Summerslam 88 Review

Here is my review for the very first Summerslam. Mean Gene does the intro from a "traffic Jam" in the middle of the "night" then after the ppv promo Monsoon and Superstar Billy Graham (subbing for Ventura) welcome us and we go to the opening tag match.


Match #1

Tag Team Match

The British Bulldogs Vs The Fabulous Rougeu Brothers


Rougeus are recently turned heel and will be moving from Montreal to Tennesse very shortly. Great opening match. Bulldogs use their power and Jacques complains with that mouth of his. Dynamite beats on Raymond and goes for a 10 punch in the corner but Jacques pulls him off and Dynamite bangs his head and sells it like he's having a seizure, which might of been real come to think of it. Rougeus illegally switch out on an abdominal stetch and Jacques goes into a camel clutch. Rougeus cheating bigtime tonight. Dynamite with a suprise small package but ref is out of range. Dynamite finally tags and Davyboy goes nuts and crotches Jacques on the top rope, crowd is hot tonight!!! Breaks down to a texas tornado match and the time limit expires at the 20 minute mark. This is the CV release so there's only about 12 minutes of the actual match on here. I give it 2 1/2 stars for the clipping.


We get a highlight of the attack by Ron Bass on Brutus Beefcake. Brutus gets a cut on his forehead and takes his doctors advice and gives up his title shot. There will be a title defense by *beep* against the next contender for the IC title.

Match #2

Singles Match

Ken Patera Vs Bad News Brown

Piss break. Just a squash match to get BNB over. Patera is at the very end of his WWF stint here. Patera slams Bad and misses an elbow off the ropes. Bad News knocks Patera all over the place. Bad News ducks his head and gets a forearm accross the neck. Patera goes to the bearhug but BN breaks out. Patera goes to the full nelson but BN is too close to the ropes. Patera goes for it again and AGAIN BN is in the ropes. Patera tries whipping BN into the corner but they screw it up and he tries it again in the opposite direction then charges and goes shoulder first into the post. BN hits the ghetto blaster and pins Patera at 6:38. Ill go 1 1/2 star.


Match #3


Singles Match

Ravishing Rick Rude Vs The Junk Yard Dog


JYD's last WWF ppv. Rude with JYD's face spray painted on his tights. Rude tries jumping the dog but JYD fights back and Rude bails quickly. JYD misses a headbutt and Rude goes up top for a flying forearm that connects. Rude goes after JYD's head and it doesn't work of course. JYD gets distracted by Heenan and Rude gives him a russian leg sweep which is a new one from Rude. Rude goes up top and pulls his tights down to show an airbrush picture of Sheryl Roberts on his tights, Jake Roberts makes the run in and knocks the **** out of Rude and sends him flying out. Rude wins by DQ at 3:47. If this happened today JYD would of turned heel and attacked Jake. Weird moment as JYD mouths the f word on camera there is a drum beat over the sound system to cover it up. I give it a 1/2 star.


Match #4


Tag Team Match

The Bolsheviks Vs The Powers Of Pain w The Baron


POP making their ppv debute along with their manager for a week The Baron who is Rashke with a covered face. POP hand The Bolsheviks their asses and win it at 5:27. Feh 1 star.


Another bathroom break. Brother Love gets a segment and his guest is Hacksaw who eventually runs him off.


Match #5


Intercontinental Title Match


The *beep* Tonk Man Vs ?????????


*beep* says he doesn't care who his opponent is. Nobody knows who his opponent is. All of a sudden The Ultimate Warrior's music hits and Warrior comes flying out and runs over *beep* Warrior hits a bodyslam, a flying tackle, a clothesline and pins *beep* after a big splash to win the IC title in just 36 seconds!!! Crowd goes nuts through the entire thing. It's a dud wrestling wise but it was done very well. *beep* had the belt for over a year and it was probably the biggest thing to come out of this ppv. Im gonna give it 1 star.


Match #6


Singles Match


The Rock Don Muraco Vs Dino Bravo w Frenchi Martin


Heenan pops in for some quick commentary. Just to annoy Monsoon and Graham. Muraco decks Frenchie for farting around on the apron and Muraco gets caught by Bravo with the side suplex and pinned in 1:08!!! Horribly clipped match, Wiki says it was 5:28. It's a dud on the CV release


Match #7


Tag Team Title Match


Demolition w Mr Fuji and Jimmy Hart Vs The Hart Foundation


Jimmy Hart ran off from the HF and joined up with the Rougeus now he wants to help screw them out of their title shot here, so he's hanging around ringside. Anvil clears the ring then Bret slingshots him over the top and to the floor onto Smash. Anvil powerslams Smash and gets a 2 1/2 count. Harts owning most of the match until Fuji gets up on the apron and Anvil lays into him. Jimmy passes the megaphone to Axe who clocks Bret and Smash pins him at 7:15 to retain the belts. 2 1/2 stars.


Match #8


Singles Match


Koko B Ware Vs The Big Bossman w Slick

Bossman making his wwf ppv debute. Koko hits Bossman with a dropkick that gets him tied up in the ropes, aside from that Bossman owns almost the entire thing. Bossman goes up top and tries a big splash but misses but he doesn't, it's one of those goofs where the victim rolls the wrong way or not fast enough and gets hit anyway. Bossman pops right up and misses something then Koko hits the missle dropkick but gets shrugged off on a pin attempt. Koko gets knocked through the ropes then Bossman sends him into the ropes and hits the bossman slam and the pin at 5:50. Im going 1 1/2 stars.


Match #9


Singles Match


Jake The Snake Roberts Vs Hercules


If this match took place today JYD would come out and cost Jake the match just like Jake interfered before. This match led to Hercules's face turn as Heenan couldn't be bothered to manage him tonight then later sold him to Ted Dibiasie. Jake goes for an early ddt and Herc scoots outside. Jake goes to a side headlock and Herc uses a belly to back suplex to break it but Jake won't let go. Hercules finally gets free and catches Jake with a shot in the midsection then goes to his own reverse chinlock on the mat. Jake stays in this one for a few seconds then both guys collide midring and Jake spills outside. Herc goes to bring him back in and Jake pulls him outside. Both guys back in the ring and Herc goes for another chinlock but Jake gives him a jawbreaker then a shortclothesline. Jake signalling for the ddt. Jake misses a knee lift and does his Charlie Brown impersenation. Herc dropping some elbows then goes for a pin but only 2. Herc goes for a bodyslam but Jake hits the ddt out of nowhere and pins Herc at 9:54. I liked it. 2 stars.


Match #10


Main Event Tag Team Match


The Mega Powers w Miss Elizabeth Vs The Megabucks w Virgil and Bobby The Brain Heenan


Special Referee Jesse The Body Ventura


Ventura lays the rules on everybody, im suprised Hogan came out during Savage's entrance. Ventura for some reason moves the tag ropes to opposite corners and Hogan taps him on the shoulder and Jesse almost bites his face off for it. Hogan and Macho argue on who will start, Savage gets the go ahead and Andre jumpstarts the match and the heels try to work him over in the corner but he scampers away. Dibiasie in and he wants Hogan, Hogan in and Ted right to the eyes. Dibiasie misses a punch and gets an atomic drop for his trouble. Megapowers double team and drop him then lay in some double elbow drops, are the faces allowed to doubleteam this extensivly? Somehow Dibiasie survives and tags Andre who knocks down hogan then sits on him. Andre chokes out Hogan with his singlet strap and Dibiasie gets in some cheapshots. Dibiasie with a questionable chinlock and Hogan is fading fast. Hogan breaks the hold then both guys run the ropes and ko eachother with a double clothesline. Hogan hottags and Savage whails on Dibiasie. Savage with the clothesline off the top rope and Dibiasie almost backflips out of the ring. Savage fires Dibiasie into the corner and misses a shoulder charge. Ted misses a clothesline and Savage crossbodies off the ropes for 2. Andre in and he traps Savage in the corner. Dibiasie back in and he gives Savage a rib breaker then once again goes for that dumass back elbow drop from the second rope, which misses obviously. Hogan hottags and sends Ted into the corner with the clothesline follow in. Andre comes in to help but gets dropped. Hogan goes for a sleeper on Ted while Savage goes up top for a big elbow on Andre but jumps down onto the big boot of The Giant. Andre clobbers Hogan from behind and tosses him out by Savage. Heels are trying to win by countout. In the second big shocker of the night, Miss Elizabeth takes off her skirt 0_0!!!! Crowd loses it, Ventura and Dibiasies reactions are priceless LOL!!! MegaPOwers rally and knock out Andre then Hogan slams Dibiasie, Savage hits the elbow then Hogan legdrops effectively killing The Million Dollar Man. Hogan pins Dibiasie but Ventura doesn't want to make the three count. Savage forces the hand down at 14:47. Great main event. Im going 3 1/2 stars. Hogan and Savage and Liz pose to close the ppv.


Overall Opinion: This used to be and still is one of my fav WWF ppvs. Although doing this review alot of the matches were mediocre but *beep* and the main event were gold. There were a couple of other decent matches.


Final Score: On a scale of 1.0 to 10.0? Im gonna give it a 4.5. It's one of my fav Summerslams personally but there are better ones.