed what these two could do with one another. The big twist of the night was Paul Bearer helping Mankind win by turning on The Undertaker after six years together, which was a huge deal at the time. Good effort.

The final match of the night could have been another one to enter the “great” category had it been booked differently, but it was still very good. WWE Champion Shawn Michaels took on Vader in what was supposed to be just one of many title matches between the two — more on that in a minute.

When the two were actually wrestling, this was phenomenal. I like the chemistry that they had together and it was fun to watch. The problem here was that the match kept stopping. First, there was Michaels getting counted out. Jim Cornette, who was with Vader, didn’t like that and wanted a restart and that’s what we got. Then, Michaels got disqualified and then-President Gorilla Monsoon ordered another restart. HBK finally picked up the pinfall win later on with a moonsault to retain the title.

Here’s where this all went wrong. For one, Michaels was yelling at Vader during this match. Go back and watch where he’s legit telling Vader to “move!” during a spot and then kicks him in the head. But that was 1996 Michaels. That led to Shawn telling Vince that he didn’t like working with Vader, which took Vader out of the main event picture for the rest of his tenure in WWE.

As I said earlier, this was supposed to be part of a trilogy where Vader would win at Survivor Series and Shawn would win the title back at the Royal Rumble. But we never got those matches and it’s a shame.