Review for WWE Best of Summerslam Classics

Summerslam is one of the biggest PPVs in the WWE’s calendar and this set brings together seven of the biggest matches from its history. Now, I will be honest and say that I have no idea how these matches were picked and when you consider it covers a period of over thirty years it does feel like they were picked randomly out of a hat. This is not to say the seven matches don’t deserve to be on here, but this could and probably been spread to two disks to really show off the best of this PPV.

From the inaugural event in 1988 we have the tag team match between Megapowers (Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage) against Megabucks Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Andre The Giant. This is not a technical match by any means, but it is certainly fun and has one of the best endings (and uses of a valet) in WWE history.

From 1991 Intercontinental Championship match between Mr Perfect and Bret The Hitman Hart which is a fantastic match and a great indication of how great Bret would be as a singles wrestler.

From 1996 we have the Boiler room Brawl The Undertaker against Mankind which is an interesting if a little overlong match that was a great way to show off the madness of Foley’s Mankind.

Jumping nearly ten years to 2005 Ladder Match between Rey
Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. This is a bizarre match with them fighting for the custody of Dominik Mysterio. No seriously. In the ring, bell to bell this was a fantastic match between these two, but in the context of the stipulation it is so awful.

The 2007 WWE Championship match John Cena between Randy Orton is fine and both work really well together, but I was never a fan of either and so this match did nothing for me and felt a bit like a cut and paste match of the two.

From 2014 World Heavyweight Championship John Cena defends against Brock Lesnar and this was the match that cemented The Beast as the most important Superstar for the WWE. A great match between the two.

Finally we have from 2021 the WWE Universal Championship match between John Cena and Roman Reigns. This almost feels like a passing of the torch between the two and they both worked really well together.

There are too many matches missing and it could take another two or three disks to include them all. As with most “Best” sets no doubt we all have our Top Tens.

Obvious missing matches are Ultimate Warrior against Honkytonk Man from 1988, Demolition against Hart Foundation from 1990, Bret Hart against British Bulldog 1992, Owen and Bret Hart’s Five Star Steel Cage Match from 1994, Ladder Match between Triple H and The Rock from 1998, Shawn Michaels against Triple H 2002 and so many more. However, WWE did release a ’30 Years of Summerslam’ set a few years back and this does include most notable absent matches for those who need their Warrior or Austin fix.

You can find out more HERE

Best of Summerslam is a good starter set and if you want a taster of how good this event can be then this could be the best way to start your summer.