I had an idea for a new thread series. Every week (or whenever I feel like it) I will post a thread discussing a past ppv. I'm looking for different opinions on that ppv. Did you enjoy it? Was it a let down? How was the show hyped in your opinion? Were you anticipating it? What would you have done different if you were in charge? When listing what you would have done different keep it realistic. For example don't say I would have booked Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger at SummerSlam 88. Luger was not with the WWF at the time so this would be impossible. Also book the show as if it was that time. Don't use your knowledge of the future. I don't know if this idea will be popular, but I will try a couple and see.
Fist up SummerSlam 88. Overall I think this was a good show. Obviously there are a lot of differences between wrestling in 1988 and today. In 1988 you had an hour of Superstars and an hour of Challenge per week. Both featured squash matches with an occasional feature bout. Looking at the card you would think the matches could take place on RAW not a major ppv. But I am going back to the way things were in 88 and saying this was a pretty good show. Keep in mind this was the first SummerSlam. The only other ppvs for the whole year were WrestleMania and Survivor Series. This added to the anticipation.
What's interesting is there were a lot of feuds going on at the time that were seemingly ignored at SummerSlam. For example Jake Roberts and Rick Rude had one of the biggest feuds going at the time. Jake wrestled Hercules and Rude wrestled JYD. Why didn't they wrestle each other? Also the Harts were feuding with the Rougeaus, but they wrestled Demoltion while the Rougeaus got the Bulldogs. Hacksaw was feuding with Bravo, but was a guest on Brother Love while Bravo wrestled Muraco, who was feuding with Valentine. Seems like a lot of these matches should have been shuffled around.
With that said the show was still entertaining. The Bulldogs and Rougeaus had a good match, as did the Harts and Demoltion. The Bolshevics put over the new team of the Powers of Pain, and Koko did the same for newcomer Big Bossman. Although the match was only 30 seconds, The Ultimate Warrior's win over the Honky Tonk Man put him on the map. This was the turning point in Warrior's career. I normally don't like a 30 second match on ppv, but this was done right. It made the Warrior and the crowd reaction in the Garden was electric. For those who don't know, Warrior was not scheduled to wrestle. Beefcake was the original opponent, but was injured. Honky issued an open challenge and when Warrior's music hit the roof blew off the Garden. This ended the record 15 month IC title reign of the hated Honky Tonk Man.
Now the main event. The Mega Powers vs. The Mega Bucks. This is a great example of the difference between 1988 and 2009. Today this would be a main event on RAW leading into the ppv. In 1988 this was a highly anticipated ppv main event. There was not much physical contact between the two teams leading up to SummerSlam except for a two on one attack on Savage in early July. It didn't matter. In fact it was probably better that way. Week after week the anticipatoin built for this epic encounter. WWF made it seem like this was the biggest match of all time. Granted I was only eight years old at the time, but I was sold. I couldn't wait. Jesse Ventura as guest referee added more drama. Jesse was a long time critic of Hogan and a supporter of Andre and Dibiase. There was even a segment on Brother Love where Dibiase was stuffing Jesse's jacket with $100's. Despite his reputation Jesse insisted he would call it down the middle. The match itself deliverd too. It was a great main event. It won't go down as an all time classic match, but it's fair to say you got what you expected.
Again even though I would have probably shuffled some matches around, this was a good show that served it's purpose. I'm not sure what to expect in terms of replies. I'm sure most people who read this were probably not fans (if even born yet) in 1988. If you've ever seen the show feel free to chime in anyway. I know it's not a hot topic. Just a stroll down memory lane.
Fist up SummerSlam 88. Overall I think this was a good show. Obviously there are a lot of differences between wrestling in 1988 and today. In 1988 you had an hour of Superstars and an hour of Challenge per week. Both featured squash matches with an occasional feature bout. Looking at the card you would think the matches could take place on RAW not a major ppv. But I am going back to the way things were in 88 and saying this was a pretty good show. Keep in mind this was the first SummerSlam. The only other ppvs for the whole year were WrestleMania and Survivor Series. This added to the anticipation.
What's interesting is there were a lot of feuds going on at the time that were seemingly ignored at SummerSlam. For example Jake Roberts and Rick Rude had one of the biggest feuds going at the time. Jake wrestled Hercules and Rude wrestled JYD. Why didn't they wrestle each other? Also the Harts were feuding with the Rougeaus, but they wrestled Demoltion while the Rougeaus got the Bulldogs. Hacksaw was feuding with Bravo, but was a guest on Brother Love while Bravo wrestled Muraco, who was feuding with Valentine. Seems like a lot of these matches should have been shuffled around.
With that said the show was still entertaining. The Bulldogs and Rougeaus had a good match, as did the Harts and Demoltion. The Bolshevics put over the new team of the Powers of Pain, and Koko did the same for newcomer Big Bossman. Although the match was only 30 seconds, The Ultimate Warrior's win over the Honky Tonk Man put him on the map. This was the turning point in Warrior's career. I normally don't like a 30 second match on ppv, but this was done right. It made the Warrior and the crowd reaction in the Garden was electric. For those who don't know, Warrior was not scheduled to wrestle. Beefcake was the original opponent, but was injured. Honky issued an open challenge and when Warrior's music hit the roof blew off the Garden. This ended the record 15 month IC title reign of the hated Honky Tonk Man.
Now the main event. The Mega Powers vs. The Mega Bucks. This is a great example of the difference between 1988 and 2009. Today this would be a main event on RAW leading into the ppv. In 1988 this was a highly anticipated ppv main event. There was not much physical contact between the two teams leading up to SummerSlam except for a two on one attack on Savage in early July. It didn't matter. In fact it was probably better that way. Week after week the anticipatoin built for this epic encounter. WWF made it seem like this was the biggest match of all time. Granted I was only eight years old at the time, but I was sold. I couldn't wait. Jesse Ventura as guest referee added more drama. Jesse was a long time critic of Hogan and a supporter of Andre and Dibiase. There was even a segment on Brother Love where Dibiase was stuffing Jesse's jacket with $100's. Despite his reputation Jesse insisted he would call it down the middle. The match itself deliverd too. It was a great main event. It won't go down as an all time classic match, but it's fair to say you got what you expected.
Again even though I would have probably shuffled some matches around, this was a good show that served it's purpose. I'm not sure what to expect in terms of replies. I'm sure most people who read this were probably not fans (if even born yet) in 1988. If you've ever seen the show feel free to chime in anyway. I know it's not a hot topic. Just a stroll down memory lane.
