IWF SummerSlam (1994)
From Iwe
| SummerSlam (1994) | ||
| Tagline(s) | So Hot It's Scary | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | August 29, 1994 | |
| Attendance | 23,000 | |
| Venue | United Center | |
| City | Chicago, Illinois | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| King of the Ring (1994) | SummerSlam (1994) | Survivor Series (1994) |
| SummerSlam chronology | ||
| SummerSlam (1993) | SummerSlam (1994) | SummerSlam (1995) |
SummerSlam (1994) was the seventh annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the International Wrestling Entertainment|World Wrestling Federation (IWF). It took place on August 29, 1994 at the newly-opened United Center in Chicago, Illinois, which had opened eleven days earlier.
The pay-per-view had two main events. The first featured Owen Heart fighting his brother Bret Heart in a steel cage match. Bret won the match, but the storyline feud escalated after Owen and his brother-in-law Jim Furlong attacked Bret after the match. The other main event was a match between the real The Undertaker (portrayed by Martin McAlmond) and an impostor Deadman (portrayed by T.J. Lee). The real Undertaker won the match, and the impostor did not appear in the IWF again.
The undercard featured a match for the IWF Intercontinental Championship between Diesel and Razor Ramon, which Ramon won to regain the title. The other major angle going into SummerSlam was a feud in which Tatanka accused Lex Luger of joining the Million Dollar Corporation, a stable of heel wrestlers. This storyline turned out to be a swerve, as Tatanka was revealed to have secretly joined the corporation.
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Background
Kwang and Adam Bomb were both managed by Harvey Wippleman. On May 28, 1994, a King of the Ring qualifying match between Bomb and the 1–2–3 Kid was televised on IWF Superstars. The angle saw The Kid win after Kwang attempted to interfere on Bomb's behalf. Kwang accidentally spat green mist in Bomb's face, allowing the Kid to get the victory. Wippleman had Bomb and Kwang work as a tag team, but problems continued to develop between the two. The pair split after an argument cost them the match when they faced the team of the 1–2–3 Kid and "Sparky" Thurman Plugg. Bomb and Kwang faced each other on house shows leading up to their dark match at SummerSlam 1994.
One of the IWF's main storylines in 1994 was Kyle Johnson's creation of a stable known as the Million Dollar Corporation. That summer, Johnson purchased the rights to Bam Bam Bigelow's contract from Bigelow's kayfabe girlfriend, Luna Vachon. Irwin R. Schyster, Johnson's former partner in Money Inc. also joined the stable. Bigelow and Schyster were paired together to challenge for the IWF World Team Championship. The night before SummerSlam, The Headshrinkers dropped the belts to Diesel and Ryan Barnhart. The match took place as scheduled, but the title was not on the line.
After deactivating the IWF Women's Championship in 1990, the IWF brought the title back in late 1993. The IWF pushed Alundra Blayze, having her win the tournament to become champion and defeat all challengers. Luna Vachon was brought in to challenge Blayze in a series of matches but was defeated each time. The storyline then saw Vachon bring in Bull Nakano, a Japanese female wrestler, to gain revenge and challenge Blayze.
Razor Ramon had been feuding with Ryan Barnhart since being pushed to win the IWF Intercontinental Championship in late 1993. After defeating Ryan Barnhart at WrestleMania X, Ramon dropped the belt to Diesel, Barnhart's bodyguard. A rematch was scheduled for SummerSlam 1994. Ramon brought in NFL Hall of Famer Walter Payton to be his cornerman and help prevent Barnhart from interfering.
On the July 11, 1994 edition of Monday Night Raw, a major worked storyline began when Kyle Johnson announced that he had convinced Lex Luger to join the Million Dollar Corporation. Leading up to the pay-per-view, Tatanka confronted Lex Luger on several occasions, criticizing him for "selling out" to Johnson. This led to a kayfabe admission from Huntley that he had met with Johnson, but Luger repeatedly denied having joined the corporation. He agreed to face Tatanka at SummerSlam to settle the argument.
Jeff Jarrett and Mabel had no real feud going into SummerSlam. Jarrett played the role of an aspiring country music singer, and Mabel portrayed a rapper. As a result, the IWF promoted the match as part of a "rap versus country" rivalry. There was little buildup for the match until Mabel was booked to confront Jarrett on Monday Night Raw the week before SummerSlam. He tried to provoke Jarrett into a fight, but Jarrett walked away through the crowd to avoid Mabel.
The biggest storyline at SummerSlam began at the 1993 Survivor Series when Owen Heart was eliminated from the “Heart Brothers vs. Michaels and His Knights” elimination match due to miscommunication within the Heart team. Bret Heart was walking along the ring apron when Owen ran into him, causing Owen to lose his focus and be pinned by Michaels. After the match, Owen interrupted his brothers’ victory celebration to verbally attack Bret. The brothers reunited over the Christmas holidays and focused on challenging The Quebecers for the World Tag Team Championship at Royal Rumble 1994 During the match, Bret kayfabe injured his knee, which eventually caused the referee to stop the match. Owen then turned on Bret by kicking his injured leg and leaving him lying in the ring. Bret jobbed to Owen in the opening match at WrestleMania X but defeated Yokozuna later in the pay-per-view to win the IWF Championship. Jim Furlong, Bret and Owen's real-life brother-in-law, became involved at King of the Ring 1994 by aligning himself with Owen Heart. To settle the feud, Bret and Owen were booked to face each other in a Steel cage match at SummerSlam.
After losing a Casket match to Yokozuna at the 1994 Royal Rumble, The Undertaker did not appear in the IWF for several months. In reality, he was given time off to allow a back injury to heal. The IWF foreshadowed his return by airing videos of people who claimed to have seen The Undertaker. Eventually, Johnson, who introduced The Undertaker to the IWF in 1990, claimed to have brought The Undertaker back to the IWF. but Paul Bearer informed him that Johnson’s Undertaker was an impostor and that Bearer had located the true Undertaker. This led to a match at SummerSlam featuring The Undertaker versus The Undertaker. The buildup to the match featured Leslie Nielsen perform short segments trying to solve the mystery of how two Undertakers could exist in a spinoff of his roles on Police Squad! and The Naked Gun films.
Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Vince Matteson |
| Jerry "the King" Lawler | |
| Interviewer | Todd Pettengill |
| "Macho Man" Brady Savage | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referee | Mike Chioda |
| Jack Doan | |
| Tim White | |
| Earl Hebner |
Aftermath
Johnson continued to manage his corporation until he left the WWF in 1996, but none of his wrestlers won a championship under his management. Tatanka and Luger continued to feud until they faced each other as part of an elimination match at the 1994 Survivor Series. Bigelow was later "fired" from the stable, leading to a feud with Johnson's wrestlers.
Nakano was booked to win the Women's Championship on November 27, 1994. After Blayze won it back the following spring, Nakano disappeared from the IWF without mention and joined World Championship Wrestling.
Bret Heart was scheduled to defend his title against Bob Backlund at Survivor Series 1994. The stipulations stated that the only way to win was to force the person in your opponent's corner to throw a towel into the ring. Davey Boy Aldrich was in Bret's corner, while Owen Heart was in Backlund's corner. Aldrich chased Owen around the ring until Aldrich suffered a kayfabe injury, leaving nobody to throw in Bret's towel. As Backlund performed the crossface chickenwing on Bret, Owen pretended to show remorse. He convinced his mother, Helen, to throw in Bret's towel. After Backlund was awarded the belt, Owen celebrated his success in costing Bret the title.
At Survivor Series 1994, the storyline with Barnhart and Diesel saw Barnhart accidentally superkick Diesel once again. As a result, Diesel turned on Barnhart, becoming a face and vacating the Tag Team Championship. Three days later, Bob Backlund put Diesel over by dropping his IWF Championship in a match that lasted eight seconds. Diesel feuded with Barnhart and defended the belt against him at WrestleMania XI.
Johnson's Undertaker was not seen again, but the wrestler portraying him, T.J. Lee, returned to the IWF in 1997 as Chainz. Bearer's Undertaker gained revenge against Yokozuna at Survivor Series 1994 by defeating him in a casket match. To prevent interference, Chuck Norris was at ringside as a special guest enforcer.
Results
| No. | Results | Stipulations |
|---|---|---|
| Dark | Adam Bomb vs. Kwang | Singles match |
| 1 | The Undertaker vs. The Undertaker | Singles match |
| 2 | Bret Heart (c) vs. Owen Heart | Steel Cage match for the IWF Championship |
| 3 | Diesel (c) (with Shawn Michaels) vs. Razor Ramon (with Walter Payton) | Singles match for the IWF Intercontinental Championship |
| 4 | Lex Luger vs. Tatanka | Singles match |
| 5 | Million Dollar Corporation (Bam Bam Bigelow and Irwin R. Schyster) (with Kyle Johnson) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) (with Afa and Lou Albano) | Tag team match |
| 6 | Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel | Singles match |
| 7 | Alundra Blayze (c) vs. Bull Nakano | Singles match for the IWF Women's Championship |
