This Day in Pro Wrestling History: Summerslam '96

On this day 14 years ago the WWE held their annual summer time event Summerslam. WCW was just starting to take over the scope of the wrestling world at the time as the NWO was born a month prior. The WWE was still in what many call the dark ages of wrestling. Shawn Michaels was doing everything he could to carry the promotion at the time giving everyone in sight nearly 5 star matches every time he went out to the ring. He was the main event against Vader in what was another classic if only for HBK being so damn good at the time.

2 other notable events happened at Summerslam that year. Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had just won King of the Ring and cut his Austin 3:16 promo a couple months before, had a match with Yokozuna on the free for all. The result was this:

The other notable event was Undertaker taking on Mankind in a boiler room brawl. It was a brutal match that saw Paul Bearer infamously turn on Taker at the end and join with Mankind. Mick Foley was also reminiscing on this on his twitter account today:

Memories of Summerslam 96 -14 years ago today. Taker nearly died from staph (really) and my back was never quite the same.

Some of the bumps taken in this match were insane but were overshadowed throughout the years due to the increasing insanity of bumps taken by guys in the coming few years. Here's a clip of Bearer turning on Taker. Seeing him in that ring attire feels odd.