NWA (WCW) Clash of the Champions V: St. Valentine's Massacre (February 1989)

Original Airdate: February 15, 1989

From Cleveland, Ohio; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Magnum TA.

NWA (WCW) Clash of the Champions IV: Season's Beatings (December 1988)

Original Airdate: December 7, 1988

From Chattanooga, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle, along with Tony Schiavone and Lex Luger offering analysis between matches.

NWA (JCP) Clash of the Champions III: Fall Brawl (September 1988)

Original Airdate: September 7, 1988

From Albany, Georgia; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle.

NWA (JCP) Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem (June 1988)

Original Airdate: June 8, 1988

From Miami, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bob Caudle.

NWA (JCP) Clash of the Champions (March 1988)

Original Airdate: March 27, 1988

After their first attempts at expanding into the lucrative pay per view market were brilliantly countered by the WWF’s counterprogramming in late 1987 and early 1988, the NWA decided to fire back. With the WWF holding WrestleMania IV on pay per view, the NWA created a new program to air the same day (called ‘Clash of the Champions’), promising two hours of pay per view caliber wrestling for free on TBS. Though the WWF was still a hot ticket, fan apathy towards WrestleMania IV gave the NWA a boost, and the Clash was successful – enough so that it was renewed, and became a regular special until 1997.

From Greensboro, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone.

WCW Fall Brawl 1995

Fall Brawl 1995 is notable for being the first major WCW show of the Monday Night Wars. Once again headlined by their popular WarGames match concept, the ’95 edition was sold on a blowoff to the feud between Hulk Hogan and the Dungeon of Doom.

From Asheville, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

WCW Fall Brawl 1994

Fall Brawl 1994 was an interesting lineup. While WCW had received a substantial bump in ratings and exposure with Hulk Hogan’s signing and title win, the Hulkster wasn’t booked for Fall Brawl – the show instead headlined by a WarGames match between Dustin Rhodes’ Team and the Stud Stable. That led to zero interest from fans like me who had started watching solely because of Hogan’s participation, though WCW spent most of the night dedicated to hyping the Hulkster’s appearance at the next pay per view – which did intrigue me enough to beg my parents to order.

From Roanoke, Virginia; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.  

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Growing up with the WWF 

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WWF King of the Ring 1999

King of the Ring 1999 was a return to form for the tournament, as the WWF held the full eight man bracket on pay per view for the first time since 1995, and headlined with Steve Austin battling Vince McMahon for control of the WWF in a ladder match that would trigger the infamous ‘who moved the briefcase?’ debate.

Unfortunately, my friends and I never got the chance to see it. In the weeks leading up to the show, we started seeing flyers posted all around the hallways at school, advertising that a local coffee shop would be airing the show. Since we were a bunch of middle schoolers, the prospect of seeing the show for free (sidestepping the usual begging that went with getting your parents to order one of these frequent and increasingly expensive pay per views) sounded great – but when our group of wrestling geeks showed up the afternoon of the show, we found out it was a prank. That would have made for a good wrestling angle too, but much like Steve Austin in the main event, ‘who posted the fake signs?’ was never solved.

From Greensboro, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.  

WWF Survivor Series 2000

After spending most of 2000 on the shelf recovering from real-life neck surgery, Survivor Series 2000 saw the return of Steve Austin to the WWF main event scene to target the man who took kayfabe responsibility for his absence (in an angle involving Austin getting hit with a car a year earlier), Triple H.

From Tampa, Florida; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.  

WWF SummerSlam 2000

Coming into SummerSlam 2000 the WWF was on a hot streak, both critically and commercially, with the Attitude Era shifting away from ‘Crash-TV’ booking and putting more focus on a physical, in-ring oriented product.

From Raleigh, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF SummerSlam 1999

By the summer of 1999, with WCW becoming less relevant with each passing week, the WWF’s ‘Attitude’ was starting to become unfocused and nonsensical. With head writer Vince Russo becoming progressively overwhelmed with his workload, the direction of the product – while still wildly successful – started becoming almost impossible to follow, and increasingly clichéd. Much like most relationships, all the things we loved about Attitude to begin with were starting to grow repetitive, frustrating, and tiresome.

From Minneapolis, Minnesota; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.  

WWF SummerSlam 1998

The summer of 1998 was such a great time to be a WWF fan – and a wrestling fan in general. With the Attitude Era in full swing (but not yet becoming the stale, cliché filled program it would later), the WWF had recently managed to overtake WCW in the ratings war, and both promotions were fiercely fighting for viewership and pay per view buys. With wrestling the hottest it had been since the 1980s, and getting mainstream attention for the first time in my fandom, SummerSlam because a highly anticipated show – and the WWF delivered, putting on one of the most well remembered editions of their summer spectacular.

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.  

WWF SummerSlam 1997

With the Attitude Era getting off the ground, but still well behind WCW in the rating wars, the WWF pushed its annual SummerSlam spectacular hard – filling the show with gimmick blowoff matches centering on the Hart Foundation angle. While not breaking any records, the show drew well, actually managing to outdraw that years WrestleMania – though that feat had more to do with the underwhelming nature of WrestleMania 13 than the strength of the promotion.

From East Rutherford, New Jersey; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.  

WWF SummerSlam 1996

With rival WCW unveiling a game changing twist in the young nWo angle only a few weeks before SummerSlam, the WWF was rapidly plummeting in the Monday Night War ratings, and for the first time, became the #2 wrestling promotion in America. If ‘Feel the Heat’ was ever an appropriate tagline for SummerSlam, it was certainly in 1996 – fan interest in the card so low that it still ranks as the least commercially successful SummerSlam show.

From Cleveland, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect. Hilarious moment during the opening spiel, as some fan in the front row tries to get Perfect’s autograph (while he’s introducing the damn show), so Perfect shoots him an ‘are you fucking kidding me?!’ look these words can’t do justice.

WWF King of the Ring 2000

King of the Ring 2000 was held with two main goals in mind: elevate Kurt Angle to main event player (the WWF’s next choice as World Champion), and get that same title on The Rock to drop to Angle. In addition, the tournament itself was the largest in history – though only the last three rounds were featured on pay per view.

From Boston Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF SummerSlam 1995

For 1995, with business at the lowest point in the promotions history and rival WCW breathing down their necks with stars like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, the WWF’s direction veered wildly as they tried to steady the ship. With WWF Champion Diesel’s title reign nine months strong and still underperforming, they elevated midcard tag teamer Mabel to main event level, hoping to build intrigue in the vein of Hulk Hogan’s battles with big men like King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant, or Earthquake.

Unfortunately, the fans did not respond (myself included, thinking that they were stretching it more than Mabel’s waistband with that feud – and I was only ten), and the show achieved one of the lowest buyrates in the promotions history to that point (and became the least commercially successful SummerSlam to that point).

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

WWF SummerSlam 1994

There may be no better study in contrast than comparing the two headlining matches promoted for SummerSlam in 1994. On one hand, you had the Hart Brothers, who after feuding for the bulk of the year, were scheduled to face off in a steel cage for the WWF Title – the rematch from their all time classic showdown at WrestleMania the previous spring. On the other hand, you had the Undertaker battling… the Undertaker.

The show also marks Vince McMahon’s return to the helm of the WWF. Though he had never technically given up reigns, he had spent a good portion of the year in a courtroom while on trial for steroid distribution – charges he was acquitted of a month before SummerSlam. During that tense period, the day to day operations of the promotion were handled in large part by Pat Patterson, but with the trial over, McMahon was back in the drivers seat – all his attention on the WWF once more.

From Chicago, Illinois; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler. Randy Savage comes out to welcome the crowd to SummerSlam (his only on-camera participation at the event), making his last pay per view appearance for the WWF before bolting to WCW that fall – tired of being used as a broadcaster when he felt he still had something to offer between the ropes.

WWF SummerSlam 1990

With business down across the board in 1990, the WWF promoted it’s annual SummerSlam spectacular as a double main event – featuring WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior battling Rick Rude in a cage, and (in the real selling point) Hulk Hogan making his return to battle Earthquake, after selling an injury from the natural disaster to take time off/build anticipation.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper – doing a hilariously insane, pop-culture laden job on commentary.

WWF SummerSlam 1989

After the success of the first SummerSlam in 1988, the WWF added it permanently to their pay per view lineup, and built the 1989 edition on a main event showdown between WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, and the maniacal Zeus. Zeus being an actor-turned-wrestler for the sole purpose of this ridiculous angle that ‘spilled over from the movie set,’ the WWF wisely made it into a tag team match – with Hogan’s WrestleMania opponent Randy Savage backing Zeus up, and Brutus Beefcake with the Hulkster.

From East Rutherford, New Jersey; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura.

WWF SummerSlam 1993

As the summer of 1993 rolled around, the WWF found itself in need of a hero. With Hulk Hogan leaving the promotion after losing the WWF Title to Yokozuna at the King of the Ring, Vince McMahon needed a new, All-American challenger for the kids to cheer against his foreign heel champion. While the kids (and their parents) were already cheering for former WWF Champion Bret Hart in an increasingly vocal manner, the WWF decided to turn Lex Luger face by having him bodyslam the mammoth Yokozuna during a bodyslam challenge on July 4. After the hasty face turn and announced SummerSlam main event between the two, the WWF sent Lex Luger from coast to coast in a patriotic tour bus (dubbed the ‘Lex Express’) to drum up support on his way to battling Yokozuna for the title at SummerSlam.

From Auburn Hills, Michigan; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan.

WWF SummerSlam 1992

With the World Wrestling Federation becoming increasingly popular in Europe during the early 1990s, the WWF decided to take their annual summer spectacular abroad for the first time – all the way to Wembley Stadium in London. Originally, SummerSlam was set to take place in Washington DC, but after the success of UK Rampage in April, the WWF hastily rebooked the show for London – a gutsy move when they had a large stadium to fill.

It ended up becoming a tremendous success (drawing some 80,000 fans), and making for a great live atmosphere. As I kid, I once met John Tenta (Earthquake, who performed on the card), and (after hearing a silly internet rumor that the crowd was actually much smaller), asked him ‘how’ they made the place look so big. He assured me that it ‘really was,’ and it really was! In a first, due to the time difference the event took place in August 29, but didn’t air until two days later in the United States – a trick they would never be able to pull off in today’s iPhone world, but which worked wonderfully in 1992.

The biggest change other than venue (though, it was a direct result of it) was from the original booking that had Shawn Michaels capturing the Intercontinental Title from Bret Hart in the WWF’s first ladder match (one they rehearsed for at TV tapings over the summer) – the change delaying Shawn’s title for a couple of months, as ‘British Bulldog’ Davey Boy Smith challenging brother-in-law Hart for the title was deemed a better draw.

From London, England; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan.

WWF SummerSlam 1991

As a kid, SummerSlam ’91 was one of my favorite shows. Though I didn’t follow wrestling yet at the time it originally aired, I found it at a local video store one afternoon after school, and it quickly becoming a regular in my rental rotation. While the show came during a period when the WWF was trying to navigate the waters of the post-Golden Age boom in business, and was significantly less commercially successful than the three previous SummerSlams, it has often been a critical favorite.

The show also marked Ric Flair’s long awaited entry into the WWF, after having a legendary falling out with WCW. While he wasn’t advertised and didn’t appear on the show in person, the reigning NWA World Champion made a splash at SummerSlam by immediately targeting WWF Champion Hulk Hogan for a showdown, bringing the NWA title belt with him, and declaring himself the ‘real world champion.’ Unfortunately for fans, Flair’s use of the NWA Title on WWF programming led to disputes and lawsuits, and never to the anticipated dream match with Hogan.

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, Roddy Piper, and Bobby Heenan.

WWF Royal Rumble 2001

By the time 2001 rolled around, the WWF was the indisputable king of the wrestling mountain. With the Monday Night Wars winding down, and WCW on death watch, the WWF began their build to WrestleMania X-7 without having to look over their shoulder for the first time in the shows history.
 
From New Orleans, Louisiana; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF Survivor Series 1999

Survivor Series 1999 came during an interesting period for the WWF, as head writer Vince Russo (one of the people most credited for helping the WWF create the Attitude Era, and in turn, become the number one wrestling promotion in North America again) had left for rival WCW the month before, and with top drawing star Steve Austin on the shelf with a severe neck injury, many of us around the lunch room table (and many professional sources) saw it as the death knell for the WWF – with predictions flying that their days were numbered.

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.