WWF Summerslam 1988

 

WWF Summerslam 1988

Venue: New York, New York

Date: 29/08/88

Attendance: 20,000

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Superstar Billy Graham

The first Summerslam event took place in August 1988 at Madison Square Garden as the WWF added a third pay-per-view to their calendar. The main event followed on nicely from the climax of Wrestlemania 4 as WWF Heavyweight Champion Macho Man Randy Savage teamed with the returning Hulk Hogan (Hogan had been away filming No Holds Barred) to face the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant. Jesse Ventura was named as the special guest referee for the match so Billy Graham filled in on commentary duties.

Davey Boy Smith corners Raymond Rougeau in the opener

 

Review

The British Bulldogs battled the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers to an enjoyable twenty minute time limit draw. The two teams legitimately did not like each other but they did have good chemistry in the ring. The lack of a finish was mildly irritating but the match quality made up for it somewhat... Bad New Brown beat Ken Patera in a basic encounter. Brown won clean with the Ghetto Blaster... The Junkyard Dog was disqualified in his match against Ravishing Rick Rude after Jake Roberts interfered. Rude revealed an image of Roberts' wife on his tights during the match inciting "The Snake" who ran down and hammered him. This really belonged on Superstars of Wrestling... The Powers of Pain looked impressive as they marched down to the ring for their match with The Bolsheviks. There was however nothing impressive about the match... The Honky Tonk Man's record breaking Intercontinental Title reign famously came to an end as he was crushed by the Ultimate Warrior in about thirty seconds. Honky's opponent was originally scheduled to be Brutus The Barber Beefcake but he was put out of action by Ron Bass prior to the event. The crowd was red hot for the Warrior here and the squash match went down a storm...

 

The Ultimate Warrior levels the Honky Tonk Man

 

Hacksaw Jim Duggan made an appearance on an in-ring version of the Brother Love Show. It was quite annoying... Dino Bravo beat Don Muraco in an awkward poor bout... Demolition retained the tag team title in a good match against the Hart Foundation. Jimmy Hart had previously been fired by the Hart Foundation as their manager but he was allowed to be at ringside as he still owned their contracts. His presence proved to be the difference in the end... The Big Boss Man's win over Koko B Ware wasn't much more than an extended squash... Jake The Snake Roberts DDT'd and pinned Hercules in a boring ten minute match... WWF Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan defeated Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant in a good main event refereed by Jesse Ventura. Miss Elizabeth caused a distraction by climbing onto the ring apron and removing her skirt, which was quite racy for the time, and allowing the Mega Powers to make their comeback and win the match. Savage forced Ventura's hand in making the three count after The Body hesitated. During the celebration a subtle seed of dissension was planted as the Savage appeared to object to Hogan's post match hug with Elizabeth.

The Big Boss Man works over Koko B Ware

 

Overall

Not a great show by any means but it was an improvement on Wrestlemania 4. Firstly the Madison Square Garden crowd was infinitely better than the Trump Plaza crowd but more importantly there were three matches on this card that were superior to every match at Wrestlemania. Additionally the Ultimate Warrior's Intercontinental Title win over the Honky Tonk Man was perhaps the hottest squash match in WWF history. Unfortunately that's where the positives end because the remaining six matches on the card were poor, really poor in some cases, which pulled the overall rating of the show right down. Summerslam 1988 drew 400,000 buys on pay-per-view.

 

The Mega Powers prepare to battle the Mega Bucks

 

Results

1 The British Bulldogs fought The Fabulous Rougeaus to a time limit draw (20:00) ***1/4

2 Bad News Brown pinned Ken Patera (6:33) *

3 Rick Rude def The Junkyard Dog by disqualification (6:18) 1/2

4 The Powers of Pain def The Bolsheviks by pinfall (5:27) 1/2

5 The Ultimate Warrior pinned The Honky Tonk Man (c) for the WWF Intercontinental Title (0:31) SQ

6 Dino Bravo pinned Don Muraco (5:28) 1/2

7 Demolition (c) def The Hart Foundation by pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (9:49) ***

8 The Big Boss Man pinned Koko B Ware (5:57) *1/4

9 Jake Roberts pinned Hercules (10:06) *1/4

10 Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan def Ted Dibiase & Andre the Giant by pinfall (13:57) ***

Rating

14.25/50 = 28.50%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)