One MIND-BLOWING Secret For Every WWE SummerSlam

28. 1998 | Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

As poorly as 1998 has aged - if the Rock ever ends up running for President, he best hope that his interactions with Chyna never resurface - Vince McMahon was in inspired form. He completely subverted everything you knew about the WWF. His empire was originally built on the use of celebrities; the Attitude Era tweak on that idea was brilliant, in that it let casual fans in on how much things were about to change. 

At WrestleMania 14, Vince brought in controversial figures like Pete Rose, who had been disgraced by a 1989 betting scandal; Gennifer Flowers, who had achieved renewed notoriety in January 1998 when sitting President Bill Clinton admitted that he had in fact shagged her; and, of course, the convicted rapist Mike Tyson, who acted as the special enforcer for the main event between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. This theme was set to continue at SummerSlam 1998. Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vince McMahon wanted to use Jerry Springer in some capacity or other. 

Springer was the star of his own talk show, which was a thinly-veiled excuse for troubled people to fist-fight for middle America’s entertainment. In other words, he was such a perfect fit for WWE that you can’t believe he didn’t turn up until 2010. Which feud could he have mediated in the summer of ‘98?

Sable was still feuding with Jacqueline. Springer often held segments in which homewreckers were confronted (and then battered, obviously). You could argue that such a catfight was too ECW, but this was 1998. That hardly stopped the WWF.