10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 1993 Facts
The Lex Express doesn't exactly arrive at its intended golden destination.
Hulkamania died beneath the corpulent thigh of Yokozuna at the 1993 King of the Ring, seemingly vanquishing the archetypical musclebound patriot mold from WWE's main event scene.
That is, until July 4, 1993, when WWE assembled for themselves a new musclebound patriot, attempting to fuse a good chunk of the Hulk Hogan formula into Lex Luger. After casting away the "Narcissist" gimmick, Luger was reborn as a proud American, sweating red, white, and blue as he kinda/sorta bodyslammed WWE Champion Yokozuna at a public exhibition on the U.S.S. Intrepid.
To call 1993 a transitional year would be a gross understatement. By the time SummerSlam rolled around at the end of August, mainstays like The Big Boss Man, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Barry "Smash/Repo Man" Darsow, Sensational Sherri, Earthquake, and others would be out the door. That's in addition to Hulk Hogan himself, who finished up after a tour of Europe in the first week of August. Two other notable names of WWE's glory run would finish up after working SummerSlam, which we'll get to.
All of sudden, two of the most heavily hyped matches at SummerSlam featured three men that weren't even on the full-time roster one year earlier: Luger, Yokozuna, and Jerry Lawler. Transitional year, indeed.
Here are ten facts about SummerSlam 1993 you may not have known.
10. It Was The First WWE Pay-Per-View That Neither Mega Power Wrestled On
Macho Man Randy Savage wasn't part of the inordinate exodus of veteran stars in 1992-93, but after he dropped the WWE Championship shortly after SummerSlam 1992, he became an unwilling part-timer. McMahon wanted the 40-year-old Savage to basically serve as an emergency performer, a powerful pinch hitter when a WWE show needed some additional star power, especially as focus shifted to the younger stars on the roster.
SummerSlam 1993 was the thirtieth WWE pay-per-view to date (if you count WrestleMania 1 and No Holds Barred), and it's the first to not have Savage or Hogan wrestle. The only three Hogan had missed prior to SummerSlam 1993 were the previous year's SummerSlam, as well as Survivor Series 1992 and Royal Rumble 1993. Savage wrestled on all three of those shows in high-profile matches.
Savage did appear at the 1993 SummerSlam, but in a "visibly-peripheral" role, introducing singer Aaron Neville (father of Adrian?) prior to the main event.