Top 15 WWE SummerSlam undercard matches

1994: Intercontinental Championship — Diesel vs. Razor Ramon

Keeping with 1994, we take a look at one of the best on-and-off-again friendships in WWE history. In 1993, Shawn Michaels entrusted the help of a seven-foot bodyguard by the name of Diesel. Together, they steamrolled over a lot of the competition they faced. Once Diesel started getting active in the ring, it wasn’t long before he was being considered for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. He would win the title from Razor Ramon and head to SummerSlam to defend it against the former champion.

It’s interesting to note that in the year that Michaels and Diesel had been partners, there had been no issues or problems between the two. In fact, the night before SummerSlam, the two defeated the Head Shrinkers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. So they had a mountain of momentum heading into the big Monday night card. This was also the last pay-per-view to be held on a Monday night.

While Diesel had Michaels in his corner, Ramon brought NFL legend Walter Payton from the Chicago Bears to the ring with him. They had a solid championship match, and Diesel seemed like he had a few opportunities to put The Bad Guy away. But the patience of Michaels, as would see throughout the year, would backfire in a huge way.

He grabbed the I-C Championship from the timekeeper’s table, but Payton would stop him and take it away. The referee went out of the ring to deal with him, which left Michaels wide open to get in the ring. Diesel held up Ramon, and Michaels moved in for a superkick. But he missed, and Diesel caught the boot right on the jaw. Ramon was able to make the cover and recapture the gold, leaving Diesel to go looking for Michaels for answers.

It was the first of three superkicks that Michaels would accidentally give Diesel, with the third being a few months later at Survivor Series. Ramon would hold on to the title for five months before dropping it at the Royal Rumble.