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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE LEX EXPRESS STALLS AT SUMMERSLAM

By Buck Woodward on 2008-08-30 08:00:00

August 30th

1969 - Mad Dog & Butcher Vachon defeat Crusher & Dick the Bruiser for the AWA World Tag Team Title in Chicago, Illinois, ending Crusher & Bruiser's fourth title reign. 

1993 - WWF held their Summerslam Pay-per-view at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  Here are the results:
- In a dark match, Owen Hart defeated Barry Horowitz.
- Razor Ramon defeated Ted DiBiase with the Razor's Edge.  This was DiBiase's last U.S. PPV match as a wrestler.
- WWF Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray & Tom Pritchard) when Rick pinned Del Rey after Del Rey accidentally moonsaulted Pritchard, and Scott gave Del Rey the Frankensteiner.
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig via countout after Diesel pulled Hennig from the ring and rammed him into the ringpost.
- Irwin R. Schyster defeated The 1-2-3 Kid with a clothesline.
- Bret Hart defeated Doink The Clown via submission.  Doink was replacing Jerry Lawler, who claimed to have a broken leg.  However, as Doink was submitting, Lawler ran into the ring and hit Bret Hart with his crutch.  WWF President Jack Tunney ordered Lawler to then wrestle his scheduled match.
- Jerry Lawler defeated Bret Hart via disqualification.  Bret won the match via submission with the Sharpshooter, but refused to release the hold, so the decision was reversed, and Bret was disqualified. As a result, Lawler was able to proclaim himself the "Undisputed King Of Wrestling" (Bret had won the King Of The Ring tournament that year, and Lawler attacked him). 
- Ludwig Borga defeated Marty Jannetty via submission with a torture rack.
- The Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzalez in a Rest In Peace (No DQ, no countout) match with a top rope clothesline.
- The Smoking Gunns & Tatanka defeated Bam Bam Bigelow & The Headshrinkers when Tatanka pinned Samu after all three members of the Headshrinkers/Bigelow team missed top rope headbutts.
- Lex Luger defeated WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna via countout after hitting him with a forearm that sent him from the ring (Luger has a steel plate in his forearm).  Post-match, there was a huge celebration, as this was the culmination of the "Lex Express" summer bus tour of Luger traveling all over the U.S. that was designed to get Luger over as a patriotic babyface.  However, the celebration made no sense, as Luger didn't win the belt, and it had been made clear that he was not going to get another title match after Summerslam (he would eventually, at Wrestlemania X).  The whole push of Luger was a disaster, as he never got over the way WWF wanted him to, and stars like Undertaker and Bret Hart were obviously much more popular.

1993 - Dustin Rhodes defeats Rick Rude to reclaim the WCW United States Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia.  The title had been vacated since May, following a bout between the two, and several rematches were held before a clean win took place here.

1996 - Sid Vicious defeats Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, starting his second reign with the gold, and ending Lawler's 23rd run with the belt.

1998 - WWF held their Summerslam Pay-per-view at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City. Here are the results:
- In matches shown on Sunday Night Heat:
- Too Cool defeated LOD 2000.
- Gangrel defeated Dustin Runnels.
- DOA defeated Bradshaw & Vader.
In matches from the PPV:
- WWF European Champion D'Lo Brown defeated Val Venis via disqualification when Venis hit the referee.
- The Oddities (Kurrgan, Golga, & Silva) defeated Kaientai (TAKA Michinoku, Men's Teioh, Sho Funaki & Dick Togo) in a handicap match when Golga splashed all of Kaientai for the pin.  The Insane Clown Posse performed The Oddities theme song live.
- X-Pac defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Hair vs. Hair match after X-Pac hit Jarrett with his own guitar.  Post match, Jarrett had his head shaved while the Headbangers and DX held him down.
- Sable & Edge defeated Marc Mero & Jacquelyn when Edge hit Mero with the Downward Spiral and tossed Sable on top for the pin.
- Ken Shamrock defeated Owen Hart via submission in a "Lion's Den" match with an anklelock.  This match was held in a UFC style cage that was set up at The Theater, a smaller venue within the Madison Square Garden complex. Several thousand fans bought tickets to see the Lion's Den match live, and watch the rest of the PPV on a giant screen.
- The New Age Outlaws defeated Mankind in a Falls Count Anywhere match to win the WWF World Tag Team Title after a spike piledriver.  Kane, Mankind's partner, abandoned him and the belts before the match, then showed up with a sledgehammer afterwards to attack Mankind.
- Triple H defeated Rocky Maivia in a Ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Title after Chyna gave Rock a low blow to allow Triple H to climb the ladder and get the belt.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Steve Austin defeated The Undertaker with a stunner after blocking the Undertaker ropewalk.

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