Since Summerslam is coming up soon, I thought it might be fun to go through all of the old ones in blurb format in the same way we did the Wrestlemanias a while back. So what are your basic thoughts on each one. We'll have this thread just be Summerslam 1988-1992.

88 - Built around one match. Not a strong card. Bulldogs / Rougeaus would be the MOTN. The first step in Warrior's mega push to the world title.

 

89 - Much, much better, both in-ring wise and entertainment wise. Harts / Busters is my favorite tag match of all time. Warrior / Rude was 10 times better than it had any right to be.

 

90 - A slight step down but still entertaining. The best night in Dusty Rhodes' short stint. A short but entertaining Perfect / Von Erich match and a strong Harts / Demos tag match.

 

91 - An improvement from 90. Bret / Perfect obviously stole the show. LOD / Nastys was a good brawl. Virgil / Dibiase had some great heat behind it, especially with Piper on the mic. We could have done without the "wedding".

 

92 - Probably the best Summer Slam to that point in time. An amazing atmosphere with 80,000 in attendance. Bulldog / Bret is perhaps my favorite match of all time, more for nostalgia than for the true match quality. Savage / Warrior and LOD / Money Inc were also standouts.

'88: Felt like any other arena show of its time. Most of the matches didn't make any sense. All of the tag matches were fun viewing, but stuff like Jake/Herc was brutal.

 

'89: One of those shows I've seen a million times. I must've rented this hundreds of times growing up. Some filler in there, but there's some underrated material thrown in, too. The hot opener, IC title match, Perfect/Rooster. All good stuff. Both six-man tags were fun for what they were. HTM/Dusty's always been a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

'90: Always seemed like a bit of a downer. The opener turns into a handicap match and Saphirre walks out on Rhodes. Stupid, but it always tainted the show a bit for me. Nothing but the Tag Team title match sticks out to me.

 

'91: My first SS PPV. I love everything here. Just a feel-good show and lots of memorable moments.

 

'92: A show built up by atmosphere. Some good matches, but a lot of junk. Probably best remembered because of the venue.

The 88 card always struck me as the end of the Rock N' Wrestling Era, as it was the first time I can remember a palpable sense of people getting tired of Hulkamania. Not to mention most of the 84-87 era stars doing the job as well.

The one thing that I always liked about SummerSlam in these years was that a tag team match could main event a pay-per-view and seem like a big enough deal to be able to do so. Matches that would be Raw main events these days were drawing strong buyrates, and I miss those times.

 

SummerSlam 1988: The visual of Ted Dibiase, Andre the Giant and Jesse Ventura jaw-dropped as if they had never seen a woman in underwear in their entire lives is by far the most memorable part of this pay-per-view. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage outside of the ring doing the Megapowers handshake, as cheesy as it is now, is one of those really magic moments that couldn't happen in modern times. There was no title on the line in this match, and in storyline purpose it meant very little, but a straight tag team main event turned into one of the most memorable WWF matches ever and I loved that about the period in wrestling. My secondary memory is of course The Ultimate Warrior winning the Intercontinental Title.

 

SummerSlam 1989: The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this card is the preview of it in WWF Magazine which made me want to see the card so badly. Dusty Rhodes is the first thing I think about, as I was shocked to see him in the WWF. The main memory that I have is of Zeus, wearing the big metal cuffs pummeling Hulk Hogan. It definitely did feel like the tide was changing away from Hulk Hogan though.

 

SummerSlam 1990: The Undercard I remember far more than the main events. I was shocked to see Kerry Von Erich (who I had read all about in Apter magazines) destroy Curt Hennig, and then I was blown away by an awesome match between Demolition and The Hart Foundation. It was one of the first WWF matches that I ever really enjoyed for the work in the ring.

 

SummerSlam 1991: One of the most feel good WWF pay-per-views ever. You've got Bret hart winning the IC Title in an awesome match with his parents looking on. You've got The Road Warriors crushing the Nasty Boys. You've got Hogan and the Warrior destroying the evil Iraqi's and the Big Bossman sending The Mountie to prison. You've got Virgil FINALLY getting his revenge on Ted Dibiase. Just a fun, classic pay-per-view.

 

SummerSlam 1992: I found this to be a weirdly built pay-per-view which is considered classic today mainly because of Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith and the incredible visual of a packed Wembley Stadium. No Flair, No Ramon, No Hogan, a screwy finish in a match between the Warrior and Savage that nobody really wanted to see. The end of the classic SummerSlam format.

Sorry to derail the topic for a second but anyone know where I can get the Bret/Bulldog match from '92? I have been wanting to watch it in its entirety again. I haven't seen the match since its initial airing in... well, 1992.

A while back I got a copy from www.wrestletapes.net. I dont know about their current inventory, though.

 

Its the Summerslam I thought I'd NEVER see!

If you're only after that match, it's on the Confidential DVD they released a couple years back.