Top 10 SummerSlams : Number 5 – SummerSlam 1998

Triple H vs The Rock Summerslam 1998

Mid card:

Edge and Sable defeated Marc Mero and Jacqueline in a mixed tag team match

Edge was the “Lone wolf” at this point, and he joined Sable to face the team of Marc Mero and Jacqueline. It was a pretty standard tag team match, and Edge and Mero started things off.

Sable showed her skills against Jacqueline and almost hit the Sable bomb on Mero! The match ended when Sable took Mero down with Sablecurana while Edge hit the Downward spiral on Mero, and splashed Sable on top of him for the pinfall victory. That was a fun match, and it was after this that Edge got into a feud with Gangrel and Christian. Good times.

Rating: ** ¼

Ken Shamrock defeated Owen Hart (With Dan Severn) in a Lion’s Den match

I don’t like it when WWF tries to look ‘legitimate’, but this was an amazing match between Ken and Owen Hart. Ken looked like a legitimate bad – a** while Owen Hart showed why people consider him to be a phenomenal athlete.Owen applied the Sharpshooter and Ken reached the cage, using his strength to climb the “Octagon” and break the hold. Lots of great spots, and Shamrock applied the arm bar and then the ankle lock to finish things off as Owen tapped out. That was an outstanding bout.

Rating: ****

The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) defeated Mankind in a No DQ Handicap match to win the WWF Tag Team championships

The story of this match was that Mankind couldn’t find his partner Kane, and the match was made into a No DQ Handicap match. NAO took control over the match early, but Mankind came back by putting Billy through a table on the outside. A con – chair – to to Mankind while he was on his knees.

Ouch! NAO then power bombed Mankind over two chairs, and finished him off with a spike piledriver over the tag team title. Post match, they dumped him into the trash and closed the lid. Kane then came out and nailed Mankind with a sledge hammer and closed the lid. He then rolled him out of the arena. That was confusing.

Rating: *

Triple H (With Chyna) defeated The Rock (With Mark Henry) in a Ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental championship

The match that arguably made Triple H and Rock, proving they can hang around the big guys. The MSG crowd loved both of them, and Chyna interfered in the match to give the advantage to Triple H. A really good bout that saw both the competitors use the ladder as a weapon.

They both connected with their finishers but couldn’t get the belt down in time. Both did the ‘Climb the ladder at the same time’ spot, while Chyna pulled Rocky down enabling Triple H to get the title for the victory. A great ladder match that went a long way in establishing these two as the future of the business.

Rating: **** ½