After his massive triumph at WrestleMania 4, you'd hope that the WWF and Vince McMahon would be putting all their eggs in the Randy Savage basket. Maybe in an alternate universe, the "Macho Man" as WWF Champion could've been something more than just the set-up for the eventual Savage-Hogan title match. In fact, there have long been rumors that Vince wanted Ric Flair to face Savage in the main event for the title, but the "Nature Boy" stayed loyal to the NWA, which was soon to become WCW. Without a challenger, Savage was thrown back into the orbit of Hulk Hogan, teaming as the Mega Powers to face the Mega Bucks, Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant here at the inaugural SummerSlam. It's a disappointing turn to be sure, and made even worse when you consider that Savage would not have a single title defense on pay-per-view until WrestleMania 5, though that's a story for another day. For now, let's take a look at the first version of "The Biggest Party of the Summer".
- With Jesse Ventura officiating the main event, "Superstar" Billy Graham joined Gorilla Moonsoon on comms for this night. Graham is mostly fine in the color role, he's not afraid to just go for it and some of his natural charisma does shine through at times. Ventura is obviously much better in the spot though, and I'm not quite sure why it was decided to take him off commentary for this show, maybe Vince thought he could help the buyrate?
- We open the action with a tag team match, as the now heel Rougeaus take on the British Bulldogs. This match is solid but a little slow, as both teams have been asked to go for a full 20 minutes. That means you see a lot of wear down holds and submissions, just trying to fill time. When the Bulldogs do get their offense in, they're still electric, but it's just a bit too infrequent to keep the crowd engaged. I'm not sure this match was the greatest choice to open the show, especially with the time limit draw finish, which I guess was meant to keep the rivalry going between these teams. That never happened, mostly because Davey Boy and Dynamite were incredibly toxic behind the scenes and these four guys pretty much ended up in a blood feud.
- A couple hosses do battle in our next match, as Bad News Brown rolls through Ken Patera in about 6 minutes. This is a definite low point on the evening, as these two men are extremely limited and the crowd in MSG doesn't care about either. Brown wins with a Ghetto Blaster to the back of Patera's head, which did at least look good.
- Rick Rude faces the Junkyard Dog in our next bout, though this match is mostly just set-up to keep Rude's feud with Jake Roberts going. Rude does his best to try and make JYD look good, before ripping off his tights to reveal another pair with Cheryl Roberts' face on them. Jake won't stand for this mockery of his wife, and charges the ring to get the Dog disqualified. This match was completely meaningless, and really shouldn't have been on a pay-per-view card.
- The Powers of Pain(The Barbarian and The Warlord) make their debut on these reviews, as they take on The Bolsheviks. Another nothing match, as Barbarian and Warlord get the win with a powerslam/diving headbutt combo finisher.
- Our next contest was supposed to be a rematch from WrestleMania 4, Honky Tonk Man and Brutus Beefcake squaring off once more for the Intercontinental Championship. Beefcake, however, was kayfabe injured by Ron Bass the previous week, which is great because I really didn't need to see those two guys in the ring ever again. The champion demands an opponent, and out comes the Ultimate Warrior to a loud pop. In one of the most famous squash matches in company history, Warrior decimates Honky, winning with the Warrior Splash in just 31 seconds. Of everything that we've seen thus far, this is the only match that felt like it actually belonged on a pay-per-view card, as quick as it was. Warrior is put over big and the crowd just explodes in delight at seeing Honky get taken back down to Earth, which a much needed pick-me-up after such a lackluster start to this show. This is a true classic moment, and a really great piece of booking.
- This time we actually do get a rematch from WrestleMania 4, as Dino Bravo defeats Don Muraco. Even though Muraco's best days are behind him by this point, I still enjoyed what offense he did hit in this match, he has a very impressive arsenal of power moves. Bravo gets the win following a distraction from his manager Frenchy Martin.
- The tag team titles are on the line up next, as Demolition defend against the now babyface Hart Foundation. Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart are very over here, as after "The Anvil" gets the hot tag, the crowd goes wild. I personally loved Bret assisting Jim to hit a slingshot splash over the top rope onto Ax on the floor, fantastic spot. The champions score a cheap win after Jimmy Hart, the former manager of the Foundation, sends in the megaphone for Ax to KO Bret. A solid match that really demonstrated just how great of a team the Hart Foundation were.
- We've got another pay-per-view debut here, as the Big Bossman is here, facing off with Koko B. Ware. Nothing special going on in this match, though Koko does have a really beautiful dropkick that rightly gets a cheer from the crowd. The Bossman Slam puts Koko down for three.
- The penultimate match of the night sees the return of Jake Roberts after brawling with Rude earlier in the night, and he's now facing Hercules. Gorilla and Graham spend most of the match wondering where Bobby Heenan is at, though if I were "The Brain", I wouldn't want to be associated with Hercules either. Herc dominates for most of the match, showing us just how dull of a wrestler he truly is, as the 10 minutes this match went just slowly drag by. At least "The Snake" scores a nifty win, countering a slam into the DDT to a nice pop, but that wasn't enough to save this from being the worst match of the night.
- Main event time, as it's the previously mentioned tag match, Mega Powers versus Mega Bucks. I've been bored by a lot of Hogan's recent work, and I really hated his involvement at WrestleMania 4, so I wasn't sure how I would feel about this match. I actually quite enjoyed it though, it's a fairly basic tag match but the crowd is really into it and I think that definitely helped. Hogan plays the face in peril letting Savage deliver most of the offense, which I thought was a great decision and makes the champion look strong. After Andre clears the ring, we get the second classic moment of the night, as Miss Elizabeth stands on the apron and removes her skirt to reveal her red panties. I'm not going to sideline my review to say anything too creepy, especially considering that Elizabeth has since passed away, but I will say that it is a great way to continue this Mega Powers storyline, since she has been at the center of the formation of this alliance from the very beginning. Savage and Hogan rally and we get an incredible finish, as DiBiase takes an elbow drop and a leg drop, with Randy forcing Ventura to make the three count and hand them the victory.
- After the match, the long-term build between Savage and Hogan gets an extra layer added, as Hulk goes over the top in celebrating with Elizabeth, even holding her in his arms for a couple very uncomfortable seconds. Randy notices this, and immediately gets upset, wondering what's going on between the two, and Hulk tries to make things right, once again lifting Elizabeth onto Savage's shoulders and handing her the title. Man, this storyline is so well told and well paced, and I thought all three sold this moment perfectly. It's wonderful to look back at a time where Vince trusted his audience to be able to understand even the most minute of details, and it makes you feel extremely rewarded as a viewer when you pick up on them.
4/10
I'm not sure why this show worked so much better for me than 'Mania, though 6 less matches definitely helped. I thought the main event was entertaining for what it was, the tag title match was good, the Warrior squash was incredibly fun and even some of the more average matches had the occasional moment. While SummerSlam '88 is not a particularly good show, it was an easy watch with a couple great moments and some solid wrestling, so I didn't regret spending 2 and a half hours of my life watching it.
Next time of Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Survivor Series 1988, featuring Team Mega Powers versus Team Twin Towers, Team Andre the Giant against Team Jake Roberts and another big Ultimate Warrior performance. See you soon.
- Henry
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