Remembering Summerslam 1988 – Thirty Years On

Capitalising on the success of the first Survivor Series event in 1987, the then-WWF decided to add another pay-per-view to its schedule bridging the gap between Wrestlemania in late March/early April and Survivor Series in November.

Therefore the August pay-per-view extravaganza – the hottest event of the summer, Summerslam was born. As the WWE universe gears up for the 2018 edition, I revisit the first ever Summerslam event that took place thirty years ago on the 29th August 1988.

As the WWF tended to do in the 1980’s they overloaded the card. 10 matches took place on a two and a half hour show which meant most of the undercard matches were underwhelming five minute affairs; Big Boss Man vs Koko B Ware, Dino Bravo vs Don Muraco, The Powers of Pain vs The Bolsheviks, Rick Rude vs Junkyard Dog and Bad News Brown vs Ken Patera were all short, filler, meaningless matches that failed to leave a lasting impression.

Happily, the Summerslam opener began the show with the bang. A tag team encounter pitted The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid) vs The Fabulous Rougeau’s (Raymond and Jacques) in a match that lasted a full twenty minutes and was a thoroughly worthwhile affair. Though the time-limit draw finish, admittedly was a disappointment.

In one of the most heavily hyped matches on the card, the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time, The Honky Tonk Man put his title on the line against a mystery opponent. Honky had originally been scheduled to defend the belt against Brutus Beefcake but the WWF changed course and ran an injury angle (pure fiction: Beefcake was perfectly healthy) to remove Beefcake from the match.

His replacement? The Ultimate Warrior. In a squash, still fondly remembered to this day, Warrior raced to the ring to a deafening reaction from the live crowd and defeating Honky in just 31 seconds. The longest Intercontinental title reign of all time had ended at 454 days, a record that still stands to this day. The singles push of Warrior to the main event scene had begun.

In the only singles match on the card to last longer than 10 minutes, Jake “The Snake” Roberts defeated Hercules Hernandez in a match many people wished was only five minutes long like most other attractions on the card. This match was dreadful. Roberts could not carry the limited Hercules to anything acceptable, and minutes from this match could have been added to the Tag Team Championship match instead.

That match also lasted ten minutes but in contrast to Roberts/Hercules was a blinding battle between Champions, Demolition and The Hart Foundation. The agile, Bret Hart kept the action moving against his more muscular foes, before he finally succumbed to an illegal shot to the head from Demolition manager Jimmy Hart’s megaphone. Still Tag Team Champions Demolition. Titles they would hold for a further 11 months.

Finally, the main event, the reason most people purchased the show, pitted WWF Champion Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan vs the team of Andre “The Giant” and Ted Dibiase. Former WWF wrestler and then-WWF commentator, Jesse “The Body” Ventura was the special guest referee. The actual in-ring content wasn’t up to much admittedly but the heat in the arena for the action was electric.

The finish is still one of the most well-remembered moments in company history. As the heels held the advantage, Savage’s valet, Miss Elizabeth who was stationed at ringside, climbed onto the ring apron and removed her skirt revealing her panties.

This was an extremely shocking moment in 1988, and the heel team were so surprised that they were left vulnerable to a Randy Savage elbow drop which saw him score the pin over Dibiase.

Savage and Hogan were the winners.

The event was a smash hit at the gate with a reported 20,000 fans packing out Madison Square Garden for the show and 4.5% of the available pay-per-view audience purchasing the show at home. From there, it was inevitable that Summerslam would become an annual tradition.

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