Magazine Archives: Revisiting SummerSlam 1988

As first seen in FightfulMag.com, issue 3 on FightfulMag.com by Robert Defelice

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In this issue of Fightful Magazine, we’re recapping the first-ever SummerSlam event, which took place in 1988 live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Despite being born in 1993, SummerSlam

1988 is an event that I saw many times on VHS as a child. This card would start a tradition that today is equal to WrestleMania on some levels.

The event itself kicks off with a quick motion graphic introduction highlighting the four competitors in the main event, plus all of the managers and outside forces that would play a role. Headlining this inaugural card is Hulk Hoganand Randy Savage, collectively known as The Mega Powers, taking on Ted DiBiaseand Andre the Giant, collectively known as The Mega Bucks.In the background of the intro, the theme song more closely associated with the Royal Rumble event in later years sets the stage.

Our soundtrack for this evening is Gorilla Monsoon and Superstar Billy Graham, the only major pay-per-view to have this duo on the call. Our opening contest is a tag team attraction that seesThe British Bulldogs, Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid, taking on Jacques and Raymond Rougeau, otherwise known as The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers.

The British Bulldogs  vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

The Rougeau Brothers are far enough along in their pseudo-Americana gimmick that they would try to draw the ire of the audience by chanting “USA” while Davey Boy and Dynamite were on offense.

It seems wrong to talk about these two tag teams without briefly mentioning the behind-the-scenes beef that existed between them. Of course, there was a legendary backstage altercation between Jacques Rougeau and Dynamite Kid, which resulted in Rougeau hitting Dynamite, whose real name was Tommy Billington. According to Bret Hart, this incident drained the confidence of Dynamite Kid, and he was never the same.

Ultimately, this match goes to a 20-minute no contest, and while I have heard some describe this match in the past as boring, the action is fast-paced and, in my opinion, better than almost everything else seen on this card from a pure wrestling perspective. For the most part, the crowd is hot for it, especially when the Bulldogs are hitting their signature offense.

After the bell, the Rougeaus offer a handshake, which doesn’t sit well with Dynamite or Davey Boy. This moment results in The British Bulldogs chasing Jacques and Raymond to the backstage area, ending the final traditional tag team match on pay-per-view for The British Bulldogs as a duo.

Next, we see footage of Ron Bass attacking Brutus Beefcake. This outbreak would be the kayfabe reasoning for Brutus Beefcake being unable to wrestle The Honky Tonk Man in their scheduled Intercontinental Championship match. The two had previously squared off at WrestleMania IV earlier in the year. Hilariously, during that recap, the words “of Wrestling” were blurred out so that the footage only read “WWF Superstars.”

Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera

The second match was Bad News Brownagainst Ken Patera, which was quite a par for the course match of this time period. Ken Patera, who was once one of the top heels in the company, was transitioning to a babyface. In this match, he played the power role with bear hugs and full nelsons, making up a lot of his offense. The finish came when Patera ground his shoulder into the ring post accidentally and was hit with a Ghetto Blaster by Bad News Brown for the victory.

WINNER: Bad News Brown

Next, we have a promo from Randy Savageand Hulk Hoganin front of a green screen. Hogan put over the crowd, and his new tag team partner, Randy Savage, did the same.

“Ravishing” Rick Rude vs. Junkyard Dog

Very much a clash of eras. At one point, theJunkyard Dog was the number two babyface in the company. At this point, Rick Rude, is about to go on and become one of the major characters in the company. From the wrestling perspective, nothing was amazing here outside of Rick Rude’s selling.

The end result of this match would see Jake Roberts come out after Rick Rude pulled down his airbrushed pants that had the Junkyard Dog on them to reveal the infamous tights with Jake Roberts’ wife’s portrait. Jake came to get some vengeance, and that would ultimately result in the disqualification victory for Rick Rude.

WINNER: Rick Rude

Backstage, Gene Okerlundkept trying to tell The Honky Tonk Man who he would be facing for the Intercontinental Championship, but he didn’t care and wanted the surprise.

The Bolsheviks (w/ Slick) vs. The Powers Of Pain (w/ The Baron)

Baron von Raschke is here in his short-lived role as the manager ofThe Powers Of Pain. Raschke was a legendary competitor in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) but never made any kind of splash here. In the early half, this match is a display of dominance for The Warlordand The Barbarian, fresh off of Jim Crockett TV earlier in the year.

The heat segment for The Bolshevikswas a little bit longer than I would have liked, as you never get the feeling they’re actually going to win anything, and I feel more would have been accomplished with a squash. Ultimately, The Warlord gets the hot tag to The Barbarian, who cleans house. The Powers of Pain are victorious after a double shoulder block and powerslam/headbutt combination. Awkward considering that the latter half of that is the exact same finish combination of The British Bulldogs.

WINNERS: The Powers of Pain

Hacksaw Jim Dugganwas a guest on The Brother Love Show. There once was a rumor that this spot was supposed to be the debut of Ric Flair. Flair has also suggested that he was called byVince McMahonto potentially headline the event against Randy Savage.

As for the segment itself, it involves a lot of generic back and forth that was normally seen on The Brother Love Show at the time. Brother Love puts over some of the heels and questions Jim Duggan’s patriotism. Duggan tells him off and allows him to run away before he can hit him with the two-by-four.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: The Honky Tonk Man vs. The Ultimate Warrior

This match is a masterclass in putting somebody over. Ultimate Warrior gets it done in a record 31 seconds and is a made man for the next three years. It sets the stage for Warrior eventually beating Hulk Hogan, and it all started by giving him a major accolade in the world’s most famous arena. As for Honky, to this day, he is seen as one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time and is still the longest-reigning champion in company history.

This was a genuine moment that has stood the test of time.

WINNER: The Ultimate Warrior

Bobby Heenan is on commentary for the next match, which is definitely the most entertaining aspect of it.

Dino Bravo vs. Don Muraco

Slow, plodding and boring. At this point, Don Muracois over the hill in the eyes of the WWF and is simply used to get over Dino Bravo. Throughout the match, Billy Graham, who was the manager of Muraco just a few months earlier, and Bobby Heenan are very funny in their back and forth commentary. They continuously discuss whether or not Dino Bravo actually is the strongest man in the world. Unfortunately, the rest of this match is nothing to write home about. Bravo gets the win with a sidewalk slam, and Billy Graham complains that he wants a new referee.

WINNER: Dino Bravo

Jesse Ventura is interviewed and promises he’s the right man for the job and not to worry about the payoff he took from Ted DiBiase.

WWE Tag Team Championship: The Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (w/ Jimmy Hart and Mr. Fuji)

My personal favorite match on this card. While not as good as the two-out-of-three falls match they will have in two years at SummerSlam 1990, these teams have great chemistry together, and Bret Hart being the technical anchor around these three brutes is always fun to see.

The story going into this match is that Jimmy Hart will be in the corner of Demolitionbecause Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart want nothing to do with him anymore. Jimmy gets chased to the backstage area so that he isn’t too much of a factor for this match.

Demolition works over Bret Hart, as the commentary team almost buries Jim Neidhart for not doing more to help his partner. They did the classic spot where Bret gets the tag, but the referee doesn’t see it.

Madison Square Garden, the same venue Bret Hart will win his first Intercontinental Championship three years from now, erupts when he eventually gets the tag into The Anvil, allowing the babyfaces to stay on offense up until the end of the match. This match would see Bret Hart go for his finishing move, a piledriver, and Jimmy Hart run back to ringside so he can toss his megaphone to Ax, who nails Bret Hart over the head and allows Smashto pin him.

WINNER: Demolition.

Backstage, The Honky Tonk Man is pissed that he was played for a fool and beaten so quickly. He says he would wrestle any man but not a warrior.

Big Boss Man (w/ Slick) vs. Koko B. Ware

First off, “Piledriver” is a bop. Slick popped me when he took his cane and made it like a gun motion at Frankie the bird. It’s the little things.

This moment was the pay-per-view debut of Big Boss Man, who was very quickly going to become the top heel in the company. Koko B. Ware gets more offense than you would expect, beginning after Big Boss Man ties himself up in the ropes and Koko hits him with a flying headbutt.

Big Boss Man eventually overpowers Koko but would crotch himself on the top rope allowing Koko another hope spot before being nailed with the Bossman Slam for the victory.

WINNER: Big Boss Man

Backstage, Ultimate Warrior, who is not yet in full-blown super alien mode, cuts more of a generic promo than we are used to about winning the championship but does say you can find him on the next spaceship back to Parts Unknown.

Hercules vs. Jake Roberts

Jake is back, and he’s fighting another member of The Heenan Family. Two former Mid-South stars have another one of those 1980s matches filled with lots of rest holds and crowd manipulation. They’re both real workers. Surprisingly, with no interference from Rick Rude, Jake gets the win with the DDT as Madison Square Garden erupts.

WINNER: Jake Roberts

A video package runs down how we got to the main event. Not included in the package are some of the generic green screen promos building up to the match. One of these includes Hulk Hogan heartbroken about his little Hulkamaniacs becoming influenced by the evil Ted DiBiase and that they are asking for their allowance without doing their chores.

The Mega Powers (w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. The Mega Bucks (w/ Bobby Heenan and Virgil)

I really enjoyed this; four of the best characters in company history. Andre and Savage start, and Gorilla Monsoon on commentary has the line of the night, asking why Andre would ever tag out to Ted DiBiase so early. Hogan and Savage easily work over DiBiase. There are lots of teased interruptions from all three managers, including Elizabeth, who is more active than ever up to this point. Eventually, Andre gets back in and begins to work over Hulk Hogan, allowing DiBiase to come in and do the same.

Hogan eventually gets the hot tag to Savage. Savage takes out DiBiase with the running hotshot over the top rope; one of my favorite wrestling moves of all time. Andre gets in and takes care of Savage for a little while before tagging DiBiase back. Eventually, all four people get in the ring, and Andre takes out Savage and clears the ring of Hogan.

This is where it happened. Elizabeth undoes her skirt and reveals what she has underneath, red bloomers, which Bruce Prichard joked about being granny panties.

Her legs are enough to distract all of the heels and the referee. This allows the babyfaces to come back in and rally for the victory. DiBiase eats the Flying Elbow and the Atomic Leg Drop for three. Randy Savage has to force Jesse Ventura’s hand on the third count because, of course, he took the payoff and didn’t want to count the heels out.

WINNERS: The Mega Powers

After the match, the babyfaces celebrate and Hogan has to steady Elizabeth on the shoulders of Randy Savage. That’s a moment that would come back to bite them all in the ass on the Road to WrestleMania V.

Overall, this was a very fun event and a great start to one of the major traditions in wrestling. Were all of the matches five-star classics? No, but the character work was plentiful, and the crowd was electric. At the end of the day, that’s what wrestling is all about.

I would recommend that everybody give this pay-per-view a look back if, for no other reason, just to see how far we’ve come.

Robert DeFelice is a lifelong wrestling fan. He is now a podcaster and journalist, merging his knowledge and love for pro wrestling with a desire to be involved in the industry

Twitter: @dudefelice