All 27 WWE SummerSlam Opening Matches - Ranked

This match is so very Attitude Era, it almost jumps out in front of your car screaming ‘puppies’ and lasting two minutes with eight run-ins. The only cage match to open SummerSlam (and one of only two gimmick matches), Foley and Hunter work a frenetic pace from the start. It is entertaining stuff, but I always found that the obsession with violence really hurt the matches of this era. For instance, Foley hits a piledriver real early on in the match, to absolutely no reaction, showing how numb the audiences had become at this point.

Chyna also constantly gets involved, which is irritating but for sure the point. The cage itself doesn’t seem particularly well secured to the ring, and on a number of occasions it almost collapses. Still, this is a fine opening match, with both guys working hard and Foley hitting an elbow off the top of the cage in a really nice moment. Foley wins by the skin of his teeth (not the one that would eventually come out of his nose), and Hunter Hearst Helmsley is never heard of again. Maybe.