WWF SummerSlam 1988

For the summer of 1988 the WWF’s business was red-hot, and they introduced a new event to their lineup to capitalize on the increasingly lucrative pay per view market: SummerSlam. Designed as a mid-season blowoff show (taking place five months after their flagship WrestleMania card, it was the perfect place to blowoff lingering feuds, and start developing angles for the next WrestleMania), SummerSlam has become one of their most popular, and enduring concepts. While the idea of a summer blowoff show was not new (the WWF had previously run big summer cards like The Big Event in 1986, or the Shea Stadium shows in the 70s, and the NWA held their Great American Bash cards annually in July since 1985), but this was the first attempt to take it to pay per view – and the most successful.

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Billy Graham.


Opening Match: The British Bulldogs v The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers: The Rougeau's try to offer a handshake at the bell, but the Bulldog's don't fall for it, and Davey Boy Smith bashes Jacques Rougeau's head into the turnbuckle no less than three hundred times in two minutes. Sick of him, Davey casually throws Jacques into his home corner to tag Raymond Rougeau. It backfires with Raymond takes Davey into the corner, but Smith fires off a headbutt, and tags the Dynamite Kid. Kid gets Raymond in an armbar, and Davey with a flying axehandle onto it as the Bulldogs cut the ring in half. Jacques manages a cheap shot from the apron to put Davey down, and he tags in with an anklelock. The Rougeau's take turns working the leg, but Davey catches Raymond with a monkey flip, and in comes Dynamite. Snap suplex and a falling headbutt get two. Side suplex for two, so he dumps Raymond to the floor for Davey to toss into the guardrail. Inside, Smith with the Running Powerslam - but Jacques breaks it up at two. Undeterred, Kid tries a ten-punch count, so Jacques runs in and side suplexes him to give Raymond the breathing room to make the tag. Now official, Jacques with a kneedrop for two, and a front-facelock before tagging Raymond for a double-team gutbuster. The Rougeau's continue blatantly cheating and double-teaming, but a knife edge chop allows the tag to Davey. He's a dog house of fire, and a press slam into the ropes gets two - Raymond breaking up the count. That draws Dynamite in for a four-way brawl, but the time limit expires at 19:03 - with the Bulldogs in control, of course. Looks like they mistimed the end sequence there, but I guess they figured they couldn't go a full twenty without Dynamite and Jacques trying to kill each other, so that was for everyone’s benefit. The match was decent, and the crowd was totally into it from bell-to-bell, so it certainly worked as an opener. * ½

Bad News Brown v Ken Patera: Brown wastes no time - jumping Patera as he climbs into the ring - and unloads on him. Patera manages a clothesline out of the corner to try and turn the tide, and a bodyslam hits, but an elbowdrop doesn't. Bad News goes back to work, but Patera pulls off the clothesline trick again, and hits a backbreaker. Bearhug, and he tries for the Full Nelson, but News dives for the ropes. Patera doesn't know where to go from there, so Brown helps him by beating the shit out of him, and finishing with the Ghetto Blaster at 6:33. These two did not mesh well together at all - this looked like two rookies on the Indie scene. I guess street thugs and black people just don't like each other. DUD

The Junkyard Dog v Rick Rude: Rude tries to take a page out of Bad News Brown's book by jumping the JYD during the entrances, but the Dog fires off a series of headbutts to put Rude on the floor. He strategizes with manager Bobby Heenan, but Dog drags him back in before he can properly regroups, and unloads some more headbutts. Falling version misses, however, and Rude hits a flying axehandle before working a chinlock. Dog blows him low to break the hold (triggering Rude's standard, brilliant sell job of low blow), but Bobby Heenan distracts Dog before he can follow-up, and Rude gives him a Russian legsweep. He goes to the top rope, but before leaping off with a flying kneedrop, he pulls down his tights to reveal his Cheryl Roberts airbrushed ones. Not surprisingly, that draws out husband Jake Roberts, and that's a disqualification at 6:18. This was just background for the hot Rude/Roberts feud. DUD

The Powers of Pain v The Bolsheviks: The Powers buck convention, and charge the Communists from the floor - cleaning house so that they can properly pose. Barbarian ends up starting with Boris Zhukov, and easily wins a power-showdown. A cheap shot from Nikolai Volkoff tries to turn the tide, but Barbarian shrugs it off, and passes to Warlord. He continue the slaughter, but Volkoff tries to get cheap one time too many, and Warlord takes them both out with a single forearm shot before tagging Barbarian to help finish Zhukov with a powerslam/flying headbutt combo at 5:27. Someone order squash? DUD

The Brother Love Show: Brother Love invites special guest Jim Duggan to the ring to unload a barrage of insults. The whole segment runs about ten minutes, until Duggan finally snaps, and chases him off with the 2x4. Only notable part is Duggan's hilarious Raglan sleeve cartoon t-shirt, back before that sort of thing was worn ironically.

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Honky Tonk Man v The Ultimate Warrior: Honky was originally scheduled to face Brutus Beefcake again for the title here, but the Barber suffered a kayfabe injury at the hands of Ron Bass on TV (shit, if Ron Bass puts you out of action, you don't deserve a title shot anyway), so Honky comes out to demand a challenger. Hell, why not? No one can beat the Honky Tonk Man! That draws out the Ultimate Warrior, and he destroys Honky with a series of clotheslines and a splash at 0:27. And the crowd goes insane! This was the perfect ending to Honky's epic title reign (still the longest in titles lineage), as he had spent over a year 'defending' the belt (and frustrating fans) with countout and disqualification endings, and this ended up being significantly more satisfying than had Beefcake gotten the title after months of chasing. Still great and still one of my favorite WWF moments from growing up. DUD

Don Muraco v Dino Bravo: They go to a power-stalemate off of the initial lockup, and a criss cross ends with Muraco stomping Bravo as he tries a monkey flip. Armdrag has Bravo bailing, and Don gives him a monkey flip of his own on the way back in. Armbar, but Bravo powers into the corner, and puts him on his back with an inverted atomic drop for two. Backdrop, but Muraco counters with a Russian legsweep, and hits a backdrop of his own. Powerslam, but the referee accidentally gets in the way, and Dino takes advantage by countering into a sidewalk slam for the pin at 5:28. Slow and plodding, but thankfully on the short side. DUD

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Demolition v The Hart Foundation: Ax starts with Bret Hart, and he uses his size advantage to shove the Hitman around, but misses an elbowdrop, and Hart unloads closed fists. Rollup gets a quick two count, so Ax backs off to tag Smash. Bret catches him with a pair of well executed armbars, and tags Jim Neidhart in to mount Smash with punches. Shoulderblock, so Ax fires off a cheap shot from the apron, and tags in with a series of axehandles. Backdrop, but Neidhart catches him with a kneelift, and passes back to Bret. Dropkick, but a cross corner whip on Smash gets reversed, and Hart flies into the post. The champs waste no time cutting the ring in half on the hurt Hart - targeting the bad shoulder. Bret manages to get a desperation hangman's clothesline on Ax coming out of the ropes, but the Demos distract the referee so that he misses Bret's tag to the Anvil. Back to square one, Bret dodges a blind charge from Smash, and gets the real tag to Neidhart. He's a house of arson, but the chaos of a four-way brawl allows former Foundation manager Jimmy Hart to pass Ax his megaphone for a shot to Bret's shoulder, and Smash gets the pin at 9:49. That's okay, the Harts would have better luck against the Demos two years later, in their much more famous showdown. As for this one, it was a fun and psychologically sound - if a bit rushed. This would have been better had the WWF spent less time hyping Survivor Series and Sugar Ray Leonard's comeback fight against Donny Lalonde and gave this an extra few minutes to properly finish the heat segment. * ½

Koko B. Ware v Big Bossman: This is early in Bossman's run, having just joined the promotion earlier that summer. He makes good use of manager Slick as a distraction to jump Koko on the way in, but walks into a dropkick, and Ware ties him up in the ropes for some abuse. Bossman quickly turns the tide with an avalanche, but makes an ill-advised trip to the top rope, and misses a splash. Koko with a Golden Gloves routine to soften him up, and the missile dropkick hits, but only gets two, and the Bossman Slam finishes at 5:57. This was so early into Bossman's run, that they still had him wearing his handcuffs, keys, etc.. on his belt while wrestling - which I'm sure his opponents appreciated. No wonder Koko dodged that flying splash. Well, that, and the fact that an obese man in a fancy Halloween costume was diving on him. ¼*

Jake Roberts v Hercules: Hercules makes a stink about the snake bag being too close to the mat, and jumps Roberts as the referee forces him to move it. He makes the mistake of putting his head down, however, and Jake goes for the DDT, so Herc hits the deck, and rolls to the floor to break the momentum. Back in, Jake with hooks a side-headlock, so Herc blows him low to turn the tide, and drops a pair of elbows. Chinlock, but Jake won't give, so Herc nails him with two clotheslines for a two count. Another chinlock, so Jake tries to counter into a hammerlock - only to take a backelbow from Hercules. Slugfest goes Jake's way with a series of jabs, and the short-clothesline has the crowd ready to see the DDT. He goes for it, but Herc backdrops free, and stomps him. Bodyslam gets two, but another try is countered into the DDT at 10:06. This would have been a better match had it been a better match. ¼*

Main Event: The Mega Powers v The Mega Bucks: Though they had formed their alliance in 1987, this is actually the first time Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage properly teamed. Jesse Ventura act as the guest referee - the angle being that Ted DiBiase has bought him off. After much debate, Randy Savage starts with Andre the Giant - and the Giant pounds him into the Bucks corner with ease. Tag to Ted DiBiase, but he wants the Hulkster instead, and Savage obliges. Not surprisingly, that wasn't a good decision, and the Mega Powers pinball DiBiase in the corner. Double-team elbowdrop, and Hogan holds him for Savage to flying axehandle onto. They keep trading off with quick tags - gleefully destroying DiBiase - and a Hogan big boot gets two. Series of elbowdrops, but Andre is sick of it, and pulls Hogan into the corner to turn the tide. DiBiase quickly capitalizes by tagging Andre, and it's buttsplash city for the Hulkster. Nervehold slows things down, until DiBiase tags in with a clothesline for two. Pair of fistdrops for two, but Hogan powers out of a chinlock, and tags Savage. He unloads on DiBiase with a backelbow, and a backdrop sets up a snap across the top rope. Flying axehandle hits, and a bodypress out of the ropes gets two - but he walks into a clothesline as he springs back up, and Andre tags back in. He leaves Savage slumped in the corner, and then passes back to DiBiase to suplex him for two. Backbreaker hits, but a 2^nd rope falling backelbow doesn't, and Hogan tags in. Cross corner clothesline and a suplex draw in the Giant, and we have a four-way brawl. Hulk tries a sleeper on DiBiase while Savage drops the Flying Elbow on Andre - but Andre lifts that big boot on the way down (knocking Randy all the way to the floor), and breaks up the sleeper. Both Mega Powers end up in a heap on the outside, and Ventura counts, so Miss Elizabeth hops up on the apron to try her feminine charm. Jesse doesn't give a shit, however (the ‘bros’ in 'bros before hos' meaning Ben Franklin) so she rips off her skirt to properly get his attention. Oh, and you better believe that works. So well, in fact, that now the Mega Bucks are distracted, too, all the blood rushing from their brains. That allows Hogan and Savage to regroup on the floor, and the unstoppable Flying Elbowdrop/Legdrop combo finishes DiBiase at 14:00 - with Savage forcing a reluctant Ventura's hand to count the pin. The match wasn't a classic, but it was well booked (making especially good use of tags), exciting, had the already hot crowd melting down, and featured one of the more memorable endings of the era - one that's still talked about today. **

BUExperience: Like the first WrestleMania, or the first Royal Rumble, or even the first In Your House – they were obviously still working out the kinks with the formula. This was less a proper mid-season blowoff show than a way to milk the pay per view cash cow, with tons of TV matches, and lots of down time. Still, it’s the first of one of the WWE/F’s most enduringly popular concepts, and moments like the Warrior title win or Elizabeth’s skirt-peeling distraction still rank among their greatest, and most talked about. Certainly a lot of points for the historical value alone, but, really, other than those two memorable moments, and a super-hot crowd, you’re not missing much. *