Somebody started a simialar thread about wrestlemania on the wwe forum, so i thought it would be fun to review old summerslam, so let start with the event that started it all, summerslam 88,
Tag Team Match
The British Bulldogs vs. The Fabulous Rougeau: great opener especially considering the back story and the real life bad blood that the rougeau and the bulldogs had. The fact they went to a time limit draw was a nice touch as well
Singles Match
Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera: i thought that this was a really awful match and that all on ken patera's shoulders. I feel like patera was really past his prime at the time and that Vince just brought him back because of his friendship with him.
Singles Match
Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. The Junkyard Dog: this was just a match to advance the jake vs rude feud. Decent match and JYD was still really over but again a dq finish and the match took a backseat to the jake/rude feud.
Tag Team Match
The Bolsheviks (w/Slick) vs. The Powers Of Pain (w/The Baron) : again just a enhancement match on the card as the bolsheviks were pretty much jobbers at the time. Still a pretty good strongman tag team match but i'm glad that baron von rashcke was taken out of the power of pain because he truly didn't fit with the team concept.
WWF Intercontinental Title Match
The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) (c) vs. The Ultimate Warrior: one of the biggest moment in summerslam history as we still remember this match 30 years later. As a match, i can't really review it as it was basicly a squash match but as a moment, it was what start the ascension of the ultimate warrior to the main event.
Singles Match
Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) vs. Don Muraco: this was a really good big man match, nothing fancy just 2 big bull beating each other up and again you needed to put bravo over as a big heel and muraco was the best guy to do so,
WWF World Tag Team Title Match
Demolition (w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji) (c) vs. The Hart Foundation : again yet another great tag team match. The storyline going in was that jimmy was fired by the hart foundation and that jimmy was trying to get revenge on them for humiliating him. So they took this storyline and integrated it and made for a great match. Demolition getting the win made sense because of the back story.
Singles Match
Koko B. Ware vs. The Big Boss Man (w/Slick): another jobber match on the card, that's the 3 or 4 jobber match on the card. But just like with the bolsheviks vs power of pain match, koko was able to make bossman look great and while pretty much everybody knew that koko had no chance of winning, he was still one of the most popular character in the federation which made the match even better.
Singles Match
Hercules vs. Jake Roberts: same as the JYD/rude match, pretty much another jobber match as hercules was on the same level as koko, muraco and the bolsheviks were at the time and it was great to see jake actually getting a clean win on ppv because this was one of the rare wins for jake but again, this was just there to advance the rick rude vs jake roberts feud.
Tag Team Match (Special Referee: Jesse Ventura)
The Mega Bucks (Andre The Giant & Ted DiBiase) (w/Bobby Heenan & Virgil) vs. The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage) (w/Miss Elizabeth): If you want to see how a main event match should be booked and how to finish a feud, this is the match to watch. This match was pretty much the end of the feud between hogan/savage and andre and dibiase since andre move on to another feud after this match and dibiase was pretty much out of the title picture after this. The match was a typical hogan tag match but the crowd got into everything they did which help the match. The ending was surprising considering that we would never see this type of booking of a female performer at the time, so having liz taking off her skirt was shocking for the time and it worked. Great ending to a pretty lackluster event in my opinion.
In the end this is show was there first attempt at creating a mania still event for the summer and was a pretty good event considering. Their was one too many jobber matches for my liking but their was also some really good matches and moment that made the show better.
Final rating: 6/10
Tag Team Match
The British Bulldogs vs. The Fabulous Rougeau: great opener especially considering the back story and the real life bad blood that the rougeau and the bulldogs had. The fact they went to a time limit draw was a nice touch as well
Singles Match
Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera: i thought that this was a really awful match and that all on ken patera's shoulders. I feel like patera was really past his prime at the time and that Vince just brought him back because of his friendship with him.
Singles Match
Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. The Junkyard Dog: this was just a match to advance the jake vs rude feud. Decent match and JYD was still really over but again a dq finish and the match took a backseat to the jake/rude feud.
Tag Team Match
The Bolsheviks (w/Slick) vs. The Powers Of Pain (w/The Baron) : again just a enhancement match on the card as the bolsheviks were pretty much jobbers at the time. Still a pretty good strongman tag team match but i'm glad that baron von rashcke was taken out of the power of pain because he truly didn't fit with the team concept.
WWF Intercontinental Title Match
The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) (c) vs. The Ultimate Warrior: one of the biggest moment in summerslam history as we still remember this match 30 years later. As a match, i can't really review it as it was basicly a squash match but as a moment, it was what start the ascension of the ultimate warrior to the main event.
Singles Match
Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) vs. Don Muraco: this was a really good big man match, nothing fancy just 2 big bull beating each other up and again you needed to put bravo over as a big heel and muraco was the best guy to do so,
WWF World Tag Team Title Match
Demolition (w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji) (c) vs. The Hart Foundation : again yet another great tag team match. The storyline going in was that jimmy was fired by the hart foundation and that jimmy was trying to get revenge on them for humiliating him. So they took this storyline and integrated it and made for a great match. Demolition getting the win made sense because of the back story.
Singles Match
Koko B. Ware vs. The Big Boss Man (w/Slick): another jobber match on the card, that's the 3 or 4 jobber match on the card. But just like with the bolsheviks vs power of pain match, koko was able to make bossman look great and while pretty much everybody knew that koko had no chance of winning, he was still one of the most popular character in the federation which made the match even better.
Singles Match
Hercules vs. Jake Roberts: same as the JYD/rude match, pretty much another jobber match as hercules was on the same level as koko, muraco and the bolsheviks were at the time and it was great to see jake actually getting a clean win on ppv because this was one of the rare wins for jake but again, this was just there to advance the rick rude vs jake roberts feud.
Tag Team Match (Special Referee: Jesse Ventura)
The Mega Bucks (Andre The Giant & Ted DiBiase) (w/Bobby Heenan & Virgil) vs. The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage) (w/Miss Elizabeth): If you want to see how a main event match should be booked and how to finish a feud, this is the match to watch. This match was pretty much the end of the feud between hogan/savage and andre and dibiase since andre move on to another feud after this match and dibiase was pretty much out of the title picture after this. The match was a typical hogan tag match but the crowd got into everything they did which help the match. The ending was surprising considering that we would never see this type of booking of a female performer at the time, so having liz taking off her skirt was shocking for the time and it worked. Great ending to a pretty lackluster event in my opinion.
In the end this is show was there first attempt at creating a mania still event for the summer and was a pretty good event considering. Their was one too many jobber matches for my liking but their was also some really good matches and moment that made the show better.
Final rating: 6/10
