SummerSlam is one of the cornerstone events of WWE and is one of the “Big 4” PPV events. Dubbed as the Biggest Party of the Summer, it has been one of the most anticipated events in all of professional wrestling. WWE brought PPVs to its calendar in 1985 with WrestleMania and is now organizing them every month. SummerSlam was one of the first such event introduced by the promotion.
After the huge success of WrestleMania by WWE and Starrcade by Jim Crockett Promotions, every company wanted to replicate the success of pay-per-view events, and WWE decided to get the early mover advantage by doing it on a large scale. Survivor Series and Royal Rumble were introduced in November 1987 and January 1988 respectively before WWE introduced an event for the month of August in 1988, which is since known as SummerSlam.
When was the first WWE SummerSlam event?
SummerSlam 1988 was the first-ever SummerSlam in the history of WWE. WrestleMania III in 1987 brought in about 80,000 fans to the stadium and WWE capitalized on its success. After introducing the Survivor Series and Royal Rumble, Vince McMahon then brought an event named SummerSlam, which was held on August 29, 1988, at the Madison Square Garden in New York. An audience of around 20,000 showed up to the first SummerSlam, and its success has ensured SummerSlam a permanent spot on the WWE PPV Calendar. While WWE had started introducing these events, WCW too started monthly PPVs.
The event is mostly remembered for its main event where four of the biggest wrestlers in the world competed in a tag team match while Jesse Ventura acted as the special guest referee. The Mega Powers Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage defeated MegaBucks Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant in the main event. Prominently on the card, The Ultimate Warrior won the WWE Intercontinental Championship from The Honky Tonk Man while Rick Rude defeated Junkyard Dog and The Demolition retained their WWF Tag Team Title against Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart.
WWE SummerSlam 1988 Match Card
| No. | Winner | Loser | Stipulations | Time |
| 1 | The British Bulldogs | The Fabulous Rougeaus | Tag team match | 20:00 |
| 2 | Bad News Brown | Ken Patera | Singles match | 06:33 |
| 3 | Rick Rude | Junkyard Dog | Singles match | 06:18 |
| 4 | The Powers of Pain | The Bolsheviks | Tag team match | 05:27 |
| 5 | The Ultimate Warrior | The Honky Tonk Man (c) | WWF Intercontinental Championship | 00:31 |
| 6 | Dino Bravo | Don Muraco | Singles match | 05:28 |
| 7 | Demolition (c) | The Hart Foundation | WWF Tag Team Championship | 10:49 |
| 8 | Big Boss Man | Koko B. Ware | Singles match | 05:57 |
| 9 | Jake Roberts | Hercules | Singles match | 10:06 |
| 10 | Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage | Ted DiBiase & Andre the Giant | Tag team match - Jesse Ventura as special guest referee | 14:43 |
FAQs on first SummerSlam
A. 78,927 fans showed up at SummerSlam 1992, which is the largest in the event’s history.
A. The first SummerSlam was held in 1988 in Madison Square Garden, New York.
A. No, SummerSlam is a one-day event. However, SummerSlam 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is announced to be two days long.
A. SummerSlam 2024 will take place live from the Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
