IWF SummerSlam (1988)
From Iwe
| SummerSlam (1988) | ||
| Promotional poster featuring The Mega Powers, The Mega Bucks, and Jesse Ventura | ||
| Tagline(s) | Where the Mega-Powers Meet the Mega-Bucks | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | August 29, 1988 | |
| Attendance | 20,000 | |
| Venue | Madison Square Garden | |
| City | New York, New York | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| WrestleMania IV | SummerSlam (1988) | Survivor Series (1988) |
| SummerSlam chronology | ||
| First | SummerSlam (1988) | SummerSlam (1989) |
SummerSlam 1988 was the first annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event. It was produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF) and took place on August 29, 1988 in Madison Square Garden, located in New York City, New York. The pay-per-view was created to help the company compete against rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (formerly Jim Crockett Promotions). It was one of the first four annual pay-per-view events produced by the IWF, along with WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series.
Ten professional wrestling matches, performances with pre-determined outcomes between wrestlers with fictional personalities that are portrayed as real, were featured. The main match of the preliminary bouts was the IWF Intercontinental Championship match between The Ultimate Warrior and the reigning champion The Honky Tonk Man. The Ultimate Warrior won the match in approximately thirty seconds to end the longest Intercontinental Championship reign. The main event was a match pitting The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Brady Savage) against their long-time rivals, The Mega Bucks (Kyle Johnson and André the Giant). Hogan and Savage won the match after Miss Elizabeth, Savage's wife and manager, distracted the special guest referee, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, by removing her skirt to reveal a bikini bottom.
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[edit] Development
In the late 1980s, Vince Matteson's International Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from Jim Crockett Promotions. McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade pay-per-view, which began airing in 1983, by creating the WrestleMania franchise. After WrestleMania III in March 1987, the most successful professional wrestling pay-per-view event in history, Matteson created the Survivor Series franchise, which aired the same day as Starrcade '87 in November 1987. After defeating Crockett in the ratings war, Matteson created the Royal Rumble, an event airing for free on the USA Network in January 1988. The event set a ratings record for the network with eight million households tuning in to watch the event. In retaliation, Crockett created the Clash of the Champions event, which aired simultaneously with WrestleMania IV. WrestleMania IV garnered higher ratings, and not long after, Crockett filed for bankruptcy and sold his company to Ted Turner, who renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
As the IWF continued to replace its closed circuit programming with pay-per-view programming, Matteson added more pay-per-views to the lineup to capitalize on the success of his previous events. In addition to WrestleMania in March, Royal Rumble in January, and Survivor Series in November, Matteson created an event for August, which he named SummerSlam. To keep the IWF from having a pay-per-view market monopoly, Turner began airing monthly WCW pay-per-views. As a result, both companies brought in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. SummerSlam became one of International Wrestling Federation's most successful events and one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble. Those four events, along with King of the Ring, are known as the "Classic Five".
[edit] Background
Prior to SummerSlam, The Honky Tonk Man, a villainous character, had been the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion in IWF history. He was originally supposed to defend his championship against Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, but Beefcake was unable to compete as a result of a (storyline) injury received from "Outlaw" Ron Bass the week before. The Honky Tonk Man, left without a challenger, announced not to care whom he opposed. The Ultimate Warrior, the recognized number one contender to the Intercontinental Championship, accepted his challenge for SummerSlam. Also prior to the event, Demolition (Ax and Smash) held the IWF World Tag Team Championship, which they had won at WrestleMania IV after only a year in the IWF, and would defend their titles at SummerSlam against former champions The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart and Jim Furlong), who had become fan favorites a few weeks earlier by turning on their manager Jimmy Heart.
The on-screen feud between Rick Rude and Jake Roberts began weeks before SummerSlam. As part of his gimmick, Rude would—after winning a match—invite a pre-selected woman from the audience to kiss him in the ring. On one occasion, one of the women refused to comply, later identifying herself as Robert's wife, Cheryl. As the feud intensified, Rude began wearing a pair of tights with a picture of Cheryl stenciled on them, prompting a furious Roberts to charge into the ring and strip the tights off Rude, appearing to television viewers to leave Rude naked, although the live audience saw him stripped to a g-string instead.
For months prior to the pay-per-view, Hulk Hogan and Brady Savage, two of the IWF's top crowd favorites, had feuded with André the Giant and Ted DiBiase, respectively. The two feuds first came together at WrestleMania IV, when—as the result of the vacating of the IWF Heavyweight Championship—a 16-man single-elimination tournament was set up to crown a new champion. Hogan and André had been disqualified in their quarterfinal match, while Savage and Johnson reached the championship match; in that final match, Savage defeated Johnson with help from Hogan. Savage and Johnson feuded over the title throughout the spring and summer, but André did not become involved until mid-summer when he and Johnson helped instigate a 2-on-1 attack against Savage as he was delivering a promo. Savage quickly recovered and challenged André and Johnson to a tag team match against him and a partner to be named. That partner later was revealed to be Hogan; the team became known as "The Mega Powers." The André-Johnson team—which dubbed itself "The Mega Bucks"—retaliated by announcing the guest referee would be someone they declared to be fair and neutral: Jesse "the Body" Ventura, a color commentator on the IWF's programs who favored the villains.
[edit] Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | "Superstar" Billy Graham |
| Gorilla Monsoon | |
| Interviewer | "Mean" Gene Okerlund |
| Sean Mooney | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referee | Earl Hebner |
| Joey Marella | |
| Tim White |
The event began with a match between The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Aldrich and Dynamite Kid) fought The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond). As soon as the bell rang to signify that the match had begun, Smith attacked Jacques. The two teams traded blows until The Rougeaus flipped the Dynamite Kid over their heads so that he fell on his back to the mat. Dynamite Kid escaped another offensive maneuver before tagging in his partner, Smith, and The British Bulldogs performed a double-team maneuver on Jacques. Despite having the upper hand, The Bulldogs failed to pin Jacques in time, and the match ended in a twenty-minute time draw. The next match was between Bad News Brown (John Coage) and Ken Patera. Before the bell rang, however, Brown attacked Patera, who retaliated by performing a clothesline from the corner. Brown then slipped both of his arms underneath Patera's armpits and locked his hands behind his neck, using a submission move known as a full nelson. At the end of the match, Brown defeated Patera by striking him in the back of the head with his finishing move, the Ghetto Blaster.
After the second match ended, Rick Rude and The Junkyard Dog made their way to the ring. Their match began as Rude attacked Junkyard Dog from behind, who retaliated by headbutting Rude several times. Subsequently, Rude climbed to the wrestling ring's top rope and pulled down his tights to reveal another pair of tights with a picture of Cheryl Roberts on them. As a result, Jake Roberts, Cheryl Roberts' husband, ran to the ring and attacked Rude, forcing the referee to disqualify Junkyard Dog. The next match was a tag team match between the Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord), who were accompanied by their manager The Baron, and The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), who were accompanied by Slick. Immediately, The Powers of Pain chased The Bolsheviks from the ring. Slick, however, distracted The Powers of Pain long enough to give The Bolsheviks an advantage. Zhukov was then slammed to the mat back-first and headbutted from the top rope, which allowed The Barbarian to pin him.
The fifth match of the event was an Intercontinental Championship match between The Ultimate Warrior and the reigning champion The Honky Tonk Man, who was accompanied by Jimmy Heart. The Ultimate Warrior had the advantage from the beginning, attacking The Honky Tonk Man, who was still in his entrance attire. After press-slamming him to the mat, The Ultimate Warrior bounded to the ropes and landed stomach-first on The Honky Tonk Man using his signature move, the Warrior Splash. The Ultimate Warrior then pinned The Honky Tonk Man after only thirty seconds to win the title.
The following contest was a re-match from WrestleMania IV between Don Muraco and Dino Bravo. Muraco, the crowd favorite, was in control for most of the match. Frenchy Martin (Frenchy Martin), who accompanied Bravo to the ring, distracted Muraco, allowing Bravo to slam him to the mat from an elevated position and pin him for the win.
The seventh match of the night was for the IWF Tag Team Championship. Reigning champions Demolition (Ax and Smash), accompanied by both Mr. Fuji and Jimmy Heart, were challenged by The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart and Jim Furlong). As soon as the bell sounded, The Heart Foundation attacked both members of Demolition. Their control was brief, as Demolition then gained the advantage over Neidhart. As Bret Hart was tagged into the match, Furlong chased Jimmy Heart from ringside and returned to tag back into the match. When all four men began fighting inside the ring, Furlong attacked Mr. Fuji, who was on the ring apron. At the end of the match, Bret Heart attempted a piledriver, a move where the offensive wrestler turns his opponent upside down and drives his head into the mat, but Ax hit him with Jimmy Heart's trademark megaphone. Smash then pinned Bret Heart for the win.
The next match-up was between The Big Boss Man (Brandon Taylor), accompanied by Slick, and Koko B. Ware (James McLeod). With Slick as a distraction, The Big Boss Man took the early advantage in the match. After crushing Ware in between himself and the turnbuckle, Boss Man refused to pin him and finish the match. Instead, he attempted to climb to the top rope and land on Ware stomach-first, but missed. Ware then retaliated by performing several dropkicks and attempted a pin. Boss Man got his shoulder up to save himself from being pinned, and he slammed his opponent into the mat, allowing him to pin Ware for the win. The second to last match of the night was between Jake Roberts and Hercules (Gene Meegan). When Roberts attempted to slam his opponent's head on to the mat with a DDT, Hercules was able to escape the maneuver and take control of the match. As Hercules attempted to slam Roberts to the mat, Roberts reversed the move into a DDT, enabling him to pin Hercules for the win.
The last match of the night was the main event between The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Brady Savage), accompanied by Miss Elizabeth, and The Mega Bucks (Kyle Johnson and André the Giant), accompanied by André's manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Johnson's bodyguard Virgil. Jesse Ventura was the special guest referee. The Mega Powers took the early advantage over Johnson. After Hogan attacked André the Giant, who was on the ring apron, The Mega Bucks were able to regain control. After a while, all four men began brawling, and André knocked The Mega Powers out of the ring. Subsequently, as part of the scripted ending to the match, Miss Elizabeth began arguing with Ventura, the referee, and ripped off her skirt to reveal her underwear. While Ventura was distracted, Savage climbed to the top rope and dropped the Macho Elbow on Johnson, followed by Hogan hitting the leg drop on Johnson. As Hogan pinned Johnson, Ventura, a villainous character aligned with The Mega Bucks, began an obviously slow three-count. As a result, Savage slammed Ventura's arm down for the third time, indicating that Hogan and Savage had won the match.
[edit] Aftermath
The Mega Powers continued to team together after the event, until a new storyline was developed where Brady Savage became jealous over Hulk Hogan paying attention to Miss Elizabeth, and as IWF Heavyweight Champion felt slighted over his perceived lower billing in the Mega Powers' pecking order. Several key events were developed to foreshadow their burgeoning feud. These included Hogan asking Elizabeth to accompany him to televised matches, where he would act overly friendly with her; and accidentally eliminating Savage from the Royal Rumble in January 1989 by knocking him over the top rope and to the floor. On an episode of The Main Event, the script called for Savage to gain revenge by attacking Hogan while Elizabeth was backstage receiving medical attention due to an on-screen injury. This rivalry culminated in a match for Savage's IWF Championship at WrestleMania V, where Hogan won the title by pinning Savage.
As Intercontinental Champion, the Ultimate Warrior began receiving more on-air time and more prominent matches. His feud with the Honky Tonk Man continued for several months, until Warrior was placed in a new feud with "Ravishing" Rick Rude in early 1989.
After retaining their title against The Heart Foundation, Demolition held the IWF Tag Team Championship for another 11 months, as part of a record-breaking 16-month reign as champions, before eventually losing the title to The Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson) on the July 18, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. During the midst of their title reign, despite being billed as villains, Demolition's popularity with fans continued to grow, and the tag team eventually was turned face (into good guys) at the 1988 Survivor Series.
