411's Roundtable Review: Summerslam 1988

Posted by Ryan Byers on 08.08.2006

Join us for the debut of a new feature, as a panel of 411 staff members comes together to review every edition of Summerslam en route to this year's event!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the debut of a new feature here on 411Mania. I'm Ryan Byers, and, for the next eighteen days, I'll be hosting 411's Roundtable Reviews of Summerslam. What is a Roundtable Review, you ask? The concept is simple. I've gathered some of the finest writers from across 411's many zones, and each week three to five of them will be coming together to review a Summerslam show. Each man will give his opinions on each one of the matches, so we can see how the card looked from many different viewpoints. Old fans, new fans, WWF loyalists, ROHbots, smarts, smarks, marks . . . they're all here, and they'll all get a chance to join in.

Of course, this is also the site's way of counting down to Summerslam 2006, which will be taking place just two short days after our feature concludes. Before we get to this year's show, though, we're going back to the beginning. We're going back to 1988, and the following motley crew of wrestling writers will be joining us:

- First off, there's Stuart Carapola. You and Stu are going to get quite familiar with each other, as he is the only permanent member of our panel. That's right, he'll be here for all eighteen Summerslam shows, providing a consistent voice in an ever-changing world. When he's not here, you can check him out in This Week in Hardcore and That Was Then.

- You all know that we couldn't do an article like this without including Larry Csonka, both because I needed his approval to post it and because he needs to have more content on the website. Wrestling's 3 R's, You News, My Views, and a ton of TV reports are not enough for this man!

- Of course, we couldn't do something like this without at least one regular video reviewer on board. That's where Arnold Furious of Furious Flashbacks comes in. You can also catch him weekly doing Furious on Film.

- Last, but certainly not least, we've got a bit of a special guest star. He's no longer a regular part of the 411 Family, but former tape review king Sydney Brown has come out of retirement for this special feature. You can check out his "Down with the Brown" archives here.

Now that we've got the crew hammered down, let's move on to the show itself. Looking to add another program to what was becoming a highly profitable pay per view calendar, the WWF created Summerslam in 1988 and broadcast it from the famous Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main attraction played off the main event of that year's Wrestlemania, pitting the two men who met in that match (Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase) against each other in a tag team match. Their partners would be the two men who got involved in their Mania contest (Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant). Elsewhere on the card, the Honky Tonk Man was coming in to the show as the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion but had no scheduled opponent, while two of the hottest tag team acts in the company – Demolition and the Hart Foundation – were also set to do battle. Let's throw it to our panel to cover the first contest.

Match Number One: The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid) vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques & Raymond)

Arnold Furious: This would be post-WWF title run for the Bulldogs. They held the belts for most of 1986 but the Bulldogs remained a credible force in the tag team division for some time. At this point they're in their latter stages of their WWF career and by the following Survivor Series they'd be done in the company. The Rougeaus are heel here after turning on the Hart Foundation and gaining the services of Jimmy Hart in the process. There was legitimate heat between Dynamite Kid and Jacques Rougeau who hated each other. Dynamite Kid was actually forced out of the WWF after a backstage fight with the Rougeau's. It's safe to say this unpleasant attitude between the two teams carries over into the match somewhat. The Bulldogs refuse to shake hands at the start noting the insincerity of the opposing team. Bulldogs are by far the superior team and that gives them a significant advantage. They make use of their experience as a team, which is pretty much comparable to the Rougeau's but with more success. Frequent tags and continuity in their work puts them way ahead on points in the early going. The only advantage the Rougeaus do have is that they're damn sneaky cheating Canadians. After some nefarious cheating they manage to isolate Davey Boy Smith and injure his leg. Not that the leg becomes an issue during the match as Davey forgets to sell it after his heat segment is done. Dynamite gets in his explosive offence, which turns the tide back towards the Bulldogs team. Once again the Rougeaus are forced to use nefarious cheating to get their advantage back. This time its Dynamite Kid who gets isolated and worked over with the Rougeau's making use of their abilities to distract the referee and switch behind his back. From that point on it's all very formula as we run the gamut of tag team formula 101. The hot tag that gets missed etc until everyone spills in for a big brawl and the 20-minute time limit expires. \

The Bulldogs were always very hard workers and that shows in this particular outing. Although the Rougeau's aren't the greatest performers in the world they had some decent chemistry with the Bulldogs, which is kind of odd when you consider how much they disliked each other away from the ring. So the chemistry and the energy is there but the storyline isn't. It's all very formulaic and predictable and it doesn't have a finish. In terms of actual workrate though it's the best match on the card by some distance.

Sydney Brown: Probably the most even-matched contest as while the Rougeaus were getting the big push as heels, the Bulldogs looked to be getting one last run at the top. The crowd is HOT for the Bulldogs going crazy for every move they do. Listen for Jacques being a great heel as he tries to get "USA" and "Rougeau" chants going. Match highlighted by a Davey Boy press slam into a top rope crotch drop. Coliseum clipjob here, but it was a good match only marred by Dynamite suffering a little too much punishment.

Stuart Carapola: I didn't really think this was very good considering who was in the match, even years later when I discovered workrate. I thought the non-finish sucked, too.

Larry Csonka: This will be a trend for me to say I think with my selections, but this was the perfect choice for the opener. Anytime you have the Bulldogs working the Rougeau's you are almost promised excellent tag team action. This match had great heat due to the Rougeau's heel turn and showcased excellent double team stuff, yes double teams, that happens in real tag team wrestling. They went to a 20-minute draw, and while I hate non-finishes, this was cool with me because of the quality.

Match Number Two: Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera

Arnold Furious: For those who don't know Bad News, he was a heel but quite different to the others in the late 80's. While the Rougeau's in the first match were sneaky cowards Bad News would never back down and never quit. But he was an asshole so he got categorized as a heel. And he seemed to like it that way. If it sounds like an early template for Steve Austin's "Stone Cold" character then that's because it pretty much is. He'd just come in from Stampede in '88 and one of the last talents the WWF removed from that company before its closure. All his more famous battles were still to come but he did win a battle royal at Wrestlemania 4 prior to this. Patera on the other hand was returning after a spell of incarceration. He spent time in jail for chucking a rock through the front window of a McDonalds that was closed and had refused him service. You'd have to be pretty fucking hungry to throw a rock through a window of a McDonalds. Burger King I could understand. Anyway that was a few years beforehand and by this point Ken is a jobber. Guessing where this is headed isn't tricky. Neither man seems in any mood to help the other one out so selling is pretty much hit and miss. More miss than hit. Patera in particular is looking pretty grim. Probably pissed off with how his life has gone completely down the toilet by this stage of his career. Patera tries to get an advantage using power moves but Bad News, being the dick he is, deliberately goes to the eyes. They clearly aren't happy working together and the crowd start booing all the fuck ups before Bad News clocks Patera with the Ghettoblaster (an enzuigiri) for the win. This match is pretty fucking awful. The worst on the card I'd wager.

Stuart Carapola: Really boring match. I never got Ken Patera. Maybe it's because I didn't find out about Patera's history until years later, but I thought he was just a really bland babyface, and that took the intrigue out for me.

Sydney Brown: I really don't recall anyone in mid-80s WWF going from possible main-eventer to jobber as fast as Ken Patera. Patera looked to be getting the Steamboat push upon his return in 1987, but the fans just never responded, and we ended up left with this: a somewhat glorified squash match where Brown makes Patera look decent at least, but it's clear Ken was past his prime. Brown jumps Ken from the bell and aside from a bearhug sequence, thoroughly dominates.

Larry Csonka: Ken Patera looked like shit in this match, and really dragged down the quality. For those of you not lucky enough to see Brown in his WWF, or Stampede stuff for that matter, he was a tremendous heel and was Steve Austin before Stone Cold was born. Shit match, but Brown ruled.

Match Number Three: Rick Rude vs. The Junkyard Dog

Arnold Furious: Rude was in the middle of his feud with Jake Roberts, which really should be the match on the PPV rather than a bout against JYD but I guess the thinking was to give it more of a build up and do it later. Rude has Cheryl Roberts' face on his underwear, which is revealed during the course of the match and leads to the finish. JYD is pretty washed up by this point and doesn't really seem to care. Rude does try to compensate by selling so completely over the top that it makes JYD look superhuman but it really doesn't disguise the fact that he's doing all the work and JYD is a fucking lazy old man. JYD kindly returns the favour and gives Rude the rub by not selling in the slightest for the entire duration of the match until the Cheryl Roberts underwear moment brings out Jake for the DQ. The only other thing of note about the match is the shitty headbutts that JYD insists on doing much to my own abhorrence. I guess it's true, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. This match is only marginally better than the previous one because Rick Rude owns. Otherwise this is two fast forward jobs in a row.

Larry Csonka: Another shit match, it was really just a backdrop for the Jake Roberts vs. Rude feud. The best thing about this match was that Rude took off his tights to reveal another pair with Jake's wife Cheryl airbrushed on them. This caused Jake to run in and we got our DQ. Joy.

Stuart Carapola: Jake Roberts attacked Rude, who had pulled down his tights to reveal a second pair of tights with a picture of Jake's wife on them. It's too bad Jake and Rude never had a one-on-one blowoff on PPV, that would have hopefully been a better match than their snoozer at Wrestlemania 4.

Sydney Brown: Rude has the JYD's face on his tights both on the crotch and the ass in a beautiful display of heel dickishness. JYD was so far down the WWF food chain, I think a lot of people were surprised to see he was even IN the federation at this time. Rude follows Bad News' lead and jumps Dog before the bell, but Dog responds with Rude delivering his patented "huge backdrop where I land on my ass." Rude sells his butt off here, including a great bit where he crotches HIMSELF on JYD's upper arm. Match never really gets going as Rude removes his tights to show a second pair with Jake Roberts' wife on them causing Jake to come out for the DQ.

Match Number Four: The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov) vs. The Powers of Pain (Warlord & The Barbarian)

Arnold Furious: Powers of Pain are Barbarian and Warlord. They're supposedly the babyface team here and are set up as indestructible monsters. Barbarian is one of the many Islanders in wrestling. He's from Tonga. He became the Barbarian while wrestling in Jim Crockett's promotion in the Paul Jones stable. It was there he was teamed up with Warlord (Terry Szopinski) as the Powers of Pain. This match was shortly after they'd jumped ship to the WWF for more money. They were paired up with Baron Von Raschke as a manager although they really don't need him due to their enormous size advantage over pretty much everyone. Warlord in particular had terrifying size and used to scare the shit out of me when I was 12. The Bolsheviks are Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov. Volkoff was considered to be so over as a heel he could have pretty much anyone as his partner and they'd still be over as heels. Zhukov was just an American guy called Jim playing the gimmick of a Russian guy. That said Volkoff himself was Croatian. It's all pretty much irrelevant when it comes to this match though as it's an extended squash with the Powers of Pain just wiping the floor with the Eastern block duo regardless of what level of cheating they hit to try and make a difference. They can't even get Warlord off his feet. Barbarian meanwhile is the agile one so he busts out the swandive headbutt for the win. So yeah, squasheroo but it takes over 7 minutes to end. Probably doesn't even scrape one snowflake on the ratings scale, which still puts it as the second best match on this card so far.

Larry Csonka: This was a slightly extended squash here clocking in at around 5-minutes. It wasn't as bad as the previous matches as the guys all worked hard and it didn't lull around at all. The Powers of Pain were made to look like complete world-beaters, so I suppose that was accomplished.

Stuart Carapola: Even in my preteens, I have to wonder how they could have possibly screwed up with the Powers of Pain as badly as they had. These guys were a no-brainer success story in the WWF, yet they basically did a few jobs to Demolition and disappeared. Whatever.

Sydney Brown: Total squash as the Russians hardly get a bit of offense in. Only thing worth mentioning in this match is the appearance of their manager The Baron, who is clearly Baron Von Raschke (despite wearing a hood) in one of those WWF "we'll hire you just so someone else can't" moves. Nothing terrible, but you can tell that neither POP is that comfortable playing the face.

The Brother Love Show w/ "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan

Arnold Furious: I actually like Brother Love. He's a perfect heel in that he's a representation of one of America's biggest traditions of villainy – televangelism. His mocking tone is rather reminiscent of criminal televangelist Jim Bakker and even more so of lying hooker loving televangelist Jimmy Swaggert. Yanno, the guy who pronounced himself "healed" of his sins after getting caught with a hooker one too many times who was then busted driving on the wrong side of the road with a hooker in his car? That guy. Anyway, total side track of hate there. Duggan is the interviewee but he can't understand what Brother Love is trying to ask him because he's an idiot. "Jim Duggan a gimmick based on idiocy, an inability to comprehend and blind faith" I wrote in my original review of Summerslam '88. I think that pretty much sums it up. You can skip this segment.

Stuart Carapola: This only seemed to go on slightly longer than the Jurassic Period. The less said about it, the better.

Sydney Brown: Love has Duggan on his show basically because Duggan's the only major star not on the card. Nothing of note happens aside from this being one of the few times I can recall Duggan wearing a shirt. Love initiates a feud with Duggan and Dino Bravo. Duggan chases Love away. One of those standard WWF skits where no one bothered to think of an ending.

Match Number Five: The Honky Tonk Man vs. The Ultimate Warrior

Arnold Furious: This would be the famous belt change. I've never liked WOYAH~! But back in the late 80's I absolutely hated HTM. Looking back I actually have more contempt for Jim Hellwig but there ya go. Honky held the Intercontinental title for 478 days before his defeat to the WOYAH~! He was originally slated to defend his title against Brutus Beefcake but the Beefer was injured for storyline purposes by outlaw Ron Bass. HTM got increasingly cocky and pointed out what a bastard he'd been over the previous 477 days. How he'd beaten everyone that stepped up, or at least lost in a manner where he kept his title, and that he didn't care who he wrestled. Cue the WOYAH~! His reputation was already for quick matches filled with high energy and high impact. As a result the fans loved him. Apart from me. I thought he was a retard but anyone had to be better than HTM so I was happy with the outcome. The match is like every other WOYAH~! Match from 1988. He runs out there, shakes the ropes, hits a running splash and wins. Honky's last stand as IC champion lasts all of 32 seconds. It's vastly entertaining stuff and the crowd goes completely nuts as finally Honky has lost the belt. It's a total squash at well under a minute but it's a historically important victory and lots of fun.

Stuart Carapola: Now we come to the real highlight of the show, which was the Honky Tonk Man's defense of the Intercontinental Title. His scheduled challenger, Brutus Beefcake, had been injured by Ron Bass and couldn't make the match, so Honky had a mystery challenger here. Of course, the opponent turned out to be the Ultimate Warrior, who came out and annihilated Honky in about 30 seconds and ended his year-plus reign as the IC Champion.

Larry Csonka: This was perfect booking here, no doubt about it. After 18-months of count outs, DQ's, cheating and being a bitch, Honky got his ass kicking that the fans had clamored for. Beefcake was supposed to be the opponent, but after I believe a legit injury, Honky had no opponent. He made the mistake of calling out anyone, which brought out Warrior C. Warrior. Warrior kills him in 0:30 or so and the place goes absolutely APESHIT for the title change. They couldn't have done this any better, and because of the way he lost, EVERYONE remembers Honky Tonk Man's IC Title run.

Sydney Brown: Say what you will about either man, this is the greatest squash match of all time. After a year and some change, Honky FINALLY gets decimated in what was then the shortest title match (where a title changed hands) of all time (31 seconds.) Brutus Beefcake got pulled from the card (anglewise due to a beating from Ron Bass, real reason? I'm not sure) and the Warrior who at the time was languishing in a feud with Hercules got the nod. RIDICULOUS pop for this, and I don't mind saying, it's the highlight of SummerSlam ‘88.

Match Number Six: Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo

Arnold Furious: And to think we complain about steroids in wrestling now. Dino Bravo is more steroid than man at this point. Muraco, although being one of my favourites from earlier years, is well past the point of caring by now. He's pretty close to getting fired for disrespecting Nick Bockwinkle too, which should probably give you an idea of how much he cares about Dino Bravo. Speaking of him, he's the world's strongest man, or is at least billed as that, after lifting a world record 710lbs at the Royal Rumble in '88. For those who recall there were very definite shenanigans from Jesse Ventura during said lift. So the balance here should be that Bravo is too strong and Muraco is the wily veteran. Muraco has Billy Graham as a mentor although he really doesn't need one considering he was a main event player in the mid 80's himself. He could do with having Billy in his corner rather than on commentary with Gorilla Monsoon as well because Bravo has his manager Frenchy Martin out here. In the end that's the difference between the two men. Muraco spends too much time worrying about Martin and eventually going after him that he falls prey to the devastating side slam of Bravo. Although to be fair he did have the chance to use his Hawaiian Hammer finisher but Bravo was just too strong. Both guys put far more effort into this than I actually expected and it's not a total dud like some of the earlier bouts. The boys in the back were probably shocked as they only allocated this 5 minutes and they actually put on a decent show. Unfortunately because it only has 5 minutes it's not enough time to build a storyline. Boo.

Stuart Carapola: Not very interesting except for Superstar Billy Graham, who was reduced to commentary here, being livid.

Larry Csonka: Back to the shitty matches! Thankfully this was really short, but it was ugly and made it feel like a longer match than it was, which was only about 3-minutes. In all honesty I wish that I could say more, but if it looks, smells and lays there like shit, it's shit.

Sydney Brown: Dino Bravo seemed like an AWA gimmick that somehow got a WWF push. Bigtime clipjob here as you've had thought Muraco got beat with one move. Muraco accidentally bumps Bravo into the ref and in the confusion Bravo gets a clean pin. Only about a minute shown, though the match was longer.

Match Number Seven: Demolition (Ax & Smash) (c) vs. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) for the WWF Tag Team Championship

Arnold Furious: This is for Demolition's tag team titles. The Demo's were originally founded to be the WWF's Roadwarriors before Vince could afford to buy his own damn Legion of Doom. They ended up getting over and being a huge success in their own right and at this point are in the midst of a lengthy tag title run. Harts are the babyfaces and Bret is primed to play Canadian in peril against the plodding duo. If you're thinking this is the epic Summerslam bout between the two teams then you've got the wrong year. That was 1990. This is a more understated version of the same match. Bret sells a lot and the Harts are grossly outnumbered as not only do Demolition have Mr Fuji out here but also Jimmy Hart, the former Hart Foundation manager, is also out here. This is because he still owns the contracts of the Hart Foundation even though they've fired him. So he has a right to be at ringside even though they don't want him there. So he's out here with Demolition. As if they need any more of an advantage. Dominant champions, two big guys, almost unbeatable, with an existing manager and now they've got Jimmy Hart out there too. So Bret naturally gets somewhat caught out by all the distraction and is isolated and pounded for most of the match. Much like in the opening Bulldog/Rougeau's encounter they run a lot of formula tag wrestling to get through the 10 minutes of the match. In particular the same tag formula ‘missed hot tag' pops up. Once Anvil does get the tag we're more clearly using the formula though as he hits a bunch of power moves to the delight of the crowd. Then he breaks out a fucking pescado. Unfortunately this rush of blood leaves Bret alone and the ref disorientated. Jimmy Hart, ever the opportunist, chucks his megaphone in and Bret takes one upside the cranium. Demolition retain as the odds were completely against the Harts and for once that paid off.

Stuart Carapola: This was decent, but not as good as their rematch in 1990. The Harts had some rough times ahead of them in the two years in between.

Sydney Brown: Probably the big headscratcher of the show. The WWF had been plugging a Powers of Pain-Demolition feud for months, but they book The Harts instead, despite Bret's singles feud with Bad News Brown. Match is pretty by-the-numbers but gets hot at the end when Neidhart busts out a plancha to the floor (pretty impressive for 88 WWF) and the Harts use some innovative offense, but in the end the heels have a megaphone (Jimmy Hart seconded the Demos) and the faces don't. Bret does a wicked sell job of the megaphone to the cranium.

Larry Csonka: Finally things pick up! Once again here is that foreign body to a lot of you younger fans, it is called "TAG TEAM WRESTLING" for those of you that forgot. Demolition were the bad ass heels here, and the Hart Foundation had recently turned face. The awesome storyline was that they fired Jimmy Hart, but Hart outsmarted them and still owned their contracts so he was allowed at ringside, really kick ass stuff for 1988. This match was really fun as they teases the hot tag to Bret, only for him to quickly get beaten down and have to play Ricky Morton. He would eventually get hot tag #2 and they would brawl and the Harts were moments from gold, but that bastard Jimmy Hart tossed Ax the megaphone and he about kills Bret with it for the Demolition win. A really solid match, but most would agree that they would have a much better match in 1990 I believe, but on this card it was a welcomed match.

Match Number Eight: The Big Bossman vs. Koko B. Ware

Arnold Furious: Bossman has only just come into the WWF from UWF and is ready and willing to show off his remarkable speed for a big man. Koko is, and always was, a jobber. Not only is Bossman fast for a big man he's also powerful. Koko just doesn't stand a chance. His only openings come from Bossman over reaching and missing off the top rope or on charges. When he stays on his feet and keeps a methodical pace Koko gets slaughtered. Even when Koko gets an opening from the aforementioned errors and he does everything in his power to get the win he still comes up short. Even after a missile dropkick and a running splash Koko only gets 2 and Bossman has no problem kicking out. The Bossman slam is inevitable and when it arrives it finishes the match. Another squash then. Summerslam '88 has a few of those.

Stuart Carapola: The match only seemed to go on slightly longer than the Brother Love Show with Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Larry Csonka: Another squash here for the card. Bossman was very under developed at the time from a wrestling standpoint, but Koko was able to make anyone look good. Fun squash, but I am tired of the short matches on this era of WWF PPV.

Sydney Brown: Poor Koko, the guy was good and all, but you're never going anywhere in 80's WWF when the manager AND the ref are taller than you. Bossman defies a wrestling standard by headbutting Koko, yet Koko goes down. Bossman dominates, but Koko hits a NASTY top rope dropkick to Bossman's face that is so great, the fans actually think Koko's getting the upset. Bossman shows Koko some respect by not cuffing him to the ropes post-match, though he does give him a nightstick shot. Actually a pretty decent match as Koko actually came off looking pretty strong here.

Match Number Nine: Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. Hercules

Arnold Furious: For those wondering about Jake's drug habits by this point he's certainly using painkillers but still remains fairly lucid suggesting he may not have moved onto crack yet. Meanwhile on the other side of the ring Ray Fernandez is one of the most under rated wrestlers of his entire generation. With a bulky muscular physique it'd be easy to pigeonhole him in with the likes of Dino Bravo and Warlord but I rated him pretty highly. He'd just come off a big feud with the Ultimate Warrior and was on the verge of a babyface turn due to increasing popularity but against Jake there's only one way the crowd will side. Jake was out here earlier interfering in the Rick Rude match because of their ongoing feud. Jake has his mind on this rather than the match so he looks to finish it quickly specifically looking for the DDT after only a few seconds. Hercules is way too powerful for that and Jake realizes he needs to get his mind into this fight. To compose himself he goes back to the basics and hooks up a headlock plain and simple. Hercules tries to suplex out but Jake holds on. Jake spends the entire match wearing Hercules down knowing he can hit his finish anywhere out of nothing. He just needs an opening. So he tries to frustrate Hercules with reversals but Herc is no mood to be steamrollered and easily beaten and adopts a very aggressive style to counter Jake's persistence. Of course Jake is now into his wrestling mindset and quite easily outsmarts Herc whose dead set on charging Jake whenever possible. Jake senses that Herc could now be ripe for the finish and hits a short arm clothesline, his traditional set up move. Herc still has plenty of fight in him and backdrops out of the DDT and then also avoids the knee lift showing he's done his research and he knows what to expect. What he doesn't expect is for Jake to float out of a slam and DDT him when he turns round. Which is exactly what happens but despite the sudden ending this is the second best match on the card. Not quite what you'd expect if you just read out the match listings. Well, you would if you're me because I love Ray Fernandez.

Stuart Carapola: Another snoozer. No further build in the Rick Rude feud, which was a disappointment.

Larry Csonka: For some reason, this match got 10-minutes and I do not know why. It was a slow, rest hold filled match with Herc leading the way. I like Herc, but this was so slow and basically bad. An eternity went by and finally Jake got the DDT for the win. This is time I will never get back.

Sydney Brown: Considering how Heenan didn't even come to ringside with Hercules tells you how this match is going down. Too many restholds keep this match from ever getting going, though the fake finishes are pretty good, and both Jake and Hercules take bumps that you don't normally see them take. But a pretty blah match. And Hercules had definitely become a jobber by this point as the DDT knocks him out to the point that he gets the snake dumped on him and he takes it.

Match Number Ten: The Megapowers (Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan) vs. The Megabucks (Andre the Giant & Ted DiBiase)

Arnold Furious: This would be the Megavent. Sorry, the main event. All those mega's threw me. It's Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth on the babyface side of things. Savage is the WWF champion. Megabucks is Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant. They have both Bobby Heenan and Virgil in their corner. With the forces relatively even in the ring this will come down to the seconds. You'd think immediately that the heels have the advantage. Heenan is an experienced manager and Virgil is a wrestler. When has Miss Elizabeth ever done anything of use? Also the referee is noted heel Jesse Ventura. You'd have to think all of this factors into a heel win. DiBiase is of comparable ability to Randy Savage while Andre can at least go toe to toe with Hogan even if Andre's mobility was decreasing rapidly by this point. So the head games start right away as DiBiase tags in to face Savage and demands Hogan. Clearly he has some sort of plan. The babyfaces are probably the better team as Andre was always somewhat reluctant to follow orders so DiBiase gets picked off in a comedy reverse heat segment. Its clear DiBiase will be doing the hard work for his team. Much like Rick Rude earlier DiBiase deliberately oversells to a quite extreme degree. Possibly this isn't as warranted here where Hogan & Savage are already over and both are willing to work reasonably hard anyway. The heels get the upper hand back as Ventura is very methodical in his counts. In other words, he slow counts for the babyface pins. Then Andre comes in to change the flow of the match. It's abundantly clear he's going to take this at a very leisurely pace. Sitting on Hogan substitutes for wrestling him. Although to be fair Hogan hit Andre first so he's the jerk here. Now there's a heat segment on Hogan. It doesn't last as we all know the Hulkster is the one who gets the hot tag not the other way around. No sooner has Savage hot tagged in he's on the end of his own heat segment. That's all very predictable and eventually we get to the point where the formula is over and Hogan hot tags. So far nothing special is happening but no sooner is the hot tag over and done with we get into a big brawl involving everyone. Just when it looks like the Megapowers face a count out loss Liz stalls the count and distracts Ventura by taking off her skirt. Advantage Liz! Savage drops his elbow on DiBiase during the confusion and Hogan adds in his legdrop for the duke. As I pointed out at the start the seconds played the biggest roles in this. Heenan & Virgil didn't enter into the match while on the other side of the coin Liz was vastly effective with her simplistic technique. Without the partial stripping antics the Megapowers would have been beaten on count out. Is it a good match though? Well, it's ok. It's passable without ever hitting the highs it might have done. Putting Savage over Andre for example would have been pretty memorable. As it turns out DiBiase did all the hard work before counting the lights thus rendering his status as the top heel in the company null and void.

Stuart Carapola: I think this was Hulk Hogan's first match since Wrestlemania, or something like that.

Larry Csonka: This was the continuation of the Megapowers vs. Megabucks feud and the match featured Jesse Ventura as the special referee. The match was really good when kept to Savage/Hogan vs. DiBiase for obvious reasons. When Andre was in Savage bounced like a pinball for him. I think the match is most remembered for Liz ripping her skirt off and showing her legs. Good gamms, not MILF Liz good, but good. The Megapowers would get the advantage, and get the win over DiBiase as Ventura makes a very tentative count for the good guys. One of the better matches on the show, but that isn't really saying much.

Sydney Brown: This officially ended the Hogan-Andre feud as it was one of the last times they ever were in a ring together. Pretty historic as this may have been the first time Hogan came out to someone else's music (Pomp and Circumstance gets the nod.) Jesse flexes his ref power and changes the tag rope sides just to do it. And Heenan's great here, trying to shake Jesse's hand. Match has great heat though the action is less than. DiBiase bounces around like a madman to make things interesting, but Andre is almost useless here, regulating to chokes, stomps, and sitting on Savage's head. Pretty famous finish as Elizabeth takes her skirt off to stop Jesse from counting Hogan and Savage out (badly missing her cue as everyone just stands there doing nothing for almost thirty seconds.) This is followed by an even more famous post-match angle where Hogan hugs Elizabeth in celebration and Savage freaks out over it (in what would be a rare case of starting an angle almost six months before pulling the trigger as well as a then-rare case of an angle imitating life as Savage was notoriously jealous of anyone touching his woman.) Match was decent.

Final thoughts

Stuart Carapola: Yeah, Summerslam 1988 had some highlights, but most of it was way boring. Stay away from this one.

Arnold Furious: Summerslam '88 was in the early days of PPV where the McMahon's would happily cram as many wrestlers on the card as they possibly could to give everyone that PPV pay day. Ten matches here plus the Brother Love segment meant that nothing really got the time it probably deserved. There's a lot of throwaway matches and squashes that don't really belong on a PPV. That said it is a pretty fun show for the most part and watching it back nearly 20 years after the time of its original screening gives it a real sense of nostalgia. That's pretty much all you get though. With the exception of the opener nothing goes over *** on the old snowflake scale. It's not overly recommended therefore but for nostalgia purposes and certainly for the sake of completism you should probably check it out at least once.

Sydney Brown: Part of the problem with SummerSlam ‘88 and it seems even more glaring now is that too many of the matches pitted guys who were clearly upper mid-carders (Roberts, Rude, Bossman) against guys who were clearly ending their runs with the organization (JYD, Patera, Muraco.) Much like the first WrestleMania was filled with filler matches where it was obvious who was winning, the first SummerSlam suffered from a similar (though not as blatant) problem. This was basically a one match show: Hogan and Savage vs. DiBiase and Andre. All in all, SummerSlam ‘88 was a good show, though there was little to really remember aside from the Warrior's title win. Odd matchmaking choices were what hurt this show as the matches people really wanted to see were saved for the house shows instead. But there was nothing awful about the show either, the squashes were kept reasonably short, and the crowd was rabid pretty much throughout. Thumb slightly up, recommended for nostalgia purposes, B-.