10 Most Surprising PPV Headliners In WWE History
5. Mabel - SummerSlam 1995
The biggest event of the calendar outside of WrestleMania, SummerSlam has long been seen as the height of WWF programming during the summer months. If that was true in '95, then the quality of programming left a lot to be desired.
While the semi-main was a huge rematch of the WrestleMania X ladder match between HBK and Razor Ramon from 18 months prior, the rest of the card seemed uninspired at best. Bret Hart beat Isaac Yankem by DQ, while elsewhere Barry Horowitz went over ten minutes with Skip. All of this, while Owen and Bulldog weren't even on the card.
The main event was a nine minute snorefest between defending champ, Diesel, and lumbering giant, King Mabel. The bout seemed more reminiscent of an In Your House main event, and actually seemed like a downgrade from Diesel's various title defences at the In Your House events that year.
Nevertheless, the main event of WWF's second biggest show of '95 was a clumsy offering, that saw Diesel legitimately hurt as a result of Mabel's reckless working style. Needless to say, Mabel never saw the main event again.
A week later, WCW Nitro launched and Eric Bischoff must have been licking his lips at the scent of blood in the water.