SummerSlam (1996)


SummerSlam was the ninth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 18, 1996, at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Background

is an annual pay-per-view, produced every August by World Wrestling Federation since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, eventually dubbed the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWF's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. 1996 was the ninth event in the SummerSlam chronology.
Faarooq Asad had been scheduled to face Ahmed Johnson in a match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the event, but the match did not take place as Johnson was legitimately injured.

Event

During the Free for All match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Yokozuna, the top rope broke when Yokozuna attempted a Banzai Drop, enabling Austin a guaranteed victory.
Todd Pettengill hosted the "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" party during the Free for All, where a pool was set up for everyone. Guests included Sunny, Sable, Marc Mero, The Smoking Gunns, Marlena, Goldust, T.L. Hopper, Who, Jerry Lawler, The Bushwhackers, Aldo Montoya, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Shawn Michaels.
Paul Bearer turned on his long-time protege, The Undertaker, to align himself with Undertaker's arch-enemy, Mankind.
Vader had originally won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match twice, first by countout and then by disqualification, but because WWF championships can only change hands by pinfall or submission, Cornette demanded that the match restart both times. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon allowed this when Michaels agreed. Before the main event Vader used a new version of his theme "Mastodon " with quotes in an interview with Dok Hendrix for the final hype for the main event.

Results

Other on-screen talent